Hilton Orlando Buena Vista Palace Review
The Hilton Orlando Buena Vista Palace at Walt Disney World’s Disney Springs is a hidden gem of a hotel. This review covers my recent stay at the hotel, featuring photos of rooms and hotel amenities. Buena Vista Palace dates back to the Lake Buena Vista Shopping Village days of Walt Disney World, making it a “Vacation Kingdom of the World” relic. Despite its age, the hotel is most certainly not a “relic,” with recent refurbishments making it one of the nicer hotels in all of Walt Disney World.
This is undoubtedly a shocking proclamation given that the hotel is “only” a third party hotel official partner hotel near Disney Springs. There are numerous Disney Deluxe hotels that cost exponentially more and should be trendier, but I think it’s a fair statement. Moreso in terms of the rooms, which feel modern and well-designed, than in the common areas, which feel mixed in terms of age.
Actually, upon approaching Buena Vista Palace from Disney Springs, you are greeted by a tall art deco-ish building that definitely looks like something out of a bygone era (I mean the 1980s…not 1920-40s). Walking along the trails to the lobby you see Recreation Island, with both a large pool but also buildings reminiscent of that era. Then there’s the main building, which is also a mix of old and new. The lobby is nice and looks like it was refreshed in the last few years, but other areas look older. Up to this point, it feels like the hotel is a bit of a mix of old and new.
UPDATE: Buena Vista Palace has been rebranded as Hilton Orlando Buena Vista Palace. We stayed here in January 2018 and found that many of the common areas have been dramatically improved, with the most notable upgrade being the pool, which now has a float lagoon (lazy river). This area was really nice before, but it’s even better now.
It appeared to us that guest rooms are unchanged, which is fine as they were refurbished only a few years ago. We’ll update this review completely in the near future. Suffice to say, we think that the best Disney Springs hotel has gotten even better.
My impression of the guest room was unabashedly positive, and based on what I saw, they quite clearly have been refurbished in the last couple of years.
Everything from the design style and flourishes to the walk-in shower (YES!) suggests a design that can’t be more than a few years old.
The bedding is incredibly comfortable, with a plush pillow-top mattress, great pillows, and high-quality sheets. Of the beds I’ve tested at Walt Disney World, I think only the fancy new beds at the Swan & Dolphin surpass this. No Disney-branded hotels are this good.
Likewise, the couch in my room had a sleek, modern design that worked well and was comfortable. As an added bonus, there was an odd, abstract photo of a leaf on the wall. Abstract “art” like this is a key indicator that you’re staying at a classy place.
The desk, chair, television, and dresser all were similarly nice. All of this plus the light and simple color scheme brought the room together and gave it a lot of appeal.
With its high-rise location on the outskirts of Disney Springs, virtually every room on a higher floor offers a great view. No need to pay for one of those expensive balloon rides or go on the Orlando Eye for a view of some parking lots.
I am not often impressed with hotel room bathrooms, but when I am, it’s usually for 4 reasons: 1) futuristic in-mirror lighting, 2) shower toilets, 3) vessel sinks, and 4) tubless, walk-in showers. Given that this hotel is in America, #2 is pretty much out of the question. As for the remaining 3 reasons, it basically has them all, with the vessel sink in this case being recessed into the counter rather than above it.
The only thing preventing this bathroom from being a total home-run is that American toilet. Stupid American toilet.
The common areas of the hotel are mostly on the nice and modern side as well, with a sleek, minimalistic look. There are a lot of amenities here that you’d expect of a high-end hotel, such as basketball & tennis courts, mini-market, restaurants (character breakfast on Sunday), theme park transportation, and business center, among other things.
The biggest of these “other things” is probably the spa. I did not use the spa here, but it looked pretty fancy. However, I admittedly have no interest in spas and am actually a bit intimidated by the service menus with foreign terms, so almost every spa strikes me as fancy. Suffice to say, my superficial opinion on this spa is virtually meaningless.
What isn’t meaningless is my opinion on Recreation Island. It’s awesome. It’s a literal island accessible via bridges, which alone has a certain “cool factor” to it, and then contains play areas, a large pool, and pool bar, among other things.
This pool is huge, and the whole area has a great feel to it. While there is a bit of an 80s vibe to it (more on that below), it is well-maintained and the light color scheme surrounded by lush palms emanates a sense of relaxation. I especially like the waterfall between the buildings by the pool bar (you can vaguely see it in the photo above). About the only thing this area is missing is a lazy river. That would really put it over the top.
Now, the “mixed” part of Buena Vista Palace. There are some areas like the Disney Store, Arcade, and other common parts of the hotel that felt decidedly 1990s. There are even some spots, like the buildings around Recreation Island, that had an almost 80s aesthetic (those will probably make Vacation Kingdom fans giddy–they reminded me of Lake Buena Vista Shopping Village). The areas looking like they were out of the 1980s actually worked pretty well, and all were crisp and well-maintained.
