My Vistana Review

[momofmikey]

Got back on 10/30 from a week's stay at the Vistana resort. Checked in on Sunday, 10/23 at noon. Had requested Lakes section top floor. At checkin, they told me we were in the Lakes section, but if we wanted a room now, only first floor was available. We really wanted to get into the room, unpack, and hit the parks before the hurricane hit, so we opted for first floor. We were in room 1870 with a view of the lake.

Room was very nice. I was disappointed, and this may seem silly, with the second bedroom. We were in a unit where the second bedroom window looked out onto the column outside. The room was very dark with only one light, and I wish I could've requested a room that looked out to the sky vs. the wall. When we got there, had two problems with the drawers in the 2nd bedroom. Maintenance was there within minutes to fix. Also requested bedrails which were there within minutes. Got two calls (actually phone doesn't ring - it just goes to voicemail and you see the blinking light) about the presentation, but didn't do it, and that was it. Convenience to the parks was great. Think there could've been more drawer space in the bedrooms, but there are drawers by the TV in the living room which we used for clothes. We were on a timeshare trade, so housekeeping came on Wednesday, and tidied up, ran the dishwasher, and replaced dishwasher detergent. Did a couple loads of wash - I found the machines VERY small, maybe that's standard though. Didn't check out the rest of the resort at all, except the convenience store for Pizza Hut Sunday night. All in all, it was a nice stay.

Honestly, if it was the first timeshare I had ever seen, I'd have sparkling reviews. However, last year, my inlaws stayed in the Marriott Sabal Palms and the room was much nicer and much bigger. Because of that comparison, I was a bit disappointed with the Vistana.

Hope that helps, and hope I don't offend anyone

 

[kilee]

Thank you for sharing your expierence. As for the smaller capacity washers/dryers I think thats pretty standard in the condo type units.

 

[KLAIT]

Hey, we were there at the same time! We checked in on Friday, Oct 21 at about 6 pm. Walked into the lobby and there was a line a mile deep and moving really slow..went over to the Diamond Lane check in and we were in our unit in less than 10 minutes.

I had filled out the Diamond Lane request for Fountains or Lakes, high floor, water view and close to the pool. Received a room on the top floor of Fountains...(she said 2, however,through this board I think Fountains 1) with a pool view, but a little further down which was nice to drown out the pool noise. No problems with the unit until about 5 days into the week. We returned from Disney late and the door would not open...no red or green light/. Went to the check-in counter, she gave us new keys but told us they would probably not work as the battery in the lock was probably dead and that she would send engineering over shortly. We waited for about a half an hour and 2 guys showed up. come to find out the unil below ours had the same problem earleir in the day which was fixed and now they could not get theirs to lock....one guy changed the battery and still nothing...they had to call security to overwrite something or other to let us in...and they spent another hour fixing ours and were still working on the unit below ours.

Through this board I also knew to avoid the "welcome packet" desk after check-in. Received about 4 calls for the timeshare pitch....when my son answered the phone, he gave the phone to me and it was a pretty hard pitch...even asking to talk to my little guy..no way that was going to happen.

That being said, we absolutely loved the Vistana and would go back in a heartbeat!

 

[MiaSRN62]

Got two calls (actually phone doesn't ring - it just goes to voicemail and you see the blinking light) about the presentation, but didn't do it, and that was it.

You got lucky here.....usually the phone does ring. At least for us it did. We had 4 phones calls during our week in August, and we were present in the room for 2 of them and it did indeed ring. I agree with Klait in that we found it a hard sell. They wouldn't take "no" for an answer.

Hope that helps, and hope I don't offend anyone

I don't think you offended anyone. Thanks for sharing your personal experience and opinions. Yes, the smaller washer/dryer is pretty standard. I also own DVC though, and the washer/dryer in the OKW villas are full size. Feel very spoiled there ! It's probably best you were placed in the Lakes MomofMikey because they are the second newest and larger than the newest Cascades. I don't think you would have been happy with anything either older or smaller (thus cancelling out the Fountains and older or the Cascades). Thanks for the report

Received a room on the top floor of Fountains...(she said 2, however,through this board I think Fountains 1) with a pool view,

Klait, if you could see the pool, it sure sounds like you were in Fountains I. Sometimes, I swear, those Vistana front desk people don't know anything about the resort. Once we refused a room because we knew it had no water view. The front desk person was insisting it had a view of a pond. I challenged them to drive down with us to see that it, in reality, it had a view of grass and a fence. She finally gave in and moved us.
Glad you had a nice stay

 

[KLAIT]

MiaSRN62

I know we were in Fountains I as it was unit 1511. Plus, it didn't have the tub in the bedroom and the safe in the closet...

