HGVC Sea World International Center - Sept. 2006 Review

[utahkennedys]

We found a great deal on a 3 BR villa so we decided to jump on it instead of staying at Disney's Old Key West where we are DVC members. We stayed from Sept. 10 - 17, 2006 and had a great time. We have 2 daughters, age 4 and 7 months, and we also took our mothers, so there were 6 of us total. The accomodations were great for our group. There was a studio suite attached to our 2 BR unit, so it was perfect for my mother in law. That room had wonderful decorating, a mini kitchen, dinette and balcony. It would be perfect for a couple and also had a sofa with tv, etc. I preferred the decorating in the studio suite to the decorating in our 2BR. The 2BR villa was very spacious and had a nice layout. We love having a washer/dryer and full kitchen which we always utilize for breakfasts and snacks. With 2 small kids the washer/dryer is a necessity for week long trips for us. We stayed in the Pembroke building which was a short walk to the main pool. I would ask to be near the main pool since our walk was far enough and I don't think I would have enjoyed the outer buildings even though they have a second, smaller pool area closer to those. The grounds of the property were pretty but were in need of maintenance. The buildings were in pretty good shape on the outside and inside apart from a general feeling of "grime" in some areas like greasy dirt on the walls in some places, door handles, doors, etc. I am a clean freak and it really wasn't horrible, but I not accustomed to this at DVC properties. The location of the resort is decent, but it does take a while to reach Disney parks. This was kind of frustrating to our family, but we felt the same about the Marriott Grande Vista when we stayed there last year, and it's just a function of location. We would prefer to stay in Lake Buena Vista near the Downtown Disney entrance. It was a convenient location for Universal Studios however.

The staff at the HGVC were wonderful. From the nice woman who checked us in from S. Africa, to the activities director, to the guy who brought our missing cookie sheet - everyone was friendly and nice. There are loads of activities on site and we only took part in a few. The dive-in movie was a lot of fun at night. It is probably the type of place you could stay for several days and never leave, but we never are able to just relax where we stay. The main pool was beautiful and clean, and there is a covered kids playground, a kids pool, a waterfall pool, and another kids playground all in the main area. The grill was slow and the food just ok, but it was also nice having a little convenience store on site with a deli.

We would consider staying at the HGVC again if we found another great deal, but realized how much we miss staying on site at Disney and the trade-offs would only be worth it to us if we needed a 3BR villa if traveling with family again. Otherwise, it's Old Key West for us!

Here is a link to some photos of the resort:
http://share.shutterfly.com/action/welcome?sid=8Aat3DhizZOGGY

 

[dawgfan]

Great review. Thanks.