Just back from Cypress Pointe Grand Villas

[snoopy]

I booked this resort on Hotel Kingdom for $89 per night plus tax. I had some trepidation about staying here, as I couldn't believe it was so cheap that I figured something must be wrong with it.

I am notoriously picky, picky, picky about where I stay, but I have to say this was hands down the best place we have ever stayed in Orlando, or for that matter, anywhere. We loved this resort so much. We have never stayed off site before, and its doubtful we will ever stay on site again for any length of time. We just loved all the space of the 2 bedroom condo, and that jacuzzi at the end of a long day in the parks is just hard to beat. The condo itself was sparkling clean, as was the entire resort. My kids (8 and 4) loved both the Volcano and Turtle pools. The only negative thing I can say about this resort is you might find you don't ever want to leave!

If anyone has any questions, just let me know.

 

[suezpqt]

I am so happy to hear that you had a great time.

We (4 adults & 1 child) are going to stay there in September (in a 3 bedroom unit). I was kind of leary just as you regarding the price vs quality.

I only hope that we have just as a great time that you did.

Did you find out from them before you went down where you would be or did you find out when you got there?

Did you find that the drive was bad to get from airport, to Disney?

Thanks for the info!

 

[snoopy]

I did not request a specific location, but was asked when we checked in what floor/view we preferred. Of course I said pool view, and we liked the idea of having a top floor room. We were in Porpoise Cay building, room 56B. It had a great view of the pool from the balcony, and was only a short walk to the Volcano pool.

We flew into Tampa airport, so I couldn't help you with the drive from Orlando airport. However, I will say it was a stone's throw from WDW property, it never took us any more than 10 minutes to get from our resort to any of the theme or water parks. We thought the location of the resort perfect - a half block away from the grocery store and drug store, a ton of restaurants nearby, close enough to WDW but far enough away that it seemed very peaceful.

We looked at the 3 bedroom in our timeshare spiel, they are lovely. I don't think you will be disappointed.

 

[lorilori]

Hi. It sounds like a great place. But two quick questions, please. Does booking through Hotel Kingdom mean we would have to have a timeshare presentation? And, also do I pay the whole week up front with Hotel Kingdom? Thanks!

 

[snoopy]

Lorilori, I believe you can book through Hotel Kingdom and get a ridiculously low rate if you agree to the timeshare presentation. We did not choose this option, but were asked when we checked in whether we would be interested in doing it for $75 Disney dollars. I would have ordinarily said no way and head for the hills, but the guy said we only had to be there for 90 minutes. I'm sure he would have dropped it had I said no I wasn't interested, but I thought about it and figured $75 dollars for 90 minutes was worth it. And on the 91st minute I stood up and insisted that they bring me my $75 Disney dollars, which they did. Not a hard sell at all, thank goodness.

Anyway, you have the option of paying more a night and not doing the timeshare presentation, which for us was $89 a night, or committing to it upfront, and then the rate is like $40 a night.

You do have to pay for the room rate in full when you book at Cypress Pointe through Hotel Kingdom. One of the other condos we were looking at only required one night's deposit, but they were sold out when I went to book. Still, even though we paid upfront, its not like a deal on hotwire or priceline where you are out of luck if you had to cancel, this had a 48 hour cancellation/no penalty fee policy, and even if one had to cancel at the last minute you would only lose the first night deposit.

 

[lorilori]

Hi snoopy - thanks so much for the quick reply! We're currently booked at Hard Rock Universal and then HIFS but I'm reeeaaaally thinking about booking the Grand Villas. Do you think the pool would be good for my kids, ages 10, 5 & 3yrs? Thanks again!

 

[suezpqt]

Snoopy - thank you for the reply. I might just have to sit thru the time share speech too for $75.00 - why not FREE $$$$$.

 

[lorilori]

snoopy - me again; just had another question please.... is the master bedroom jacuzzi out in the open in the room or is it in a separate bathroom area? thanks!

 

[snoopy]

Lorilori:

The Volcano Pool (which is on the side of Cypress Pointe), is great for kids from about 4 through 10. The slides might be boring for kids older than 10, and too fast/too deep of a drop for kids younger than 4. Of course this would depend on whether the child could swim or not.

