Marriott Grande Vista

Robinrs

DIS Veteran
Joined
Sep 7, 1999
My son, 13 and I stayed there 4/2 -4/5/06. I found a 4 day 3 night package on www.tug2.net for the ridiculous price of $149. I would've paid that much per night for this place!

We had a one bedroom which was about 800 square feet. When you enter there is a full kitchen with a breakfast bar and stools. The kitchen has a full sized refrigerator, a stove, microwave, sink, dishwasher and coffee maker. On the counter is a box with the words Vacation starter that included everything from dish detergent to coffee to a granola bar! :teeth: In the kitchen area is a stacked washer and dryer in it's own closet (came in soooo handy!!). There is also a pantry if you have the need. The kitchen is fully stocked with just about everything you need for food prep, pots pans glasses dishes, you name it! There were six of everything.

Pass the kitchen is a full dining area with a glass top table and 6 chairs. The decor of this unit was just beautiful, in an updated Tuscan style. The living area included a sofa bed, a comfy chair and a 32" TV in an armoire. There is a door to the patio and to the bedroom. The bedroom... sigh... is just lovely. A king sized bed and a chaise for all the lounging and sleeping you desire! The TV is in a niche across from the bed. There is a closet with a safe and a dresser for your clothing. Next to the bed is a HUGE two person jacuzzi. It has a timer... which I found PRICELESS because my son could've spent an eternity in it.. and a dressing area. Thru the door next to the jacuzzi is a very large bathroom with a glass shower. This place is just GORGEOUS!

We were used to not having housekeeping with these deals but NO, we had a maid come in everyday! They made the beds, refreshed the towels, cleaned the bathroom and kitchen and put all of the dishes in the dishwasher. Did I say I LOVED THIS PLACE???

We were in building 95, a refurbished building, which I was told was one of the BETTER buidings. We were in a corner unit so we had a hexagonal patio and we had the BEST pool view ever!

The pool was just EVERYTHING. There were sprayers everywhere, fountains and zero entry areas. The lounges were beautiful and comfortable. Pool towels are provided in the unit but there are more by the pool.

I did not eat at the resort but did check the prices of the Pizza Hut Express by the Marketplace. They were VERY affordable, not inflated like some other places do. There is also a sit down restaurant onsite, Jakes.

At the front desk they give you a paper that tells you how to get to everything in the area. This place is centrally located, you can get to Disney in 10 mins, Universal in 10 mins and SeaWorld in 3 mins.. (it's right up the block!) We went to the Publix and filled up the fridge with breakfast foods and snacks, save a forture especially with a teenager... do they EVER stop eating???? :confused3

We got the price because we agreed to take the tour. Wow, what a piece of cake! The salesman we had was just awesome. There was NO pressure at all and the program was the best I'd ever heard!

Everyone was friendly and kind. It was like a dream!

I'd recommend it to anyone. Please let me know if you need any more info.
:thumbsup2
 
Sounds like a great place!!! Exactly where or how did you find that timeshare promotion? Thanks!
 
Robin,

Did you ever post pics of the hotel? I am almost 90% convinced to book here for our short trip in December. Just wanted to know if you had pics

:banana:
 


mama3princess:

No I didn't because my pics came out too dark! I've since replaced my camera and gotten rid of that mess!

Take my word for it, the pics from the site are very close to the real thing. It's a breathtakingly beautiful resort.
 
My neighbors swear by this resort.

How were the beds? Were they comfy?? Pillowtops by any chance?? How was the noise level from your room? Where would you recommend within the resort that might be quieter? Thanks! ;)
 
The beds were extremely comfortable! I was sleeping on a futon at home and immediately went out to buy a mattress after sleeping there. Only thing bad about it was you NEVER want to get up! Sorry, I didn't check what kind it was, the housekeeping changed the bedding for us.

I never once heard a neighbor, never once! I was on the 5th floor and there was 6 floors, never heard anyone above or beside me.
 


I am posting this morning from the patio of our unit at Marriott Grande Vista. The resort is beautiful. It's a golf resort, and the grounds, not only the golf course, are probably the best manicured I've ever seen.

We are guests this week of my husband's parents, who are timeshare owners at this resort. We are staying in a unit like the OP posted, a one-bedroom. This is a lockout with an adjacent smaller studio unit, from what I was told. We have screened-in patio on our unit, however the units on both sides of ours have an open porch. Our building, "Galleon," overlooks part of the golf course, although there are trees blocking a direct view. The golf course hasn't been terribly busy on the days we've been out on our patio.

I can't speak for the comfort of the main bed as we are on the sofabed for the week. Avoid at all costs! ugh. We brought a feather bed to put on top of the mattress, but that can't fix the horizontal and vertical dip in the bed. It's like sleeping in a bowl.

