I noticed in the thread above that many of you are looking for vacation home information, so I thought I'd give a little report from our 10-20-10/24 trip. We rented an all star vacation home--the 2nd highest tier. There were 9 of us (6 A, 3 C). The house had 6 bdr, 3 1/2 baths. And the internet cafe.
We landed on 10/14 at 11 and had hoped to grocery shop and check into the house early as I knew from their website no one had stayed there for several days. When we called, they said "no check in until 4." We were a little disappointed, but knew there were no guarantees, so we just went to MGM instead.
Checked in around 6, I think. The Windsor Palms appeared to be the farthest from the All Star Office. It wasn't too far from the parks. Depending on the time of day and the park, it took anywhere from 15 minutes to 45 minutes to get to and from the park. For example, MK was always longer when you factor in the TTC, etc.
The house was large and very nicely decorated. We enjoyed the experience overall. Liked having the kitchen. It worked VERY well for small children to give them space to run around, to swim, and to get ready.
Now, the complaints:
1. When we arrived, we had a hard time figuring out the pool alarm. I know we shouldn't have been such dunces, but coming form WI, we were completely unaware. The signs were NOT self explanatory to me. I know we weren't the only ones to have a problem as I heard others checking in setting it off left and right. I think they should provide better directions at check in.
2. We paid to have the pool heated, and we think it was, but not very well. It was chilly the whole time we were there even though the weather was warm. The mechanics were locked up so we were unable to make any changes to the temperature.
3. The internet cafe was a joke. There were 3 computers, but initially, we couldn't get any of them to connect to the internet. I called the office,and they didn't know what to do, so they ended up sending a technician out the next day. He managed to get one up and running, but it was only an AOL dial up. I guess that just surprised me. I'm not sure that it's good advertising to call it a Cyber Cafe, with one dial up connection for 3 computers.
4. The noise. The houses are NOT soundproof. We could hear everything in EVERY room at ALL times. And we could hear everything outside as well. I would say this was as bad, if not worse than a hotel room. Had I known, I would have taken a noise machine.
General good stuff.
The houses are well equipped. The beds are comfortable. The space in the bathrooms is more than adequate. It was really relaxing to return there in the middle of the day for a break, and at the end of the night. Even though I wanted to stay onsite, I admit, there really were aspects of leaving (especially since I have a 3 year old) that I really appreciated. Also, if not everyone chose to go back in the evening, it was much easier to hang out at a house than at a hotel room. The price for us, which would have equated to 3 rooms onsite was good. I believe the rate was just over $200/night. There were some extras like cleaning fee and pool heating, but still would have been more to get three decent rooms onsite. For this size group, it was definitely worth it to us.
HTH
Tricia
We landed on 10/14 at 11 and had hoped to grocery shop and check into the house early as I knew from their website no one had stayed there for several days. When we called, they said "no check in until 4." We were a little disappointed, but knew there were no guarantees, so we just went to MGM instead.
Checked in around 6, I think. The Windsor Palms appeared to be the farthest from the All Star Office. It wasn't too far from the parks. Depending on the time of day and the park, it took anywhere from 15 minutes to 45 minutes to get to and from the park. For example, MK was always longer when you factor in the TTC, etc.
The house was large and very nicely decorated. We enjoyed the experience overall. Liked having the kitchen. It worked VERY well for small children to give them space to run around, to swim, and to get ready.
Now, the complaints:
1. When we arrived, we had a hard time figuring out the pool alarm. I know we shouldn't have been such dunces, but coming form WI, we were completely unaware. The signs were NOT self explanatory to me. I know we weren't the only ones to have a problem as I heard others checking in setting it off left and right. I think they should provide better directions at check in.
2. We paid to have the pool heated, and we think it was, but not very well. It was chilly the whole time we were there even though the weather was warm. The mechanics were locked up so we were unable to make any changes to the temperature.
3. The internet cafe was a joke. There were 3 computers, but initially, we couldn't get any of them to connect to the internet. I called the office,and they didn't know what to do, so they ended up sending a technician out the next day. He managed to get one up and running, but it was only an AOL dial up. I guess that just surprised me. I'm not sure that it's good advertising to call it a Cyber Cafe, with one dial up connection for 3 computers.
4. The noise. The houses are NOT soundproof. We could hear everything in EVERY room at ALL times. And we could hear everything outside as well. I would say this was as bad, if not worse than a hotel room. Had I known, I would have taken a noise machine.
General good stuff.
The houses are well equipped. The beds are comfortable. The space in the bathrooms is more than adequate. It was really relaxing to return there in the middle of the day for a break, and at the end of the night. Even though I wanted to stay onsite, I admit, there really were aspects of leaving (especially since I have a 3 year old) that I really appreciated. Also, if not everyone chose to go back in the evening, it was much easier to hang out at a house than at a hotel room. The price for us, which would have equated to 3 rooms onsite was good. I believe the rate was just over $200/night. There were some extras like cleaning fee and pool heating, but still would have been more to get three decent rooms onsite. For this size group, it was definitely worth it to us.
HTH
Tricia
