Nick Hotel

[USAgooner]

We have stayed at Nick hotel twice in the last 5 years. Kids were 5 & 3 then 7 & 5. The lobby atmosphere is great. I would say it is Disneyesque in appearance but of course Nick characters.
Theres a snack store to get your milk, newspaper and candy and such along with a few fast food restaurants. (think the food court in the mall) The food quality is what you expect for a food court. There is a formal sit down place for character breakfast but we did not pay the additional money.
The rooms are all suites. This has three rooms. Two bedrooms (adult room, and kid themed room), and a small living room with a tv and small couch. The suite is roomy enough to stash your stuff and sleep in. Probably not too much hard core playing room for the little ones.
The pool is great. They have activities for the kids and a slime show. They also have a huge wet play area with slides and buckets that dump water and such. It is made for at least a 5 year old and up but I did see some brave younger kids. On the other side there is a smaller kid area that has a small slide and a little water.
I have mentioned the pool entertainment but there is also a couple of shows at night that are enteractive. I highly recommend these for a night away from the mouse.

Everything above is a plus... now my one minus
The buses. They do provide transportation to all the Disney parks and Universal but it is limited. You need to plan your day around the schedule. So for those used to staying on property or driving your own car you are in for a shock. One day we were going to Chef Mickeys and we had really go fast to get the last bus.

Just thought of one last thing. This is a former Holiday Inn. Other than the characters it looks like one. They have done some renovating over the years and so I believe most rooms are pretty clean, I know ours were.
And the proximity to the parks is pretty close. It also is close driving distance to restaurants. At the time of my last visit there was not much to walk to.

Let me know if I forgot anything or you notice something that has changed.

Chris

[josh]

What should one expect to pay for one of those suites?

[vicki_c]

I have stayed at the Nick, both as the Nick and prior to that when it was a Holiday Inn Family Suites. The former was a MUCH better deal. The rooms were basically the same, but with the addition of some themed Nickelodeon wallpapers. The huge change was the outside building theming and of course, the swimming pool. The pool is really amazing, but at the time we were there, it was almost overwhelming to my kids (and me as well). True chaos and louder than you could imagine. We paid probably $240/night there once, but it was Easter. In its pre-Nick days, it was really reasonable at times - we went for a week in January (early 2004 I guess) and I think it was like $89/night for the 2 BR suite. I haven't been there since 2005, so take that info for what it's worth now that it is almost 6 years later.

It seems to universally get poor reviews more recently from some reading I've done on the DISboards. I didn't think it was bad, I just think it's now super over-priced unless you are really going for the pools. I really liked it better before.

[tiggr88]

I agree with vicki_c. I stayed twice before it was re-themed Nick. The suite layout is nice, but the price now is not worth it. I like that the kids get beds rather than pull-out beds like the suites at ASMu though. If I recall, there is only one shower/bathroom at the Nick suites rather than 2.

I would also strongly recommend a car. I can't imagine relying on the bus transportation. The times are just too limiting. If I am going to spend that much money on the hotel and tickets, I don't want to be trying to save on the transportation. Nice thing is the location if you drive though. The road in and out of Disney property was by far the least crowded over the rest of the major entries. It was a shorter ride than from many of the on-site resorts to Epcot and DHS, and probably the same for MK.

I also think the pool is a detriment now. It's great, but way too crowded and loud. I will admit to a bias that when we return from the parks we prefer a quieter atmosphere at the resort. If you are looking for even more stimulation, then it might be a plus. Not that any main pool is quiet, but this is over the top.

We can get two rooms at a value cheaper than the suite now at Nick. With discounts, you may even get two mods for the same price as the Nick suite. You then get all the advantages of being on-site, including much better bus service. You can also get a suite at ASMu cheaper and probably also at the new Animation hotel when it opens also.