Just back from Nick Hotel...loved it

[mackabee77]

We stayed one night at the Nick Hotel last week and loved it. We were 2 adults and 2 kids but I think the suites could easily accomodate 2 and 4. More than 2 adults would get a bit cramped. The separate king bedroom was perfect.

Also, there is a PS2 console in the kids room so bring your games from home -it's 5 bucks to rent a game from the arcade.

Both pools were open and were crammed with kids. The dining options are limited - but we just hopped in our car and hit the fast food down the road.
Some construction still going but nothing that was a bother.

The place is perfect for one or two nights away from the parks. Any questions?

 

[DisneyMomx7]

We'll be there the end of June for two nights before moving on to Disney and Universal. Were there many kids activities - I've heard there are some by the pool and some at night. We made a reservation for character breakfast - was it any good. How about the kids spa is it up and running. Oh, and what food court fast food chains are there, how about the regular Nick hotel food (lunch, poolside etc). Are taxis readily available since we wanted to take a taxi over to DTD one afternoon. Thanks and glad you enjoyed it. Did your kids have the bunk bed room? Where was your room located and do you have any recommendations for room location? Sorry for all the questions there are just so few people who have stayed there since it became the Nick Hotel.

 

[piglethappy]

Hi

I also have a couple of questions about the size of the rooms. I am hearing that the "suites" really are not the size of normal suites. Can you confirm this. Say compared to a Embassy suites room. I am asking this because I really wanted to suprise my girls with this hotel but the price is steep for us. My in-laws are going to be with us and I feel really bad having them get there own "suite" for the prices. I do not mind paying 200.00 a night for us but I feel bad having my in-laws pay that as well. I guess I just do not know what to do I am really concerned with having all of us in this tiny room , but then we really will only be in the room for a short while for 2 days and then off to disney.

So I guess my question is, are the rooms way to small to handle grandma and grandpa, mom and dad and DD7, DD3? Or should I just help to pay for my in-laws room?

Please help!

 

[FrostyFriend80]

Just back from Nick Hotel. They have activities for the kids by the Oasis pool.
They also have face painting, hair braiding, tatoos, & balloon animals at the mall area but there was an additional cost for this. Food court was still under
construction when we were there. i do believe they will be having A&W, Pizza Hut, and possibly Taco Bell. We stayed on the Lagoon side although the kids preferred the water park on the Oasis side. The slides went straight in to the heated pool. The Lagoon water park is bigger but the kids said the water was so cold. There is a little construction going on not bad though, it is mostly completed. The character breakfast was fairly good. The food was
decent they had a omlet station and a waffle bar. The characters were good, the only disappointing part was SpongeBob just stands in the corner. You can have your picture taken by the hotel with him or take your own. I'm sure it had to do with the awarkdness of the costume. I have never been to Embassy Suites to compare the room size but in my opinion the 2 bedroom suite would not be big enough for 4 adults. The couch does pull out into a bed but you would be very cramped. I'm not sure about the 3 bedroom suites as I did not see one of those. Overall it was a nice hotel, it is located very close to the Disney properites. We have stayed on site once and now off site once. If I was going to go again I would stay onsite for the extra perks you get. Just my opinion. I was disappointed that the characters did not come around much. We did see the Fairly Odd Parents one day, and Dora another. But since my son is 9 he could of cared less to see her. I think the only way you see SpongeBob is at the breakfast. I would be happy to answer any other questions anyone has.

 

[dpratt68]

Hi

I also have a couple of questions about the size of the rooms. I am hearing that the "suites" really are not the size of normal suites. Can you confirm this. Say compared to a Embassy suites room. I am asking this because I really wanted to suprise my girls with this hotel but the price is steep for us. My in-laws are going to be with us and I feel really bad having them get there own "suite" for the prices. I do not mind paying 200.00 a night for us but I feel bad having my in-laws pay that as well. I guess I just do not know what to do I am really concerned with having all of us in this tiny room , but then we really will only be in the room for a short while for 2 days and then off to disney.

So I guess my question is, are the rooms way to small to handle grandma and grandpa, mom and dad and DD7, DD3? Or should I just help to pay for my in-laws room?

Please help!

I stayed at HIFS last April and my parents stayed with us. It was me, DH, DD 6,DS8 and my parents. <My husband and I stayed on the pullout sofa which was maybe full size and not too comfy. We gave my parents the king bed in the private bedroom. We managed and it is doable but it certainly was not great sleeping those three nights they were with us. You might want to call and see if they replaced the sofas and got new ones when renovating. Good luck!

