Just returned from Marriott Sabal Palms

Steve BWV'99 · Jun 26, 2014

Just returned from a one week stay at Marriott Sabal Palms (6/7-6/14). I was leary about some of the reviews of the resort on the age, etc but I was pleasantly suprised and had a fantastic stay. Some things we like:

10 minute drive to Epcot and DHS, little farther for MK and AK. For a Disney only trip, it was a straight shot to the property.

2 bedroom units are huge, loved the master bath shower with the side jets and tons of room

Full size washer and dryer, not stacked like you see in some other places

Quiet resort, a nice reprieve after a day at the parks

Plenty of parking close to the room.

Quick 5 minute walk to the World Center pool area. FYI, they do charge for the new slides, $10 villa charge for the day and you get wrist bands. We did the slides one day and found the main pool sufficient for the remainder of the stay. We found the pool at Sabal Palms to be nice and quiet but very warm since its not that deep, we preferred the world center pool as it was cooler.

Front desk and staff very friendly.

If you have any questions, let me know.

ArwenMarie · Jun 26, 2014

Was there traffic noise? It seems close to the highway?

Steve BWV'99 · Jun 27, 2014

We did not hear any traffic noise, I was in building 4600, which is the closest building to the resort pool walking path.

littlestar · Jun 28, 2014

Thanks for the report. Sabal is on my list to try.

ArwenMarie · Jun 28, 2014

Steve BWV'99 said:
We did not hear any traffic noise, I was in building 4600, which is the closest building to the resort pool walking path.

Oh that's good! Thanks
Sounds like a great property

MississippiMom · Jun 28, 2014

Steve BWV'99 said:
Just returned from a one week stay at Marriott Sabal Palms (6/7-6/14). I was leary about some of the reviews of the resort on the age, etc but I was pleasantly suprised and had a fantastic stay. Some things we like:

10 minute drive to Epcot and DHS, little farther for MK and AK. For a Disney only trip, it was a straight shot to the property.

2 bedroom units are huge, loved the master bath shower with the side jets and tons of room

Full size washer and dryer, not stacked like you see in some other places

Quiet resort, a nice reprieve after a day at the parks

Plenty of parking close to the room.

Quick 5 minute walk to the World Center pool area. FYI, they do charge for the new slides, $10 villa charge for the day and you get wrist bands. We did the slides one day and found the main pool sufficient for the remainder of the stay. We found the pool at Sabal Palms to be nice and quiet but very warm since its not that deep, we preferred the world center pool as it was cooler.

Front desk and staff very friendly.

If you have any questions, let me know.

We had reservations for both Marriott Sabal Palms and Marriott Cypress Harbour, until last night, when I canceled CH. We are only going to Disney, so the proximity of SP, plus the two beds in the second bedroom, won out.

I am a little bummed to read about the $10 slide charge, but it is still cheaper than paying for a Disney water park. We aren't even sure how often we will go to the World Center pool, but sure like that it is an option.

Happy to hear that you had a positive experience.

happymommy · Jun 30, 2014

I stayed there for 11 nights with my kids in August 2012 (after a 4 night stay at Grande Vista), and we loved it there! I agree, the master shower was so great that the kids didn't even use the other shower! I used the gas grill right outside our unit several times, and it was so convenient and close. When we were there, the pool at the Marriott was under construction, but we used the pool at Sabal a few times for a quick dip, and no one else was ever there (okay, it was August and the slowest time down in Orlando right before Labor Day).

I also LOVED the full size washer and dryer!

We're Marriott owners, but got our weeks (3 total, overlapping so a couple toss away days) from Interval. If I could get a deal like that again, I'd love to go stay there 2 weeks. It is so quiet and relaxing, plus a straight shot to Disney like you said!

stormer · Jul 2, 2014

Sounds great. We planned on staying there next month, but plans changed. Definitely will try it next time. The slides look great.

MikeP22 · Jul 2, 2014

I liked Sabal Palms, though I found the front light coming in through the shower glass VERY annoying.
I also found having to drive through the World Center and all of the speedbumps to get to the hotel annoying as well.
The pool was good by itself, and we found the walk to the World Center pool to be too long.
We didn't have to pay for the waterslides at the World Center at the time.
The room was clean and comfy, though the carpet was a bit old and dingy.

