Silver Lake Clarification

[PoohNPiglet]

In doing searches on DIS to find out what people think of Silver Lake (Sky Auction offer on 7751 Black Lake Road). I keep seeing people ask if they mean Silver Lakes or Silver Points. I am getting the distinct impression that there is a difference. What is the difference and which one should I be aiming for? Based on the above address which am I looking at? Thanks!

 

[siobhan1997]

Silver Lake and Silver Points are the same resort Silver Lake probably refers to the older units and Silver Points would refer to the new building 800, 900 or 1000. We exchanged into Silver Lake not Silver Points on a Friday with a 6/6 sleep and was put into a Silver Points building in fact it was the newest building on property #1000. But saying this we have also stayed in the older units with a sleep of 8/6 and actually much prefered them. They are larger. We just returned from Silver Lake and had a great time, lots to do and great access to Disney etc.

Very nice resort.

 

[PoohNPiglet]

Thanks for the reply. I put a bid in this morning. We normally stay at vacation village, but this does not look any worse. When I get back I will have to write a comparison review for everyone.

Thanks!

 

[Straitlover]

Silver Points is the newer section. Those buildings all have elevators. They also have flat screen TVs! In the older section, all but 2 of the buildings are 3-story walkups.

 

[KLAIT]

I am very curious about any reviews on Silver Lake..I recently won a SkyAuction week at Silver lake and am not sure if I am excited or not!

 

[Maria395712]

is this the silver lake you pass on sherberth rd on the way to animal kingdom from 192
maria

 

[bearzabout]

I like Silver Lake because of its location and have stayed there more than 20 times. It is just south of Animal Kingdom Lodge. The rooms are different depending on whether you get phase I (buildings 100-700), phase II (buildings 1700-1800) or phase III (buildings 800-1000).

You never really know what you are going to get. A room may be great or have endless problems. You have to hope for the best but expect the worst and have them fix the problems or choose to overlook them.

For the person who won recently, let me know what size unit you received and whether it is with Silver Lake or Silver Lake Points and I can give you an idea what to expect.

 

[PoohNPiglet]

I like Silver Lake because of its location and have stayed there more than 20 times. It is just south of Animal Kingdom Lodge. The rooms are different depending on whether you get phase I (buildings 100-700), phase II (buildings 1700-1800) or phase III (buildings 800-1000).

You never really know what you are going to get. A room may be great or have endless problems. You have to hope for the best but expect the worst and have them fix the problems or choose to overlook them.

For the person who won recently, let me know what size unit you received and whether it is with Silver Lake or Silver Lake Points and I can give you an idea what to expect.

The auction said it is a 2 bedroom unit that sleeps 8. "Endless problems" is not what I want to hear AFTER I won the auction. Especially since I believe the 2bed sleeps 8 is the oldest stuff!

 

[bearzabout]

You are probably going to get assigned to buildings 100-700.

This would be my suggestion:

Try to check in early in the day if it won't screw up your schedule too much. Ask what building you were assigned. If you got building 4, politely ask to be moved unless you don't mind listening to traffic all night long. It backs up to Sherbeth Rd. I get assigned building 4 all the time with a Skyauction win but my polite requests to move to another building have never been denied.

Building 5 has an elevator, so it is a great one to get if you don't want to climb steps.

In October, the unit I got in building 200 had a very comfortable new pillowtop mattress. Buildings 100 and 200 are very quiet. Just because the units are older, doesn't mean they will be more problematic. My last stay in a newer building (900) had a multitude of problems (broken coffee pot, no batteries in the remotes, no lint screen in the dryer, housekeeping left my door unlocked and open all day, keys that stopped working mid-stay).

My last room in building 200 had recently had its door kicked in. The lock did not work and the trim had been torn off the walls. They had barely reattached it with one screw. Our safe also did not work so we were not very happy. They fixed the lock but not the safe or the trim. They kept saying the door was kicked in by a guest staying in the room, but we did wonder.

Many stays are just fine and I am returning again soon. Just don't be surprised if you have problems. Just laugh them off, have the important stuff fixed and carry on enjoying the good things about the resort and your trip.

Final tips - check in early in the day so you don't get stuck in building 4. Your room probably won't be ready, but they are usually nice enough to look for a room that is ready and will switch you.

If your room isn't ready early in the day, return around 4 or 5. If you get to a room that is unacceptable, there may still be rooms left that you can move to.

Don't store your key next to a credit card in your wallet. The credit cards can deactivate them.

And finally, don't sweat the small stuff.

I hope I don't scare you too much. You'll love Silver Lake's location. I just think that people who have too high of expections can be really disappointed. Hopefully, you will have no problems and everything will be fine.

 

[PoohNPiglet]

Thanks for all the information. I have been in contact with the reservations manager. She told me to contact her directly the week prior to arrival (when the RCI transfer occurs) to give her any special requests for the reservation. So, I will just try to request a specific building. I appreciate all the information.

