We didn't take the transportation they offered. We tried walking it to Universal one day. It is an o.k. walk - about 1 1/2 miles. It is just up from Wet'nWild. About 1/3 of the way is a Walgreens I think it was and a KFC. I noticed if you walk out the front of the building and go to the left and take the walkway, the next block is a TGI Fridays. Didn't notice that until it was too late. Trolly Service didn't use but saw it pass a few times. The umbrella for the pick up is down next to the next hotel (Best Western next door)- you will walk by it if heading towards Universal. I didn't like the fact that we had to cross a major intersection (Universal Drive & International Drive) and the walk way lights didn't work or they worked and the minute you steped off the curb, it was on count down and it is 8 lanes you need to cross. If you don't move that fast, you could have a problem. We ended up with Taxi service. The first night we were there, the very nice driver gave us a card with the # to call. We would call and within a few minutes, they were at our door to pick us up. It was between $6.00 and $8.00 for one way to Universal depending on lights and traffic and there were 7 of us. IT is just a very long walk down to Universal, then across the City Walk to the parks in 100 degree weather - including the awful humidity. We have been during the summer many times and never felt it like we did this year. Maybe because we didn't enjoy the parks as much as Disney. We didn't lke the times for the transportation to and from the parks with the hotel. We wanted to depend on no one - that is where the taxi came in. Much easier. I would take the taxi from the airport - much cheaper than Mears shuttle even though Mears runs the taxi. The Kids used the pool and didn't have any complaints, hot tub don't know about as it was way too hot to think about a hot tub. It was nice. The food at the bar was good. I did wish at times I had my own car so at night we could have went out on our own but with 7 of us it would have been a fortune to rent a van. They told us it would have been $25.00 one way for the taxi to downtown Disney from the hotel. I didn't see any issues with bugs, etc. Everything was well kept and clean. I hope this helps. Any other questions please let me know. I can say I really liked the hotel, only thing is check in is at 4 p.m. and not before. We were there about 1:30 and they couldn't ck us in - we had to wait so that screwed up our day on Monday as we wanted to head to the parks. Yes they will take your luggage and store it but we had to come back to ck in at 4 and we were not going to the parks just to ck back in as we had 6 p.m. ressies at Hard Rock. Oh I did see a Golden Corral out our bedroom window that looked like it wasn't too far and also an IHop. I would walk to either of those but again you need to cross that lovely intersection down the road or take the trolly. I noticed online you can get a 3 day pass I think it was for like $5.00 or something - I would do that before hand. They do have a map at the hotel for you to have with the routes. Sorry it is so long but I keep remembering stuff as I type.
