help with one bedroom at silver lake on SA

[sln88]

They have a 1 bedroom with a full kitchen listed for my dates

There are 5 of us- any idea on if it would be the max 4 or max 6?

The description is:Your vacation home is air-conditioned and features cable television with HBO and a full kitchen with a microwave. A laundry facility is available on site to those guests with no washer/dryer in their unit. 1BR units OCC: Max 4/Pri 4 have 1 bath, 1 queen bed, and 1 sleep sofa. 1BR units OCC: Max 6/Pri 4 have 2 baths, 1 king bed,and 2 queen sleep sofas. 2BR units OCC: Max 8/Pri 6 have 2 baths, 1 king bed, 2 double beds, and 1 sleep sofa. 3BR units OCC: Max 10/Pri 10 have 3 baths, 1 king bed, 2 double beds, 1 queen bed, and 2 sleep sofas. 2BR units OCC: Max 6/Pri 6 have 1 king bed, 1 queen bed and 1 sleep sofa. No pets allowed. Occupancy is strictly enforced. If you anticipate a late arrival or are staying consecutive weeks, please contact the resort in advance. A security deposit of US$200 or a valid credit card is required at check-in The resort has three floors, no elevators.

 

[bearzabout]

I stay at Silver Lake frequenty but would not recommend a one bedroom unit for five people. There is one bedroom with a king bed. The bedroom is rather small. The other sleeping option is the pull out sofa (maybe queen size) in the living room.

I don't recall having two sofas in any of the units I have stayed in. It must be an option, but I would think that it is more likely you will have one pull out sofa.

Have you looked at Orbit One? It is not far from Silver Lake. I have not stayed there, but they are often available and all the units have two bedrooms.

 

[sln88]

thanks
a king and sofa would work out ok for us- what do you think of Silver Lake otherwise?

I have stayed at Orbit One before and it was fine- I like to try new things when I can. It looks like there is more to do at Silver Lake?

They had the Polynesian isles listed last night and it was for a Friday check in which would have worked out great for our dates, but when I went to reserve it, it was gone- I was sooo bummed.

 

[alisonbestford]

We stopped at Silver Lake a couple of years ago in a 2 bed roomed apt.
We really liked it but I've heard others on the boards say otherwise.

 

[bearzabout]

I love Silver Lake because of the easy short drive to the parks. The units themselves are well maintained but not very pretty or homey. There is a lot of tile and glass. Bring slippers for the hard tile floors!

I would choose SL over Polynesian Isle because of the shorter drive and the bathtub. The master bedroom at Polynesian Isle have showers but not jacuzzi tubs. A long soak is a requirement for me after a tiring day in the parks.

 

[sln88]

well, after I had trouble on the Skyauction site last night, I emailed them and asked them to reserve the Polynesian for me and I just heard back from them that I got it!
I am happy because of the Friday check in- saves us the hassle of switching hotels, and the cost because we are leaving on Thurs morn anyhow.
I had almost decided on a 1 bedroom at Celebration with Friday check in, but DH was not too thrilled because we would have had to sneak the little guy in.
This way, I get it all- a new place to try- and all the reviews I read were good, the dates I wanted and 2 bedrooms.
I thought I read that they did have a jacuzzi at the Polynesian?
Is it really that far from the parks?

 

[lawgs]

just found this .....about the polynesian isles

on their website....they have virtual tour there also

http://www.polynesianisle.com/

TWO BEDROOM:
Accommodates up to 6 people, 1,400 sq. ft.
King bed, fold-out queen sleeper and either queen bed or two twin beds. Two full baths (some include a Jacuzzi tub in the master bath). Also features a fully-equipped kitchen, TV with cable, VCR, direct dial phone, ceiling fans, washer/dryer (some outside the unit) and a screened patio or balcony

so there might be some which have jacuzzi and washer/dryer in the unit

when are you going sln, let us know what the accomodations are like


..when we took the tour at sunterra grand embassy beach last january they told us that polynesian was undergoing "upgrade" renovations...and that the square footage was very big .....

 

[lawgs]

sorry double posting for some reason...

 

[sln88]

Hi!!
I am going the end of Oct, so I will let you all know how it is. Looks like a smaller resort, but thats ok, because we are at the parks everyday anyhow. Getting the Friday check in means alot to me. Plus, we save that cost of the hotel room. I usually get the groceries the 1st day we get there- this way, I won't have to worry about getting it in a cooler and moving it. Also, for some reason, even if we only stay somewhere 1 night, it seems to take us 2 hrs to pack up and get out of the room! Drives my DH nuts, so this will be less grumbling I have to listen to from him!
Now, if I could only find some decent airfare down there. and some good National rates.
Anyone know how close this is to a grocery store and fast food?

