Drury Plaza Hotel Orlando at Disney World Now Open!

Drury Plaza Hotel Orlando is a new on-site hotel at Walt Disney World. This resort within walking distance of Disney Springs is now partially open, with construction nearing completion. This post shares delay details, our commentary, official info, and whether you should book these accommodations. (Updated February 27, 2023.)

By way of background, the Drury Plaza Hotel Orlando at Disney Springs is technically a partially-new hotel. It replaces the Best Western Lake Buena Vista Resort, and is a full renovation to that existing property plus a totally new tower. In 2017, Drury Hotels bought the Best Western property for $20.5 million and continued to operate the hotel as normal while planning this expansion.

Permits were filed for this project back in 2018 and construction began the following year. Then the closure of Walt Disney World happened. The Best Western never reopened when other Disney Springs hotels started returning, and the project was paused for a while. I know this because it’s on the route we used to take to Trader Joe’s, and I always marveled that so much equipment was on-site yet nothing was happening…

February 27, 2023 Update: Drury Plaza Hotel Orlando in the Disney Springs Resort Area welcomed its first guests during last year’s holiday season, and just held its official grand opening celebration. As you might recall, the Drury Plaza Hotel Orlando was originally scheduled to open last fall, but had its opening date quietly pushed back a few times.

“We are pleased to provide our guests the opportunity to visit the Walt Disney World Resort with the exceptional value and customer service that Drury Hotels has provided for 50 years,” said Chuck Drury, President and CEO of Drury Hotels. “Our guests are at the very center of everything we do, and we hope to exceed their expectations with this incredible new hotel in the heart of the Disney Springs Resort Area.”

When construction is completed, Drury Plaza Hotel Orlando will feature 604 rooms with a targeted finish date in Spring 2023. It’s our understanding that the first phase, which is open already, features 264 rooms, or fewer than half of the total room count. (We’re planning a review stay, with late April 2023 as a tentative date, but we’ll push that back if the entire hotel isn’t done by then.)

Guests can also reserve one of the 78 two-room suites, perfect accommodations for families of up to six guests. In-room amenities include a 55” smart flat screen television, mini refrigerator, microwave, alarm clock with Bluetooth and charging station, executive work spaces, and in-room safe. The Drury Plaza Hotel Orlando within the Disney Springs Area will also offer 17,000+ square feet of meeting and event space for up to 250 persons.

Previously, the company has confirmed that the Drury Plaza Hotel Orlando at Disney Springs would offer the following amenities and perks:

  • Drury will NOT charge a resort fee. The resort fee is normally $25 + tax per room night. According to Drury, the average length of stay is typically 5 nights, so this reflects a savings of $125. This decision aligns with Drury’s commitment to provide its guests with exceptional service and amenities at an honest value.
  • Other complimentary hotel amenities include hot breakfast, dinnertime snacks and beverages at our 5:30 Kickback, WiFi, and shuttle service to all Walt Disney World theme parks and Disney Springs. (The hotel is also within walking distance of Disney Springs.)
  • Starbucks Coffee will be onsite in the Market Place, along with Pizza Hut Express and two other onsite restaurants.

Here’s other info and past commentary about the Drury Plaza Hotel Orlando at Disney Springs…

The Drury Plaza Hotel Orlando at Disney Springs will feature a host of amenities and is in close proximity to the Walt Disney World theme parks. Drury also will offer transportation to and from the theme parks and other surrounding attractions.

The new hotel will be within walking distance of Disney Springs, and can be booked as part of a Walt Disney World vacation package. There are also a number of restaurants and stores within walking distance off-site on Vineland.

“We look forward to welcoming guests and providing them with a magical experience,” said Chuck Drury, CEO of Drury Hotels. “Our designation as an Official Walt Disney World Hotel means we have been entrusted to adhere to exceptional service standards. Given our track record of providing award-winning guest service, I know our team’s efforts will delight and impress our guests and visitors.”

Tom Drury, a seven-year veteran in the hotel and hospitality industry, has been named the hotel’s general manager. Drury team member, John Branciforte, will serve as the hotel director of sales. Once open, the hotel will employ 150 full- and part-time team members.

The Drury Plaza Hotel Orlando Lake Buena Vista will feature a resort-style pool, splash pad and poolside dining and refreshments at the Lakeside Bar & Grill. It will also offer an extensive marketplace for grab-and-go food items and sundries, and a cozier dining experience at The Kitchen + Bar.

Additionally, there will be a wide range of complimentary amenities, including hot breakfast with pancakes, scrambled eggs, sausage, fresh fruit, oatmeal, biscuits and gravy, KELSO+BROS coffee, and more. The new Drury Plaza Hotel Orlando will also offer a daily 5:30 pm reception including hot food and cold beverages, as well as 24-hour business and fitness centers.

