We booked this condo hotel because we wanted to be near International Drive. We have previously stayed in a hotel on I Drive, and also in a townhouse in Kissimmee. We found Kissimmee too far out, too much time travelling to and from Orlando, but we wanted our own space and not just a hotel room. LBV Resort & Spa was the perfect location. It was 5 mins from Disney, and about 15 from Universal.

The rooms are very spacious, myself and my husband had a huge room, with jacuzzi bath (which we all loved!), double sink, walk in closet and a huge walk in shower. The girls (aged 13 and 16) had their own room with twin beds with their own TV, plus they had their own bathroom (thank goodness!) The kitchen and lounge area were also spacious, with comfy sofa and chairs and a huge TV with plenty of channels. There was internet access but via a cable which you can get from the front desk at no charge. We used the laptop every day and although the connection was slow at times, we were really pleased we had that facilty. The kitchen was okay - all mod cons including dishwasher/microwave, and also a washing machine and dryer, but what let it down was the lack of cooking utensils. There was only one saucepan and one frying pan, and no wine glasses. When we stayed at the condo in Kissimmee (also 4 star) it was much better equipped.

We stayed in Building 3, on the 13th floor. We did not have a view of the pool. We did ask for one at check in but they were fully booked. However, our view was fantastic. We were looking out over the LBV outlet mall, over towards Walmart. We watched a massive thunderstorm develop one evening from our balcony.

Our room was clean - I was really nervous before we checked in as I had read some reports on here saying that the condos were dirty. I have to say ours was very clean, the sheets and bedding were spotless and smelled lovely. Some people have commented that there was no maid service. I would not expect maid service in a condo hotel, and was quite happy to wash/dry towels as necessary. You can opt to pay for this service but we couldn't see the point. The kids loved emptying the trash down the shute at the end of the hallway!

We did our shopping at Walmart (check out the rotisserie chickens and the carribean boneless chicken wings - they are amazing!) but the girls did use the onsite convenience store for crisps and chocolate. Whilst you wouldn't do all your shopping there, it wasn't too badly priced. We didn't use the Pizza Hut - both our girls are coeliac and cannot eat gluten so pizza was off the menu for us. We did try out Frankie Farrells Irish Bar on two occasions. The first was the night we arrived. We were jetlagged and it was 10pm so we wanted somewhere close. We had a round of starters and it was really good. We went for a second time as our main evening meal and the service was terrible. The waitress was unhelpful when we told them about our daughters food allergies and when I asked for a wine list the waitress said they didn't have one. I ended up ordering a glass of wine but had no idea what I was drinking. She was just quite rude with us. The food was only adequate and the cost was high. We wouldn't go there again when there are so many other good places to eat nearby.

One place we would highly recommend was Longhorns Steak House. Great atmosphere, very helpful waitresses (especially with the food allergies, they had a seperate gluten free menu) and they could not do enough for us. The food was superb (my husband had steak and I had shrimp). The cost was also reasonable. We were sad we found this place at the end of our holiday as we would definitely have gone there a few more times.

We hired a car and would highly recommend doing this. Driving here is no problem - much slower than in England! We would hate to have to rely on public transport or shuttle buses. A car is just so convenient. We always found a parking space outside of our Building, bar one night when we didn't get home until very late and we had to park outside the adjacent Building, but it wasn't really a problem.

Finally, the pool was great. The pirate ship is a great feature and our youngest daughter loved the slide. It was always busy but not to the point that we couldn't get sunbeds.

We didn't use the spa - we were too busy!

All in all, we loved LBV Resort and Spa. Location was perfect and accommodation excellent. The only thing that we would have loved to have seen onsite was a coffee shop. It would have been lovely to have been able to grab a latte in the morning or on the way home.

