Embassy Suites by Hilton Orlando Lake Buena Vista Resort — Hotel in Dr. Phillips

I love the fact that with Hilton, you can get your digital key all set up even before you arrive. You can share it with others if they have the Hilton honors app and an account, after you have arrived. You can shake your phone with key open as you approach the parking lot gate and it will just magically open! You can also either tap the button or shake the phone near your room door to enter.

Breakfast is good. They had sausage links, scrambled eggs, roasted potatoes, waffles, omelets, cereal, orange juice, cranberry juice, coffee, and more!

The hotel itself looks somewhat older, but it's still a decent value. I believe we spent about $250 a night across a weekend for a trip to Disney.

They have an indoor outdoor pool, and all of the poolside suites have doors that open toward the pool area. The pool grounds also have a kids splash zone area, there is no hot tub. However, there is a pool table, a foosball table, a ping pong table, a basketball and volleyball court off of one corner and a cornhole area. I did not play any of those, but as I walked by each time, I noticed that there were not very many pool table balls or sticks in the ground at all.

I did have one of the poolside suites, they had a large couch and desk with a TV in one room it also contains the kitchenette. The other room has another sink with a mirror, a king size bed dressers and tables and a TV.

The bathroom is outside the bedroom area but is another room off of the living room area. You know it's old when the toilet is right in front of the door. I also noticed that the caulking in the tub shower combo is very poor and cracked in many places. I was suspect water and then mold would get in there over time. The tub, is terrible. It's small and in curves. The only place that you get a flat surface is where you put your two feet together in the middle. It's almost as if you have to stand sideways if you don't want to slip and slide. And there is no rough surface on the bottom. I also notice that the drainage is slow and poor. We also noticed that the one outlet (that was GFCI) in the bathroom was not working even though we press the test and reset buttons multiple times.

Also note that if there are any lamps in the living room that are controlled also by a light switch on the wall, if you plug anything into them to charge them and then turn off the switch on the wall, they will obviously not charge. The pillows are pretty flat if that's your thing.

My fiance's shared room key stopped working on her phone on the third day.

The TVs have access to Netflix and other streaming services that you can sign into, or you can watch live local TV channels. There are also open HDMI and USB ports on the back of the TVs if you want to bring something like a Chromecast to hook into it.

The main bedroom also has a lamp on each end table which has two AC outlets in it so that you may charge things. However, there are no USB plugs anywhere.

The pools are open until 10 or 11 p.m. and they open at 6:00 a.m. or so. As such the rooms are not very quiet when there are lots of kids out there late at night. But if you shut the door between the bedroom and the living room, it is managed fairly well.

We stayed in room 177 which is right next to the laundry and we could not hear any noise from it. One disappointing thing is that the online floor plans show that the octagon near room 177 and across from the laundry room is to have an ice machine and vending. This was important to my fiance and why we chose this room as she needs to ice her knee every night. However, two are surprised the ice machine is not there anymore nor the vending machines. Neither is the ice machine in the other place marked on the first floor. It is actually in the middle of all of the poolside suites. It's only a few minutes of walk, but I thought I would post that here if it helps anyone else. Are the nice thing about room 177, though, is that it is right near the exit gate which is where the handicap parking. This parking is at the very end of the parking lot after you...

This stay was a mix of positive and negative during our recent family trip just to visit the Disney waterparks.

Check-in was friendly and smooth. Our room was ready early, though I still stopped by the front desk because the app said it might not be ready. I usually have app issues, so I don't hold this against the hotel, but we were off to a good start with a warm welcome.

As soon as we got to the room, I recognized we had only 3 towels in a Double Queen room booked for 6. I called to the desk where the gentleman that checked me in answered. When I requested more towels, he replied with a bit of attitude asking how many people were staying in the room. I politely replied that we had six people and only three towels. I think he then recognized that I was the guest that JUST checked in, but it was apparent from his initial questions that another guest must have had just called about towels. He apologized and said towels were on the way. Over 30 minutes later, I got sick of waiting and requested towels from a housekeeper I found in the hall. She returned in a few minutes with the towels.

Our room was clean and well maintained, though showing its age just a bit. The AC was struggling (and making a small ticking noise), but able to keep the room at a reasonable temp.

The managers reception was exactly what I expected and remember from a stay a while back - simple snacks (popcorn, Chips/Salsa, etc) and drinks. It wasn't too busy and the bartender was speedy and helpful. Breakfast was a standard ES breakfast and I found it to be clean, well-stocked and not too busy (we did finish before 08:30).

