Review of Holiday Inn Sunspree Resort, Lake Buena Vista, FL: Hotel Review

When we took our trip down to Florida a few years ago, we wanted a cheap hotel, yet with accommodations to Disney. We needed a hotel that provided a shuttle to and from Disney.
My online search brought me to a bunch of potential great hotels, with all the amenities I could have hoped for. However, one thing we didn't find too accommodating when it came to these hotels were their prices. Wowzas! I wouldn't be able to afford to go to Disney if I were to pay these high priced hotels for a weeks stay.
I came across one hotel though that seemed just right. The Holiday Inn Sunspree Resort in Lake Buena Vista. It seemed beautiful, bright friendly colors were painted on the exterior of the hotel, a large pool was plopped down for guests to use, a jacuzzi, a bar/dining room, high speed Internet access, and best of all a free shuttle to and from any of the 4 Disney parks.
The hotel features 507 spacious rooms, and some of these rooms are kids suites. Yep, a room designed just for kids, for those spoiled rotten critters in your life.
We however were after the norm, nothing special, yet comfortable enough to accommodate or 8 night stay. We went with the 2 bed room without a nice view. We didn't care about pool views, and what not, we just wanted a room that we could smoke in it.
Upon arrival we were greeted by a door man, wow, for only $80 a night, we felt like kings. (Prices may vary depending on what time of year you go).
The main desk was fancy schmanchy, with gold accents that made me feel like I had fallen into king Tuts tomb. The woman behind the counter asked our name, gave us our key, and we were on our way.
-Note- We did have to carry our own bags up to the room on the 3rd floor, so that sort of sucked.
We were taken upstairs and to an outdoor balcony, where the last flight of stairs was. It seemed they placed us in the unmentionables section of the hotel, where smokers could all get cancer together. We understood though, this was a kid friendly place, so they want to make sure our butts are nowhere near where other guests could be effected. Our view however was awful, I felt like we were being punished for being smokers, which sucks. I know it's bad, but gez, our room faced a back parking lot where dumpsters stood.
Whatever though, we weren't planning on staying in the room the whole time, we were heading to Disney man. However the first night, we wanted to unwind.
We took a look at our room, yep, it was spacious all right, nice big room with 2 beds, a TV, dresser, and 2 night stands, a small kitchen with a sink, coffee pot, microwave. A decent sized bathroom with a shower, toilet and sink. Everything was clean and looked as if no one had been in the room for ages.
In the main part of the room we were given a safe to keep our things, so this was the first thing we set up. We set the safe to match our home phone number, and left our things in the safe. I enjoyed the fact that I could put my money and jewelery in here without worrying about foul staff members stealing from me.
Our next move was to get our butts in the pool. My what a glorious pool it was. The pool is gigantic, and goes to depths of only 5 feet. Not too bad, but I would have liked things to be much deeper. To the far right of the pool is a bunch of tables and chairs, and beyond that is a lovely little well groomed area where a giant jacuzzi sits. Surrounding the jacuzzi are a bunch of adorable palms, and ferns. It's really a nice little get away area.
When we made out way in though the jacuzzi was crowded to the point where you had to wait to get in, and me being the non-social person, I certainly didn't want to be rubbing feet with strange people. Ech. So I made my way into the pool.
Everything was nice, I enjoyed it. The next morning we made our way downstairs bright and early for the free shuttle ride to Disney. The shuttle does 3-4 drops and pick ups per day, other wise you have to call a cab. Following the shuttles schedule though was a cinch, and didn't require rocket science. What I loved about the shuttle service was the ex-military man who drove the bus, dear God I forgot his name... anyways he really made the trip enjoyable. Instead of just picking us up, and dropping us off, he was cracking jokes, and giving us neat little facts about Florida on the way. I can't believe I forgot his name, he must have said it 20 times during our whole stay. Basically he made our vacation an enjoyable one, and we were glad to tip him every day.
Every day we would take the shuttle into Disney, and on our return we would enjoy the bar/dining room, and we would take a dip in the pool or jacuzzi. After awhile, the hotel seemed to die down, and we were able to enjoy the jacuzzi and pool without all of the cluster.
In the hotel they also have a theater for children where for the entire week they played Spongebob cartoons. In the next room over there was an arcade where you could play neat video games, motion video games, air hockey, and more. There are many more activities specially designed with children in mind, but because we don't have kids we did not participate in any of these hotel extras. For parents though, this is great. Visit their site for more information. www.Holidayinn.com.
During our stay they also set up an outdoor bar, and other neat vendors who would come in and give kids henna tattoos, or string their hair, or do face painting. I actually spent the $20 for the string hair wrap. It lasted for almost a month after getting it spun in. Pretty neat.
The hotel hallways were always neat, clean and vacuumed, and every day after returning to the hotel from Disney our beds had new blankets, and our coffee tray would be refilled every day, along with new towels, shampoos, conditioners, and lotion.
Overall, I enjoyed my stay at The Holiday Inn Sunspree Resort. They had everything our family could want from a hotel, from great prices, friendly staff, good food, and awesome side activities for children and adults alike.
On my next trip down to Florida this is surely the hotel I will be staying at again.
Visit hotels.bookit.com/florida/orlando/holidayinnsunspreeorlando/ for a bunch of sweet photos of the hotel.