How has Nick Hotel been lately? Any better

[Disney Fans]

Ok now, we are heading out to the Nick Hotel and checking in less then 24 hours from now!!
When I get back next week I will let you all know how it went!!
Wish us a good trip!!!

 

[huntersmom]

Have a great trip Disney Fans!!!!!!!!!! I can't wait to get your report/ advice upon your return. We will be there 2/2-2/9 so any tips/ info is eagerly awaited and appreciated.

 

[southtexasmom]

We stayed at Nick in July 2006 for a week, it was fine, but not Disney. My kids loved the pools. We will be staying there 1 night in August 2008 just for the pools.

 

[Disney Fans]

Hello!

We just got back from staying 2 nights at the Nick hotel last week and then onto 3 nights at Disneys Animal Kingdom Lodge.
The hotel was nice and was clean. The pool was SUPER GREAT!! Kids loved it. And the shows were fun and cute. Lots of life guards around. The rooms were good but more to me like a nice hotel for kids,etc.( I would compare them more like the value resorts -like a Disney Pop with an extra bedroom and extra sitting area room and little kitchen area but a MUCH better pool and added things like the shows and things to do with the kids- which the values don't have). Sound inside the room was ok.
We had a pool view room at the lagoon side which was great! And since the pool closes at 10:00pm or maybe it was 10:30pm, either way, you don't have to worry about people and noise at night so it is ok to put kids to bed around 10:00pm and not worry about noise keeping you up.
The food was ok like most hotels, but I wouldn't say it was 1st class ?But still it wasn't bad either. We did the Breakfast with with Blue, Dora, Diego, Spongbob and Squidwarth ( not sure on spelling.LOL). It was fun for the kids. The pool was so great that we just stayed at the hotel for the whole 1st day of our trip.LOL
Tips:
1) I would try to get an upgrade to a pool view!! It is so much fun! I would stay at the lagoon side pool because the other pool side is much smaller.
2) I say do one whole day of fun at the pool and stay around, play the games and just enjoy the day there.
3) The hotel is so close to everything like Downtown Disney ( maybe 5 min)
the other parks just about 10 mins. So not far to travel anywhere.
4) Meals just depends on what you like to eat. You don't have to do the breakfast to see them, but it was the only time I did see SpongBob around so it you or your kids are a big SB fan the you might want to do the Breakfast so you can take a photo of him.
Pool is heated so you can swim in winter even when it is just around 70 degrees but going down the sides is when you can get cold but the kids just jump right back into the pool again.
It is late and I am still jet lagged so I will try and get ready for bed and if you have any questions, just let me know and I will try and answer them.
Thanks everyone for your help about this hotel and hope I am able to help others about the Nick hotel.

 

[huntersmom]

Thank You Disney Fans for your report, I have been anxiously waiting for it!!!!!! It does not sound like you used the resort transportation to any parks, but did you get any info about it? I am needing to know about drop off and pick up times throughout the day from Nick Hotel to US/ IOA and SeaWorld. Thanks for any help and your great hotel review!

 

[Disney Fans]

Thank You Disney Fans for your report, I have been anxiously waiting for it!!!!!! It does not sound like you used the resort transportation to any parks, but did you get any info about it? I am needing to know about drop off and pick up times throughout the day from Nick Hotel to US/ IOA and SeaWorld. Thanks for any help and your great hotel review!

Thanks we did have fun at the Nick hotel.
No, we didn't end up using the bus from Nick to the parks because we had a car for two of the days while we were at the Nick hotel.
I did see the paper that shows the times to the other parks including US/IOA and Sea World. I don't recall the times but it did offer several times a day for taking you there and dropping off at the parks. So I wouldn't worry about that if I were you. But you can call the hotel and ask them the times to be sure. They should be able to tell you in detail. It did look like you would need do some kind of sign up sheet in the main lobby for the parks. They asked us about that at check in time and we said we had a car and didn't need to do it but it is included in the price of the resort fee. Also there is no daily parking fee if you have a car, it also is included in the resort daily fee.
We were going to go to the US parks one day but then because the pool and hotel had some many fun things to do we asked the kids and they wanted to stay at the hotel and play there. So keep that in mind when you come.
When we checked prices of a taxi and other services to take us to the hotel and back from the air port plus to the Disney hotel it was much cheaper for us to just rent a car, so that is why we just rented for 2 days and then dropped our car off at the Disney Car center after checking into the AKL hotel. That way we didn't have to take the rental car back to the airport again,etc.
Hope this helps you and if you have anymore questions please let me know.
I know you will have So much fun on your trip!!!

 

[huntersmom]

Thank you again Disney Fans for the info. I am used to coming and going as we please to and from parks at Disney using their contstant transportation system and we will be at Nick Hotel for 7 nights without a car and I was under the impression ( I think from a previous post) that transportation to the parks (IOA/US and SeaWorld) was like one pick up and one drop off per day so going with a 5 year old I was a little nervous and also may want to do half days at the parks and spend the warmer afternoons at the Nick Hotel pool. You have made me relax at bit and feel better just knowing you noted several trips each day. Thanks again. Also, is everything provided in room to use their coffee pots?( filters, coffee, sugar, cremer etc?) and did you eat at any of the fast food places ( subway, pizza hut and A&W) in the food court and how were they? Also, were the pool snack/ food shops open this time of year?