Gosh, you guys are good..I knew more about the resort than the employees did!

Unfortunately, our phone rang too...it was flashing 3 times when we came back to the unit, but we picked it up 2 times. The first time my hubby picked it up because it was during the hurricane and we knew his mom might be calling..he didn't know what the heck was going on. I didn't warn him and he trusts me to plan. The second time my son who is 7 picked up the phone and of course there was no turning back at that point. Not sure why she wanted to talk to my 7 year old about a timeshare presentation

 

[MiaSRN62]

The second time my son who is 7 picked up the phone and of course there was no turning back at that point. Not sure why she wanted to talk to my 7 year old about a timeshare presentation

Yeah, that's just ridiculous !? Maybe they were grooming him as a future Vistana owner
As for your placement (1511), it was nice that you were close to both the Fountains Rec Center and the Flamingo Cafe and bar. Was your villa renovated with the nautical theme throughout ? Just wondering if they decorated all the Fountains I the same. We were in 1434 this past August and were also close to these areas.

 

[KLAIT]

MiaSRN62

Yes, I do remember a nautical theme, but only in the second bedroom and bath. I don't remember it being Nautical anywhere else.

It was a great location. We were almost in the "corner". If we were on the deck, we needed to look left to the pool and if we looked right, there was another building a few doors away that ran in the opposite direction. It was a very convenient location, however, I told my DH that I was happy we were a little away from the pool as there were a lot of loud teens late at night.

 

[Mom of Sleepy Bashful and BabyDoc]

Thanks everyone for the reviews.

And Momofmickey............there's nothing wrong with giving your impressions in your resort review. That's what it's all about. I think you were very objective. And I've heard so much good about the Marriott's, I would love to stay there someday. But they aren't on Skyauction... That's the only way we travel to Orlando lately.

Glad you all had good trips despite the Hurricane. We had to leave last year when we were at Vistana (only a half day early). I'm sure we'll have better weather this next trip. WE LEAVE TWO WEEKS FROM TODAY!!!!

 

[southtown]

Through this board I also knew to avoid the "welcome packet" desk after check-in. Received about 4 calls for the timeshare pitch

I have a solution for those annoying calls, unplug the phone. Last time we stayed there it was only for a weekend and got two calls in two days. I do like the place and am plan on getting a week from Skyauction,and when it happens I plan on just unplugging the phone. We will have our cell phone so I know no one we know and want to hear from will be calling us through that phone.

 

[MiaSRN62]

I have a solution for those annoying calls, unplug the phone

Love it southtown !
After all these years......why didn't we think of this ? Anyone who knows us or needs to get through to us has our cell phones.

 

[Taratink]

We will be at the Vistana in March. We have never stayed in a room with a washer and dryer. That is going to be my favorite thing. We plan on packing extremely light and doing laundry a couple times. Questions...Does every villa have a screened in porch? Do they have any BBQ grills? Did you mind staying on the first level. I think that I would like the top floor but it is nice to avoid taking an elevator or stairs. What would you suggest for a family of 4 with a 4 and 6 year old children. We should be in Lakes or cascades. What floor and view would you request.
Thanks,
Tara

 

[swilshire]

We have never stayed in a room with a washer and dryer. That is going to be my favorite thing. We plan on packing extremely light and doing laundry a couple times.

In the Fountains section at least, the washer/dryers are those small combo models. They don't hold a lot. Since you'll be washing your own towels most days (except for midweek cleaning day) the laundry will go slower than you expect. We always had one or two loads each day just for towels with maybe a few socks and undies thrown in. Still, it's great to have the option.

Sheila

 

[Misa]

We returned from our trip at the Vistana less than a week ago...here are my impressions:

There's tons to do on the grounds for families, I was impressed with their lists of activities. We were there for Halloween and had we not had tickets to Michey's party on Halloween night we would have stayed right on the grounds.

We were located in the Cascades section, Rm 2327. The first room they gave us was a corner unit on the 3rd floor of another Cascades building. Very bad use of space and no screened in porch. My in-laws got the same set up. She complained about the rooms and got us both moved into another 1 bedroom, but better floor plan AND a screened porch (which we used night and morning, every day!)

My unit did have one issue that never got resolved. Right when you step through the door, there is a small tiled spot..then the carpet begins in front of the kitchen sink. This carpet remained soaked my entire stay. I called twice and they did send someone with a wet vac, but there was something leaking there. Nothing was spilled in that area.

