Latest Reviews for Florida

stayed here october 07, we hired a car but prefered to walk of an evening for evening meal and drinks as being so close to international drive was ideal and also just opposite wet n wild. there are many good places to eat nearby we especialy liked chillis. The rooms were cleaned every day and there was a drinks machine an a ice machine on every floor. shopping malls and outlets are only a short drive away. we have booked to go back to this hotel october 08.

After reading the reviews on this motel I was very afraid of what we would find on our arrival. In fact I even asked the rep at the airport if everything would be OK. I am happy to say that all of my fears were unfounded. When we arrived at the Motel which has been taken over by the Econolodge chain, our allocated room was a little dark as it was at the end of the walkway but after asking reception if we could be moved, we had a new room within 15 minutes. Our new room was on the 4th floor and overlooked the pool. It was light, clean and airconditioned. Our housekeeper Bertha, came in every day and cleaned the room and the towels and bed linen were spotless. The pool bar was very reasonable and the staff friendly. The onsite laundery room is more than adequate and supplies can be purchased from the shop in the lobby. Andy, the Rep was a fun, outgoing lad who ran a good quiz at the Cricketers Arms (stop 2 on the -ride) The I-ride is a bargain at $16 for 2 weeks unlimited travel and kids under 12 ride free. There is a good shuttle bus to all of the attractions although this sometimes gets busy. Remember to book your bus at reception the day before you want to use it. We found good places to eat were Ponderosa, Tony Roma (try the onion loaf starter) TGI Friday and of course Friendly's. Friendly's also do an excellent take away service. we would recommend this Motel as a good place to stay for what is a busy, tiring but fantastic holiday. The Blythe Family

These homes were very good location surroundings were fab very clean unlike our appartment which was not cleaned properly, dirty carpet blood on sheets, hair on towels and sheets, the shower had hairs in it the toilet had urine stains and were not cleaned properly we were bitterly dissapointed as the reviews said these condos were high quality..... ours was not when we complained the said they would get back to us we are still waiting!!!!!Supermarket shop just over the road, clubhouse a short walk away they are still building here also but it never spoiled our view. there are two pools, one at the club house one at the "isles" were we where, which is a short bit away 5 mins walk there is a cinema, pool tables a gym and some arcade games, the staff here are great very helpful and you can buy your park tickets here also, Donna (who sells them) is lovely honest and will give you the best deal she can.

We think we were just unlucky (lazy cleaner).

We have just returned from a two week holiday to Florida staying at the Holiday Inn International Drive. First impressions of the hotel were that it was a little tired and could of done with a lick of paint to freshen things up, we were not in the tower and the room we had was adequate, two big beds, tv, bath, shower, fridge, microwave etc. The location of the hotel was excellent and the staff and service were fantastic. I would recommend having breakfast in the hotel, we thought it was excellent and the staff were always very pleasant and cheerful. If you venture out i'd give the Poderosa a miss and walk a wee bit further to Sizzlers, far superior and cheap as chips!!!!!! Dinners can be as plain or as fancy as you want, grab a pizza and take it back to your hotel room if its been a long day, buffet at Golden Corral or for something a wee bit special i'd really recoommend the Brazillian Steak House (just up from Pizza Hut) the steak is amazing. The parks are brilliant, there is something magical about it all. Don't miss the fireworks at Disney at night well worth staying up for. It is an unforgetable holiday but going at this time of year the heat is unbelievable and the parks are very busy, if this would put you off go out of seaon. Can't wait to go back, amazing.

