Marriott Vacation Clubs, Royal Palms, Imperial Palms or Sabal Palms?

[abbynlindsaysmom]

Hi, we are going to Orlando for two weeks next April and plan to stay on property one week and then off the second. We have stayed at the Marriott Grande Vista and Marriott Cypress Harbour both we loved (GRande Vista more because of bar/Restaurant on site and better pool). We looked at Horizons and have no interest in staying there- too close to the thruway. Anyway, we are thinking about Royal Palms, Imperial or Sabal Palms because you can use the Marriott WorldCenter pool and it is supposed to be awesome. My neighbor is telling me to stay at Sabal because the rooms are big but she hasn't stayed there in years and hasn't stayed at the other two. Does anyone have any opinions on these resorts and which is best? I am looking at "best" meaning:

- closest to Marriott World Center pool ie. walking distance if possible

-updated rooms

-roomiest rooms

Anyone have any advice for me that has stayed there recently? Thank you!

Justine

PS Also, if you have stayed at any and didn't like them for some reason, I welcome that feedback as well.

 

[jeff968]

Justine,
We stayed at Imperial palms a few years ago. Overall, we did not like it. We did get a 3 bedroom which was nice and the only 3 bedroom marriott you will find. It is just that all three of the Marriott time shares there are very quiet. We love Cypress Harbor, the way it is set up and everything it has to offer. We have stayed there multiple times. The pool at the world is incredible but it is a pain to get to from the resorts. They have a shuttle but you have to wait. It is about a 10-15 minute walk and there were no sidewalks. What I disliked most was the way they mix the business community staying at the world with family vacationers. i did not like having guests in business suits in line with me in my swim suit with kids in tow in the food court. You'll find the shuttle drops you off at the front lobby and again, here you are with your pool stuff mixing it up with people that are working. I want to be comfortable being casual on vacation and i was not when we stayed at imperial palms. If you are okay with that then you'll be fine. Just be prepared for the shuttle waits. And the shuttle stops at both areas (imperial/royal then sabal) everytime, dropoff and pickup. If you have to pick one of these 3, don't do Royal as it only has the one shared pool with Imperial and if you get stuck down at the end there is no pool and a road right there. That said, we stayed at Horizons a year ago and i liked it.
Good luck.

 

[Detailor]

Hi, we are going to Orlando for two weeks next April and plan to stay on property one week and then off the second. We have stayed at the Marriott Grande Vista and Marriott Cypress Harbour both we loved (GRande Vista more because of bar/Restaurant on site and better pool). We looked at Horizons and have no interest in staying there- too close to the thruway. Anyway, we are thinking about Royal Palms, Imperial or Sabal Palms because you can use the Marriott WorldCenter pool and it is supposed to be awesome. My neighbor is telling me to stay at Sabal because the rooms are big but she hasn't stayed there in years and hasn't stayed at the other two. Does anyone have any opinions on these resorts and which is best? I am looking at "best" meaning:

- closest to Marriott World Center pool ie. walking distance if possible

-updated rooms

-roomiest rooms

Anyone have any advice for me that has stayed there recently? Thank you!

Justine

PS Also, if you have stayed at any and didn't like them for some reason, I welcome that feedback as well.

We were at Sabal Palms in late June/early July last year and liked it. The resort had been recently refurbished. The Sabal Palms buildings are two-stories high in a sort of modular set-up - for every ground-level villa there's a second-story villas above which is accessed by a flight of stairs (no elevators, no hallways). By far, it is the closest to the hotel of the tri-Marriott timeshares. The resort is tucked in behind the northwest corner of the hotel and a short walk to the large pool complex and other hotel amenities. The 2BR villas are a little bit bigger than those at Cypress Harbour and quite a bit bigger than the Grande Vista 2BR villas. They're also a little bit bigger than those at Royal Palms (Sabal and Royal Palms villas are set up to sleep six guests). Villas at the four-story Imperial Palm Villas resort are all three bedroom units (sleeps 10) quite spacious (larger than Grande Vista 3BR units which are pretty big).

Royal Palms and Imperial Palm resorts are quite a distance from the hotel (they are located together on the northeast part of the property with Royal Palms bordering Sheraton's Vistana Resort to the north and SR 535 to the east). There's an internal resort shuttle to transport guests from the resorts to the hotel. The pool at Royal Palms is the largest of those at these resorts and Royal Palms features a small Marketplace Express store (you won't be impressed if you shopped at the Marketplace stores at Cypress Harbour or Grande Vista). Imperial Palms is a large four-story building while Royal Palms is made up of several three and four story buildings.

Since you'd like to be close to the hotel's amenities, I think that Sabal Palms is the obvious choice. Ask for an end unit and one on the second floor (if you don't think you'd mind the short flight of stairs). The staff there is very accommodating.

Dick Taylor

 

[abbynlindsaysmom]

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