Here is a copy of my review of the renovated GV we stayed in last week. You can read the entire thread
http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=2607540&page=13 if you wish also.
Okay, so I gave my views on the 1-2 bedroom renovations after our December trip, so here is my review of the Grand Villa renos after our trip last week.
First of all, let me say I was very happy they kept the REAL hardwood floors here! They had been refinished to match the color that they used for the vinyl flooring in the 1&2 bedroom units, but it was still the real wood, and very nicely refinished. In fact, it looked much like the refinish they did at the HH lobby floor.
I thought the colors in the GV were a bit bland. The pale pale yellow looked a bit stark and uninteresting with white crown molding etc. They did paint one accent wall in the dining room, making it match the fabric on the dining chairs. The master bedroom was just as bland as the living room too. There was a little darker gold color on the wall behind the bed, but it just looked very sterile and uninteresting to me.
LOVED the rug in the living room! I liked that it was larger and didn't just look like a postage stamp under the coffee table like the 1&2 bedroom units did. It really was a perfect match for the fabric on the sofas.
I also liked the new fabrics on the cushions of the wicker chairs, and was happy to see they kept those!
Now for the "what the heck were they thinking" parts of the GV renovations.
We stayed in this exact same unit 5 years ago. That was the last time we stayed in a GV, and the issues we had then were still there....only worse. We had terrible issues on that trip with cupboard doors not fitting correctly and a broken dishwasher rack that kept falling apart. That same broken dishwasher was still there, and the rollers were still falling off of the bottom rack. On top of that, you couldn't put the door all the way down, so the rack could not be pulled out all the way for loading and unloading. They did manage to replace the broken latch handle or at least repair it by painting some of that rubbery stuff they use to coat tool handles. All in all, that dishwasher needed replacing last time we were there 5 years ago, and it has definitely outlived its usefulness now! On top of all that, the cupboard doors were falling off their hinges, and the drawers on either side of the stove stuck and couldn't easily be opened and closed because they had jammed the stove into a spot that was too small for it. The drawers stuck on the sides because of the improper size of the opening for the stove. The fridge was not only old, but was a "left handed" opening fridge in a right hand facing kitchen....VERY inconvenient to say the least.
Why did they not replace these worn out cabinets and appliances????? It just made the renovation look like it had never been done.
The other disappointing thing was that they didn't refinish the banister. They did paint the spindles on it, but the banister was still a very worn "pickled" wood finish like the cabinets. Again....it gave it a "needs to still be renovated" look. Our guests (who also own at OKW) couldn't see anything that had been renovated other than the counter tops. They said that their other timeshares have always done complete renovations every 10 years, and they were very disappointed in the look of the "new" OKW.
On the plus side, the Jacuzzi tub had been resurfaced, and it was very well done with a new non-slip surface. In fact, I laughed that I had to lift my butt up off the bottom to move because it wouldn't let me slide!