Mariott Grande Vista-opinions please!

[bethie]

My girlfriend was unable to get a Disney timeshare(like that is a surprise ), but did get the Mariott Grande Vista. Has anyone stayed there before? Any info would be helpful?

Also, if I should have asked this particular question on another board, I apologize. Thanks so much!

Beth

 

[littlestar]

Hi.

My brother has stayed at the Marriott Grand Vista twice. He loves it. We have a family trip planned next month. Grandparents, my family, and my brother's family. We are at the Wilderness Lodge Villas and my brother decided to stay again at Marriott Grand Vista. I think I remember his wife telling me about a nice indoor playground their kids used on their last trip. They said their condo was really nice the last time they stayed there. It's rated high on the Timeshare User site also (TUG).

We plan on visiting his condo (he said we had to see it) and we told him he had to see the Wilderness Lodge Villas, so I'm sure between the three families we'll visit both places.

 

[bethie]

Allright! Sounds great so far. Thank you so much for replying. I am pretty excited. Counting the days!

 

[sasha98]

My family and I have stayed there three times over the past two years. It is very nice. We own a Timeshare in Hawaii and have traded into/utilized bonus weeks for these three trips. Also, we just visited WDW from August 25-September 5. Used Bonus week for first 7 nights at the Marriott Horizons (right around the block from the Grande Vista and across the street from Marriott Cypress Harbour). It was very nice as well. The accomodations were a notch below the Grande Vista, but my four year old LOVED the Pirate Ship in the pool and the water park area. If you have not seen it you should take a visit if you can. The rest of the time was spent for our first visit to our new home at the BCV. Which, of course, was very, very nice. Matter of fact, since returning home, we added on another 100 points!

Countdown to our next visit, 16 days. We will visit OKW from October 3-12 --- With a stop on the 11th for Mickey's Very Scarey Halloween Party - should be fun.

Enjoy the Grande Vista!

 

[bethie]

Thanks Sasha98! Keep those opinions coming!

 

[Dean]

We were there in March. As long as they don't have a studio, it should be fine. Just a little out of the way but not that much.

 

[llp479]

My sister and family own at Grande Vista. They'll be back for their annual trip in November. Hey, it may be further to WDW, but it's closer to the outlet mall!

My sister gets the 2 bdrm for herself, DH, 3 DC, and our mom. I've seen pictures, my mom says it's very nice. Of course, she owns two Marriott timeshares herself.

Marriott has the same standards of customer service that Disney does, so be sure to complain if something isn't right.

 

[mzzbuzzlightyear]

We have stayed at the Marriott Grande Vista twice..both times with 4 adults and 3 small boys. We all enjoyed it. The boys loved the pools and the playgrounds.( and of course the Pizza!)
The Units we stayed in were lovely. Both had a screened-in balcony overlooking the Golf Course. The Units are comparable to OKW!
June

 

[Richyams]

They are not comparable to OKW.

We stayed there on a promo thing, no pressure, enjoyable tour, nice sales guy, no pressure at all.

My impression was that the units were tiny, like BWV and VWL. They were no where near the size of OKW, not even in the ballpark.

There were a bunch of little things that were sub-DVC.....there was no towel rack or hanger within ten feet of the shower, the kitchen was slightly larger than BWV but not even in the same league as OKW.

The walk to the room was not bad, but I found the resort very un-disneylike. It just had no flair or zeal, either in design or employees.

 

[CLC]

We stayed for a Friday and Saturday night at the Marriot Grande Vista in August (to minimize those weekend points at DVC). The kids wanted to go to Universal, so it worked out great. And Seaworld is almost right across the street.
We paid about $150 per night for a 2 bedroom unit, but you can do better if you go to a sales presentation (we didn't). The unit was pretty good size, with the living room, dining area and kitchen being larger than DVC. The bedrooms were also good sized. Everything was well equipped, and the balcony was large-similar to OKW.
If we were to go again, we would ask for a room close to the pool. We were quite far away and needed to drive there (again, similar to OKW). The pool was very nice. There was actually more than one pool-there was a lap pool, a winding pool with a waterfall and a kids area. Also, there were 2 hot tubs.
The only downside was that to do anything you had to get in your car and drive. With two 17 year old boys, we were always dropping them off or picking them up. A golf course surrounds the property, but we are not golfers. Many others would enjoy that!
It didn't seem as much of a themed community to me as the DVC resorts-where I felt I was in my own special place. My husband didn't seem to notice this as much as I did.
But we would (will) definately return for a Friday and Saturday night when we want to go to Universal, Seaworld, and other attractions outside of Disney World. I think you'll like it a lot! But to actually do Disney-staying on site is great and very convenient. We did spend the following week at BCV.

 

[Werner Weiss]

Originally posted by Richyams
My impression was that the units were tiny, like BWV and VWL. They were no where near the size of OKW, not even in the ballpark.

I agree that OKW feels bigger, although that's not really the case. At Marriott's Grande Vista, a 2-BR unit is 1,296 sq.ft. That's very close to the size of a 2-BR at OKW (1,333 sq ft) -- and much larger than BWV, VWL, and BCV.

For all sorts of information, including pictures amd floor plans, see http://www.vacationclub.com/en-us/vc/resorts/GV/default.asp

We spent a week in a 3-BR two years ago (a 2-BR + connecting studio). Grande Vista is a very nice place, but, as others on this thread have noted, it lacks the Disney touches and atmosphere that we're accustomed to from the DVC resorts.

For someone trading in from another II-affiliated timeshare, it's an excellent choice in the Orlando area. (I also like Marriott's Cypress Harbour.) As Beth's girlfriend discovered, there are far more II members trying to trade into DVC resorts than there are DVC members trading out into II. And the DVC trading rules are set up in such a way that primarily lower season weeks at OKW and HH get deposited to II. Fortunately, the II members who can't trade into DVC resorts can trade into other excellent Orlando area resorts.

 

[Richyams]

Leave it to Werner to have the numbers....it definitely did feel smaller. I think it is because the unit is longer and narower.

Thanks

 

[dianeschlicht]

It also looks like the decor is darker and older looking too, which could contribute to it looking smaller.

 

[Niagara2]

Location Locstion Location......we own OKW, BWV and BCV. We also own at Grande Vista. Enough said in past on which is best of Disney's DVC and I like all 3 for very different reasons, but this last August at Marriot Grande Vista we got the check in Building location. No parking near room, going through lobby etc. I almost turned it down but it ws ready at 1pm so took it. Three bedroom and was I pleasantly surprised. Best location we ever had. Cornor room overlooking water and the pool area. Close to get paper, pizza, kids area, pool etc. On Friday they had a calypso band just below us and we felt like we were in the tropics on the big screened in verandah. Some people I am sure would complain that it was loud but we loved it. We have stayed in far out areas before and drove to big pool or overlooked the golf course but this location made our trip. I enjoyed Marriot Grande Vista as much as a DVC pick this trip. PS - we moved for four days into a GV at OKW.....OK - it was much nicer, but not much anywhere can compare to an OKW GV!!!

 

[MBIJ]

We stayed in a 1BR Feb. 2001 and found the accomodations to be very nice. We were there on a promo and took the tour, etc..but didn't buy there. Instead, we recently made our first purchase into DVC at BWV via a resale. In fact, we've never stayed at the BWV yet, so I''m pleasantly surprised to hear that the DVC properties are even nicer that the Grande Vista. Although I did enjoy the golf running throughout the property, we figured: if we're getting in the car to drive to WDW every day/night, then why not buy and stay an WDW???? So we did.