Belle1962
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Aug 18, 1999
We stayed Sunday - Tuesday Memorial Day Weekend.
Arrived Sunday around 11:45: pre-check in took 45 minutes. Priority Club Check in and the special Children's Check in Desk were closed. Lobby: NOISY and full of kids who were basically unsupervised while thier parents stood in 1 of 2 lines---check in or check out. If that kid cut in front of me one more time on his sneakers/roller skate combos thing I WAS going to trip him!!!!!!!
DS and DGS stayed after pre-heck in to use the pool while girls went shopping.
Came back and had to go officially check in. Unlike Disney where you just call and get your room number---Nick gives you a key and then you have to go back to the lobby to get a room assignment and have the keys "coded". This took only 15 minutes.
Unit: SpongeBob bunk bed room. DGS (5) loved it. I think billing these as suites is a stretch------not spacious like a condo but bigger than a hotel room. The sofa was actually a love seat (by my own standard a sofa should have 3 cushions and seat 3 adults comfortably--this has 2 cushions and would seat 2 adults). If the sofa is open you COULD not move in the living room area. So if you were the person on the far side of the bed then you had to crawl over the other person to get to the bathroom and kitchenette area. We did not need it so it wasn't an issue for us just a note for those who may need it. Master bedroom: King bed, vanity area and closet. Nice in here. The curtains did not close all the way but DS and his DGF were sleeping there so I figured the morning sun would just help wake them up
Bunk Bed room: no closet--only drawers to put stuff in. Bottom bunk had what I hope was ketchup over it (actually on the bottom the top bunk). DGS LOVED it. Had a pull out type bed under the tv---only a small child could sleep there. No air flow/ac the first night (even though there isn't a door to this room just a curtain and we had it open.) DS discovered next day that the vent was closed.
Loved having 3 tv's--went to Walmart and bought Kingdom Hearts for the kids room.
Toilet ran all night the first night but maintenance came when called the next day to fix it.
POOL: DGS and DS loved it. They are blessed with not being bothered by crowds I guess. DGF of DS did not--got slapped in the face by feet in the pool a few times. Also said that when they went to use the hot tub in the evening it was filled with kids.
Arcade/food court/party thing: Arcade: noisy, crowded and not worth it. Food court: noisy, crowded and hard to find seats---a lot of seats were taken by parents whose kids were in the arcade and they were just hanging out waiting for them. Due to rain the party was moved from the pool to inside--crowded, if you weren't among the first ones there to snag a table all of the arts projects and stuff were gone.
MAGIC MOMENT: When we first arrived in the mall area we happened on Blue coming out!! DGS ran over and hugged him!! The memories of that heck-in torture were starting to fade!!
Character meal: We went on Tuesday. WELL WORTH THE EXPERIENCE and worth every discomfort up to this point. I had read reviews that the interaction was not good and the characters took too long to come around. I almost cancelled!!! We had 7:00 am reservations. SpongeBob held court in the lobby area and we visited him 3 times with no wait. However --the girl taking pictures was awful. I am so glad I went to the gift shop and bought another disposable camera!!! In her pictures head or arms were always cutoff!!! Dora, Fairly Oddparents and Patrick came by several times--stopping to actually play and interact each time! We had fun celebrating birthdays and when they put the microphone in front of DGS it WAS NOT his birthday so we thought quick and said it was his Pre-K graduation trip (which it was but they were looking for birthdays). A Management type came around to ask if the characters had been by and if we needed them to come by again--are you sure you got your pictures? autographs?--etc. The only thing I found odd was that you had order waffles and pancakes through your waitress--you couldn't just go up and get them. Food was good--DS declared the sausage the best of the trip.
Our room was a corner room right next to the basketball court and pool!!! Expected it to be noisy--was very surprised that we were not kept awake by any outside noise (the toilet running and flushing itself all night the first night is a different story).
Staff (except at the breakfast) were not friendly or very helpful. Their attitude seemed to be "we don't care if you come back or not--people are clamoring to stay here so we don't have to provide exceptional service to you". I was also on a special rate ($179 per night) and was unable to use the express checkout because of it. (?????) I just drove away from the hotel the morning of checkout--I wasn't going by the lobby to see what the line was like!!
Overall: left swearing I would never be back!!! I've stayed at the Nick Heltel and don't need to ever go back!!
DGS is begging to go back and stay longer than 2 nights!! He said it wasn't enough for him.
