Just spent Feb 4th-11th at NickHotel

[momof3sweeties]

Any questions? We had stayed there in the past two different times when it was Holiday Inn Family Suites.

I'd love to clear up any misconceptions and give honest answers to those who are about to go, or thinking about it!

This board really helped me while I was planning (altho I never took the time to register until today!)

Just thought I might be able to offer recent info on the hotel since I was just there.

 

[thatmom]

So did you enjoy yourself at the Hotel? Our family loved it so I hope you did too.
Don't you just hate it when vacations have to end!!!!!!
Carla

 

[kerrio]

Newbie here. I so want to book our rooms at this hotel since there is a special running for $125/night for 2-Bedroom KidSuites. Do you feel the hotel & room were worth the $ spent there? Thanks.

kerrio

 

[nuts4wdw]

Where is the special for $125 per night? Sorry to hijack, just had to ask.

 

[thatmom]

Oh yes!! But not everyone agrees with me.....I can't tell you how much fun we had at this hotel. But we went the first week of Dec. and the hotel was pretty empty. I think that is the difference between the different posts...We didn't have any lines and the pools were not crowded and the food was fine for us. Our kids got slimed and got to throw a pie in Grandpa's face. They love d the night shows and the face painting. the animals made out of balloons...the hair braiding. we did it all....but like I said it wasn't very crowded.
Carla

 

[Cruz91]

I'll ask the question one more time in this thread... Looks like the first week or two in December, it was upper 60's to mid 70's - warm enough to swim? We're 'Yankees' - so we can deal with cold weather and adjust better than someone who's from the south....

 

[kilee]

Cruz91--- I'm from NY. I've been in early February w/ the same temps you described. It would really depend on if you go swimming in 60 degree temps at home if you'd swim there. In the cooler months (like Dec.)-- there really isn't any humidity coming into play to make it seem warmer or anything. I think swimming in cooler weather is all a matter of preference.

 

[runwad]

Don't they have indoor pools you can swim in colder weather???? And I'm waiting for that $125/night answer too. If memory serves me right I think Mousesavers last spring had a link and you could get a rate of 98/night, that would be great if that came up again this spring.

 

[KAREN8130]

Iwould also like to know about the 125.00 rate

 

[runwad]

I went to the Nick web site and they have a fall special for $125 for select dates Sept - Dec. Check out there home page for info. But what I want to know is are all the pools outside. I'm thinking December might be iffy to swim (we were thinking of going to DW w/a side trip to Nick).

 

[thatmom]

Hi,
No the pools aren't covered. but they were warm. 85 while we were there.
Carla

 

[kerrio]

I found the deal actually with dreamsunlimitedtravel. I was thinking about booking with them since you only have to pay for 1 night deposit+ tax to hold your reservation. The only down side is that you lose your deposit if you cancel less than 7 days from your reservation.

kerrio

 

[runwad]

Well that's better than on the Nick Site you have to pay in full and there is no cancelation policy so you'd loose everything if you cancelled.

 

[jacquesb]

One question: are the rooms reasonably quiet at night? I'm worried that there'll be too much noise from all the activities, which might make it difficult to sleep.

 

[momof3sweeties]

okay, let's see if I can answer some of these.

we were just there the 4th-11th of feb.

we have stayed at this property 2 times before (2000, 2003) when it was holiday inn family suites.

noise level.. it was not noisy AT ALL. the way the rooms are, your kids are in the back part of the "room" in their bunk area. it is quiet as can be. we always request parking lot view rather than pool view. in fact we never heard a peep while we were there.

food.... really not good. SO much better when it was HIFS. the breakfast buffet is kids eat free, so our family of 5 was $20 for the buffet. But the food was not good. (IMO) the character bfast was a lot more than that (we did not do that) and I had a run-in with the employees of that part of the hotel. LONG STORY and I am not confrontational.

food court.... we ordered hamburgers from the A&W place one night and they were literally NOT COOKED inside. it was not that we did not like them, but they were not edible. we had taken them back to the room, so i called down and they gave us a pizza instead (but i had to walk down to get it)

hotel is VERY clean. very very clean.

poolside games were fun. we only did hotel stuff 1/2 day.. we were there to disney!

nighttime shows were fun. we did that once too.

char breakfast, overpriced, not worth it. NOTHING like disney in qual of food and the people that work in there are not like Disney employees.

