Anyone stayed at Marriott's Sabal Palms?

[LLWDW]

Marriott's Sabal Palms, yay or nay? Please give me your opinion. And is it far from Disney?
Thanks for any help.

 

[Detailor]

My youngest DD and I stayed there this summer and enjoyed it. Sabal Palms is an older Orlando Marriott resort and is adjacent to the Marriott World Center hotel. Sabal Palms guests may use the guest facilities at the hotel - big food court, indoor pool, hotel outdoor pool areas (one that's huge!)game room, tennis, spa, etc. There is a workout facility, arcade, pool area and a small playground area at Sabal Palms. We had a two-bedroom villa that was very nice and I suspect that it was recently refurbished at least in part. A fairly compact resort, all of the buildings are convenient to all of the resort amenities and those at the hotel. Though we're much more familiar with larger Orlando Marriotts - Grande Vista, Cypress Harbour - we'd go back to Sabal Palms again because of the relatively slower pace associated with this smaller resort and its convenient location. The staff was very friendly and helpful - they assigned us to the exact room that I'd requested a couple of weeks before arrival, for instance.

IMO, the location is outstanding - off SR 536 across the road from the Nickelodeon Hotel, about a mile and a half or so from Disney property quite close to Downtown Disney, Typhoon Lagoon, Epcot, and Hollywood Studios. And it's also very close to restaurants such as Bahama Breeze, Landry's Seafood, Lonestar Steakhouse, etc. off SR 535; and shopping at the Premium Outlets, WalMart, Publix, Lake Buena Vista Factory Outlets, Target and others.

Dick Taylor

 

[disneysnob]

We stayed in a 2bdr twice, most recently two years ago, and it was really nice. I found it to be very clean and well kept. The location is fabulous, very close to wdw. We were able to park at our 'condo' which was really convenient. You can use the Marriott Hotel pool, which is beautiful, however, it is quite a distance from Sabal Palms. We took a bus over when we used it. Other than that, I would highly recommend it.

 

[Detailor]

You can use the Marriott Hotel pool, which is beautiful, however, it is quite a distance from Sabal Palms. We took a bus over when we used it.

I'd note that the walking path from the Sabal Palms resort to the hotel pool is actually fairly short - I don't think that it would take any more than 7 or 8 minutes from the furtherest villas a Sabal Palms. The path runs from the left front side of the resort (behind the spa building) right around the back of the hotel (the golf course is on the right). First you pass a small pool area on the left then you proceed to the huge pool area that opens up in front of the path from Sabal Palms. If you were to walk back along the road that's behind the conference center and then back up to the front of the hotel then I'd agree that that's too long of a walk just to go the pool.

Dick Taylor

 

[LLWDW]

Thanks for the replies It was just what I needed.
Is there a specific room or area I should ask for?
Dick, did you prefer the other Marriott vacation homes in terms of the actual rooms or amenities?

 

[Detailor]

Is there a specific room or area I should ask for?
Dick, did you prefer the other Marriott vacation homes in terms of the actual rooms or amenities?

The resort is set up with two-stories buildings and all of the villas are two-bedroom units. Because there's only two-stories there are no elevators at this resort, so if anyone in your party has any physical limitations you'd probably want to ask for a first floor villa. We, however, like a top floor villa because nobody will be walking around above you and end of building units because people will be on only one side of us - vacations are better when the noise levels aren't too great . But if you're hoping for an unimpeded view of the golf course from your balcony then second floor might not work for you as some of the palm trees' branches are now at the balcony level making views a bit limited. Check this link for the general resort layout http://www.marriott-vacations.com/common/cms/mvc/resorts/marriott-sabal-palms/pdfs/map.pdf. We stayed in 4121 this summer and liked its location next to the tennis courts. I think that pretty much any of the buildings would be fine at this resort but I'd point out that the buildings oriented at the top of the resort map are facing toward I-4 across the golf course. There might be more traffic noise from over there but the piece of land that the golf course is on is fairly wide so it might buffer somewhat.

The villa we stayed in was in very good condition and while not the biggest 2BR we've stayed at in Orlando it was about the same size as the 2BRs at Cypress Harbour and maybe a little bigger than those at Grande Vista. The amenities at the resort do not rival those at GV or CH, both of which are much larger resorts and offer a lot more to guests and both of which we've experienced multiple times. There are, though, many of the typical Marriott activities programs at the nearby Royal Palms resort (probably a drive-to location as the resort center is at least a half mile away from Sabal Palms). I wouldn't have considered Sabal Palms if either CH or GV had been available but I'm glad that we did stay there. The staff were really nice - rivaling the excellent staff at Cypress Harbour. I think that my wife would really enjoy the resort and I'd go back again. Despite all that, we really like Cypress Harbour and Grande Vista and have made them our primary Orlando resorts over the past few years and if you're looking for activities and resort amenities then you can't go wrong with either of those.

So, IMO, not the best Marriott resort in the area but a very nice one.

Dick Taylor