2br. at Summer Bay Resort yes/no

[magic kingdom park]

I have a chance for a two bedroom at Summer Bay Resort, has anyone statyed there? Is it close to Disney? Do they have washers and dryers and microwaves? Sorry for all the questions I have seen good and bad reviews, I have stayed at Vistana and Orange Lake before is it as good as them? I am a little scared this might be the only two bedroom to come open with rci for the first week of June and I had might better grab it but would love some info. thanks

 

[lawgs]

summer bay is further out than orange lake ....close to Hwy 27 and the new super walmart

we were there in november in the Houses and found it to be a pleasant stay, there are also condos and villas there...

the person who really knows about this resort is Vodo who posts on the tug board, you could do a search for her name in the florida section

www.tug2.net

you might be able to get some more information from her by posting there....

 

[SammieG]

we just stayed at Summer Bay... are you still looking for info??

 

[shoney]

Hi! I am staying there in August (2bedroom condo). What is the place like? Atmosphere? Rooms? Activities for small children? Nearby restaurants? I am an information junkie! Anything you'd like to share would be appreciated!

 

[SammieG]

Hi Shoney,

Firstly, let me say that Summer Bay is a beautiful Resort. The apartments all looked lovely and well kept from the outside. The common areas were all well planted and kept. There are several maybe 4? quiet pools and one amazing water crazy thing for kids. (you have to see it to understand!)
The main pool in my opinion is disappointing. It is not big enough for the resort. There are lots of activities also on the lake/beach area. And the pool has no features.. no waterfalls, slides etc.. its just a pool.

Also, there is a shop there, which sells souveniers and basic groceries, and some hot food (nothing good..fries and burgers mainly) - but the smell in the shop was awful.. frying yucky smell, I couldnt even go in. Sadly this smell was also apparent around the pool - so we only went there the once.

There seemed to be quite a few kids activities going on, but there is an activities centre next to the pool and I think they mainly happened in there.

one think I thought was very odd was that you had to SIGN OUT Pool towels! And if you didnt return them you had to pay $10 per towel. I can understand that they dont want people hogging the sun loungers all day, but I didnt like that aspect.

We had a brand new apartment (open a week) which was stunning! It had a 42 inch tv in the lounge! A king bed in the master and two singles I think in the 2nd bedroom. My son thought it was great!!

My only critcism of the apartment was that it had sliding doors to the patio/balcony area and also from the master bedroom it had a door. Because it was a regular door and we were on the first floor, I felt a little vunerable with the door there..
the balconys/patio areas are NOT screened.. and therefore bugs could and did come through the cracks in the door. We didnt open them at all in the evenings.. but we had spiders and lots and lots of flying insects in the apartment every night.

I am highly allergic to mosi bites, so I was not happy about this aspect. As it happens I only got bitten 3 x (although two and a half weeks later I am still suffering with those 3 bites!) My husband got bitten many more times.
This aspect did sort of cloud our judgement of the resort. I went to bed a little scared of being bitten and having to spray myself with bug spray every night which I dont like doing - Just because they dont sceen the balconys!

The location is a little out of the way on 192. There are supermarkets etc close by and some restaruants within about 10 mins.. but they need some other restaurants nearer imho. The traffic on 192 was horrendous!! eek.. roadworks and it was not fun!!


You asked about the atmosphere... well I didnt like the atmosphere there. I couldnt quite put my finger on why that was... as I said it looked beautiful....
Its a big resort and personally it was too big for me - I prefer a smaller resort. I think if I am honest it was the people there that put me off.. I dont know if it was just the week we were there, but they werent the usual "timeshare" crowd of guests. I wonder if they had a lot of extra rooms and sold them off really cheap somewhere..
anyway..

that aside.. we enjoyed it there.. but I wouldnt go back.

I have pictures of the apartment if you are interested in seeing them.

Sorry, hope that wasnt too negative.. we did like it, sort of.. and not in other ways!!