Would I stay there again, honestly, probably not. BUT, that is just b/c it does not even begin to compare to how it was when it was HIFS... back then the breakfast buffet was free for everyone and SO DELISH.

the nickhotel is like fort knox. you have to have gate keys to get ON the property and you have to wear a wrist band the entire time you are there. get this.. if you lose it you have to pay $20 to replace it. the bands annoyed the crud out of all of us!

fun place to stay, but if you are doing disney, i'd go elsewhere. just my opinion.

oh, pools, the actual pools were nice and warm. cold as heck when you get out (in 60's the day we swam) but the slides, etc are NOT heated and the water coming down the slides was not heated either so our kids tried that once and never again!

HTH

 

[LoveMyLAP-BAND]

I would agree with most of what Op said. We stayed there Feb 2-5.

However, I found the food to be good. Not great. Not Disney, but good. My hamburger at A&W was yummy. Now, I wasn't there when it was a HIFS so I have nothing to compare it to.

Also, every emloyee we came across was wonderful. Not a one did I have a complaint about.

The rooms are quiet- especially if your room faces the parking lot. The hotel is beyond clean. They are great about that.

The character breakfast was a rip-off, waste of money, not worth it all, don't even think about doing it! Not any where near what Disney does when it comes to that.

Like OP said, stay somewhere else if you are doing Disney. But if you plan to spend the time at the hotel itself, it was worth it. We plan to go back for again- just for a few nights. We had a great experience.

The wristbands are a pain, but the people that pay to stay there should be the only ones allowed to play there. In the beginning, they had so many problems with unregistered guests (people that live in the area), coming to the hotel and making it really, really crowded.

 

[MiaSRN62]

Cruz91 says : Looks like the first week or two in December, it was upper 60's to mid 70's - warm enough to swim? We're 'Yankees' - so we can deal with cold weather and adjust better than someone who's from the south....

I agree. We went in Dec one year and had 60's to upper 70's. Coming from PA and temps of 30's and 40's, this felt very warm to us. I think it's how we perceive it. We went swimming often that week a couple days when it was only about 67/68----the pool was heated, but it was chilly get out of the water. It's like this week here. We just had a big snow storm a few days ago but today it's 55 and I have all my windows open because it feels warm to me ? My friend from OK (used to warmer temps), thinks I'm nuts when she heard this.

Thanks for the TR Momof3sweeties. You put some uneasy feelings about the room itself to rest for me. I had read another report where the person felt the rooms were shabby and a little worn looking.

LoveMyLap-Band.....too weird about having to wear the wristbands ? I think that would bug me. Wouldn't a parking permit and guard gate be sufficient to keep non-guests out ?

Also, according to you both, looks like the character breakfast is a thumbs down. What characters do they actually have there ? TIA.

 

[momof3sweeties]

yes, Maria, the hotel AND the rooms are clean as can be. the hotel was just built in 2000 or maybe 99 so it had JUST been built the first time we were there.

It has all been redone... new upholstery on furn, new paint, new bedding, new carpet, etc. the only thing the same was the tv armoire.

the hotel is very clean.

as far as characters.... I saw sponge bob, dora, the fairly odd parents and rugrats and then that pinkish guy from sponge bob.

no worries about the hotel at all except i'd stray from the food if it were me. but others have had different experiences.

I do agree that those who pay should be the only ones to stay there, but if we had lost a band and had to pay $20 to replace it I would have been HOT under the collar, LOL!