Marriott Imperial Palm review 2/18-2/25

[jeff968]

The family and I spent the week in Florida from 2/17 through 2/26 and we spent a week at the Marriott Imperial Palm timeshare. We are a family of 5 and were joined by my MIL and a cousin so we needed a three bedroom which the Imperial Palm offered. We have stayed at many timeshares including Marriott Cypress Harbor. We checked in on 2/18. My first impression was that the resort was much smaller and quieter then what we were used to although everything was beautiful as you would expect in a Marriott. There are actually three Marriott timeshares surrounding the Marriott world convention center. The Imperial Palm (3 bedroom) and the Royal palm (2 bedroom) are together. The Sable Palm is in another section. The Imperial palm is made up of just one large building. There are a number of other buildings that make up the royal palm where you get the 2 bedroom units and the builds at the end of Royal don’t have a pool, just a playground. There was one larger pool in the center section of the resort with two small hot tubs and a sauna. There was shuffle board, one tennis court and a couple of basketball courts. But, as I said, this place was much quieter then Cypress Harbor for example where you will find the activity section where it is all happening for the kids. We also noticed that all the activities were up at the World resort which was a shuttle ride away. We got to our room and settled in. The room was big, very nice, and clean but it hasn’t been updated like Cypress Harbor has. The counter tops weren’t the new stone ones and there some other things that we older but everything was clean and nothing was worn out. That said, one of the workers told me that Imperial Palm was going to be completely remodeled over the summer. There was also a small heated pool on the side of Imperial palm with a kid pool and a hot tub. This was nice as we just went down the stairs for night swims and hot tub sits every night. We spent many days at the resort and only went to Disney. The weather was great as we saw 80s everyday and 88 on Wednesday the 22nd!! Again, there wasn’t much going on at the IP and the kids activities were up at the World resort so we headed up there. It was a pain to get there. They wouldn’t let me park there. I would end up driving everyone up there, drop them off, and then come back to Imperial palm and take the shuttle back. Then we would call the Shuttle to pick us up at the end of the day. The shuttle ride, if we went straight, was about 4 minutes. A little bit of a pain but we got used to it and the World resort was worth the trip. You could walk to the World resort but the sidewalks are closed off because they have started construction on a new piece of the convention center. Keep that in mind travelers over the next 6 months as there will be construction noise between 9-5 at the IP as the construction is next door. The world resort was something else. Big beautiful place with the largest pool I have ever been in. Waterfalls, 2 large hot tubs, a sand area for the kids, kiddy pool, arcade, food court, beautiful rose garden, indoor pool (although we didn’t need it), and a huge pool slide (for a resort). We spent 4 solid days at the World pool getting there at 9-10am and staying to 4-5pm. Lots of lounge chairs with umbrellas, kids programs were all right there and something going on every hour. The Marriott has a spa there as well (my wife made me go and I got my first ever massage). The kids loved it and we had a nice time just laying out and enjoying the sun. We brought some snacks and drinks with us everyday but it seems like we got lunch in the food court everyday as our unit was not nearby as it usually is. This cost us some extra money. It is nice to just get up from the pool and walk to your unit for whatever like we have at Cypress. I also didn’t like that they share the food court with the world conference group. We had a time where we went in to get something in our swim suits and we were surrounded by people in business suits !!! We mainly go to Florida for sun and relaxation and the world (and the weather) delivered on that. The location of the resort was great. All of our familiar places to eat are nearby as is DTD and the outlet malls. Back to the Imperial palm, we had 4 TVs so if someone wanted to watch TV that wasn’t a problem. There was a nice porch that looked out over the golf course. Very pretty but it will be construction noisy over the next few months. At the IP pool the wife found the lake next to it had ducks and water turtles so we spent some time feeding them. The IP resort had a free pizza welcome party on Sunday when we checked. The shuttle ran well. You just asked someone at the front desk and it was there in a few minutes. I would stay here again but we still like the Cypress Harbor better for the family. Everything is set up better for us. Let me know if you have any questions.

 

[Jailen's Gma]

Thanks Jeff for the review. I have been waiting to see how you liked it. We have never stayed at Marriott property, so I was really interested in what you thought. We will be there during the summer with the construction, but I think we will be spending alot of time at the parks or elsewhere. We got a good deal from an owner, so I feel everything will be fine.

I'm glad you had a nice time.
Thanks again
Mary

 

[jeff968]

I don't think the construction will be that big a deal as long as they stick to their own rules and work within the times they say. You can always go up to the world and you won't even know it is going on. Still, I can see that Imperial and Royal Palm are quieter resorts and that may no be quite the same for the next few months.