Buena Vista Palace Refurbishment

[upthemariners]

Hi all,

I booked the Buena Vista Palace late last year for a well earnt 18 day holiday for early October this year, after a great stay there the year before. I had prior knowledge of the construction that was happening but was under the impression it would be finished by June time.

We love this hotel, it's a 5 minute walk to Disney Springs & their bus services & a 10 minute stroll to the Crossroads. We find we can leave the driving for back home. The hotel itself is very casual with great & obliging staff, spacious rooms with balconies & we found the pool area perfect for a lazy morning or for a couple of hours wind down in the afternoon after a mad day at the parks & with it being so close to the parks there's no excuse not to return of a night if you wish.

Could anyone with any knowledge please inform me how the construction work is going & if the pool & lazy river will be in operation by the time we arrive?

We will be staying in a 2 bed family suite, which I believe is adjacent to the main tower. Will these rooms be refurbished by then?

Thanks.

 

[HopperFan]

Just checked out. Was in a "tower" room fully renovated and nice. Other than room, some of our hall and elevator foyer nothing else in tower had been renovated. LOTS of work to do, was kinda surprised.

Pool area a mess, lots of work to do. There appeared to be folks staying at outer building but there were lots of what looked like bed frames outside in piles so maybe still working on those rooms.

 

[upthemariners]

Woooh, that's a serious building site. Thanks for the update & pic HopperFan. I've still a little over 4 months until we fly to the US so I'm hoping the building contractors pull their finger's out. I was told today on a UK Disney forum that Virgin Holidays are quoting the end of August for the pool to be open. That seems a little optimistic from your photo.

I'll be emailing the hotel in the morning with enquiries.

 

[jklmrm]

Just checked out. Was in a "tower" room fully renovated and nice. Other than room, some of our hall and elevator foyer nothing else in tower had been renovated. LOTS of work to do, was kinda surprised.

Pool area a mess, lots of work to do. There appeared to be folks staying at outer building but there were lots of what looked like bed frames outside in piles so maybe still working on those rooms.

Great Pic HopperFan! Looks like they're building a lazy river pool?

 

[HopperFan]

Woooh, that's a serious building site. Thanks for the update & pic HopperFan. I've still a little over 4 months until we fly to the US so I'm hoping the building contractors pull their finger's out. I was told today on a UK Disney forum that Virgin Holidays are quoting the end of August for the pool to be open. That seems a little optimistic from your photo.

I'll be emailing the hotel in the morning with enquiries.

Yeah you have time. Pool walls in they just need enough dry weather to get all that decking in. Once it's all done should be nice amenity.

 

[HopperFan]

Great Pic HopperFan! Looks like they're building a lazy river pool?

Look past lazy river, looks like a splash play area to me.

 

[upthemariners]

It looks like a Greek airport to me!

I'm just wondering where my deckchair will go during a wind down day

 

[writerguyfl]

I'll be emailing the hotel in the morning with enquiries.

I'd take anything the hotel tells you with a grain of salt. From personal experience working in hotels, I know that renovations are often fraught with delays. One hotel in which I worked did a full room renovation. A second was a complete renovation that essentially gutted the building.

Even with the most meticulous planning, there will be unexpected delays. Most of the time, those delays aren't the fault of anyone working at the hotel. The hotel is at the mercy of the contractors and their subs. Additionally, everything needs to be approved by the local building inspectors. At that second hotel I was at, we had to delay our soft opening several times because the code enforcement officer took forever to sign off everything.

If I remember correctly, the Buena Vista Palace renovation was originally scheduled to be completed in October 2016.

 

[Jon84]

We checked out on 12th May after 3 nights, up on floor 25, the room and corridor was all renovated, bed was comfortable, shower hot and powerful.

The check in is currently in the Convention Lobby/a Meeting room while they do up the other area, it just means you approach the elevators from the opposite side. As per the pictures the view is not amazing with the works, but being that high up we had no issues with noise etc.

One thing to note is that you cannot now cross the road to Disney Springs, by the bus stops, you will be turned away. You now have to walk up to the Sky Bridge, which does add time to the walk over.

They are indeed building as lazy river as seen in the photo posted (bottom right, you can see it loop)

 

[upthemariners]

Thanks for the replies & updates guys. I've emailed the hotel & am awaiting a reply. I shall post in here any answers I receive. I've my finger's crossed the pool area is finished by October.

