Have I made an off-site hotel mistake?

[epceddie]

Hi everybody,

My wife and I recently booked a five-night stay in October at the Radisson Worldgate Resort in Kissimmee.
I've been reading mixed reviews about the hotel (we booked it for $59 a night on Priceline) and was just wondering if anyone has stayed there and what their experience was like.

Any and all help will be much appreciated.

Thanks,

epceddie

[baby minnie's mommy]

I've never stayed at that resort, however, you have to be careful with staying at off-site ones. Florida has trouble with mold, which means resorts can have mold problems. Also, because of their proximity to the parks, some resorts charge a hefty rate considering what you're actually getting.

We stayed at a Sheraton near Sea World for a conference, and although the website looked beautiful, reviews said it was bad.----We never want to stay there again.

Some off-site resorts are great, and we really like them if the price is better than Disney. But you have to know which ones. If you just want a place to sleep, you might be ok. If you are on vacation and want to relax at your resort, go swimming, etc, I would be very careful about your choice. (We haven't stayed at any in the $60 range, so can't recommend any, sorry.)

I hope you both have a great time, and hopefully someone on here can give you specifics on your particular hotel! :mickey:

[Tigerinvestigator]

Read the post by SandmanGStefani24 about the Days inn and how bad it was compared to what it said and looked like online. Don't have any personal knowledge of this resort so it may be ok. Personally I would not want to take a chance with an offsite resort but many people do and have great vacations. For $25-30 a night more you could be in a Disney owned resort and not have this stress or take a chance you won't have a great vacation. Plus as many have pointed out on this site, the benefits of staying on property are unbelievable. We can get more done during extra magic hours than most people can during their whole vacation. With the price of gasoline you will save more than $30 a day on parking and gas so that justifies the extra money. Hope everything works out for you but I would seriously look at the pros and cons again, and read that other post!:thumbsup:

[mrshams]

check out tripadvisor.com. They have reviews for hotels which I usually find to be right on the money. You also have to take bad reviews with a grain of salt -- someone may have had a bad day and wrote their review based on that one experience.

[Mulan]

I have not stayed here, but after reading your question I looked this hotel up. The pictures of it looks nice. I know pictures can be decieving, but it still looks nice. I read some reviews on this hotel and everyone seems to say the samething. It is an older hotel and the decor is out dated. Some people claim that the rooms were dirty. I've never experienced a dirty room were I've asked housekeeping to come in and reclean. You can read that same review on Disney property. If the rooms too dirty, ask to be moved. It sounds like this hotel is very accommodating. Another reviewer complained about the noise. This is a convention hotel so that is a posiblility. But again, you can have that at Disney.

The only thing at I read and I would stay away from is the shuttle bus. These are not owned by the hotel. A service comes in and pickes you up. Some people complained that the buses were crowded and took hours to be picked up and taken to the parks. If you have your own car than I would drive myself. People commented on how close this hotel was to the parks...a plus.

If you have already booked, than I would stay. The price is great and as long as you know in advance what you are getting than you won't be upset when you get there. Staying on property is always better, but being able to be AT Disney is GREAT.

So enjoy your vacation.

[Nurse Kim]

We made the mistake of staying at a off-site hotel in March 2008. NEVER again. The hotel wasn't in great condition even though the pictures were beautiful. The shuttle to the parks was horendous. What they don't tell you is alot of the hotels share the shuttle and it's so crowded it's ridiculous. Usually the shuttles back to the hotel during the day are nonexistent. I vowed I would not EVER stay off-site again. We learned many lessons.

[mudpuppysmom]

I can say the my cousins stayed at this hotel in January on some special he had heard about on the radio (they are from Daytona). That said, they are NOT picky about the hotels they stay in, however the place HAS GOT to be clean for my cousins wife -- if it is not, the move on to a place they know is clean. They normally stay at either the Masters Inn (beside the big orange on I Drive I believe) or at a Traelodge Suites (but I can't remember which one - I think it is near Walmart).

Anyway, they said this place was fine for what they paid and they may stay there again if they could not get one of their "regular" hotels.

I did say though that they aren't picky, so I'd say good luck with this one, but I have heard good and bad things about this one too.

[Gator]

IMHO, if you stay off-site, it's a bad decision. I can't imagine WDW without staying in a Disney resort.

[TinkerbellT421]

I don't know about anyone else (I have never stayed at WDW off-site). But around my neck of the woods, or rather, a few trips I have gone on to other states that we needed hotels, its very "what you paid for is what you get" to me. Atleast thats my opinion.

[epceddie]

Thanks for all of your replies.