Just back from Nick Hotel

[DisneyMomx7]

Well we went in July also and had a very different experience. We got there about 11:00 am and checked in within 15 minutes and our room was ready. Now our room didn't face the pool, it faced the lake so that may be the difference. We never heard any noise at all. Have to agree about the food though, the only decent thing we ate there was fast food from the A&W. We took a cab over to DTD and ate at the RFC the second night. THe workers couldn't have been more helpful and friendly if we were at Disney and to tell you the truth the housekeeping was far superior to the housekeeping we had at the Grand Floridian. Hope everyone has a good time there.

 

[LisaRay]

Well yes our room did face the pool which we didn't ask for they just gave it to us and we took it. We could hear the music in the room especailly the bedroom but we weren't trying to nap so it wasn't that big of a deal to hear it in the room. We stayed up till about 11pm and i don't recall the music being a problem when we went to bed so it must have been off by then I'm sure.

The noise that drove us crazy was at the pool the loud non stop music and just the noise for such a huge crowd and those non stop whistles. Also not being able to find a chair because of all the pool towels on the chairs that no one is even using. But you find that at most pools these days.

DisneyMomx7: I don't have any idea why it was so crowded when we checked in boy was it! There was an employee walking around asking if any of the people in the lines were trying to check out as he could take care of that for them and there weren't any. It was all people checking in! My DH handled having to wait in that line very well but some of the others in line were not so quiet about it! Also we didn't have any trouble with any employees they were all very nice.

I just thought that it was too overcrowded especially the pool area it seemed unsafe with so many people. Also I am know that us parents can put up with noise to make our kids happy especially for a night or two. I just don't plan on staying there again any time soon. Also I am sure it won't be as bad in the off season months.

I hate to give a review of anything hotel, food, etc. unless I loved it. I don't like being the "bad guy". LOL!!

 

[hrh_disney_queen]

Check in took one hour!!! And that was in the priority check in line!

What qualifies someone to get into the shorter (I am assuming) Priorty line?

We are going in two weeks, so hopefully we will not encounter the lines and crowded conditions you did...although they are running a Nick Jr. special to-do in during the month of September...My DS5 and DS7 are a little old for the Nick Jr. stuff, so hopefully they will be able to enjoy the other stuff...

Sounds like we are going for just the right amount of time, arrive late afternoon on Friday, leave late afternoon Sunday. Maybe a quick jaunt over to DTD..

I wouldn't flame you for disliking the Nick hotel, it sounds like you had a horrible time!! At at that expense, you deserve better!!

I had booked the cheapest AAA room, then last week upgraded to a kidsuite-only $18 more. I thought it was more..my rate with the discount is $180/night, a huge splurge on my part (using my "spare change kitty" saved for a year), but with the water parks I figured it was worth it. My boys are going to go nuts over it...it will be a total surprise to all..the other night DS7 was watching a commercial for the Nick hotel on Nickelodeon and turned to me and asked, "can we go there sometime, mommy?" I am so excited about it, I hope I'm not letting myself in for a major letdown!!

Thanks for all the caveats...I am planning cereal and juice for breakfast, lunch at A&W's and dinner at DTD or Pizza Hut if we can't tear ourselves away from all the activities-sounds like that won't be a problem...

I was surprised when I asked that they don't have a toaster in the room, maybe a fire hazard. They said they do supply the coffee, though..

Can't wait!

 

[DIS NURSE]

OMG! Hope we aren't in for a major headache and disappointment in November! We are booked for 5 nights! The week of Thanksgiving!
Should I request a room facing the Lake (on the phone the lady said I have a chioce of facing the pool or facing the parking lot. Help!)

One other question I can't quite anyone to committ to.....is Sponge Bob EVER just walking around the premises? Is the ONLY place you would ever see him at the character breakfast?

 

[LisaRay]

DIS NURSE: I was only there for one night but I do not think that Spongebob is ever just walking around the resort. We sure never did see this happening. Maybe someone who was there for longer can verify. My DS was dissappointed in that as he had watched the commercials so much of Spongbob just walking around the hotel with the kids holding hands and such. ( kind of like mickey at the MK commercials! lol) He kept asking me where Spongebob was at.

 

[LisaRay]

What qualifies someone to get into the shorter (I am assuming) Priorty line?

You can join the Holiday Inn's Priority Club for free by just going to their website. Although the day we were there it really didn't make much of a difference in the length of the line. I do think it gives you an upgrade to a pool view room though. Because we have been to that hotel 3 times total and always got a pool view without even asking so I think that is why. It also gives you a late check out of 2pm. They gave that to us also but we went ahead and left at about 12:30 or so.

