Right where to start. Stayed at this hotel from Aug 24th for two weeks. The hotel is in a great location just off the I4 not too far from Disney, yet far enough away to be nice a peacefull and away from the tacky side of Orlando. The hotel itself is very nice, the lobby area is very clean and there are six lifts (you never have to wait long for one). The room we had was nice, it had a balcony (this was not very clean, and never cleaned during our stay). The hotel pools and lazy river are very good and we never had a problem getting a sun bed during the whole stay (even on a bank holiday). Used the gym every morning, found it very good (you could use it any time of the day or night, using your room key to enter). Joined the select membership as advised on here. Only got newspaper one day, had to ask for it every other day. The free continental breakfast was very good (they had everything that you could want, even an egg chef). The staff at the hotel were all very pleasent and helpful ( a special mention must go to the man who brought the cookies and milk most nights, he was very nice and my daughter looked forward to his arrival). The room was not cleaned that well for a hotel like this (the tables in the room were not cleaned at all and by the second week were covered in dust). Room was cleaned most days before midday, all except one day when we arrived back from a shopping trip at 16.40 to find it not done. I went to the front desk and was told it would be done, so we went out for dinner. On arrival back at 19.30 the room still had not been cleaned. The front desk said it would be done then and would take about half an hour, we gave them untill 21.30, arriving back at the room it still had not been cleaned. After complaining again at the front desk they finnally turned up to clean the room at 21.45. We just asked for clean towels as there was no point in having beds made. We ate once in the hotel apart from breakfast, in Davids club. The food was very good but way too expensive as was the drink ($6 for half a pint or so of beer). We found that all drink at the hotel was way to expensive. Croc's bar charged $11 for 3 small bottles of water (it was far cheaper in the theme parks). I would advise people staying here to get any food or drink that you need from the nearby Publix. (water in hotel room was $5, in Publix the same bottle was $1.99).The biggest downfall for this hotel was to charge $12.50 (plus tax's, making it just over $14) for the use of the facilities. We have stopped many times in and around this area and have never been charged (too have a swim and park your car). Also one day we could not use the pool we wanted to as it was shut for a private function (a bit wrong when we have been charged to use it), we could not park in certain areas during this time either. It says on all pool signs no food or drink in pool or on pool deck yet during the private funtion they were all drinking in the pool and on pool deck. This hotel is a nice hotel but there are better ones around for the same money (with less charges). So we would have too think hard before we came back here. If you are planning a trip to Orlando I suggest you look at other hotels around the same price before booking in here (try Orange lakes, its far better).

Loved our stay at the Omni. The hotel lobby is stunning and the landscaping around the grounds is very well done. Our room was a good size, with nice linens and towels, spacious bathroom with marble tiles and overlooked the resort area (rather than the parking lot). The room also had a small work desk with wired and wireless internet, if you bring your laptop. There are three pool choices - a lazy river, a formal pool and ‘family’ pool with decent-sized slide. There is also a splash pad nearby for smaller children and two hot tub areas. The lazy river in particular was a great way to spend time. Around the formal pool, there are cabanas with loungers and TVs to rest during the day without going to your room (extra $$ of course). On the Saturday, there was a DJ at the family pool who also ran some games for the kids. Weekends were pretty crowded and it was hard to get somewhere to sit but the pools themselves are so big they didn’t feel crowded.

There are lots of things to do other than swimming – fitness centre, tennis courts, basketball court, beach volleyball and of course golf. All were in excellent condition.

Don’t be put off by the location. Yes, it is away from the 192/I-Drive hotel strip but it is very convenient for WDW – it’s just off I-4, a short drive south of WDW. It is an easy drive to the park and traffic was never a problem. It’s a bit further drive to Universal Studios but not unmanageably far. There is a coach shuttle from hotel to the WDW parks which we used several times. Some evening departure times from the park are inconvenient if you want to see fireworks so you may want to take the car for those days you want to stay late.

Our package included a breakfast buffet which was served in David’s on the main floor, overlooking the lazy river which made for a great location. The fare was pretty basic: it usually included scrambled eggs, sausage and waffles, a selection of cold cereals, doughnuts and bread for toast. The first few days there was a nice fruit salad but later on during our stay it was substituted for an uninteresting fruit cocktail.

There are several on-site dining choices but I can’t comment on them. Off-site, the area is still being developed so the options for dining locally are limited – there are a McDonalds, a pizza place, Subway and Chili’s in the retail area near the hotel. There is also a Publix for grocery items and some ready-made meal items (think subs, salads and roast chicken) and a Walgreen’s for drug store stuff. For other restaurant choices, one option is to take the short drive north to 192 where there are many restaurants.

A couple of niggles. At check-in we got two card keys - one never worked and one night in the middle of our stay the other one stopped working after getting home late (required a trip down to the front desk). Also the AC in the public areas is set to absolutely freezing – fortunately you can control the temperature in the room to warm it up a bit.

