Holiday Inn Maig Gate East

[taysalyn]

I am leaving for Mickey World a week from today and boy am I excited! inkbounc inkbounc inkbounc

Will be staying in a Kid's Suite at the Main Gate Holiday Inn and will give a response if anyone is interested.

Can't wait to go!!!

Also going again in November with DH and DS and we are staying at the Caribe Royale. Got a great deal on the King Deluxe 2 Bedroom Suite and will let you know how it goes there.

Taysalyn

 

[MICOL]

Would love to hear your review, have a reservation for April KidSuite.

 

[taysalyn]

Sorry I havn't replied earlier but here is my review of the hotel.

I had 3 adults in the group. Just to give you a bit of background:

About 3 months prior to arriving, we contacted the hotel and asked many questions. One was very important and that was shuttle service. We were told that there was a shuttle to WDW every hour. That is the reason we decided not to rent a car.

Once at the airport, we decided to get a round trip hotel/airport transfer for $23.00 each person through Transtar.

We arrived at 12:30pm on Thursday. (early than expected) Checked in and deposited our luggage. Once we were ready to leave the hotel it was about 1:15pm. We went to the front reception area and asked about the next shuttle. We were then told that the next shuttle to WDW would be at 5:45pm and there would not be another one until the next day. Of course, we were very upset and spoke to the manager of the transportation department. He apologized but didn't offer any solution. We had to spend $20.00 on a cab to Disney MGM.

We spent the afternoon at MGM (had a blast!) and decided to go to Downtown Disney. We realized that once we were done there, we had to get another cab back to the hotel for another $20.00.

(will finish later, have to get back to work)

 

[2BOYMOM]

I'm very interested in hearing the rest of this.......

We're staying off-site in March (haven't decided where yet) and have been wondering about renting a car.

 

[tink2dw]

also interested in rest of your post!!

 

[taysalyn]

Once we were back at the hotel, the group decided that renting a car would be cheaper and less of a hassel than dealing with the shuttles from the hotel. I wish we had known this in advance because we could have picked up the car at the airport and been done with it. Plus, we wouldn't have wasted $69.00 on a round trip hotel/airport transfer which we weren't going to use now.

One person had to go back to the airport (using the transfer, which we had to call the night before) rent a car and then meet up with the other two at a pre-determined site. Because I had been to WDW several times and the other two in the group had not, we decided to meet at the TTC (ticket and transportation center). A word of warning, there are NO signs for this location. No directions to this area and most of the people working in gas stations in the area don't know what the TTC is. (quite a shocker) Everything worked out fine in the end but we spent about $150.00 that we could have spent on other things like pins. The car cost approx $109.00 for 3 days through Budget.

As for the hotel, the room was great. And would be ideal for a family of 4-6. There was a king and three singles. The bunks and a single was inside the "fort" There was only one trash can, plenty of towels, coffee maker, two televisions and the one in the "fort" was hooked up to a video game. (had to rent it, tho didn't check into if it worked when you bring your own games) We didn't eat at the hotel but it looked ok from what we saw.

Bottom line is if you are staying off property, rent a car. It is so much easier to get around and you aren't depending on other transportation. You can come and go when you are ready and driving is so easy. There are tons of signs for WDW, MK, MGM, AK, EPCOT, DTD and even the WDW Hotels. Plus if you park at MK, you can take a shuttle to anywhere. Also, you can reuse the parking passes during the same day. IE: if you park at AK, spend 2 hours there and decide to go to MK, just show the parking gate attendant the parking pass and they will wave you in. You don't have to pay for parking twice. It's only $6.00.

If you have any specific questions, feel free to ask and I will answer as best I can. My husband, son and I will be going back in November and staying at the Caribe Royale and I'm sure I'll be reviewing that one when we get back. Till then, think MICKEY!

taysalyn

 

[frenchchick]

It was great for our first time to Florida-(cheap rate/suite). But NEVER again!!!
poor service-THE DESK, great waiters however. They totally ignored both my daughters at kids check-in,totally unexcusable seeing that about five workers were lollygagging around desk!!! we had a room all the way in the back,Too far for preteens to walk to store at night.
and the house keeping was JUST BASIC (if that)didn't always vacuum. still we left tips EVERY morning hoping it would Perk up-to no avail.
Our room had bad electrical sockets-and our clock would just disconnect in the middle of night,not good if you want to be up very early!!
over all big bummer!!! but because of "DISNEY MAGIC" it was great at the end of a long day!
going back as often as possible,but gonna seek out new hotel locations!