My mother and I just returned from a long weekend stay at the Buena Vista Palace. This indeed was a good choice. The hotel staff was wonderful! From the time we stepped out of the car to check in to checking out.
I booked an Island suite at the Island Resort building. The only drawback is...it is located in a separate building and was a bit of a walk for my eldery mother. But the room was beautiful and the building is ideally located right at the pool area for you pool lovers. As you might as have read, the hotel is doing some major renovations. In fact, we were the first occupants in our room. Our suite was huge. The bedroom is separate from the living area and we had 1.5 bathrooms. There was a big LCD t.v. in the living area and another one in the bedroom area. The main bathroom had a bathtub with a shower and another separate shower. There is a small balcony off the living area and another small balcony off the bedroom area. The biggest dissapointment is I didn't book a pool view..we had a view of the construction dumpster.
Book a pool view and you won't be dissapointed. The room had a microwave, coffeemaker and a refrigerator. There were a few issues that had to be taken care of which were promptly attended to by the staff. The refrig wasn't working and the coffee was there but not a coffeemaker. Minor issues don't bother me, it's how they're handled that make a difference to me and this was where the staff of the hotel excelled in. They even called me back to make sure everything was handled.
As far as the construction is concerned, the only time I really noticed this is when we got off the elevator on the 2nd floor near where our room was located. They were still working on rooms just off the elevators but we were down the hall. The view of the construction as you came off the elevator for the first time was a little disconcerning but the area by our rooms was fine. There were times, I could hear some construction going on but nothing that made me want to change rooms. We weren't in the room most of the time anyway. One percautionary note in booking in the Island Resort Building. On the first floor there are convention rooms where they hold events. We were on the 2nd floor and there was a Christmas party going on Sat. night right below us. I definitely could hear the activities below. Fortunately as the staff promised, all quieted down by 11:00. I don't recommend booking any room on the second floor right above those rooms.
There were several options for dining. The cafe offered a breakfast buffet every morning (as well as menu options). On Sunday, we were were visited by Disney characters, Mini and Mickey. This was really nice and we had great photo opportunities. The character breakfast on Sunday is 24.00 pp. Sat's buffet was 20.00 pp.
The Outback Steak restaurant (no, not the same Outback you're thinking of. ) offers dinner and was pretty good. Service started out great until our server got overloaded with a table for 12 that come in and our service when down hill from there but the food was really good. Average entre was 30.00 and up. Ambiance was very nice.
There is also a snack cafe area which offers various sandwiches, salads, sodas, snacks etc. and a limited of self serve Starbucks coffee...I wasn't complaining, at least it was Starbucks.
There is a 12.00 per day resort fee. This includes 2 complimentary bottles of water per day, 30 minutes of local phone calls, admission to the fitness facilities, pool towels and a few other things I can't recall at the moment. Hint..leave a tip daily and you might be rewarded with extra water in your refrig. My room attendent also figured out that I was using the bathroom ammenities and left me extras.
Would I stay at this hotel again? Definitely, It was very convenient to Downtown Disney and the shuttle service to the parks was very reliable. I would just be more careful in choosing the location of my room next time. The pool view would have been much more appealing. If you have any questions, I'll try to help.
I booked an Island suite at the Island Resort building. The only drawback is...it is located in a separate building and was a bit of a walk for my eldery mother. But the room was beautiful and the building is ideally located right at the pool area for you pool lovers. As you might as have read, the hotel is doing some major renovations. In fact, we were the first occupants in our room. Our suite was huge. The bedroom is separate from the living area and we had 1.5 bathrooms. There was a big LCD t.v. in the living area and another one in the bedroom area. The main bathroom had a bathtub with a shower and another separate shower. There is a small balcony off the living area and another small balcony off the bedroom area. The biggest dissapointment is I didn't book a pool view..we had a view of the construction dumpster.
Book a pool view and you won't be dissapointed. The room had a microwave, coffeemaker and a refrigerator. There were a few issues that had to be taken care of which were promptly attended to by the staff. The refrig wasn't working and the coffee was there but not a coffeemaker. Minor issues don't bother me, it's how they're handled that make a difference to me and this was where the staff of the hotel excelled in. They even called me back to make sure everything was handled. As far as the construction is concerned, the only time I really noticed this is when we got off the elevator on the 2nd floor near where our room was located. They were still working on rooms just off the elevators but we were down the hall. The view of the construction as you came off the elevator for the first time was a little disconcerning but the area by our rooms was fine. There were times, I could hear some construction going on but nothing that made me want to change rooms. We weren't in the room most of the time anyway. One percautionary note in booking in the Island Resort Building. On the first floor there are convention rooms where they hold events. We were on the 2nd floor and there was a Christmas party going on Sat. night right below us. I definitely could hear the activities below. Fortunately as the staff promised, all quieted down by 11:00. I don't recommend booking any room on the second floor right above those rooms.
There were several options for dining. The cafe offered a breakfast buffet every morning (as well as menu options). On Sunday, we were were visited by Disney characters, Mini and Mickey. This was really nice and we had great photo opportunities. The character breakfast on Sunday is 24.00 pp. Sat's buffet was 20.00 pp.
The Outback Steak restaurant (no, not the same Outback you're thinking of.
) offers dinner and was pretty good. Service started out great until our server got overloaded with a table for 12 that come in and our service when down hill from there but the food was really good. Average entre was 30.00 and up. Ambiance was very nice. There is also a snack cafe area which offers various sandwiches, salads, sodas, snacks etc. and a limited of self serve Starbucks coffee...I wasn't complaining, at least it was Starbucks.
There is a 12.00 per day resort fee. This includes 2 complimentary bottles of water per day, 30 minutes of local phone calls, admission to the fitness facilities, pool towels and a few other things I can't recall at the moment. Hint..leave a tip daily and you might be rewarded with extra water in your refrig.
My room attendent also figured out that I was using the bathroom ammenities and left me extras. Would I stay at this hotel again? Definitely, It was very convenient to Downtown Disney and the shuttle service to the parks was very reliable. I would just be more careful in choosing the location of my room next time. The pool view would have been much more appealing.
If you have any questions, I'll try to help.