Steve BWV'99 · Jul 2, 2014

MikeP22 said:
I liked Sabal Palms, though I found the front light coming in through the shower glass VERY annoying.
I also found having to drive through the World Center and all of the speedbumps to get to the hotel annoying as well.
The pool was good by itself, and we found the walk to the World Center pool to be too long.
We didn't have to pay for the waterslides at the World Center at the time.
The room was clean and comfy, though the carpet was a bit old and dingy.

Yes, the roadway through the back of the World Center with the speedbumps was kind of annoying, seemed like it took longer to get through that then getting to the park from the highway lol. Apparently the hotel was built after the Sabal Palms, hence the drive through the back of WC.

Steve BWV'99 · Jul 2, 2014

MississippiMom said:
We had reservations for both Marriott Sabal Palms and Marriott Cypress Harbour, until last night, when I canceled CH. We are only going to Disney, so the proximity of SP, plus the two beds in the second bedroom, won out.

I am a little bummed to read about the $10 slide charge, but it is still cheaper than paying for a Disney water park. We aren't even sure how often we will go to the World Center pool, but sure like that it is an option.

Happy to hear that you had a positive experience.

Yeah we felt the slides were good to do one time and was worth the $10 charge for everyone in the villa. There are 3 of them, 2 winding ones and one long one going straight down. If you want more elaborate slides/lazy river, Typhoon Lagoon is a better choice and is very close but more expensive like you said.

MississippiMom · Jul 11, 2014

We had a lovely one week stay at the Marriott Sabal Palms. The whole family loved the retro, yet updated, decor. I commented to my husband that the sunken living room made me feel like I was on the set of Mad Men.

For us, it was great to have two separate bedrooms and two bathrooms. The second bedroom is pretty small, but our kids didn't complain. They didn't even fight over which one was getting the double bed and which one was getting the twin bed. (Just thrilled to have their own beds.). The full size washer/dryer and stocked kitchen were exactly what we needed.

The staff was very nice and helpful, whenever we needed any direction from them. Since we had an actual Marriott Reward reservation, and we are not MVC owners, we had daily housekeeping "tidy service." They kept the condo clean (no complaints there), but I still have no idea what "tidy service" entails, because it was inconsistent. We always got clean towels (although the dirty ones were left behind a couple days, too), the bed was made (as far as we could tell bed linens were not changed out daily) and the trash was empty. However, some days we might have gotten replacements for soap, shampoo/conditioner, Kleenex, etc. and other days we did not. It wasn't like they were waiting for things to be empty, since we kept getting more lotion bottles, but never used any. Sometimes the glasses were taken from the bathrooms, loaded in dishwasher and run, other times that did not happen.

We did have some maintenance issues, too. The master bedroom TV would not connect to cable. They fixed that the first afternoon. We had a light bulb out in one of the living room lamps, in the second bathroom and by the front door (two different ones by door, so it wasn't dark). We did not report any of those, since they weren't really impacting us, but it did seem odd that housekeeping wouldn't have reported the one in the bathroom, since it was the center light of three and noticeable.

We were in the closest building to World Center, and took the quick walk over there to enjoy the fabulous pool. It was nice to just give our room number and name and sign for lunch, as opposed to carrying any money. Paying $10 for our family to use the water slides was money well spent.

We would definitely return to this property, or try one of its sister "Palms". The convenience to Disney was fabulous!

SFMommy · Aug 2, 2015

We are considering a stay at Marriott Sabal Palms in May 2016. Which building should I request to be closest to World Center to walk to pool and restaurants? How long is the walk? Thanks!

mckennarose · Aug 2, 2015

The units closest to the World Center pools are farther away from the Sabal Palms pool. That said, the buildings are not spread out very far, so the walk to the World Center is pretty much the same no matter which unit you have.
We stayed here in May and were in a unit with a pool view. (Sabal Palms pool) The walk to the World Center pools was maybe 5+ minutes? We did not have to pay extra to use the slides.
We enjoyed our stay and would definitely stay there again!

