Courtyard Marriott - Has Disney chased me off property

[disney1990]

I was so anxious before leaving for our vacation. We always stay on Disney property. But, to save money, we chose to stay at the Courtyard Marriott on Palm Parkway the week of July 4th - 9 days. Our total hotel cost was $706.77. We were literally 5-7 minutes from Downtown Disney.

We paid a AAA rate of $79 a night which included a full breakfast buffet, including fresh made omelets of your choice. Other choices, bacon, sausage, scrambled eggs, potatoes, pancakes, french toast, sausage/gravy & biscuits, oatmeal, Mickey waffles, choice of breads, pastries, muffins, cutup fresh fruit, milk & cereal, choice of juices, and fresh fruit.

It was so nice to start each day with a full breakfast and not need lunch until 2:00 in the afternoon. The Servers were wonderful and attentive. Although the hotel was obviously not new, it was kept up well. It had a very nice pool and a wonderful extra large hot tub. There was free coffee and tea available in the lobby 24x7.

The hotel offered bus service, which seemed to be quite adequate. However, we had a car and chose to drive to the parks each day.

Don't get me wrong, I love staying on Disney property. But, when you have a limited budget, it's nice to have another choice. I highly recommend this resort.

One more thing, they also have rooms with sofabeds, in case you need a room that will sleep more than 4 people.

 

[Mickey'sApprentice]

DH and I spent our honeymoon at that Courtyard when it was a Howard Johnson's. That was 21 years ago. We also drove to the parks every day.

We almost always stay on property, and will only stay on Palm Parkway. A friend of ours treated us to a night in the Springhill Suites that was just a little farther up 535. It took us 45 minutes to go about 1 mile from the Disney entrance. Never again.

 

[disney1990]

DH and I spent our honeymoon at that Courtyard when it was a Howard Johnson's. That was 21 years ago. We also drove to the parks every day.

We almost always stay on property, and will only stay on Palm Parkway. A friend of ours treated us to a night in the Springhill Suites that was just a little farther up 535. It took us 45 minutes to go about 1 mile from the Disney entrance. Never again.

Totally understand. Palm Parkway is close - other places, although they seem, close present too much traffic to get to in a short amount of time. That includes the resorts over near the outlet mall.

 

[jeff968]

Good for you. We are off-siters now as we spend less and less time at the parks and more and more time at the pool. Your money sure goes farther.

 

[dcolleenkelly]

1

 

[dcolleenkelly]

Totally understand. Palm Parkway is close - other places, although they seem, close present too much traffic to get to in a short amount of time. That includes the resorts over near the outlet mall.

Oh boy, where is the outlet mall? We are staying at a house in Windsor Hills. I hope that we are not near all of that traffic!!!!

 

[Gina-Gina-Bo-Bina]

Good for you. We are off-siters now as we spend less and less time at the parks and more and more time at the pool. Your money sure goes farther.

+1 .

While we have stayed onsite once before (and had a lovely time at POR), we just can't justify getting a tiny room for such a premium price. After experiencing the other options offsite, I can't see ever going back to a Disney resort.

 

[RnbwSktles]

I have ONLY ever stayed off property since my parents bought a time share near by. Because of this, I am sooo super excited to finally stay in a Disney hotel in January! I almost feel like this experience will have the opposite effect on me, as in never wanting to stay elsewhere again.

I do sometimes wonder why Disney doesn't go the extra mile with their hotels and offer perks like breakfast buffets...and then I remember it's because they don't have to! There will always be people who are willing to pay the Disney premium, and with the DDP, they can make people feel like they are getting "free" breakfast every morning too!

 

[jadejazzkayla]

Thank you for your review, disney1999. We will be staying at this hotel next week and were wondering how their pools were.

 

[ExpatDisneyLover]

I also really like Palm Parkway for a close but quiet location!

 

[BadgerGirl84]

That breakfast buffet is soooooo good. We've had that before.

 

[Mrs Doubtfire]

Oh boy, where is the outlet mall? We are staying at a house in Windsor Hills. I hope that we are not near all of that traffic!!!!

WH is nowhere near the outlet mall. It is an easy drive to the parks, you can use Sherbeth Road to get into WDW, it takes about 10 minutes to get to AK.

 

[2Pirates2Princesses]

WH is nowhere near the outlet mall. It is an easy drive to the parks, you can use Sherbeth Road to get into WDW, it takes about 10 minutes to get to AK.

I agree. We stayed at Windsor Hills this past May and it is such a great location for a Disney vacation. The drive to the Disney parks was easy and we did not experience any traffic congestion, which I heard is an issue in other parts of the Orlando area. Even without using the Sherberth Road shortcut, it took us no more than 10-15 minutes to get to the Disney parks. Once we came out out of the Windsor Hills gates onto North Old Lake Wilson Road and turned right onto route 192, we only spent a few minutes on route 192 before turning onto the ramp to World Drive which takes you to all the WDW parks.