Non DVC Orlando Timeshare question

[AKV707]

A friend of mine who is an II member is planning a trip to WDW in March. She knows that DVC could be tough. What non DVC, non Disney resort would be recommended?

She is looking at one called Blue Tree. Any ideas?

Thanks!

 

[spiceycat]

blue tree is partially owned by westgate - avoid westgate

Marriott's Cypress Harbour
Marriott's Grande Vista
Horizon's by Marriott

if she wants something closer
Marriott's Imperial Palms
Marriott's Royal Palms (use to get bad reviews - but hear they did a rehab)
Marriott's Sabal palms

Sheraton Vistana Resort (II gets the better villas)
Cypress Pointe - any of them - this is an older resort - but it has a great location and is pretty nice. you can walk to full service restuarant, walgreen (drug store), winnie dixie, even some shops.

tell her first to look for DVC - they are doable - what is she exchanging?

 

[JSTX]

We are also Marriott Vacation Club owners. Before buying DVC we stayed at Marriott Grand Vista multiple times. It is a really nice property, and she would be very happy there. She will just want to rent a car to get to the parks.

 

[littlestar]

Don't do Bluetree if she can help it. There's much better stuff in Orlando than that one.

If she can't get a Disney DVC exchange, if she has younger kids and wants great swimming pools with theming and slides, go for Marriott Horizons - it's cute and great for kids (like the Disney resorts).

These are my favorites:

Marriott's Cypress Harbour
Marriott Horizons
Sheraton Vistana Villages (Villages is newer than just regular Vistana)

Grande Vista is great if you get new or rennovated - if not, they have some crummy rooms. Check out tripadvisor - some people are complaining about moldy rooms.

Definitely have your friend look at tripadvisor.com and look at the resort pictures of the different resorts. That will definitely give your friend and their family an idea of what to choose if they can't get a DVC exchange. We stay at Marriott's Cypress Harbour and Horizons quite frequently when not staying on our DVC points and totally adore both of those resorts (as you can see from my signature).

 

[Dean]

For II the A list will be the Marriott's listed above (GV, CH, Horizon's) plus the new one coming in a couple of years and Vistana Villages and of course the Disney resorts. Regal Palms is apparently very nice but it's a ways out, maybe 12 miles or so. If they need a 2 BR I'd list all DVC resorts and no more than the first 4 non DVC options I quoted. The only weeks they will have any trouble getting anything is Xmas, NY, President's week and Easter. The only other issue is if they have a very poor trading week. If they are trying to trade a smaller unit for a larger one, they can keep an eye online and put in an ongoing search for Cypress Harbour which only has 2 BR units and consider a few of the B list options that have only 2 BR or larger units. Then if they see what they want online, they can snag it immediately. One rule of exchanging is you are going to get the worst thing on your exchange list so only list things you'll be happy with.

 

[littlestar]

If your friend chooses one of the Marriott Palms units over by Downtown Disney at the Marriott World Center, I've heard that Sabal Palms is getting ready to be refurbished. So I would pick Imperial or Royal Palms over Sabal since I've heard the first two have been refurbished.

Hopefully you friend has enough trade power to maybe get a DVC exchange. We were able to get a DVC exchange into an OKW 1 bedroom for the 2nd week of March (we just matched). If she doesn't need a 2 bedroom, she has a chance of matching if her resort has enough quality/trade power to pull DVC. Doing online searches on II, I've seen two studios and a couple of one bedrooms for the first and second week of March. The closer you get to prime spring break weeks, though, the harder it would be to match for a DVC. And if she needs a 2 bedroom, that's even harder.

 

[chris1gill]

Tell her to login everyday to look for March availability - I've seen March come up before.... put in an ongoing search if she wants DVC, otherwise I'd suggest Marriott Cypress Harbor... Horizons is good if she has very young children.

 

[Chernabog#1fan]

OT - It seems as though there are several people on the DVC board that have a Marriott timeshare as well. Do you like owning a Marriott timeshare, and if you do, do you think it is worth the extra money to buy direct in order to be able to exchange for Marriott points? I am thinking about purchasing but wanted some thoughts on their system. Feel free to pM me if you prefer. Thanks!

 

[Dean]

OT - It seems as though there are several people on the DVC board that have a Marriott timeshare as well. Do you like owning a Marriott timeshare, and if you do, do you think it is worth the extra money to buy direct in order to be able to exchange for Marriott points? I am thinking about purchasing but wanted some thoughts on their system. Feel free to pM me if you prefer. Thanks!

There are a number of us that own both. IMO, Marriott is a great complement to DVC but like anything else, it depends on how you'd use it. IMO, the points are not worth buying from Marriott for that reason alone. You've got to pay a fee to get the points, must give up the entire unit even for a lockoff and like FF miles for airlines, they are hard to use. The value is somewhere around 1¢ per point. Which Marriott to buy depends on where, when and how you'd use it as well as your budget. There are also other systems that might give you a better value. ANY timeshare requires that you learn the system and use it to your advantage and that is far more true for Marriott and most others than even for DVC.

 

[spiceycat]

don't own Marriott but the best is the best. Marriott is generally the best.

my II trader is a bluegreen on the beach

 

[littlestar]

OT - It seems as though there are several people on the DVC board that have a Marriott timeshare as well. Do you like owning a Marriott timeshare, and if you do, do you think it is worth the extra money to buy direct in order to be able to exchange for Marriott points? I am thinking about purchasing but wanted some thoughts on their system. Feel free to pM me if you prefer. Thanks!

Here's a link for the Marriott board over at timeshare users group. You can find out everything you want to know over there:

http://tugbbs.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=29

We like our Marriott ownership. The quality of Marriott is right up there with DVC. We bought resale. If we would have bought direct from Marriott it would have cost us close to $10,000. We own an EOY (every other year Gold 2 bedroom lockoff at Horizons Branson). Resale our EOY two bedroom lock-off week was about $2,400. The points weren't worth it to us to spend an addtional $7,500. Maybe if we traveled international it would have been, but for trading mostly back into Orlando, it wasn't.