Our Hotel - Orlando World Center Marriott
After exploring Disney Springs we headed to Orlando World Center Marriott to check in a little before 4 pm. My husband's company changed this year from the Tampa Marriott to this hotel for their annual convention and of course, I needed to tag along!
As we pulled in we saw a sign for self-parking in the garage so we headed there. After parking the car we saw there was a shuttle bus pulling up at the garage. Wait, what? A shuttle bus FROM the parking garage just to get to the main lobby?...oh boy. We rode the shuttle and arrived in the lobby to see a long counter with about six hosts behind it for check-in and approximately 50 or 60 people ahead of us in line! I attempted to check in with the Bonvoy app but since we now had a parking garage ticket that we had to exchange for a room key, we had no choice but to join the hordes in line.
We stood there for a good 30 minutes and my husband observed that the same six customers were still at the counter waiting for their room assignments...NO ONE was being checked in and the line was snaking through the lobby. We hadn't moved at all. Occasionally a hotel employee would wander through the line only to be pelted with questions such as: "Is there a separate VIP line or Bonvoy line? (no) Is this really the check-in line? (yes)" etc...so we waited and waited and waited....our guess is that they are short-staffed like elsewhere and there were no clean rooms to send people to.
After about 40 minutes, the lines started to move. When it was our turn the host had a LOT of trouble finding a room available for 11 days (despite us having our reservation booked since last October). We just stood and waited silently as she clicked away. Finally she handed us our room keys and said "here you go" and that's it. No instructions about how to find our room, options for housekeeping, welcome to the resort, nothing, also since we were there for a conference we were supposed to receive a welcome packet of sorts but received no such packet....so we asked, "Where is our room?" "West wing sixth floor room 030806" and "how do we get there?" "Down that corridor". So we wandered aimlessly dragging all our luggage searching for the elevators and some guest came by and said "Do you need help?" and then nicely took us through the maze to the West Wing elevators. This place is HUGE and confusing (but we got the hang of it eventually). I commented to my DH that it feels like a cruise ship and a few days later I overheard another guest saying the same thing to her husband.
Our room was very nice with a balcony overlooking the complex.
The pros: It was very quiet and comfortable. We never heard any neighbors above or next to us. (Although one night we did hear a group of cheerleaders screaming and running up and down the hallways, but not much you can do about that). The bed was very comfortable. Also, it was a very easy commute to the parks without having to go on I-4.
The cons: Did I mention this place is enormous? We found a route we could walk to the parking garage instead of waiting for the ONE shuttle bus they had (that only held about 10 people per trip). So each morning we began with a brisk 10 minute walk through the entire complex to get to our car. The place is also understaffed. Calls to the front desk and/or chats in the app were greeted with "we are busy helping others" and VERY long wait times. We found housekeeping was spotty at best. We usually got our trash emptied, water bottles replaced, and fresh towels on most days. We never saw any sign of actual cleaning and our bed was never touched. We had no showergel when we arrived and after two days we finally found a spot in the app to request a refill and it was filled the next day. Also, this is first and foremost a convention center so our first weekend was PACKED with cheerleading groups and the second weekend was packed with some sort of youth who study sports medicine. Other than the occasional screaming and running down the halls late at night they were all fine though. But, the lobby was often very crowded and lines long at the Starbucks.
Would we stay again? Maybe, if we found a good rate (or if my husband has another convention). We slept great and it was a perfect location to get easily to/from the parks.
Hopefully May's cookie will be good.
