Rodeway Inn Maingate, Kissimmee, Florida. Cheap and Cheerful

We have several timeshares in the Kissimmee/Orlando area, and have been really spoiled with having our own apartment.

Len's grand-daughter let us know that her family of four, and another family were coming to the Orlando area for a few days. We had so many commitments that week, so we wern't able to book a timeshare.

We looked on the Internet and knew the area we wanted to be in. We found the Rodeway Inn on W. Irlo Bronson Hwy, better known as Hwy 192, close to one of our favorite timeshares, Vacation Village at Parkway.

The price for the Tuesday after Easter, was $26.99 + taxes for a double room, or a double handicapped room. We opted for the Deluxe Double which was:

"Family sized room with two double beds, microwave, Mini-fridge, and located with pool view. Telephone with data port and voice mail, large color TV with cable, In-room safe, coffee maker, individually controlled AC/Heat and clock/radio" for $32.99 + tax. This also included a free Continental breakfast.

We knew that this was a motel, but I never sleep the first night we are away, so figured rather than pay $100, and be awake, we might as well have a cheap room.

On April 18th we got a phone call from Len's daughter asking us if we were in Orlando. We told her it was booked for Tuesday 26th. Len's grand-daughter had told him the wrong date. So at 9.00 p.m. on Monday 18th, I phoned the Rodeway Inn, explained the situation, and they were happy enough to change the 26th to the following day, without us occurring any extra cost. What great service.

We got to the Rodeway Inn on the Tuesday afternoon, and went into the small lobby. The young man that attended to us was really polite, helpful, and even looked to see if he could get us a better rate. He told us that we had the cheapest one, which I pretty much knew.

We drove to the back of the building, and found our room, on the side where the pool was. It wasn't directly in front of us, which was good.

It was a basic motel room. There was the small fridge, and microwave. We need a fridge because of Len's insulin. There was a three drawer chest with a mirror over it. The old fashioned television was in a unit, with three drawers below it.

There was a small coffee maker, coffee, tea, Kleenex, a hairdryer, soap, and a conditioning shampoo.

Looking at the other side of the room, it had the A/C unit under the window. It was noisy, but aren't they all in the cheap hotels? We had a table with two chairs, two double beds, chest of drawers, and four lamps.

There was a safe, which had a nightly charge, but as we were only staying the one night, didn't pay for it, or use it.

At the end of the room was a single basin vanity unit, toilet, and bathtub with a shower in it.

We kept everything in our one overnight case, so didn't use the drawers etc. We did use the fridge for Len's insulin, and a new snacks. We went out to dinner, came back, I went on my computer as they had free WiFi, and watched a little television.

We didn't go to bed until midnight. We could hear people in other rooms. Then we heard a cart taking dirty linen from the pool area to the front building. Later we heard it coming back.

We were up early, took a shower, packed our couple of bits, had breakfast, and then checked out.

I have to say that the rooms were freshly painted. There was lots of furniture. The carpet looked good. The towels were really white, but some were hard. I only used the soft ones.

The only complaints I had was that the grout on the bathroom floor was dirty, and the bathtub had an insert in it, which was stained, and moved about. Len thought it to be slippery too.

Breakfast was really quick. I had coffee, cereal, yogurt, and a tiny blueberry muffin. Len had orange juice, two small bagels, and cereal. It stated that nothing was to go out of the room, but we saw people abusing this all the time.

When we checked out the total including state tax, city/county tax, miscellaneous, state tax, city/county tax, yes two lots of each, was $39.77.

Would I stay here again? The answer is No, but that is only because we don't do hotels/motels. If we had known a few months in advance, we would have had a timeshare, for the week.

A few more details.

It is four miles from Disney World. There are 200 rooms. There is a large gift shop adjoining the property, which also has snacks. When staying there, kids 12 and under eat free at IHOP. This is a AAA approved property.

Rodeway Inn Maingate by Choice Hotels
5995 W. Hwy 192
Kissimmee, FL 34747
Phone: (407)396-4300
Fax: (407)649-8642