Calypso Cay Resort Review...

[JustinsMama]

I just posted this review at the tug website and remembered seeing a few people asking about it here so thought I'd post it. Sorry, it's pretty long and drawn out but maybe it will help someone. Thanks.

My family and I checked into Calypso Cay with my parents for a free week courtesy of my parents (thanks mom and dad!) on July 7, 2007. We had just checked out of a two night stay at All Star Movies on Disney property the night before and we were looking forward to 7 days in a roomy two bedroom lockout. After a leisurely breakfast at Perkins at Downtown Disney, we arrived at Calypso Cay at approximately 11:30 a.m. It was scorching day outside and we were hoping to be able to check in early to relax in the air conditioned condo (realizing though that check-in was officially not until 4:00 p.m.). We found Calypso Cay fairly easily (it's located near Apopka Vineland Rd. near Hwy 192, so only a few miles from Disney's Main gate), however when my dad went to check into the front office we found that the room was not ready and probably wouldn't be until nearer to 4:00 p.m. (expected but still a little disappointing). As my dad was taking care of the paperwork my mom and I ventured over to another part of the front office that evidently was the timeshare sales area. It was a cute little area with a glass enclosed model of the entire property of I assume where they will be exanding at some point. There was an old world style map covering two walls that if you pressed the buttons on the wall it would light up where the affiliated timeshares to Calypso Cay were located around the world along with what looked to be maybe Columbus' route to the new world? At any rate this at least entertained my very energetic 5 year old son for at least 5 minutes as he was pressing the buttons. There were also a couple of guys running around in suits (full pinstriped ones with jackets and everything - in 98 degree heat - ugh!) figured them to be the timeshare salesmen. One of them was kind enough to hit me up for a cigarette as I was standing outside with my son (and since I'm a BIG non-smoker, kindly told them uhh...I don't smoke). Deduct one point for the unprofessionalism there. After dad took care of the paperwork we went to look around the property and find the new owners pool that their website had touted as being finished June 1st!!! (The pictures on the website did look pretty cool). Alas, we found a very new pristine looking pool area on the far side of the property which was securly locked by a large chain and padlock). Apparently, even though the pool itself was finished and filled with what looked to be clear, cool, refreshing water they were still awaiting a town official to come by and inspect the pool and issue an operating license. I'm sure it will be a very nice area once it's actually open. From what we saw it was a zero entry pool with a small slide and perhaps a water play area(?) along with nice colorful Caribbean colored chairs (Adirondack style). So we headed back over to the main pool that was actually open. This pool was just okay. It at least had a zero entry area and a small corkscrew type slide. Two giant crabs hung out on each side of the pool entrance spraying water out of their mouths at you. There was also a pool bar there. At this rate, as hot as we now were, it could have been a puddle in the middle of the parking lot and it would have looked good to us. We changed into our bathing suits and cooled off in the pool. Be careful if you are changing in the pool area restrooms as the floors can be wet and very slick. Before I forget, let me mention that this resort shares its property with an Amerisuites and Country Inn hotel on two sides and even though they each have small pools, alot of those hotel guests come over to Calypso Cay's pool to swim (which in their defense, they are allowed to do). The pool was rather small for a vacation condo property and could get pretty crowded. There also were no lifeguards on duty and basically children were running wild. Now don't get me wrong, I have a five year old and know that kids will and should be kids but when 2 and 3 kids at the same time were going down the slide head first and on their backs or jumping off the side of the slide, (or the little girl with no parents in sight, who kept asking me to help her across the pool each time she walked across to the deep end and then got to tired (or heaven forbid - couldn't swim) it was getting a little crazy. Fast forward to near 3:30 and yay! - the room was ready. As we were going over to our section, my mom commented that she hoped the inside looked better than the outside. While the outside was by no means run down, it did seem a little drab even though it was painted in light Caribbean colors of aqua, yellow and salmon colors. Maybe it just needed a good pressure wash all over but we've been spoiled by Disney as we usually always stay on Disney property (I really tried not to keep making comparisons to Disney but I just couldn't help it, I also tried to curb my comments like that as I didn't want to seem ungrateful to my parents as we really did appreciate the trip - though my parents felt the same way). A major eyesore outside of the property is the building their constructing right next door, I assume it's going to be another unit their but at least there was no construction noise that I remembered). Also the highway runs right by (and I do mean right by) Calypso Cay - the bypass wall was adjacent to the back parking lot. We got