text: This hotel is nice. Some rooms are amazing - the renovated rooms are lovely. The Casitas are not. Be warned - they are comfy but tired - broken lamp, leaky gas fireplace, ripped curtains, broken phone for 3 days. You get the idea. I am really torn between 3 and 4 stars. We were in a 3 star room, but there are a lot of 4 star rooms there, I know. It really is a nice hotel, but it just cannot have things like that and still be considered a luxury resort. Also be warned that the water slides are a lo-o-o-ng walk from the Casitas, and families (who want the water slides) seem to end up at the Casitas. The Casitas are really a trek from everything. Furthermore, inexplicably, there is a serious shortage of hot tubs. The Casitas have their own little pool with a teeny hot tub that is terrifying to use. I hurt myself walking into it both times as it lacks enough steps and has broken filters on the bottom. The pool you will want to use if with kids is the East pool and the Sonoran splash - a giant pool area with a fun double slide - and no hot tub anywhere. Every single family over there is asking about it and seems utterly flummoxed. So then you trek all the way back soaking wet and shivering to either the South pool (more of the adult crowd and they do not want your kids in there) to use their hot tub or back to the Casitas to use the teeny treacherous one there. Very bizarre for a big club. And the word on the street is true -they do nickel and dime you, so be warned. Little things will add up. They have a skating rink! Wheee! but you will spend 100 dollars to use it with your 3 children. And then they will have a stand for hot chocolate nearby and charge 5 dollars for water based hot chocolate and 9 dollars for a baggie with the makings for 2 'smores. Really? If you aren't even serving real hot chocolate don't you think you could just make it free for the people who are spending all that money to skate? Another thing to keep in mind is that the Princess is really out of the way. The zoo and the botanical garden are more than 30 minutes. But they are close to the Musical instrument Museum and that is a world class place- a must visit for anyone in the area!! There are plenty of restaurants nearby, so that is nice, but a lot of the activities are in other areas of the city. The Christmas decorations are really nice. The pools are pretty good. The food is pretty good. I am on the fence and just not sure if I should say 3 or 4 stars.