The Castle Theme is Magical!
by A TripAdvisor Member
My family and I love Disney, but we cannot afford to stay there. We were thrilled when we came across the Doubletree Castle. The pictures we saw are nothing compared to the real thing. We decided to take our daughter to Disney for her birthday, and my husband had to attend a trade show at the Convention Center. The Doubletree Castle met our needs all around.
It was close enough to the convention center that my husband could walk, and the free shuttle to the Magic Kingdom made it great for me and my daughter. We got to know the front desk staff very well as they saw us come and go each day to back and forth to the park. At one point my daughter let it slip that it was her 10th birthday. I could not believe it when we returned to the room that night, there was a birthday cake with her name on it! Now that was magical!
We loved every bit of our stay at the hotel and my daughter still talks about her 10th birthday as a failytale birthday. She even took our vacation pictures for her classmates to see.
And even though my husband was there for work, we managed to take him away from the computer long enough to enjoy some family time. I highly recommend this hotel for travelers who may be working or taking a vacation. We managed to do both on the same trip and had a great time.
magical place to stay!
by A TripAdvisor Member
My children and I stayed in Orlando this week for vacation. As there were many choices of hotels, it was hard to decide. Finally, I decided on this one because it just looked fun. I was overwhelmingly surprised by the beautiful lobby and the wonderful way in which we were treated. The manager checked us in and gave the children warm chocolate chip cookies, a beach ball and really nice back-packs to put their soveniers in. The children just oohed and aahed over the look of the hotel, even the elevators were gorgeous. We had a wonderful bellman named Christopher, who was extremely kind and helpful and brought us all of the things that we needed that we had forgotten. He was so nice and showed us around to where the veranda was, how to work everything in the room. We got to stay on the 9th floor, which is the top ad you can go from your room straight to veranda and enjoy the sun coming up. They also put a USA today under your door every morning, which was nice. There was a really neat feature in the room that you could listen to music in the room and if you wanted to listen to the ocean, you could go to sleep listening to it. Our hotel room was also beautiful with great toiletries. We did not get to enjoy the pool, but the first night we arrived late and got to enjoy the hot tub and I enjoyed a pina colada by the poolside bar. The bartender Linda was great. This was a wonderful stay and I will definitely come here again when I visit Florida. The check-out was also great as it was slipped under the door on the morning of check-out and I didn't have to do anything. Thanks Castle for a wonderful stay and memories of a truly elegant hotel.
Loved the Roof top
by A TripAdvisor Member
We just came back from a week in Orlando (8/21-8/28/04). We got a great price on this hotel from Orlandoplus. We pd $89 per night. one month after we booked, the hotel itself sent me an e-mail for $89 per night. If you stayed 4 nights you got one night free! I called up on my original reservations and they adjusted my rate after confirming the special with the hotel. The hotel itself was very nice. Check in was quick, easy and the staff was extremely pleasant! The lobby was very pretty. The rooms were average in decor. From the pictures I saw on the internet I was a little disappointed. The colors were much more muted and not as vibrant. One really nice thing was the roof top. We stayed on the 9th floor and were able to walk out on the roof top. My husband, 2 daughters and I ate on the roof and it was so pretty and quiet. As we were eating we also saw the fireworks from Disney. It really was a nice treat! At $89 a night it was well worth it. It definately is not worth $145 a night! The service was excellent. When we requested extra towels they were there quickly. If you enjoy seafood I recommend eating at the Boston Lobster Feast next door. They had every kind of seafood you could imagine! The plus is that the hotel is located at the quiet end of International Drive. We did not have to go through the heavy traffic area. On some reviews there were complaints about the pool. The pool is not huge but it was adequate. There was never more than 5 people in it when we were in it. I didn't have any complaints there either. This hotel is a good value for the $89 per night but you would be very disappointed if you pay the $145 per night. Keep that in mind and if you want to book look at orlandoplus for great rates. Look frequently because their rates do change. Also sign up for the specials directly from the hotel web site.
