Dockside Inn and Suites Thread..... FAQ and more.....

[Keladry84]

Thanks for this. Can probably live with noise in common areas - as that’s just park experience we never get here at home. Excited families. Noise at night is more the concern. We are booking a suite any way. Are all suites on higher floors? How are elevators/stair access? A

The suite I was in was on a high floor, very close to the elevators. The main room/area got a LOT of late-night foot traffic noise. I couldn't stay in the main bedroom area, and switched to the back bedroom within a couple of hours of being there.

I am not sure the location of the other suites. Whether suite or not if foot traffic late at night will be a problem for you, I'd request something far from the elevators.

Elevator access was decent, but sometimes there was a line/had to wait on the ground floor, especially at times when a surge of people was coming back from the parks. There were 4 elevators in operation at a time. Staying on a high floor helped, as sometimes the elevator would be full by the time it got down to lower floors, so I can see someone on floor 3 or 4 being more frustrated when trying to leave.

I never looked for the stairs, so can't say anything re stair access.

 

[CAPSLOCK]

I never looked for the stairs, so can't say anything re stair access.

I had a hard time finding stairs (I was on floor 2 but only for 1 night - couldn't find them at all so I had to use the elevator, which was just obnoxious for 1 flight. First building to the right of the lobby.

I did get a ground floor suite at Surfside, so I suspect they'd follow the same pattern at Dockside. It was pool view & was quiet, near the end of a hallway, but I'm not a light sleeper so probably not the best to ask.

 

[wendlle]

Do the suites have a toaster? Also what's it like walking to other restaurants in the area? I know I can get the bus to citywalk but was hoping for some other restaurants near the resort??

 

[Keladry84]

Do the suites have a toaster? Also what's it like walking to other restaurants in the area? I know I can get the bus to citywalk but was hoping for some other restaurants near the resort??

I don't recall there being a toaster. Mine had a microwave, but it didn't work, even despite calling in maintenance for it during my trip.

I didn't try walking to other places in the area. I basically ate at Dockside, in the parks, or citywalk. I think there might be a couple of things that are walkable, but check on Google (or see if others have input).

 

[daraus]

Are the food options at Dockside good? It seems like it's not much to offer.

 

[tony67]

Are the food options at Dockside good? It seems like it's not much to offer.

Dockside is pretty decent lots of food option in Pier 8.
Pizza, Burgers, pasta, Chicken and Waffles, soup, sandwiches.
Basic stuff but decent quality. Its a value resort so no restaurants and no upscale stuff - but its decent and reasonably priced.
There are some restaurants in the area - its walkable but I could not be bothered.
There is meant to be a very good Indian and Thai restaurant in walking distance.

 

[tony67]

So just had a 14 day stray a Dockside - no issues at all - and it was very busy.

A tour group of at least 150 Brazilians checked in on Saturday as well as a school trip from Miami and all the folks for HHN - it was crazy busy. Surprisingly I did not have any issues with the elevators. They are slow, but as long as you are near the main ones they were fine.

I highly recommend coming in a day early if at all possible. The line for Check in at 4PM on an HHN night was ridiculous. Sunday was the worst, and of course I can understand not wanting to come in on Saturday - its way more expensive - like 50% more. be prepared for you room to not be ready till 4 and then you have to wait in that line. Getting there early may or may not help - lots of people in the lobby all day waiting for a room. The line at 4PM was full and then wrapped across the entire lobby. I'm not sure about the online check-in line but I'm guessing it was long.

One thing that was annoying that I have not seen in the past - they have a policy of getting as many people eon the bus as possible - even when there are several buses waiting. Several times the bus was full and people standing and they got in and pushed us all back. They kept saying - "if you can see floor there is room for more" IDK - when a bus is pretty full and a woman with a baby cartridge and two small kids is being pushed into a full but that is not the best experience. they seem to be counting to make sure they get a certain number of people on the bus every trip in the morning. I've been at busier times and never experienced this before. Cant say I like it - and in speaking with some folks they claim they have always done this. I've stayed about 50 nights this year and no its not always like this.

 

[tony67]

One other thing to mention - you may not care but the view of the parking structure is pretty bad. There is a run down hotel and two completely closed hotels (I think). I heard someone complaining because the police were at the hotel with lights on 4 times over night.
No matter how much you try light gets through those curtains where they meet.

Id say request a room that does not view the parking structure.

This photo really does not show just how bad it is - when I have stayed in the past I have had the view of Walgreens or paid for the pool view. Obviously you don't stay here for the view - but when you look out in the morning you don't want to see this IMO


I guess its next to impossible for these hotels to compete with Dockside and Surfside.

Also I've seen this mentioned before - there were folks walking from other hotels to use the Dockside buses.

 

[DonaldnDaisy5]

What room requests recommendations do you have besides no parking lot view - as far as floors? 2 bedroom suite if it matters....also where do I enter requests?

 

[macraven]

When I have a room location request, I call UO to lock it in.

 

[nherbert]

I just wanted to report on our recent stay at dockside, we moved here after a 2 night stay at HRH - report here
Post in thread 'HARD ROCK HOTEL INFO, FAQ and more........'
https://www.disboards.com/threads/hard-rock-hotel-info-faq-and-more.3494880/post-65914496
HRH transferred our luggage to dockside - no issues at all.

After a day at the parks, we got the dockside bus from the depot at the end of city walk. All times we have got the bus there has been no wait, bus waiting each time. Catching a bus from dockside to parks is also without issue, except maybe at 7am when there is a long queue but they send multiple buses, and we were at the parks before early entry opening. We have not shared any buses with surf side, but that might be because we are here over Xmas week and it is crazy busy here. The buses are quite crowded so lots of standing but that maybe a December thing. The bus ride is about 5 minutes, so very quick.

We got a 2 bdr suite and we asked for a high floor and got level 12 (almost the highest level) in tower 1. The view over Orlando is interesting and from our room (not a pool view room) we could see lots of NYE fireworks from multiple places.

The 2 bdr suite is great, the 3 beds are very comfortable (not hard like at cabana bay) - definitely recommend these suites over the family room at cabana bay - the table is good to sit at to eat, though the kitchen area really needs a toaster as well as microwave. The fridge is small but is a proper fridge that works well.

The bathroom/toilet is small and cramped, though the big sink area in the alcove is good. For some reason I thought there were 2 toilets but there is only 1. It does have two tvs!

Housekeeping has been good, they come every day! They have supplied everything we asked. There are no security checks here like there are at Disney every second day.

The pool is cold in December - I say this because we are used to the secondary pools at say CBR or Ft wilderness that we found quite heated in December. The pool is large, and crowded even in December.

The food hall is good lots of options, though crowded at 6pm and quite slow as no proper queues (no ropes like we find at Disney creating queues at each station). The food is good though. There is also a proper Starbucks (something HRH did not have), though queues can be long here too.

There is a 7/11 just next door, but we were not impressed by the selection of items - eg no butter or cream cheese. There is a Walgreens across the road and also an ihop- though we haven’t been there. The thing about dockside is you are very aware you are outside the Disney security bubble or even the universal bubble you have in HRH. There are police cars going around all the time, on our first day we saw someone being arrested at the ihop (we watched through window after seeing the police car race up with sirens and lights) - being Australian this has made us very nervous of leaving the hotel grounds.

I would recommend dockside, especially the 2 bdr suite for the extra space and two tvs. Dockside doesn’t give the express pass but it is significantly cheaper than HRH that the cost is comparable if you just purchase those as extra if you have a small group.