Buena Vista Palace Lake Buena Vista Hotel

Just returned from 2 weeks at the Buena Vista Palace and had an amazing time. After a long journey from the UK with 2 tired kids my husband and I were apprehensive as to what to expect after reading some of the reviews on here. We should not have worried. The room was lovely and clean and even though not massive was plenty big enough for us and our ever-growing pile of Disney souvenirs!

The beds were just the most comfortable ever and it was nice having the 32" plasma tv. We had one night of heavy rain so we ordered a pay-per-view film and snuggled down in to the comfy beds and chilled out - great after a day walking round theme parks!!

We had a great view looking down over the pool area and across at Downtown Disney and if we were in our room at 9pm had a great view of the Epcot fireworks too.

The staff were really friendly and helpful and the cleaners certainly earned their money as the rooms were kept spotless with clean towels every day.

The only small criticism I have is that the hotel would only exchange a maximum of 100 dollars a day in travellers cheques and for a family of 4 that doesn't go far! But saying that the lady at the Concierge desk called round several banks to find somewhere that I could change all my cheques in one go so it wasn't a problem.

Bath robes were provided which was really handy for taking down to the pool and complimentary towels were plentiful.

There were always taxis and limos waiting outside so you never had to wait and the Disney transportation was always on time so getting out and about was never a problem.

All in all we had a fantastic stay at this hotel and would definitely return and would recommend it to anyone. There is just a really nice atmosphere around the place.

I stayed for a week at the Buena Vista Palace hotel and spa while attending a conference. Most of the staff was extremely nice including the concierge, cleaning staff, and bell hops.

During the conference, the company sponsoring the event who was a vendor for the company I work for, paid close to a million dollars to host the 5 day conference (this did not include the cost of the rooms). Snacks were served every afternoon at 2:30. One of the guests at the conference attempted to get a water from the snack table at 2:28 and the staff (from the hotel) snapped at him and made him put it back. Not until 2:30 she said.

The last night, a dinner was provided to all conference attendees and their guests. (Guests had to pay an additional $50.00) The dinner was to be held outside from 6:00 - 9:00. It was raining on and off all day. I watched from my room as the hotel staff set up in the rain. By 6:00 the sky was black and lightening was all around. We were given tickets for 2 drinks (alcohol or non alcohol) that was included with the meal. Their were over 450 guests attending this conference, and their was no shelter where the dinner was set up. It was set up buffet style, so the lines were long. (No one was allowed in prior to 6:00). By 6:30 they were running out of food and it was drizzling. The lines were still long. By 6:45, it started pouring, and staff packed up. Those that did not yet get any food were out of luck. There was no contingency set up for bad weather.

I feel sorry for the vendor who must have forked out quite a bit for the dinner, and all guests were unhappy. Most of the rooms were clean, and as I said, the maid service, bell hops, and concierge were very nice and friendly. But you may want to think twice if you want to host a conference at this hotel.

We asked for a non-smoking room and were placed in a smoking room, we asked for help with bags and after an hour carried them ourself, we asked for a room transfer due to smoke and received a room with a cockroach and dirty linens outside in hallway for a day, we got our bill at check out which was wrong, then corrected, and still received a billing error on our card.

No one seemed to want to help/and or fix problems when asked for partial assistance or help from management.

Me and my family booked this hotel for our vacation to Disney, we booked it and we were charged $15.00 per day extra as a hidden charge and when we left the hotel, we had a charge of $250.00 charged from my credit card without telling me, when I saw my statement, I thought it might be a mistake, I called up the hotel and they said that there was a damage on the ottoman, the accounting department themselved were shocked at the attitude of the hotel managers.

This hotel was wonderful from start to finish! The beds were so comfortable it was hard to get out of them. We had a king room with a Disney view that we could watch the fireworks from our balcony. The balcony is not huge but big enough for two chairs and a small table. The view of downtown Disney was beautiful at night. There is a fridge in the room that we used to keep water cool and some wine for watching the fireworks. The hotel staff were so friendly and helpful it made our experience there so pleasant. The pool is perfect to cool off in and was a god send after a big day of theme parking. Everything is so close to this hotel that it makes the hustle bustle of getting anywhere easy. We walked down to downtown Disney with little trouble at all (2min. walk)and all the shuttles stop free right in front of the hotel. We had rented a car but really did not need it with the shuttles and being so close to Downtown Disney. Not far from the hotel (5mins) is the outlet mall and many, many restaraunts for cheaper prices if the cost of Disney is getting you down. The rooms were clean and were very modern. They just did a 70 million dollar renovation and it shows. It rated one of the best hotels we have stayed in. One minor drawback was that the rooms are not well insulated. This caused a few issues as you could hear a lot of noise every now and again. We only had one bad night with some excited kids in the next room at 2 am but other than that, our 4 day stay was wonderful. We would recommend this hotel and do plan to stay there again in the future.