Looking for opinions of all kinds!!

[Pryncess'mom]

We are looking for a room for one night before a stay at the POLY in January. I am trying to use a hotel that I have a club card for and found 2 Holiday Inns: Holiday Inn Main Gate West, Internet best rate $93.95, Queen kid suite, or Holiday Inn Nikki bird, $89.99, Internet best rate, Queen kid suite. We are a family of 5, Mom, dad, Ds 18, DS, 15 and DD 8.

Any thoughts on either of these 2 places? Either good or bad is fine! We want something close to WDW for an early checkin at the POLY.

I searched the forum, and got some info, but would really like some updates.

TIA, deb

 

[spiceycat]

the latest reviews on both of these have been bad.

I was surprised - I mean they are Holiday Inns and I would think they would want to kept their brand name in pretty good shape.

I haven't stayed in one in years.

 

[blueangel]

Oh. We used to stay at the HI-Maingate all the time like you are doing - first night and early check in. It was never anything special, but acceptable. When I was down there in June it looked like construction was going on, so we made a ressie at the Nikki Bird instead. Haven't done this plan in about 5 years, so I need to know if it's awful in time to change!

 

[Pryncess'mom]

We won't be getting to the hotel until about 11:30 PM, and plan to leave the next morning for early check in at POLY, so really all I want is clean, fairly comfortable beds. We are looking mainly for closeness to WDW, and since I have a Priority Club card, I checked there first. I also have Marriott Rewards, but the price is better with HI.

Anyone else???

deb

 

[Pryncess'mom]

Anyone have any other options for fairly inexpensive, but close to the magic?

deb

 

[crazee4mickey]

I booked Holiday Inn Nikki Bird without knowing anything about it and then fretted for 5 months because of what people said in the reviews. When we got there we had a great time and were very pleased with the entire hotel! Here are some reviews on Trip Advisor--just click on link below:
http://www.tripadvisor.com/Hotel_Re...Holiday_Inn_Nikki_Bird-Kissimmee_Florida.html

I just posted this on another thread but here it goes again:
We are a family of 6 and stayed at Holiday Inn Nikki Bird Resort in December and although the outside is an older motel it is nicely updated and new carpets were being put in while we were there. The property is huge and we were near the back so it was quiet.
The one thing we do insist on is safety and cleanliness and it was definately clean, safe and we loved it! It is one mile from WDW-there is a set of lights as you leave parking lot, turn right and drive-no more lights or anything until you are on WDW property--never had trouble with traffic. Room had 2 double beds, a pull out sofa bed, mini fridge, microwave, in room safe--the 3 pool areas were gorgeous and it was only $65 a night! For someone on a budget it was perfect!
It was a great price and it is difficult to find accomodations to hold more than 4-5 people without paying high prices--we found it and after worrying about some of the negative reviews we decided to trust the good reviews on it--pleasantly surprised and would stay again!
Here are 2 pics I took:

 

[Pryncess'mom]

Thanks, bonnie. the pics were helpful!!

deb

 

[susan1]

hi
we had problems with the niki bird. arrived back at 11pm to find our room door propped open, after reporting it to the night manager the security people came and did an electronic check on the key system (they can tell who opened the door as their electronic key is tagged). it had been open since mid morning housekeeping! the management and security were truly sorry but housekeepimg made ourlives hell for the next six days not leaving towels or other top ups on various days also banging on the door very early hour in the morning wanting to do our rooms. eventually after much hassle we had two ni8ghts stay refunded!

 

[MiaSRN62]

Holiday Inn Main Gate West, Internet best rate $93.95

The last time I stayed here was March of '99. Our room on the 6th floor had just been redone. It was basic and clean. There were new comforters on the bed, new wallpaper border, rug looked fairly new and the bathroom had all new fixtures. It's a no-frills kind of resort but we did enjoy the little restaurant in the lobby where kids 12 and under ate free with a paying adult. What it's like today (6 years later) I couldn't tell you unfortunately. But at the time we stayed there, we felt it was adequate for a 2 night stay.
For the $93, I'd book an All Star room. We stayed at POP this past Feb for a code rate of around $60/night. Good luck.

