Grand Vista or Vistana?

[ljsmom]

I will be traveling to Orlando this October with family of 3 DS's (2,6,10) and DH. Trying to figure out where to stay. We stayed at the Vistana in April for 4 nights and enjoyed it. We noticed Mariott's Grand Vista is available during our week in October and thought we might try it. Any suggestions? We will be splitting our time between Disney and Universal, and will have a car.
Thanks for any help you can provide.

 

[Connears]

There are many reviews of Marriott GV and Vistana in hotel reviews section. Here is my review of MGV although others have had great experiences.

We (DH and I)stayed here 6/21-6/25/06 while attending a conference at Orange County Convention Center. We were solicited to tour timeshare with rate of $199 for 4 nights(we upgraded to 1 bedroom villa for $149 more total). Let's start by saying we have been DVCmembers since 1994 at OKW and HHI since 2002 with many stays under our belts(also at BWV and BCV). We thought it was a good opportunity to try the offer out for the conference as we didn't want to waste DVC points for the conference. We have APs and went to parks after conference with DS(15).

POSITIVES:
Very convenient location on I-drive very near conference made for easy drive. Villa was very nice with full kitchen master bath with jacuzzi, washer/dryer screened in porch. That is really all the positives I can give.

NEGATIVES:
We checked-in and when we opened the door to our villa, it was totally uninhabitable! Ceiling in bathroom had caved in onto floor and shower,kitechen and bedrooms were dirty. I wouldn't have minded if there had been a housekeeping error, but this room should NOT have even been in the inventory. When we called the desk she forwarded me to the room assigner and she gave me a new villa, but I was told I could wait upto an hour for new keys and assist with luggage unless we wanted to go back to get the keys ourselves(which we did). The buildings are numbered differently from the rooms and it is very confusing(We were in building 98 but our room was 8207). They building all have outdoor hallways and only one elevator. Some building have luggage carts and others do not(our first did, but not the final one). So DH had to lug everything to 2nd floor. New villa was fine.

We asked to be directed to where we could rent dvds and 3 different people sent us to 3 different places!

Everyday there were huge garbage and linen carts in the parking areas which was really unattractive.

Addendum:
Other positives included $100 disney dollars for doing timeshare tour. Very low pressure tour which we of course did not buy. We also we given $50 resort dollars after we spoke to manager about check-in fiasco(which was not the reason we spoke to her, but we did accept it).
Connears

 

[bethbuchall]

Wow! I'm sorry that you had that experience at Marriott's Grande Vista. We were there from 8/12-8/19 and had a wonderful stay. The only negative about our unit was a burn on the kitchen countertop. It didn't bother me, so we never said anything about it.

The staff was very friendly. The resort areas that we were in were well-kept and clean. The drive to WDW was very easy. We thought it was wonderful!

The room numbers do correspond to the buildings. You were in room 8207 which is in building 98, floor 2, room 07. I guess that's not completely intuitive, but they did explain it to me at check-in. We were in 5524...building 95, floor 5, room 24.

 

[connorsgram]

We stayed at MGV last Sept. and will be going back this Sept. We loved it! It was clean, quiet, safe, and spacious. It was beautifully decorated with a jacuzzi tub and separate shower in the master. There is a full kitchen and a washer and dryer. The staff was friendly and helpful. The pools were beautiful and not very busy in Sept. There were neat paddle boats and a big play room. Go for it.

 

[spiceycat]

I will be traveling to Orlando this October with family of 3 DS's (2,6,10) and DH. Trying to figure out where to stay. We stayed at the Vistana in April for 4 nights and enjoyed it. We noticed Mariott's Grand Vista is available during our week in October and thought we might try it. Any suggestions? We will be splitting our time between Disney and Universal, and will have a car.
Thanks for any help you can provide.

which Vistana? Village or Resort.

Resort - then MGV - it is more inbetween both WDW and US. (It is closer to SW actually - but SW is almost inbetween WDW and US)

Village is in the same area as MGV.

but I think I would still pick MGV.

I had alot of problems with the rehab at MGV myself. but they have got to finished with this by now.

How about Cypress Harbour - even when it was doing rehab it got great reviews.

 

[kilee]

Here would be a good thread for you to check out:

http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=1114087