Has anyone stayed at Holiday Inn Family Suites?

[nancel.5]

We just made our reservations for the week of 6/22-6/30. We really looked into staying on -site,but the price and the amenitiesat HIFS really won us over. We have DD's 8 and 4 and DS 7 and I love the idea of them having their own room,free meals etc. We are driving from NJ so we will have our car. Has anyone stayed here? What can you tell me about food,transportation,location is it really close to the parks? Any special room area to request ?
Thanks for your help. Nancy

 

[Robinrs]

Hi, nancel.5,

I am so sorry the search function is not working because you would find many, many reviews on this hotel.

I did stay there in January 2001 for my son's 8th birthday. We LOVED having separate rooms, so much we've only requested suites at every hotel we've stayed at since! The kids suite is a child's dream, the bunk beds, the Nintendo, their own phone, a boom box... my son was in heaven.

This was my first time having a room of my own in Orlando and it has really spoiled me. My sister came down for the last few days and she stayed on the sofa or in the other bunk with my son. It was so great to have three different TVs for three completely different tastes!

The breakfast buffet was a lifesaver. Some days we ate at the buffet, other times we brought it upstairs. We rented videos and played them on the VCR. There was a gameroom downstairs that my son and sister wore themselves out at, and there was bingo games and karaoke at night.

Another favorite of my son's was the little train that ran around the hotel. He and the "conductor" became good friends.

The hotel is in a great location, less than a mile from WDW. I would suggest a rental car to get around, though. There is nothing within walking distance if you want to get out.

All in all we count it as one of our favorite places. I hope you enjoy your stay!

 

[Goofy Dad]

We stayed there in 1998, and it was very nice.

It was great having our own room area and my son who was 3 1/2 at the time loved the bunk beds, although they had made us sign a form that indicated that the top bunks were for older kids only. I don't remember the cuttoff age at this point. My son slept in a bottom bunk, but it was impossible to keep him off the top altogether. Each Bunk bed had its own speaker for the TV with its own volume control too, so as to minimize the bother of the others.

Having a refrigerator and being able to buy cheap soda/water/milk/juice at the supermarket is a major savings. I was not overly impressed with the food options, but if I had a bunch of kids it would definitely be a savings.

Kids must be potty trained to use the pool, at least when we went they would not allow the swimmies diapers in the pool, this may have changed.

Overall, with a large family, and particullarly kids that are not toddlers, this is a great choice.

It was not too far from the parks. We had a little trouble spotting it when we drove from the airport, but afterwards it was fine.

Hope you have a great trip. We have been back to WDW each year since and have stayed onsite. We really liked the Disney Institute Villas but they have been closed now, so this year we are going back in April and will be trying the Comfort Suites Maingate East.

 

[hockey mom]

We have stayed there 2 years in a row now. My kids love their own room and dad loves his own TV. My kids won free pizzas, drinks, ice-cream, and toys playing bingo and kareoke games in the lobby every night. I am trying to remember which building we were in. I think 7,8, and 9 are around the kids pool and the even # rooms face the pool, while the odd # rooms face the parking lot or courtyard.

 

[4u2dream]

Very Attractive Pool Area
We stayed in Feb 2000, 7 days, Kids suite, my dd3 loved it. The pool was large and the grounds were attractive. The rooms were good size, starting to show their age somewhat. My wifes biggest beef was exterior doors. All in all the resort was acceptable, not luxury, but comfortable. It was clean and the price was fair. The kids can be put to bed by the Resort Mascots. Kids checkin was neat for the dd. You need a vehicle to get around, they had a shuttle service, but we did not use it. We rented a car. Hope this helps!

 

[gamas]

This was our first trip to the World and the HIFS.

We were somewhat pleased; however, I think some of their employees could use a bit of more training on friendliness and hospitatlity, and the comforters and blankets could have been changed between occupancy, all were dirty with stains and I was very insistent my kids not lay all over them, in fact we removed them from the beds..

We had a KidSuite with the Disney Theme and had a room in building 13 and it faced toward the road; we were thrilled to find out we could see the fireworks from Epcot and Magic in the evenings we were not at the world. My kids enjoyed having their own room with the bunkbeds, tv, phone, and boombox...

The pools are great, as well the hottubs after along day at the parks...not to mention free mini golf.

The dinner buffet was ok, but we only ate that one night there. The breakfast buffet was a moneysaver... It had a variation from eggs, to pancakes or frenchtaost, ham, bacon, or sausage, hot/cold cereal, fresh fruit, mini muffins, bagels, toast etc. My youngest daughter is a very picky eater and she found something everyday.

We used the bus shuttle almost everyday and also had a rental car, which we really only used to go to and from the airport and Downtown Disney one morning, so it was kind of a waste of money for that. The buses are very clean and modern and have varying pickup and return times, we found it worked out good after being in the parks all day and leaving the driving to someone else..

All in all I think we got our money's worth and would possible stay again.

Amy