SFMommy · Aug 2, 2015

mckennarose said:
The units closest to the World Center pools are farther away from the Sabal Palms pool. That said, the buildings are not spread out very far, so the walk to the World Center is pretty much the same no matter which unit you have.
We stayed here in May and were in a unit with a pool view. (Sabal Palms pool) The walk to the World Center pools was maybe 5+ minutes? We did not have to pay extra to use the slides.
We enjoyed our stay and would definitely stay there again!

Thank you! I guess it doesn't really matter where we stay within the resort then. Did you stay on upper level or ground floor? Any other tips? Thanks!

mckennarose · Aug 2, 2015

Upper level. I read a review (I think on Travelocity?) that said the noise from the second floor could be heard if you're staying below so I picked the upper level. There are no elevators and each entrance is private. That means carrying your luggage up the steps to the second floor, which was not a big deal for us.
There's a spa pool and hot tub on your way walking to the main pool that is really zen-like. They play spa music over the speakers and it's a very relaxing getaway. I saw more than one person sleeping on the loungers!
The Sabal pool is nice and was never crowded while we were there. We had it to ourselves several times. There are two hot tubs next to the pool.
The World pool is HUGE and can be busier on the weekends. There's a restaurant and bar poolside, along with two water slides and a kiddie area. There's a hot tub (or two?) there too. The World Center has a few restaurants and shops inside and a Starbucks, which hubby visited a few times.
It was mentioned that the shower area lights up in the morning. It didn't bother us, or maybe the sun wasn't hitting it directly so it wasn't something that woke us up.
HTH!

Monykalyn · Aug 2, 2015

We stayed here this past June as well - the same week as the OP! We are timeshare owners and exchanged into the resort- don't know if that made a difference or not but we didn't pay to use the slides at the big pool. Loved the space and condo was clean. We were in4400 building second floor - think nearly all have views facing a golf course. Huge screened lanai. Very much disliked the open shower and bathroom concept in master bath- especially as we like our room dark- the light coming in am is annoying. The master bathroom is a couple steps up and open (toilet in separate room.) but hard if one person is up earlier to not wake the other up. Walk to main pool at world center is less than 5 minutes and the pool at Sabal palms has lots of loungers, even pool noodles for use , plus towels. The teen hangout area is quite nice too although our teens weren't around enough for any activities. We've stayed at most of the Marriott properties in the area and all are great.

FWIW: the drive to DHS pre rope drop is less than15 minutes car door to drop off. I know this because DH dropped me off early one day and I didn't realize I'd forgotten my magic band until we were in parking lot- turn around and back to condo to DHS was ~25 minutes.

Sabal palms pool

mckennarose · Aug 3, 2015

Monykalyn said:
We've stayed at most of the Marriott properties in the area and all are great.

You usually can't go wrong with a Marriott! :thumbsup2

We were in building 4300, which faces the pool. I think it's the only one with a pool view. From where you are sitting in the pic, it's directly behind you.

Monykalyn, On our next trip we might have more people with us. Can you recommend a Marriott with 3 bedrooms? But still close to WDW?

Monykalyn · Aug 3, 2015

mckennarose said:
You usually can't go wrong with a Marriott!

We were in building 4300, which faces the pool. I think it's the only one with a pool view. From where you are sitting in the pic, it's directly behind you.

Monykalyn, On our next trip we might have more people with us. Can you recommend a Marriott with 3 bedrooms? But still close to WDW?

The only one I know of is Imperial palms-all 3 bed units-which is hard to get now-stayed here many years ago...same complex as Royal and Sabal but further from Worldmark center...I think Grande vista may have a few 3 bed rooms but we stayed in a 2 bedroom last year-and it is closer to Sea World (nearly directly across the street in fact). I actually like the layout (other than bathroom in master) at Sabal best-the twin and full bed in the second bedroom was great. We liked the pool at GV and Harbour lake alot (loved the GV pool in fact-I actually liked it more than Worldmark pool); the Harbour Lake unit was small though.

mckennarose · Aug 4, 2015

I'll look into the ones you mentioned, thanks!

Just returned from Marriott Sabal Palms

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