Do not stay here!!
by TripAdvisor Member meredithmr
Two of my friends and I stayed here with our three daughters for a girls "princess weekend". We made reservations in advance to receive joining rooms - with a door to connect. The children wanted to stay in one room, and we needed to be able to watch them. We were told to call closer to our date, but they would be sure we received these joining rooms. We called the morning of checkin and were told we would definitely have the room. When we checked in at 3:00, they said sorry you now have one room with two double bed and another down the hall with one king bed. After much complaining, the only thing they could do was let us have a roll away - free of charge in the king room. This did not help to say the least
We then decided to order pizza for dinner, and let the children swim in the beautiful pool. We called and asked what time the pool closed. We were told 10:00. It was about 8:40 when everyone arrived at the hotel and we ordered pizza to be delivered to the pool. We were swimming at 9:00, when they came and told us to get out, they were closing the pool. We told them that the front desk told us it closed at 10:00, and we were waiting on a pizza, could we please stay for the delivery. They told us it really closed at DUSK and we had to get out and wait by the locked gate for our pizza.
This type of service and treatment continued all weekend, until we checked out and were overcharged for the rooms. After complaining the rate was changed to the price we had been quoted. My friends and I have all separately written and emailed the Hilton with no response from them.
Not a good basecamp for Disney, beware of extra charges...
by A TripAdvisor Member
At check out the desk clerk gave me a card requesting a review post on tripadvisor, so here goes....Stayed here recently for a Disney vacation...The web site advertised complementary transportation to Disney, but the shuttle only went to one park (Magic Kingdom) twice in the morning (both times after park opening) and picked up at Epcot late in the evening. I would have rented a car if I had known the transportation was so restrictive. The hotel's shuttle service also overcharged for "non-complementary" service to the parks and pressures you only to use their service. Lots of extra charges at this place...$9.95 for high speed internet service and $8.99 to borrow an ethernet cord; $5 per day "service fee" for local phone calls and parking (even if you don't have a car); $1 per page to print out documents from the web. The hotel is unique in style and the beds on the executive level are very comfortable. Kitchen staff is friendly, but the front desk staff is mostly grumpy. Good food at breakfast. Can't get over the other stuff, though, so I wouldn't recommend a stay if you are in town for a Disney visit.
Photos
The Lobby at the Grand Floridian
My well worn-out Birnbaum pocket guide!
Ziplining in Orlando!
Space Shuttle
Forum Posts
Taxi to LBV
by mickey.p
Does anyone know how much a taxi from Orlando International Airport to Lake Buena Vista Resort Village and Spa (SR535/PoncianaBLVD) will be?
I'm hiring a 7 seater van as there's 7 of us but with luggage we won't all fit!
Re: Taxi to LBV
by GenXVoice
CBC Transportation boasts having the best rates from Orlando area airports to the Disney village areas/Lake Buena Vista in regard to car service/taxi. Their website is www.cbctransportation.com and a few of my European friends have used them in the past, although I cannot personally vouch for their services, however, for 7 (with luggage) it might be cost-effective enough.
Mears Transportation also provides a "Supershuttle/BlueVan" type transport and charges a per-person rate in addition to a private van rate and although they might divide you amongst two vans, everyone would arrive. www.mearstransportation.com - I have used Mears for clients several times over the years and aside from the complaints of the scheduling (collections TO airport are a few hours before your flight leaving little down time on day of departure) they are dependable and affordable.
Re: Taxi to LBV
by mickey.p
Hiya,
Thank you for your response!
There will only be 2-3 people getting the transport as the rest of the group will fit in the 7 seater along with the luggage.
I have booked Mears for my customers a few times but recently I've had a few bad reports. I checked their rates too and found that a shuttle for 3 one way was $50.00+ without tip and I've been told by the hotel that it should be $50.00 in a taxi so I'm thinking of just getting a taxi outside!
I will check out the other company you have mentioned to double check though!
Thank you once again!
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