My youngest, age 4, is not a great swimmer, but he can sort of dog paddle, so he did fine with the volcano pool slide. However, it required one of us to be in the pool with him the entire time, while the other sort of watched to make sure he got up the ladder to the slide o.k and keeping an eye on our 8 year old at the same time. For days we wanted to relax, we went to the turtle pool - which is smaller and easier to watch two children - one in the big pool the other in the children's wading pool.

If you are in the master bedroom, there is no door to shut off the jacuzzi area, however, there is a door to shut in the master bedroom, obviously. When I wanted to use the jacuzzi without the kids running in every two seconds, I simply closed the master bedroom door. The condo is quite large, the living room and kitchen area is plenty of room for the rest of the family to hang out in, and then there is the extra bedroom, or bedrooms if you are getting the 3 bedroom.

BTW, we were at the Royal Pacific Resort prior to our stay at Cypress Pointe - 3 days at RPR, and 6 days at CPGV - the perfect combination. I think you will love Hard Rock, although we haven't stayed there, we are in love with RPR and PBH - the Lowes hotels are topnotch. I haven't stayed at HIFS so I can't compare it to CPGV.

suezpqt - I would not ordinarily recommend anyone go through a timeshare presentation - but this one just seemed too lucrative to pass up. Be aware that they will offer you other things first - they offered me a gift certificate to Olive Garden or Benigans or some such, or one of the dinner theatres, which I declined. He then offered me the Disney dollars, and it was at that point I figured that 90 minutes of my time was worth $75. We had a lovely meal at O'Hanas on that money, we would never have gone there otherwise. And like I said, the presentation itself was rather interesting (I knew nothing about timeshare prior to that day) and low key. If you have a day where you have downtime built in, I say go for it.

 

[daisymay288]

snoopy-- I have a reservation booked for cypress point grand villas for Dec threw hotelkingdom I was just wondering if your reservation showed up at cypress point before you got there because hotelkingdom is telling me mine wont show up till the day i check in and i am very worried about this....

 

[luvindisneyworld]

Snoopy, I am so glad you enjoyed your stay at CPGV.We stayed there last year before checking into OKW and we fell in love with the place.

 

[snoopy]

daisymay288, I got a receipt from CPGV about two weeks before I was to leave for the trip. I never called to check to see if my reservation was put in their system, I just assumed my confirmation number given by Hotel Kingdom was as good as a receipt. I don't think you have anything to worry about, Hotel Kingdom is pretty reputable.

luvindisneyworld - this place is sort of a hidden secret, isn't it? When we arrived it took me a good couple of hours to get over the shock of how nice it was!

 

[kr8z4pluto]

I was wondering if you would suggest this "suite" for a group of adults? I am planning a 10 day vacation with my family next August. I would like to have suite that holds 8-10 people. Did this hotel have suites that would hold that menay?
Thanks!

 

[snoopy]

kr8z4pluto - CPGV has 3 bedrooms as well, we looked at them when we did the timeshare tour. What it is actually is a 2 bedroom unit combined with a 1 bedroom unit, so you get 2 kitchens when you rent a 3 bedroom. Judging strictly by looking at them while on our tour, I would think that perhaps it might be a bit cramped with 8 or 10 adults, but maybe someone with more experience renting with that many people could give you their insight.

My husband slept on the pullout couch one night with our youngest, who was having bad dreams, and said it was the most comfortable pull out couch he had ever slept on - apparently there is no "bar" in the bed as is traditional with pullout couches. So that could be used as a extra bedroom if necessary.

 

[Robinrs]

CUZ!!!

You've come over to MY world!!

I love your new sig pic, MIB with the cutest guys in the world!

I had Cypress Grandvillas booked when I got the deal at the Embassy Grand Beach. The only problem with CGV was that the one bedroom, which I wanted this time,had only ONE TV and the Embassy had TWO. I cannot STAND dealing with Michael's TV shows for more time than I need to! I do plan to stay there one day. We drove past it when we were at Vistana and loved the area and it's proximity to Universal.

Glad you enjoyed yourself!

 

[KittenLittle]

Snoopy-about how long would it take to drive from CPGV to DTD?
How was the walk from your villa across the street to the big pool?Was it inconvenient if you forgot something in your villa and had to hike back to get it?? Thanks!!!!

 

[mcnuss]

I would think that it would take about 5-10 minutes to get to DTD.