 

[pilferk]

Thank you again Disney Fans for the info. I am used to coming and going as we please to and from parks at Disney using their contstant transportation system and we will be at Nick Hotel for 7 nights without a car and I was under the impression ( I think from a previous post) that transportation to the parks (IOA/US and SeaWorld) was like one pick up and one drop off per day so going with a 5 year old I was a little nervous and also may want to do half days at the parks and spend the warmer afternoons at the Nick Hotel pool. You have made me relax at bit and feel better just knowing you noted several trips each day. Thanks again. Also, is everything provided in room to use their coffee pots?( filters, coffee, sugar, cremer etc?) and did you eat at any of the fast food places ( subway, pizza hut and A&W) in the food court and how were they? Also, were the pool snack/ food shops open this time of year?

I can offer some answers.

There were filters, small coffee packets, sugar, and non-dairy (powdered) creamer in the room from what I remember. The only thing I'm hazy on is the creamer, because we didn't use it...we had milk with us, so didn't need it.

We ate at Subway and pizza hut just as we arrived. It was OK. Typically subway and pizza hut fair...that is "fast food" sandwiches (though with some healthier options) and "fast food" pizza. Keep in mind, the "kids eat free" is sorta nice, but you're limited by 2 restrictions: What they offer (for example, at pizza hut you're ONLY offered the kids sized cheese pizza..if you want pepperoni, you pay .50) and the fact you HAVE to buy an adult combo meal AT THE SAME COUNTER. That means, if you want subway and your little guy wants pizza hut....you might have a fight on your hand. At least that's the way it was explained to us...maybe the person waiting on us was confused. In all honestly, she seemed to be, so....

 

[huntersmom]

Thanks pilferk! I had no idea the kids eat free applied to the food court restaurants ( subway etc). That is a pleasant surprise and will be huge for us! With regards to the sit down restaurant at the hotel, do they only offer a buffett or do they have a menu you can order off of say for bfast, lunch and dinner rather then getting an entire ( and i am sure pricey) buffett at every meal? Sometimes we may just want pancakes, or a burger etc.

 

[pilferk]

Thanks pilferk! I had no idea the kids eat free applied to the food court restaurants ( subway etc). That is a pleasant surprise and will be huge for us! With regards to the sit down restaurant at the hotel, do they only offer a buffett or do they have a menu you can order off of say for bfast, lunch and dinner rather then getting an entire ( and i am sure pricey) buffett at every meal? Sometimes we may just want pancakes, or a burger etc.

I think some of that depends on the time of year.

When we went (couple weeks ago) the main "buffet" was shuttered and only the TS/character buffet restuarant was open. For breakfast, it's character buffet or maybe food court (though I didn't explore the food court breakfast offerings, if any).

For dinner, you could order off the menu OR eat from the buffet. We actually chose the buffet because the menu prices, IMHO, were crazy. Really crazy. Like I would have expected 3 or 4 star food for those prices. But the option remains, if you want it.

For lunch, the only option when we were there were the food court offerings

All of which might change when it's busier and the "other" buffet is open....or maybe we were just unlucky and it was closed for refurb. Not sure.

There's also TONS of restaurants in the area, so you can always take a quick offsite jaunt (taxi ride, maybe) to eat at one of those.

 

[Disney Fans]

Thank you again Disney Fans for the info. I am used to coming and going as we please to and from parks at Disney using their contstant transportation system and we will be at Nick Hotel for 7 nights without a car and I was under the impression ( I think from a previous post) that transportation to the parks (IOA/US and SeaWorld) was like one pick up and one drop off per day so going with a 5 year old I was a little nervous and also may want to do half days at the parks and spend the warmer afternoons at the Nick Hotel pool. You have made me relax at bit and feel better just knowing you noted several trips each day. Thanks again. Also, is everything provided in room to use their coffee pots?( filters, coffee, sugar, cremer etc?) and did you eat at any of the fast food places ( subway, pizza hut and A&W) in the food court and how were they? Also, were the pool snack/ food shops open this time of year?

I hope I am not wrong about the pick up times. Maybe call just to make sure since we didn't look at the paper that close. I would hate to be wrong and they end up having only 1 time per day for pick up and drop off for parks. Which won't seem to make sense for the hotel? But at least from what it looked like to me they had a few times for morning and a few times for picking up later that day.

Like pilferk said about the coffee etc. is correct from what I recall.
And yes our 5 year old did eat free. It works like this: For every paying adult for food every child 5 and under can eat free from what they have for the kids choice. So if you have 2 adults then 2 kids under 5 can eat for free each time you order food from the same place. But if you have 1 adult and 2 kids for example then you can get one free but not 2 kids free. ( at least that is the way they explained it to us) We had a 5 and 7 year old so we could only get free food for the 5 year old even though we still had 2 adults. But one free is better then no free.LOL
When you check in the hotel, the hotel will give everyone wrist bands so that way they know which kids can eat free, do certain things. etc. Which you will find out more when you check in.

