Best resort and POOL offsite??

[pinoke]

We always stay in WDW, but are thinking of staying offsite this trip. We want a very clean and safe resort ( who doesn't?) but also want a great pool. Our son is ten and his favorite part of the trips are watersides. A lazy river is great, but he can entertain himself for a long time on a slide. Another-lesser- consideration is a shuttle to D and US. We may rent a car….Thank you!

 

[mckelvey72]

take a look at nickolodean suites. I have never stayed there but friends of ours do twice a year and love it. Looks like nice waterpark! We drove by it looking for the Walmart so it is pretty close to Disney.

 

[Gina-Gina-Bo-Bina]

Have you checked out Coco Key?

https://www.cocokeyorlando.com/

I haven't personally stayed there, but the waterpark looks fun.

 

[rf53]

We always stay in WDW, but are thinking of staying offsite this trip. We want a very clean and safe resort ( who doesn't?) but also want a great pool. Our son is ten and his favorite part of the trips are watersides. A lazy river is great, but he can entertain himself for a long time on a slide. Another-lesser- consideration is a shuttle to D and US. We may rent a car….Thank you!

The JW Marriott Orlando Grande Lakes has a huge pool with a lazy river. It is co-located with the Ritz-Carlton and there is a fantastic golf course on the property.

 

[pinoke]

I haven't heard anything good about the Nick Suites- loud, not clean, etc. I have friends who would never return
I will check out the others, thanks. Anybody else?

 

[Mjkre]

Check out Hyatt Grand Cypress Orlando. Large pool, lake, and shuttles.

 

[staceyrhood]

Omni Championsgate has a nice pool and lazy river and Reunion has an awesome water park and lazy river

 

[mikehn]

We just did a split stay at 3 different offsite resorts, one of which was the Marriott World Center. This is a resort hotel as opposed to a timeshare/condo resort. The main pool is incredible. But the main attractions are the three brand new waterslides, a speed tower slide similar in style to 'summit plummet', and two different winding slides. This is an incredible resort for the price. You can read all the rave reviews on tripadvisor and lots of photos and review on oyster.

 

[haPevraftr]

Wyndham Bonnet Creek

 

[kiki02]

We just did a split stay at 3 different offsite resorts, one of which was the Marriott World Center. This is a resort hotel as opposed to a timeshare/condo resort. The main pool is incredible. But the main attractions are the three brand new waterslides, a speed tower slide similar in style to 'summit plummet', and two different winding slides. This is an incredible resort for the price. You can read all the rave reviews on tripadvisor and lots of photos and review on oyster.

I love this one too. But never get an incredible price. how much? thanks

 

[Ametista]

Have you checked out Coco Key?

https://www.cocokeyorlando.com/

I haven't personally stayed there, but the waterpark looks fun.

That looks like a blast. Do you know how much extra the water park tickets are? That would be perfect for one of our trips with just my daughter and I. Except she would never want to leave the hotel.

 

[Gina-Gina-Bo-Bina]

That looks like a blast. Do you know how much extra the water park tickets are? That would be perfect for one of our trips with just my daughter and I. Except she would never want to leave the hotel.

Waterpark admission is included for hotel guests. Or, you can buy day passes if you are staying elsewhere and just want to enjoy the waterpark. I think high season waterpark passes are $25 pp. Winter, I think, is less. Waterpark passes for non-summer dates are also often on Groupon or Livingsocial.

The location is great.....right smack dab in the middle of all the fun on International Drive.

 

[4littleones]

We were there in October 2013 and stayed at both the Nick Resort and Regal Palms. Loved them both and glad we did a split stay.

I found the Nick to be fantastic and very clean. I had zero issues with this place. I loved that my kids could meet the characters with a 2 minute wait or less. So much time with the characters. The rooms were fantastic. So kid friendly, clean and bright and cheery. The staff was fabulous and got us two connecting suites when we checked in because we had 4 kids and 4 adults. I wasn't sure that our suites would be near each other because I booked this online with the Kids Play free at Seaworld package (which was the most amazing deal by the way ) I have no clue about the shuttles because we had our own vehicle. We did the Ninja Turtles Breakfast while we were there and I thought it was just as good if not better than any Disney Character breakfast. Not crowded like Disney so there was so much more time with the characters. My kids got their fill of the turtles for sure! The water park and pool were really nice. Really not difficult to find your kid. It is all enclosed and the slides kinda all end up in one area. The 2nd pool wasn't open during our stay so no info on that. We did the free Double Dare show and the free Dora show in the evening. Both were nice for what they were.