I am hoarding my Priority Club points for a future visit.
Arrived Sunday around 11:45: pre-check in took 45 minutes. Priority Club Check in and the special Children's Check in Desk were closed. Lobby: NOISY and full of kids who were basically unsupervised while thier parents stood in 1 of 2 lines---check in or check out. If that kid cut in front of me one more time on his sneakers/roller skate combos thing I WAS going to trip him!!!!!!!
DS and DGS stayed after pre-heck in to use the pool while girls went shopping.
Came back and had to go officially check in. Unlike Disney where you just call and get your room number---Nick gives you a key and then you have to go back to the lobby to get a room assignment and have the keys "coded". This took only 15 minutes.
Unit: SpongeBob bunk bed room. DGS (5) loved it. I think billing these as suites is a stretch------not spacious like a condo but bigger than a hotel room. The sofa was actually a love seat (by my own standard a sofa should have 3 cushions and seat 3 adults comfortably--this has 2 cushions and would seat 2 adults). If the sofa is open you COULD not move in the living room area. So if you were the person on the far side of the bed then you had to crawl over the other person to get to the bathroom and kitchenette area. We did not need it so it wasn't an issue for us just a note for those who may need it. Master bedroom: King bed, vanity area and closet. Nice in here. The curtains did not close all the way but DS and his DGF were sleeping there so I figured the morning sun would just help wake them up
Bunk Bed room: no closet--only drawers to put stuff in. Bottom bunk had what I hope was ketchup over it (actually on the bottom the top bunk). DGS LOVED it. Had a pull out type bed under the tv---only a small child could sleep there. No air flow/ac the first night (even though there isn't a door to this room just a curtain and we had it open.) DS discovered next day that the vent was closed. Loved having 3 tv's--went to Walmart and bought Kingdom Hearts for the kids room.
Toilet ran all night the first night but maintenance came when called the next day to fix it.
POOL: DGS and DS loved it. They are blessed with not being bothered by crowds I guess. DGF of DS did not--got slapped in the face by feet in the pool a few times. Also said that when they went to use the hot tub in the evening it was filled with kids.
Arcade/food court/party thing: Arcade: noisy, crowded and not worth it. Food court: noisy, crowded and hard to find seats---a lot of seats were taken by parents whose kids were in the arcade and they were just hanging out waiting for them. Due to rain the party was moved from the pool to inside--crowded, if you weren't among the first ones there to snag a table all of the arts projects and stuff were gone.
MAGIC MOMENT: When we first arrived in the mall area we happened on Blue coming out!! DGS ran over and hugged him!! The memories of that heck-in torture were starting to fade!!
Character meal: We went on Tuesday. WELL WORTH THE EXPERIENCE and worth every discomfort up to this point. I had read reviews that the interaction was not good and the characters took too long to come around. I almost cancelled!!! We had 7:00 am reservations. SpongeBob held court in the lobby area and we visited him 3 times with no wait. However --the girl taking pictures was awful. I am so glad I went to the gift shop and bought another disposable camera!!! In her pictures head or arms were always cutoff!!! Dora, Fairly Oddparents and Patrick came by several times--stopping to actually play and interact each time! We had fun celebrating birthdays and when they put the microphone in front of DGS it WAS NOT his birthday so we thought quick and said it was his Pre-K graduation trip (which it was but they were looking for birthdays). A Management type came around to ask if the characters had been by and if we needed them to come by again--are you sure you got your pictures? autographs?--etc. The only thing I found odd was that you had order waffles and pancakes through your waitress--you couldn't just go up and get them. Food was good--DS declared the sausage the best of the trip.
Our room was a corner room right next to the basketball court and pool!!! Expected it to be noisy--was very surprised that we were not kept awake by any outside noise (the toilet running and flushing itself all night the first night is a different story).
Staff (except at the breakfast) were not friendly or very helpful. Their attitude seemed to be "we don't care if you come back or not--people are clamoring to stay here so we don't have to provide exceptional service to you". I was also on a special rate ($179 per night) and was unable to use the express checkout because of it. (?????) I just drove away from the hotel the morning of checkout--I wasn't going by the lobby to see what the line was like!!
Overall: left swearing I would never be back!!! I've stayed at the Nick Heltel and don't need to ever go back!!
DGS is begging to go back and stay longer than 2 nights!! He said it wasn't enough for him.
I am hoarding my Priority Club points for a future visit.
