Stayed at DTD Hilton on Thursday, Dec. 11th to Friday, Dec. 12th, then moved to the Wyndham Palace Resort in DTD for Friday to Saturday. Got both ressies through Priceline (about $60 each).
The hotels are very close to each other, and both are about equidistance from the DTD Marketplace -- you just walk about 1/2 a block and then cross a busy street. So the location of either hotel is great, if you want to hang out at DTD a lot.
At check-in, I was told at both hotels that since I had a priceline reservation, I wouldn't be getting any benefits (I am a Wyndhambyrequest and HiltonHonors member). I felt that they announced this very loudly, to the line in general -- but maybe I was just feeling a bit defensive. I did use the special check in line reserved for members at each hotel, and thus avoided the long lines at each hotel, so maybe the check-in person just wanted to make sure that I understood that this was the only perk I was going to get. Whatever.
At the Hilton I got a standard room on the 5th floor with a view of the hotel entrance. I asked if I could have a room with a view of DTD but was told that the hotel was full and that this wasn't possible, and was reminded again that I didn't get any perks because this was a pre-paid reservation. No big deal, since we were just there for one night. The room was fine; had asked for non-smoking w/two beds and got this.
The main, fancy pool was closed for renovations -- this was unfortunate as my eight year old son wanted to swim (despite the 60 degree weather). They had another pool -- a lap pool -- that was open and he swam in that for awhile.
We left for Mickey's VMCP shortly thereafter (which was so great), and got back around 10:30 p.m. We actually took the boat from the MK to the WL, and then took a bus to DTD, then walked to the hotel. This took quite a while -- about 45 minutes -- but I wanted to see the WL and my son had his gameboy so it was fine. My son was hungry so he got a hotdog in the little snack bar off the lobby ($4.00), then we went to sleep.
Next morning, checked out and went to Epcot and MGM, then drove to Wyndham and checked in. They put us in the rooms over at Recreation Islalnd. At first I was really upset about this, because we had to take the elevator to the first floor and then walk down a long hallway and go outside and walk about 1/4 a block to another building. It was cold out, and dark, and there wasn't anyone around to help us figure out where we were going. My feeling was that I had thought I was going to be staying in the nice big fancy hotel, and I felt like they were sending me to Siberia. When we finally found the correct entrance it turned out there was a big fancy office party going on in a public area almost right outside our room door, which was funny because my son was fascinated by the well dressed people and just stood around and watched them for about fifteen minutes, which I imagine made them a little uncomfortable. Our room was older, and did smell musty, but it was big and the beds were fine, as was the bathroom. For $60 a night it was o.k.; I'm glad I didn't pay more.
We went to get my son another hotdog (what can I say -- he loves hotdogs) but they cost $8.50 at the Wyndham (for one hotdog only -- it's not like it came with a pop or chips or anything) so we stolled over to the hIlton and had one of their $4.00 dogs (actually, he got the combo -- chips, hotdog and drink for $5.95).
The next morning, however, I decided I liked being on Recreation Island, because it was super convenient to the pool, which was very nice -- certainly much nicer than Hilton's lap pool. Also, we were much closer to DTD then the people in the main building, which was convenient for breakfast. If I was going to be there two or three days with small kids, and planned to use the pool a lot, I would definitely want a room in Recreation Island. Since we were on the first floor, we could just open our big glass sliding door and walke out to the pool and the path leading to DTD. This worried me a bit at night -- seemed like it would be very easy for someone to break in, if they wanted to do, and the place did seem very isolated -- but of course nothing happened.
So, both hotels were fine, although I've stayed in much nicer rooms. If I hadn't had PRiceline ressies, I imagine I would have been given nicer rooms, because I do belong to the special clubs at both hotels -- but I would have paid more for this, and the rooms were fine for the amount of time we spent in them. Plus I know other people have been upgraded despite using a priceline ressie -- so who knows.
One thing -- we used the resort transportation buses twice -- to get from Wyndham to Epcot, and then back to Wyndham from MGM -- and it was pretty bad. It felt like we waited forever for a bus to get to Epcot, and then we had to stand in the parking lot at MGM for a long time waiting for the bus to take us back. But maybe it was just bad timing.
Wyndham often has special deals on its website, and in the future I'll try to book directly through them. I would not pay over $100 a night for either of these hotels -- that's about what I ended up paying, when you factor in the taxes, resort fees, and valet parking, and I was comfortable paying this, because of the great location, but I wouldn't pay more.
