We stayed at that particular Homewood Suites in Jan 2002 and thought it was just fine.... in fact, we are staying there again in Jan 2004!!
We did not use their park shuttle, so we cannot comment on that.
We did, however, eat breakfast there 5 out of 6 mornings and found it to be adequate. Not fancy, but filling (cereal, bagels, toast, waffles, sausage gravy/biscuits, fruit, juice, coffee, milk) We have found out that they have improved their bkfst buffett to to include eggs/bacon and such. Makes it much easier as DH is on the Atkins program now. The pool as small, but warm and fairly clean. I did use the laundry room, again small, but adequate (3 each wash/dry). The only problem with our room was a broken recliner, but we didn't bother to report it until we were leaving.
Housekeeping loaded out dishwasher every day and ran it, made up the beds, brought clean towels, etc. The kitchen supplies were sparse, but we made do (just 4 bowls, 2 pans, 4 small plates, 4 forks, 4 spoons, etc.), and all of the appliances worked fine (toaster, 2 burners, microwave, full-size fridge). We made bagels, mac/cheese, re-heated pizza, made pb&j, that kind of thing. There was a small table and two or three chairs (can't remember).
There were two beds in the bedroom (full or queen?) and a television, as well as a tv in the living room, and a full size pullout sofabed. I brought my own alarm clock, so I cannot remember if there was one. We did have an iron (not sure if I had to request is special).
It seemed rather uncrowded when we were there, but it was only a few months after 9/11, so travel was down. I think we only saw one other family one or two times on our floor. There were people at bkfst, but not so many that we couldn't find a seat. Parking was no problem. We stayed on the second floor of our particular building and there was an elevator. We never heard any noises from other families the entire time we were there. Of course, we were not in the room between 8 am and 8 pm most days!!
This next time I may request a room closer to the pool/bkfst/laundry building. But maybe not, as it may be too noisy, haven't decided yet. It was certainly just a 1-2 minute walk, but it would have been nice not to have to hike so far with the laundry in tow!
It was only about a 10-15 minute drive to the parks every day. We didn't encounter much traffic at all. We left the hotel between 7:15 and 8:30 every day.
We really wanted to be able to put the kids to bed and not have to sit in the dark waiting for them to go to sleep, which is why we selected a suite on our last trip and again for the next trip!
Anyhow, after weighing all the options for our upcoming trip, on-site versus off-site, prices, room type, etc. we found that we could not beat the price, etc at Homewood Suites. You are staying at a slightly busier time than we are, so I'm not sure what their rates are then, but we got them down from the originally quoted $129/night to $59/night (after about 3 phone calls)..... see what you can do to get your rate down. Since it is during a busier time, I wouldn't expect you could go as far down as $59/but maybe $79??? Sorry to go on so long.... let me know if you have any questions about anything in particular.... I'll be happy to share what I know.....pjlla