There is a large lagoon in the center of the resort that you can walk around. You can also rent pedal boats (choice of yellow duck or white swan) to float around in. Bicycles and pedi-carriages are also for rent. I don't know the rates. There is a small sand beach with a volleyball court.

The pool areas are very nice. There are plenty of hot tubs, and plenty of areas for kids to play. Pool areas are scattered all over the resort, but the pool across the lagoon from the registration building is the most elaborate with fountains and squirters and waterfalls. If you have kids who love the water, I'd request a unit in one of the buildings on that side of the lagoon. (There are at least two new buildings under construction there).

The main building has the registration areas as well as the general store, or marketplace as I think they call it. Be aware that although the resort advertises Starbucks and Krispy Kreme, what they really mean is that they have three caraffes of Starbucks coffee and a wall of KK donuts (freshness questionable) for sale in the general store. You'll be getting no mochachino here. The building also features a bar, an exercise room with lots of nice looking equipment, and a kids' play area that seemed very popular. There are also pool tables both indoors and out, in a screened in area.

One of my favorite "finds" in the main building is a photo printing kiosk back by the play area. It's similar those in your corner drugstore where you can take the memory card from your camera, insert it into the unit, and make digital prints. The prices are very reasonable.

We had lunch on-site at Nick's Restaurant, which is next to the resort's Nick Faldo golf insittute. The lunch was good, and the service was excellent. Prices weren't terrible. There were only a few other diners sharing the restaurant with us at that time. We haven't tried the other on-site places yet. The Marketplace shop has a small sandwich counter.

My in-laws really enjoyed their lessons at the Nick Faldo Golf Institute. They had private instruction which included a video assessment of their swing as compared to that of Nick Faldo. They are looking forward to more rounds of golf here this week.

I've posted some photos of the resort and also pool area photos on my blog. And I'll update here with more info as necessary.
 
Wow! Thanks, Rae! I am soooo jealous, I wish I was there!

My son had the luck of being on the sofabed, he didn't complain too much because he had the TV and the DVD player to himself. When I asked him if it was comfortable he just said it was "okay"... 13yo boys!

Thanks for the review of the golf course and restaurants. I didn't do much at the resort because my son is a Universal fiend and we spend most of our days there.

Have fun!
 
Get Glowing,

Thanks for posting those pics. My head is about to :furious: (not angry explode but confused) because I need to make a decision and I just cant make up my mind between OLCC or MGV. THat sofa bed looks great my kids will probably do good on that! Oh Boy I just wish I could make up my mind : :lmao: So does my family!!
 
Keep in mind -- the sofabed in my pix from Marriott Grande Vista has been augmented with a featherbed (feather mattress pad) that we brought from home.

Last night we figured out a trick to make it more comfortable -- sleep with our feet toward the back of the sofa and our heads at the "foot" of the sofa bed. It was much better. I'll let you know how Night Two of that experiment goes in about eight hours. LOL
 
Thanks Getglowing,

we have an aerobed that we will put on top of the bed to help out if we go that route. How is the crowd level around MGV? When we go we will be going for the resort because we will only do the Disney MVMCP and that is all.
 
We haven't spent a whole lot of daytime time around the resort, so I can't give you an accurate level. The parking lots have been about three-quarters full when we come back from the parks at night. The one day we spent around the resort, it wasn't overrun with other people. The crowd level was comfortable. YMMV.
 
We recently returned from MGV and I have some additional photos for those who might be interested. There are 15 photos each in the albums labeled "Marriott Grande Vista 2006" and "My Public Shoebox" here:

MGV Photos

If anyone has specific questions about the resort, I'll be glad to try to help.
 
As mentioned above, I went to this tug2 site but cannot find the owners referral area. Some help please? Thanks,
michellek
 
MichelleK said:
As mentioned above, I went to this tug2 site but cannot find the owners referral area. Some help please? Thanks,
michellek

It's in the left hand column close to the bottom under -promotions-
 
Just putting in my 2 cents as well....We Loved This Resort!!

It was extremely spacious, beautiful grounds, awesome pools, and so close to everything. Really not one bad thing to say. This resort will be our Orlando "home" for any future trips!
 
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. 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). They building all have outdoor hallways and only one elevator. Some building 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.

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
 
We/ve stayed here alot because my sis is a timeshare owner AND they have a Marriott VISA (?) card for their business purchases, so she lhas LOTS of points and consequently gets very cheap deals (like they will rent a studio on points and can upgrade to a 2br for $79/week, so we pay the extra and get to stay the week, ETC>). I think MCV is terrific, although I do prefer the lightness and decor of Cypress Harbour. JMO...Did anyone mention that they have an outdoor movie screen at the pool? They often play family-friendly movies at night. Sitting on a water noodle, floating around in a pool after dark, watching a movie, knowing that at home it's snowing...PRICELESS!!!
 

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