into our rooms and we were pleased with the accomodations. Instead of a regular two bedroom condo with one outside entrance, my dad was able to get a two bedroom lock-off so basically it was two separate one bedroom units with a connecting door in between. Each unit had a small but full kitchen with stove, fridge, dishwasher and washer/dryer in a closet. My parents were generous enough to let us have the larger of the two units since our five year old was with us in ours. In our living room we had a pull out sofa, two chairs, a coffee table and entertainment center with a T.V., DVD player, VCR, stereo and a computer with free internet. We had the larger of the dining room tables in our unit (one night we pulled over some chairs from my parents when extra family came into to town for dinner) and there was plenty of room for all 8 of us to eat). There was a King bed in the master bedroom and a large whirpool tub in the bathroom (not a corner tub though). The tub area was open to the master bedroom but the toilet was in another separate small bathroom area with two doors that could be closed off - one leading to the tub area of the bathroom and the other door leading to the kitchen. There was also a small counter/bar area and two bar stools. My parents unit was similar except on a slightly smaller scale. Each unit had a screened balcony (we were on the 4th floor). My parents had a view of the new owner's pool (that wasn't open) if they faced their two balcony chairs to the left. We were to the right of their room so could barely see the pool but had a lovely few of the highway wall, wobbly fence and dumpster below and a few sparse palm trees. If you looked far, far, far out into the distance across the highway and to the horizon, you could barely make out the WDW Dolphin's triangular shape jutting out from the skyline. We heard fireworks every night, but alas could not see any. So needless to say, we didn't hang out on the balcony much (it was too hot anyway). The villas supplied you with some basic necessities such as one roll of paper towels, a couple of kitchen trash bags, some coffee packs, a small bottle of dishwashing hand soap, a few packs of dishwasher powder and about 1 - 1/2 rolls of toilet paper. They also had towels, washcloths and hand towels in the bathroom and a couple of hand towels and potholders in the kitchen. They had place settings and silverware for at least four and had most of what you would need for cookware. Pots and pans, casserole dishes, baking pans, mixing bowels, serving and cooking utensils along with a toaster and blender were included. Our stove was missing two of the burner rings and after one phone call and one office visit, we still never got them before checking out. Also, our feet (especially my sons) were starting to get black from walking around the villa (tile floor everywhere except bedroom where there was carpet). Again, one phone call and one office visit later and a promise to come mop each villa, this never happened. We would have mopped it ourselves but there was no mop in the unit. There was a broom and dustpan in my parents (not ours) and one of the smallest vacuum cleaners I've ever seen in each villa). The master bedroom in each had an armoire with four drawers for clothes, a tv and dvd player, two nightstands (If I remember correctly) and an alarm clock. There was also a closet in each of the two bathroom areas in our unit. My parents' bathroom was smaller than ours but it did at least have a whirlpool tup (just again on a smaller scale). Miscellaneous things about this area - if a security gate is important to you, this property does not have one. You can exit Calypso Cay Way by either going out to the left or right of the entrance. One side leads you off to Osceola Parkway area and the other to Apopka-Vineland/Hwy 192. There is a mini putt-putt course there you can play for free, you just have to show your room key at the Amerisuites to get the putters and golfballs and also a cute little children's playground (surface area is sand so they can play in the sand if your kids are inclined). We had messages on our phone each night from the activities director about things going on at the resort each day. It was nice that they made that effort each day especially several things for the kids each day. We were so busy with the theme parks though, that we didn't get to participate. You could also charge drinks, etc. from the pool bar to your room if you wanted. Supposedly there was a shuttle but we had our cars. From what I remember reading, it was maybe 3 morning drop-offs to Epcot each day (and they informed you that you could catch a bus from Epcot to any of the other parks at Disney World from there) and then maybe 3 more pick-ups at Epcot in the evening. I think it was free as long as you went to the Amerisuites and showed your room key and obtained a "boarding pass" but again, we didn't use this service, so my memory may be fuzzy on this. There were plenty of restaurants, stores and other things to do within minutes of Calypso Cay (Super Wal-Mart was about a 2 minute drive away). In sum, these villas were a nice enough place to stay if you are a family looking for a reasonably clean, close place only a few miles from Disney World. Would I stay there again? Not likely anytime soon as there are too many other places around Disney World to try, but maybe in the future once they complete the remaining villas to be built and their new pool opens up as I'm sure that will make the outside property more aesthetically pleasing.