I’ve fixated on how the hotel is a mixed bag of modern and dated, but that is really overstating the point here. The dated areas are minimal, and aren’t things that really will matter to most. I mean, let’s be honest, aren’t hotel arcades almost inherently dated? I’d venture that 95% of arcades found in hotels are dated–the very concept of an in-hotel arcade is a thing of the past. The vast majority of the hotel that actually matters is pretty current.
Then, there’s the ugly. As part of a growing epidemic plaguing Orlando hotels, Buena Vista Palace charges a resort fee. This one is a doozy, at $28 per night after tax. Perhaps you think that’s reasonable, as this is a palace, but I could find no evidence that there’s any royalty residing on-site. Here’s my million dollar idea for Disney CEO Bob Iger, who I’m sure is a big fan of this blog: buy Buena Vista Palace, add some light accenting to the high rise exterior to make it look icy, and rename the hotel as “Disney’s Elsa’s Ice Palace Resort & Spa.” Feel free to Paypal me a consulting fee for the brilliant idea, Bob.
My lame jokes aside, this is a normal resort-hotel, and the exorbitant resort fee is merely a way of keeping those eye-catching rack rates low and alluring to customers. This resort fee is a real black eye on what is otherwise a hotel that I really like. The total nightly rate is still (including the fee) around $125-140/night from what I see, which is really competitive given the quality of Buena Vista Palace, but not nearly as the advertised $99*/night starting rate. As a reminder, the FTC agrees with me that this practice of charging resort fees is unfriendly to consumers, and has admonished some hotel owners for the practice. (In the interest of full disclosure, my stay at Buena Vista Palace was comped.)
Overall, the good of Buena Vista Palace far outweighs the slightly dated elements found in places. In most ways, Buena Vista Palace Hotel & Spa is a far more ambitious hotel than you’d expect. It’s a hotel you don’t hear much about, and I’m not really sure why. Perhaps because the room refurbishment was just completed? I don’t know how else to explain it. It has an impressive slate of amenities, is an easy walk to Disney Springs, and has some of the absolute best rooms at Walt Disney World. It’s certainly not perfect, and the nightly resort fee is absurdly expensive, but even considering that, this has to be among one of the best ‘bang for buck’ hotels at Walt Disney World. I would certainly stay here again, and once Disney Springs is complete, I think it will be a very attractive hotel.
Not sure which Walt Disney World hotel is right for you? Check out our Walt Disney World Hotel Reviews page, which offers quick-hit capsule reviews of the strengths and weaknesses of every Walt Disney World hotel, plus links to our reviews and photo pages for every hotel we have reviewed.
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Your Thoughts…
Does the Buena Vista Palace Hotel & Spa look like an intriguing option to you? Have you stayed at Buena Vista Palace? Planning on staying here someday? Share your thoughts in the comments!
Do you have a favorite HGVC hotel in Orlando? Thinking about staying in the Tuscany April 2018. Thanks!
Thanks for the review! I’m curious as to whether or not the Island Suites are being refurbished this year. I thought I read on another site that they should be renovated by end of summer 2017. We are planning on staying here in Oct 2017, and it seems like alot of the reviews are mixed. I trust your reviews Tom more than the average tourist, and feel like this will be a good stay for us. I am a die-hard AKL fan, and would stay there every single time, but my hubby likes the proximity to Disney Springs, and I do love the value for the space. AKL and Disney pricing is just getting out of hand in my opinion.
Have you stayed at the Doubletree Disney Springs? We stayed there last time (again seeking proximity to DS, value, bigger rooms, but still “Disney”esque) and liked it, but it was a hike to DS, and it looks like the Hilton Buena Vista is right across the street and much bigger and maybe more fun (I’ve got 2 little ones who love Disney and love hotels). Is there any comparison between the 2? I am a deluxe kinda girl, but on a budget! LOVE reading your blog. So intelligently written with such gracious humor. I’m a huge fan!
Just stayed here over the weekend on the 25th floor, with a nice view of epcot and magic kingdom fireworks displayed each night. I chose this hotel for their nice lagoon heated float pool, best used after sun goes down….heated water and sun are not a good mix. The room was very nice and spacious. The air quality in room was very damp, but fresh. Would stay here again.
this new mall sucks for local people, but it may be a nice place for dirty rich tourists. i had the very same impressions from the food court as you – expensive, but not somehow special or tasty. the staff is overally confused and slow, the dishes will vary every visit as they don’t really know how to cook it yet. the only fast food-like spot, the sandwiches, is still overcrowded, because it’s basically the only place affordable for normal people.but i get it, they need to cash in their overpriced rent…
I stayed here this past weekend (May 2017). The newly refurbished rooms are phenomenal, I think you’ll love them if you haven’t had a chance to experience these yet. Could not get over the value and how nice it was having a high level room with balcony overlooking Epcot. Even with a typical rate of $120-150/night, its a *much* better value then the $120 I payed to stay at Pop Century earlier this year.