The Regal Palms was booked thru VRBO. My first time doing this. LOVED IT! We stayed 2 or 3 units away from the pool. The Pool with waterslide and lazy river were amazing! So pretty! Kinda smallish but there is a 2nd pool also. We spent all our time in the lazy river. It is small but it moves fast almost like Aquatica so it was fun. My older kids and even the grandmas spent some time trying to do the lazy river backwards against the current. Great way to entertain the kids IMO! We just had a blast here! The townhouse had 4 bedrooms and 3 baths. It was a perfect size for our party of 8. Clean and very, very close to a grocery store and restaurants. There is also a restaurant onsite but we didn't eat there. The only complaints that I had were that there was a small percentage of riff raft people there. Young people speeding through the parking lot that apparently owned a unit there. They were doing some renovations near the pool and they had everyone walk thru the gift shop to get to the pool. That carpet was majorly stained and looked yucky but everything else I came across was clean. We would certainly stay there again.

 

[mikehn]

I love this one too. But never get an incredible price. how much? thanks

Of course the rates fluctuate based on dates and availability, but in general the rates are great for AAA, AARP, military, govt. Even without those memberships, the rates are darn good. I paid nearly double for the other two resorts during our split stay.

 

[pinoke]

I'm looking at the Sheraton Vistana Resort now, too, but can't tell if it has the "essential" waterside. The pool pictures I can find aren't very helpful. The price is good, though, and it looks nice.
I am hesitant to rent a timeshare. Is that crazy? I just feel like the quality and cleanliness varies so much. I am also sort of a germaphobe, and only want a place that has bedding washed between guests. My family likes the weight of blankets to sleep but if I go someplace and find the old type of spreads they go right in the closet.

 

[Gina-Gina-Bo-Bina]

I'm looking at the Sheraton Vistana Resort now, too, but can't tell if it has the "essential" waterside. The pool pictures I can find aren't very helpful. The price is good, though, and it looks nice.
I am hesitant to rent a timeshare. Is that crazy? I just feel like the quality and cleanliness varies so much. I am also sort of a germaphobe, and only want a place that has bedding washed between guests. My family likes the weight of blankets to sleep but if I go someplace and find the old type of spreads they go right in the closet.

The Falls pool is the only pool at SVR that offers a small waterslide. Here are some pics:





That same area also offers an adjacent playground:

 

[Gina-Gina-Bo-Bina]

Continuing from my last post....

The Cascades pool offers a splash area with fountains:



And a (surprisingly powerful!) waterfall:



The Courts pool is rather uninspiring but not normally very busy:



The Super Pool (located in Spas) is HUGE, consistently deep, and has a volleyball net in the water:





There are also pools in Springs, Lakes and Fountains, but alas....I have no photos of those.

 

[pinoke]

Thanks very much for the pictures! A waterfall and fountains can be fun, too, for a little boy

 

[Gina-Gina-Bo-Bina]

Thanks very much for the pictures! A waterfall and fountains can be fun, too, for a little boy

For the big boys, too . Ask my fellas .

For your little guy, the playgrounds also look fun. This one (in Cascades) I thought was especially cute:



Depending on just how young he is, he may also enjoy the mini golf course:



....the surrey bikes:



...and the other scheduled activities like Bingo, tye-dye t-shirts, etc. There are also poolside movies shown a few times a week at the Fountains pool.

 

[bankr63]

I am hesitant to rent a timeshare. Is that crazy? I just feel like the quality and cleanliness varies so much. I am also sort of a germaphobe, and only want a place that has bedding washed between guests. My family likes the weight of blankets to sleep but if I go someplace and find the old type of spreads they go right in the closet.

I wouldn't hesitate at all for a timeshare run by a major chain. Sheraton, Marriott, Hilton, etc all run their timeshare resort to the same standards as their hotel properties. Rooms are always completely cleaned between occupants with all linens changed.

The one thing to be aware of is that dishes are washed in a residential grade dishwasher (not an industrial sanitizing machine that professional kitchens use) by the previous occupant. Germophobes, or those with food allergies (that's us) will want to run a quick couple of loads of dishes to be extra sure on arrival; but that's only about 20 minutes effort, and only for the really concerned. We have found an odd dish with a spot of baked on stuff, but it's pretty rare.

Vistana does still use spreads, but there are also blankets on the bed. All the stories I've heard about spreads give me the heebedie-jeebedies too, so we tend to toss them off, but Florida is plenty warm for just a blanket cover.