Calling all Summer Bay Experts!

[dizneekim]

We just won Summer Bay on Skyauction for mid December! Yes, I've read about possible traffic and bug issues, but this works out to 30 bucks a night for a 2br villa! This will be our 3rd trip this year, so we don't need to go commando style to the parks. We stayed at Vistana Resort last time and will be at Double Tree Guest Suites for NOJ weekend.

Please share your experiences here, and tell me what I can plan for and anticipate to have a great trip. I will feel so much better for having heard some first-hand reports. Thank goodness for the DIS! TIA!!!

 

[swilshire]

It has been a few years since we've stayed there, but we'll be there in October. The traffic is much improved since 192 is all finished. It won't be as quick as Vistana, but it won't be terrible.

You got a great deal! It's a nice resort.

Sheila

 

[shoney]

Have you tried reading up on summer bay from the tug boards. www.tugbbs.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2403
this was a recent thread about summer bay but I am sure there are more. We are going on 8/20 so I can answer questions when we get back.

 

[crjack]

We also won a 2-bedroom villa at Summer Bay through Skyauction and were there 7/10-7/17. We liked it. It was further out than we had stayed previously but we didn't find it bad to manage. 192 traffic wasnt so bad but there are a lot of lights. Using the Black Lake/Sherbeth Rd. alternative was great.

Our villa had 2 bed/2 full bath. One bedroom had a king bed and the second a queen. The sofa was also a sleeper if needed. It has a stacked washer/dryer and a fully stocked kitchen. Each bedroom had a t.v. plus one in the living room area. I think the villas are all basically the same so I would imagine that yours will have the same layout.

The villas do not have a balcony. One post I read talked about bugs coming in that way. We did not see a single bug our whole week (thank goodness)

There were several pools and a lake area. Typical ammenities like tennis, basketball courts, etc. It had a small store on-site and a tiki bar at the main pool. It had a free shuttle to Disney and shuttles for a fee to Universal, SeaWorld, etc. but we had a car so we never checked into them.

Let me know if you have any specific questions. You got a great deal and I don't think you will be disappointed.

 

[swilshire]

There are some differences in the units. Our first stay, we only had a queen bed in the master bedroom and there wasn't really room for a king. That was one of my few complaints. We were right on the lake, so I think this was one of the earlier units and they changed with the newer ones.

Sheila

 

[dizneekim]

Thank you all so much! I knew you would help me out. Shoney, thanks for the tug link and I look forward to your report. Please keep it coming, everyone! Anyone know of specific villas I should request or avoid?

 

[dizneekim]

I thought of more as soon as I clicked submit! crjack, thanks for the reassurance about the bugs-that would be awful to deal with. Please tell me more about the Black Lake/Sherbeth Rd. route when you have a moment.

How about internet access? Someone on the tug board mentioned that the public library had access, too. Thanks everyone-I want to go NOW!

 

[SammieG]

HI dizneekim

There is a public library right next door which has free internet access. There is also a publix there.. DH went to do the shopping, DS stayed with me and read a book, and I checked my email! its a great service.

The back route (which is a must) sherbeth road, takes you around to AK resort area.. in fact that whole section is v close to AKL.. Its a left turn at the sherbeth road lights.


If you have a villa.. there are not that many of them.. any would be fine. They are all close to the main building.

 

[mickeymousefan]

We leave for Summer Bay on Saturday. We have a 1 bedroom condo through an RCI exchange. I will give you lots of details and download some pictures of the resort when we return.

 

[dizneekim]

mickeymousefan-thanks so much! I don't know how I ever planned a vacation before the DIS!

 

[crjack]

dizneekim, the backroad of Black Lake & Sherbeth should save you time and keep you moving because there really aren't any traffic lights. It runs right behind 192.

From 192 turn left onto Black Lake (It's at a set of lights near Orange Lake) Take Black Lake to Sherbeth Rd and turn left. Watch for cars though because you have a stop sign but the other side doesn't. Sherbeth will take you right onto Disney property. There is a sign for Disney locations and resorts and you can follow that to whatever location you need. Two years ago we missed it and ended up at AKL - this time we were prepared for it.

Traffic seems to have improved on 192 over the last few months but even when it didn't seem too bad we always jumped on this road and it was great.

If anyone needs any additional info on Summer Bay just let me know.

 

[dizneekim]

crjack-I am printing your directions out to go in my Disney folder-thank you! I have been looking at the floorplans on summerbayresort.com, trying to figure out which ours will be. My info from skyauction says that we will have a 2br villa w/ a washer and dryer, but I don't see a w/d in the 2br villa floorplan. Would you mind looking at the website if you get a minute? Also, do you know where I might find a resort map online? These are silly details I know. I have become an information junkie!

 

[crjack]

Hi dizneekim,

Our villa had a washer & dryer. It was the stacked style and it was in between the second bath and kitchen area behind folding doors. It worked great and we used it a few times. It came with enough starter detergent and dryer sheets for 2 loads I believe. Same with the dishwasher - that had a starter kit for two washes which was plenty for us that week. We really only used a few cereal bowls and glasses each day.

I believe every villa has a washer/dryer. Ours also had an ironing board in the closet as well.

There isnt a lot of bureau space in either bedroom but plenty of closet space. We had a nice closet in the hall near the second bedroom that had closet organizer/shelves in it. That was great because most of our clothes were shorts and t-shirts so we wanted shelves or drawers for them.

The kitchen had everything - dishes, pots and pans, etc. It also had a full size refrigerator, microwave, toaster oven, coffee maker and blender.

I think the main difference is that the villas are smaller than the condos. They also dont have a balcony but the ones that we saw weren't that big anyway so that didn't really bother us too much. Plus, being there in July, it was really too hot to sit out for long. When we weren't at the parks we were swimming or cooling down inside.