BTW, if I end up having a choice of the old vs new which would you recommend with young kids? Do you feel there is a safety concern there given the door kicked in? I told her I would want an elevator if with all the stuff we were bringing down (two weeks with young kids LOL!) and she said we could just get a ground floor room in any building. Generally, we do not like ground floors... we like to be up so people can't just break in the window or come in the balcony door...

 

[KLAIT]

So, with a reservation for a 2 BD that sleeps 8, which building is the one to request? Aside from avoiding building 4?

 

[PoohNPiglet]

So, with a reservation for a 2 BD that sleeps 8, which building is the one to request? Aside from avoiding building 4?

I am getting the impression it is building 1 or 2... we will have to see what they say. I see you won an auction around the same time as us. I wonder if we were bidding against each other? What weeks are you going? Maybe we will be there around the same time...

 

[KLAIT]

PoohNPiglet

We will be checking in on Saturday, April 28......

I won our ready set go auction on march 13..it was the only one that I bid on...

What are your dates?

 

[PoohNPiglet]

PoohNPiglet

We will be checking in on Saturday, April 28......

I won our ready set go auction on march 13..it was the only one that I bid on...

What are your dates?

We are going May 4-19th. I did not do RSG, I did a different auction that had a choice of 7 resorts.

 

[bearzabout]

I have stayed in buildings 100, 200, 500, 900, 1700 and 1800. I have read on these boards that buildings 1700-1800 are getting new furniture now. Buildings 100-700 have been updated in the last few years. I'd call and ask which buildings were most recently refurbished.

Buildings 400 (the one with the bad location) and 500 share an elevator. Buildings 100-300 are walk ups. I don't know about 600-700. Buildings 1700-1800 and 800-1000 have elevators.

If your kids want twin beds, make sure and request this. Some of the lock offs in 1700-1800 have two bedrooms with king size beds in each room. Since these have two units with a locking door between them, I am always paranoid that the door will close and automatically lock when my key is on the other side. Also, the master bedroom in buildings 1700-1800 are small. There is not much room around the bed.

I personally am not a huge fan of the newer buildings. The rooms are much smaller than in buildings 100-700. The bathtub is too small for two people to share. The granite countertops are nice and decor is much better, but the huge whirlpool tubs in the old section (100-700 and 1700-1800) are just heavenly. The newer units are full nearly every week and show a lot of wear already.

I always avoid the first floor so I don't have headlights shining in the windows. The last time I got building 900, they assigned me to the first floor right by the entrance gate. I knew this would be bad with all the cars driving by, so they switched me to a third floor room and gave my old room to the next couple that walked in.

Despite the problem with the kicked in door, I feel safer at Silver Lake than other resorts (like Cypress Pointe, Vacation Village, Embassy Suites, etc.) because they do have security. They also have a chain on the door to attach once I am inside. Fairfield Cypress Palms had no chain and a maintenance person walked in while I was in the tub.

Silver Lake has gates or guards at both entrances. The security department told me that a guest had kicked in the door. I could see how an angry guest could be locked out by their partner and kick in the door.

With all of the different room choices, an early check-in is important since it is easier to move if the first room in unacceptable. I have always found the desk clerks to be very reasonable. I hope you have a great time.

 

[KLAIT]

We can be there anytime during the day...what time would you think is reasonable to try to check in?

 

[PoohNPiglet]

bearzabout -- Thank you, thank you, thank you! I already talked to the reservation manager about the early check in. We are driving down and I want to be be there for the 1pm nap time! She said they would accomodate us if they can! When I stayed at vacation village I had a hard time getting in early. They finally let us only because we NEEDED to let our DD nap and I NEEDED to go to the urgent care for a bad sprain!

I already told the reservations manager I do NOT want a lock out.. I think DD might lock us out! Twin beds to not matter to us as DS is going to be in a pack n play. But it sounds like the older section is not a bad thing.

I always pack a child proofing kit to take with me. Do you know if the blinds will have ties that need to be put up? This is a much bigger unit than we have stayed in before, how many outlets do you think there are? How many cabinets will I need to lock up? Doors to keep kids out of? Yikes!

 

[bearzabout]

Regarding your childproofing issues at Silver Lake:

I think most of the windows are covered with vertical blinds. There may be three in each unit that will need the controls raised.

There are a lot of lower cabinets with very little in them. I'd just move any chemicals (dish washing detergent, etc) and breakables to higher cabinets.

Most of the outlets are behind furniture and tables. I don't remember seeing as many as you would find in a house. There are lamps in just about every room.

The biggest hazard in my opinion is the slippery, hard tile floors throughout most of the unit (except the bedrooms). Bring slippers with soles that grip well and dry any water off the floors. I use extra towels on the bathroom floors so there is always something to step onto with wet feet.

 

[Straitlover]

I stayed in bldg 600; it is a 3-floor walkup. It was a 2 BR that slept 8. Master was a king, 2nd BR was 2 queens, and there was a sleepler sofa.

 

[KLAIT]

Straitlover

How were things in buliding 600?