Best Off Site Resorts

[SaintsManiac]

Has anyone stayed at The Grove suites? I see the Good Neighbor logo and I am wondering if they will have the early entry perk.

 

[kathy884]

I'm a big fan of the timeshare resorts, especially depending on the size group you have. When we need a three bedroom we often do Diamond Resorts (Cypress Pointe) very close to Disney Springs. We have done the Sheraton Vistana Resort many times and it's one of our favorites with all the water views and they clay tennis courts (We are a tennis playing family). If focusing more on Universal the Sunshine resort is close to that and has the most amazing huge balcony). Others we have enjoyed include some of the Marriott condos near the World Center, Orange Lake (their waterpark area is amazing), and Hilton Grand Vacation Club Seaworld. If doing a full week Fri to Fri, Sat. to Sat., Sun. to Sun. we rent from a timeshare owner on a site like TUG2.net or Redweek.com. For shorter retail stays Cypress Point thru Diamond Resort, sometimes has some AAA deals -- you almost always pay more retail than with an owner, but it's a no risk, super flexible option for whatever time period you need and compared to a hotel, it's a deal. If doing a hotel rather than a timeshare, I like the suite hotels with kitchen, and a favorite of mine is the Marriott Residence Inn SeaWorld (the timeshare condos are nicer than the suite hotels, but for a short stay the free breakfast and onsite restaurant can be a nice feature). It's big and I usually request a room close to the breakfast area. You'll pay more, but many of the timeshare properties above do retail stays (Vistana and HGVC SeaWorld) are ones we usually do an owner rental for, but have for short stays done retail before (paying quite a bit more per night). And Cypress Point is the most reasonable one that we've found for retail stays. // Just make sure to stay no to any resort tour (which is a timeshare presentation). You are under no obligation whatsoever to do that with an owner rental or a retail stay.

 

[SwanVT2]

Has anyone stayed at The Grove suites? I see the Good Neighbor logo and I am wondering if they will have the early entry perk.

I haven't but my friend did with her family when it first opened and they liked it. However, I have seen mixed reviews on Tripadvisor.

 

[Gina-Gina-Bo-Bina]

Our favorite place to stay in Orlando is Sheraton Vistana Resort. We love the location, as it is a quick and easy drive to all the major theme parks: Disney, Universal and SeaWorld. The units are spacious and well equipped, and the resort amenities are fabulous (7 pools, 6 hot tubs, 13 tennis courts, 2 sand volleyball courts, 3 basketball courts, shuffleboard, multiple playgrounds, 3 bars, a full service restaurant, onsite mini golf, a Marketplace that serves Starbucks coffee, and more). The property itself is lush and beautiful, filled with ponds and fountains and lovely bridges to connect the walking paths. We fell in love with the resort so much, we became owners there (via resale, of course).

We have also stayed at other timeshare properties in the area, specifically Marriott Grande Vista, Wyndham Cypress Palms, and Westgate Lakes. Our preference on those is in the order that I listed them. Wyndham's resort amenities paled in comparison to the Vistana and Grande Vista. With Westgate, beware of their high-pressure, endlessly long sales pitch.

 

[flowergleam1211]

Thanks for this discussion! What resorts would you recommend that are within the price range of a Disney deluxe resort?

 

[lynnfitz]

We stayed At Marriott Cypress Harbour, great resort! all are 2 bedrooms! We went to Seaworld this summer, I even noticed the souvenirs are cheaper than Disney, lol! I bought a nice mug and a T shirt at Seaworld, and was surprised at the pricing compared to Disney. We rent points from a friend, so our DVC stays are priced pretty good-but just the food is so expensive, for 3 adults, if we kept it under a $100 we felt good!

 

[mamaofsix]

We really like Windsor Hills. We rent a 6 bedroom home with it's own pool and hot tub, full kitchen, living room, 3 bathrooms and games room... for about half the price of a Disney Deluxe studio per night.

Windsor Hills has a really nice / huge resort pool and water park area, b-ball/tennis, theatre, gym, playground. It's about a 5 minute drive to Animal Kingdom, so very close.

 

[EleanorMaeBerry]

Love reading this thread and I'll bookmark it for the next trip we plan.

I keep switching between timeshares, DVC, and hotels, and am beginning to stay exclusively at timeshare hotels (under cash reservations), especially during times of COVID when hotels are not providing the same level of amenities (like evening receptions, breakfasts, housekeeping) that they traditionally have. It's also been my experience that timeshares upkeep their rooms better than hotels (maybe because guests have an incentive to keep the room in better shape). Plus, once we stayed at a 2 bedroom villa, its hard to ever go back to anything else.

Omni Championsgate- wonderful amenities (mini golf and all of the pools), but a gigantic pain of a drive to parks like WDW/seaworld/universal. I would recommend this if you're taking a few days off from the parks AND if you set your expectations properly because (in my experience) this hotel caters to weddings/business/conference guests and the rooms and service reflects that (for example, they provided us with 3 towels and 2 plastic cups for four people, and no clothing storage)

Club Wyndham Bonnet Creek this past summer, LOVED it there and plan to return. 10/10, amazing. We had a basic 1 bedroom room with a parking lot view and still loved it. This is our top resort right now.