The hotels are very close to each other, and both are about equidistance from the DTD Marketplace -- you just walk about 1/2 a block and then cross a busy street. So the location of either hotel is great, if you want to hang out at DTD a lot.
At check-in, I was told at both hotels that since I had a priceline reservation, I wouldn't be getting any benefits (I am a Wyndhambyrequest and HiltonHonors member). I felt that they announced this very loudly, to the line in general -- but maybe I was just feeling a bit defensive. I did use the special check in line reserved for members at each hotel, and thus avoided the long lines at each hotel, so maybe the check-in person just wanted to make sure that I understood that this was the only perk I was going to get. Whatever.
At the Hilton I got a standard room on the 5th floor with a view of the hotel entrance. I asked if I could have a room with a view of DTD but was told that the hotel was full and that this wasn't possible, and was reminded again that I didn't get any perks because this was a pre-paid reservation. No big deal, since we were just there for one night. The room was fine; had asked for non-smoking w/two beds and got this.
The main, fancy pool was closed for renovations -- this was unfortunate as my eight year old son wanted to swim (despite the 60 degree weather). They had another pool -- a lap pool -- that was open and he swam in that for awhile.
We left for Mickey's VMCP shortly thereafter (which was so great), and got back around 10:30 p.m. We actually took the boat from the MK to the WL, and then took a bus to DTD, then walked to the hotel. This took quite a while -- about 45 minutes -- but I wanted to see the WL and my son had his gameboy so it was fine. My son was hungry so he got a hotdog in the little snack bar off the lobby ($4.00), then we went to sleep.
Next morning, checked out and went to Epcot and MGM, then drove to Wyndham and checked in. They put us in the rooms over at Recreation Islalnd. At first I was really upset about this, because we had to take the elevator to the first floor and then walk down a long hallway and go outside and walk about 1/4 a block to another building. It was cold out, and dark, and there wasn't anyone around to help us figure out where we were going. My feeling was that I had thought I was going to be staying in the nice big fancy hotel, and I felt like they were sending me to Siberia. When we finally found the correct entrance it turned out there was a big fancy office party going on in a public area almost right outside our room door, which was funny because my son was fascinated by the well dressed people and just stood around and watched them for about fifteen minutes, which I imagine made them a little uncomfortable. Our room was older, and did smell musty, but it was big and the beds were fine, as was the bathroom. For $60 a night it was o.k.; I'm glad I didn't pay more.
We went to get my son another hotdog (what can I say -- he loves hotdogs) but they cost $8.50 at the Wyndham (for one hotdog only -- it's not like it came with a pop or chips or anything) so we stolled over to the hIlton and had one of their $4.00 dogs (actually, he got the combo -- chips, hotdog and drink for $5.95).
The next morning, however, I decided I liked being on Recreation Island, because it was super convenient to the pool, which was very nice -- certainly much nicer than Hilton's lap pool. Also, we were much closer to DTD then the people in the main building, which was convenient for breakfast. If I was going to be there two or three days with small kids, and planned to use the pool a lot, I would definitely want a room in Recreation Island. Since we were on the first floor, we could just open our big glass sliding door and walke out to the pool and the path leading to DTD. This worried me a bit at night -- seemed like it would be very easy for someone to break in, if they wanted to do, and the place did seem very isolated -- but of course nothing happened.
So, both hotels were fine, although I've stayed in much nicer rooms. If I hadn't had PRiceline ressies, I imagine I would have been given nicer rooms, because I do belong to the special clubs at both hotels -- but I would have paid more for this, and the rooms were fine for the amount of time we spent in them. Plus I know other people have been upgraded despite using a priceline ressie -- so who knows.
One thing -- we used the resort transportation buses twice -- to get from Wyndham to Epcot, and then back to Wyndham from MGM -- and it was pretty bad. It felt like we waited forever for a bus to get to Epcot, and then we had to stand in the parking lot at MGM for a long time waiting for the bus to take us back. But maybe it was just bad timing.
Wyndham often has special deals on its website, and in the future I'll try to book directly through them. I would not pay over $100 a night for either of these hotels -- that's about what I ended up paying, when you factor in the taxes, resort fees, and valet parking, and I was comfortable paying this, because of the great location, but I wouldn't pay more.
