Need advice on which Marriott Vacation Club

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We are thinking of going to Orlando this summer to do Sea World, Discovery cove and use up our left over Disney water park tix. DH has a ton of Marriott points so I am looking at a 2br villa at one of the vacation clubs and am looking for recommendations from the following:
• Marriott's Cypress Harbour - Orlando, FL
• Marriott's Grande Vista - Orlando, FL
• Horizons by Marriott Vacation Club at Orlando - Orlando, FL
• Marriott's Royal Palms - Orlando, FL
• Marriott's Sabal Palms - Orlando, FL

We are a family of 4 me, DH, DD6 & DD10. We are looking for a nice quiet resort fairly near SeaWorld, nice rooms, pool. Although it is not a must, do any of the clubs have activities for kids? We stay at Marriott hotels frequently (90% travel for DH) but have never stayed at a vacation club.

Any advice would be much appreciated.

 

[dioxide45]

If you are looking for kids activities Horizons is probably the best with the themed pools. I beleive Grande Vista, Horizons, and Cypress Harbor offer childrens activities. The other three (the Palms) may not but have full use of the Marriott World Center facilites. I beleive Sable Palms is undergoing renovation and many of the rooms are not renovated and in are need of it. The other two have completed this renovation (Imperial, Royal). You really couldn't go wrong with any of them.
I however think these Orlando vacation clubs are not the best use of MRP since you can usually rent a week at one of them for a reasonable rate (depending on when you travel). Though if you have lots of points to burn, then it shoudln't matter. If you are going to burn all your points on this stay, I would think there are better uses for the points within the MR program.

 

[Lucky'sMom]

Since you are primarily going to Sea World, I would recommend Horizons, Cypress Harbour or Grande Vista in that order. You can't go wrong with any of them, but I have also been researching these resorts lately, and with kids your children's ages, I think this resorts (in that order) would be your best bet. The Grande Vista would have the most upscale decor, but the other two have more kid-appeal, I believe. Again, though, they are all great resorts and just about in walking distance of Sea World.

 

[Nom]

I am a Grande Vista owner, and recently stayed at Horizons and posted a comparison thread that you might want to check out:

http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=1616610

The next time we return to Orlando I will stay at Grande Vista again. Although Horizons has some good points (not too large of a resort so everything is walkable, very nice themed pool), I prefer Grande Vista for its more luxurious rooms, cleaner and larger common areas, better indoor kids play zone, more activities and better food options.

Horizons has no mini-mart on property, and no restaurant... and our experience was that the small bar that serves a limited menu is almost always crouded and the waits are long.

If you do choose Horizons try to get a room in one of the new buildings... the rooms in the older buildings can have some problems and are also not very sound-proof.

I don't have experience at Cypress Harbor or any of the Palms.

 

[jeff968]

You can see from my signature that we have stayed at a bunch of the resorts. I have also toured Grande Vista and Horizons. Cypress harbor is our favorite for the following reasons:

Size/Setup - there is always a pool near your building and it is always just a walk to whereever you want to go. The resort is just the right size, not too big, not too small. It is a quiet and beautiful place.
Activities - something for everyone to do no matter what your age
Location - right off Internation drivebut not on the northern crazy section but close to every place you need to go to.
Huge units - the biggest 2 bdrms I have ever stayed in.

Grande Vista is beautiful but larger and more golf oriented.
Horizons is nice but the units are smaller (no in room tubs) and it is closer to rt 4. That said, I would choose it if i has small children again.

The palms - see another post about them that I responded to earlier this week for details.

We think CH has it all covered.

 

[hegsag]

For those that have stayed at the Cypress Harbour: Did you find it clean? Their webstie portrayed it to be beautiful and people have said the same. When I arrived two weeks ago the place was filthy! So filthy that we didn't end up staying and we switched our points to a residence inn. The room was huge but the place was so run down. I was deeply disappointed...

 

[littlestar]

For those that have stayed at the Cypress Harbour: Did you find it clean? Their webstie portrayed it to be beautiful and people have said the same. When I arrived two weeks ago the place was filthy! So filthy that we didn't end up staying and we switched our points to a residence inn. The room was huge but the place was so run down. I was deeply disappointed...

