downtown disney resort area question

[P'colaFla]

My husband and I have a dis trip planned for September and we have been patiently waiting (as many have) for the ap or florida resident rates to become available. Today, I decided to make a ressie at CBR in hopes the rates will come out soon. If not, we are looking into staying at a downtown disney area hotel as a back up. We looked on Expedia last night and found some great rates for the Marriott, Hotel Royal, and Best Western. Because we have never stayed at any of these, we need a little help and info on them. Can anyone make any recommendations on these locations?.....just in case we don't get the discounts and we have to go to our back-up plan. Thanks.

 

[yecats]

Hi, check out mousesavers.com. Hotel Royal is one of the hotels that Mary occasionally stays at and gives a very nice opinion of. Additionally, she also has links for special discounts that she is able to provider to her readers.

Lastly, check out a site called biddingfortravel. This is a sister site to Priceline. Hilton in DTD frequently offers rooms not purchased to priceline for $60 per night. Scroll down the first page until you see the hotel section and see FL - WDW vicinity and click on that thread. The first thread that comes up next list the hotel which offer rooms on P.line. Click on the hotels to obtain their direct links (if you want to check out the amentities) and almost all of the hotels have adjacent reviews by people who have recently stayed there. Check it out as it is truly amazing.

Have fun.

 

[SnackyStacky]

Hi there!

I haven't stayed at the Best Western, but have stayed at both the Hotel Royal Plaza, as well as the Courtyard by Marriott.

Marriott: The Marriott has the biggest rooms on Disney property, including the Disney resorts. The rooms are spacious, and clean. The pool is nice, as is the hot tub. The staff was very attentive.
My only real problem with the Courtyard was the food. The restaurant had iffy hours, at best. They also had no room service when the restaurant didn't have hours. The snack counter had medicore choices. If you stay here, request a pool view tower room. If they can't get you pool view, TAKE A TOWER ROOM! The rear wing is REALLY far back, and after a long day at the parks, it's a LONG walk back. All of the rooms and views are the same, so you won't have to pay extra.

The Hotel Royal Plaza: I'll never understand why Mary rates this the way she does at Mousesavers.com Maybe if you have a tower room instead of a garden wing room, it's better. But the room was falling apart. There was rust and mold on the ceiling, large chunks of drywall were missing in the sink area of the bathroom. The hardware on the curtains fell asleep, and the paint was falling off of the patio door. There was one elevator servicing the ENTIRE wing. It was an incredibly long walk from the back. I didn't eat the restaurant, so I can't speak for the food.

The bussing system is the same for both of the properties. All the Downtown Disney hotels share a bus system. Many have said they've had problems with busses, but I have never had any problems. I've always had a seat, and knew when the busses would be in the parking lot as they were on a schedule. I've never had to wait for one, whereas I waited 20 minutes for a bus from MGM to Port Orleans Riverside.

If I had to choose between the two of them, I'd pick the Courtyard hands down. Any food problems were remedied by the fact that Downtown Disney was ronly about a 5-10 minute walk.

Sorry I can't help you with the Best Western. But it looks really nice, and if I could get a good rate, I'd stay there.

If you're looking for the "Disney Magic®", you won't find it. If you're looking for a clean, reasonably priced place to stay, you'll enjoy it, I'm sure.

 

[Kae]

I like the Best western, Large Rooms with balconies. Pool it's a pool. They also have some great views.

We stayed at the Courtyard this March for 2 days-got $29 on Priceline thru biddingfortravel.com. Liked BW better.

Kae

 

[tci1212]

SnackyStacky,
Your room at Hotel royal plaza sounds like the one we had. Very wet and mildewed all over it. Even the pull out sofa had black mildew on it. I almost slipped and fell on the green slimey balcony. That was the one and only time I stayed in Downtown Disney.

 

[BibbidiBobbidiBOO]

P'cola-I booked CBR end of Sept-Oct for $79 with the FL resident visa code. Do you have the Disney Visa?? If not, I still imagine FL rates will be out soon-they came out last time couple weeks after the Visa codes.
About HRP-We stayed there about 5 years ago and were in the Tower, facing DTD. It was wonderful. Everything seemed very new and luxurious. Big garden tub, pull our sofa bed and balcony. I am picky and it was great! Glad we had the tower from what others say! Still, we will only stay at WDW resorts now as the ambience of "Disney" is what we want.

 

[P'colaFla]

Yecats, thanks for the info.....I will be sure to check it out today. Hopefully I won't have to use it but just in case! Thanks again.

 

[P'colaFla]

Thanks to everyone for the info! I love these boards....they are so helpful!

Snackystacky, thanks for all that info. I will put it to good use.

Bibbidibobbidiboo, I saw that special being offered for the fl res. visa rate but unfortunately we don't have the card. I anticipate the fl res rates so I didn't want to apply for the card just for the rate but I will keep it in mind. We too always stay on property so I am a rookie for offsite areas. We were just thinking that in case we had to make that decision the downtown disney area would be the best option. I spoke to a CM yesterday and he too believed the fl res. rates would be out soon but he also reminded me that the ftp had helped them (disney) to fill alot of their rooms for that time-frame so I am hoping that hasn't messed me up. We didn't even consider the ftp because we can only be there for 4 days this trip and we already have our fl res. passes. Thanks again for the info and if you hear anything else about the fl res rates let me know! Hope you have a great trip! :->

 

[cocoapuff]

We have a ressie for December With Royal Plaza and I've been kinda concerned so I searched the boards for info. What I found?
1) Most every post I read regarding the wings or poolside rooms...Negative
2)Most every post I read regarding the tower rooms (supposedly newly renovated in the last few years) positive.
3) I'm keeping my fingers crossed and going for the executive tower king suite and hoping for the very best.
4) what decided me on the Royal plaza was indeed Mary @mousesavers report of a very recent trip which she enjoyed and was very pleased.
Hope your decision turns out to be the best choice....hope mine does too

 

[Spartan]

My wife and I have had short stays at the Courtyard and HRP. Both had large rooms, but I thought the HRP was much nicer - but we were in the tower. To me, it had more of a "resort" feel to it. I thought the pool was larger and nicer, and there were better food choices. We did have a better view of DTD from the Courtyard, and there was nothing in particular wrong with the room (we were on the top floor looking towards DTD), it just seemed a little dated. My biggest complaint was also about the lack of any food choices.