Just Back -- DTD Courtyard Comments & Tips

[EthansMom]

Well, I'm recovering from our trip. We stayed at DTD Courtyard by Marriott for 7 nights on the $39 Dreams price and $69 AAA price. A few comments and Tips.

SIL and BIL were staying at CbM also and arrived first. SIL had to go through 3 or 4 rooms before she found one that didn't smell heavily of mold. Then asked for the room next door for us, which didn't smell of mold either. We did occasionally smell a heavy odor of bleach, which I suspect was from the linens and/or cleaning the room.

The room was clean, though worn in some spots.

I had requested a refrigerator in our room as my son cannot eat or drink dairy products. It took three calls down to the front desk to get the refrigerator delivered, but because it was needed for a medical reason, there was no charge for its use.

We ordered some food items from the to2go place in the lobby and had a bad experience (food took 40 minutes, order was wrong, and food was cold). They refunded all of our money.

We did have a prompt response when we called down for more towels and called to have someone unlock the bathroom door my son had locked. Also, we left a note for housekeeping (with a tip) requesting more blankets and pillows and recieved double the number of pillows and towels. Also, we had great interaction with the desk staff when we needed directions.

The pools were clean, but so full of chlorine that my son's eyes were bloodshot for about 24 hours. Also, it bleached his swim trunks.

The buses run about on time, but after a couple of days, we found it less of a bother to pay the $7 and drive to the parks. Would do this in the future even if we were staying on property.

The restaurant at the CbM was decent -- food wasn't bad and the prices reasonable. We ate dinner once and breakfast 3 times. However, if you aren't interested in the breakfast buffet, the a la carte menu is limited.

We had taken our own coffee for the coffee maker, but I would recommend that anyone doing this also bring coffee filters (small) because the coffee in the room is in the pre-made filter packs.

We did laundry at CbM. The dryer on the 5th floor does not dry clothes -- use the washer/dryer on the 3rd floor! Also, it costs $2 to start the dryer with 60 minutes of time, but only $0.25 to add 15 minutes, so you're better off to add quarters to the dryer when it's already running than to let it run out of time.

The Crossroads shopping mall is quite close (1.5-2 blocks) and includes a Goodings grocery store, McDonald's, Chevy's, Perkins, etc. We had a good meal at Chevy's. Also, for the money, Perkins offered the best food and service for any breakfast we had at WDW.

In general, the Courtyard met my requirements for a cheap place to stay. Although, I think in the future I'll pay a few dollars more and get something nicer for my vacation.

For comparison, SIL said that they had stayed at the Grosvenor on a past visit and thought it was much nicer for $55/night (Entertainment book rate). Also, another BIL who was staying at the All-Star Sports during this same visit said that the Courtyard was much nicer than Sports.

I hope this helps you with your planning!

EthansMom

 

[BethR]

Thanks for sharing your experiences with the CbM, Ethansmom.

 

[Boots]

Thank you so much for sharing your information with us! Hope that you vacation was a good one!

 

[toystoryduo]

We just got back from the Courtyard as well. We don't really have any complaints about the hotel. We got the $20.03 rate for most nights and paid the $49 rate for 3 nights. The hotel staff was very nice and helpful. The breakfast buffet was a great deal for our family and the kids loved the Mickey waffles! The pool had way too much chlorine in it so we decided to swim only once.

 

[DisneyBoodawg]

Just back from the DTD Courtyard this past week. We had reserved a couple of rooms under the $20.03 promotion. Upon check in, received rooms 905 and 908. Both of these rooms overlooked the pool but we could see Downtown Disney and some of the fireworks from the balconey. Room 908 did not have any type of smell or moisture problem. Would definitely try to get this room in my opinion. Room 905 had a musty, moisture smell. Once you were in the room, it went away rather quickly. I decided to stay put due to the convenience of being close to the other room and the quiet of being the corner room. The air conditioner ran continuous 24-7 with temperatures outside being around 80 and low humidity. On the last night, when the humidity came back, the room was not good for sleeping. It never removed the moisture and was not a good night of sleep. If I had a couple of more nights in that room, I would of asked for a room change.

Overall, the DTD Courtyard is an older hotel that is in need of some updates. But, for $20 a night, still a bargain. For say $79 a night, I would have to do some more checking around.

