Hotel Royal Plaza or Doubletree Suites

[stonewall1]

I currently have both hotels booked for Sept. 6 thru 14. I have never stayed at the Downtown Disney hotels and am not sure which would be the better hotel. Both properties are booked at great prices, Doubletree Suites being $22 more per night. Has anyone out there stayed at either hotel and can give advice. How do these hotels stack up against Disney resorts as far as location and ease of getting back and forth to the parks. Thanks for your help!

 

[Chris00731]

If you go to Mousesavers.com and click on Trip Reports, you can read a detailed report on when the moderator stayed at this hotel this year. I personally have booked this hotel for Sept 03 as well and have done my homework investigating the pros and cons. I still have yet to hear one negative thing about either of these hotels. Although good, you may want to investigate the transportation system of the downtown disney hotels whos buses only transport people to the TTC rather than individual parks. For this reason I decided to rent a car during my stay. If you have any specific questions about Downtown Disney, i have learned alot over the past few months and would be happy to help. Later, Chris.

 

[CantGetEnuf]

I'd thought I wanted to stay at the Doubletree suites, but recently read a couple of reviews at tripadvisor.com that were not complimentary...so I cancelled.

 

[Virgo10]

Originally posted by Chris00731
Although good, you may want to investigate the transportation system of the downtown disney hotels whos buses only transport people to the TTC rather than individual parks. For this reason I decided to rent a car during my stay. Chris.

Is that something new? I've stayed at both the Courtyard and the Royal Plaza. Both stays were several years ago and I remember getting dropped off right at MGM and EPCOT. I'm sure you're right about the MK. There is no bus stop for the DTD Hotels inside of the MK.

I am really starting to get frustrated with this game Disney is playing with the AP rates and would consider staying at the DTD hotels again. Especially the Royal Plaza which was beautiful. The buses are great. They keep to a fairly constant schedule. In fact there are times when they work out better than the Disney ones. You know when they're going to be there to pick you up at the parks to take you back to the hotel.

The only down side to the buses was the waterparks. If I recall correctly, they only had one or two trips to the parks in the morning and the same thing in the afternoon to get back to your hotel.

I wouldn't hesitate for a minutes to book a hotel at DTD. BTW, the Royal Plaza had the biggest room I've ever had in the whole of WDW!

Roberta

 

[tstobb]

We won't go back to the Doubletree.
We got to the room and the pull-out sofa was broken - you couldn't open it and it was very obvious that it had'n't closed properly - the seat was at an odd angle. The doors between the bedroom & living room didn't close all the way. The bathroom had cracked tiles. We called and they fixed the sofa ( on the 2nd night) but the doors never did close properly.
Worst of all, Hilton has a hard-sell time share booth in the lobby that they steer you past when you check in.
The busses do go directly to the parks except the MK.

 

[RitaZ.]

We have stayed at both hotels within the past year.

We stayed at the DT in September 2002 and the rooms are in definite need of renovation. The bathroom was the worst with peeling paint, mildew on the ceiling, loose fixtures. The staff was friendly, the breakfast buffet at the restaurant (can't remember the name) was very good. The pool area was nice, we went one time and had to leave right away due to a severe storm. We did take the bus to DTD one time at night, the seats are a lot more comfortable than Disney's buses. As for transportation to the theme parks, we never used it. If you go with young children, I think it's better to have your own transportation. The buses take too long and are often crowded, also the same bus stops at every DTD hotel.

We stayed at the RP in December 2002 and initially we had some problems. We stayed in the wing area and the carpet in that room was wet. Not sure what that was about, but we called the front desk right away and were given another room. The second room was fine with no problems and the carpet was dry. The staff was friendly, especially at the Giraffe Cafe (name ?). Their breakfast buffet was fine, not as good quality as the DT's buffet. The kids enjoyed their Mickey Waffles. We never used the pool at the RP, it was cold, but it looked nice.

I would definitely stay at the RP again and we'll be doing so next week. This time we upgraded to a tower room. As for the Doubletree, I don't think I would stay there again. At least not until the hotel is renovated.

 

[prader]

We are staying at the HRP next week, and I'll post when we get back to let you know how it was for us.
We got what I felt was a wonderful rate from Travelzoo......$65 a night, free upgrade to a deluxe tower room, $7 a day resort fee waived, and the 4th night was free....total for 4 nights was $217 and that is WITH tax.
We stayed at the Grand Floridian in July, but didn't make it to the Downtown Disney area, so looking forward to this.
Untill then.......