 

[DisneyMomx7]

For only 2 days I think you could make do. It would be different for a long trip but only two days should be fine. It sounds like a hotel the kids will all love.

 

[Cushes]

I would definitely look into staying in a 3 br suite.

 

[mepperson]

We also just got back yesterday. Stayed in 2bdr for 8 nights. Plenty of room for us, but we are just 3. A 2 bdr would be too cramped for 6! They do have 3 bdr - which are twice the size. Take a look at their website for the floorplans. I would definitely do that instead of 2 suites. I would hope the price of a 3 bdr is cheaper than 2 2-bdrms.

We were in room 141 near the Oasis pool. Our room faced outward - not toward pool. Thank goodness! That pool was loud all day every day. We attempted a nap in the room one afternoon when we were SO tired. No way that was happening. DD kept hearing all the racket at the pool and could easily tell that they were having the Nick stuff going on, so she just kept whining to go down. But, it was fun! She didn't get slimed, but several people did.

The dinner buffet was OK - several things to choose from. I thought it was just as good as most of the buffets at Disney, for less price! One morning DH & DD went down for buffet breakfast, and ended up walking right in to character breakfast instead. DD loved it. They loved the omelets and pancakes. She saw SpongeBob & Patrick, Dora & Boots, Fairly Odd Parents. Of course they did not take the camera with them because they did not plan to have the character breakfast! DD loved it so much she begged to go again. We tried for Sunday morning before we left, but they were booked.

LOTS of stuff going on all the time at the hotel. Still had a little construction going on, but didn't bother us too much. The food court was the main thing. Since our room was the building next to the mall, it was always VERY hard to get a parking place anywhere near our room. Lots of guests would park there, plus the employees parked there. Just a little more walking for us - but we got used to it - LOL.

Very nice people, but out of 8 mornings, we only got our requested wake up call once! There was no alarm clock in the room, so be sure to bring your own!!! One morning they sent security to check on us because we had not answered our wake up call - which we never got. That was frustrating, but at least they cared enough to check on us.

Any questions?

Mary

BTW - we had the mousesaver rate of $148/night. I don't think I would spend more than that.

 

[kath1210]

We just returned from two nights at the Nick Hotel. This is our fourth year in a row going there. We had two free nights that my daughter won, so price was not an issue. It probably would have been better if we'd never been there before, but I was unimpressed by the commercialism. It used to be such a quaint, family-oriented place.

Things I Still Like:

1. The rooms are still quite large for my family of four. We stayed in a Queen/two twins room this time. I would have preferred the King bed, but the kids are too big for the bunks now. The kids beds were nice - brand new comfy mattresses. Ours was old and hard.

2. The pools are as nice as ever. Unfortunately, the big slide area was closed for most of the time we were there. They closed it down for "testing" on Friday afternoon, and never opened it up again - even into the afternoon of the next day. We had a room near the Oasis pool but the slides there were more for smaller kids.

3. The Staff was, overall, very nice. The ladies at check-in could not have been more kind and helpful. In fact, they let us check into our room at 10:30 a.m.

4. The character breakfast was a lot of fun. We were one of the last seatings, and all of the characters were having lots of fun with our kids. It would be nice if Spongebob could move around more, especially since the background in his little corner is very unattractive.

5. The food was good, but too expensive (see below). We enjoyed the food at the character breakfast, had pizza and burgers for lunch, and had the seafood buffet for dinner. The seafood was especially good, with wonderful seafood chowder, crablegs, shrimp and some very yummy desserts.

Things We Did Not Like:

1. It is LOUD! Not just in decibels, but the colors are very bright! Also, the acoustics in the lobby and the Mall were very bad.

2. It is TOO COMMERCIAL! All of the things that used to be freebies now cost - the balloons, the face-painting. Also, no more free popcorn. Everything costs and the prices are very high. A cheeseburger is $6.00, a hot dog is $4.25, and a medium cheese-only pizza is $13.00.

3. Maybe it's just me, but I am not fond of the over-emphasis on Nick stuff.

4. Bingo was not the same. The Nick Live Stage is OK, but it's not a good place to have bingo. You need tables for bingo. I also miss the woman who used to call bingo. She was funny. The two blonde airheads calling our bingo games were NOT funny.

5. The Nick Live show was just OK and very short. I miss the magic show.

6. The music at the Oasis pool was TOO LOUD! It played from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m., but sometimes it was so loud that you could not hear the TV.

7. I wish they still had the free breakfast.

There was some construction, but not too bad. The biggest problem was not being able to travel easily between the pools. You had to go out to the parking area. I am also curious to see if the prices in the "fast food" area will be more reasonable.

