Downtown Disney Hotels?

[MamaKate]

Do the hotels in Downtown Disney area offer Early Entry or is this only offered to WDW resorts?

Also do the shuttles from the DTD hotels drop you off at the entrance of the MK (like the WDW resorts) or do they drop you off at the parking lot area?

Which DTD hotels are the best?

Thanks for any help??

,
Katherine

 

[mowsearz]

I will try my best to answer all of your questions...

Early Entry is offered thru Wyndham Palace and Hilton...I think that is it, not too sure.

The shuttles drop you off at the TTC for the Magic Kingdom, not at the gate....
Best DTD hotels...It depends on how much you want to pay....
For resort atmosphere, the Wyndham is nice, and I have heard that the Hilton is also. A cheaper rate can be found at the Grosvenor, a little old, but clean...they also have Goofy and Pluto at breakfast 3 days a week at no additional charge....
Stayed at Courtyard by Marriott several years back and didn't care for it too much...cleanliness wasn't the issue if I recall...I think it was restaurant accomidations.
Some friends have stayed rather cheaply at the LBV Best Western at the end of Hotel Plaza Blvd but it is still within the DTD area...the have gotten it several times on priceline for $25.00 even at NYE....they said that it is okay...clean and worth that price...
Hope this will help....
Mowsearz

 

[kiely]

I just made resvations at Grosvenor (55/night with Entertaiment Book!) and they DO NOT offer EE. Hope that helps.

 

[stacy6552]

Ok we are going to be staying at the wyndham ppalace next month, and i just called them about this. They do participate in EE days, she said, though im not that confident in that we understood each other. the hilton does as well.

we chose the wyndham because for about the same money we were getting more amenities like two queen beds instead of two doubles as well as playstation.

There is a bus direct from teh resort to the parks, you dont have to walk to DD. But its close enough that you can walk there to catch a bus to the wdwresorts for a characture breakfast or something.

 

[dahess]

HRP does not participate in the Extra Magic Hour

 

[Luv2Travel]

We stayed at the Wyndham Palace last October, and at that time the resort did not participate in EE. As far as I know and understand, the Hilton is the only DD resort or hotel that participates in EE. I believe they must pay WDW a fee to do so. Wyndham Palace was a nice hotel, at least for what we paid for it. I got it on priceline for around $65. The location was very convenient. We did walk across to DD several times. I'll be staying at the Hilton in a couple of weeks, I'll give more info then, if you'd like.

 

[MamaKate]

Thanks everyone for the replies!! I was trying to decide if I should try priceline.com & go for a DTD resort or just pay the extra money and stay on-site. I'm not too concerned with the EE, but I was concerned with the shuttles & parking fee. Do DTD resorts offer free parking at the theme parks for guest? If they do, I think I'll stay at a DTD resort.

Thanks,
Katherine

 

[mowsearz]

They have never had a free parking offer when I stayed at DTD resorts...It might be something new but I wouldn't count on it because each offers a shuttle..
We get parking for free with our annual passes so it was never an issue for us.
Sorry....

 

[marybet]

We stayed at the Courtyard by Marriot in Sept. 01. At that time they did offer EE. Since it was right after 9/11 the parks were not crowded. The shuttle service was excellent, we only used the car to go to Universal. They did not offer free parking at the parks. The shuttle runs every 30 minutes and the bus was much nicer than the Disney busses.