Clarion Inn Lake Buena Vista

When you hear Disney affiliated hotel, you assume you are going to be staying somewhere really special. What met us was certainly not special! Day 1 - After checking in, we headed along a dark flooded path where we were met with a row of dark brown dingy stained doors. We found our room for the electronic door key to take a few attempts to actually let us in. After opening the door, I kind of wish the keys hadn’t worked! Two small double beds on dirty carpets and dirty net curtains covering old fashioned brown curtains were what we had booked for our special dream holiday. It was 4pm and we had been travelling for 11 hours, we were tired, ratty and hungry so went for something to eat. We were told the two dining restaurants weren’t open until 6.30pm. We could either order takeaway to take and sit in our awful room or get a sandwich from the overpriced tatty gift shop. Excellent. Day 2 - My toddler spills some water on the already dirty carpet. As we aren’t zoo animals, we attempted the clean the spill with a towel. The once white towel now looked as though at it had been chucked down an open sewer. Safe to say we were wearing socks for the rest of the trip. We went to reception to buy some Disney tickets from the side desk under the Diamond Resorts brand. We were given a four day pass for four for $1200 which was half the gate price. Excellent - or so we thought. Our card would be charged an additional $1200 hold fee if we didn’t agree to go to a presentation on property time share, would take two hours max (or so were told!) booked for day 4. Day 3 - Went to the Splash area kids area to let my little one have a play. It was locked off, but frankly even if it wasn’t I wouldn’t have let him anywhere near it. It was absolutely and utterly filthy. We headed into the far side pool instead, which is the only upside of the stay. The pool was lovely. Unfortunately the poolside seats were disgusting. Stained, slats missing and dated. The raccoon that kept coming for the rubbish from the bin did keep us somewhat amused! Day 4 - A driver was waiting at 8am to take us to the time share presentation. We got there at 8.30am to be told our 3 year was to go in the crèche and our 12 year was too old so couldn’t stay with his little brother. The presentation was okay, show around fine, we expected a “do you want to invest” with an opportunity to then say no and leave. Oh no! By 12.30 after many, many, MANY “that’s a great deal, but not for us at this time” speeches by myself and my husband they finally said they would take the additional $1200 hold off our credit card and get us a driver to take us back to the hotel! A great waste of 4 and a half hours of our trip!!! Day 6 - went to wash our clothes at the in house laundry: a touch on the expensive side! $3 per machine, $1 per box of cheapy powder and $3 per dryer. We used 3 washing machines (colours, whites, delicates) with 3 boxes of powder ($12) then two driers ($6) $18 total. Bit steep! Day 7 - woke up feeling lousy, extremely dizzy and sickly. We were checking out at 11am. We were already packed so I decided to stay in bed for a little while whilst my husband went to Walgreens pharmacy to pick me something up before our flight. There was a bang on the door at around 8.30am, which I ignored as I wasn’t feeling well enough to get up. The door banged again. I shouted just a minute as I attempted to get up. Banging continues. I opened the door to a cleaning lady who grabbed the room occupied sign from the other side of the door, grumpily said “you need this on,” and sauntered off. My husband on his return went down and said “my wife is ill. We are supposed to check out at 11am but our pick up isn’t until two. Is there anyway of spending a little more time in the room?” He was told “you have 45 mins before you’re charged!” Probably a good thing to get out. The only good time we had the whole week was either spent away from the hotel or in the pool.

I can’t even count the amount of times we’ve stayed here. It’s a perfect location. There’s pool and a splash pad, arcade, a little store & two different places to eat to keep you busy while at the hotel. The staff is always accommodating and friendly. It’s always pet friendly, which is the biggest plus for our family. Next time your looking for a place to stay, give clarionlbv a shot!

Great front desk staff, always walked in to a clean room throughout the stay. Easy access to Disney, only about 10 minutes away. Close to fast food and restaurants. Comfortable beds and clean bathrooms.