I think it is just priorityclub.com and it is free so why not!! Hope you have a good time!

 

[Esmerelda]

My experience at the HI Family Suites (yes, this was when it was still the old name). Check in was painfully slow and yes, we were in the priority check in. I have been a PC member for years but it made no difference.

The food at the breakfast buffet was quite dreadful looking even to my two boys at the time. We opted not to even eat it but the first day. The other two days we ate at the parks.

The noise level from the pool was extremely loud all the time. The pool would be closed for no apparent reason or there were children running all over and screaming. There was no supervision from the hotel staff at all.

I think I paid around $140+ a night back then (May 03)....thought it was a bargain? I don't even want to know what they are charging now really.

Overall, we were not impressed with this hotel in the least. We did not enjoy our stay and even wrote a letter to the manager. Both of my boys asked that we not stay there again. (they were 7 and 10 at the time) I hope things will have improved greatly since we stayed there. Best of luck to all families with their vacations. They are meant to be fun!

Esmerelda

 

[nextidiot]

If anyone has any pictures of the Nick Hotel posted on the web they wish to share, please help us by providing a link! I am going in Feb and have 7 nights booked. I may rethink that decision

 

[thatmom]

Stev,
I have stayed at this Hotel two times. Once before Nick. took over and Once while they were remolding. I'm going back for aweek in DEC. I can't wait. I have read many messages about the food at this Hotel so I sent them a letter. This was their resonse.
Ms. Schill,



I recently read your comments with regards to your concerns for the food & beverage products and service here at the Nickelodeon Hotel. I have recently come aboard (w/in the last 3 weeks) and I can assure you that we are moving forward and are making the necessary changes to take our quality of food and service to another level. We are in the process of upgrading our offerings for breakfast at The Buffet, the character breakfast buffet at Nicktoons Café, and are adding an a la carte menu to our dinner buffet at Nicktoons Café. In addition, we are making some changes in the processes involved in our fast food outlets (A & W, Pizza Hut Express, Subs & Salads, & Barnie’s Coffee) to maximize the efficiency, and are adjusting our staffing levels to meet the demand. There will be always be lines at peak times, but they will be moving quickly. If during your stay, you are not completely satisfied with the quality of food & beverage, I ask you to contact me directly to let me handle the situation.

If you have any additional questions / concerns prior to your arrival, please feel free to contact me.



We are looking forward to serving you in December.



Sincerely,
now after this letter I'm not to worried. They would have to really went down hill to not be awesome. We were concerned about the food. But not anymore. don't change your plans you will love this Hotel. remember most people don't even vist message boards. So all their good reports are in their minds and hearts not on this board.
I'll come back here after our trip in Dec. and give a report about how much fun we had....
Carla

 

[nextidiot]

Glad to see they are at least working on the problem. Granted, you will have lines a peak dinning times given that there are 777 rooms! However, I am wondering how they are addressing the check-in delays and customer service issues (they seem to have a problem retaining guests for the full length of their stay adding a penalty if you check out early).

By the way, if anyone has a room recomendation for this hotel, I would appreciate a few words of advice.

 

[DIS NURSE]

Me too...I really would love someone with experience pool facing vs. parking lot facing to chime in! Where is the "LAKE VIEW?"

I hope that the decision to go and spend all that $ isn't a mistake! 5 nights there sounds like a long time now!

All the rooms had better be non smoking also!

 

[DisneyMomx7]

Our room faced the little lake on the lagoon side. I think further off was the parking lot but you really couldn't see it from our room. It was nice and quiet, very clean and non smoking. My kids had a ball there.

 

[hrh_disney_queen]

What qualifies someone to get into the shorter (I am assuming) Priorty line?

You can join the Holiday Inn's Priority Club for free by just going to their website. Although the day we were there it really didn't make much of a difference in the length of the line. I do think it gives you an upgrade to a pool view room though. Because we have been to that hotel 3 times total and always got a pool view without even asking so I think that is why. It also gives you a late check out of 2pm. They gave that to us also but we went ahead and left at about 12:30 or so.

I think it is just priorityclub.com and it is free so why not!! Hope you have a good time!

Thanks LisaRay, so glad I kept up with your posts!! I AM a Priority Club member, I signed up when I made my ressie. So we get our own check-in line AND a late check-out AND a free upgrade. That is really great, I would have never known to ask. Although I have found from some of the WDW resorts, that I don't really care for a pool view, especially if the pools are open late. When I am in my room, I want quiet, so instead of asking for lake view, pool view, parking lot view, I am going to ask for a "quiet" view!!

I am so excited about this trip, I can hardly stand it...I have a really hard time keeping secrets, but this one I am going to keep until we pull into the parking lot...