With that said, I would suggest signing up for the Rewards program. They have a dedicated desk for check-in and seemed genuine about making your stay a good one. Plus, it helps for extras such as late check out. The rest of the staff was top notch. Everyone, including the maids, seemed to go out of their way to make your visit a special one.

The manager's reception from 5-6 was very nice. Only stopped by a couple of nights for a quick beer and popcorn. But a good way to get a quick snack and beverage.

None of us jumped into the pool or tried the hotel's restaurants. With a rental car, within 5 minutes you have multiple restaurant choices such as Uno's, Chilis, Red Lobster, Hooters, Macarroni Grill, TGIF's, Steak and Shake, Chevys, McDonalds etc.

You can easily walk to DTD, but my sore feet sure appreciated the Buick Century at the end of a long day of walking.

Once again, I would like to thank everyone on this board for the wealth of information. This trip may of not been possible without some of the good ideas for cost cutting. And my newbie companion said it right, "The trip was magical!"

 

[jann1033]

I have stayed at 2 different courtyard marriots, and have not had great service in either. one was "cleaned" already when we checked in but all drawers were filled to capacity with empty beer bottles and old pizza crusts plus the pool which we had specifically called and asked about using a day before our arrival was empty and being "refurbished" ( in the middle of summer)! the other had been "cleaned" but had dirty towels on the floor of the bath room(wonder how long they cleaned in there to not notice the towels!) and they also let a wedding reception get so out of hand an innocent hotel guest was "mugged" by one of the very very very drunk reception attendees and the police were there 1/2 the night! these were in two different parts of the country so I wonder about the overall management.

 

[safetymom]

I travel quite a bit and always try to stay at Marriotts. Usually stayed at Courtyards. I have never had a bad room, they have always been clean and the employees very helpful.

I can't say that about some of the other hotels that I have stayed in.

 

[pixiechick]

We spent last Thursday night there. We had a late flight and didn't want to pay Disney $$ for a bed th crash in. We were in room 505. The room was in the corner of the building, but overlooked the pool and DTD. We could see the 30 seconds of Pleasure Island fireworks!
The next morning, we we up at 6 ant hit the buffet before leaving. The food was decent. For what I paid, about $45 for a room and breakfast for 3. I'd do it again. $50 a night there fits into my "no-brainer" price range,beyond there it would depend on the situation. The place needs some sprucing up, but it wasn't unpleasant at all.

 

[DMRick]

We didn't get dedicated check in..we had rude check in (comments about the price we paid were not nice). Although our room stunk upon entering (910) the smell went away after a few minutes..and most of the week was fine. ..worth the $20.03..but for the same $49 and $69 for the weekend we have stayed in the past at Allstars and much prefer it. Had 5 people this time, so we couldn't. I think if we didn't get AP rates on POR, we would stay off site again..but not here excpet at eh $20.00 rate. I agree about the chlorine..but it didn't hit us bad until the last day...and with them cleaning the sidewalks and blowing the leaves we didn't stay long anyway.
My full comments are under a different thread.

 

[vhoffman]

We're planning on staying at Courtyard DTD the second week of December. I've read so many mixed reviews of this hotel that I'm starting to have second thoughts about it. The main reason we chose this hotel was the price (we got the 20.03 rate). For that price you can't expect a palace, but as long as its clean and comfortable that's all that matters to me. It seems that there are good and bad rooms. Some rooms have strong musty odors and traffic noise. We're arriving about 7 pm that night. If we got a bad room, I wonder if they could move us to another room or if the hotel would be filled up by then. Does anyone know how full this hotel gets at that time of year? If its booked up and we get there in the evening there might not be any other rooms available.

However, when it comes to mixed reviews, I've read something negative about almost every Disney hotel, on site and off site. I've even read bad reviews about the Grand Floridian. I guess its just the luck of the draw.

 

[vhoffman]

Here's a question for DMRICK--The picture that is on your posts of your little boy and the dessert--is that "the Kitchen Sink"? I've read about that dessert at beaches and cream and wondered if that was it. It's a cute picture--both of your son and the ice cream!

 

[Disbug]

Will be posting my photos of the room and reviews of the CYM at DTD as well. This is a great forum for this type of info!