Holiday Inn Maingate East

[Purseval]

We stayed here Oct. 13-15 for $45/night, booked through Priceline. We got a room on the 8th floor with a pool view. Nice, clean and comfortable with 2 Queen beds. No extras like a fridge were included, even though they charged a $5/day "resort fee". The hotel was a typical Holiday Inn with the quality and value you would expect from this chain. They also sell tickets in the lobby and will try to steer you into taking free/reduced tickets in exchange for visiting a timeshare. We do this all the time and their offer wasn't good enough to interest us, I'd steer clear of it unless you wanted to go to Arabian Nights for free. Located right next to a McDonalds and across the street from Old Town, a Red Lobster and a KFC you won't lack for food or entertainment if all you can do is walk. The pool is heated so it will be comfortable year-round. We didn't have time to use it but everything looked nice. A hot tub and a playground for the kids is also near the pool area. Restaurant onsite that served a breakfast buffet if you didn't want to go out. All in all well worth the money.

Here is the hotel:

The room:

The pool:

 

[dougsmom98]

Thanks for the review!

 

[letsgoagainsoon]

Just came across this thread. My mom and sister are going to be staying there in April and they were wondering what it was like. Glad to hear you enjoyed it. Did it seem very far to Disney?

 

[4MCMICKEY]

I just won this hotel for 2 nights in June from priceline. Glad to hear that the hotel was ok.

Kelley

 

[Purseval]

Just came across this thread. My mom and sister are going to be staying there in April and they were wondering what it was like. Glad to hear you enjoyed it. Did it seem very far to Disney?

5 Minutes away

 

[SuperSteelerFan]

Thanks for the review! My DD's high school music dept is taking a trip in March and this is where they are staying. She's disappointed that they aren't at a Disney resort so she'll be happy to hear that you were pleased with this hotel. I can't wait to show her the pics later!

 

[Purseval]

She will really enjoy it because it's across the street from Old Towne so they will have plenty to do at night without needing a car.

 

[SuperSteelerFan]

The location sounds great but they are not allowed to leave hotel grounds while they are there. They will travel as a group on their rental buses to WDW and are not allowed to leave the parks (including no park-hopping) and there are strict rules for the hotel. They are not to be in any room but their own and all socialization is to be done in the hotel lobby and pool area. I know it doesn't sound like fun, but I'm sure they will still have a great time and I actually feel better that my 14 yo DD won't be running all over unsupervised 1000 miles from home.

 

[Purseval]

If that's the case then you might want to find out the location and number for the nearest Dominoes Pizza (it won't be far) and have her call you one night when she gets back to the room. Then surprise her with a few pizzas and some cokes delivered to her room or poolside, a nice way to let you know you're thinking about her.

 

[beaches1098]

We are considering this hotel for one night thanks for the info.

 

[SuperSteelerFan]

If that's the case then you might want to find out the location and number for the nearest Dominoes Pizza (it won't be far) and have her call you one night when she gets back to the room. Then surprise her with a few pizzas and some cokes delivered to her room or poolside, a nice way to let you know you're thinking about her.

Good idea! We're actually going then too but we're staying at Pop so she'll be seeing us periodically throughout her days. I'll have to talk to the band director and see what his opinion is on this. They may not allow it because they can only gather in public areas. If I sent it to her room, she couldn't share it with her friends because they aren't in the same rooms. I don't think I want to buy pizza for 115 people but maybe I can provide some other kind of snacks - chips, pretzels, etc. I'll have a car so I can drive to the store and hotel.

 

[staceyj2]

Thanks for the review! We are staying here next week. I booked via priceline since we are trying to keep the cost down this trip. I'm so glad to hear that it is clean and comfortable. That's one less thing to worry about!

 

[loveysbydesign]

Anyone stayed here recently??? And if so have you stayed in a kids suite???

 

[staceyj2]

Anyone stayed here recently??? And if so have you stayed in a kids suite???

We stayed there 2 weeks ago in the kids suite. The kids enjoyed it. It is fairly cramped though with the wall to separate the bunk beds. All in all the stay was ok. We did have to change rooms initially because the airconditioner unit in our room was very dirty. Someone must have left a window open because there were a bunch of dead bugs in the grills on the unit. Besides that, the rest of the room was clean. The bugs freaked me out enough that I asked to be moved and they were very apologetic and moved us down the hall. The second room was clean. The air conditioner was noisy, but other than that it really was ok. Considering I got the room really cheap on priceline, it wasn't too bad.

This was the first time we haven't stayed onsite, and I really missed that.

 

[atrame]

Wondering how the transfers from the hotel to wdw were? I know they only go 3 times in the Am and 3 times in the Pm. Has anyone taken taxi to wdw from this hotel and how much?

 

[phill369]

I called last week and they said the times were subject to change but shouldn't be too major, but the current schedule was:
MK: Departs hotel at 8:15 and 12:15, picks up at 6 and 10
Epcot: Departs hotel at 10:15, picks up at 9:45

If anyone has information on the cabs, I would greatly appreciate it! Also any recent reviews...my BF and I will be there in 10 days!