Here's something you other guys can do in anticipation to your trip to the NickHotel. When I made my ressie, I also called the hotel directly. (1-800-465-4329-I think..) I asked them to send me a brochure and a list of events for that week so I could see what it was about. they sent me a really cool, colorful, brochure-had pictures of all the rooms, the water parks, etc. The calendar of events for the week gave me a great idea of what to expect-there is a lot to do there!! Just a suggestion, if you can't wait like me!!

 

[deadhedjen]

We stayed at HIFS in July 04 when they were in the process of turning it into Nick Hotel. We had a parking lot view in a Kids Suite. We are a family of 6. 2 adults, and 4 kids. We couldn't hear any pool noise.....HOWEVER.....next door to us were a family that apparently had a connecting room. The kids were in the room directly next to ours and those kids carried on banging themselves off the walls after midnight. Repeated calls to the front desk did no good. Then some kids started skateboarding on the walkway outside our room. I went out and asked them where their parents were, and the kids said their parents "went out". Yikes! Well, I called the front desk again to complain and they finally sent up security to straighten it out.
Regarding the food buffet...
At the time we went a breakfast buffet was included FREE. We are early risers and were at the buffet first thing in the a.m. So all of our food was nice, hot and fresh. That free food sure came in handy. We filled our bellies each morning. DH thought that was one of the best parts of the trip, lol! OK I know I'm a total cheapskate so don't flame me for this, but I even stashed some fresh fruit in a slider bag and some muffins/pastries for snacking on later in the parks.
Travel time to all the parks is minimal. We were there early enough to park in the first lot (sometimes the first or second row). Getting to the TTC from the lot in MK is somewhat of a pain though. And we did return to our room every afternoon so my DD and myself could nap while DH took the older 3 kids to the pool.
The pool.... they have a strict "babies must use swim pants" rule for good reason. If someone goes "poo" in the pool they have to close it for several hours. The pool was closed twice while we were there for that very reason. Apparently they have to sanitize the water somehow for a few hours after this happens.
Sugar & Spice salon (not sure if Nick Hotel still has this though)....was very nice although over-priced IMHO. I let 2 of my girls get their hair braided. It cost me $45-$50 per girl to have the front half of their hair braided. They loved it, so I guess that's all that matters. We opted not to get their manicures there but instead I went over to Walgreen's and got stuff to do fingernails in the room. The girls loved that too BTW.
Fridge size was adequate, we were able to put about 1 box of Kool Aid Jammers in the freezer part at one time. I believe you could put a 1/2 gallon of milk on the fridge door as well. We went to the Super WalMart and got ready to go meals like pulled pork BBQ, chicken patties, lunch meat, etc and we ate our lunches in the room almost every day. Since we were able to save on breakfast and lunch, we ate dinner in the parks every night.

My kids did initially ask if we can go back once it turned into Nick Hotel, but once they saw ASMo they fell in love with it...so we are doing 2 rooms there for our upcoming trip. I think we'll have to same amount of room, if not a tiny bit more since we'll have 2 bathrooms.
Has anyone here done both HIFS/Nick and the All Stars??? I'd love to hear someone give me a comparison of the 2.
Sorry so long, I tend to ramble, lol.
Jennifer.

 

[LisaRay]

hrh-disney-queen: I also asked for a brochure when I called down and then kept our night's stay there a secret from our son. Since it was a one week late 6th b-day surprise. We drove down and were planning on arriving at the nick hotel around lunch time after driving for 9 hours the day before. So when we left our hotel early in the morning in Georgia I told my son that we had a surpirse for him and I took out the brochure and gave it to him. I also videotaped this too and he just didn't get it. Maybe he wasn't fully awake yet not sure but he didn't seem to get that we were going to the nick hotel he just thought I had picked up the brochure in the hotel lobby and was just showing it to him!! It wasn't the reaction we were hoping for but was funny!

HAVE FUN!

 

[hrh_disney_queen]

LisaRay....been there with that disappointing surprise thing. I managed through a series of events to get 4 nights at the Wilderness Lodge for $100/night about 2 years ago. We had visited there the last trip and walked around, the boys thought it was really cool, and my grumpy spouse who would rather do just about anything other than go to WDW, loved it too. So when WDW called to tell me that POFQ was being renovated and they had to move my ressie to another resort, I fanangled that low rate from them..(we could never justify spending $200/night while at WDW) We drove from Greenville, SC (about 10 hours) arriving at late night. In my dreams we would pull up to the front door, everyone would look up at that grand entrance with tears in their eyes and say, "Oh Mommy, you are the most wonderful person in the whole world. I LOVE YOU, MOMMY, thank you!"

