buena vista suites bad review question

[BUSYMAOF4]

Hi, everyone I am new to these boards but no to disney, it will be my 7th trip this july 16th for a week, but still no hotel, in the past we have stayed at silver lake resort, the fountains, and orange lake ...wanted to try buena vista suites, loved that it would fit my family of 6, and the free breakfsast...but came along this review on yelp.com
If you have young children, don't stay here. This hotel is not at all child friendly. The grounds have wetlands all around and no fences. A child (or adult) can very easily fall down a 6 foot embankment into the swamps.

They also have signs all over the grounds about not feeding the alligators. Alligators??!?!? You have a hotel, in a Disney Resort (aka kid central) and you have wetlands WITH alligators and no fencing? Absurd to the point of stupidity.

The rooms are not in any way childproof. It had a ton of exposed outlets and unsafe railings on the terrace (large gaps between the rails). The irony is that the main hotel has safety railing on the terraces (solid sheets of glass about 4 feet high) but the suites (where we stayed and where people with children would most likely stay) does not. Also, they have the same type of unsafe railing in the hotel hallways that surround a solarium, a child could very easily fall between the rails and land 4 + floors down.

Also, they have minimal visible security in the hotel. When walking from the main hotel to the suites at night, it is absolutely desolate (with unfenced in wetlands with alligators).

I also called the front desk multiple times to have the line just ring with no one answering it.

so my question is since there are not many pics posted of this place is all this true? especially the part of the railings....Iam terrified of heights in the first place and would prefer not to look down 4 floors anywhere....lol...can someone who has been here please let me know? thanks!!

 

[Janet Hill]

Never been here, but I'm sure most resorts have the Please do no Feed the Alligators sign. I know BC does. Disney has alligator warning signs as well. It's Florida so anywhere there is water, there could be an alligator present.

 

[vicki_c]

We have stayed there with our kids in the past (it's been totally refurbished since then I believe) and I never noticed any of these issues. Perhaps I am inattentive. But I didn't notice any of that. It's a Mousesavers partner hotel along with its sister property next door, Caribe Royale. We've stayed there too.

As for exposed outlets, you will find that anywhere. The railings? If they meet the building codes for however far apart the slats need to be, then they are okay legally. Who knows what motivates someone to post that type of review? Do you see any similar reviews on TripAdvisor? Or anyone on yelp agreeing with that review?

 

[gdrj]

Hi, everyone I am new to these boards but no to disney, it will be my 7th trip this july 16th for a week, but still no hotel, in the past we have stayed at silver lake resort, the fountains, and orange lake ...wanted to try buena vista suites, loved that it would fit my family of 6, and the free breakfsast...but came along this review on yelp.com
If you have young children, don't stay here. This hotel is not at all child friendly. The grounds have wetlands all around and no fences. A child (or adult) can very easily fall down a 6 foot embankment into the swamps.

They also have signs all over the grounds about not feeding the alligators. Alligators??!?!? You have a hotel, in a Disney Resort (aka kid central) and you have wetlands WITH alligators and no fencing? Absurd to the point of stupidity.

The rooms are not in any way childproof. It had a ton of exposed outlets and unsafe railings on the terrace (large gaps between the rails). The irony is that the main hotel has safety railing on the terraces (solid sheets of glass about 4 feet high) but the suites (where we stayed and where people with children would most likely stay) does not. Also, they have the same type of unsafe railing in the hotel hallways that surround a solarium, a child could very easily fall between the rails and land 4 + floors down.

Also, they have minimal visible security in the hotel. When walking from the main hotel to the suites at night, it is absolutely desolate (with unfenced in wetlands with alligators).

I also called the front desk multiple times to have the line just ring with no one answering it.

so my question is since there are not many pics posted of this place is all this true? especially the part of the railings....Iam terrified of heights in the first place and would prefer not to look down 4 floors anywhere....lol...can someone who has been here please let me know? thanks!!

While reviews can be helpful and sometimes accurate, I wouldn't put a blanket statement out not to stay there.

