My husband and I stayed at the Hotel Royal Plaza in July '03
(before renovations) for our honeymoon. It was actually a last minute decision after I happened to pick up a discount book in some Waffle House type of restaurant near Universal which had a coupon advertising rooms at HRP for something like $59/night!
(I wish I could remember the name of the book -- if anyone knows, could you post it?)
As if that wasn't a good enough deal, when we arrived I asked if they could give us any kind of free upgrade and they gave it to us!!! I think it might have had something to do with the white ears-and-veil headband I was wearing.
We stayed in either a Deluxe Tower Room or a Premiere Tower room (sorry, I don't know which it was) for several nights, and we were downgraded to a regular room when we added an extra day at the last minute (the afternoon of the extra day).
I thought the lobby with the glass elevator was beautiful.
Our Deluxe (or Premiere) Tower Room was gorgeous. We had a King Bed, very pretty and spacious sitting room with chairs and a sleeper sofa, and a big, beautiful bathroom with a big whirlpool tub and separate glass stand-up shower. This room put the CBR rooms to shame (I'd stayed there the year before -- although I
loved CBR's grounds and pool). The room was kept very clean every day, including a fresh supply of some really nice Bath & Body Works supplies and a new (adorable) rubber duckie every day. We had a view of Epcot from our tiny balcony. I just loved this room.
Our "regular" room was a standard tower room. After our beautiful deluxe room, I was very disappointed. It was not as nice as CBR, although still cleaner than CBR. The room was okay, slightly toned down, but the bathroom was just ugly. It was hard to believe we were in the same building. Well, at least they still let us stay for the low $59.
The pool was plain, but clean, large, and relatively quiet, which we appreciated. We never had a chance to see the pool bar open. I don't know if that was because we came out too late in the evening, or because it was July.
My husband loved that there was a pool table in the tavern. I thought the on-site restaurant was average, although the daily buffet was quite nice.
The staff was very nice to us during check-in and the line was short, but we had to wait a short time for a manager to come down to approve our use of the great coupon -- he had to see it to believe it. The line was fairly long during check-out, but we were treated nicely. When we came back later that day, the staff seemed exasperated with our last minute room request. (They could have just said no, rather than click tongues and make us feel like we were putting them out.) Either we just got lucky with the first desk clerk, or we were just plain unlucky with the last one. Not quite Disney staff.
There was a
Disney store off the hotel lobby. We bought our Disney passes there, and a
real Disney staffer welcomed us by taking our picture for us and giving us a free Magic Moment certificate (which now hangs on our wall!)
Staying at a Downtown Disney hotel, we were able to use the free, regular bus transportation to the parks. I think it's a different system from the Disney resort busses, and we did notice. The Downtown Disney hotel busses were mostly reliable and less crowded, though they didn't come as frequently as the official Disney busses do. The drivers are not Disney either. We once had an especially
long wait getting back to the hotel from Downtown Disney when the stores closed, but overall it was still better than off-site hotels I think.
We're thinking of going back to HRP again when we go back to WDW this fall, this time with our three kids (two of his and one of mine -- blended family) because, with five people, the price (even full price) can't be beaten. Their rooms with double beds and sitting room sleep 6! We'll definitely get one of the nicer rooms again.
(I hope this wasn't way too long -- it's my first post!)
