TownePlace Suites Flamingo Crossings Review (Near Disney)

Townplace Suites at Flamingo Crossings is a pet-friendly Marriott hotel near Walt Disney World. In this review of the Townplace Suites at Flamingo Crossings, I share details of a stay and tips for planning a stay.

As much as I love to stay on property at Disney, prices have escalated over the past few years. So much so that we’ve shifted our focus here on the site to include reviews of nearby hotels that might be better alternatives for some families. That includes budget-friendly hotels.

For this Towneplace Suites at Flaming Crossings review, we’ll examine the rooms, recreation, amenities, and other aspects of the resort. We spent a long five-day, four-night stay at this hotel to provide this review.

When considering a stay, I look for hotels convenient to Disney World with affordable pricing. Of course, amenities and proximity to the parks are huge factors. Additionally, we’ve stayed at the neighboring Springhill Suites multiple times over the years and consider it one of the best Marriotts near Disney World for the price. These sister hotels are positioned on the same property and share amenities like the pool and recreation.

When booking a hotel stay, you want to know if the hotel is clean and comfortable. Overall, the TownePlace Suites was both. However, it wasn’t perfect. Upon leaving, I felt some things could have been better about the experience. But, overall, I’m glad we stayed here. If you’re considering staying here, you should know what to expect before booking your trip. So, let’s look at my stay and some of the hotel’s pros and cons.

Towneplace Suites Flamingo Crossings Review

Flamingo Crossings is a combined shopping, hospitality, and housing area that sits outside the Walt Disney World gates on Western Way. The property is owned by Disney and was primarily vacant land except for a few hotels and apartments.

Things have changed somewhat recently. The large property has been redeveloped to provide housing for students in Disney’s college program. In addition, several new hotels and retail stores have recently opened, and many locations are now under construction.

The winning factor for staying here is the price. For my stay on a busy holiday, weekend rates ran around $125.00 per night plus tax. Location was another huge plus. The hotel is off Western Way, which is the road that runs out next to Coronado Springs Resort. The street dead-ends into Buena Vista Drive, the main road that intersects most of Disney World property.

From the hotel, it’s approximately a seven-minute drive to parks like Disney’s Animal Kingdom and Blizzard Beach. Traveling to Magic Kingdom, Epcot, Hollywood Studios, and Disney Springs will take approximately 10-15 minutes. You’re not going to find a closer hotel to Disney World that’s closer except the Bonnet Creek Resorts. But they are another price range entirely.

Additionally, the hotel is extremely close to Four Corners. It’s a two-minute drive up the toll road to reach the Rolling Oaks shopping center, where there’s a Super Target and Publix across the street. However, since I wrote this review, Target and Walgreens, among other stores, have opened at Flamingo Crossings. There are even Domino’s, Starbucks, and Firehouse Subs.

Not to mention, there’s a plethora of restaurants and recreation in this area. (The toll road will cost you $1.50 between the exits, or you can cut across Disney property by the Animal Kingdom Lodge.)

When deciding to stay at the Townplace Suites, the main draw is the efficiency suites. That, and the fact that it’s a pet-friendly hotel for some. During this trip, I was in the area for two weeks, reviewing several hotels. Therefore, I needed a place where I could at least prepare a few meals in my room and avoid eating out the entire trip.

Here is a look at the king-size guest room. You can see that there are nightstands with lamps built-in on each side of the bed and drawer space.

king size room at the Towneplace Suites at Flamingo Crossings

There was a small sofa and a full-size desk on the opposite wall.

The desk space was nice for someone like me who works while traveling. Also, there were plenty of charging ports, which is necessary these days.

A kitchenette area in the foyer was a great attribute of the room. Adequate counter space was available for preparing meals.

This space is comparable to the studio room at Orange Lake Resort. However, Orange Lake overall was much nicer and more expensive. We have a full resort review if you’re interested. (Orange Lake Resort Review)

Anyway, there was a microwave and several cabinets with a few plates, glasses, and utensils. But, unfortunately, there weren’t many items. There were four of everything, such as plates, coffee cups, etc. I had to use the dishwasher daily to have clean items.

Said dishwasher.

The room had a two-burner stove, coffee maker, and a few other appliances. Having a burner is great for making simple meals like grilled cheese and scrambled eggs. Unfortunately, there wasn’t a skillet, but there were two pots. I found the lack of basic utensils and cookware in the kitchen disappointing.

Here is another angle of the room from the kitchen.

If you’re a group of four, you’ll want to consider a room with double beds. However, this room has many more amenities (and probably more space) than a value resort at Disney.

In the picture below, you might notice a tray over the ottoman. This piece came in handy. After a long day in the parks, I prefer blogging from bed.

If I had decided to eat at the table like the average person, there was a convenient pull-out option underneath the desk. This setup is convenient for children. However, there was only one desk chair.

