Off site "Non Hotel" Resort Suggestions?

D

Disneyliscious

DIS Veteran
Joined
Feb 15, 2009
Hi there,

Have always rented a private home and this time we'd like to try a condo/townhome/villa in a resort community. We are 3 adults, no kids.

What I am not looking for:
Hotel
Bonnet Creek

What I am looking for:
Resort community that offers a nice pool (water slide or lazy river helps), clubhouse, gym, well lighted at night, secure. A place with a tiki hut pool bar kind of thing would be awesome. And if they play music thats even better.
Close to Disney (within 20 min drive)

Basically, we'd like a tropical-music-y feel to it if this even exists. I am looking at a place in Windsor Hills (love their water slide) but am not familiar with resort communities at all so wanted to see if there might me similar places to WH.
 
We love the Sheraton Vistana Resort. You can check out this thread for some great info on the resort:

http://www.disboards.com/threads/the-sheraton-vistana-resort-thread.3148502/

There's no lazy river and the one slide is designed for younger children, but there are 7 pools in total with three of them open until 1 am. There are waterfalls, in water volleyball nets, and a few other nice features too. There are also six outdoor hot tubs. The three main pools all have a bar adjacent, and there is regular pool music and/or karaoke and/or a DJ poolside. The north side of the resort (where the Fountains I, Fountains II, and Lakes section are located) has a great Tiki Bar.

There are 3 fitness centers, and the resort is gated. Its just around the corner from Downtown Disney, with very easy access to the I4.
 
Thank you so much for those links, Gina. I looked them over and the place is absolutely perfect....except that its far out of our budget and thats my fault for not being more specific. We are looking for something around $100 a night. The lowest I found there was $175 a night but man if that was in our price range I'd book it in a heartbeat!
 
Disneyliscious said:
Thank you so much for those links, Gina. I looked them over and the place is absolutely perfect....except that its far out of our budget and thats my fault for not being more specific. We are looking for something around $100 a night. The lowest I found there was $175 a night but man if that was in our price range I'd book it in a heartbeat!
Click to expand...
We've paid $100 a night to stay there. You have to rent a reservation from an owner (this is a timeshare resort), and there are lots of them renting reservations. You can hunt on ebay, tugbbs, and redweek.
 
Disneyliscious said:
Thank you so much for those links, Gina. I looked them over and the place is absolutely perfect....except that its far out of our budget and thats my fault for not being more specific. We are looking for something around $100 a night. The lowest I found there was $175 a night but man if that was in our price range I'd book it in a heartbeat!
Click to expand...

What are your dates?

My boss just returned from there earlier this month. He rented through Skyauction, and paid $470 (including all taxes and fees) for a 7 night stay in a two bedroom, two bathroom villa that slept 8. We have used Skyauction ourselves and can confirm that their deals are completely legit. Definitely worth checking out!
 
We're going October 17th and checking out on the 23rd. Never heard of skyauction before but am gonna def check it out. Would love to stay here if we can get a unit close to the pool. From what I can tell that would be the Fountain I. Thanks so much!
 
Disneyliscious said:
We're going October 17th and checking out on the 23rd. Never heard of skyauction before but am gonna def check it out. Would love to stay here if we can get a unit close to the pool. From what I can tell that would be the Fountain I. Thanks so much!
Click to expand...

Skyauction has units available for check in on the 16th and 18th of October for $499 plus $20 admin fee. Any chance your dates can be flexed by a day in one direction or the other?

http://www.skyauction.com/action/offer/2547867

We own in Fountains I. You can request a villa close to the pool in advance of your visit by submitting a Diamond Lane request (done online about 2 weeks before your arrival).
 
I love Gina's suggestion but will add another resort we love. Holiday Inn club Vacations Orange Lake. We usually pay between $650 & $800 for a two BDRM condo renting from an owner. You can look at the resort here experience orange lake.com ( all one word) love breezes bar in west village pool. Music playing, walk up bar, live bands at nigh . Love the atmosphere. They have 7 pools, lazy river, golf, mini putt, comedy night at the legacy bar. Full shuttles through the resort til midnight so u can bar hop if u want. You can PM if you would like the person we rent from.
 
vacation villas at parkway
Hilton Grand Vacation Clubs (think there are 3 of them)
Marriott Vacation Club (3 - really close - 3 or 4 closer to SW)
Cypress Pointe
Grand Beach
Oasis Lakes at Fountain
Silver Lake
the Fountains
parkway International

these are all timeshares and can be rented from the owner - Upatnoon lists the website but again

redweek, tug2.net (marketplace), ebay, skyauction, myresortnetwork, condodirect -

if looking to buy - then check to see what the place rents for especially if it is a weeks resort - you never want to buy a week that is rented for less than your maintenance fee - it will not only be harder for you to rent - but getting rid of it will be harder too.
 
