Mystic Dunes??? anyone been there?

[A Mickeyfan]

After checking out of Calypso Cay(cannot wait), I will be checking into Mystic Dunes for a week. I will be in a 2 bedroom there. I have never stayed there before. Can anyone give me any information on this place? It does look nice on their website, but as we all know, looks can be a bit deceiving sometimes! tia

 

[LuvLuvLuv]

I'll offer you a link to my TR....

http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=2949382

 

[bearzabout]

We had problems there on a recent trip as well. The outside looks fantastic but the units are very run down.

The wires to the AC unit burned up sending a nasty smelly smoke through the unit. Their maintenance person told us it was not safe to stay in our room which was a problem since all our stuff was in there.

We packed up in the smoke and after waiting for an hour, we were finally given the keys to a nicer "owners" unit which we thought was OK. Our original room was about the worst timeshare unit we have ever seen. We lost an entire evening to the rather unpleasant, stressful events due to being assigned an uninhabitable room.

If your first unit is awful, just be nice and ask to be moved to a better unit. I'm not sure if it will work, but it is always worth a try.

Make sure to check the AC unit. The maintenance person said many don't work properly. I'm sure Diamond is going to have to sink a ton of money into making the resort nice again. I'm just not sure when they are going to do it or if repairs will be done by the time you get there.

After multiple visits from the maintenance person in many attempts to fix our broken AC, we were finally on the way out the door when we smelled smoke. The breaker did not trip. I wonder if the AC unit or possibly the building would have caught on fire if we had not called maintenance for the third time and had them shut off the breaker manually. I can't believe they rent out these units knowing how dangerous they are.

 

[auger]

I cannot speak from personal experience, but last year a friend of mine stayed there with her family.
She came back with glowing reports about how much they loved it.
They have always been on-site people, but a friend sold them timeshare points for thier stay at MD.
I think, like with anything, it's all about perspective.
What one person thinks is wonderful, another may gripe about.

 

[cheerky]

We stayed at Mystic Dunes the week before Christmas in 2010. I requested a refurbished unit at check-in. Our accommodations were very spacious, clean and had everything we needed. The woman at the ticket counter was particularly helpful (my mom joined us last minute and needed to purchase tix). We did not go to disney this trip but Mystic Dunes is very close to Disney property using Sherberth Rd. We went to Universal and SeaWorld instead. I-4 is also not far from the property.

This property even had luggage carts! (Most of the timeshare properties we have stayed at in Orlando do not have luggage carts.)

Overall, we had a great stay at Mystic Dunes. We didn't use the pool or play golf so I cannot comment on either.

Based on our experience in 2010, I would definitely stay at this property again if the price was right.

 

[bearzabout]

Like most resorts, some of their rooms are much better than others. Don't dispair if your first room does not meet your expectations. It is a large resort and my guess is they will be willing to move disappointed customers to a better unit.

We'd return if all their units were like the owner's unit they moved us to, but the first unit they assigned us was a disgrace.

Once they have completed refurbishing all their rooms, I'd stay there in a heartbeat.

 

[5forDis]

We have stayed at Mystic Dunes 4 times. A friend of ours has used our timeshare to stay there 2 times. Another friend stayed there once. I warned my friends that the space in the units was great, the location is very close to Disney, but the units are outdated. I love the location, pools, and we preferred staying at Mystic Dunes rather than onsite at Disney. It actually took us less time to drive to Disney from Mystic Dunes than driving from Old Key West...

The most recent stay was April 2012 before our Disney cruise. I have to say, it will be our last stay there. We checked out of our unit and headed to Port Canaveral on a Thursday (technically had the unit until Fri). 20 minutes into our drive, my 7 yr old realizes she doesn't have her IPod. We called Mystic Dunes and they immediately transferred us to security. We have left things at Disney (once a Nintendo DS--didn't notice we forgot it until a box arrived in the mail with it) & other hotels. I realize thieves work everywhere but the way the front desk handled the call 20 minutes after check out was strange.

Security said they would see if the Ipod was in the room and get back to us. Our plan was to pick the IPod up in Orlando after the cruise when we were on our way back to Disney. We weren't overly concerned about the IPod yet. Sunday we get into Port after a wonderful cruise & my husband has a voicemail message from the sheriff. No messages from Mystic Dunes. We start driving to Disney & call Mystic Dunes. Again, we were transferred to Security (we had called expecting the front desk might say they had her IPod). Security never returned our call, though a month later, they said they had been calling us. The sheriff was able to get through on our cell phones just fine (#s that Mystic Dunes gave them).

The info we were given from the sheriff was that they questioned the employees who had access to the room in that 20 minute window & one was arrested (& fired). I recognize things get stolen from hotels often, but Mystic Dunes handled it poorly (by not communicating with us). Diamond Resorts eventually sent us a reimbursement check for the IPod after we provided them with affidavits, proof of ownership.

I guess if you stay there, make sure you have ownership records/receipts of everything you bring.

The resort itself is in need of a refurb. The units are spacious (we had 2 bedroom)---the decor is very 80's. The pools are lovely. My kids love the pools (the larger one with the water slide and the quiet pools).