In summary, you get less and pay more. We are a little bummed.

Here are some comments from my teenage son:

Hey all,
I want to warn you I might be slightly biased, because I'm not that big of a fan of Nickelodeon any more. (But I still like Spongebob ) For the most part, the pools were usually open enough that you could have some space to yourself, but on the last day, because the slides were closed, the pools were pretty much full. Here comes the inevitable, teen arcade comments. The arcade was for the most part pretty high quality, but the prices were almost always 2 tokens per game. The only exceptions were a shooting game (4 tokens), a "Fast and Furious" racing game(3 tokens), "Pump it up" (dancing game, 3 tokens) and Air Hockey (4 tokens). For the most part, prices were jacked up a token or two since last year. The prizes are a new thing, with the installation of ticket dispensing games. Generally, the arcade has improved. In my eyes, there are a lot of screaming kids in the pools. Finally, in the "Kid's Check-in" they give you 50 cents worth of tokens, a lollipop and a coloring book (although my sister and I did not.)
Last year, though, they gave you a dollar's worth of tokens, a lollipop, a coloring book, and some crayons. That's it for my review. (by the way, they fired almost all of the old staff, I think. ) l8r.

 

[SnowWhite]

We stayed there when it was still Holiday Inn Family Suites in 2000 and we LOVED it. We stayed in a kidsuite. There was my DM and DD in the king bedroom and my DD3 in the bunkbed room and my DH and myself on the fold out couch in the living room for 10 days. Although we had VERY LITTLE privacy it definatley made the hotel more affordable by splitting the cost with my parents. We were hardly ever in the room during the day anyway so it really wasn't that bad. I don't know how they have changed the rooms other than adding 3br suites but it really was a great place to stay although I hate the fact that they took away the free brekkie!!! That made it all worthwhile!!! There was always entertainment for my daughter in the evenings and apparently that costs money now......not sure we will be going back......NOT a fan of SpongeBob.........

 

[piglethappy]

Thanks to everyones reviews and ideas about sharing the room. I think we will be ok for a couple of days, maybe a little (ok alot) cramped !!!

I think my girls will really like it. They love nick cartoons and I think it will be great for them. It is just for 2 days and then we go off to POR where we will have seperate rooms and

 

[mackabee77]

Some answers:

I saw some limited organized activities by the pool - limbo and hoolahoop contests - my kids weren't interested. They loved the pools though. The seemed to be a ton of people at the pools, but there was plenty of room for all. The zero entry pool was a bonus.

We attended the evening Nick show and my kids loved it. It was silly but kind of like an abbreviated Nick Live show at Universal with a much smaller budget. Make sure you sign up in the afternoon.

The grill by the pool wasn't finished yet, but they were cranking out hot dogs and burgers at a portable set up in front of it. The food court isn't done yet but I did see some people walking around with Pizza Hut carry out. We only fed the kids burgers and dogs but the pool. Full bar for the over-21 crowd - big beers for 4+ bucks.

We were in building 14 facing the big pool but tucked behind the grill building. 2nd floor was nice - we used the stairs rather than the elevators. I actually liked that our room faced the pool area and didn't notice a noise issue. The room was a king/bunk and the king bed was better than any one that I've had at Disney.

I don't remember seeing any taxis standing at the entrance but there are bell attendants waiting as you pull up...

More than two adults would be a tight squeeze IMO. One bathroom...and the kids room does not have a closing door - just a curtain. Also, the pull out cot in the bunk bed room was a joke. Don't count on it.

Didn't see anything about a kids spa.

It really is just as it seems in the ads...Nick stuff plastered all over the place and some pretty good pools.

 

[simonfam76]

thank you so much for the posts! we can't wait to get there. matter of fact i did the free spongebob call this morning for my son and he was half asleep while eating breakfast before school but he sure was wide awake afterwards ! they love nick characters.

 

[DisneyMomx7]

50 days to go! We;ll be checking into Nick Hotel June 29 for two nights before heading to Disney and Universal. THis sounds like just what we were looking for - a place for the kids to have fun and enjoy the hotel before we hit the parks. Dds and ds are so excited - everytime the commercial comes on they start yelling. I know it looks loud and tacky but isn't that what kids love. I'm glad someone posted about signing up for the night time entertainment I wouldn't have known about that.

Does anyone know when the food court will be finished? Also any suggestions on a room location request? We have booked a King, bunk bed spongebob room - I don't know if that makes a difference.


THanks to all the people who are taking the time to post on this new hotel.