Staybridge Suites-Seaworld- I stayed here before COVID, and LOVED it because it was so clean, and the evening receptions and morning breakfast were great. You can really tell that the manager takes pride in the operation of the hotel. It was a great location to access all of the local parks. They used to offer Quick Queue to seaworld as part of a seaworld hotel, but that's not being offered at the moment. If this returns, I would likely return to this hotel.

 

[Brian Noble]

What resorts would you recommend that are within the price range of a Disney deluxe resort?

Pretty much anything in Orlando is within that price range.

If you are looking for a luxury hotel experience: the Four Seasons or the Waldorf Astoria would be my top two choices, in that order. There's also a new JW Marriott in the same development as the Waldorf (in Bonnet Creek) that is probably great. The Ritz Carlton is awfully nice but not particularly close to Disney.

For something very nice but not quite as luxurious (and a little less expensive), I'd consider the Hilton (now called "Signia"), also in the Bonnet Creek development. The Marriott World Center has both a very nice hotel and a couple of different villa options.

 

[TamaraQT]

My preferences:
1. Club Wyndam Bonnet Creek
2. Orange Lake Resort
3. Westgate Vacation Villas/Town Center

Places I like but never stayed:
1. Marriott Grande Vista
2. Sheraton Vistana Villages
3. Marriott Harbor Lake

 

[CarolynFH]

Wyndham Bonnet Creek is excellent as are the Marriotts across I-4 in the Marriott World Center area. We also like Silver Lake - kind of quiet but literally around the corner from AK and Osceola Parkway, meaning a quick drive to the other three parks, and in the other direction are all the restaurants etc. on Hwy. 192.

 

[scanmom]

Someone mentioned Diamond Resorts. We have stayed at Liki Tiki Resort several times (a Diamond resort) and have always had a great room. Very spacious (I've stayed in 1 BR and 2 BR), very clean, with full kitchens and washer/dryers and an easy drive to WDW. It is also an easy drive to my sons house, so that helps! There are plenty of restaurants in the general area and also a lot of the little gift shops, which I like to go to. I always book thru booking.com and get a great deal. I like booking.com because it tells you the resort fees/taxes etc before you book. Oh, the resort also has a nice pool area/mini water park! We are staying in a 1 BR next week for 4 nights and total cost with resort fees and taxes is just under $400.00

 

[buzz1fan]

We love the hotel/ resort Hilton Bonnet Creek.

 

[shalom]

We also like Silver Lake - kind of quiet

We like quiet resorts and loved Silver Lake. Only thing we didn't like about it was that you don't pass through a welcome gate between the resort and the park -- which would be true of any of the onsite resorts as well, along with Bonnet Creek and some others.

If you prefer the high energy of Disney resorts, Bonnet Creek or Sheraton Vistana might be a better fit -- but if you're someone who avoids the themed Disney pools in favor of the quiet pools, and if you're willing to be out on the edges of a Disney resort just for the peace, and don't care about onsite activities and such like, Silver Lake's a good choice. If you want one in between the high energy of Sheraton Vistana and the low energy of Silver Lake, Bluegreens the Fountains might be a possibility. It's got a big footprint and a lake with paddle boats and canoes and the big, fancy pools and activities, but it doesn't have the go-go-go feel of some of the others.

 

[Disneyfan754321]

Swan and Dolphin! I love staying in this area to walk to Epcot and HS - you can't beat the price. While I love staying at YC/BC/BW, I don't love paying $200+/night more than the Swan / Dolphin.

You forgot to add access to disney transportation,
I pay around 200 a night its roughly $50 for uber from MCO

 

[AllesonWonderland]

It's nice to see some positive remarks about Silver Lake. Happened upon it looking for some last minute accommodations for an October trip, but some of the reviews seemed iffy.

 

[Brian Noble]

Pick any hotel anywhere, and you can find some iffy reviews. Usually the overall average is pretty useful. For me, anything with a 4 or higher on tripadvisor is almost always at least "pretty good."

 

[chalee94]

It's nice to see some positive remarks about Silver Lake. Happened upon it looking for some last minute accommodations for an October trip, but some of the reviews seemed iffy.

Some of it can depend on the refurb schedule also. The one time I stayed at Silver Lake, it was dated but clean. Nice location near AK and AKL. My worst experience was a Marriott timeshare at the World Center. A lot of plumbing issues and was very worn. There were countertops and mattresses stacked outside so I think I got a villa at the very end of its refurb schedule...sure enough, when I tried it again a few years later, it was back to being a typical, excellent quality Marriott.

 

[AllesonWonderland]

I think part of my problem is I'm used to booking things 2 years in advance, so there are plenty of options and time for research. This time, we're 2 weeks out, so there's a lot to cram in a short amount of time. Makes me second guess myself. Ha!

 

[Lewisc]

Swan and Dolphin is walking distance to 2 parks. MK transportation is to TTC or walk to a Disney resort. Guests at S/D get access to evening extra magic hours (whatever it's called) and the extra 30 minutes in the am. Important to some. Check AP, AAA and senior discount rates. Rates vary tremendously. A high rate today might be dirt cheap tomorrow. It depends on convention bookings. JMO STAY CLEAR OF NON-REFUNDABLE RATES.