We just returned from our much anticipated trip to Orlando. We stayed at the Royale Parc Suites for 4 nights. I was very nervous after reading some of the reviews on here, but was pleasantly satisfied with our stay.
We are a military family of 4. Two adults and 2 small children. We were supposed to stay in Disney at the Shades of Green in June, but had to cancel due to my husband's work schedule. Next, we booked a room at the All Movies resort, but after reading their reviews, we were disappointed with the room size and lack of amenities (no breakfast, no fridge, etc). We stumbled upon a deal at the Royale Parc Suites for about $80/night and decided to take a chance.
I would like to address most of the concerns point by point:
#1 Annoying check in. Unfortunately, we did find this to be the case. We avoided the front desk during our stay for fear of having to deal with this again. My advice is this, once you have received your room key, you will be directed to the concierge desk for your "welcome packet". Unless you still need to buy your park tickets, avoid this desk! They will try to talk you into a free breakfast at their new resort and a tour. Now, if this is your type of thing, by all means, go for it! My husband had 4 days leave, and we are already strapped for family time, so it was not for us. We like our privacy when on vacation.
#2 Cleanliness. We had no problems here. Our room didn't have the fancy granite or anything, but it was clean. The maids did a good job everyday keeping it clean. I also saw someone cleaning the pool everyday. One day we came back from the parks just as happy hour was ending and were disgusted to find vomit all over the stairs. My husband called the front desk and it was cleaned up immediately.
#3 Comfort. My husband and I had a one bedroom suite. It was ample. My children slept in the living room on the most comfortable sofa bed ever. I loved the duvets and pillows. My husband and I had a large bedroom with 2 double beds all to ourselves.
#4 Accessibility. I agree, the hotel could be hard to find if you are looking for the Royale Parc Suites. We almost drove past because the sign reads "Quality Suites". Fortunately, I saw the 7-11 the other reviewers mentioned, and we were fine. You have access to the 7-11 from the hotel parking lot, and we found ourselves using this often. With 2 little kids, we always seem to need something, and it was nice to just walk to the convenience store.
#5 Happy hour, I really can't say anything about this one. I wish the free drinks had been from 8-10 but I realize that's not really happy hour. We were never back from the parks early enough to take advantage.
#6 Breakfast. It is what it is. I'm health conscious and I had wheat toast, scrambled eggs and a lowfat yogurt every morning. Better grain breads, and more fresh fruit would have been nice, but you get what you pay for. My husband and kids were happy. They are much easier to please when it comes to food. I'm the snob, so I recognize it as my problem. The food was sufficient (and most importantly: included in the price!)
#7 Access to the parks. We took the shuttle to sea world the first day, and would have stayed later if we had drove. I've never been big on having to stick to someone else's schedule. That's why I don't take cruises. I also found it annoying that we drove right past Seaworld and dropped off at Universal studios first. But on the return trip, being picked up 2nd was to our advantage.
Driving to the Disney parks worked out best for us, and it was easy to get there, and easy to get back. We didn't know what to expect on a holiday weekend, but we never experienced parking problems or traffic. The shuttle times were difficult to make. The first was at 0730 (it was too difficult to get my kids up and fed and dressed by then. We were too tired from the night before). The 2nd was at 0945 which we felt was too late. We were usually ready to hit the road around 0830-0900.
For the most part we were satisfied with our stay. We have been all over the world and have stayed in 1-5 star hotels and I think we knew what to expect.
The room was decent, not fancy. The amenities were the same. The location was ugly, but convenient. We had a horrible view of the gas station from our bedroom window, but learned to appreciate that 7-11 by the time we left.
Once you are in the courtyard, you forget about the ugly location. The pool area was nice enough, but again, nothing fancy. There are tons of restaurants in the area, but we spent most of our time at the parks, so we never had a chance to check them out. I was excited to see Dunkin donuts and starbucks across the street, but the coffee in the hotel lobby was excellent, so I never needed to go anywhere else.
We were frustrated one night when we returned late and couldn't find a parking spot. We finally found overflow parking, and it sucked carrying two sleeping kids to the hotel from there, but we lived. It would be nice if they gave you a parking pass or numbered the spaces to correspond with the rooms to control how many parking spaces people are using. We had one car and shouldn't have needed to park in the overflow. We didn't bother complaining to the management though, and didn't have a problem again.
Another complaint was the lack of a DVD player in the living room. Again, we avoided the front desk, so we didn't complain. We just used our portable. Our location right across from the 3rd floor elevator was a little noisy at times, but not too bad. Just at about 11 pm when the pool closed, and then it was quite through the night. We only had neighbors on one side, and we never heard them.
I think we will try staying at a Disney resort next time for the convenience, but I would consider this hotel as a back up choice.
