Doubletree Hotel at US Entrance About This Page:

[cruisenewbie]

Has anyone stayed there? Scheduled there for July 28 - Aug. 2. Would love to stay onsite but out of our budget. Any thoughts on Doubletree would be helpful!

[akleos]

YUP! This is where we stay when we're off-property! They have our repeat business and we love it! I fact, we're going to stay there again for a portion of our vacation in December!

The suites are nice, clean... but simple. The beds were very comfy and LOTS of pillows. If I remember correctly, you could control the temperature in each room of the suite separately. We had a suite that was right next to the elevator, and while you could hear some people through the front door (mostly kids yelling with excitement in the morning "Hurry UP, Daaaa-ad!") we were very pleasantly surprised at how quiet our room was, esp. in the bedroom when the inner door was shut - you couldn't even hear the TV in the joined room when that door was shut! The pool is great, DH loves the whirlpool, and the playground is lots of fun. The cookies they give you at the front desk ROCK (you can buy some any time - they are always warm). The restaurant is fair to good. We only ate at the breakfast buffet there, though, so I'm not the best judge! Some days the pancakes were better than others, but on average everything else was good - esp. the service! Obviously, the earlier you can go the fresher the food is. We would always fill a small container of fruit for our boy from the breakfast buffet and they didn't care, so that was a big bonus. The little snack market they have there should be used for emergency purposes only... the prices are sky high! If you can, stop by a grocery store for all the snacks you need before your stay. Goodings, across the street, is just as expensive, so don't be folled into thinking you'll be saving money by going there! The souvenir shop is cute and have lots of official merchandise, but with DTD a moderate walk away you probably won't want to buy much at the hotel. We found the service there to be very good. Our only complaints were: the housekeepers forgot to leave us shampoo and conditioner and we had to call down to get more (good thing we noticed before we showered!), and the concierge was inconsistent: excellent some days, and "out to lunch" on others. They DO offer discounted ticket to all the major Orlando parks, but it's minimal.

I don't know if it pertains to you, but we found that Lake Buena Vista DT has the nicest hotel cribs! We've been to a lot of hotels with crappy cribs, but theirs set the precedent for us! Even the WDW cribs were not as nice. Now watch, I'll say that and if you need one, you'll get one that is broken!

As with any resort: be sure to request everything you need before you go (fridge, room view, microwave, crib, etc.). My big tip about the Doubletree: MAKE SURE YOU REQUEST A ROOM ABOVE THE 2ND FLOOR AND/OR FACING THE POOL! Reason being: the DTD Area buses pick up and drop off right next to (and I mean right next to) the hotel on the ground floor. The rooms on the 2nd floor above the pick up and drop off location were probably the loudest/least desirable. But to be fair, I haven't been in one of those rooms so I don't know. I'm just supposing by my personal observation - and that was that the buses were frequent enough, loud enough, and early/late enough that I wouldn't want to find out with disappointing results!

The free transportation is good, but if you have a rental car, you may as well just drive. It can get very busy at night and you have a long way to walk from the bus drop off to any of the park front gates - with no shuttle, as with the parking lots. You can also carry more "just in case" items with you if you drive and leave them in the car for emergencies (i.e extra diapers/wipes/clothes).

THAT'S MY REVIEW! Hope you enjoy your stay there!
- Amy

[Shell_of_the_South]

akleos - that was a great review of Doubletree! But I think you are talking about a different location than the original poster. Are you talking about the Doubletree at Downtown Disney? There is also one on Major Boulevard. I would think either one would have similar rooms since they are both Doubletree.

And I agree, the Lake Buena Vista area has some nice new off property hotels. Several new ones on Palm Parkway, which is right off Apopka Vineland Rd.

[cruisenewbie]

Yes, Thanks for the great review! I am speaking of the one at US/IOA but I am hoping that the good review is for that Doubletree as well! Thanks!

[akleos]

Originally Posted by Shell_of_the_South

akleos - that was a great review of Doubletree! But I think you are talking about a different location than the original poster. Are you talking about the Doubletree at Downtown Disney? There is also one on Major Boulevard. I would think either one would have similar rooms since they are both Doubletree.

DANG! Yes! You are correct. I was so excited about the LBVD location I didn't even notice! SORRY!!! My apologies for jumping the gun!

[Shell_of_the_South]

Don't apologize Amy - you gave a very informative review of Doubletree! We've considered it in the past, but I think it only had double beds and we wanted queens.

[BarryH]

I stayed at the Doubletree Near Busch Gardens in Tampa. It was very nice. There was a separate area for sitting and a fridge in the room. The beds were really comfy. The interior atrium area had a beautiful garden. You even got a cookie on check-in!