I didn't realise a bridge had been built to cross the road to Disney Springs. On our last visit I spotted a sheriff pull one family for crossing that busy road, we took the detour to the crossing!

 

[Jon84]

I didn't realise a bridge had been built to cross the road to Disney Springs. On our last visit I spotted a sheriff pull one family for crossing that busy road, we took the detour to the crossing!

Yeah you have to go over the bridge at the junction of Hotel Blvd and BV Drive, can't cross on the road now

 

[TexasPrincess1]

Hi,
We will be there at the end of June through July 4th.

Any other tips for the Buena Vista Palace?

How was the character breakfast on Sunday? Was it worth it? How does it compare to other character breakfasts?

How was early morning transportation? Did you ever Uber it?

Thanks!

 

[upthemariners]

Hi,
We will be there at the end of June through July 4th.

Any other tips for the Buena Vista Palace?

How was the character breakfast on Sunday? Was it worth it? How does it compare to other character breakfasts?

How was early morning transportation? Did you ever Uber it?

Thanks!

Could you please get back to us on your return TexasPrincess1 with an update on the hotel. An up to date first hand review would be very helpful & greatly appreciated. I'd love to know what the refurbished rooms/suites look like.

 

[HopperFan]

Could you please get back to us on your return TexasPrincess1 with an update on the hotel. An up to date first hand review would be very helpful & greatly appreciated. I'd love to know what the refurbished rooms/suites look like.

 

[TexasPrincess1]

Great pics!

 

[upthemariners]

Thanks once again HopperFan. The room looks great, very fresh & tidy. The balcony furnishings look a lot better than the ones I remember.

 

[writerguyfl]

If that's a renovated room, they sure didn't do much. Here are room photos from the Buena Vista Palace website, as they appeared on October 3rd, 2013. (Photos courtesy of the Wayback Machine: http://web.archive.org/web/20131003092053/http://www.buenavistapalace.com/photos-video-en.html)

To me, it looks like the same dresser, desk, desk chair, headboard, and vanity. I'm not impressed.

 

[HopperFan]

If that's a renovated room, they sure didn't do much. Here are room photos from the Buena Vista Palace website, as they appeared on October 3rd, 2013. (Photos courtesy of the Wayback Machine: http://web.archive.org/web/20131003092053/http://www.buenavistapalace.com/photos-video-en.html)

To me, it looks like the same dresser, desk, desk chair, headboard, and vanity. I'm not impressed.

I had never stayed before and since the room felt very fresh and well done especially compared to how horribly dated the rest of what we saw was ... I assumed it was newer. Looks much the same.

The website says the renovation starting Oct 1 2015 was to do the lobby and pool areas so maybe the rooms were not included. The convention area was bad.

 

[writerguyfl]

I had never stayed before and since the room felt very fresh and well done especially compared to how horribly dated the rest of what we saw was ... I assumed it was newer. Looks much the same.

The website says the renovation starting Oct 1 2015 was to do the lobby and pool areas so maybe the rooms were not included. The convention area was bad.

I hope you know I wasn't criticizing you're post. I did stay there right after the property renovations started. Some of the furniture is definitively different from when I was there. Based on that, I'd say they did do some selective work on the rooms.

You're definitively correct that the website just says lobby and pool. But, the renovation definitively includes the guest rooms. From the Hilton page for the hotel: "Guest rooms will be redesigned using calming decor and modern features, including improved wireless connectivity."

Source: http://www3.hilton.com/en/hotels/florida/buena-vista-palace-MCOBUHH/about/renovations-info.html

 

[HopperFan]

I hope you know I wasn't criticizing you're post. I did stay there right after the property renovations started. Some of the furniture is definitively different from when I was there. Based on that, I'd say they did do some selective work on the rooms.

You're definitively correct that the website just says lobby and pool. But, the renovation definitively includes the guest rooms. From the Hilton page for the hotel: "Guest rooms will be redesigned using calming decor and modern features, including improved wireless connectivity."

Source: http://www3.hilton.com/en/hotels/florida/buena-vista-palace-MCOBUHH/about/renovations-info.html

Oh no, I know you weren't. I just wanted to post pictures of our room from last weekend, so they are current .... and while it was not overly impressive, they were nicely done and some of it felt very new, like the funky chair (not as comfortable as I hoped). And compared to the convention area - seemed very nice.

Thanks for link, it explains that building they are put in out by the pool. That was only area they were actively working.