In late July of 2003, my family and I took our 3rd trip to Disney World. My mother booked us a room at the Hotel Royal Plaza. Although not a Disney hotel, it is still on Disney property in the Dowtown area and so had the benefits of a Disney gift store in the lobby as well as free Disney transportation.

The hotel from the outside is ok. Parking was easy to find as the lot is very big but not a long walk from the main lobby. The lobby was charming and their couches extremely comfortable. We checked in very quickly and the staff was extremely friendly and endearing. There was a softball team staying at the resort as well as people from some corporate company. The hotel is big on coporate events and sports teams that play at the Wide World of Sports but we never felt it was an intrusion to us as just a regular family staying there.

Our room was supposed to be a tower room. And it was in the main tower, but not the kind of room they promised. It was a good sized room for the four of us, and the bathroom was exceptionally nicer than my expectations. Our balcony view was horrendous. It overlooked the dirty roof of the lobby. We arn't ones to complain too quickly over rooms since we don't spend a lot of our time at the hotel, so we did nothing about it. The beds were the most comfortable hotel beds I've ever slept on. Even the excitement of the theme parks in the morning was barely enough to get me out of them!

The hotel has a nice pool that isnt too large and so sometimes became crowded. They also had a hot tub that held only a limited number of people at a time and so we never got to use it because most people stayed there forEVER. There is also an arcade room which is a very small room cramped with video games. Their gym i was unable to see because you had to be 17 to even be allowed IN and iwas 16 at the time. You had to be 18 to use the machinary.

We did have lunch once at the cafe. I ordered one of their wraps and loved it. It was a bit expensive though. However, we liked the food so much that we ordered room service to bring it up for dinner on another night when we had headed back to the hotel early.

At some point during the stay, our toliet had trouble flushing. They said they'd fix it right away. It worked for about a day after, then the pressure was low again. They said they'd fix it again but never did. We had gotten the rooms at a really cheap rate online and it seems they were treating us cheaply because of it.

The vicinity to Downtown Disney was a plus. It was a 15 minute walk there, and a beautiful walk at that down the road passing all the different hotels on the Downtown Disney resort strip. All the resorts on the strip have their own special bus that says "Downtown Disney" on the side, and it travels from the parks straight up the strip and drops everyone off. We always had a terribly long wait though because although or hotel was one of the first to be picked up, it was one of the last to drop passengers off. It was a pain sometimes. Still, the buses were always on time and had the funniest drivers Ive experienced which helped make the trip seem faster.

Overall it was an ok hotel. Not the worst ive stayed at but not the best either. Of course, being that we didnt spend much time at the hotel during our week long stay, it didnt bother us so much. But if your someone who likes a hotel where you can have something to do if you stay in one day, this is not the place.

Recommended: Yes