Just back from Radisson Resort Parkway! Any questions?

[Pug Mom]

Just back from a 6 night stay at the Radisson Resort Parkway where we had the mousesavers.com rate of $69. This is a lovely resort for the price!! SO CLOSE TO DISNEY!!! It felt like we were staying on site because there was nothing (but trees)between this resort and the WDW gateway. The ease of getting to Disney was wonderful! For the price this resort is clean, well maintained, beautiful landscaping, pool is bigger than almost ALL the disney deluxe resort pools, bright colorful rooms, beautiful lobby, nice rooms, beautifully decorated. You can't go wrong staying here for $69. We toured around other resorts and would only not stay here again if I got a great rate at the Marriott World Center or Gaylord Palms. We thoroughly enjoyed our stay here!! Please ask me any questions you have because I know very little information is on these boards about this resort!!

 

[tinkerbell27]

Hi Pugmom! I'm so glad that you posted this! We also made reservations there at the mousesavers rate. We check in the 20th! We're very excited about staying there!!!Did you drive your own car or take their bus to the parks? Is it a zero-entry pool? How are the onsite restaurants? Any good chain restaurants close by? I'll probably think of more questions in a little while!! Thank you soooo much!
Tinkerbell27

 

[busy mom]

Pug Mom: Can the room accommodate 5 people? Also, is breakfast included?

 

[Pug Mom]

As far as the room size goes, it was just my husband and me in a king room so it was very spacious for us. I think the room might get a little cramped with 4 and definately not a place for 5 people. If there are 5 in your party, I would stay at a suite hotel. We rented a car so did not need to use the hotel transportation although we did see the very nice bus picking up people. The schedule they gave us at check in looks like there is a bus once every hour. The hotel is VERY close to maingate so I would suggest renting a car because it is so easy to get back and forth to the parks and having a car gives you so much more flexibility with no waiting for busses. The hotel is right next to a very classy shopping center with a bunch of very nice restaurants (Charleys Steakhouse, Atlantic Seafood, Kobe Japanese, and Italian Restaurant, etc)...totally within walking distance from the hotel. The hotel itself has a buffet restaurant which we didn't try (breakfast is not included with your room rate but is very reasonable $8 adults & kids eat free). There is a cute 50's style deli/diner in the lobby that also serves pizza hut pizza. Its open until midnight so we stopped there often to pick up a late night snack. The pools are not zero entry but are beautiful pools!!! There is the huge main pool that has the waterfall and waterslide (unheated) which is gorgeous, a smaller heated pool where we spent most our time, a kids pool, and two large jacuzzis (one with a small waterfall in it). The pools are nicer than most the Disney resort pools!! The pool area with its beautiful landscaping is the nicest feature of this resort. I'd be happy to answer any other questions anyone has!!

 

[tinkerbell27]

Hi Pug Mom! Another question for you! How shallow is the shallow end of the pool? 3ft? 4ft?
We have a 2yr old and 31/2 yr old, we were hoping it was a zero entry! Oh well!! Also is there a pool bar/snack area?
Thanks so much for your help!
Tinkerbell27

 

[Pug Mom]

I know that the smaller heated pool is 3 ft in the shallow end. The big pool, I'm not sure about, maybe 4 ft on that one. There is also a nice size kiddie pool. There is a poolside bar, a snack bar, and a tiki hut which sells and rents floats and other beachy stuff and is where you get your pool towels. I really think you will have enough choices here to suit your small children. Your little ones will probably love being carried out to the waterfall which you can walk right under. I think you will find the pool facilities more than adequate....they are quite beautiful actually. Hope that helps!! Enjoy!!

 

[jeff968]

Tinkerbell, I was there 2 years ago. I recall that there are a number of large entrance steps to the smaller. heated pool that your little ones can hang out on while you're nearby. It's not zero entry but it's something. The pool is nice and warm (we visit in February). I highly recommend the breakfast buffet. It was great with lots of fresh fruit and made to order omlets. The rooms are small as mention before. We have since moved on to suite resorts now that there are five of us.

 

[cottontail]

Hi: Can you tell me if there is shade around the heated pool.

Thanks,

Deb.

 

[jeff968]

There is little shade, some provided by the buildings in the late afternoon and part of it would be based on what time of year you visited.

 

[P-944]

How often do the shuttles run to the parks?

How late(in the day) do they run?

How long is the ride from the hotel to the gate?

Did you rent a car?

Do you think a car is needed or is the shuttles good enough?