I stayed here in February, 2017 and was very impressed. I loved the little cafe/mini-mart they had downstairs. They could do a better job of highlighting where to meet the bus that takes you to the park, but overall I have no complaints whatsoever!
Hi
We are booked to stay for 2 weeks from 24th March 2017. When we booked we were told the renovations would be completed by Autumn 2016. I have read trip advisor reviews which say renovations are still ongoing and I am panicking slightly!! We have also just been advised by our travel company we will be subject to a resort fee of $25 plus tax each day….surely they can’t in good conscience charge this whilst a construction site? You mentioned you were reviewing again early 2017, I am nervously awaiting your response!
Hi Tom,
I saw in the comments that you stayed here in May 2015. Were there still a lot of renos going on? I’m going this February 21-27 with my family and am a littler nervous because a lot of the reviews I read online were extremely negative. We chose this hotel because one in our group is attending a conference here so it’s easier for him.
From what I understand this hotel was recently branded a Hilton property and has been undergoing updates (and the installation of a lazy river) so there is a lot of construction to contend with (though I think they dropped the resort fees entirely for this?).
Tom,
I’ve been following you site for a while, I love all the great “insider” tips!
Question about the Palace: do guests of the Palace enjoy same perks as staying on site (ie: Magic Hours)?
Thanks,
Jessica
We stayed there Summer 2013, and while the room looked a lot like your pics I think they were still working on the bathrooms. Ours definitely had a tub and i remember thinking that the tile seemed old/worn/nasty. We got a good deal to stay there (so much so it made our first trip to WDW possible in fact). We weren’t in the main ‘tower’ part of the hotel so were some distance from the lobby.
The kids really liked the pool, and there was a good grab and go store with breakfast items in the central building. Room service did have Mickey waffles on the menu if that’s a selling point for anyone 🙂
Our main issue was distance/transportation. We’d initially planned to come back and rest mid-day but quickly realized we were losing about 2 hours just in transit. The hotel was also the last stop on the return trip. We also aren’t huge fans of Downtown Disney/Disney Springs so it felt extra pointless to be across the street from that but far from everything else. We’ve stayed on-site since.
I stayed here for one night, as we go a deal through Secret Escapes and was dissapointed.
The room had visible dirt still on the floor and there was a plastic bag on the side in the bathroom, which I can only assume was full of rubbish. (I was not opening it!)
Wasn’t overally keen on the extra bundle you had to pay for. We just wanted a bed for the night. Arrived late and left early.
Beds were comfy enough. View was nice, but I wouldn’t have wanted to stay there long term.
I love the BVP’s sportsbar.
During my recent stay at Saratoga Springs I was able to head over to Kook’s and watch my Anaheim Angels until 1am.
With last call at 1:45, it was a short stumble home afterwards.
Looks like a really nice place. I will keep it in mind for future trips. Although if they truly wanted to go all out on the bathrooms, they could have taken a page out of the Polynesian Bungalow’s book and included a television in the mirror! Oh well, I suppose for the price difference of you know, a couple thousand dollars a night cheaper, I can live without.
I dunno. I feel like an in-mirror television is one of those amenities as basic as a bed. Or, at least it should be.
Nice review, Tom. You certainly get around. Trying to figure out when you managed to stay here.
The rooms were always fabulous. I haven’t stayed in years, but when it was still flagged as a Wyndham I’d regularly get rooms here from Priceline for between $33-50 a night. Back then (last decade) the resort fee was under $10 a night too.
Even back then, they had some of the best beds and rooms at WDW. People don’t talk about the place in fan circles because it lacks the MAGIC that some folks seem to feel at Disney’s overpriced decorated motels.
They also used to have a GREAT Aussie-themed steakhouse called the Outback, no, not the chain (this place opened about five years before the chain even began). Have no idea what replaced it. They had a gourmet place (think it was called Arthur’s 27) at the top of the hotel that was one of O-Town’s hot places to dine in the 80s and 90s, but I never made it there before it closed about 15 years ago.
Anyway, nice to read the great review over a place that people overlook in plain sight.
Oh, and the spa used to be amazing too!
I stayed here in May 2015. I stayed in 6 different hotel rooms that trip. I also stayed at the Best Western (review coming soon) and it was also very good. Not as good as Buena Vista Palace, but FAR better than I expected.
As I have been doing with the Disneyland area hotels, I’m going to be reviewing a lot of off-site hotels near Walt Disney World. I’ll start with all of these Downtown Disney hotels, then move on to nearby off-site hotels that are of the nicer variety. I’m sure this will take a while since I don’t live near WDW, so I can’t easily pop up and spend a night in a hotel.
