Wyndham Palace Resort and Spa

[brambletiger]

We are going on our first trip to WDW in February (also our first trip to USA) and are staying at the Wydham Palace, has anyone stayed here as i've just been on the trip advisor site and it has some terrible reviews! We booked with Virgin and it is supposed to be a flagship hotel so am now a little worried.

Also is it better to walk into DTD to get the shuttle to the parks or rely on the one from the hotel?

Thanks for any help
Sarah

 

[LAH]

Sarah,

I read the same thing which also has me worried. I will be there in April for my wedding!!!!!!!!!!!!! I hope we are worrying for nothing!

Lori

 

[ncbyrne]

There are no day time busses from DD to the parks, you will have to take the hotel bus.

 

[Disneyholic]

If you don't want to take the hotel bus, walk to DTD and catch a hotel bus for the hotel closest to the park you want to go to and take the bus from there to the park you want. We found this to be better than waiting for the hotel buses which sometimes was quite a wait and usually a full bus.

 

[sweet maxine]

Sorry to be on the negative side here, but we just stayed there this past December for a Christmas trip, and we weren't very happy. We booked through Priceline, and it's possible we were given one of those "Priceline rooms". I just know that the room looked so worn, and we had to be moved from our first room assignment as the bedspreads had some white yuckky looking stuff smeared all over them. You would think someone would notice that when they were getting the room ready for the next guest! I know the housekeeping staff is probably overworked and underpaid, but really now---this place is billed as a resort, and it's just not up to snuff to me! I will say we did not have to wait in line upon checking in, but the front desk staff seemed a little "cold" to me, and especially once you mention Priceline, it's like you're second class citizens! We really tried hard to give this place the benefit of the doubt, but honestly, I think you can do much better elsewhere. The location to DTD is about the only thing going for this place, and the resort fee they tack on to your "already paid" reservation is ridiculous! We were told the resort fee covered the daily newspaper, coffee in the room, and the fitness room......PLEASE!....almost $11 for that!

My honest opinion (and my family as well)......find another place if you can.

 

[Motherfletcher]

On the other side...
We went late November and was given a room on the Presidential level on the 26th floor and had a great view of the nightly fireworks from bed or our balcony. The kids loved the pool.
Bad side:
There were a couple of drunks next door and they sounded like they were in our room.
The shower door had been removed and they didn't scrape the glue off.

 

[PeterParnes]

I stayed there last June for two weeks. Got upgraded to a room on the 26th floor. Nice view . Actually got a vulture on the balcony the last day. How cool isn't that

Everybody staying at the Wyndham should register for Wyndham ByRequest. It is free and fives you a number of free things (room upgrade, free calls, free Internet and you personal hotel ByRequest "slave").

Note that breakfast at this hotel is EXPENSIVE. If you comtact the hotel directly you can get good deals on a room with breakfast included for all in your party. The breakfast buffet is really nice though!

Regarding transportation, note that Saratoga Springs is about 5-8 minutes away on foot and the Disney transportation runs from there. Very convenient and we used it for most of our trips to and from the hotel.

More pictures from my last Disnet trip including photos from the hotel can be here.

I liked this hotel very much and I am actually going back on Jan 25 for 14 nights.

Feel free to ask more specific questions about the hotel!!

-Peter

 

[LAH]

Peter Parnes,

Thanks for the details. (and the pictures) I do have a few questions for you.........

You said you got upgraded to the 26th floor. Was your room a standard room or suite?

I hear a lot about "resort fee's" Do you pay this upon arrival?

Did you use the spa?

I am marrying there in April and after reading posts on another website I started to worry. A lot of people gave the Wyndham bad reviews.

 

[floridagirrl2]

DH and I stayed there last year (around March, I think). The grounds and lobby area are beautiful. The rooms were just fine. The restaurants are all very expensive. We thought it was a nice hotel, but for the price would rather stay on-site. I really don't think you have anything to worry about! Our only criticism is that we didn't think it was worth the price, but we still thought it was a nice hotel.

 

[PeterParnes]

We had a normal room but it was one of those with a connecting door to the next room. When I think about I cannot be 100% sure if it actually was the 26th level. It might have been 21th or above.

The resort fee's are payed on the bill when you check out. Just see it as yet another tax on the bill.

No, we didn't use the SPA but it looked nice (just saw the entrance though .