 

[huntersmom]

I am a bit confused now. Is there only a character buffet in the am or is there also another bfast buffet without characters that is cheaper and available? What sort of items were on the dinner menu at the restaurant and how was the food overall?

 

[Disney Fans]

I am a bit confused now. Is there only a character buffet in the am or is there also another bfast buffet without characters that is cheaper and available? What sort of items were on the dinner menu at the restaurant and how was the food overall?

The only Character Buffet I was told about was the Morning one.
And also to let you know this is the only time were you have to pay and the child for 5 and under doens't count. We did it anyway so we could have photos with Spongbob. Like I said before They do have characters running around certain times during the day, they will let you know on the daily activity sheet you get at check in. But Spongbob most likely won't be at those so that is why we did the Character BB.
I think the food was good for for the Breakfast and dinner buffet. Not a 4 0r 5 star but for sure a 3 star.LOL It is fine and lots of choices. Kids liked it.
The dinner menu was basic but can't recall for sure what was on it. We looked at the cost of dinner items and saw it was not that much less then the buffet so that is way we did the dinner buffet the 1st night. And on the dinner buffet the free for kids 5 and under is ok for that just not the Character BB.
Hope that helps

 

[pilferk]

I am a bit confused now. Is there only a character buffet in the am or is there also another bfast buffet without characters that is cheaper and available? What sort of items were on the dinner menu at the restaurant and how was the food overall?

If you look at the website, there is another buffet listed. We SAW it, across the quad from the Nick Toons Cafe, but the sign out front said it was closed and to visit Nick Tunes instead. I think it's ONLY opened for breakfast, when it is opened at all.

The items on the menu for Dinner at Nick Toons were what I would consider high end family food. In other words: Filet Mignon with mashed potatoes and veggies, Oak plank Grilled Salmon with rice and veggie, Herb roasted chicken with rice pilaf and veggies...that kind of stuff. We ate the buffet food, as the price seemed a better value to us. It was seafood night. It was good.....better than "Hometown Buffet" qualilty, but not as good as most of the Disney buffets quality. DEFINITELY not as good as, say, Cape May's Clambake Buffet. But certainly palatable!

The breakfast, on the other hand, was VERY good. Eggs made to order (including omlets). Pancakes, waffles, bacon, sausage, ham, home fries, hash browns, fruit, cereals (hot and cold, INCLUDING grits and oatmeal), varying egg dishes (4 cheese, spinach and tomato with feta, etc) and a whole host of good stuff. It was easily on par with most of Disney's breafast buffets.

As Disneyfan says: The kids eat free edict is in effect at night, for dinner, but not in the AM for breakfast.

 

[huntersmom]

Thanks so much disney fans and pilferk! You guys are the best. You have answered so many questions for me today and I swear I have called the hotel 10 times to get this info and never got a straight answer on some of it!!! I am bummed by the breakfast options. I know the character breakfast is expensive so we will not got to that more than once and with being there for 7 mornings I am not sure what we will do. We eat early so we probably won't be able to wait and eat at the parks when we get there and I was couting on eating at the non character breakfast buffet a few mornings as well as in our room a few but I like a good bfast and not pop tarts too often etc.

 

[Benducci]

Does anyone know if Dora is at the Character Breakfast? My DD LOVES Dora & we were thinking of doing the breakfast if Dora was there.

 

[Disney Fans]

Does anyone know if Dora is at the Character Breakfast? My DD LOVES Dora & we were thinking of doing the breakfast if Dora was there.

Yes Dora is ther and also Diego. along with Spongbob, Blue and a few others.

 

[Disney Fans]

Thanks so much disney fans and pilferk! You guys are the best. You have answered so many questions for me today and I swear I have called the hotel 10 times to get this info and never got a straight answer on some of it!!! I am bummed by the breakfast options. I know the character breakfast is expensive so we will not got to that more than once and with being there for 7 mornings I am not sure what we will do. We eat early so we probably won't be able to wait and eat at the parks when we get there and I was couting on eating at the non character breakfast buffet a few mornings as well as in our room a few but I like a good bfast and not pop tarts too often etc.

You can do other things for Breakfast like room service one day,do the Character breakfast one day, buy things( like pop tarts one day, donuts one day, bring some breakfast bars from home, buy the little cereral boxes on day and buy the milk and juiceand some fruit from the store. That way you do something a little different each day.

 

[huntersmom]

Room service is a great idea. Did you happen to look at the room service breakfast menu as to what is available and how reasonable the price was? Thanks

 

[pilferk]

Does anyone know if Dora is at the Character Breakfast? My DD LOVES Dora & we were thinking of doing the breakfast if Dora was there.

Dora and Spongebob are there every day.

The other characters rotate. We saw Blue (from Blues Clues), Angelica and Chucky from Rugrats.

Other characters that could appear are Diego, Boots, and Patrcick. There are some others, too...but I can't remember who the CM said they were.