just won silver lake on sky auction

[magic kingdom park]

I was wondering how it compares, it looks nice but you never know, I have stayed at Orange Lake, Vistana, and last year we stayed at Orbit One, anyone tell me their experience do's and don'ts of silver lake. Thanks

 

[A Mickeyfan]

I won it thru SkyAuction summer of 2005. I liked it because of the location. I had the 2 bedroom in one of the bldgs overlooking the pool. The rooms were decent, lots of tile. Nice kitchen area. Had two balconies. What I didn't like was that the halls were really dirty. The day we checked in, they were cleaning the rooms I guess from those that checked out. One of the garbage bags must have ripped a little making crackers & crumbs fall out. Well they were there nearly the entire stay! My first night there were roaches in the unit. I called & they did come the next day to spray. They told us we had to leave the unit so they could do a good job of it. They said they would be there first thing in the morning. Well, they weren't & that made us have to stay out the enitre day which was a little inconvient since it rained in the afternoon & we had no place to go (left the parks) .. so we went to the Fl Mall. The back entrance gate was easy to get out of, but never worked correctly to get in. I do think they have since fixed it. The location is about the best for something off property (other than new Fairfiled). The parking was always good, the grounds do need some sprucing up. There were lots of dirt piles & weeds behind a fence. To be fair, they did say that they planned on expanding over there, not sure if they did yet.
They didn't hassle you to go to a presentation. In fact, we did one just because it was raining. We had our free lunch & got $70 cash out of the deal. They did show us a really nice unit during the presentation & I asked why the unit we were in didn't look like that ...oh, that is because they showed us the Silver Points unit... not the standand.
On the whole, it wasn't a bad place & I would stay again. This year I stayed at Vacaction Village at the parkway.. now those units are hugh! Really nice too... not so many things to do like SilverLake but would stay there over SilverLake any day...
Silver Lake does have the one pool (only one I saw), tennis courts, basketball courts, indoor putting range (for a fee) there was a mini movie thearter, free computer room, workout center, a so-so game room & other activites by the pool that we never did. Not all the units come with a washer & dryer (at least they didn't then). Ours did, but if you have one that doesn't they do have free ones to use. The bldg we were in was were every thing was located at.. which was a plus since it rained more than the usual summer rains for this area..
Have a great time.. hope this helped you

PS... never stayed at the others you did.. but I can say, SilverLake cannot compare to them for things to do.. they are much much better than Silver Lake.

 

[lawgs]

magic kingdom

do not know if it was mentioned in the auction, but silver lake resort is now charging HOUSEKEEPING charges even to people who exchange in

you might want to check so you are not surprised when you check in and hey ask for payment or credit card to cover the charge

 

[magic kingdom park]

you know, I seen that but I was thinking it was just if you wanted housekeeping for the week, which I usually don't do, I just make the beds and use the dishwasher my self, if not oh well, I won the auction for $50 and use the code and got another $50 off so I guess maybe I didn't do to bad. I will call and check on that though.

 

[magic kingdom park]

you know, I seen that but I was thinking it was just if you wanted housekeeping for the week, which I usually don't do, I just make the beds and use the dishwasher my self, if not oh well, I won the auction for $50 and use the code and got another $50 off so I guess maybe I didn't do to bad. I will call and check on that though.

And as far as having things to do at the resort, I don't care we don't use them, we stay at the parks from morning til night.

 

[JudyS]

you know, I seen that but I was thinking it was just if you wanted housekeeping for the week, which I usually don't do, I just make the beds and use the dishwasher my self, if not oh well, I won the auction for $50 and use the code and got another $50 off so I guess maybe I didn't do to bad. I will call and check on that though.

Is $50 the total auction price, or is there a $195 "service fee," too? Also, what was the housekeeping fee?

 

[magic kingdom park]

the $50 was the price of the auction +195.

 

[lawgs]

so basically you got it for 215$

the price of auction $ was taken out by the code $

 

[bearzabout]

The most important advice for Silver Lake is to not expect too much. It is hard to be disappointed if your expectation aren't that high. I have stayed there dozens of times and you never know what you are going to get.

Most of my stays were fine, but you have to overlook a lot of issues (maintenance, cleanliness, stained furniture, bad room locations (building 4), broken sprinklers spraying at the building entrances, construction messes, lack of parking by buildings 8 & 9, missing batteries from remote controls, broken coffee pots and dryers, keys that stop working in the middle of the week, missing door stops so you can't keep the lockoff's bedroom door open, etc). That said, if you luck out and get a good room location and a clean room where everything works, then it can be fine.

I love the short drive to the parks. I did not enquire about the maintenance fee and was not charged it during my last stay. I don't know if it was just an oversight, but I recommend not bringing up the topic unless they do.

Other recommendations: If they assign you a crappy location, floor or view, be kind to the desk staff and pleasantly ask for a change. They have always accommodated my requests.

Always book a two bedroom since some of the one bedroom units are not great.

Bad locations (as far as I am concerned) are on the first floor facing the parking lot in any building or anything in building 4 (faces Sherbeth Road). Rooms that face the pool in buildings 1700 and 1800 can be noisy , but the views are nice.

Just think of how much money you saved and compare it to a $30/night hotel. You'll think it is fantastic!!

 

[JudyS]

The most important advice for Silver Lake is to not expect too much. It is hard to be disappointed if your expectation aren't that high. I have stayed there dozens of times and you never know what you are going to get....

Wow, lots of good info, Bearzabout!

I'm wondering, though, with all the great timeshares in Orlando, why you've stayed at Silver Lake dozens of times if you don't always get a unit that you like?

 

[sln88]

my niece, sister and her in laws just got back from there and they really liked it

trust me, with my sister, if it was a dump or had bugs, we would have heard about it!

they had the 3 bedroom- maybe those are newer?

 

[bearzabout]

I love Silver Lake because of the short drive with little or no traffic. I like driving and staying in a bigger, cheaper place more than taking Disney buses and staying on site.

I access Silver Lake through the new entrance from Sherbeth Rd. There is little traffic, only one traffic light and since it is just beyond the park boundaries, you don't have to see much of the "real world" going to and from the resort.

I like the rooms better at Cypress Pointe and VVAP, but I like Silver Lake's location better. I don't spend much time at the resort so amenities outside my room don't matter to me.

If location matters, it is worth the risk. Most stays are just fine, but you can't let the little problems get to you.