<$50/night for this hotel would be an insane deal. I'm guessing you would not find that now, but if so, I'd jump on it, even *with* that $28/night resort fee.
I was intrigued until I saw the $28 resort fee. That’s absolutely obscene, and I would encourage you to not post reviews of hotels with such ridiculous resort fees in the future, Tom.
While I vehemently oppose resort fees as a matter of principle, the fact is that this hotel is still a great value even *with* the resort fee. It’s just infuriating that the fee exists in the first place.
As to reviewing hotels with resort fees, regardless of where you stand on them, I think it serves a valuable purpose. If they don’t bother you, no big deal. If they do bother you, the review alerts you as to the existence of the fees so you can avoid the hotel and not even bother going through the pricing process to discover them. In extreme cases, such as with my Carousel Inn Review, they alert potential guests as to fees they wouldn’t even know about until they arrive at the hotel.
I think I make no secret of the fact that I *hate* resort fees. I strongly encourage anyone who feels likewise to either vote with their wallet or “protest” with the hotel. Whenever I do a guest feedback survey or speak with someone at a hotel, I note my disgust about resort fees (if it’s someone at a hotel, I always do so respectfully, as there’s no way they have any control over the fee).
Tom – A great photo of Epcot and the Epcot Resort Area. I have never seen such a photo since I never stay on Hotel Blvd.
BTW, you had several references to Disney Springs. I know its the new name for Downtown Disney and the older Disney Village. I don’t know if the name has changed yet as it was still Downtown last Christmas. It’s just a bit weird to me at this early stage. For those who may not know of the new construction and new name, you may want to consider using “Disney Springs (formerly known as Downtown Disney and before that Disney Village)”
Lacey – The hotels on Hotel Blvd have a bus that runs a circuit from Downtown Disney to all of the hotels. I don’t know if they have buses directly to the parks. On my last trip, I took a bus from one of the hotels to Downtown Disney (I had walked partway from Crossroads Plaza at the other end of Hotel Blvd). I had expected it to drop me off at the bus depot at the far end of Marketplace, but it dropped me off at the West side, which meant I had to walk back to the Marketplace bus depot to get a bus to my Disney on-site hotel.
The name hasn’t officially changed to Disney Springs yet, but it does soon. I just made the change here as I know I’d forget to come back and edit this post once it does. You’re right, though, adding “formerly known as Downtown Disney” would be a good idea. It hasn’t been Disney Village for so long that I don’t think that one is necessary.
What would you say are the best transportation options? Do they have buses to the parks? Or should we walk over to Downtown Disney and use their buses or just drive!
There’s a bus that makes a loop through like 4 of the Downtown Disney Area Hotels, or you can walk ~5 minutes to Downtown Disney/Disney Springs’ bus stop. I prefer walking to the bus stop for Magic Kingdom and catching the Contemporary bus and walking from there, as the hotel bus drops you off at the TTC. Otherwise, unless I want to go to another hotel (like for an ADR), I just used the BVPH bus. Convoluted, but I hope that makes sense.
My sister stayed at the Palace hotel a few times. The bus to the parks wasn’t too bad especially if you go at an off time but be careful of the bus ride back. The buses only runs from a park every 30 minutes and since 4 or 5 hotels load on the bus it will be very busy and it would get pretty nasty.Plus the Palace always seemed to be the last hotel on the route. Better bring your spiked shoes! 🙂
I have stayed at this hotel all four times I have been on vacation. We got our hotel room for 120 a night (the lowest being 110) and the resort fee was only 12 dollars last time we stayed. This place is a hidden gem! The buses to get to the parks run smoothly and on time. The staff are so helpful and the place is clean. The first time we stayed here was 4 years ago and that is, I believe, when the remodeling started.
Are you sure the resort fee hasn’t just gone up? It seems very odd that they would have a variable resort fee. If it were $12, it would definitely be MUCH more palatable, as it includes parking, WiFi, etc.
My fiancé and I have been staying at this hotel on and off for the last 7 years. Sometimes you can get the resort fee at a cheaper price which makes it a bit more reasonable. Their family suites are even better! All the rooms we have stayed in have been exactly like the ones you’ve pictured except for one (about 3 years ago) that still had a bathtub in it. Thanks for sharing!
We stayed here for one night in December 2014. We got a deal through Hotwire. The resort fee then was only $12. The shower was awesome and we walked over to Downtown Disney. Since we usually drive to Florida we often look for a place to stay outside Disney property on our arrival day. This was one of the best places we have tried.
When you stayed there, did the room look like it looks in my photos? I’m just trying to pin down *when* the refurbishment occurred, as I’ve heard some less enthusiastic reviews of the hotel, and I’m wondering if they are simply pre-refurb.