Holiday Inn Family Suites Resort Lake Buena Vista
|
Reviewer's Name:
|
Tom Granville |
Reviewer's Email Address:
|
tjg3@mindspring.com |
Date(s) of Stay:
|
June 11-17, 2000 |
Location:
|
International Drive Area |
Ease of Disney Park Access:
|
Very easy....less than 10 minutes to Disney. Less
than 10 minutes to Sea World/Discovery Cove. About 15 minutes to
Universal. |
Complimentary Park Shuttle Available?
|
Yes |
Park Shuttle Comments:
|
We had a car but it appeared that shuttles were for
Disney parks only. Don't know anything about the timeliness or
ease of use of the shuttles. Also, there is a desk called Guest
Services which mainly seems to function as a place to sell tickets
for local attractions, including Disney. We already had tickets,
but it seemed that some of the packages they were offering were
pretty good pricing. Can't comment on their service or reliability
since we didn't use them for tickets. |
Address:
|
14500 Continental Gateway, Orlando, FL 32821,
website: www.hifamilysuites.com |
Phone Number:
|
1-877-387-5437 or (407) 387-5437 |
Facility Type:
|
Resort |
Accommodation Used:
|
Suite |
Accommodations Review:
|
First of all, I recommend a trip to the resort's web
site at www.hifamilysuites.com. It provides an excellent overview
of the facility and layouts of the various room choices. This
concept of family suites worked perfectly for my family of four -
mom/dad and children 11 & 9. We stayed in a Kids Suite layout
with the children's room equipped with bunk beds, TV, VCR and
Nintendo hook up. The kids loved having their own small room with
personal reading lamps and speaker controls for the TV next to
their beds. The layout is tight but adequate and gives some
breathing room you won't find in a single room hotel, even a large
one. Kids can be watching a tape in one room, Dad watching sports
in the "living" room, and Mom reading a book or watching
another program in the master bed room. A small collection of VHS
tapes are available for rental for $4.95 apiece in the
lobby....lots of Disney titles and a decent array of grown up
titles. They have a deal for $9.95 where you can get an unlimited
tape rental card....you can rent one movie at a time, return the
movie and rent another. You can do this as often as you wish for
72 hours. Not a bad deal.
I can't improve upon Emma Aragon's
description of the family suite. She did a thorough job. There
definitely is an iron and ironing board. Also, not only a coffee
maker but the fixings for you to make your own coffee every day
are included with the room. The pool was very good with a snack
bar/drink cottage with soft drinks, snacks and adult drinks (daiquiri's
, etc). The maid service was dependable and thorough.
|
Rate/Night (for your stay):
|
$134.00 plus tax (just missed the off season rates
by one week). |
# of Restaurants/Lounges:
|
5 |
Restaurant/Lounge Review:
|
Right off the lobby is a fast food service area
featuring A&W (hot dogs, burgers, root beer) and Pizza Hut
(mini-pizzas, bread sticks, etc). Also, I think there was an ice
cream vendor there as well. Limited room service that included the
all-important 14" pizza's...not too bad. Free breakfast
buffet in the morning....not a bad selection but definitely
institutional cafeteria type quality. There is also a small
mini-mart in the hotel for room snacks, sodas, and other sundries.
We did not use the regular hotel sit down restaurant. |
Amenities / Facilities / Activities Available:
|
Sundries Shop, Pool, Health Club/Spa, Playground,
Hairdryer, Laundry, In-Room Safe, Cooking Facilities, Room
Service, Handicapped Accessible Rooms, Non-Smoking Rooms, Smoke
Detectors, Fire Sprinklers |
Pool Description/Comments:
|
Two pools. Lap pool (we didn't use). Main pool was a
"zero depth" walk in down to the deep end. Huge pool,
easily 200 feet long with various water jets, etc. No diving
boards or slides. Plenty of lounge chairs and a nice little
snack/drink bar. One day when we were there they had two guys
playing guitars and getting the kids to do hula hoop contests and
limbo contests with some small prizes. They did a nice job of
providing good family entertainment. |
Other Comments:
|
The registration counter always seemed to be
understaffed. We had a long wait for check in and other times that
I had to go to the front desk for questions there was always a
line. This is a large resort....don't know the number of rooms but
it's a bunch. The staff was very friendly and accommodating. We
have recommended this to anyone traveling with a family of 5 or
less and will go back there our next trip. |