Just returned from spending two weeks at The Ginn Reunion Resort in Orlando. This is a 5 star Golf resort located just off the I4 at exit 58. It is ideally situated for all the attractions when you want them, however, still far enough away that you can escape! The Reunion is a gated community with security guards at both entrances of the resort. Once you recieve a map of the resort and your gate pass from security, you make your way to check in at the Hotel. Valet parking will look after your car whilst you check in at a reception that is truly breathtaking, and superbly efficient. It's best to note that from the minute they take a swipe of your credit card details at Reception, you no longer carry cash. Everything is charged to your room card. We rented a three bedroom deluxe townhouse, which was tastefully decorated throughout, and immaculately presented. Everything you could possibly need is provided, even their own branded filter coffee and sugars/sweeteners! The master bedroom suite had a huge walk in closet with two bath robes provided,plus one of the most comfortable beds I have ever slept in. Only complaint was that the shower was not powerful enough and therefore if you have long hair it takes ages to rinse shampoo and conditioner out.(These are again provided along with body lotion, cotton buds/pads and even a tube of toothpaste and toothbrush) Water park provides towels so just take your sun lotion. The lazy river is very relaxing with a few waterfalls to go through. There is also a slide and a large pool area. Plenty of sunbeds, however, get there early if you want an umbrella for shade. Food and drink is available and lots of choice, once again these will be charged to your card. (The frozen mango drinks are gorgeous and $10 each) Food and drink at the waterpark is reasonably priced and it's all waiter service if you cannot get off your sunbed! The food at Forte restaurant is fabulous and Michael is an excellent waiter, very knowledgable about the food and wine. On the 11th floor is a rooftop pool, bar and restaurant. You can enjoy a glass of wine watching a great sunset, and watch in the distance the fireworks from Disney and Epcot. I cannot comment on the golf as neither my husband or myself play, however, it looked an immaculate course,and a popular one too. Locally you are just down the road to Champions Gate which has a Walgreens,Publix,and a Chilli's restaurant which I can highly recommend. Fabulous holiday.

Went here in June last year, chose this hotel because of the location as we wern't hiring a car. After reading some of the reviews I must admit I was a bit worried but really cannot understand what on earth some people expect as we found the hotel spot-on!! On arrival we were asked where we'd like our room located, our kids said they wanted a view so we were placed on 11th floor overlooking I-drive with windows the length of the room!! The view was fantastic - esp when lit up at night. Room was very spacious and comfortable, free Wi-fi (my son took his lap-top) and free safe. Only problem we had was into the second week an Americal couple moved in next door and the bloke used to have the TV FULL BLAST - ALL NIGHT!!! On the 2nd night my husband went and knocked on his door and shouted for him to turn it down but he just ignored us so we rang reception to complain and we were asked if we would like to move to another room?....we said we didn't see why it was us who had to be moved when it was the neighbour being the nuisance and we just wanted him silenced, reception rang his room and had a word and problem solved - TV turned down and no more problems after that. Plenty of places to eat near-by - would recommend Denny's, Sizzlers & there's a pizza hut up the road, bearing in mind that their large pizza's are twice the size of back in good old blighty (and half the price). Had heard lots of good things about breakfast at Ponderosa which is just over the road but must admit I didn't rate it for B/fast - much nicer in the hotel, although I would recommend it for evening meal. As for the theme parks - Fantastic, very tiring but worth it - we tended to go to parks for 2/3 days and have a day by the pool - otherwise you are shattered. Sea-world, Epcot and the universal were the best - also liked Animal Kingdom. Do not miss the spiderman ride at Universal - out of this world. All in all would recommend Orlando and definitely recommend the Holiday Inn. Some people must just look for things to moan about!!

One word. WOW. We had booked over the internet and the company had given us the wrong place to collect our keys to the villa. We were all tired after sleeping in a grubby motel and just wanted our villa. Eventually we arrived at our villa. It was amazing. Seven bedroomed, six en-suites, a private pool, a huge telly with cable telly. It was located about 15 minutes away from Disney World, about 20 minutes away from Universal and about an hour away from Busch Gardens. We were sitting out on the poolside one night and there's mesh around the pool and my dad obviously didn't see it and walked straight through so be cautioned! WATCH OUT FOR THE MESH!

