FL Orlando Renaissance Universal-Sea World

[pomcoach]

We stayed here from Dec. 17-24th, 2004. We had 2 rooms, so we didn't have to put up with the 2 teen girls yakking all night. My first bid was won at $69, but the 2nd room, (which I didn't try for until a few months later) I kept bidding higher and higher and was finally accepted at $95. I felt the $69 was a good bargain, but that $95 was too high and not much of a bargain at all.

We did LOVE this hotel! It is beautiful with large rooms and good beds and very quiet rooms too. We made sure we ordered a wake-up call each morning, and in turn, got a pretty service tray outside our door to make hot chocolate. Our hot water was always right on time, but several mornings was not really hot, only a little warm. Kind of a let down! The tray comes with packets of whatever you request: hot Chocolate, Coffee, or Tea.

We also ordered turn-down service for every night of our stay at 8 p.m. They turned down our beds, freshened the bathroom, left 2 chocolates on our pillows and a little card that told the weather for the next day. (By the way, the temps. were way OFF for each and every day. Don't know where they get their info.!! One day they told us: high of 80, but it was really 50!!)

The Atrium was beautiful. We were on the 3rd floor with our daughters in an adjoining room. I liked the 3rd floor because we could still see the fountains and decorations in the Atrium. We had balconies which faced inside toward the Atrium and we watched the elevators go up and down. The elevators were decorated with big red ribbons and bows, like giant Christmas presents. We had a King Non-smoking and the girls had 2 Queens non-smoking. The bathrooms were large also, with 2 sinks and a really long counter to put all your things. We loved it!

The pool area was gorgeous! Huge really warm pool, like bathtub water! 2 big hot tubs, really nice temp. I really dislike it when the hot Tubs are so hot that you can't really use them at all. These were very relaxing!

Even though the front desk person told me they were sold out, I never really saw more than 1 or 2 families. The parking lot seemed very empty too. I even had the whole pool to myself for 2 hours from 5-7 pm.! It was Heaven!

Every staff member we met was there to please us! Everytime I called Vicki, the receptionist, with a question, she would say, "Why yes, I'd be delighted to help you!"

Wow! We would be delighted to get this hotel for every trip to Orlando. It's a great location for Disney, Universal, and Sea World is a 5 minute walk across the parking lot.

The signs said they were charging for parking, but they stuck the Express Check-out Bill under my door with a Zero Balance and no mention of a parking charge, so I was not foolish enough to go ask about it!!

My 2 teens liked this hotel better than the Hard Rock Hotel which was $229 a night!!! We would be DELIGHTED to get this hotel every time we visit Orlando!

Pomcoach :)

[micheles]

we stayed here in july of last year for ten nights 20th - 30th

we booked through priceline asking for a 4 *and paid 65 pounds + tax a night - totalling seven hundred and fifty pounds - this was too expensive - especially as the pool was closed for the whole of our stay and we had to catch a shuttle to the nearby hilton to use theirs

priceline said that there are no guarantees that hotels will have pools - i did try to argue that i didn't think it likely that i would find another four star hotel in florida without a pool but they were not helpful

they would not move us so we were stuck - their idea of compensation was no charge in their games room ( a small assortment of pinballs and computer type games)

there was also a model convention - a regular booking i believe - but this was not too much of an inconvenience

the coffee/chocolate was a nice touch but i did pay too much for this hotel - the downside of booking using priceline.co.uk

[LoneStar]

This resort is in the final throes of what is billed as a $21 million "reinvention." Everything is pretty much complete except for the huge atrium lobby, which they say will be done by March (probably a little optimistic). While the lobby is a mess, it didn't really interfere with my stay, except perhaps in a modest aesthetic way -- the hotel currently feels a bit like a construction site. Work is purportedly done from 830 am to 630 pm, but I was away at the theme parks during that time.

Rooms are quiet, oversized and nicely furnished, with widescreen plasma TVs (convincing this late technology adopter than I can continue to live without one!). Fancy soaps and nightly turndown service. Alas, the free room service coffee wake-up calls are gone, although there is a small coffeemaker in the room.

Location is convenient. You can walk to SeaWorld, and it's about a 5-7 minute drive to Universal and 10-15 to Disney. The airport is an easy 15 minutes away on the Bee-Line toll road. They seem set-up to charge an $8 daily parking fee at the hotel, but the parking gates were up and no fees were being collected during my stay.

All this said, I don't really understand this "resort," or why you'd particularly want to stay here. I've always had the suspicion that -- even at priceline prices -- Orlando resorts were a waste of money if you were going to be spending most of your time at the theme parks. Those suspicions were certainly confirmed. I actually enjoyed my stay here less than at the 3-star Sheraton Safari (where, admittedly, I was upgraded to their all-suites wing). Indeed, having to pay "resort prices" can be a bit annoying. At the Sheraton, for example, a nice buffet breakfast for 2 adults and 2 kids is 20 bucks (kids eat free). At the Renaissance, it will cost you $45.

Your kids will likely be similarly disappointed. The pool area, while quite large and very elegant, has no "pizazz." No waterslides or other amusements for the kids (it looks like they might have some activities at peak times). Indeed, for a resort across the street from SeaWorld in the family vacation capital of the universe, the hotel isn't particularly kid friendly. It seems more like a resort for adults, which is a little surprising for Orlando. On a Sunday morning, you could see lawyers "relaxing" in their sport coats over a catered breakfast meeting. Indeed, most of the guests seemed to be attending conferences, for which the hotel would be well-suited for. So maybe vacationing couples wishing for a quieter place to stay would like this place. Of course, I'm not sure why such couples would be vacationing in Orlando in the first place!