Smittolis
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Mar 2, 2017
I've commented on our stay on a number of threads but I wanted to clean it up and put them all in one place.
We stayed at the Townsuites by Marriott at Flamingo Crossings in August of this year. This my family's first ever stay offsite when being at Disney, so it was a big deal for them! But it also gave a good 'first impression' for people that are looking to do the same.
For those that are not familiar with Townesuites at Flamingo Crossings, here is a quick location reference:
We decided to give the Townesuites a try as it was relatively new (a couple of years old) and we had stayed at numerous others around the country. We purchased the weeks stay via a package deal offered on Alaska Air's website, this included flights and 1 weeks accommodation. I personally have stopped offsite at a number of places, my most recent visit was to the Marriott's Orlando World Center. And while it was good, I found the location to be difficult at times. The straight run from the Townesuites was attractive!
We rented a big old Suburban for the first week of our trip via Costco Travel, this was $490. It was basically a new suburban with a few hundred miles on the clock, the kids were impressed! haha...
The hotel follows the same usual set up, 1 side is the Springhill Suites, while the other side is the Townesuites. They share the pool and other amenities but are not necessarily overcrowded.
Hotel:
We found the hotel to be clean and well appointed, the lobby was spacious and bright and welcoming. The furniture and decor was new and in good order, all in all it was a positive impression right of the bad. It has lots of Disney references in there too....
The staff were all super friendly and overall we had a positive experience.
The rooms were relatively clean, although I did find some 'nether region' hair on the toilet bowl.... Mmmm lol. Other than that, the rooms were clean, well dressed and welcoming. Warning, the pillows are super super soft, not something that was a favorite of myself nor my wife!
Pool:
The pool has a zero entry at one end and kind of branches off into a boxy 'Y' shape, we found it to be an adequate pool although, at peak times it got busy. There are no lifeguards on duty, and its the kind of place that parents tend to spend more time consuming alcohol than watching their kids, so just a mental note to those with young ones.
Travel:
We found the travel to Publix, Walmart, Target to be really convenient as its right by the freeway on ramp. We found the drive to any of the parks to be convenient and quick. In my video I put some distances and times from Google maps at the end as comparisons. As we have disabled parking we were able to park right up front and in many cases, we had faster and more convenient transport with a double stroller that we would if we stayed at many of the deluxes and used Disney transport. So we were very happy with that.
Value:
When factoring in all costs, we paid a little of $80 per night inclusive of tax and breakfast every day. I am not sure there are many better values that can offer the same level of people in a room while also having a relatively short commute to the parks. We thought it represented very good value.
Would we stay there again?
Possibly, I say this for a few reasons....
1. We had problems with our fridge that were never addressed and resulted in me having to make a complaint to Marriott. I don't have time to go into it this morning but perhaps I can do it after class.
2. The clientele staying there were just very rude, they were rude to the staff and just not very 'Disney'. I know this is more of a society thing, but it's not something i have noticed previously when staying on site.
3. Having to have a car increases the per day costs, although does give you freedom to use a supermarket / grocery store.
4. The value is excellent and if we were to trade off staying at Disney for longer by staying offsite for a week and then onsite for a week then yes, we would do it again... we'd just do things a little differently with our plans.
5. We are used to staying at the Poly, Contemporary, BLT, Wilderness Lodge, so at times our perspective of what are 'minimum standards' are somewhat skewed, something we are aware of.
Here is my youtube video of the room and travel times etc...
Out of 5 stars, it would get a 3.5-4 stars ;o)
We stayed at the Townsuites by Marriott at Flamingo Crossings in August of this year. This my family's first ever stay offsite when being at Disney, so it was a big deal for them! But it also gave a good 'first impression' for people that are looking to do the same.
For those that are not familiar with Townesuites at Flamingo Crossings, here is a quick location reference:
We decided to give the Townesuites a try as it was relatively new (a couple of years old) and we had stayed at numerous others around the country. We purchased the weeks stay via a package deal offered on Alaska Air's website, this included flights and 1 weeks accommodation. I personally have stopped offsite at a number of places, my most recent visit was to the Marriott's Orlando World Center. And while it was good, I found the location to be difficult at times. The straight run from the Townesuites was attractive!
We rented a big old Suburban for the first week of our trip via Costco Travel, this was $490. It was basically a new suburban with a few hundred miles on the clock, the kids were impressed! haha...
The hotel follows the same usual set up, 1 side is the Springhill Suites, while the other side is the Townesuites. They share the pool and other amenities but are not necessarily overcrowded.
Hotel:
We found the hotel to be clean and well appointed, the lobby was spacious and bright and welcoming. The furniture and decor was new and in good order, all in all it was a positive impression right of the bad. It has lots of Disney references in there too....
The staff were all super friendly and overall we had a positive experience.
The rooms were relatively clean, although I did find some 'nether region' hair on the toilet bowl.... Mmmm lol. Other than that, the rooms were clean, well dressed and welcoming. Warning, the pillows are super super soft, not something that was a favorite of myself nor my wife!
Pool:
The pool has a zero entry at one end and kind of branches off into a boxy 'Y' shape, we found it to be an adequate pool although, at peak times it got busy. There are no lifeguards on duty, and its the kind of place that parents tend to spend more time consuming alcohol than watching their kids, so just a mental note to those with young ones.
Travel:
We found the travel to Publix, Walmart, Target to be really convenient as its right by the freeway on ramp. We found the drive to any of the parks to be convenient and quick. In my video I put some distances and times from Google maps at the end as comparisons. As we have disabled parking we were able to park right up front and in many cases, we had faster and more convenient transport with a double stroller that we would if we stayed at many of the deluxes and used Disney transport. So we were very happy with that.
Value:
When factoring in all costs, we paid a little of $80 per night inclusive of tax and breakfast every day. I am not sure there are many better values that can offer the same level of people in a room while also having a relatively short commute to the parks. We thought it represented very good value.
Would we stay there again?
Possibly, I say this for a few reasons....
1. We had problems with our fridge that were never addressed and resulted in me having to make a complaint to Marriott. I don't have time to go into it this morning but perhaps I can do it after class.
2. The clientele staying there were just very rude, they were rude to the staff and just not very 'Disney'. I know this is more of a society thing, but it's not something i have noticed previously when staying on site.
3. Having to have a car increases the per day costs, although does give you freedom to use a supermarket / grocery store.
4. The value is excellent and if we were to trade off staying at Disney for longer by staying offsite for a week and then onsite for a week then yes, we would do it again... we'd just do things a little differently with our plans.
5. We are used to staying at the Poly, Contemporary, BLT, Wilderness Lodge, so at times our perspective of what are 'minimum standards' are somewhat skewed, something we are aware of.
Here is my youtube video of the room and travel times etc...
Out of 5 stars, it would get a 3.5-4 stars ;o)
)
