Downtown Disney Hotels?

[PrincessAtta]

I'm reading: Each resort is a Walt Disney World ® Hotel and within walking distance of some of the area's finest shopping, dining and entertainment. Guests at any of our resorts in Orlando can also enjoy 99 holes of championship golf and a complimentary shuttle to all Disney ® Theme Parks, Disney ® Water Parks, and Downtown Disney ® Pleasure Island.

Best Western Lake Buena Vista Resort
Buena Vista Palace Hotel & Spa
Doubletree Guest Suites
Hilton Orlando Resort
Holiday Inn
Regal Sun Resort
Royal Plaza Resort

...and: The benefits of staying at a Downtown Disney ® Resort Area Hotel:
Complimentary shuttle service to Walt Disney World ® theme parks, water parks and other attractions
Disney tickets available for purchase at each hotel
Advance tee times and discounts at all five Disney golf courses
Disney gift stores located in each of our resorts in Orlando
Priority seating for Walt Disney World ® Resort dinner shows and theme park restaurants
Passport to Savings with exclusive discounts and specials on dining, entertainment and shopping

Anyone have any experience with these hotels?

Thanks in advance!

 

[spiceycat]

only Hilton has the EMH - you don't get DME either. two of my reasons for staying at a WDW property.

that say stayed in LBVBW and liked it. nothing fancy - definitely older hotel but nice.

stayed at RP -didn't like - it try to be something it isn't....

you also can't do the room charge thing or package deliver - like you can with WDW resorts.

 

[PrincessAtta]

renting car, no DME check
avoid EMH, check

promise of "priority seating..." seems suspect to me...do they mean they have WDW Concierge on site?

Is it WDW transportation or their own transportation? Anyone used it who can review reliability, convenience etc.?

I'm assuming "Passport to Savings" is for Orlando area attractions? Universal or Sea World included?

How is the Doubletree?

Thanks to spiceycat and anyone else who can help!

 

[Ratpack]

One thing I would warn about is the so called transportation to and from the parks, especially if you have small kids. What they don't tell you is they will take you to the parks and return from about an hour or so before opening until about 11am. Then they don't start running again until 3pm, so if you want to return between 11am and 3pm, you are on your own. We did this last summer for a couple days before our Poly stay and they told us this after we were on the bus. Not only us, but we saw several parents with small kids look at each other with surprise on their face. We managed to keep the kids occupied and they napped in the stroller until 3pm to go back to the hotel, but the second day we decided it wasn't worth it to go to a park and we would wait until the Poly. Perhaps this wouldn't be an issue for you, but they don't advertise this part for people to plan around, so I thought I would share.

 

[PrincessAtta]

CRITICAL information. Thank you!

 

[Perditamarie]

We stayed at the Regal Sun when it was Grovesnor (very dated then, but largish rooms w/ fridge, nice grab n go food in lobby, bland pool complex)...It is a block from DTD, so that was very convenient. We grabbed a shuttle to the park one day....seemed like we waited forever, and then when it finally got there, it went to 2-3 more hotels before finally to the park. As it wasn't a Disney shuttle, it could only drop us off in what seemed the middle of a giant parking lot. I was nervous I wouldn't remember where to pick it up again for the return trip! Catching a bus back to DTD and walking 1 block would be good for Regal Sun. HTH

 

[MollyMoo]

We have actually stayed at several of those hotels:The Doubletree, Hilton, Regal Sun, and Royal Plaza. We always prefer the Disney hotels but have done lots of spur of the moment trips and rooms are not always available. At any rate they are fine and preferable IMHO to staying off-off property. The transportation isn't fabulous (their own, not Disney) but we did regularly make trips back to the hotel mid-day and I never had problems remembering where to meet the bus at the end of the day. I personally liked the Regal Sun (formerly known as the Grosvenor) best as it was a short walk to downtown disney where you could hook up with a bus there. Priority seating simply means that you can make ADR's etc. from the hotel with the concierge.
Passport to savings is exactly what you guessed ... but not Universal or Sea World as I recall ... miniature golf, water parks, go-carts, etc.

If you want to go to WDW and cannot reserve or afford a disney resort these hotels are a viable alternative. You can also use hotel "points" at these hotels. DH travels a lot for business and we have had two stays at the Hilton and Doubletree ... free!

 

[FoodLover]

...they will take you to the parks and return from about an hour or so before opening until about 11am. Then they don't start running again until 3pm, so if you want to return between 11am and 3pm, you are on your own.

Sorry, but this is NOT true. The Downtown Disney hotels have continuous transportation starting from before the parks open until after the parks close. During non-peak (midday) hours the buses run only once per hour, vs. every half hour during peak times.

Mary
MouseSavers.com

 

[Ratpack]

Sorry, but this is NOT true. The Downtown Disney hotels have continuous transportation starting from before the parks open until after the parks close. During non-peak (midday) hours the buses run only once per hour, vs. every half hour during peak times.