I checked out on the app and was glad to have only had one issue. Unfortunately, I realized I left some ice packs in the fridge and returned after our water park visit to inquire about them. I got no response from the text message nor the "chat" feature in the Hilton app, so I called before driving over. When we arrived, the manager attempted to help, but couldn't find them. That's mostly my fault for leaving the ice packs in the room, but I'm not sure how they disappeared and nobody found them.

Finally, while the manager was attempting to find my ice packs, another (apparently newer) front desk employee attempted to help me with my billing issue: I booked the "Experience the Stay" rate via the Hilton website which included a $25 on-property credit. When I checked out, the credit was not included. I stood at the front desk for 20 minutes while this inexperienced new front desk member attempted to add the credit with help from another staff member. He told me that he applied the credit and would send a receipt. I didn't have time to wait for a receipt at the pace we were moving, but he said it was on the way to my email on file. I never got an updated receipt via email, so I checked today and the credit was still not included. I had a Diamond service member call me to adjust the bill. She called the hotel and spoke with the front desk. They said that parking was not eligible and only refunded a smaller charge at the coffee shop. However, the terms of the rate state: "Enjoy a 25 USD daily credit to use on property. Credit cannot be applied to room rate, taxes or gratuity and is applied to guest folio at checkout." There is no mention that parking is excluded. The biggest issue is that it took FOUR attempts to get the credit (initial booking that should have automatically applied the credit, the in-person stop at the desk, the call from Hilton corporate and finally a billing dispute filed with Hilton corporate that resulted in a full refund for the parking and extra points for the inconvenience).

I doubt I'll be back given the other options...

Upon check in there was a line to the door and only 2 staff members working the desk. Check in starts at 4 I arrived a little early at 3:30. They told me check in don't start till 4 so I patiently waited around until 4:00 and at 4:00 they told me the room was not ready yet. I waited around with my five kids For an hour and a half before the room was ready at 5:30... already from the start It wasn't a pleasant check in. When I finally arrived to our room I found an old French fry on the floor from the last guest, the shower caddy is covered in rust, the bedroom door was off the hinges and the only way to close the door was to lift up and smash it closed. The awful noise of it kept waking the babies up. The safe wasn't reset after the last guest and I couldn't use it. My fridge had no freezer part to it like majority of the rooms in this hotel do. Then I found out more bad news. The splash pad was shut down for repairs to the ground surrounding it, this was NOT advertised on the website or informed to me at all, not even when I checked in. I had to find out completely on my own and my kids were VERY upset. They also removed the hot tub they once had, which was nice. The pool was also NOT heated as they advertised on their website. Initially when I talked to staff about the splash pad and pool not being heated. She told me it was mentioned on website and I must have missed it. When I went to confirm the information on the website, I confirmed she was wrong. While talking to me she had a complete attitude, you can tell she don't care about customer service at all. I asked to talk to a manager and Daniel calmly sat down with me and discuss my concerns. He arranged for maintenance to come by the next morning to fix the door and had the safe fixed right away. He apologized for the misinformation about the splash pad and pool and told me he would get back to me on it to make it right. (Never was compensated, given anything to make up for the scam not even just a free drink). The next day I spoke to another manager and she told me I can go to their sister Resort Courtyard Marriott down the street. I could use the amenities there all day with my children. It was nice actually so nice that I'm looking to book a stay with them instead, heated pool and splash pad was working and connected to the pool which made it more convenient. It was still a big inconvenience to have to load up five kids and explain to them we're going to a different resort to play. I would have much rather let them play at the one I paid for and be able to go up to my room and relax, especially when the baby needed a nap. It's just not the experience I paid for at all. Paid good money for what should of been a 3 star hotel instead. Only 2 elevators out of 4 were working which made getting up and down take forever. The outdoor game area, fire pit and playground also blocked off.. On a good note the breakfast is always amazing! Its free included with your stay. I always bring cash to show my appreciation and tip the cooks. The cooks make eggs and omelets cooked to order however you like. tip use the chocolate chips from the main breakfast buffet on your mickey waffles! 😋 Eating outside poolside in the morning is also very peaceful compared to eating inside. Other than the issues I listed the hotel was great. I hope they can fix everything quickly because I trying to plan another vacation around new years and would like to stay here again but only if everything is fixed!! Very disappointed I paid full price for half...