lsb

I will be traveling to phoenix/scottsdale area for the first time with my husband and kids,ages 8 &12 over the Easter break. I have reservations at: the Scottsdale Princess,the Biltmore and the Hilton Squaw Peak. They all advertise great pools and water slides which are important to us. Which would be the most enjoyable for a family?

Vacationer

You've picked some great hotels. All would be great for a family and they all have great pools. I think your choice should come down to location--whether you want to stay more in mid-town (the Pointe at Squaw Peak or the Biltmore) versus in North Scottsdale (the Princess).

nina

What about the Hyatt Gainey Ranch? Since you are looking at very expensive hotels, I would try the Hyatt. Supposed to have the best pools of all of them. I thnk the Hilton Squaw Peak would be great for kids, but isn't the same quality level as the others. It's also less than half the price though!

Alice

We stayed at the Princess last year and the kids loved it. There was plenty for them to do on site - pretty fast waterslides (once was too much for me), a catch and release fishing pond, and their favorite part - dive in movies. Each night they showed a different movie on a huge screen over tha main pool - kids got free innertubes to float around in while watching the movie - lots of other kids turned out and they made tons of friends that got us through the rest of the week!

Sorry, haven't stayed at any others.

Litespeed_Chick

I stayed at the Hilton Squaw Peak. The pool area was certainly loads of fun. A little bit loud and touristy and unsophisticated, but that was what we were looking for...some goofy fun in the sun.

jag1jag1

The Hyatt seems to cost twice as much as the Hilton Squaw Peak. Is it twice as good, if the thing we are mainly interested in is the pool area?

MoniqueU

I have been to both the Squaw Peak Hilton and Tapatio Cliffs Hilton. I like Tapatio MUCH Better. They had free games, suites that sleep 5, good kids program, FREE where as they charge you for the one at Squaw Peak, you can shuttle between the 2 for free, they gave us a lincoln towncar ride. The pool is less crowded and more fun IMO at Tapatio. My kids agreed. WE have 3 ages 5,6 and 10. We will be going for our 3rd stay at Tapatio sometime this summer and we rarely stay the same place twice.

lsb

Thanks to everyone who replied to my message. I am leaning toward the Princess because it sounds both family friendly and luxurious. I got a rate under $300 , whereas the Biltmore and Hyatt are both over $300 . The Point Hilton is the least expensive and sounds great however I am worried about it being too loud. Someone on another site said the Point Hilton sometimes gets college studends on spring break. I plan on seeing the desert botanical garden ,Heard Museum and the phoenix zoo. Is the princess a far drive to these attractions? We are renting a car. Thanks!

GoTravel

My vote goes for the Arizona Biltmore. It was an experience to stay there.

bethn

The Princess is a ways out north from the places you mentioned, however with the freeways everything is pretty accessable. The Biltmore, Hilton and Hyatt are closer. You'll like the Princess though and there are a lot of restaurants and shopping areas close to it. You could go horseback riding near there too. Kids also like the AZ. Science Center in downtown Phx. Its across the street from the Bank One Ballpark. You can eat lunch at TGIFridays overlooking the baseball field, it's fun even when there isn't a game going on.

nina

Monique, Glad to hear how much you liked Tapatio, we'll be there in 10 days. I have a question for you. On the website it shows 2 diagrams for the standard suites, they look slightly different. One says "Main building suite" and the other says "Mountain view suite". Do you know what the difference is and if one is preferable over the other? Thanks.

Also, can you recommend a good family restaurant for a first night either onsite or nearby? We'll be tired and don't want to venture too far for dinner our first night. Thanks.

nina

Oh, and I could just scream! I just checked biddingfortravel and saw that someone just got the Hyatt Gainey Ranch for $85 tomorrow night! And I thought they didn't give any rooms to Priceline in high season..oh well, lucky stiffs.

MoniqueU

We have only had a main building suite. It is a bit of a walk down the falls pool but since we were staying there most of the day anyway it wasn't an issue. Plus it was closer to the lobby to get extra coffee in the AM or to bring up a tray of drinks after the kids went to bed. They had a NICE, not loud or annoying steal drum band and we propped the door open so that we could hear it one night. One tip, if you are a coffee drinker they have a pot in the room bring some extra coffee and filters if you would like or you can pay a fee to get unlimited coffee, newspaper, gym fee and something else. They do a pizza room service package for a family of four for something like 13.99 that includes pizza drinks and hotwings inclusive of tip. We did the breakfast one day there as well it was buffet and they had given us a coupon on check in. It was actually rather good IMO. They had a lady come buy the pool with cold washclothes and passing out free shaved ice samples. They had movies at the pool but we were there both times in the middle of summer and the lightening canceled that. I was bummed! They also have barbecues out by the pool for something like 10 bucks for adults 5 for kids that looked like fun! They do a lot of things for kids there and are very friendly. We had top notch service and the pool area is so lovely. It really is one of my favorite places to go with the kids. I would LOVE to stay there without the kids though too as they also have an adults only pool with swim up bar. I don't know about the parking as we always just used Valet. I can't wait to go again for a long weekend!!

Paul

I stayed at the Scottsdale Villa Mirage - on Princess Blvd. just past your resort. I loved the area of town that these places are located. For groceries, check out a grocery store further up Scottsdale Rd. - I believe called Basha's. A truly unbelievable grocery store. They even have wood oven-baked pizzas. Also check out Cosanti Original Bells (6433 E Doubletree Ranch Road). You AND your kids will love it - and you'll bring home a great Solari bell. While I didn't stay at your resort, I did check it out a bit and it looked great! If you are a runner, there are great desert flats to run on across the street (unless they built something there).

Happy Trails,
Paul

nina

Thanks Mounique and Paul for all the great information! My husband is a runner, I'm more of a fast walker, so the flats sound great. Paul are the bells used like windchimes? One would be perfect for my screened porch.

I'll post a report when I get back. Thanks again.

TheDish

Hi Nina- I know that I had advised you re: the Pointe Hilton at Tapatio Cliffs in a previous thread. I have to add that I just returned this morning from an overnight stay at this particular property. (My wonderful husband arranged for someone to stay with our kids last night so we could get away alone... It was quite a surprise since I thought we were just going out for dinner!!!) We've stayed at the Pointe many times and really enjoyed ourselves. This time was the first time we stayed in what I assume was the standard suite in the main buildings that you referred to in your post. I had no idea there were different suite layouts as we have always stayed in a corner unit (mountain view?) before. While the room we stayed in last night was nice, I much prefered the suites we stayed in past visits. They (mountain view suites?) were much bigger and the decor seemed newer and fancier. I believe they also had a partial kitchen, where the room we had last night only had a minibar. You can't go wrong with either suite, but if you have a choice, book the corner mountain view suite. You won't be disappointed. Dinner last night at Different Pointe of View was fabulous, as always. Be sure to order the calimari "fries" and oyster appetizers, if you like seafood. The lobster bisque was also out of this world. After dinner we went down to the lounge to listen to the Khani Cole band. Her voice is like pure silk.... We had breakfast this morning at Pointe in Tyme. It was delicious as always. Let me know if you have any more questions.