Can you tell me about Royal Plaza Hotel ?

[mamahauldren]

We are staying about 1hr & 15 min away from Orlando but wanted to drive in to take the kids to the world. First trip for all of us. Anyway we found a deal on mousesavers.com for 69.00 per night for a tower room at the Royal Hotel Plaza. We booked it the night we are going to the park (MK) just incase we are too tired during the day and need a rest or too tired at night to drive the hour long trip back to Palm Coast.

Have you ever stayed here? I keep reading mixed review and now I am concerned.

Plus, can anyone tell me about transportation to and from this Hotel to the parks? Especially in the middle of the day...

 

[x5x5x5x5x5]

I stayed at HRP two years ago for a great rate I found on Mousesavers also. We had a tower room with a jacuzzi tub (which I found invaluable!). There were buses that went to the different parks that would stop at the hotel. Very comfortable buses - but I think they might have shared service with other resorts in the area (not a big deal). You can also walk to Downtown Disney from the hotel. I thought it was a great stay and a wonderful value. Granted, this was two years ago so things might have changed. That said, usually the hotels listed on Mousesavers are pretty well checked out. The thing to remember is not to have unreasonable expectations (I am not insinuating that all of the people who've given it bad reviews are unreasonable b/c I haven't read any of the bad reviews). It's an older hotel so when we were there I found it a bit dated (as is the case with any older hotel that has not been renovated) but definitely clean and comfortable. We paid I think around 90 per night and I was pleasantly surprised. Incidentally, the bellmen and front desk staff were great! Have a great trip.

 

[christianweecare]

DH & I recently took advantage of the Mousesaver's deal both for a quick weekend trip in April and May. We have always stayed at one of the Disney property resorts so this was a first for us. We thought the hotel to be very nice. Service was great on both trips. We thought the breakfast buffet in the Giraffe Room to be a bit pricey so we just purchased muffins for breakfast from their grab and go area. We were not fond of the bus service. I guess we have been spoiled by Disney's bus service that drops you off at the front gate everywhere and is quicker. After the first day we opted to just drive ourselves which was very easy. The April trip we went early to Epcot and parked at the very front of the parking lot. The May trip we went to Typhoon Lagoon and had the same experience. We walked one night to Downtown Disney which was a pleasant walk. It may not be a good idea if you have children in tow. If you have a car and can drive yourselves I would recommend that. I think you will be happy staying at the Hotel Royal Plaza for your quick trip.

 

[mamahauldren]

So you think it would be better to drive to the MK instead of taking the bus. Where does this bus drop you off at, I heard it is the Ticket Center. Is this going to be convient at all for an afternoon break? I appreciate the info....

 

[christianweecare]

Whether you drive or take the bus you will end up at the Ticket & Trans. Center. Then you will take either the ferry or monorail over to the Magic Kingdom. What we found with the bus is that you are on their time schedule. We had to sit and wait for the bus to take us back to the hotel and make all the stops at all of the other Downtown hotels. Had we driven our car we could have gotten back alot faster. We normally don't drive at all whenever we stay at one of the WDW resorts. Their system is alot faster and more efficient IMHO. When you stay at a WDW resort and use the bus system, they drop you at the main gate at the Magic Kingdom. I guess we have been spoiled. As far as the Hotel Royal Plaza, it is a nice hotel.

 

[Amare06]

We stayed here at the end of April before moving over to Fort Wilderness Cabins. I also got the Mousesavers rate and a free upgrade to the Tower rooms. I would recommend trying to get an upgrade. The room was nice, it had two double beds and a small sofa. The bathroom was the nicest one I have seen in a long time. My DD had a great time in the huge bath and it had a nice separate shower that you walked into.
I thought that the lobby was very pleasant, we didn't have breakfast in the cafe. The parking was okay. We were very close to DTD and to other restuarants. We never used the transport.
From our room, we could see the pool which looked nice.

All in all, I would consider staying at this hotel again. It was clean and the staff were pleasant.

Amare