 

[gjw007]

Hi,
You might want to consider expanding your research a little bit to include some of the timeshares. Some, not all, have studios that may fit your needs. For example, I own at Orange Lake and I know that they have studios that they rent. This link from www.olcc.com shows some rates but they do change with seasons. This link shows the different styles of studios that Orange Lake has. I stayed in one of these a few years back and it was okay. Some of the other timeshare resorts may also have some similiar type rooms. One plus is that they will be larger than the hotel rooms (I think the studio I stayed in was 455 sq ft). Maria's suggestion of the All-Stars is also worth reviewing as it does put you onsite.

 

[Anc96]

Hi..

We found that leaving 2 days earlier for our vacation saved us over $200 (total) in airfare... so I decided (since we had APs) to leave earlier and have a longer vacation. Our ressies at the AKL were set for the 16th so we needed 2 nights... cheap! I pricelined it and won the Nikki Bird for $38 a night. They charged $3.50 in resort fees when we got there, not a big deal.

This is my review from another site:
me and my 8yr old daughter stayed here June 14th-16th 2005.

I asked for an upgrade and was told, by the barely friendly check in person, that the only upgrades were the kids suites which weren't an option. In all fairness she must have been having a bad day because our 2 other encounters with her she was very helpful and friendly.
We were assigned room 263, parking lot view. With the curtains opened all you saw were trees, so it didn't matter.

When I entered the room I noticed an odd smell.. almost like moth balls. It wasn't really strong, but definately there. I have bad allergies to mold/mildew and the smell didn't seem to affect them at all so that was good. I did notice that when the air conditioner was turned off that the smell pretty much disapeared.

The room and bathroom were clean. The room was a bit too dark with the lightning they had. Refrigerator was clean and kept things very cold. Didn't use the microwave, but what a nice extra in a room! I also noticed there was no sprinkler system, but they did have fire alarms.

One of the full sized beds had a queen sized mattress on it... I thought that wasn't a good thing, but my daughter thought it was pretty neat and didn't want me to call down to change it. I warned her to be careful as she might roll off it (she never did), and reported it when we checked out.

Since we were there only 2 nights I chose not to have housekeeping as I'm a pretty tidy person. So I can't comment on housekeeping except to say it was neat and clean when we got there.

We ate at both the Angel's diner and the buffet while we were there. The kids eat free program would be great for a larger family (though it was nice for just us too). They allow 2 kids to eat free per paying adult.
My daughter loved the breakfest buffet, and the lobster buffet was pretty good too. Kids eat free if they're not eating lobster or crab, and they have plenty of other stuff to choose from. The Angels casual diner was basic and food was ok too.. reasonably priced.

We did not use the pool facilities but we did pass them and they looked clean. They were usually crowed, but we were there pretty prime time. They have a video arcade and pool table all very convenient to the front desk area. They had other play areas (outside) around the hotel too. This is a pretty large hotel.. deceiving from the front! Take a ride around it.. I was surprised at how big it was.

Overall it was a basic hotel, clean enough and no major complaints. It wasn't a bad stay, though it wouldn't be my first choice of places to stay. For the $38 per night I paid through priceline it was a good deal. It may be better suited to families with more than one child just for the savings on food alone.

EASY to get to WDW... it's only about 5-7 minutes from most parks. We had no traffic problems at all (I rented a car). If you have a larger family and are renting also, it would definately benefit you to pop the family in the car to go back to the hotel for meals since it's so close and the kids will eat free.

A nice thing to mention.. my daughter really liked the breakfast buffet and asked to go back our second to the last day in Florida (that would be the 28th... so almost 2 weeks later). The cashier at the buffet remembered us and started to take off my daughter's portion of the bill. I told him were were no longer staying at the hotel and only came back for the buffet. He was very friendly and took her portion off anyway.
I thought that was really nice of him.

Don't be afraid of staying there.. it's not frightening But not near the top of the line either. Clean and decent for what you need I think.

This is rated as a 2.5* hotel and I think pretty accurately.

 

[AUTUMN SUN]

Hi..

We found that leaving 2 days earlier for our vacation saved us over $200 (total) in airfare... so I decided (since we had APs) to leave earlier and have a longer vacation. Our ressies at the AKL were set for the 16th so we needed 2 nights... cheap! I pricelined it and won the Nikki Bird for $38 a night. They charged $3.50 in resort fees when we got there, not a big deal.

This is my review from another site:
me and my 8yr old daughter stayed here June 14th-16th 2005.

I asked for an upgrade and was told, by the barely friendly check in person, that the only upgrades were the kids suites which weren't an option. In all fairness she must have been having a bad day because our 2 other encounters with her she was very helpful and friendly.
We were assigned room 263, parking lot view. With the curtains opened all you saw were trees, so it didn't matter.