Instead, the boys were sound asleep, and could barely wake up enough to go into the lobby. DH, was (very) subtly pleased.

That is why I am being very guarded about my final payoff moment when we pull into the parking lot. I will let you know how it turns out!

We have since moved to Savannah, so now the driving time is down to about 4-1/2 hours. The boys have a half day off from school, so we will scoop them up from school and wisk them away. They may ask where we are going, and I may say "Orlando, but not Disney World", but after that my lips are sealed. DH heard me telling my mom about it on the phone (I told you I can't keep a secret!), and thought he heard a description of WDW. I told him it was NOT Disney, and I don't think he has ever even heard of it before. He isn't even asking-it would be driving me nuts...

 

[LisaRay]

We have since moved to Savannah, so now the driving time is down to about 4-1/2 hours.



WOW 4-5 hours would be my dream amount. Far enough that you can't go every weekend but close enough to arrive by lunch time!!
We are 18 hours of drive time and that doesn't include all the potty breaks and sanity breaks!!
Hope you have a great time!

 

[leight]

Going to Nick hotel for the weekend tomorrow! Wish me luck!

Funniest thing happened... my bday girl dd who will be 8 on sunday, has a mutual crush on a boy in her class. His bday was earlier this week .... and guess where he's going this weekend???? NICK Hotel! My daughter is sooooo excited! God, hope I survive how idiotic the kids will act

 

[hrh_disney_queen]

We have since moved to Savannah, so now the driving time is down to about 4-1/2 hours.



WOW 4-5 hours would be my dream amount. Far enough that you can't go every weekend but close enough to arrive by lunch time!!
We are 18 hours of drive time and that doesn't include all the potty breaks and sanity breaks!!
Hope you have a great time!

yep, when we were living in Greenville, and DH wanted to change jobs, I told him that I would move east, south, or southeast. I got my way when he accepted a job here in Savannah. The summer was brutal, but I am looking forward to a very mild winter, with numerous weekend trips to Orlando...all during the slow times..When the boys are old enough for me to handle alone, I will be more than happy to let DH have the house all to himself, and we will go off by ourselves. Actually, I have a feeling that DH enjoys the world a little more than he lets on....

Thanks for the well wishes, I will let you know how it all turns out.

 

[hrh_disney_queen]

Someone started a new thread with the same title, but I wanted to post my review on this one, since this is where I got a lot of information!!

The NickHotel ROCKS!! We arrived around 5:00 Friday afternoon, and when we walked into the lobby, the check-in line snaked all around and back out into the vestibule. But thanks to YOU guys (especially LisaRay-thank you very much!!) I used my "Priority" privilege and walked past all those other folks right up to the desk for priority check-in...I had a three minute wait to be served, I don't know how long those other folks had to wait...Checked in, (no late checkout available at this particular Holiday Inn, I was told). Went to our very nice suite, then walked around , ate , until the pools opened back up at about 8:00 (lightning and thunder had been goining on.) We played and swam until about 9:30, went to bed.

Saturday we got up, ate breakfast in our room, and went out to play when the slides opened at 9:30. Had a ball all day, ate lunch at the buffet....IT WAS AWFUL!!!! And I promise you, I am not one that is hard to please. The food was tasteless at best, nasty at worst. The only thing good was the iced tea and cookies. And the apples were ok, too. I knew from what others had posted here that I couldn't expect the food to be very good, but I just thought you guys were pickier than me......Oh no, this food REALLY sucked, and I am going to write a note to the woman referenced in this thread to let her know that she should really do something about it. For dinner we ate at Pizza Hut and the Sub place, they were OK, not as good as a Pizza Hut outside the hotel, but edible. I don't know how the Nick Cafe was, we didn't want to bother with a sit down restaurant.

Anyway, we didn't go there for the food, so it wasn't a terrible disappointment. We saw Squidward at check-in, Spongebob, Patrick, Cosmo, Wanda, and Dora at lunch. We saw 2 Nick Live shows, make your reservations as early as you can. And there is SRO available, which we had Friday night, and still got seated. There are crafts and entertainment going on all the time, there is no excuse for boredom!! The hotel is decorated to the hilt, it was just incredible. The kids are already begging to go back. We departed at about 1:00 on Sunday. (Secretly, I am looking forward to returning, too!)

I have no complaints about the NickHotel, except the food at the buffet. We had the "slime" of our lives, and I won't need to hydrate for a week!


The amount of time we spent there was plenty.. I think the next time we will try to arrive on a Friday at 4-5:00, play and swim all night, spend the night, check out Saturday but play all day, then stay at a cheaper hotel Saturday night and go to Sea World or some other place. One really long day is enough for me....

Thanks for all the info and advice on this thread, it really helped out!!