Bonnet Creek is great for a Disney vacation. It is like being on property. Maybe the original poster was doing Florida and not Disney.
 
We are doing Disney and Universal Studios. Honestly, I didn't want to post my reasons for not staying at Bonnet Creek because I was afraid it would come off the wrong way. One, I know its a very popular resort and many people love it. I have looked at it and its stunning. Two, it seems to be a very popular resort for families, especially those with small children. My children are grown and its myself, my bf and another adult going on this trip. We really just wanted to avoid places that seem to be popular with families and small children. That was my reasoning.

I realize there will be children at every resort, but based on my perception, Bonnet Creek is the premiere place for those with youngsters to go due to its convenience, beauty and space. If I had small kids, I'd def stay there.
 
then definitely look at the Marriott - they will have less children by far.

but did not rent from Marriott - they are way to expensive

somes you can find a bargin at these places too
expedia, travelzoo, and now can't remember the other one.

if you have a friend or relative that has a timeshare and is a member of RCI or interval International (these are places that exchange timeshare for members) - they might be able to get you a deal - with RCI - last minute or extra vacation

with II - getaways -

that say even at DVC and those places are NEVER cheap - there are kids - generally worst behaving kids because they have money.
 
We loved Marriott Cypress Harbour - beautiful resort - and doesn't cater to families as MUCH as other resorts. We actually would go back there, but we have a little guy who wants the splash pad / slide stuff so we have to go to the family friendly one next time - LOL!

One of my favorite evenings was sitting by the pool, having drinks and food (enh quality) delivered by our "cabana boy" while listening to the hula lesson at the pool. So much fun, and so relaxing!
 
Disneyliscious said:
I realize there will be children at every resort, but based on my perception, Bonnet Creek is the premiere place for those with youngsters to go due to its convenience, beauty and space. If I had small kids, I'd def stay there.
Click to expand...

I lol when I read this. My 25 yr old dd, who has grown up going to Disney resorts, agrees with you :) We stayed at Bonnet Creek this past April and her comment was 'its beautiful but can we stay at a place with less kids next time'. I laughed because I like to hear kids play and barely noticed lots of kids. I'll have to tell her to check out the Marriott for next time.
 
Disneyliscious said:
My children are grown and its myself, my bf and another adult going on this trip. We really just wanted to avoid places that seem to be popular with families and small children. That was my reasoning.

I realize there will be children at every resort, but based on my perception, Bonnet Creek is the premiere place for those with youngsters to go due to its convenience, beauty and space. If I had small kids, I'd def stay there.
Click to expand...

Several good resort suggestions above. Sheraton Vistana Resort is a fine resort but, if you're trying to escape lots of kids, that might be one to skip, too. I'd suggest Marriott's Sabal Palms, Hilton Grand Vacation Club's Parc Soleil resort, Marriott's Cypress Harbour, Sheraton's Vistana Villages (the Key West village section is set away from the two primary pool areas but has a pool of its own), Orange Lake Resort, or maybe Marriott's Lakeshore Reserve. I'm not sure about Lakeshore Reserve (looks like a spectacular timeshare resort, not sure about the age mix that it attracts but it is the resort out of these that's furthest from Disney) but I think that the others tend to combine a more adult experience than many Orlando timeshare resorts with very good quality. Though Sabal Palms is the closest of these to Disney and convenient to Universal via I-4, our Fourth of July week stay there several years ago left me with a very positive impression of this "older" Marriott resort - loads of kids at the adjacent Marriott World Center hotel but not so much at Sabal Palms. Orange Lake was built in several different styles over a lengthy period of time. The West Village features several side by side condos (a pair of condos per unit) with dedicated parking. While lots of kids at this resort, too, it didn't feel overly so for the three times that we stayed there. Cypress Harbour is our favorite of this group of resorts but it's complete chance whether there'll be lots of little ones - however October means that school's in - and there is a decidedly less kiddie feeling to the moderately-sized Bayside Pool area at the end of the lake.

Dick Taylor
 
The one thing I noticed at Orange Lake is most people with younger kids went to River Island & North Village. West Village with poolside Breezes bar was a great adult with some teens mixed in. The other pool at west village was more of an older crowd but still fun.
 
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