When I entered the room I noticed an odd smell.. almost like moth balls. It wasn't really strong, but definately there. I have bad allergies to mold/mildew and the smell didn't seem to affect them at all so that was good. I did notice that when the air conditioner was turned off that the smell pretty much disapeared.

The room and bathroom were clean. The room was a bit too dark with the lightning they had. Refrigerator was clean and kept things very cold. Didn't use the microwave, but what a nice extra in a room! I also noticed there was no sprinkler system, but they did have fire alarms.

One of the full sized beds had a queen sized mattress on it... I thought that wasn't a good thing, but my daughter thought it was pretty neat and didn't want me to call down to change it. I warned her to be careful as she might roll off it (she never did), and reported it when we checked out.

Since we were there only 2 nights I chose not to have housekeeping as I'm a pretty tidy person. So I can't comment on housekeeping except to say it was neat and clean when we got there.

We ate at both the Angel's diner and the buffet while we were there. The kids eat free program would be great for a larger family (though it was nice for just us too). They allow 2 kids to eat free per paying adult.
My daughter loved the breakfest buffet, and the lobster buffet was pretty good too. Kids eat free if they're not eating lobster or crab, and they have plenty of other stuff to choose from. The Angels casual diner was basic and food was ok too.. reasonably priced.

We did not use the pool facilities but we did pass them and they looked clean. They were usually crowed, but we were there pretty prime time. They have a video arcade and pool table all very convenient to the front desk area. They had other play areas (outside) around the hotel too. This is a pretty large hotel.. deceiving from the front! Take a ride around it.. I was surprised at how big it was.

Overall it was a basic hotel, clean enough and no major complaints. It wasn't a bad stay, though it wouldn't be my first choice of places to stay. For the $38 per night I paid through priceline it was a good deal. It may be better suited to families with more than one child just for the savings on food alone.

EASY to get to WDW... it's only about 5-7 minutes from most parks. We had no traffic problems at all (I rented a car). If you have a larger family and are renting also, it would definately benefit you to pop the family in the car to go back to the hotel for meals since it's so close and the kids will eat free.

A nice thing to mention.. my daughter really liked the breakfast buffet and asked to go back our second to the last day in Florida (that would be the 28th... so almost 2 weeks later). The cashier at the buffet remembered us and started to take off my daughter's portion of the bill. I told him were were no longer staying at the hotel and only came back for the buffet. He was very friendly and took her portion off anyway.
I thought that was really nice of him.

Don't be afraid of staying there.. it's not frightening But not near the top of the line either. Clean and decent for what you need I think.

This is rated as a 2.5* hotel and I think pretty accurately.

WHERE THE ROOMS INTERIOR OR EXTERIOR? THANKS!

 

[Anc96]

Our room was on the outside, parking lot view. It was on the second floor so even with the curtains opened all you could see were trees. they do have many interior rooms though. If you ask you'll probably get one.

Like I said it was nice enough for what we needed.. but we hardly spent any time in the room anyway. We often come back to the hotel midday to rest.. but not the second day in so we didn't when we were at the Nikki Bird. We really just slept there.

 

[AUTUMN SUN]

Our room was on the outside, parking lot view. It was on the second floor so even with the curtains opened all you could see were trees. they do have many interior rooms though. If you ask you'll probably get one.

Like I said it was nice enough for what we needed.. but we hardly spent any time in the room anyway. We often come back to the hotel midday to rest.. but not the second day in so we didn't when we were at the Nikki Bird. We really just slept there.

Thanks for the info!

 

[Anc96]

I wanted to quickly clarify what I meant by 'interior'. I meant the rooms faced the inner part of the hotel.. like a pool or garden view, not like many hotels that you enter from an inside hallway. As far as I could tell all rooms opened to a walkway balcony.

I hope I didn't confuse you with that first reply. When I just reread it I realized what you might have meant by interior.

 

[AUTUMN SUN]

I wanted to quickly clarify what I meant by 'interior'. I meant the rooms faced the inner part of the hotel.. like a pool or garden view, not like many hotels that you enter from an inside hallway. As far as I could tell all rooms opened to a walkway balcony.

I hope I didn't confuse you with that first reply. When I just reread it I realized what you might have meant by interior.

I got it Thanks again