Anyone stayed at Residence Inn LBV

[April Trip]

Looking for feedback on this inn. ANy particular area to ask for / avoid?
Did you use the shuttle?

 

[ptrbryant]

*bump* !
I'd like to know, too!
Karla B.

 

[nuke]

We stayed in a 2bdrm/2bath in January. It is a nice resort. The only thing I would recommend is to ask for an interior room or one on the side facing the entrance. We had a room on the highway side and there was definate road noise.

The suite was roomy enough for 6 of us and the free breakfast every morning definately saved us some bucks. I would recommend this resort.

 

[April Trip]

Thanks. We're looking for to our trip.

 

[momof2boyz2girlz]

We are going in March/April. Nuke what is the pool like? I have kids ranging in age from 5-16 so I am curious about it. Also, how is the breakfast? What is close to this hotel, stores, restaurants etc. Thanks.

 

[April Trip]

Did you use the shuttles to the parks? If so, were the regular?

Thanks for the feedback.

 

[rykdad]

Just bumping this post to the top. The website doesn't provide much detail.

 

[4u2dream]

We will be there in May, Looking for some more info!
Nuke, You mentioned highway noise, from which highway? 535 or I-4?
Was it close to Downtown Disney? We also heard the pool was not heated, was it warm
or cold? Your feedback would be appreciated since their website is rather short.

 

[nuke]

We were there the first week of January this year. The highs were in the 50's during the day so we didn't use the pool. It looked very nice though. It doesn't have a waterslide or anything like that but it is a nice size. There is a kiddie pool and a hot tub in the pool area. There are plenty of chairs for sunbathing.

It is right on I-4 and this is the highway noise I was talking about. The noise isn't ourwhelming but it is there.
There really aren't any restaurants right adjecent to the property, but crossroads and highway 535 are within 1 mile of the resort. There are plenty of restaurants in this area. It is on a new extension of Palm Parkway and this is the first hotel that is built there. I imagine in a few years that this area will be completely developed.

The free breakfast consisted of cereal, bagels, muffins, bread products for toast, waffle mix with the waffle makers to make your own, eggs, sausage, grits, oatmeal, fresh fruit, yogurt, coffee-tea-juice-milk. One day out of the week they had biscuits with sausage gravy which was awesome!! But they only had that on Friday morning.

We didn't use the shuttles but I did look at a schedule. From what I remember there are a couple in the morning with returns close to park closing time. It was an extensive shuttle schedule. I highly recommend a car if staying at this property.

It is only a 10-15 minutes drive to Universal and about 5 minutes to SeaWorld. The longest it took us to drive to the parks was 25 minutes to Animal Kingdom. It takes about 15 to MGM and Epcot and about 20 to MK.

Any more questions?

 

[nuke]

Just a bump for the March travellers.

 

[BigDave]

We just returned from 4 days at the RI. The pool was heated, although not overly hot. When we arrived a cold front hit the area and the temps were in the 50's so we did not swim, but there were people in the pool so it couldn't have been too unbearable. The "kiddie pool" is the size of a hot tub (in diameter, not depth) and that was definitely not heated. The pool area was very nice and had sun almost the entire day. We had a room on the parking lot/Palm Parkway side (one could see the Embassy Suites right next door) so we didn't have road noise. I would say that the floors were thin as we could hear the people above us, but not enough to keep us awake. If noise is a concern I would also recommend not pool side as people were swimming til 10 or later. (the pool area is supposed to close at 10).

The game room was tiny and had pinball and airhockey. Guest laundry was on the 2-5 floors. Cost was $1.50 for a wash and the same for drying. Only 2 washers and dryers in the one on our floor and they were always being used. Soap was $1.00 but we brought our own.

We had a 2br and 2 bath and loved it!!! The pillows are so wonderful that we are looking to buy some! The kitchen was stocked with a few pots and pans and cooking utensils, but dishes were limited. I am sure if you needed more all you had to do was ask. Supposedly we could sleep 8, but we only had 2 coffee mugs. They gave us new coffee packets each morning and popcorn was supplied the first and 3rd days. I wished they had some soap to rinse the coffee pot with, but we didn't cook except to make coffee.



Another comment on the breakfast-- they were constantly re-stocking. Nothing ever went empty. Even though it was supposed to end at 9:30, they were still adding fresh food at 9:45.

They have discontinued the Mon-Thurs. "social hour". They did offer cookies late in the day at the check in desk.

I would also recommend a car. We did not use the shuttles either. You could walk by the edge near the Embassy Suites and then connect to the sidewalk on Palm Parkway so if you wanted a walk or to jog it was safer than the road by the RI. They did have an excercise room and a basketball court for the kids.

The staff was very friendly. I would stay again and even pay more than the $105 rate that I got using quikbook!

Barb -- wife of BigDave

 

[lorilori]

Hi Barb, thanks for the great info. I stayed at Embassy Suites LBV last year but for some reason I just can't place where the Residence is...do I drive PAST the Embassy? Also, is the 2 bedroom a nice size? Have you ever stayed in an Embassy Suites and can maybe compare the room size? Thanks in advance. We're taking a long-weekend trip next month and are trying to decide between onsite at CS or the Residence using Marriott points.

 

[momof2boyz2girlz]

Thanks Barb, We are going in 23 more days, so it was great to hear from someone who had just been there. I am getting so excited to go, although I know it is going to be packed!!!! Anything is better than this 10 degree weather I am in now!!!!

 

[momof2boyz2girlz]

Oh Barb, I forgot to ask, were you in a smoking room or non? Which floor were you on? I also booked thru quikbook and I am not sure they guarantee the non smoking room. But, if that is all I can get I will have to live with it!!! I was just wondering if they had non-smoking floors or just non-smoking rooms. Thanks.

 

[BigDave]

We have never stayed in an Embassy Suites so I cannot compare. We have stayed in a one bedroom at the Homewood and it was definitely roomier than that. The combo kitchen/living room was very open. The table seated 4 comfortably and was not too close to the couch. Although there were only 3 of us we would not have felt cramped with more people. The couch can only hold 3 people but that was ok for us. We also loved having 3 tv's-- never an argument about who could watch what.

One more note on breakfast-- depending upon when you went down, it was packed and sometimes there weren't places to sit. People usually ate quickly so space opened up fairly fast. It seemed the busiest around 8:30 to 9. We brought breakfast back to the room one day.

We had one room with 2 queen beds and 1 with a king. Not alot of space to maneuver in, but who spends a lot of time in the bedrooms! The vanities were outside from the toilet and shower-- a nice feature. The king room had a desk and the queen room had more space near the vanities.


Lorilori-- instead of turning right to go to the Embassy Suites, just stay straight on Palm Pkwy. The road continues (it almost looks like you are headed to no where ville!). RI is on the right about a half mile up.

We were on the 3rd floor in a non smoking room. There were no signs on the door or the corridors which indicated that either the room or the floor was non-smoking, but we asked at check in and they assured us it was non smoking. I am pretty sensitive and I didn't detect any old smoke in our room. I thought I smelled some in the hall one day, but ithe hotel is still quite new so even if you were in a smoking suite it I would think that it wouldn't be too bad. It was mild enough to open windows which we did to keep the room aired out.

Any other questions, just ask or pm BigDave.

Barb

 

[BigDave]

bumping up as I have replied to the questions, but my post didn't show up at first.

 

[April Trip]

Great feedback, thanks. We're going in 33 days for 6 nights!