Just back from CPGV, Sheraton Safari, Marriott Orlando Airport, Club Car Restaurant

[sweet maxine]

Well, I thought I'd post my 2 cents worth about these places for anyone interested....

CP Grand Villas

This place was beautiful! The villa was huge, very clean, and the master bedroom with the jacuzzi was wonderful! It was great to have a big screen TV (couldn't miss The Amazing Race!), and I never saw any bugs at all. Check-in was a breeze, as there was no line at all. The front desk staff were all very polite. Our room faced the pools, and we did not find it to be unusually noisy, though the music played at the pool goes on till about 9 p.m. There was no pool noise after that time. Otherwise, our villa was extremely quiet. I think we had neighbors for part of our stay, but if we did, we never heard them. During our stay the grounds crew were mowing and manicuring the shrubs. They really keep this place looking nice! My grandson enjoyed the turtle kiddie pool, and the jacuzzi for adults is great! The location is perfect as you are maybe 5 minutes from Downtown Disney Marketplace. I think on MK days, it took us about 10 to 12 minutes to get parked and ready for the tram pick-up (that was from leaving the villa to parking lot). There are plenty of restaurants around the corner, and I have to put a plug in here for Cici's Pizza. We found the $3.99 buffet to be well worth the visit, and the cinnamon rolls are so yummy!!! For grocery shopping, there is a Winn Dixie about a block and a half away. I even found a quick back way to Sand Lake Blvd. by going straight out on 535 (Apopka Vineland). I would go back here in a heartbeat, and am looking at returning for a Christmas trip.

Sheraton Safari

We stayed here one night on the $59 special from Travelzoo. The place was clean, and the beds were sooo comfy! We ate breakfast (there was no buffet), and even though the menu states "Kids Eat Free", I was charged for my 4 year old grandson. This was even after checking on this with my server. I had my ticket corrected later. The food was okay, but not worth the $10 I paid for a waffle and coffee. The pool here is very nice, but my grandson was extremely afraid of the slide. I was surprised about this, but this slide is a tunnel that looks dark from the top and is for most of the way down to the water. I think it would be best suited for older kids, maybe 7 yrs. or so and up. The baby pool is nice, though the frog fountain was not working at the time. My grandson enjoyed the playground also. I think this place is okay for the price I paid, but I'm not sure I would go back just to stay there.

Marriott Orlando Airport

I got this room on Hotwire for $50, and I have to say it was truly a deal. I was less than 5 minutes from the airport, and the convenience of that meant a lot to me. The room was beautiful, and the bed was very comfy. There is a coffee maker in the room with supplies. We thoroughly enjoyed the indoor/outdoor pool (heated), and there were towels available there for use. The jacuzzi was almost too warm, but very nice! My grandson played in the kiddie pool also. There is an exercise room there also (didn't use it), and a bar and restaurants (didn't use them either). I would absolutely return to the Marriott again, as this was such a value for the price I paid!

Club Car Restaurant

We ate here and used a Restaurant.com certificate. We went at lunch, and I think our total was around $16. I think I paid about $7 for the certificate, so I think it was still a deal. The buffet area is clean, and there were several selections. We had tacos, and blackened fish, and there were smiley potatoes for the kids (also hot dogs and hamburgers). There is a fix-your-own sundae bar here, and of course, we all enjoyed that! I think for basic food and for the discount we got, I felt there was good value here. Kids eat free here from ages 10 and under. The staff was very friendly there, and we enjoyed our lunch. It's not gourmet, but we knew that going in, so we were actually pleased with our food. The blackened fish was quite good!

Well, that's about it. I just wanted to post about those experiences as it seems that questions come up about them on this board. If you have any questions, I'll be happy to answer them. Oh, I almost forgot! We went to Night of Joy on Thursday, and this was a highlight of our trip. Even with the rain, it was still amazing. The music was wonderful!

 

[Mom of Sleepy Bashful and BabyDoc]

Sounds like you had a great time. I'm sooooo glad CPGV keeps getting good reports. My friends are staying there this Nov. (I won it for them through Skyauction) and we will be staying there next year as well. Have you ever stayed at any other time share places in Orlando to compare with CPGV??

Who did you see on N.O.J.?? I would love to do that someday. Was it very crowded?

Thanks again for the report. I enjoyed reading it. Welcome back.

 

[sweet maxine]

Good morning!

I have not stayed at any time shares before this trip. I got this week from the Govt. Employees program, and for $249, I was amazed at the bargain I received! I would definitely do this again for the price, and I had no trouble with any of the paperwork. I received an RCI exchange voucher to present upon check-in, and it was never mentioned to me that I was using the getravel program. I did try to drive around to find the Silver Lake and Summer Bay resorts, but didn't have their addresses, only had an idea of their location. I gave up after going down Sherbeth road to the Animal Kingdom entrance. I thought SL was on Sherbeth road, but I must have been mistaken. I wanted to look over other properties just for future reference, but I was so happy with CPGV and the location. I'm sorry I don't have other experiences to compare with.