I looked at yelp, and while the review is there there are only 11 reviews with 7 of them being 4 or 5 stars. (Only 2 reviews from 2013) Trip Advisor has almost 600 reviews with it averaging 4 stars. I just caution to not take a single review as the holy grail. You can find reviews on most Disney Hotels and find a bad review, sometimes its about things that they don't understand. i.e. a bad review for BLT or any of the disney vacation club resorts because there is not daily maid service (not understanding it is a time share property) Or on trip advisor where it ranks the Drury Inn as the #1 hotel in Orlando area. I'm sure its nice but for my family can not compare to walking out of the Boardwalk Villas and being able to walk to EPCOT or Studios. I have never stayed Buena Vista and I know there were issues with property being sold a few years back and remodel etc, but to be a walking distance to DTD is a nice feature.

As far as the alligators I am not a wild life expert but a fence along a canal could cause more danger. If a gator is on the wrong side of the fence, it can't get back to its habitat so it may come towards people to feed. AT Magic Kingdom a gator ended up being in the water next to Splash Mountain (you can youtube it). I feel pretty confident that Disney is pretty aggressive in trying to keep wildlife from guests but nature happens.

Update:I did a quick search of the reviewer on yelp she has personnally reviewed over 600 businesses (since 2011) with 350 of them being three stars or less, and she describes herself as an obsessive reviewer. I think sometimes better to wait a day and write a review to get some perspective than to rant, but I don't think that applies here.

 

[vicki_c]

Buena Vista Suites is not in walking distance to DTD, in case someone else sees that comments. I think it's over 5 miles away. It's not too far from the Nickelodeon Hotel.

 

[DianaPrince]

We stayed at bvc May 18th and found it was pretty good. We have 4 kids and 1 is a curious toddler and we never had an issue with exposed outlets,actually our stay at Poly last year we had more child proofing issues than here,go figure. We walked to Caribe for dinner and the "swamp" she is referring to is a retention pond with no water. My kids knew well enough not to horse around near is because,yeah there is no fencing but NO gators either,lol. Its not a wdw hotel but its not as sterile as this reviwer claims. The free buffet was busy with lots of kids running free was my only "complaint" otherwise we would stay here agian for a short stay or maybe if we were doing another area park.

 

[CathiVee]

I can't speak for Buena Vista Suites, but if you are going to Disney and want to be within walking distance of DTD, I would suggest Buena Vista Palace. My mom and I stayed down there last year and are staying there again this year. The rooms were very clean and the restaurant in the hotel was really good, too (it is a nice steakhouse).

One thing you would need to know, though, is that it is not Kid-themed with any disney themes or anything like that. It is more like a convention hotel...but it is very nice and the buses come straight to the hotel. The pool is very nice, too! It does have a disney gift shop, as well as arcade and spa, on the bottom level. We even bought our last-minute disney tickets there!

Breakfast was really good! They either have a little shop with bagels, muffins, etc, or they have a sit down restaurant which has buffet or table service food. We ate at both and were equally satisfied.

We found the rate for this hotel to be a very good value...seeing as how it is so nice, customer service is friendly, DTD is literally a 10 minute walk, and the buses come right to the hotel. Hope this helps a little bit!

 

[aleksandr]

Are we all talking about the same hotel? According to Google maps, Buena Vista Suites is not near WDW (relatively speaking) as it is on the other side of I-4, not far from International Drive...

And, as other posters have said, don't put stock in anything regarding alligators. This is Florida. Central Florida is almost all reclaimed wetlands. There are gators. EVERYWHERE. There is no way to control their movements or prevent them from entering a property. It's important to reinforce to kids not to play near natural bodies of water.

 

[DianaPrince]

Are we all talking about the same hotel? According to Google maps, Buena Vista Suites is not near WDW (relatively speaking) as it is on the other side of I-4, not far from International Drive...

And, as other posters have said, don't put stock in anything regarding alligators. This is Florida. Central Florida is almost all reclaimed wetlands. There are gators. EVERYWHERE. There is no way to control their movements or prevent them from entering a property. It's important to reinforce to kids not to play near natural bodies of water.

