Has anyone stayed at Renaissance Sea World?

[Disney grandma]

We are planning a trip to Disney and will spend a day at Sea World before we check into our DVC. Has anyone stayed at the Renaissance? It looks very nice in pictures but was wanting some first hand information if possible.

 

[pandora174]

Not the answer you were looking for. My friend stayed there & said the hotel was beautiful, the inside was amazing. We're going 2/13 & 2/14 & got the Renaissance for $70 through Priceline I als checked some reviews from tripadvisor.com & they were all very favorable.

Hopefully someone whose stayed there can chime in. I "think" they do charge for self-parking around $12 & $14.95 for wi-fi. But I'm still happy that we can walk to Seaworld !

 

[Disney grandma]

Thank you. Walking to sea world is a big plus. We are also going to DD so don't know if we should stay in that area and walk to DD or stay in the Seaworld area and walk to Seaworld. The rate isn't as low for our dates in March so guess I will have to weigh the two options and make a decision soon. Hopefully you will be able to report on your trip!

 

[kathy884]

The Renaissance looks beautiful. We've never stayed there, though, as we usually go for something a little less expensive. We don't get the great Priceline deals, as we want to specifically get a hotel walking distance to Sea World. We usually for a short Sea World get away stay at the Hilton Garden Inn just up the street from the Renaissance. We walk to Sea World from there, and they have a shuttle too. It's your typical three star Hilton Garden Inn property -- nice rooms with mini frig and microwave, resturant with reasonable, tasty food and reasonably priced room service, and a nice pool / jacuzzi area. You might be looking for something a little more upscale, but I thought I'd mention this, as I think it's really nice and we always enjoy staying here. The staff there are wonderful too. We stayed there last October for three nights and are doing another three night stay in March.

 

[kathy884]

Also Pandora174, Your Rennissance stay for $70 sounds terriffic. What a great deal! One of these years, I'm going to do a mini trip to Orlando, plan on a rental car, have flexiblity in a short stay regarding where I stay, and try out Piceline bidding for four star properties.

So far my trips have usually been condo rental from owners (Lake Buena Vista area but offsite of Disney) for week long stays, freebie stays on Disney property due to conferences, or booking a hotel walking distance to Sea World (no rental car or parking fee then for a mini stay). We love all the Orlando theme parks, but Sea World is our all time favorite.

 

[Disney grandma]

I have never booked through Priceline. Do you know which hotel you are commiting to before you give a credit card number?

 

[kathy884]

No, you commit before you know your hotel. I've never used priceline before, but I've read a bit about it, and my mom uses it for hotels in Chicago. My understanding is that you select an area, number of stars, and price you would be willing to pay and find out if any hotels accept your bid. You don't have the option to say yes or no. You say yes by placing a bit, and see if there is a hotel that says yes back. This is great for people who just want a place to stay in the area with a certain number of stars and don't have lots of specific requirements. If, for example, like on our next trip, though, we want to be walking distance to Sea World, it would be quite risky to do priceline. Even though the Hilton Garden Inn and Rennissance come up for people sometimes, it would be highly likely that if someone accepted a bid I placed, I would get a place near Sea World, but far enough away that I would need a shuttle, bus, or rental car to get there, and I want to be able to walk. There is a website called www.betterbidding.com (forum actually) that people read and get advice from for doing bidding.

 

[sand2270]

I stayed there for a work conference. It was a few year's ago, so details are a little fuzzy. We ended up on the concierge level the first night, I do remember nice robes in the rooms .

I remember the room being fine, the hotel has a lot of water features...fountains, etc. The pool area is also nice. Most of the food I ate there was food from the conference, standard conference fare. I do have a little rubber shamu that I believe was in the room.

 

[pandora174]

No, you commit before you know your hotel. I've never used priceline before, but I've read a bit about it, and my mom uses it for hotels in Chicago. My understanding is that you select an area, number of stars, and price you would be willing to pay and find out if any hotels accept your bid. You don't have the option to say yes or no. You say yes by placing a bit, and see if there is a hotel that says yes back. This is great for people who just want a place to stay in the area with a certain number of stars and don't have lots of specific requirements. If, for example, like on our next trip, though, we want to be walking distance to Sea World, it would be quite risky to do priceline. Even though the Hilton Garden Inn and Rennissance come up for people sometimes, it would be highly likely that if someone accepted a bid I placed, I would get a place near Sea World, but far enough away that I would need a shuttle, bus, or rental car to get there, and I want to be able to walk. There is a website called www.betterbidding.com (forum actually) that people read and get advice from for doing bidding.

Exactly. It's almost an art form. I use the website mentioned & also biddingfortravel as references. This tells me what stars are in each area & what hotels come up. So I have a general idea when I bid for 4 stars what hotels I could get & I was ok with that. Since we're local we don't worry about transportation, we are looking for the ammenities. So these websites let you know what other people have goten in these areas so you don't overbid & also strategies on how to bid over & over. Priceline gives you 2 chances to change your bid & then you have to wait a few day. By adding areas that don't have 4 stars (for example), I could keep re-bidding until I got my hotel without having to wait days till Priceline let me re-bid,

Sounds confusing I know but those websites are very informative. I've gotten some awesome deals in the past in Orlando, ex. The Peabody, Celebration Hotel. Priceline is not for everyone though

 

[leslie@dvcstore]

It's actually a beautiful hotel we had our wedding reception there, very nice hotel.