The living room opens right into the kitchen area. Not a huge living room, couch and chair mainly with t.v. of course, and then a table for 4 to eat at and also two counter stools at a breakfast bar. Each bedroom had a t.v. so it was fine for us since we were rarely all sat there at the same time.

I don't think I saved my resort map. I know we were on the second floor in a room kind of tucked away which was nice. No foot traffic outside our door. I think our section was 115 but I will pull out my papers to see if I can confirm. We were in a bldg. right near the water playground. Not a bad trip to the main pool and we had another pool near us but we usually went to the main one. We thought it was a good area for us - we have two kids and they love the water.

Let me know if you have any other questions. Have fun!

 

[dizneekim]

Thank you for all of the details! I see the w/d closet on the floorplan now that you point it out. I think being able to do a small load at the end of every day was one of the best things about staying in a timeshare; we brought home very little laundry. I see how the villas are more condensed than the condos, but still so much more space and privacy than a hotel room. I am really excited about this trip!

I received my exchange voucher from skyauction, and it lists 105-105 as the unit #. Could they possibly have assigned us a unit already for Dec?! Thanks again for your help!

 

[crjack]

Yes, they may have assigned you a building already. Ours was listed on our voucher as well. It wasn't very crowded when we were there so if we had had any issues I think we would have been able to change locations. We happened to like our spot so it worked out fine.

We got to SB around 3:30 - 4:00 pm that day and check-in was very crowded. Actually the first 3 people in line all seemed to have issues so once they were all finished the line moved quickly. Our check-in literally took about 5 minutes. I had all my Skyauction paperwork but really didn't need it. (Definitely have it though in case of problems) Our name was already in their system so they had all of our info.

The villas give you so much more space than a hotel room and having a second bathroom was great. The washer/dryer holds a fair amount and we did laundry a couple of times during the week. It seemed so much easier than doing it at home!

Have a great time.

 

[mickeymousefan]

We are back from our stay at Summer Bay. It was great!!!! The resort is beautiful and the grounds are well maintained. We checked in around 5pm on Sunday (one day later than we were supposed to because my husband coulndn't get that Saturday off from work). We were the only people on line. We had to leave a $150.00 deposit on a CC and thay gave us a card good for charging to our room. (Did not use it).

We were in buliding 402- room 401B. It was a 1 BDR condo with a king sized bed and a regular sized Jacuzzi tub. It was also a corner unit, which we prefer because we have 2 small and active DD's and liked not having to worry about neighbors on the one side. The 4th floor was great because it was quiet and had a great view. (Our building was the only one we saw with 4 floors, all the others had 3 floors only).

The kitchen was great and stocked with dishes, utensils, pots and pans, dishwashing soap, a disposable sponge, a collander etc. The only thing they didn't have was a flat edge spatula to use when frying eggs. We had a dishwasher and thay gave us enough Palmolive tablets for our whole stay.

There are also barbeque grills scattered throughout the resort that you can use.

The dining area was cute. It had a table with 2 chairs on one side and a bench on the other side.

The living area was nice. It was beatifully decorated. My kids loved sleeping on the pull out couch. The cocktail table had a glass top, which made me a little nervous with my kids, so we moved that into the corner.

We had a TV in our bedroom and the living room had a larger TV, DVD player and stereo with a CD player.

Our bedroom had a large sliding door leading to a balcony. I noticed that some units had the slider going out to the balcony in the living room instead. My DH and I loved having it off the bedroom because we sat outside after the kids went to bed and didn't have to worry about disturbing them.

The washer and dryer are in the bathroom. They give you enough soap for 1-2 loads. We bought a small bottle of detergent and did laundry each night. It was great not bringing home lots of dirty laundry.

There is a main pool behind the clubhouse as well as a kiddie pool. . There is a Tiki bar and at night there is live entertainment. There are smaller pools throughout the resort. The smaller pools are zero entry. There is small water park that the kids can use for $10.00 per day.

There is a playground by the clubhouse and we had another playground right behind our building. My kids had a blast playing on them.

We had no bugs in our unit. We did see lots of lizards and toads around the resort. One morning we saw a snake on the walkway. Before we even got to our car, 3 employees pulled up with a box to move him.

We went shopping at both the Super Walmart on RT 27 and at the Publix in the adjacent shopping plaza. I prefered the Super Walmart. They had everything!!! You can get Disney souvenirs for real cheap!!!

We used the Black Lake / Sherbeth Rd route to WDW.(thank you to whoever posted this route!!!) It is a great short cut and the ride wasn't bad. You enter WDW property near AK/AKL.

dizneekim, this is the link to my pictures.
http://www.snapfish.com/share/p=774221124715916636/l=57651133/cobrandOid=1000131/otsc=SYE/otsi=SALB

You will have a great time.... if we weren't moving to Florida in January, I would consider buying into Summer Bay.

 

[mickeymousefan]

Sorry.... that link doesn't work...try this...

http://www.snapfish.com/share/p=774221124715916636/l=57651133/cobrandOid=1000131/otsc=SYE/otsi=SALB

 

[Mudd77]

Awesome pics. Thanks a lot. By the looks of it, Summer Bay just moved up on my list of resorts to check out. Good job!

 

[dizneekim]

Mickeymousefan, you did a great job! Thanks so much for the detailed post and the photos. I especially liked the rainbow! It all looks very similar to Vistana, maybe more condensed. (But then again so is the price, so I am happy.) It cracked me up to see your daughter's ponies on the coffee table-that's just how it will look when we are there. I am especially heartened by the "no bugs" report! Thanks again for following thru and posting when you returned-I really appreciate it!!!

 

[Aliki]

mickeymousefan: those photos are great-- i'm so excited now for our vacation!

(Summer Bay Oct 16-23!)