I was staying at the Pop Century for one night only on the Thursday of NOJ. A family at the fountain play area asked me if I had bought tickets and told me about a special for resort guests that night only. The tickets were about $12.75 (can't find my receipt), and that was for children or adults. I jumped up and went directly to the front desk guest services and bought my tickets. I got 2 tickets for less than the price of one! I mentioned earlier that it rained that night, and Disney was giving away free rain ponchos for guests of NOJ. What a blessing that was! In the rush to get there, I had forgotten my own! I also received a CD that night upon leaving the park with the NOJ music from the groups. As I had 2 tickets, they gave me 2 CD's. Music was playaed all through the park, and there were no lines for any of the rides. We rode most things several times in a row! I waited for Michael W. Smith to sing, but he started at 10:30 p.m., and my grandson was asleep in the stroller, so I only heard a few of his songs. A local radio station was set up taking requests, and would announce them through the speakers in the park. The characters were there under the tent with the deejay, and danced to the music and posed for pictures. No lines at all for any of this!! It was such a different experience to ride the teacups with the music playing in the background. This was definitely one of my best memories of this trip!

 

[Local_Girl]

Thank you for your reviews, Sweet Maxine! Glad to hear you had such a great trip and enjoyed CPGV. We got a great deal on a villa (not CPGV) in 2002 using AFVC (for the military), which is like a sister site to GETO. Isn't amazing what you can get for that $249?? I'm hoping that we can get another deal either through that site or Skyauction. We're seriously looking at CPGV, but our dates are in April and the availability will probably be more limited.

 

[squitty]

Hi

Thank you for your review on CP, we are staying here in Oct. I have wrote cici's pizza down to try

 

[lorilori]

Good morning and thanks for the great report! We'll be checking in next Friday, a skyauction win. What time did you check in and did you request anything special or are their villas already pre-assigned? I don't like to get manic about which villa I get, but would have to request non-smoking because of my little one's allergies. Also, did you go over to the volcano pool?

 

[sweet maxine]

Good morning!

Lorilori, in answer to your question, I checked in around 1 p.m. on a Friday. The best advice I can give you, and I wish I would have done so myself, is to call early before you leave and give them your requests. I did get a non-smoking unit (I think I was told they were all non-smoking units), and I was close to the "whale" pool. I requested to be closer to the kiddie pool as soon as we went to the unit to see our location, and I was told to be happy with my location. Now keep in mind the place is almost empty due to the recent storms. I checked again, and was told there would be an $80 fee for cleaning to change units. I decided not to pay that much, as it seemed excessive to me. My grandson and I then left for the Nemo Ice show downtown, and I did not have any further time to deal with the room change at that time. When we returned from the show, I stopped back by the office to check again, and was told it would be $45 for the cleaning fee. I was very confused and upset at this point. I didn't understand why they wouldn't switch me before I had used the unit, but the front desk staff there seems a little cool. That was my only complaint about my stay. I ended up switching the next day and paid $45 more against my better judgement. Next time I will call early for my requests, but I didn't see a problem during this stay, as the place was only about 1/3 full. They probably did well with the cleaning fee, as we only used the twin beds, and messed up 2 towels. It must have taken 5 minutes tops to "clean" the unit.

Oh well, live and learn....

Edited to add...

We did go over to the volcano pool, but I did not think it was heated and the water was a little too cool. The weather had been cool that week, so I guess the water temp reflected that. There were a few kids there playing and having fun. It's a very short walk, about a block or so from the CPGV--just across the street.

 

[pomcoach]

Thank you so much for your review of the Airport Marriott! I am so glad you liked it! We will be staying there the end of December. We won 2 rooms on Priceline for $38 each. It sounds like a great bargain!
Pomcoach

 

[lorilori]

hi sweet maxine - thanks again for the answers. i'm very happy to hear you checked in at 1PM. we're checking in on a friday so i hope we can check in that early as well. did they offer you unit choices like where you could look at the map and chose or was it whatever they assigned you? thanks!

 

[sweet maxine]

Lorillori, I was not given a map to look at for a selection of villa locations. As you can tell from my post earlier, I was a little disappointed with our location that we were assigned to, and called immediately afterward to change. That is when I was told to be happy with where I was placed. I did say something to the desk person that I was never offered a choice, and seeing as how the resort was so empty, it would have been nice to at least be offered a choice. That is when the front desk person told me about the $80 cleaning fee to change. I guess he didn't want to deal with it. I had not used the villa at that time, but had merely walked in and looked around. Make sure that you get to at least look at the map, or get out of your car and walk around. Building C and D are close to the turtle pool, and also building B. I don't think there is any "bad" location here, as they all surround the pool and putt-putt areas. I just wanted to be closer to the baby pool and at least have a view. My original assigned villa looked over the parking lot.