We returned a week ago from WDW. Stayed at the DoubleTree. The walk to DTD is 10-15 min. Its a nice walk if the weather co-operates but I couldn't imagine walking it in the summer heat.
The buses ran every 30 minutes to the parks. The water parks have 2 buses per day, one in the morning and one in the afternoon. We were there in early May and the buses were sometimes full (sitting) but there was still standing room. Bus time to most parks seemed to be 20 minutes (Animal Kingdom took a bit longer).
The rooms were clean, no musty smell. The beds in the bedroom had very comfortable mattresses and nice warm down duvets. Lots of pillows(down). The sofa bed in our room didn't have a new mattress but it was OK. We put the kids on in a couple of nights and they didn't complain. The kitchenette had a small fidge (very cold), microwave and tiny sink. There is no storage room in the kitchen for your food items we had to store our snacks on the counter in the dressing area. The kitchen would be OK for reheating leftovers or making sandwiches beyond that I wouldn't attempt it.
The pool is a good size. Shallow and a nice deep end. No slide. There is also a kiddie pool. The pool was empty most of the time we were there so our kids had it to themselves.
The games room is in a separate building out next to the pool area. We didn't use it at all. No time!!! But it looked as though it had some fun games.
Would I recommend a car? If you like to be somewhere when you want to be there. Yes. If you can work around a bus schedule, then the bus schedule worked well for us. Remember to ask the driver what time they leave the pick-up area. That way you can time your park exit accordingly. It was really nice to not have to worry about negotiating the roads on Disney property. We enjoyed the bus but I think it is a personal preference.
Overall we would stay here again. The staff at the hotel were great! We didn't get the $79-99 rates you get in September. Those rates are unbeatable. At $119 in May I felt we had great value for our money. You really are in the room only to sleep. We spent most of our time in the parks or the water parks
