Your Orlando/Kissimmee Ghetto Hotel experience

[Darkside]

Many years ago my family and I stayed at a Holiday Inn in Kissimmee (sorry can not remember where). This was about the time Holiday Inn's were really going down hill. We happened to be going on vacation during bike week and rooms were scarce. We checked in to the hotel and it was so bad my wife started to cry. room was dirty, musty, had one of those old dial TVs. Fortunately, we were there for only one night. What is your Orlando/Kissimmee Ghetto experience?

 

[Jonell]

We stayed at a Ramada on Hwy 192 a couple of years ago. I forget which Ramada, but it was the one with the indoor pool. We stayed there before and the room was fine, but the last stay was terrible. We drove 12 hrs and checked in about 3am..Our room smelled like mildew and the sheets actually felt wet and musty !!
If we had not been DEAD tired we would have left but instead we slept a few hours and left to check into our Disney resort.

 

[halfpintpeggy]

Following, I'd love to hear more of these stories!

 

[willowsnn3]

I saw this thread and immediately thought of Celebration Suites in Kissimmee.
A few years ago we decided to drive down 2 days early for our WDW vacation. Of course no onsite rooms were available so we went the cheapo route. It was myself, my two adult daughters and 3 grandchildren. First trip for one of my daughters and her daughter.
Soooo, we drove down and already had issues with the rental suv from hell, and arrived around 3am. Found the place with no problem and lobby looked very nice. Attendant was nice enough and gave us directions to our room. This place is huge and covers an area across the street from where the lobby is. So we headed down the road drove thru some parking areas where the buildings looked ready for demolition. Pitch dark. There's an old homeless person sitting on a lawn chair in front of one of the buildings. We finally got down to the buildings that were inhabitable and circled several looking for our building. Finally found it and the only parking was on the back side next to the woods. Drove past an overflowing dumpster (and could see the shining eyes of critters there) found a place to park. While there was sliding patio doors on the parking lot side, we had to go around to the front of the building to enter then unlock the door by where we parked. Still wee hours of the morning....start unloading and youngest granddaughter starts screaming. A raccoon just ran past her with a paper plate in his mouth, lol. Needless to say people are peeking out their windows. So we get in and altho the room was clean it was very rundown and had an odor kinda like bug spray.
Daughter spent time on phone with car rental people and figured out that problem and then with front desk complaining about the room. They finally agreed to give us another room in the morning. Before the room was ready the next morning we walked around our area and the pool was nasty and the ice machine was all rusty. The new room was one that had been updated tho and was a big improvement.
The funniest thing about that trip tho was later in the week we went to Biergarten and we had 2 reservations so 3 of us were at one table and 3 at another and you know there are other people sharing the table with you. Daughter said one of the women at their table was kinda snooty and was bragging about whatever villa they were staying at when my granddaughter popped us and said "well we stayed at some funky hotel with animals running around"....my daughter said she was so embarrassed but I told her that woman probably thought we stayed at Animal Kingdom Lodge, lol.

 

[BonnieA]

OK, here's mine. Went with my husband and two of his brothers, staying at a lovely timeshare. One brother had a medical emergency and was hospitalized. I decided to stay in Fl while the others went back home. I had to find someplace for myself for how many weeks I needed (didn't know). But I decided on "Home Suite Home" on the west side of disney. I believe it used to be a Holiday Inn Nicki Bird? or something like that. Anyway I should have gotten a clue when I entered the lobby and there was bulletproof glass between me and the front desk. Well I wanted a room in the back for quiet and I got it. The room had a broken lamp shade, broken dresser drawer, Wall electric socket hanging out and the safe didn't work. I should have left right then but didn't. Really couldn't afford anything else at the time. The next day, in the evening, a lot of smoking men would hang out outside my door. I think there were a lot of people who lived there because they couldn't afford anything else. I wasn't afraid of them, just wish they picked a different spot to hang out. I told the front desk about all my problems and to their credit they did fix most of them. But I just didn't feel safe there and left after 3 days. So if you ever check into a place that has bulletproof glass in the lobby, find someplace else.

 

[BigAlsGal]

We stayed at a Ramada on Hwy 192 a couple of years ago. I forget which Ramada, but it was the one with the indoor pool. We stayed there before and the room was fine, but the last stay was terrible. We drove 12 hrs and checked in about 3am..Our room smelled like mildew and the sheets actually felt wet and musty !!
If we had not been DEAD tired we would have left but instead we slept a few hours and left to check into our Disney resort.

I bet it was the Ramada Maingate West! That's the one I was going to talk about. I had stayed there many years ago and it wasn't terrible. Man they had gone WAY downhill! I picked it for the indoor pool just in case it rained the kids could still swim. The room was so gross and in disrepair! The desk staff was the worst! Let's just say that was when we decided to stay only on Disney property.

Last I saw it had turned into something else and then it shut down. I bet it's a money pit.

 

[BrinkofSunshine]

I think there were a lot of people who lived there because they couldn't afford anything else.

This is a big problem in Central Florida. People move here thinking it will be all sunshine and vacation, realize they can't make ends meet at end up living in motels on 192. I recently met someone whose parents had moved her and their other 10 (!!!) kids from up north and they ended up in a single hotel room. Luckily she was able to get out of that situation but it's incredibly sad.

 

[ibob52]

I believe it used to be a Holiday Inn Nicki Bird?

Our first trip to Orlando 2001 .. we stayed at the Nikki Bird Hotel.

It was actually booked through a Travel Agent (Airfare - Hotel - WDW Tickets )

It was not too bad at that time but it was on a pretty good decline a few years later.

