Overview
by Julie Bielenberg
RLH Corporation recently debuted Red Lion Hotel Lake Buena Vista South, owned and operated by Carter Hospitality, following a 2.5-year, $20 million renovation that completely benefits the family! There are 410 hotel rooms, including 10 suites, each featuring a 55-inch flat screen television. The hotel is located 15 minutes from Walt Disney World® Resort (with complimentary shuttle service provided) and 20 minutes from Universal Studios Orlando.
The hotel has a heated outdoor pool, Jacuzzi, lazy river, tennis court, basketball court, children’s playground, fitness center, guest laundry facility, relaxing morning coffee area, ticket desk for area attractions, free onsite parking, gift and snack shop. Onsite there is also a massive sundry shop with oodles of food, souvenirs and pool items. There are also two onsite restaurants and bars for snacking: Tortilla Rica Mexican and The Oasis Bar and Grill.
Our Editor Loves
- Free Disney World shuttle
- Heated outdoor pool and lazy river
- Playground
Family Interests
- Museum/Cultural
- Theme Park
- Water Parks
Family Amenities
- Connecting Rooms
- Cribs
- Free Wi-Fi
- Laundry
- Onsite Dining
- Pool
- Refrigerator
Reviews
by tthor25
We stayed at this hotel a years ago, it’s a nice, clean hotel newly renovated last year when we were here so the pool/ lazy river weren’t open yet. We haven’t ate at the restaurant either. The rooms are very spacious- two beds, closet, sink in and outside of the bathroom, small bench, tall and long table with fridge and microwave, 2 big chairs and a small table, our pack and play and we still had a lot of room. The bathrooms are a little smaller and the lighting is a little dark but the water pressure and temperature are great. This time the pool was open so we decided to try it out, it’s suppose to be heated but it definitely wasn’t and the hot tub was pretty hot so we didn’t go in it. The rules said you had to be 48” tall to go in the lazy river, after seeing a little guy in the pool we decided to ask the life guard what the deal was with the rule.. oh yea , the river is only open at certain times and there has to be life guards on duty but only for the river and slide which they seem to be school aged kids( pretty sure one was doing homework on her little rescue raft). After asking the life guard he told me it’s not really for the river but more for the slide.. ok understandable. My 3 year old and husband get in, it’s actually heated so my I take my 14 month old in, life guard tells me I need to have a life jacket on her which they have a rack of them provided. I ask if there is a difference in colors and he was unsure... ok..maybe you should have an idea of this at least....so I put life jacket on which are not your normal life jackets but the stiff foam ones that can be wiped clean easily. it’s all up in her face but we go round, next thing I know I see an ant and then She Starts SCREAMING, we rip her out of the pool and get the jacket and he swim suit off because she is being bitten by ants. My husband goes to take the life jacket back and there are more covered in ants, the life guard apologized but didn’t seem too concerned but said he’d let someone know. My husband went to the front desk just to inform them of the problem, they told us they would have the manager call in the morning.
It has been a great hotel, great location and it’s not expensive. I just want to inform people with kids to be on the look out for anything in or in the life jackets.
by JR_NYC_T
The hotel was clean, the staff was kind, the place is conveniently located near restaurants and shopping centers. My family were so looking forward to enjoy the pool and lazy river, which we found out to be only open after 4pm, and restricted to little kids, the 2 “not to inviting lifeguards” were only paying attention to the lazy river with 3 adults and didn’t care about the pool in which a couple of kids were playing. The pool’s water was cold and the wind just made it worse. To complete the disappointment, a family basically took control over the jacuzzi during the weekend and was not possible to get a spot in there, so forget about the after park relaxing pool experience!
Beware of the park tickets you buy at their desk, they were very nice and informative people, but we needed to pay extra money at the park because the tickets have some type of restrictions and the clerk was not able to explain why, neither offered a reimbursement for the difference.