Did you get assigned an unrefurbished unit? I think there are only three buildings left that have not been done. Did you try to get them to change you to a different building? We were in Building 51 and it was wonderful.

 

[utahkennedys]

For those that have stayed at the Cypress Harbour: Did you find it clean? Their webstie portrayed it to be beautiful and people have said the same. When I arrived two weeks ago the place was filthy! So filthy that we didn't end up staying and we switched our points to a residence inn. The room was huge but the place was so run down. I was deeply disappointed...

This scares me as we check in 5 weeks from now to Cypress Harbour! I did call and they said we were in a refurbished unit but they couldn't tell me which building. We have 2 villas there and our family is coming so I don't want it to be filthy!!!

 

[jeff968]

This scares me as we check in 5 weeks from now to Cypress Harbour! I did call and they said we were in a refurbished unit but they couldn't tell me which building. We have 2 villas there and our family is coming so I don't want it to be filthy!!!

I wouldn't worry. We've been there three times and it is the cleanest place I've ever been to. That's why we keep going back and I could rent anywhere I want. I don't own. Refurbishment doesn't matter when it comes to clean. You can have a room that needs updates but as long as it is clean that is what counts. We went to Orange Lake a few years back and found that place very dirty. There was someone's old sock in the closet, stuff under the bed, the fridge wasn't clean, and there was dirty laundry out in front of our unit for an entire day. I've never had anything close to that at a Marriott, let alone Cypress Harbor.

 

[hegsag]

I most definitely got a building that hadn't been refurbished since it looked very run down. It was FILTHY!!! Plain and simple... I recommend calling ahead to find out where you will be staying. I was so disappointed. Like I already posted, we ended up at a Residence Inn which was so tiny for a family of 4 but it was clean.

When I called the front desk to ask about my villa/room she told me that all rooms are the same Oh well, leason learned - I'll NEVER book a room from them.

Good luck & KUP. I'm curious to hear what others experience...

 

[Kelly25]

We stayed 5 nights at the grandevista in december and it was wonderful! We had a 2 bed/2bath villa, the size was great and it was clean as could be. We dont have any kids so we didnt see the activities, but they were posted in the elevator and the lobby and there were multiple things that changed each day. It was quiet and relaxing, there are about 5 pools, and you are just down the street from seaworld, and about 10 min from disney. We are already planning a return trip!

 

[Kelly25]

We stayed 5 nights at the grandevista in december and it was wonderful! We had a 2 bed/2bath villa, the size was great and it was clean as could be. We dont have any kids so we didnt see the activities, but they were posted in the elevator and the lobby and there were multiple things that changed each day. It was quiet and relaxing, there are about 5 pools, and you are just down the street from seaworld, and about 10 min from disney. We are already planning a return trip!

 

[jeff968]

I most definitely got a building that hadn't been refurbished since it looked very run down. It was FILTHY!!! Plain and simple... I recommend calling ahead to find out where you will be staying. I was so disappointed. Like I already posted, we ended up at a Residence Inn which was so tiny for a family of 4 but it was clean.

When I called the front desk to ask about my villa/room she told me that all rooms are the same Oh well, leason learned - I'll NEVER book a room from them.

Good luck & KUP. I'm curious to hear what others experience...

The only thing I can say is your experience is the exception, not the norm. I see you just joined. Do a search on Cypress Harbor and you'll see that it gets nothing but rave reviews.

 

[hegsag]

Have you stayed at the CH using points, Jeff? That is the only thing I can think of that I would have such a bad room... I'm thinking that the give the better rooms to the owners and/or potential owners.

I did inquire about CH before travelling down South. Dick from VT also gave rave reviews (and that just adds to my disappointment). Oh well...

 

[Detailor]

I'm pretty sure that there are only three buildings at Cypress Harbour that haven't been refurbished yet so the chances of being assigned to an older, worn unit is pretty limited.
I can surely understand hegsag's disappointment in the CH experience as there's just no excuse for a filthy villa ANYWHERE within the Marriott vacation club system. I can understand the age showing in the older buildings, but dirty just doesn't make it.
Like the Utahkennedys, we'll be there in a little less than five weeks (and, for us, at Grande Vista the week following) and we're looking forward to another exceptional vacation experience. If it's dirty the onsite management will hear about it along with my request to be moved if they can't clean up our rooms.

Dick Taylor