The Drury Plaza Hotel Orlando offers a number of special and discounted rates for auto club members, seniors, federal government, military, law enforcement and more. Most of these appear to be 10% off standard nightly rates.

Additionally, Florida residents will be able to save 10% on rates (proof of ID required at check-in) at the Drury Plaza Hotel Orlando Lake Buena Vista.

It appears that the best discount will be for Walt Disney World Annual Passholders, who can enjoy up to a 15% discount off the Best Flexible Rate when booked through the official Drury Hotels website.

As with all other Disney Springs Area resorts, Annual Passholders can make Disney Park Pass reservations for their length of stay if staying at the Drury Plaza Hotel. This means you will not be subject to passholder daily allotments to the theme parks.

In pricing out a range of different dates, the best pricing I could find was the above. That’s not too shabby for a new on-site hotel at Walt Disney World, but it’s nothing remarkable, either. As with most of the Disney Springs Area resorts, my expectation is that the biggest savings won’t come with any of the above affiliations, but via Priceline, Hotwire, and other discount booking sites.

That’s one thing we loved about its predecessor, the Best Western. That hotel almost always had great last minute rates, and we’d frequently use it as a gap-filler reservation on nights when rates were high elsewhere. I loved that Best Western–it offered great budget accommodations and spacious rooms.

I’m also excited for the Drury Plaza Hotel Orlando at Disney Springs. I don’t expect it to be anything like the Best Western in terms of pricing, but it should also benefit from being newer and having a more robust slate of amenities. Plus, more on-site hotels and competition is always a good thing, especially at a time when resort prices have spiraled out of control.

We’re also eager to check out another Drury Hotel. Admittedly, our experience is rather limited with this Midwestern chain, but we have heard nothing but great things. It sounds like an excellently-run family operation that takes care of its staff and guests. Based on feedback from friends and other travelers, they punch above their weight and the free hot breakfast and dinner/happy hour services are excellent. That alone is worth a lot for those who can take advantage, as food isn’t getting any cheaper at Walt Disney World! (If you have any feedback about Drury, we’d love to hear it in the comments.)

With that said, there’s absolutely no way I’d book this for November or December. Although Drury claims that the first phase is nearing completion, I’m skeptical. That doesn’t appear true when driving past the property. Although significant progress has been made in the last several months, it looks like there’s still a lot to be done.

If using other recent Orlando hotel projects as benchmarks, it’s impossible to say with certainty that it’ll be done on time. Labor shortages and supply chain woes are ongoing–and there’s the potential the latter could worsen in the coming months.

Anyone who booked the Swan Reserve last February when its reservations opened for summer can tell you how that went. Several delays later, the hotel finally opened–four months late. In fairness, that hotel had some unique issues and delays necessitated by work needing to be redone, but it’s hardly an outlier in terms of construction projects not hitting their original target.

The bigger difference between the Swan Reserve and this is that the Drury Plaza Hotel Orlando doesn’t have a gigantic fish pyramid next door to which it can relocate displaced guests. Personally, I would not gamble with a cancellation during what’s likely to be another busy holiday season.

Nevertheless, the Drury Plaza Hotel Orlando is an attractive option, especially for those already planning ahead for 2023 Walt Disney World vacations. As a general matter, we think the Disney Springs Area Resorts are underrated and overlooked by a lot of fans.

That should start to change, especially as visitors find alternative airport transportation to Walt Disney World, which will also open the door to third party hotels for some. The options at Disney Springs are compelling in that they’re technically on-site, significantly cheaper, and offer on-site perks like early entry. For how these hotels stack up, see our Disney Springs Resort Rankings.

Planning a Walt Disney World trip? Learn about hotels on our Walt Disney World Hotels Reviews page. For where to eat, read our Walt Disney World Restaurant Reviews. To save money on tickets or determine which type to buy, read our Tips for Saving Money on Walt Disney World Tickets post. Our What to Pack for Disney Trips post takes a unique look at clever items to take. For what to do and when to do it, our Walt Disney World Ride Guides will help. For comprehensive advice, the best place to start is our Walt Disney World Trip Planning Guide for everything you need to know!

Your Thoughts

Have you stayed at the new Drury Plaza Hotel Orlando at Disney Springs? If so, what did you think of the hotel? How was the breakfast? What about transportation to the parks? Any other highlights or lowlights? Did you ever stay at the Best Western in the same location? Any questions we can help you answer? Hearing your feedback–even when you disagree with us–is both interesting to us and helpful to other readers, so please share your thoughts below in the comments!

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