DTD Best Western or Doubletree?

[frogmommy]

Hi-

I tried to post a thread earlier so I apologize if this is something of a repeat.

We are booking a trip for a large group (think high school marching band). Our choices are the Best Western Lake Buena Vista, Doubletree, or All Star Movies. The BW is the cheapest and we are told newly renovated. Can anybody coment on the redo?

ASM would be the most expensive, but being on property I'm thinking they would have better transportation.

Thoughts?

 

[Phrank40]

I can't comment on Doubletree but I have stayed at Best Western couple of times in past year. It has had some renovations over the past several years and looks pretty good. I think most the rooms have 2 queen size beds which would be good if you are putting four band members to a room.

My daughter is in marching band, and she has made the Disney World band trip a couple of times over past 3 years. My biggest concern with a large group like a band staying at Best Western would be having a large number of teenagers ages 15-18 or so staying in rooms with balconies. While I trust my daughter I just would not want her and a bunch of fellow band memberes out on a balcony 20 stories up. Now if Best Western could guarantee you just the lower couple of floors would be used for the band maybe that would work.

Anyhow, I like the Best Western, convenient to Downtown Disney, and usually I can find a really good rate.

Phrank

 

[frogmommy]

I can't comment on Doubletree but I have stayed at Best Western couple of times in past year. It has had some renovations over the past several years and looks pretty good. I think most the rooms have 2 queen size beds which would be good if you are putting four band members to a room.

My daughter is in marching band, and she has made the Disney World band trip a couple of times over past 3 years. My biggest concern with a large group like a band staying at Best Western would be having a large number of teenagers ages 15-18 or so staying in rooms with balconies. While I trust my daughter I just would not want her and a bunch of fellow band memberes out on a balcony 20 stories up. Now if Best Western could guarantee you just the lower couple of floors would be used for the band maybe that would work.

Anyhow, I like the Best Western, convenient to Downtown Disney, and usually I can find a really good rate.

Phrank

Thanks for the reply. I wouldn't have thought about the balconies posing a risk, so I'm glad you mentioned it.
I've stayed on property many times and I admit I'm spoiled by it, but saving the band money is a priority. We will be going either the week before or after Easter (I forget when Easter is) so the main concerns now are transportation and crowd control. If we felt better about those we would go ahead and book the BW, otherwise I think we will end up at AS Music.

 

[black562]

We stayed at the Best Western on Sept. 8 and 9 and I wasn't impressed. The room had a musty smell and halfway through the night while I was sleeping, a spring popped out of the mattress and into my back...kinda hurt too. I'm not sure about the other hotels in the DTD area but would be interested in knowing for the future. We usually stay somewhere the first two nights of our trip so we can mill around Orlando before checking into the Disney resort. I would be interested in hearing reports of the other DTD hotels such as Grosvenor, Doubletree, Holiday Inn, Wyham Palace, Royal Plaza and Hilton.

 

[frogmommy]

We stayed at the Best Western on Sept. 8 and 9 and I wasn't impressed. The room had a musty smell and halfway through the night while I was sleeping, a spring popped out of the mattress and into my back...kinda hurt too. I'm not sure about the other hotels in the DTD area but would be interested in knowing for the future. We usually stay somewhere the first two nights of our trip so we can mill around Orlando before checking into the Disney resort. I would be interested in hearing reports of the other DTD hotels such as Grosvenor, Doubletree, Holiday Inn, Wyham Palace, Royal Plaza and Hilton.

Thank you for posting this! What did you think of the bus system?

I don't know about the other hotels. We briefly looked into the Holiday Inn but apparently they suffered extensive hurricaine damage last year and are closed for rehabs until April. We were also looking into the Doubletree but as of last night eliminated it as a choice. Any savings we would have made up by staying there would have been spent on breakfast.

 

[HopperFan]

Have had my kids go with HS trips to WDW and they are returning again this year. My condition of them going is they must be staying in a WDW resort. When the kids all spread out and go to different parks I want them on WDW transportation. I don't want any worries that the less scheduled bus will be missed. I also feel like WDW resorts have much better security, particularly at night when they are all due back to the hotel. Also it will probably be cheaper for them to eat at the AS food court than traveling over to DTD to eat.

When DD's MS was going they were not staying a WDW resort, I would not let her go and then later they changed it to a WDW resort......

ps Read up on Mousesaver's about Doubletree, our family is staying there next trip based on her information and we are getting breakfast included......but we plan to drive to all the parks.

pss Stayed at Grosvenor and it was awful.

 

[BoatDrinks]

We stayed one night at the BW (08/27) and I am not a fan of it. The bed was not good at all (the thing was almost like a trampolene - one small movement from one of us would wake the other). Neither DW or myself got a good night's sleep there. Not sure I would stay there again. We checked into the POFQ the next day and it was much better even though the beds were smaller we slept through the night soundly.

 

[frogmommy]

Have had my kids go with HS trips to WDW and they are returning again this year. My condition of them going is they must be staying in a WDW resort. When the kids all spread out and go to different parks I want them on WDW transportation. I don't want any worries that the less scheduled bus will be missed. I also feel like WDW resorts have much better security, particularly at night when they are all due back to the hotel. Also it will probably be cheaper for them to eat at the AS food court than traveling over to DTD to eat.

When DD's MS was going they were not staying a WDW resort, I would not let her go and then later they changed it to a WDW resort......

ps Read up on Mousesaver's about Doubletree, our family is staying there next trip based on her information and we are getting breakfast included......but we plan to drive to all the parks.

pss Stayed at Grosvenor and it was awful.

Thank you for the reply. I had similar concerns about transportation and security, especially given the time of year we are going. And my husband is the band director, so I'm all for anything that might make this trip less stressful (there's nothing like being in charge of 140 high school students).

I actually read about Doubletree on Deb's digest and saw the offer for the breakfast voucher. I would seriously consider staying there if it was just our little family and a different time of year.

I think I saw your comments about the Grovsner on another thread.

 

[frogmommy]

We stayed one night at the BW (08/27) and I am not a fan of it. The bed was not good at all (the thing was almost like a trampolene - one small movement from one of us would wake the other). Neither DW or myself got a good night's sleep there. Not sure I would stay there again. We checked into the POFQ the next day and it was much better even though the beds were smaller we slept through the night soundly.

Ugh, I hate uncomfortable beds. Thank you!

 

[bootc3]

Just stayed at the LBV Best Western this weekend. Got the hotel through priceline for $39 a night. While the lobby and pool are nice, my wife and I thought the rooms were terrible. The first room we had was crawling with ants and no doors on the outdated Tv stand. When moved to the next room the mattress was horrible. We will not be staying here again that is for sure. We did not use the transportation. I would stay on site if it is at all possible. I would think the transportation to be much more reliable and food choices better for a large group.

 

[frogmommy]

Just stayed at the LBV Best Western this weekend. Got the hotel through priceline for $39 a night. While the lobby and pool are nice, my wife and I thought the rooms were terrible. The first room we had was crawling with ants and no doors on the outdated Tv stand. When moved to the next room the mattress was horrible. We will not be staying here again that is for sure. We did not use the transportation. I would stay on site if it is at all possible. I would think the transportation to be much more reliable and food choices better for a large group.

Oh man, I would be so upset if that happened to me! Thank you for the info. We decided to go with the ASMovies. I think they will be worth the extra money.