Is Marriott Grande Vista the ONLY resort with an Indoor Children's Area?

[devotedchristian]

that you know of?

I am looking for a resort with an Indoor Children's Area or Children's Activity Center.

 

[Connears]

Marriott Grand Vista had an indoor play /climbing area along with craft area.

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. Quiet pool behing the building was very nice and there were a grilling area outside of it(we did not go to the main pool). Pizza hut on site for DS was aplus. 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). The resort is huge will many multi-story stucco buildings.The sall have outdoor hallways and only one elevator. Some buildings 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.

The pictures of Horizon's looks much nicer..oh well. It was cheap and we were not there primarily for wdw.

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

 

[utahkennedys]

Not sure about the other Orlando Marriott's, but Disney's Old Key West and Boardwalk Villas have "community halls" with lots of kids activities and also game rooms. We stayed at the MGV and they had great kids activities we thought, but we didn't use the indoor play area (those kind of gross me out wherever we are!).

 

[spiceycat]

So does SSR

for vwl/wl your children can play in the Club's Den (WDW kids' club) until 4:30pm - when their guest start arriving.

offsite
the Sheraton VIstana resort I think has several places for kids to play.

you realize that the Children's play area has no adult supervision. You have to be there with your child and sometimes the older kids will still try to pick on the younger ones.

this place is not a safe area - unless you are willing to be there and watching your child.

 

[devotedchristian]

you realize that the Children's play area has no adult supervision. You have to be there with your child and sometimes the older kids will still try to pick on the younger ones.

this place is not a safe area - unless you are willing to be there and watching your child.

Absolutely, I am one of those protective parents LOL! I was looking for a resort with a parent's sitting area while I could watch my little one play...Indoors...I don't do well with Outdoor play areas.

The only place I am finding is Marriott's GV, I saw a picture of a Parent sitting on the couch while the kids played on the "Jungle Gym" (tripadvisor.com)

But MGV is too expensive for our family...a 3 bedroom for $345 per night!

 

[Lisa P.]

Devotedchristian, if you will be vacationing for about a week, you may consider renting a week from an owner. A 2BR can often be found for under $1,000 per week or make an offer to an owner with a higher priced listing (some are negotiable). This is generally more reasonable than your nightly rate, if you don't mind the absence of daily housekeeping service. Just a thought.

 

[twinmomplus2new]

I am a long time DVC member as well. and supplement our trips with Marriotts.

I have chosen the grand Vista 3 times in the last 2 years. all times the rooms have been immaculate, the service has been fine. My only complaint has been the excessive speed of people driving around the resort.

My Children have spent a large amount of timeat teh indoor play area. it to is very clean and you can indeed see every aspect of the playspace. There are many couches and chairs. You must supervise your own children. If there are unruly children in the playspace the fitness coordinator is no more than 4 feet away and will remove them. This has only happened to us once by the way.

Connears, I am sorry you seem to have had such a bad experince at grand Vista. I rather enjoyed the tour and the tour Guide kobi Dickinson, was top notch. Better luck next time!