In 2002 our second Trip (USO & Sea World) I did my first time ever booking of

Airfare-Hotel-Theme Park tickets. We stayed at a Super 8 Motel just down the street from the Nikki Bird.

We were happy enough in our accommodations etc. Later that year I got my first computer

and as they say the rest is history .. I discovered DISNEY Forums - TripAdvisor - etc

I look back now and smile because 99% of my knowledge was gathered right here and other

travel-related-message-boards. I am a simi-savvy-traveler who is always looking the next tidbit.

BTW .. tonight the new season of Hotel Impossible is on the Travel Channel.

My Favorite Travel Show ... Go Get em .. Anthony

 

[Darkside]

"well we stayed at some funky hotel with animals running around"....my daughter said she was so embarrassed but I told her that woman probably thought we stayed at Animal Kingdom Lodge, lol.[/QUOTE]
This is awesome, lol!

 

[Darkside]

"Anyway I should have gotten a clue when I entered the lobby and there was bulletproof glass between me and the front desk."

OK, I am laughing/crying at this point.

 

[tracynicole21]

I have two, but to be fair I don't remember the first one, I've only heard about it in retellings and a photograph we have.

When I was a baby (I'm 29 now) my family had very little money but my parents took the three of us (my siblings and I) on vacations. This was obviously before home internet was common, so my mom relied on the AAA guide books and their ratings to choose our hotel. Even though we had little money, my parents would save for vacation and wanted to find us a nice, clean, but basic hotel.

I can't remember the name of the hotel, but I believe it was in Kissimmee. We arrived late at night because we had driven from Kentucky, and once we got into the hotel room, my mom says she stepped on the carpet and it was wet. Not damp, as in just cleaned the carpets, but wet like there had been a flood in the room. The walls were covered in water stains. My mom continues to insist that it looked and felt like a wave had just drenched the room, the level of water damage was so bad.

The wallpaper in the room was peeling, the beds and bedspreads had stains all over them, and there were lots of bugs. Apparently I had gotten out of my mom's arms and started toddling around on the floor and had taken my shoes off. We left in such a hurry that my mom didn't even stop to grab my left shoe and we drove away without it.

The second awful encounter was when I traveled to Orlando with my eighth grade student council group. The school had arranged for us to stay at an old Travelodge in Orlando or Kissimmee, I don't remember which, that had a pizza restaurant in the lobby and a buffet right next door where we had to eat breakfast every morning. I like to eat and have always enjoyed food, but going into that buffet every morning was like hell on earth. It smelled awful, and the third day we had to go there, I couldn't even eat because I was so nauseous from the smell and thought of eating that food again. As if that wasn't bad enough, the pizza restaurant in the lobby was disgusting and you could literally smell it from every floor.

When we returned from that trip, I literally told my parents I never wanted to stay in a hotel again. To this day I dread hotel stays because all I can think about is that darn Travelodge.

Edited: oops my fingers got the best of me

 

[happymommy]

Sad to say, but our first stay as a couple was at the Residence Inn at Lake Cecile. It's no longer there - abandoned sadly, as it is a lovely location in Kissimmee off of 192. We could afford it as $59 a night for a studio with full kitchen, and free breakfast. We were young and not married yet. That was actually a super fun trip, and his first vacation of his life!

Flash forward to the next year, and for our honeymoon we planned Disney again. We were still on a budget, and I was clueless on hotels. We rented a car and had booked a good deal at the Hyatt Regency Grand Cypress. Me, thinking ohhhh fancy hotel. WRONG! The staff was so awful. Rude. Nasty. After two nights, I said to my DH let's check out what a Disney hotel is like, I heard about this "grand floridian" place. We showed up there, asked to see a room, and then they told us their "walk in" rate. Next morning at 9am, we checked in there and finally enjoyed a few days of our honeymoon! It was so wonderful!

Oh, and as we were checking out of the Hyatt Regency, and the valet pulled our car around, I told him or others (I forget) that I was so disappointed in our stay that we were leaving early, it was our honeymoon and no one cared. The response was oh yeah whatever.

Literally the second night I was in tears they were so awful!

The GF was so awesome! Every morning we ordered a pot of coffee from room service (this was prior to having coffee makers in hotel rooms). The delivery person would set up our little table and chairs with a cloth, hand me the paper, and then pour me coffee in bed, and give it to me. I'm in my robe and relaxing, and he's like, "Here is your coffee, Mrs. H". Oh my it was over the top, and I would tell me DH this coffee was worth $15! It was just Ah Maze Ing.

No clue why I had picked the Hyatt Regency Grand Cypress. It's a business hotel. UGH!

 

[disneysteve]

I have kind of a mixed review. We stayed at the Days Inn Suites at Old Town years ago. I think the room was $39/night. At the time, that was an incredible price. The place was definitely not in the greatest condition but it was a solidly built old hotel and the suite was huge! The living room had mismatched and worn furniture and a Murphy bed on one wall. There was a small kitchen, bathroom, and master bedroom, also spacious. When we arrived, the tub was missing the knob to turn the shower on and off, but I called the front desk and someone fixed it within 15 minutes. If you are familiar with Old Town, you know the area is a little seedy, especially on the weekends when Old Town is in full swing.

I would have been fine staying there again but DW didn't feel safe there. She doesn't like places with exterior corridors. This place also had an exterior door from the master bedroom and the living room. Since DD slept on the Murphy bed which was right by the front door, DW was uncomfortable since we were on the opposite end of the suite in the master bedroom, so she was nervous the whole time.

We also stayed several times at the old Econo Lodge on 192 by Black Angus (which burned down a number of years ago). It was about $25/night and was fine for that price but certainly nothing fancy. Very old, basic motel accommodations.