Mary
MouseSavers.com

I am just stating what we were told while actually there at the Royal Plaza. Perhaps some of them do have continuous service but not all of them or at least not all the time.

 

[Kae]

We stayed at the BW on our first trip it was a travelLodge & we have stayed there on other trip either before or after our on site trip began or ended. Big rooms, good service food ok. 2 nights at the Old Marriott becoming HI if they ever reopen it was really nice again large rooms good service & we stayed 1 night at the DoubleTree when DS was a baby did not do any parks just DTD & Poly for dinner I thought it was really nice great rooms/suites got free cookies when we checked in extra bonus. And we stayed at the Wydham for 1 nite passing thru wanted to eat at Boma, wonderful staff we had a corner room that was really nice. and I bet the Bell Hop knew more about WDW than alot of the CM's at the ressie center.

Kae

We always used are own car at these resorts.

 

[spiceycat]

when I stayed at LBVBW - the buses came every half hour.

my problem was with MK and AK bus - it goes to both places. MK first.

but if you came back to the hotel before AK was closed - you had to go to AK first. that added about an hour to the trip.

my recommendations - at the MK walk over to the CR and take its DTD bus back and walk to your hotel. all the DTD resorts are close enough to walk to DTD. Now this is only necessary if you want to return from the MK before AK is closed that day.

now don't spread this around or disney will have some way to stop it.

the bus that goes to Epcot and studio is fine - they are pretty close together.

 

[PrincessAtta]

I guess the fact that this has been moved to the Orlando area board from the Disney Resorts board speaks to the "Walt Disney Hotel" relationship? Any concerns there?

Sounded closer than the Swan/Dolphin from a concierge standpoint, but lesser from transportation...

 

[Ratpack]

I would choose the Swan / Dolphin over any of the DTD hotels. There you get most if not all the same benefits as any of the actual Disney Resorts.

 

[Brian Noble]

I would think the level of service at either Swan or Dolphin will be at least as high as that at the DTD resorts.

promise of "priority seating..." seems suspect to me...do they mean they have WDW Concierge on site?

I'm going to guess this means only that you can call and make ADRs. You can do that staying with Uncle Lou in Lakeland, too.

 

[spiceycat]

I guess the fact that this has been moved to the Orlando area board from the Disney Resorts board speaks to the "Walt Disney Hotel" relationship? Any concerns there?

no, the moderators were just moving you to a board that will help you more.

the disney resort board is for disney resorts.

dtd is not disney.

they allow dolphin and swan there because they surport that board. if they didn't believe me they ould be put here too.

only Disney resorts plus the dolphin and swan are followed there.

they were only trying to help you.

 

[PrincessAtta]

Thanks, again, spiceycat, I do see your point. You can book Swan/Dolphin on the WDW site, however, and I don't think that's true here.

My experience at the S/D is that I can't use their concierge to check in to HDDR, for example, but can buy park tickets there and have them on my room key. I can't use said room key to charge purchases or meals on the room, and I don't think you can have purchases sent back to the room for you. I don't know if they offer ME, but you are eligible for EMH.

They say specifically on their website "Each resort is a Walt Disney World ® Hotel" and I guess I'm just trying to determine how far that relationship extends and how much of the benefits they pledge in my OP are true WDW services, or "like" services.

I'm grateful for everyone's input.

 

[Ratpack]

I think you will find that all the services are "like" services as none of the DTD hotels are actually part of Disney. Disney has a stake in the Swan and Dolphin, meaning they receive part of their revenues and can control the things they do there since Eisner was the one that requested they be built. All the hotels at DTD are other companies that bought or leased land adjacent to Disney and put their hotels up. So if you are going with the expectation to get the same amenities as the Swan, Dolphin or Disney resorts, you will most likely be disappointed. One hotel does have the access to EMH, but I think that might be the extend of it. From a business standpoint, Disney wouldn't want to share these benefits with other hotels as it would lessen the draw to their own resorts.

 

[Brian Noble]

The DTD resorts are "Walt Disney World" resorts only in the sense that they are on Disney owned land. The Hilton pays Disney for use of EMH. Otherwise, they are afforded none of the onsite perks, and have an entirely separate transportation system.

As an aside, Disney exerts minimial control over the swan/dolphin---they are third-party hotels, and disney does not have an ownership stake in them, but does receive licensing revenue, etc. Here is a short description of the relationship:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Walt_Disney_World_Swan#History

 

[Magalex]

These videos might help you decide which one fits your family:

http://www.downtowndisneyhotels.com/video.htm

 

[Ratpack]

As an aside, Disney exerts minimial control over the swan/dolphin---they are third-party hotels, and disney does not have an ownership stake in them, but does receive licensing revenue, etc. Here is a short description of the relationship:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Walt_Disney_World_Swan#History

Thanks, I didn't mean to imply they had a lot of control just some control as the article you posted is where I got my info as well.