This is going to be just me and my girlfriend going. Is this more of a family/kiddie oriented place or would it be good for us?

Thanks.

 

[Pug Mom]

To answer your questions: This would be a great place if it is just you and a girlfriend! It was just my husband and me who stayed there (we are in our late 20's) and I didn't want an overly "kid-friendly" resort. You will find the resort very classy and sophisticated as well as colorful. There are definately kids around, but I would say much less than most other resorts. This is a perfect place for adults to stay! Plus the large pool is so large that is was never over run by too many kids.
We rented a car for our stay which I would recommend simply because it gives you the flexibility to explore rather than relying completely on the busses. The resort is right across the highway from Celebration, and if you have a car, this is a great place to drive around. As far as the shuttle goes, it looks like they had one there and back every hour till a little after park closing. If you give them a call they can give you the shuttle times over the phone. The approximate driving time from the resort to the WDW gateway, about 2 minutes!!! The resort is amazingly close to the maingate entrance on rt 192. So simple to get there each morning with our car. Depending on what you want to do when you are there, you'll have to make the call about whether to rent a car or rely on shuttles. If you do rely on shuttles, the resort is conveniently located within walking distance to a nice shopping plaza with very nice restaurants so you aren't totally stranded at the hotel with nothing around. We like to come and go when we want and explore the Orlando area so we would never not rent a car. Go on Mousesavers.com for some help in finding cheap rates on rental cars. Good luck!

 

[P-944]

Thanks for the help. I just reserved the rooms today. Can't wait.

 

[cgajdzisz]

I'm so glad you posted. We usually stay on Disney property but we'd like to make another trip in August and want to save money. This resort sounds great! I'm glad you had a good stay. Do the buses only go to the Magic Kingdom or do they stop at all th parks?

 

[61859]

Pug Mom,
Thanks for sharing your experience. I'm so happy to hear the great news about the Raddison. I wanted to ask:
Did you have a courtyard or poolside view. And also, are their refrigerators and/or microwaves in the rooms?

Going in July. Made a reservation for Country Inns and Suites LBV - but I'm rethinking that.

Cheers,
Margo

 

[ILUVDXL]

Thanks. Pug Mom. I was planning to call the resort to ask all the questions you just answered. We have always stayed on Disney property (can you guess where?) but DH went to work for the Radisson Corp last year and with his employee discount ($49.00 a night) we just couldn't resist giving it a try. My comfirmation papers mention a formal dining room along with the deli. Is that true?

I'm so relived there is an hourly bus schedule as we will not be renting a car. Is the mall close enough to walk to? Thanks again for all the info. I will be pronting this out to show DH tonight.

 

[Pug Mom]

As far as shuttle service goes, we didn't use it at all so please call the Radisson to get all the shuttle info you need. They will give you times over the phone as well as what parks it goes to.

As far as the courtyard vs. pool view. We had a view of the tropical gardens which was very nice! This is the same rate as the courtyard view. In fact it was called the Courtyard/Tropical Garden view. If you go for this option, which is $10 a night cheaper than a pool view, make sure to request the "tropical gardens" otherwise you may have a view of the parking lot. Of course any pool view would be very nice if you want to spend more $$. I pesonally could care less what view I have since I spend such little time in my room. But the grounds of this resort are very nice so even if you are overlooking a parking lot, it will be a lot nicer than a parking lot view elsewhere.

Restaurant: There is a formal restaurant which we did not use which I believe serves a breakfast and dinner buffet. We didn't even check it out since it is in another building than the main lobby. We only went to the diner/deli a few times which was cute and good quicky food as well as good Pizza Hut pizza.

Shopping Center: A very nice shopping plaza with 4 or 5 restaurants is DEFINATELY within walking distance. This will work out great for you if you don't have a car!!

Fridge & microwave: These are not in the room! You would probably have to request them and pay extra. There is a mini bar which cannot be used for personal items. You'll have to call Radisson to ask on this one.

 

[61859]

Pug Mom,
Thanks for sharing. All of your dialogue has really been helpful!

Cheers,
Margo

 

[cinlee3]

This thread is great. I had originally booked this hotel for our Dec. 2001 trip for $59/night and was really excited about it - then I couldn't find much info on the boards.

Another deal came about that we couldn't pass up - but I have been curious about the Radisson since the website looks really nice. We passed it on our way for Courtyard by Marriot and it looked very nice and very close to the Disney entrance - I don't think we would have been disappointed had we stayed there instead.