Best non-Disney hotel on property?

[Kenny1113]

I know I've seen a thread on this before, but of course now that I need it I can't find it.

We are planning last minute 1 day trip in march. I would like to know everyone's opinions on the nondisney owned hotels that are still on site. ( I think the DTD area? )


TIA

[Scar]

The only one I have stayed at is The Dolphin - Fabulous.

[DizneyRox]

Stayed in the DTD area a couple times, back when one was the Courtyard by Marriot. Can't complain about the price (associate rate is sweet!) but the location left little to be desired.

Bus transporation was bad. Dining was really bad. Thankfully it is close to DTD, so we didn't starve. We ended up catching a lot of busses to DTD from the parks and just walking back home.

Given the choice, we wouldn't stay there again. I'd probably look at a value before I did that, but I'd consider waiting and saving up a little more before I stay at another value as well. Not my cup of tea...

[SBETigg]

The Hilton in Downtown Disney is good. We had a lovely one night stay there with a great view of Downtown Disney, and even Epcot and the Contemporary in the distance. Only one night, but great service. The staff was wonderful. We had dinner in the Benihana at the hotel, also good.

[iadarolas]

If you want non-Disney owned by on property...the absolutely best option would be Swan or Dolphin for the location and extra magic hours....and transportation. The location is amazing and both hotels are lovely.

[Amy_617]

We stayed at Royal Plaza for a week. Rooms were nice. We had a premium tower room with views of DTD. Of course the lack of "Disney Magic" really got to us! We missed our Disney resorts after about 2 days! The food options were really pretty bad, but we were so close to DTD...we just walked and eat there! The bus transportation is horrible. If you have stayed on disney property and are used to their buses, you will really be dissappointed. All of the DTD hotels use the same buses....well, there is the "A" bus and the "B" bus. Each bus goes to about 4 different hotels. It can get pretty packed in the morning during peak seasons! We ended up booking this resort then because they had a special on expedia and we were able to get the premium tower room (which are floors 12-17 and have their own private glass elavators for just those floors) and a $50 gas card. At that time it was about the same price as the value so we decided to give it a try! It might would be really nice for if you were coming to do Disney plus other things in orlando, or you drove to the parks and around...but to us, it just wasn't what we were looking for.

[Jenemmy]

We stayed at Royal Plaza for a week. Rooms were nice. We had a premium tower room with views of DTD. Of course the lack of "Disney Magic" really got to us! We missed our Disney resorts after about 2 days! .

Completely agree! We stayed at the Royal Plaza once, and while it was a nice place, we were craving Disney so badly that we spent our last night of vacation at the Yacht Club! We just called Dis reservations and said "WHERE can you put us tonight???" LOL.

I have also stayed at the Radisson -- again, quite nice, no magic. My recommendation would have to be Swan/Dolphin as well. There are ways to get great rates and you still feel like you are in the heart of it all. IMO, it is the most "Disney" of the non Disney hotels.

[Kenny1113]

Thanks for all the input!

We will not be utilizing hotel transportation. Just looking for somewhere decent And close to rest our heads after a day at the park.

[PetefromRI]

The Bonnet Creek resort looks beautiful.It's a timeshare Villa resort.I'm not sure but I think that it might be a Hyatt.I checked out the website and it looks really nice.