Downtown Disney Resort Area Hotel ?

[Zandy595]

We always stay on Disney property (usually at POP), but when I checked prices for a night in July it was too expensive ($143 total).

DH suggested a DTD hotel. I don't have a clue about any of them, so I need help.
What are they like?
Do you have to pay resort, parking or any other fees?
Are they close enough to safely walk to DTD?

 

[heartse]

We always stay at the DoubleTree in DTD, and we really like it. The pool is not as fancy as a Disney pool, but it's still nice... and we can go swimming at home so it's not a deal breaker for us.

The rooms are VERY spacious - 1 bedroom and a living room with a pull-out couch for our DD. And with the Mousesavers or Allears rates you can get free breakfast every day. We have found the staff to be very nice.

You do have to pay a parking fee, I think it's $10 a night, and if you want internet in your room you have to pay for that as well, but they have a couple computers down in the lobby that you can use for free.

There's a bus that will take you to the parks and to DTD. The DoubleTree is the last one on the strip, so it would be a bit of a walk to get to DTD, but it's doable if you are interested. They also have a Disney gift shop in the lobby.

Let me know if you have any other questions...

 

[Grumpy92]

We usually do the same thing, but Pop was too much for us as well. So we booked at the Hilton at WDW. We have stayed there before for a convention. Love the location easy, quick walk across the street to DTD. We love walking across the street for more food options.

On the higher floors you overlook DTD and can see the fireworks at Epcot and MK.
Check the rates frequently. We were able to get as low as $79. $13 for parking.

Staff is friendly, rooms clean, bus service to parks at the hotel or catch the Disney buses to everywhere else at DTD.

Pretty much all the Orlando hotels charge for parking these days. Disney is one of the few that doesnt.

 

[raladdin1]

Curious...how frequent are the shuttles? Were they convenient to use? Staying at Doubletree in March. Lots of positives on stay. Just not a lot of comments on shuttle system.

 

[a1tinkfans]

Curious...how frequent are the shuttles? Were they convenient to use? Staying at Doubletree in March. Lots of positives on stay. Just not a lot of comments on shuttle system.

 

[jennabcassell]

I see that this was started almost a year ago, but I was wondering the same thing. We want to go for a quick night in Feb and Pop was $122 Caribbean Beach $166, DTD Hilton $135 so we thought we might give it a try. We ALWAYS stay on property and I'm a little nervous about not doing it because we usually book the dining plan, but with the prices jumping this year.....

 

[bakie21]

I stayed at the DTD Hilton a few years ago and it was very nice. Much nicer than POP. You still get extra magic hours and transportatin to the park as well as being able to walk to DTD. I would always stay here vs the so called Values. But I would always take the Mods and Deluxe hotels over off property.

 

[Trek Girl]

Curious...how frequent are the shuttles? Were they convenient to use? Staying at Doubletree in March. Lots of positives on stay. Just not a lot of comments on shuttle system.

Shuttles come about every half hour. Each side of the street has its own shuttle. I've stayed at DTD hotels three times, and I've always found their shuttle system very convenient and easy to use.

 

[Kellykins1218]

We stayed at the Royal Plaza last spring and loved it. Prices were much cheaper than on property though we did have to pay for parking. The buses were extremely reliable and ran every 30 minutes. We would definitely stay there again.

 

[jeff968]

This is the reviews section of the site (see the sticky above). You might want to post ypour question here:

http://www.disboards.com/forumdisplay.php?f=15

 

[SweetPeasMom2]

We have stayed at the Buena Vista Palace twice. We really enjoyed it. The pool is fun. They have several activities around the grounds. You can book an Epcot few and see the fireworks at night. I wouldn't hesitate to stay again. I think there may be a resort fee but I don't believe there is a parking fee.

ETA: You can walk right across into DTD.

 

[nichanda]

I also prefer the DTD area hotels over the Disney Value resorts. I just love the location. We really enjoy being able to walk to DTD anytime we want, without having to catch buses. There is always so much entertainement there in the evening, it is nice just to walk down and check it out. Not to mention all of the shopping & dining options in DTD.

We stayed at the Holiday Inn WDW last year for 10 days. No complaints at all. The hotel is the newest of the bunch, and was very nice, clean and well maintained.

It took about 5-10 mins to walk to DTD (depending on how quickly you walk). The walking path/sidewalk was very nice the whole way along that street. It felt very safe. There is also an offsite shopping plaza at the other end of the street, which was nice to be able to walk to.

We found the busing system great. Very reliable, ran every 30 mins. We never get a car when we are there, and never have a problem. I can't comment on the parking fee, as we didn't use it.

I would stay at the Holiday Inn WDW again without hesitation. It was a great vacation. However, the next time we go, we are going to try the Hilton (which is next door to the Holiday Inn), as it has EMH.

 

[Rikkilee]

We recently stayed at the royal plaza, and as good of a hotel as it was we had numerous things stolen from our room, so I would not recommend it to anyone!

We were only staying there to do dtd and universal, but we could have got cheaper at a moderate in Disney.

But other than things getting stolen it was fine.

 

[bluejasmine]

We have stayed twice at Hilton DTD and three times at Best Western DTD and just booked Holiday Inn DTD on Orbitz for a great price. We always use a DTD hotel for one or two nights before checking into our WDW resort, you cant beat the location and it allows us to play in DTD and eat, a great start to our Disney Vacation every year!