I agree with floridagirrl2 that it is a bit pricey, When I stayed there last year I paid $115 including breakfast for 2 adults and 1 child. This time I am spending $194 for the same thing. January to March is supposed to be this hotels busiest period.

In regards to staying on site, I think the Wyndham has the best location. Close to Disney Downtown as well to the world outside of Disney. Imagine e.g. going to the Crossroads for dinner when staying onsite without a car.

 

[LAH]

Do they sell park tickets at the front desk?

 

[Hopeish]

They Wyndham has many positives and many negatives. We won this on Priceline as well for 69.00 a night.

Positives
Wonderful Pool
Not very crowded, mostly business people
Had a kids playground
Beautiful view from our room
Awesome Valet service!
Nice lobby
Grounds were in good shape
We could walk to Downtown Disney. Very close!

Negatives
The first room we were in had a huge mold patch on the ceiling
The second room we were given was lacking working light bulbs They came up and fixed it right away.
While we were gone the next day the toilet above our room flooded. It dripped down into our bathroom (They wouldn't move us due to being full.)
If you don't valet, it is a long walk to your car.
Restaurants are ridiculously expensive.
Conceirge didn't really know the area of Florida. He had just moved here

This could happen at any hotel. I am unsure if I would stay here again. It would have to be a good price

 

[PeterParnes]

> Do they sell park tickets at the front desk?

Yes. There is a special secton just selling tickets etc. I have used them though so I do not know how good they are.

> room problems

During my last stay I had a problem with the bathtub where I couldn't close the drain (== no bathing). THey lacked some spare parts and offered me to move to the room on the other side of the wall. They were very polite about this. Note, that I only had contact via the local Wyndham ByRequest representative. I had no other problems than this.

 

[PeterParnes]

One more thing, the playground is very small and my daughter didn't enjoy it much (4 years at the time). Basically a slide and nothing more. It is also situated right in the sun which is not very good on a hot summer day.

 

[kirst]

Dear Sarah & Lori

Just to let you know that me and my DH got married at the Wyndham palace May 2003 which we booked through Virgin, the rooms we had were absolutely wonderful and we had a fantastic time so much so that we have booked again for this May. I had also read loads of bad reviews and was really worried before we got there but I couldn't fault any of it. The resort bus service was fine and it was lovely being able to walk over to down town disney. We stayed at Pop Century last year and we found the rooms and the location at Wyndham Palace much better. The only negative thing that I can think of is that DH was given a room to get ready in before the wedding and he said that if we had been given a room like that we wouldn't have been very happy as it was really worn and definelty not as nice as our room. What I did before we went was joined Wyndham By Request and I actually requested a high floor for our room and all the rooms on the higher floors seem to be quite nice.

If you have any questions about the hotel or the wedding give me a shout

Love Kirst

 

[aquidneck]

We stayed in a normal room. I payed $59 a night. It had a king bed and a pull out sofa. We we're staying there until moving to the Vistana on Sunday. There was mold in the picture. The housekeeping was rude when I asked them to change a pillow case and comforter I had spilt medicine on. She took the pillow and didn't replace it. Had a coffee maker, safe and little deck with a couple of chairs. We had squeezed a family of six in. We knew we would only be sleeping there and I have three little ones. Didn't use the pool. The best thing is it's right across the street from Downtown Disney. We went across the street for dinner a few times. FYI The downtown disney store will ship your purchases home. This came in handy. We purchased several hundred dollars worth of Christmas things and didn't have to carry them home. Overall I'd stay there again. We were there for a Disney vacation and didn't have a chance to use the resorts amenities. I'm not sure what classifies a resort as a resort, this was a nice hotel.

 

[LAH]

Kirst,

I would love to hear more about your wedding at the Wyndham. Our is supposed to be out in the Gazebo (pool side along the lake). Do you happen to have any pictures you dont mind sharing with me?

Any thing else you can advise me on would be great!

Thanks!

lori

 

[PeterParnes]

I didn't have any phtotos of the gazebo but as I am heading to the hotel in a week I will post some photos for you (around Wednesday next week).

 

[brambletiger]

Thanx for your replys everyone, still getting mixed reviews but I think it will be ok (fingers crossed)

Love
Sarah

 

[LAH]

PeterParnes,

THANKS SO MUCH! Enjoy your stay!