 

[lawgs]

there is actually a new walmart supercenter just up polynesian isle blvd at the 535......think it just opened this spring.....will be very handy for shopping...

it is probably no more than a half mile away from the resort

as far as fast food you are not far from 192 here....thus there will be a lot of restaurants/fast food within 10 minute drive

we will be there in November, thus our interest in what you think

 

[Musky]

I keep trying to post an answer to this thread and it keeps getting lost somewhere in the great cyber unknown. We returned on the 15th from 7 nights at Polynesian Isles and four nights at Silver Lake. We won them both through Skyauction (we won 7 nights at Silver Lake, also, but we could only stay for four). Given our experiences, I think you made a wise choice, sln88. We were somewhat disappointed with SL. Now, to be fair, we only had a 1-bedroom at SL while we had a 2-bedroom at PI, so naturally the room is going to suffer in comparison. But there were things about it besides the lack of space that disappointed us. First, the beds were awful. Naturally, a sleeper sofa is going to be pretty uncomfortable, but this one was particularly so. And the king-sized bed wasn't too much better - much too soft for my back. Second, I was under the impression, either from the Skyauction website or the Silver Lake website, that we would have a Jacuzzi tub. Well, it was a Jacuzzi brand tub, but it was not a whirlpool tub, just a plain tub. And the drain didn't work. After someone got out of the tub, the next person had to waste 10 minutes waiting for the water to drain before they could get in. But the strangest thing was that the check-out instructions said to put dirty dishes in the dishwasher. And there was plenty of detergent for the dishwasher. But....there was no dishwasher! Our room at PI, by comparison was lovely, spacious and everything worked. And there was a real Jacuzzi....and a dishwasher! It was very recently renovated - in fact, one day I mentioned to DH that I thought it strange there was only one flower arrangement in the room - there were a lot of pieces of furniture that were crying out for some kind of adornment - and the very next day they brought us a bunch of new flower arrangements! There were three areas in which SL was better than PI. One was the location. You really can't beat Silver Lake's. PI's is not bad, though. If you take a right when you come out of PI you can get on the Osceola Parkway and it will take you to Disney with a minimum of lights. The second thing was amenities. SL's were far superior. If there are any teens in your group, they may be disappointed with the amenities at PI. For anyone else, though, it'll probably be fine. The third was that PI is undergoing major construction/renovation. I understand they were very hard hit by the hurricanes last year, and many of their buildings are still not open. It's not very picturesque to be surrounded by dumpsters and piles of lumber, and all that construction equipment sitting in the parking lots made parking spaces hard to find. Still, we preferred PI to SL, and hopefully, but the time you go in October, the construction will be over or nearly so. If you have any questions, I'll be happy to answer them.

Becky

 

[sln88]

Hi
I am glad you got your message to go thru! Thanks for all the info. I do have a teen with me, but we will be at the parks so much that I don't think the lack of amenities will bother her too much. I am excited to try a new place and very happy to hear that you liked it.
Glad to hear about the jacuzzi. I read that some units don't have them tho- hopefully we will be lucky. Do they have anything at all to do besides the pools? I have a 17, 11 and 8 yr old that will be with me. Were the pools ok? warm?

 

[Musky]

The pools were okay but small and there was nothing special about them (i.e., slides, waterfalls, etc.) They were plenty warm - I've never been in a pool in FL that wasn't. In addition to the 2 pools, there are 4 hot tubs, tennis courts, an exercise room (I didn't check it out so I can't tell you anything about it), a small game room (3 games and a pool table), a business center with computers ($5.00/day extra), a putting green, a playground, and according to the info we were given, somewhere there are horseshoes and shuffleboard (never found them). There were also several activities every day (although they may not have as many in October) and they gave you a complimentary newspaper every day (which DH enjoyed). With all the renovations, I would be greatly surprised if the unit you get does not have a Jacuzzi tub. I'm just guessing, but I wouldn't be surprised if that was one of the things they are adding with their renovations.

Becky

 

[Raevyn_Wolfe]

I personally didn't think much of Silverlake when I visited there in 2004.
The room itself was decently clean, but far from spotless.
We stayed in a two bedroom and in fit 6 people well, but I couldn't see fitting anymore in it.
There were no frills, nothing special, and it really just seemed like a really big standard hotel room with a kitchen.
Don't get me wrong, if the price was REALLY right, I MIGHT stay there again. It was comfortable to a degree, cleanish, and we were close to the pool area which was a nice pool. And it was close to Disney's maingate AND there is a shortcut to take you straight to animal kingdom (if you go ask someone working there about it, I forgot it).
I only felt that for being a resort it was lacking, and not worth as many points it requires from RCI. There are some other resorts I plan on trying with less points before I try this one again.

From my understanding, when I took their tour, they are supposed to have just built/renovated (they were building while I was there) some newer, better units. . . so it will be like some other time shares, the newer the better.