Hi guys!
I wanted to give a short report on our experiences at the Hampton Inn Maingate West in Kissimmee. As some of you might remember, this was our first experience offsite and I was very nervous about it. I got the Hampton Inn for $58 a night through Hotel Kingdom per the advice of someone on this site. We had reservations at the ALL STAR MOVIES, but were finding it difficult to pay $109 for the same room we paid $74 for last year. Anyways, we decided that with the cancellation of early entry this was the year to try offsite.
The hotel was very easy to find--just minutes off of I-4 on Rt 192. Upon check in we had to be insistent on a no smoking room. I had made my reservations online and noticed that the confirmation said smoking--since my family is very sensitive to smoke, I called the hotel directly and asked that it be changed. The person I talked to was very helpful and said no problem. Turns out she was the one checking us in. She said the GM had changed it back and that all the discounted rooms are supposed to be smoking rooms. I perservered since we were going to be there 7 nights and she was finally able to change it. The hotel was nicely decorated and carpeting and furniture all seemed to be fairly new. Our room was a standard Hampton Inn room. There was a good sized refrigerator (the larger version of a dorm fridge) and a microwave. The closet was on the small size for our family of 4, but there was an ironing board and iron in there too. My only complaint with the room is that the mirror and sink area were not seperate from the tub and toilet. This is difficult with everyone needing mirror time. I have found that this is not consistant amongst Hampton Inns--some have it some don't. Our experience with housekeeping was good.
We had no trouble getting to the parks each day. I asked at the ticket desk and she told me about a back road that got us right to the main WDW road in less than 5 minutes and we used that every day. We did encounter some stop and go traffic coming back at park closing time with a line backed up to exit onto 192. It seemed to me that anytime we were on WDW property the traffic moved right along, but the minute we exited it came to a stop. Must be pixie dust!!
Overall, I was pleasantly surprised by our offsite experience. Having said that, we decded that next trip will be onsite. We found that a little of the magic was lost each day when we encountered the gaudy souvenir stands and the "theme park tickets for 12.99" signs everywhere. We are spoiled by the "caccoon" of WDW from our past trips. Still, I would reccommend that Hampton Inn Maingate West to anyone.
I guess this wasn't very short afterall. Sorry
Sher
I wanted to give a short report on our experiences at the Hampton Inn Maingate West in Kissimmee. As some of you might remember, this was our first experience offsite and I was very nervous about it. I got the Hampton Inn for $58 a night through Hotel Kingdom per the advice of someone on this site. We had reservations at the ALL STAR MOVIES, but were finding it difficult to pay $109 for the same room we paid $74 for last year. Anyways, we decided that with the cancellation of early entry this was the year to try offsite.
The hotel was very easy to find--just minutes off of I-4 on Rt 192. Upon check in we had to be insistent on a no smoking room. I had made my reservations online and noticed that the confirmation said smoking--since my family is very sensitive to smoke, I called the hotel directly and asked that it be changed. The person I talked to was very helpful and said no problem. Turns out she was the one checking us in. She said the GM had changed it back and that all the discounted rooms are supposed to be smoking rooms. I perservered since we were going to be there 7 nights and she was finally able to change it. The hotel was nicely decorated and carpeting and furniture all seemed to be fairly new. Our room was a standard Hampton Inn room. There was a good sized refrigerator (the larger version of a dorm fridge) and a microwave. The closet was on the small size for our family of 4, but there was an ironing board and iron in there too. My only complaint with the room is that the mirror and sink area were not seperate from the tub and toilet. This is difficult with everyone needing mirror time. I have found that this is not consistant amongst Hampton Inns--some have it some don't. Our experience with housekeeping was good.
We had no trouble getting to the parks each day. I asked at the ticket desk and she told me about a back road that got us right to the main WDW road in less than 5 minutes and we used that every day. We did encounter some stop and go traffic coming back at park closing time with a line backed up to exit onto 192. It seemed to me that anytime we were on WDW property the traffic moved right along, but the minute we exited it came to a stop. Must be pixie dust!!
Overall, I was pleasantly surprised by our offsite experience. Having said that, we decded that next trip will be onsite. We found that a little of the magic was lost each day when we encountered the gaudy souvenir stands and the "theme park tickets for 12.99" signs everywhere. We are spoiled by the "caccoon" of WDW from our past trips. Still, I would reccommend that Hampton Inn Maingate West to anyone.
I guess this wasn't very short afterall. Sorry
Sher
