Friday, May 1st…. part 2
I always love the drive from the airport. Once we’re off the plane and coasting away in the rental, it’s just such a wonderful feeling. We’re
here. And a whole, wonderful week of fun and relaxation is spread before us, just waiting to be enjoyed. Any anxiety or stress just melts away in the seat of that car as we get closer and closer to Lake Buena Vista.
Since it was still so early in the day, we decided to eat before attempting to check into our villa. Breakfast had long since worn off (remember we had a super early start) and we didn’t eat too many snacks on the plane, so we were starting to get rather peckish. We knew we wanted to give Sweet Tomatoes a try, and the most logical location to visit was located in the Crossroads, just a stone’s throw away from the Vistana.
The Crossroads is a big area, with a lot of different places all crammed in quite densely. It took us a few minutes to find Sweet Tomatoes, but it turned out to be right next to the Pirates Cove Mini Golf that we visited as a family last August. I guess we never saw it then as we visited after dark.
Upon entering, the Sweet Tomatoes mascot was greeting guests just inside the front doors. It wasn’t super busy, but yet it wasn’t super quiet, either. Steve asked if I wanted a photo with the mascot (he knows how much I love those crazy kinds of photo ops) but we were kind of bewildered at that particular moment so I took a pass. Right inside the doors was the cold salad portion of the buffet, with the cashier at the far end. We assumed we must have come in the wrong set of doors, and were just about to exit and go around to the other doors when a very friendly staff member approached us and explained that we could fill our plates on the cold buffet, pay the cashier and grab our cutlery and drink glasses, then seat ourselves and partake from the hot buffet as well. Following his instruction’s that’s exactly what we did. I had signed us up before travelling for the Sweet Tomato’s email club and had a variety of coupons from which to choose (though we didn’t receive the buy one, get one free introductory coupon that many people speak of when signing up….perhaps they have discontinued it?). I think the best deal ended up being 20% off our entire order (including beverages) so our total bill, including tax, came to $19.79. Very reasonable.
Steve, a self-described salad aficionado,
adored the cold salad bar……he raved about the freshness of the ingredients and the variety of options presented. We were also both super, super impressed at the cleanliness of the entire establishment. While many buffets suffer from the Messy Guest Syndrome, the staff were working their buns off to keep all of the areas spotless and their efforts did not go unnoticed.
Not a big salad girl myself (hence my brown plate at Cracker Barrel, lol!) I was eager to check out the hot entrée stations…..everything smelled so yummy. I loved the fact that their bowls were fairly tiny (though not so little that they were useless) so it was easy to try just small bits of the different soups and chili’s without having to use an enormous bowl for a small amount. I really enjoyed everything I tried, though if I could toss out some constructive criticism, the pasta could have been hotter.
Everything was well labelled, and the food itself was very flavourful. We were impressed.
Since we ate so healthily for lunch, we couldn’t muster the willpower to bypass the delicious looking desserts (and hey….why would we want to, anyway?). The ice cream sundae bar was a big hit, and the brownie bites were warm and sooo fresh. Two thumbs up all around.
We sat and chatted for a bit (there were lots of open tables, so we weren’t delaying any other diners from being able to partake in their meals) before finally deciding it was late enough to try checking into the Vistana. The mascot was once again stationed inside the entrance door (he had taken a short break for a bit while we had been eating) so I took Steve up on his offer to take a pic…..my first “character meet” of the trip!
We hopped into the car and drove the short distance to the Vistana. Within just a scant few moments, we were parked outside the front of the Sheraton Vistana Resort Welcome Center.
You know that feeling you get when you revisit someplace you have been before, and a whole swirl of fond memories and moments come rushing back that just make you feel all warm and fuzzy from toes to nose? That’s the feeling I get every time we pull onto Vistana property. It’s so beautiful and tranquil, so familiar and comforting, it really does feel like we’re coming “home” every time we return. I cannot tell you how much I love this place
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We wasted no time in getting inside, as we were eager to see the extensive renovations that were completed during the fourth quarter of 2014 to the Welcome Center. We had viewed the artist’s rendering of the finished product before the project ever commenced and the proposed changes were very exciting. They literally started the refresh and upgrades the week after we checked out at the end of August, and the work didn’t finish until the New Year (I am pretty sure Christmas was their initial target completion date, but I don’t think they were able to complete it by then).
We walked inside, and were VERY impressed by the new décor: it’s warm, inviting, casual and so pretty. It has a very modern, clean appearance that doesn’t sacrifice a comfortable feel for the contemporary look. I think Starwood nailed it
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Gone are the long, endless counters where multiple agents worked to check in incoming guests. Those counters have been replaced by individual stand-alone kiosks for a more personal approach, and the new layout worked very well. While we had received an email suggesting the Diamond Lane office might be reopened by our arrival date (it has been closed since the renos and refresh commenced…..due to a re-allocation of space, maybe?) that wasn’t the case, but nevertheless we were greeted immediately and taken to one of the new kiosks to obtain our resort map, towel cards, and room keys. I was elated to learn that they had been able to fulfill every one of our advance room requests, despite them being fairly specific: a one bedroom premium unit in Lakes, top floor, and as close to the Fountains pool as possible. They even placed us in a Saturday building to ensure each request was met, despite the fact that we had a Friday check-in and Friday check-out. Steve was super relieved that we were granted a premium unit (900+ square feet with a full kitchen and balcony) versus the standard one bedroom (400-ish square feet) which does not have a balcony and features just a small kitchenette on the opposite side of the living area. Our Skyacution confirmation left the door open for being assigned to either villa type (specifying only that it would be a one bedroom villa…..so both were possibilities), but being used to a 2 bedroom villa…..the small one bedrooms would have felt tight.
We were escorted to the sales desk, picked up our welcome package (coupons, magazines, etc.), declined the offer for sales meeting (they had upped the ante since our last visit in August…..$100 cash + light sabres and ticket discounts from last August’s $75 + extras) and were off to get settled in to our villa in short order. A very pleasant experience overall: the sales folk were not aggressive and easily took no for our answer.
We were in the room before 1 pm……a full 3 hours before the regular check-in time
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A tour of our villa is next.
(when we're not travelling with the kiddo, that is....I don't think it would impress him as much as it did us).
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Subscribing! We leave in 2 weeks, so I'll be anxiously awaiting your updates!!! 
. He thought it was pretty gross 
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(that being said; I've been told that I'm good at hashtagging....haha!)
... when that aspect of the vacation is taken care of.
. I always enjoy your sarcastic wit 
.... you give my reports the little kick they need to keep 'em interesting 
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Have you tried the ice cream, or just the drinks? 
. Now I can start working on wearing you down to join us in October. Who needs a new roof, anyway? Just put out some buckets when it rains 
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I was just looking on the SW site at airfare for October. You're a really bad influence. I'm totally wasting my day off....so far, I've spent half of it online.
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