Hilton Lake Buena Vista
On our trip to Disney in August, we tried something different. We opted to stay off property, but at a Disney Springs hotel. The main reason for this was cost. We used Hilton points to pay for our room which dramatically reduced the cost of our trip.
Our Room
So as I wrote in my post about our trip, our hotel experience before arriving to Orlando was less than stellar, at least the first hotel we attempted to stay at. My mom was already at this hotel and she had me nervous. She was discussing how dated it felt and such. But the room was actually really nice. We booked a King Bed room. We opted for a higher floor hoping for a decent view. The room was a standard hotel room, but I did love having the two sinks (one inside the bathroom and one outside). This was really helpful when it came to washing cups for Melody. We did have to go downstairs to get more towels. They literally only left us like 2 washcloths. But they were accommodating and sent some up immediately.
The room did have a mini-fridge, but this trip we didn’t really use it because we were only there three nights. We did stick some water in the fridge to have cold.
There was a sitting area that we used to store stuff, but we were not in the room enough to really just “sit”. When we were in there we were sleeping, ha.
Below are some of the resort benefits we received. You did have to give your coupon when redeeming, but we mainly just used the water coupons. And on our last day we actually redeemed most of them and took them home with us.
And we were given a wifi password to use upon check in.
And we did have a little bit of a view. We could see the very top of the fireworks in the evening at Epcot. And if you look in the far distance, you can see Spaceship Earth.
Overall the room was really nice and gave us plenty of room for our short trip.
Exterior
The exterior was simply that. Nothing fancy about it. It looked almost Contemporary-ish. Definitely not overly cartoonish like the Disney Value resorts. We didn’t spend much time exploring since we were only there a short time. I did take a picture of the pool on our walk to Disney Springs
If you were able to score a room on the bottom floor, you likely would have a walk out with chairs and a table. My mom had one of these rooms.
Disney Springs
As I mentioned above, we did walk to Disney Springs on our first night and last day there. The walk was super easy. We intentionally booked a room near the elevators and on the side of the building closest to Disney Springs. It created a shorter walk to Disney Springs, but a longer walk to the Disney buses and parking lot. So you kind of have to pick.
There is a pedestrian bridge that connects the hotel to Disney Springs. They have both stairs and an elevator. You have to take two bridges from where we were.
It let you out at the splash pad area near Once Upon a Toy. It was a convenient location to everything we love to do.
Disney Benefits
So this hotel does have Disney benefits included with your stay. You have access to transportation to the parks. The bus types vary. And while annoying at first, they come every 30 minutes on the nose. We had buses sit and wait until the 30 minute mark before picking us up. The bus stop is at the back of the hotel near the parking lot. Once we had a charter style bus that stored our stroller under the bus. And on the way back we had a typical Disney style bus where you carry your stroller folded onto the bus. Some negatives here…the bus stops aren’t as convenient once at the parks. For instance, the bus stop at Magic Kingdom is actually at the Ticket and Transportation Center, so you have to take the boat or monorail to the park. They do not run as frequently.
You also get access to Extra Magic Hours. Since Magicbands aren’t provided and aren’t usable at this hotel, you are given cards to show. We didn’t use them on this trip, but my mom has in the past. She said you simply show the card as you would scan your band.
You can book Fastpass+ 60 days out, but we didn’t take advantage of this perk since we booked the trip just a few days out.
So the big negative we found with all of the perks was the buses start running one hour prior to park opening. One morning we had a pre-park opening breakfast at 8:15. Well the bus didn’t start running until 8. So there is no way we would have made it. Luckily we had our car and my AP so we parked at Epcot. But that could have been annoying if we didn’t.
Breakfast for Gold and Diamond Members
As Diamond (and also accessible to Gold) members we had free breakfast provided. They opened a portion of the sit down restaurant to serve a breakfast buffet. You simply told them your room number and name at the check in counter and went and found a seat. Then you could help yourself to the buffet. They had hot items and cold items along with pastries and drinks. It was really nice and plenty for us.
Game Room
We did make a stop at the game room on our first evening. Melody doesn’t need to use the coins to play because she is just as happy sitting in all of the vehicles. Brad did play one game, and Melody played with him for a bit too. It was like pulling teeth to get her out, but we did eventually.
Overall I did enjoy staying at this hotel. Using points it made the most sense and was super convenient to everything we wanted to do. I am not sure I would stay here paying cash unless it was cheaper than the value resort. I like staying on property and while this is nice and has its perks, if I am paying the same price I’d rather be on property.
