Marriott Cypress Harbour vs. Grande Vista?

[Angeliki19]

Hi! We have stayed before at the Sabal Palms when we were going to WDW, but this trip will be Universal only, so wondering if anyone has any input on Cypress Harbour vs. Grande Vista? They are priced pretty much the same and seem similar as far as distance to USF?

TIA!

 

[ArwenMarie]

We've stayed at Grande Vista. We stayed in a 3 bedroom which was huge. The units are nice, housekeeping was amazing. The pools were a bit disappointing for my kids at the time, no water slides. The pools are also very crowded, and people hog chairs in the morning with their towels, but that happens everywhere It's a big property, which we didn't mind. The unit was very quiet.

 

[dancin Disney style]

I've stayed at the Grande Vista twice. ABSOLUTELY love it!!!! The property is gorgeous and the villas are very comfortable. All villas have a view of something...could be the golf course or pool or water ways. Our first trip was for 2 weeks and we spent half that time hanging out at the pool, second trip was a full out R&R trip so we were at the pool all day, every day. Never once did we see people reserving chairs that they were not using. Not saying it doesn't happen but we didn't have that experience. There is a kids water play area at the Copa Loca pool and hot tubs at both large pools. The main pool also has a lap pool. If you stay as a 'hotel' guest you get housekeeping but if you stay as a timeshare guest you do not. As a timeshare guest if you are there more than 7 days you get housekeeping once every 7 days. We found all the staff to be very helpful and courteous. There are plenty of activities of you wish to partake. Lots of food options that are reasonable prices and a Starbucks counter off the main lobby.

 

[Angeliki19]

I've stayed at the Grande Vista twice. ABSOLUTELY love it!!!! The property is gorgeous and the villas are very comfortable. All villas have a view of something...could be the golf course or pool or water ways. Our first trip was for 2 weeks and we spent half that time hanging out at the pool, second trip was a full out R&R trip so we were at the pool all day, every day. Never once did we see people reserving chairs that they were not using. Not saying it doesn't happen but we didn't have that experience. There is a kids water play area at the Copa Loca pool and hot tubs at both large pools. The main pool also has a lap pool. If you stay as a 'hotel' guest you get housekeeping but if you stay as a timeshare guest you do not. As a timeshare guest if you are there more than 7 days you get housekeeping once every 7 days. We found all the staff to be very helpful and courteous. There are plenty of activities of you wish to partake. Lots of food options that are reasonable prices and a Starbucks counter off the main lobby.

We went ahead and booked Grande Vista! I am so excited. Did you rent a car? We are planning on using Uber to go to and from Universal and Legoland. Hopefully it won't be too bad!

 

[dancin Disney style]

We went ahead and booked Grande Vista! I am so excited. Did you rent a car? We are planning on using Uber to go to and from Universal and Legoland. Hopefully it won't be too bad!

You should look into getting a car. There is nothing to very little within walking distance. You should be able to rent a car for the same or less than you would spend on Uber.

 

[Bloom28]

We stayed at GV in Oct 15 and used Uber all the time, it was excellent. Going again this October, and planning Uber again. When we priced car hire (we are from UK if it makes a difference) and the cost of parking each day, we saved around £200 when we tallied up what we spent on Ubers. Also meant we could go straight to dinner from park and husband could have a beer, or we could have wine with dinner. Also we found we were always dropped off a lot closer to the entrance than we would've been with a car and parking. Less stress as well.

 

[Angeliki19]

We stayed at GV in Oct 15 and used Uber all the time, it was excellent. Going again this October, and planning Uber again. When we priced car hire (we are from UK if it makes a difference) and the cost of parking each day, we saved around £200 when we tallied up what we spent on Ubers. Also meant we could go straight to dinner from park and husband could have a beer, or we could have wine with dinner. Also we found we were always dropped off a lot closer to the entrance than we would've been with a car and parking. Less stress as well.

Glad to hear it worked out for you! Yeah, I think that unless it saved us a LOT of money, we would rather not drive ourselves. We both like to drink on vacation. Having never been to Universal Orlando, do uber's drop you off close to the gates or is it somewhere further you have to walk?

 

[Bloom28]

Glad to hear it worked out for you! Yeah, I think that unless it saved us a LOT of money, we would rather not drive ourselves. We both like to drink on vacation. Having never been to Universal Orlando, do uber's drop you off close to the gates or is it somewhere further you have to walk?

At Universal we were dropped off really close I'm sure. Just at bottom of escalators. I honestly don't recall anywhere thinking "oh that's a long way to walk" in any of the parks. We did always order our Uber once we had left our apartment, when we were outside the barrier as I assume they cant get in this barrier without your card, and if we ordered in in the apartment, I guess the pick up point would be slightly out (as they get this from your phone location) if we then left to meet it at the barrier. Be interested to hear how others went ahead to order an Uber from their room. It wasn't a biggie, but would just mean if we knew we were going to be ready in 10 mins we could order rather than having to wait till we were ready then waiting the 10 mins at least for it to turn up. Hope this makes sense and I would definitely be interested to hear if folk ordered while still in their room.

 

[Bloom28]

Ah my husband has since went onto tell me the main reason we ordered outside the apartment was that we didn't have a great phone signal inside. I don't think we ever waited longer than 10mins for the Uber so waiting outside wasn't an issue anyway.