The trouble of it was, if you stepped there, which the kids had to in order to get into the pull out couch on one side, your socks got wet, and then if you stepped onto the tile are, BOOM!! That happened a couple of times to each boy. Not to mention MULTIPLE changes of socks when we all forgot to not "walk there"

I sat through their presentation because I wanted the information. The salesman I had was not only high pressured but extremely RUDE to me. He made all sorts of assumptions and remarks that I had to keep taking him to task on. I learned later that although thier pitch is a bit on the pressured side, he went above board and was slated for discplinary action. I was definately NOT impressed with his treatment and his superiors knew about it before I left.

All in all, I loved the resort. The convience to everything we needed/used was wonderful. The grounds were beautiful. The staff helpful.

The pool in the Falls area with the kids water slide was a particular favorite of my boys. (and YES, I tried it too...so much fun!) Tip for adults...if you go down this slide, cross your arms over your chest or be prepared to bang up your elbows (like I did the first 2 times) It will fit an adult easily, but your elbows hang out more than a kids! lol

And parents...please keep a eye on those teens running around the pool area! On Halloween afternoon, an 11-12 year old girl came running through the pool section, stepped on my Mother-in-laws foot with her little sandles and ended up breaking 2 of her toes!! Not a great experience.

Another plug....the staff who work for Walt Disney World at the desk in the main lobby are wonderful! There was a mistake with our Disney tickets, they never showed up to the Vistana, and THEY were the ones who tracked them down for me and made numerous phone calls on our behalf to find them, not the Vistana. They weren't even the ones who sold them to us and they went above and beyond the call of duty to track them down and get them to us! High 5 for those folks!!

Oh, and one more tip...for all of you Northern folks who are Dunkin Donuts addicts...there's one just down the road from the Vistana....go out take a right, then your next left to reverse direction..and it's a couple lights down on the left. My Dh was so pleased And it was the only one I saw the whole time we were in Orlando

 

[momofmikey]

Taratink-
I'll try to answer some of your questions. We did not have a BBQ grill. Not sure if every room has a screened in porch - I was under the assumption it did, but not sure. In terms of floor, I would request an upper floor. If you're in the Lakes and Cascades section, there are elevators, and if your kids are anything like mine, they love elevators and hitting the buttons. The upper floors also have vaulted ceilings with a skylight I believe which would let in more light, add space, and eliminate noise from upstairs. Also, we were facing the Marriott, and I know if we were higher we could've seen fireworks (I saw them through the trees from my room). I agree with the laundry comments - they're very small - I easily could've done a load each day, simply b/c you can't get much into it.

Have a great time!

 

[MiaSRN62]

Taratink,
I don't believe the Courts have screened porches, but I was suprised to hear that some of the Cascades don't ? I wasn't aware of that. When I toured that section, I never saw a unit that didn't have one. I'm thinking you didn't have one based on the fact that you had a 1 bedroom Misa ? I believe the 1 bedrooms are all lock-offs (at least in the Lakes they are). But I'm pretty certain all 2 bedroom units (other than oldest Courts), have screened porches/balconies. Sorry about the leak in your unit----what a pain ! In addition, so sorry about the salesperson incident ! My dh and I encountered this one time and swore NEVER again to do a sales presentation at Vistana. We consider them very hard sell. This year they harrassed us with no less than 4 phone calls (that we know of !) during our 7 night stay. I'll take the advice of another DIS'er and disconnect the phone next trip.
As for BBQ grills....they are scattered around the resort in all the different sections----usually around the sides of the buildings. I know every section has them, just not sure about the Cascades. When I did a complete tour of this section, it had not yet been completed so maybe they added grills there since that time ?
I agree with Momofmikey---the upper floors are nice because they are vaulted and have a skylight. The only time they don't eliminate noise is when there's a heavy rain storm----you'll hear the rain beating on the skylight. But otherwise, I prefer the upper floors.

 

[sjluci]

We just got back today (11/10) from a 5 night stay at the Vistana. We were put in the Springs section which I understand is one of the older sections. We had a first floor room with a view of some shrubbery. We couldn't get into our room until 4:30 which was pretty frustrating. So at that point I didn't even ask for a different room because I didn't know how long it would take to get it. The villa itself was clean, I just wish it had a better view. Our kids loved the Falls pool as well as the slide. They also liked the Cascades pool with the waterfall. We didn't take advantage of any of the hotel activities as we were only there for four full days and were in the parks every day. But all in all it was a pleasant experience and I would stay there again. We did receive a few voicemails from the hotel to attend the presentation but we just ignored them. If anyone has any other questions about the Vistana, I'd be glad to answer them.