Just returned from 12-day vacation. We took the 4-day Disney Wonder cruise 6/20-6/24 then spent 5 nites at the Doubletree in Downtown Disney 6/24-6/29. We are Disney Vacation Club members and our home resort is the Boardwalk Villas where we usually stay in a 1 bedroom villa so we are admittedly spoiled.
We're saving our DVC points for next year so we wanted to find a 1-bedroom unit near WDW and we opted for the Doubletree based on recommendations on various sites including Mousesavers and Allearsnet. We received a AAA rate of $125.10 which we thought was quite good, but I have to say we were not thrilled with the hotel. We stayed on the 7th (top) floor and our room definitely had wear and tear + the furnishings/decorations were out of the 1970s. The hotel was not overly clean -- the windows near the elevator on the 7th floor were terribly dirty and significantly marred the view.
There is only one laundry room for the entire hotel. It is on the 7th floor and has 3 washers and 4 dryers. One of the washers was broke during our entire stay. There were always people waiting to do wash. There are 3 ice machines (floors 6, 5 and 2 if I remember correctly) and one was broke. It was amusing to see people wandering around the hallways with their empty ice buckets looking for a machine.
The pool was not very clean and is in definite need of paint. I was amazed at the number of people in the pool area smoking and drinking from beer cans.
The hotel looks like it's being prepped for exterior painting. There are white marks all over the exterior and a little bit of new-looking green paint near one corner, but I didn't see anyone painting during our 5-nite stay.
On the plus side, the employees were pleasant and the lobby was fairly clean and attractive looking. The sleeper sofa was actually one of the more comfortable ones I've slept on -- I didn't feel the bar in my back and my head was actually on the same plane as my feet while I slept.
We had a rental car so I can't comment about the bus service.
I suppose at $125 per night we received about what we paid for, but it was certainly not an excellent value. We stayed at the Raddison at Port Canaveral for 2 nites before our cruise and we had a one-bedroom unit for about the same price and we liked the Raddison much better.
I can't recommend an alternative for the price, so if you really need a unit with a separate bedroom (as we do with 2 kids) then the Doubletree may be an option, but don't expect too much.
We're saving our DVC points for next year so we wanted to find a 1-bedroom unit near WDW and we opted for the Doubletree based on recommendations on various sites including Mousesavers and Allearsnet. We received a AAA rate of $125.10 which we thought was quite good, but I have to say we were not thrilled with the hotel. We stayed on the 7th (top) floor and our room definitely had wear and tear + the furnishings/decorations were out of the 1970s. The hotel was not overly clean -- the windows near the elevator on the 7th floor were terribly dirty and significantly marred the view.
There is only one laundry room for the entire hotel. It is on the 7th floor and has 3 washers and 4 dryers. One of the washers was broke during our entire stay. There were always people waiting to do wash. There are 3 ice machines (floors 6, 5 and 2 if I remember correctly) and one was broke. It was amusing to see people wandering around the hallways with their empty ice buckets looking for a machine.
The pool was not very clean and is in definite need of paint. I was amazed at the number of people in the pool area smoking and drinking from beer cans.
The hotel looks like it's being prepped for exterior painting. There are white marks all over the exterior and a little bit of new-looking green paint near one corner, but I didn't see anyone painting during our 5-nite stay.
On the plus side, the employees were pleasant and the lobby was fairly clean and attractive looking. The sleeper sofa was actually one of the more comfortable ones I've slept on -- I didn't feel the bar in my back and my head was actually on the same plane as my feet while I slept.
We had a rental car so I can't comment about the bus service.
I suppose at $125 per night we received about what we paid for, but it was certainly not an excellent value. We stayed at the Raddison at Port Canaveral for 2 nites before our cruise and we had a one-bedroom unit for about the same price and we liked the Raddison much better.
I can't recommend an alternative for the price, so if you really need a unit with a separate bedroom (as we do with 2 kids) then the Doubletree may be an option, but don't expect too much.