 

[swilshire]

Mystic Dunes has just changed management companies and is in the middle of refurbishing all the units. We've never had a bad stay there. Location is terrific, as mentioned above. We own the week that falls between Christmas and New Years most years and stay there about every other year.

Sheila

 

[A Mickeyfan]

thanks for all the responses.. I am here now which is why I haven't been back on. We are staying through an "owner" but not an owner. I am in bldg 24 which has not been refurbed yet. The unit is huge and clean AC works fine. I hate the fact there is no wireless and I am attached to the wall but will deal with it, at least I have net access without having to physically chase someone in the lobby as I did at Calypso Cay.

The shower stall in the master bath leaked all over the place. We called down to the front desk and they had it fixed in less than an hour. The sink faucet also leaked, and was repaired in the same trip. Furniture is in good shape but you can tell it needs refub looking at the cabinets. I haven't checked out any of the pools yet, I plan on doing that today. I am not far from the Dunes Lagoon Pool, which was our request. It is 110% better than Calypso Cay any day from what I have seen so far. Even in need of of a refurb, it is still in decent shape.

I did notice though that when you return late from the parks, there isn't any parking! Seems there aren't enough spots for the amount of units. I found that with Bonnet Creek as well each time I stayed there. Calypso Cay never had that problem, guess no one liked staying there therefore there were spots

 

[Bella the Ball 360]

Mystic Dunes has just changed management companies and is in the middle of refurbishing all the units. We've never had a bad stay there. Location is terrific, as mentioned above. We own the week that falls between Christmas and New Years most years and stay there about every other year.

Sheila

In the past few years they have changed management companies a couple of times. I stayed there two or three times when it was owned by Wyndham and so new the clubhouse had not been built. The first time was great the second time I could see it was running down but I do not think it was because of the management but rather because they were offering really cheap rates and huge parties of unsavory people were renting the rooms. This is kind of weird there were tons of stray cats around too. I wrote to Wyndham and they refunded me a couple of nights by comping me at another Wyndham property. This was probably 5 or 6 years ago possibly more and I never went back. I then heard that they sold it so I cannot speak about what it is like today.

 

[A Mickeyfan]

I hung around the resort all day yesterday, found out not a single hot tub with a place the size of this, and on a golf course, you would think that at least one pool would have one. I was told by the slide monitor that there are no hot tubs throughout this place oh well, I was looking forward to using one, especially today when I return from the parks. I am meeting friends at noon and staying a few hours and really wanted to just sit in one when I returned the tub in the master bedroom just won't cut it after hours in the park

 

[A Mickeyfan]

I'll offer you a link to my TR....

http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=2949382

sorry I haven't responded sooner to your link... wow! Had I read this before checking in, I would have flipped out. We had a total different experience. When we got to the gatehouse, they told us exactly how many stop signs to the check in bldg, so we knew approx how far in it would be. When we got into the bldg, there were 3 or 4 people doing check ins and we were 3rd in line. It was approx noon too! We got up to the counter in no time at all. They were super nice, joking with us and all. Told us the room wasn't ready but could be ready before 4pm. By the time we got back out to the car and decided which park we were going to, they called on our cell to tell us unit was ready. Like I said in my first post about it, it has really been great. The unit had the two leaks and they came within 45 minutes to repair them! No leaking since. Yes, the unit does need a refub, no doubt about that, but it is still not bad at all. We are on the Golf Course, not far from Dunes Lagoon. We are under an owner, not a renter so maybe that has something to do with it, not sure. I have yet to hear any screaming kids (but that is just luck of the draw & can honestly happen at any resort).

It is very quiet around here. My husband has commented this is what he calls a "relaxing" trip. He normally only comes with me once a year, but this was his second trip this year with me (after I called home and told him how nice this place was, he drove up on Sunday). The first trip was at the Fountains in the beginning of July. While we loved it there, it wasn't relaxing for him. He doesn't do parks, and cannot walk too much so he just sits around and likes down time.. he loves watching the golfers. He was an avid golfer until he was hurt. Now he cannot do much of anything anymore He said this is where he would love to stay for now on Maybe we were lucky, not sure... either way, we do love it ..
Just wished they had at least one hut tub onsite.... don't understand why there isn't one....

I guess it is a matter of what unit/rooms you really end up in sometimes. I have had horrid & great experiences at the All Stars too. Many years ago, if you do a search on here, you will see I posted pictures of a room at one of the All Stars that had torn towels, torn drapes and torn bedspreads! The carpet was filthy and they had no rooms to change me too. I had taken pictures to send to Disney's customer service upon returning home and they gave me a partial refund. Another time at Pop Century, I was bitten up by bedbugs! They claimed it wasn't bedbugs but fleas? Pop had to call 911 for me, my legs swelled up to where they were huge and red from the bites... all over me. They did move me and paid my 911 bill as well as the benedryl they had to get me in their shop. So bad things happen even onsite too.. I haven't heard anyone complain here, at least not yet. I do know over at Calypso Cay, I didn't hear one nice thing out of any owners mouth I met, so that place really has gone down hill... that is one I would steer clear away from!

 

[rejobako]

I read that trip report odyssey - After reading the first post I realized I have nothing in common with that kind of person, so I took a chance on Mystic Dunes. The place is great, and you can find incredible deals right now.