Anyway, the bathroom was standard.

There were plenty of towels and a bathtub with a shower combination.

Overall, I felt fairly ambivalent toward this room. On one hand, the room had great features that allowed me to save money by preparing meals in the room. That left me with only having to purchase lunch in the parks.

But on the other hand, the room had a bit of a musty smell, and that bothered me. Was it dirty? No, but it wasn’t as deeply cleaned as I would have liked. Additionally, the Towneplace Suites at Flamingo Crossings is a pet-friendly hotel. Somehow, I missed that and probably wouldn’t have stayed here if I had known. Don’t get me wrong. I love and have pets, but I do not travel with them.

You might think, how did you miss that? I’ve stayed at the adjacent resort next door many times, and it is not a pet-friendly hotel, so I didn’t research this point in advance. Honestly, I didn’t care that the hotel was pet-friendly, but there were a lot of pets.

During my stay, I often saw 5-10 guests with their pets in the lobby (at one time) and outside in the parking lot in the mornings. One night, I was awakened by a dog barking.

Needless to say, the lack of cooking utensils, the abundance of pets, and the musty smell put a damper on my stay. Since then, I’ve debated whether or not I would stay here again. And since I’ve stayed at so many new hotels in the immediate area, I would have to say probably not. Here are a few of those new options:

Thankfully, everything else at the hotel was great. One of the draws for many guests is the complimentary breakfast buffet served every morning. It’s not anything like the buffet at Boma, but what is?

Every morning, the entire breakfast buffet area is packed.

As far as breakfast goes, they have a few items like bacon, sausages, muffins, cereal, and waffles. It’s the same exact breakfast that’s served at the Springhill Suites next door. The meal won’t be anything to write home about or post on social media. However, it’s included in the price of your stay. Next to the check-in area of the lobby, there was a small pantry with convenience items for purchase.

Toward the back corner of the lobby, I noticed this workspace.

A large recreation area sits between Towneplace Suites and Springhill. This shared area includes a restaurant called Flamingo’s.

Since the idea of me staying here was to save money by not dining out, I didn’t get a chance to eat there. However, I can attest that the food smelled good, and they were rather busy most of the time. I stepped in and took a few photos before they opened one morning.

The menu had a variety of items that would suit most guests.

Everything seemed reasonably priced, and a few kids’ meal options were available.

There were plenty of lounging areas in the shade outside the pool area.

You might even enjoy a tabletop game during your stay. Several cornhole games and ping pong tables were set up around the pool deck.

You could enjoy breakfast or even pick up something at a nearby restaurant and bring it out here.

Since the pool is shared between two hotels, it’s a fairly large area.

The entire outdoor area between the two resorts was much nicer than I had realized.

And there was more than enough seating for guests to enjoy the space.

A peninsula of sorts came out into the pool from one end.

You can see it better here. Several benches were built in the water where you could sit and relax. I was impressed with the pool area.

Towels were provided.

And in the far back corner sat a whirlpool spa tub.

Behind the pool area, you’ll find a tremendous gym. Of all the times I’ve stayed next door, I had no idea this workout room was here. For comparison, we have a list of the hotels with fitness centers at Disney World.

The gym had free weights and every machine you could ever need to get a good workout.

It was impressive.

Lastly, there was a laundry room on the first level with washers and dryers. So, on my last full day, I caught up on my laundry. Unfortunately, the machines were not updated to take a credit card like most resorts these days. However, a change machine was available in the laundry room, and I brought my detergent.

As funny as it sounds, I debated doing laundry here or at my next stop. Since I spent the next few days at the Hyatt Grand Regency Cypress, I had planned a full resort day there. So, it would have been an ideal day to do laundry.

Thankfully, I ended up getting that out of the way here at Flamingo Crossings. The laundry at the Hyatt was $5.00 per load and nowhere near my room. (Everything else there was fabulous, though.)But everything costs more when you stay at an expensive resort, so sometimes, we have to stay somewhere more affordable.

Wrapping things up, there are two significant items that I’ve yet to mention that are definitely worth your consideration. First, there are no parking or resort fees at the TownePlace Suites at Flamingo Crossings.

Ultimately, if you plan to spend a few days in the Disney Parks and don’t mind the pets, the TownePlace Suites at Flamingo Crossings will probably work well for you. You can’t beat the location, ability to prepare a few meals and reasonable price. However, don’t expect it to be a five-star resort. Remember, it’s not breaking the budget, and there’s that free breakfast.

For more information about this specific location, you might enjoy browsing the list of hotels at Flamingo Crossings or reading our list of the best off-site resorts near Disney World. Some of our other favorites include:

As far as planning goes, you might enjoy these other reviews:

In the comments:

Have you stayed at the Towneplace Suites at Flamingo Crossings before? Did you find this review helpful? Or do you still have questions about staying here?