On Tuesday 2nd July, reported the fact that the set of drawers in the down stairs bedroom were broken and that the living room carpet was very badly stained to the reception at Regal Palms, they promised to send someone out on the Wednesday because we were going to be out all day and that would allow the carpet to dry.On our return to the house on Tuesday we noticed that the drawers had been repaired (this is where the document folder was which contained the tickets and documents) but the carpet had not been cleaned. (it remained in its filthy state for the duration of our stay). On Wednesday 2nd July, we reported a problem with the safe because the code would no longer work, it took over 3 hours for the maintenance manager Ray to come and reset the safe. Because it took so long, and we had wasted half a day, we did not check the safe at this time. On Thursday the 3rd July we missed the folder containing the documents and tickets, but thought we had moved them elsewhere, we were then out of the house from early morning to late evening on Thursday and Friday and did not attempt to find the documents until Saturday. Having thoroughly checked the house and not finding them we decided we should also check the safe, this is when we discovered the theft of the money. We reported the theft at this time to the Manager who said she could do nothing without the maintenance manager first checking the computer print out and door logs. The Manager then contacted Virgin to inform them of the theft and requested that our travel insurance documents be faxed over (this was done) we heard nothing from Virgin at this time. We left this with her and she said she would contact us. Having not heard from the manager we tried over the next 4 days to contact her without success. We finally went and sat in the reception area until she came to see us. She tried very hard to ignore and avoid us (we realised later that as they were having a big push on selling time share over these weeks they did not want the Sherriff around). We eventually got to talk to her and she said that she would notify the Sherriff, we waited one and half hours for him to arrive. During which time we demanded to speak to the area manager,she listened to our problem and told us that she had only been told about it that morning and had instructed staff to call the Sherriff then (obviously this did not happen).NIGHTMARE STAY AWAY IT WAS MEMBER OF STAFF WHO BROKE IN!!

We've just returned from 2 weeks at Bahama Bay Resort (Block 22, apt 103), and we found it to be a good location for those wanting to be a bit out-of-the-way. The directions on the website were spot-on right up until within a mile, when we missed the turn and had to do a u-turn due to a lack of signage on highway 27. The resort is a long way from International Drive and most of Kissimmee - on most days it took us at least 30 minutes or more to drive to Seaworld/Aquatica, but Disney would have been much closer. First impressions were good - the "clubhouse" is well-presented and well-staffed. Unfortunately the clubhouse can be quite a walk from some of the apartments and sadly not all of the advertised services were available during our stay (the mini-cinema and the DVD rental were both advertised, but nowhere to be found!). At check-in we were asked to pay a "cleaning fee" of $65 plus tax and to leave a credit card authorisation for $200 if we were to smoke in the apartment - neither of which were mentioned by our tour operator (Cosmos). Our apartment was on the ground floor, and on first appearances much of the furnishings and carpets were "tired" - the sofa-bed was threadbare in places and had seen better days, the tables, TV unit, dining table and hall stand were marked and scratched. The TVs were old CRT models without their original remote controls and the remote for the TV in the master bedroom didn't work (as the TV was sited very high on the wall the only way to put it on or to change channels was to stand on a chair). The kitchen was very well-equipped and had a huge fridge-freezer, 4-ring stove, microwave and dishwasher. The best feature of all was that the apartment had a washing machine and dryer - meaning that towels and swimsuits could be rinsed and dried and that we were able to return home with suitcases full of CLEAN clothes. What a difference!

The reports of noise from the apartments above were accurate and that did cause some annoyance. Someone skimped on the sound insulation during construction.

The pools & jacuzzi were great, although some blocks had a much longer walk than others. Unfortunately the pools were open on a dawn to dusk basis - but that meant they were closed before 9am and after 8pm on most days. On previous visits to Florida one of the best cures for the Theme-Park sore feet/muscles was a 15 minute soak in the jacuzzi and a swim - but you'll not get that at Bahama Bay!

Would we go back? Probably not!

just home from a two week stay in Royal pacific. This hotel is an absolute must. room keys acts as a fast past for universal and was fantastic. the hotel is beautiful and no one and i mean no one could fault ther service.. ok you have to tip, but you only get what you pay for. food is great but the service in any of the restaurants is excellent. bit disapointed with disney, packed, no where to go to avoid sun, universal is soo much better air conditioned throughout in the studios. all in all a class holiday cant wait to go back