Ok BVC is literally like a 5 mins straight shot to the wdw exit. I know we drove it several times. And gators EVERYWHERE? Really?! I LIVE in florida and never had a problem but ok. And bvc doesnt have any bodies of water excluding the pools,lol, so not sure what that was about. Just trying to stick to op questions is all.

 

[aleksandr]

Ok BVC is literally like a 5 mins straight shot to the wdw exit. I know we drove it several times. And gators EVERYWHERE? Really?! I LIVE in florida and never had a problem but ok. And bvc doesnt have any bodies of water excluding the pools,lol, so not sure what that was about. Just trying to stick to op questions is all.

OK, maybe not EVERYWHERE

But Gators in FL are like Deer and Bears up here in the Northeast. You may not see them, but they are usually there...

Everywhere was a bit of an exaggeration, but the fact is that the American Alligator has prospered after it was protected as an endangered species (and subsequently removed from the list). There also tend to be about 5 alligator-human attacks each year across their range.

I agree that we are moving off-topic. The point of my message was trying to say that the original Yelp review was perhaps a little too harsh as alligators are wild animals and are prevalent in Florida. For someone to knock a property on a review because of the potential for gators is pretty silly.

 

[BUSYMAOF4]

thanks everyone for the replies, does anyone know if this is true about the balcony with large gaps between railings....this would make me def not stay if its true. as far as the gators my kids arenever out of my site so this shouldnt be too much of a issue

 

[gdrj]

They also have signs all over the grounds about not feeding the alligators. Alligators??!?!? You have a hotel, in a Disney Resort (aka kid central) and you have wetlands WITH alligators and no fencing? Absurd to the point of stupidity.

Buena Vista Suites is not in walking distance to DTD, in case someone else sees that comments. I think it's over 5 miles away. It's not too far from the Nickelodeon Hotel.

Are we all talking about the same hotel? According to Google maps, Buena Vista Suites is not near WDW (relatively speaking) as it is on the other side of I-4, not far from International Drive...

Based on BUSYMAOF4 saying it is on Disney Property I believe she is talking about Buena Vista Palace Hotel. If she means the other one you are correct about distance.

 

[DianaPrince]

thanks everyone for the replies, does anyone know if this is true about the balcony with large gaps between railings....this would make me def not stay if its true. as far as the gators my kids arenever out of my site so this shouldnt be too much of a issue

Well if it IS in fact bvs we didnt have balconies,nor,did I see any on other rooms. Perhaps,you are referring to a different hotel.

 

[vicki_c]

Well if it IS in fact bvs we didnt have balconies,nor,did I see any on other rooms. Perhaps,you are referring to a different hotel.

Maybe the yelp reviewer reviewed the wrong hotel. Recapping, Buena Vista Suites is not "at a Disney resort" as stated in the review, nor it is within walking distance to DTD as mentioned somewhere above.

Apparently, Buena Vista Palace is a resort that might fit those criteria.

 

[HopperFan]

Either the reviewer was confused about the hotel she was posting about or she was making the whole thing up.

If you do more research on the Buena Vista Suites you will see that there are no balconies, there is no solarium or atrium and there is no main building with suites elsewhere.

My opinion: The rates there are often very good for a suite that close to Disney (about 3 miles), the suites were very well decorated, large and I'd gladly stay again! We are family of 5 with kids now adults and we are very comfortable there. The only cons I have are the breakfast area was too small for the number of people using and there were long lines for items they were cooking AND the pool is too small for size of resort if you plan on pool time. We are fine without a huge breakfast (and with a suite we bring food) and we spend more time in parks than pool, so those aren't deal breakers for us.

 

[MinnieForMe]

Hi:
We've stayed here multiple times when we've flown in ahead of our timeshare availability.

The review you are concerned about is not for this resort. There are no balconies. There are no wetlands that I remember. It is literally on a corner with parking and a gated pool. The breakfast is very good. Personally, I doubt we could handle a week here but that's because we are use to a large unit. If you've only stayed in a hotel room with your kids, this place would be great as the main bedroom is actually divided from a small sitting room that houses the sleep sofa. It is very conveniently located, about 5 minutes from Downtown Disney.