I booked this trip in May 2010. I traveled with my two teenagers, my sister, and her teenage son. Thank god, it was a win! Everyone enjoyed it and an had a awesome time! I was a little unsure about this hotel because the price was so great. I walked into the lobby and it was so calm and just relaxing. The staff was so nice and all they wanted to do was please...they definitely did!! We went to our room and it was just so clean. The pool view was beautiful. I LOVED everything! There was a TV in each room and a big plasma in the main room. The kids loved it. They also loved the pool which also had a pirate ship slide (teenagers are never too old for pirate ship slides). Right across the hotel is an outlet mall and about 5 mins. away is Wal-Mart and Downtown Disney. We went to the Walt Disney World Parks for 4 days and they provided us with the bus (free) to Epcot. Talk about convenience for everything! All in all this trip was perfect. I'm so sad that it is a memory now, of course, a great one. Hopefully, my family and I go again. I highly recommend this place! Hope you enjoy it as much as we did!

I stayed at this resort from August 1 to August 8. It is an excellent location, if you do not want to stay at the Disney properties. The room was very nice and there was plenty of space in the unit. And it was nice to have a full kitchen. My daughter absolutely loved the swimming pool. I had read about the exspensive prices at the pool bar. The reason that drinks seem exspensive is because they automatically charge you the gratuity (tip). It is 15%. So if you are not careful, you will actuall tip the bartender twice. I do not have a problem with the included gratuity, but they could at least let you know about it up front. If you stay at this resort, it would be wise to have a rental car. The resort does have a shuttle to the parks, but it restricts you as far as coming and going from the parks on your own timetable. Plus, you will need to drive to Walmart right down the street where you can stock up the kitchen, instead of buying from the store on the resort property. By the way, you must realize that this is a timeshare resort, not a hotel. So some things are not automatically included. I would definetly reccomend this resort to anyone who is planning on visiting Orlando.

Have just returned from a two week stay at the LBV Resort and have to say that I am pleasantly surprised that it really was as good as many of the reports state.

There are many reports on here that give great detail of the LBV Resort, but I'll just state the main points that we liked:

1. The apartments are huge, we were a family of 5 in a 2 bedroomed apartment and there was more than enough room. I use the word 'apartment' because the size of the pad feels very much like they are apartments.
2. When we read about the washing machine & tumble drier we thought "nice idea, but we wont use them", we're on holiday after all. However, because of the heat, we used them every day - a very useful addition!
2. It has a fantastic pool that the kids loved - right down to our 18 month old. Admittedly the much lauded Pirate ship is more show than actual entertainment vessel. There is one slide in the whole boat! However id did provide welcome shade from the searing sun.
3. Its in a great location for many reasons - if you intend doing most of the theme parks, your right on the doorstep, there's a huge Wallmart virtually round the corner and there's a shopping outlet on site if you like your shopping.
4. There's an Irish bar called Frankie Farrell's on site that is far better than you'd give it credit. We had many of our best meals in here, wonderful Irish Stews, Shepherds Pies, Bangers and Mash, etc. Don't get me wrong, I'm all for eating local cuisine, but lets be honest, the Americans aren't renowned for their 'haute cuisine' - you very quickly tire of eating fried foods, burgers, chicken, ribs, etc... They also do a reasonable pint of Boddingtons (at $6.50 a pint - ouch), however if you fancy a local beer try the Blue Moon, its rather good (and cheaper).
5. They don't advertise the fact that they have free WIFI in the reception lobby, that reached right down to the pool side. Useful for checking email, Facebook, the web, etc...

There's very little to criticise about the LBV Resort, however our only gripe was regarding a cot/crib that we booked and paid for with Thomas Cook - when we arrived at LBV Resort they stated that they knew nothing about the cot as they had never had any on site, so we quickly had to drive to the afore mentioned Wallmart and buy one. We later noticed in the 'Welcome Folder' that it stated that they provided cribs for free use on request. We didn't bother complaining because what was done was done, and being typical Brits we don't like complaining.

Overall our experience with the LBV Resort was a very positive one and we definitely would stay here again. However one thing I would not do again is go to Florida in July/August - the heat was so overpowering (averaged 105 degrees most days! topping out at 115 degrees on several days). You could live with this if you were just lounging round the pool, but not when your walking for many hours round theme parks - it knocks you out.