 

[crjack]

Hi, we are staying in a 2-bedroom villa at Summer Bay in July. I was wondering if each area (condos, villas, etc.) has their own pool? Are you free to use any pool or are you restricted to just your area? My DS & DD love to swim and are looking forward to trying the kids activities. Thanks for your help.

 

[swilshire]

We stayed there a few years ago and are booked into one of the 3br pool houses for this October. We liked it quite well. It's very near Orange Lake and we liked Summer Bay better. We like Vistana better than either of them, though.

We did find the master bedroom quite small and didn't like that it only had a queen size bed. I think we were in one of the older units, right next to the lake. That's the only complaint that comes to mind.

Sheila

 

[SammieG]

you can use any pool. There are different pools scattered around the resort..

Only the main pool has pool towels though.. so remember to take your own if you want to use the quieter pools.

 

[momto4obkids]

The kids interactive pool had towels as well when we were there last march.



Amanda

 

[HappyLawyer]

i stayed there it was clean and comfy i had no complaints,

 

[riu girl]

Can someone tell me anything about the childrens interactive pool (or post a pic if possible)? Do you have to pay a fee to use it ? (like the water trampoline and water rocks)?
Thank you
Suzy V

 

[crjack]

Hi, we stayed in a 2-brm/2bath villa in July. There are a couple of pools (usually one per area). One water play area near our villa had a wading area, fountains, etc. It was really more for toddler and younger children (7/8 and under) but my children (8 & 10) stopped by and enjoyed splashing in it.

The main pool area is just a pool with a small sero entry and fountain area off to the side. The clubhouse (with kids activities) and a pool bar are at this pool.

Right behind the main pool is the lake area and that has activities available for a fee. There is a water trampoline and water rock walls that you can pay per hour or a flat fee for the day. There are also jet skis there as well.

We did the water activities for an hour and our kids enjoyed them. After the hour though they were tired and decided to just swim in the main pool so for us it was just enough.

Hope that helps. Have a great time!

 

[riu girl]

Thanks so much for the info.
Also: can someone please explain the difference between a 2 bedroom condo and a two bedroom villa? And how do you know what one you are bidding for on skyauction?
Thank you
Suzy V

 

[crjack]

Hi again Riu girl,

It may be in another SB post that I just listed this out. Basically, the villas are smaller in size than the condo and they do Not have a balcony. That's really the main difference from what I could see during my stay.

Our 2-bedroom villa had 2 baths, a full kitchen and 3 t.v's. The sq. ft for a condo on their website is bigger than the villas and they have balconies (although there are several posts about bug problems for balconies without screens)

Typically what I have seen on Skyauction is the villas up for bid. That's what we won and it was great for our family of four. (Also, not a single bug report for a whole week during a July visit!)

 

[Aliki]

We just got back from a week at Summer Bay. We stayed in a 2-bedroom condo in the newer section (400s). The difference between a condo and a villa is that the condos have updated amenities like newer furnishings, and also a balcony. Unless you have a smoker in the family, the balconies don't do much.

It took us about 20 minutes to get from Summer Bay to Disney. We also left when there was very little traffic, i.e. 7.30am. Hope this helps!

And here are two photos from interior furnishings:

 

[susieeQ]

Hi we too are staying at SB 2 bedroom condo early december. I understand that the condos have balconies, but are they the ones that are'nt screened? While ready all these threads I thought that the villa were the ones that were'nt screened?
Help!!
Also, if you had to choice which building to request, which one would it be?

Thanks

 

[Aliki]

Hi we too are staying at SB 2 bedroom condo early december. I understand that the condos have balconies, but are they the ones that are'nt screened? While ready all these threads I thought that the villa were the ones that were'nt screened?
Help!!
Also, if you had to choice which building to request, which one would it be?

Thanks

What do you mean screened? As in mosquito netting for the windows? We had the A/C on the whole time, so we had the doors closed. Or do you mean the balconies? The balconies are open-air but only available at the condos. The villas have no balconies at all.