When comparing prices, don’t forget that there is a $15 (plus tax) resort fee which is paid at the hotel.

We stayed here the weekend before school started 8/15-8/17/08.
The resort was very clean & well maintained. Our favorite spot was the pool/lazy river. My son was afraid of the slide at first. I had to coax him to try it. Once he did it he wouldn't stop. When we arrived to checkin we were given a room on the 3rd. floor. We took the elevator up & found the room which had the door open & linens on the floor. My family & I went back down to the lobby & notified them & we were issued another room on the 7th. floor. I remembered when I had made the reservations I was told my son would receive a kids package upon checkin. I went back down to the lobby & asked for one. I was told we are out. My son was disappointed. Yes, you can hear people in the wee hours talking as they walk by your room. I noticed the door has a big opening at the bottom. Our second day we spent most of the day by the pool & lazy river. We ordered drinks & cheesy fries by the pool. The prices were reasonable. We got back to the room @ 4:00 & our room was not taken care of by housekeeping. We called @4:30 to ask for service. We needed towels & trash to be removed. They never came. I looked out the door & saw a housekeeper a few doors down. I asked her to please give us clean towels & remove the trash. I told her not make our beds now because we were going to take naps. That night we ate @ a pizza place in the Publix stripmall. It was delicious. There was suppose to be a dive in movie @ 8:30 by the quiet pool. We waited till 9:00 & no movie came on. A lot of families were waiting too. There was suppose to be popcorn & soda we never saw any. I guess there was some tech. problems. We left after a 1/2 hour due to the mosquitos. We arrived back to our room & noticed the t.v was on in our room. We were nervous because we knew the t.v. was off before we left. They had done a turndown service & left milk/cookies for my son. He enjoyed that. We stayed till 11:40 the next day (checkout is @ noon). I called the bellboy station @ 11:10 & was told would be 10-15 mins. it actually took almost 30 mins. My family went down to get the car while I waited in the room. I was getting worried about them waiting out front with the car. One other experience we had I found a small snake by the ledge of the lazy river on our second day. I'm from Florida so I do see them quite often. But, many tourists were frightened by seeing it. I notified a maintenance man walking by & he said he would be back. He returned 20 mins. later & said he asked someone at the resort & was told it's okay it won't do anything. It was on the ledge hissing at people as we floated by. It was rather creepy!! My son, was going down the slide & I know if he had seen it would have left to go to the room. We did have a good time & met some nice locals like us. We would like to return. We weren't notified of any transportation to the theme parks upon checkin. I noticed other reviews stated that.

My wife and I stayed at the Omni Orlando resort from August 29 through September 1, 2008 (we checked out the same day I wrote this review so the experience was still very fresh in my mind.) It was our first time at the Omni and it is definitely a top notch resort. It only fell short in one way, which I will get to below.

First, the positives about our stay:
1) The staff was very hospitable and while we did not use the services of the concierge or other staff often, the people we did interact with were attentive to our needs.

2) We stayed in their standard Deluxe room. It was very clean, the bathroom was quite large, and it was equipped with everything you would expect from this type of resort.

3) The pool area was fantastic. We spent most of our time at the "formal" pool and the lazy river. Since we don't have any kids both of those areas were a bit more laid back than the family pool. There were plenty of chairs, towels, and umbrellas throughout the day even with the typical rude tourists that put a chair on a towel at 9AM and don't return to sit in the chair until noon.

4) The rest of the grounds were very well kept. We took a couple walks on the trail that goes around the par 3 course and toured the tennis courts, sand volleyball court, and other areas.

Now, for the one negative part...

The service we received during two meals at Trevi's, one during dinner and one during breakfast, and one at Croc's were all disappointing. During dinner, the waiter only came to our table 3 times during the whole dinner and we could not even so much as get our drinks refilled since he was never around. During breakfast on Sunday morning, the waiter seemed annoyed that we asked to order from the menu instead of eating from the buffet and that set the tone for lack of service throughout our meal.

At Croc's there were numerous issues. My drink, which I ordered when I first sat down was completely forgotten and did not arrive until after our meals came. We received no silverware or napkins until we asked for them after our meals came. And my meal, when it did arrive, was completely wrong.

I do want to note that we ate at Zen the night before we left and the service there was outstanding. At one point our order was delayed because of an extraordinarily large sushi order from a different party. Not only did both our waiter, Juan, and the manager, I think his name was TJ, apologize for the wait but that part of our meal was comped because of the long wait time.

Overall, we had a great time. Between the extremely high food and drink prices and the questionable service at the restaurants I probably wouldn't eat as many meals there if we went back but that would not stop me from returning and it does not prevent me from recommending the Omni Orlando to others.