Orlando RCI weeks Crown Properties - What do you recommend?

[Ishy]

My dd is a fall cp'er this year... I will miss her terribly over the holidays. My mom and dad have a week banked that needs to be used and they suggested I take their week to visit her after thanksgiving but before the Xmas rush. Saving me the expense of a hotel.

So if you have experience with RCI weeks gold crown - and staying in Orlando - advice, warnings, experience, suggestions are ALL SO VERY WELCOME! Thank you!

 

[spiceycat]

Hilton Grand Vacation Club
Sheraton Vistana Resort
Sheraton Vistana Village
Cypress Pointe

all are pretty close to WDW - HGVC & SVV are the furtherest away. all are pretty nice.

 

[siobhan1997]

Don't forget Cypress Harbour. I just got an exchange into this resort from RCI for Easter 2008. THis is actually a 5 star/Gold Crown but RCI for some reason doesn't recognize this. It is actually a Marriott.

 

[lawgs]

siobhan


it is no wonder that RCI does not rate this in the Crown ratings system...Marriott left the RCI exchange network a number of years ago and now is connected to II (Interval International), the units that were originally sold and connected to the RCI exchange still Exchange through RCI BUT you do not usually see the name Marriott connected with them on the RCI website ( the doing of Marriott one would guess )

another similar Marriott is Sabal Palms ( RCI affiliation but no ratings )

 

[Ishy]

In your signature - it appears you have stayed at a few...
Which was your favorite? Which would you never go back to?

 

[siobhan1997]

In your signature - it appears you have stayed at a few...
Which was your favorite? Which would you never go back to?

I am of course partial to the ones we own, which are Silver Lake Resort, which I do enjoy returning to very much, and Celebrity Resort Lake BUena VIsta . While I really like the facilities at Orange Lake, I do not enjoy having to drive to a pool or wait for a bus to pick me up. I am sure there are many Orlando resorts that could very well be a Gold Crown Resort even though it is not rated that way. We also own a unit in Quebec, and we lost our Gold Crown status because there was no indoor pool. So who knows what RCI takes into consideration when putting a status on a timeshare property.

Is their such a place as the best in Orlando, I don't know I have never stayed at all of them. My family & I do not have huge expectations of places that we stay in. After all we are usually only there for breakfast and sleep. For us as long as the unit is very clean, and the pool is warm and the company is great, we always have a great time no matter where we stay. At Grand Beach we only stayed in a 2 bedroom and found the 2nd bedroom to be very small, so I would not go back to a 2 bedroom at Grand Beach, but yet I hear the 3 bedrooms are spacious. I have always enjoyed the Vistana resorts, so much to do. We have put our families up in the HGVC at Seaworld and they couldn't say thank you enough to us.

Mostly all of the Orlando properties we have stayed at have been great. I can honestly say I have never had a bad stay and would return to any of them.

 

[NHLFAN]

We are staying at Cypress Palms this December via RCI exchange...Bonnet Creek is also RCI but I'm not sure about availability for exchange as we booked our days there as owners.

 

[Lisa P.]

These are our favorite RCI resorts, for various reasons. If we would only accept a certain room size, it's because we think the smaller units are not as nicely equipped or have some other feature that makes them less desirable than the same size unit in other top Orlando resorts.

6369 - Wyndham/Fairfield Bonnet Creek (any)
3517 - HGVC, Hilton Grand Vacations Club at Sea World (1BR+)
6309 - HGVC, Hilton Grand Vacations Club on Int’l Drive (1BR+)
6059 - Sheraton Vistana Villages (2BR)
6884 - Houses at Summer Bay Resort (pool home, not condo)
2619 - Cypress Harbour (Marriott)
1276 - Sabal Palms (Marriott)
1699 - Royal Palms (Marriott)
3995 - Wyndham Fairfield Cypress Palms (1BR 4/4 or 2BR, not 1BR 4/2)
2750, 3995, 3996, 8080, 8646 - Cypress Pointe (or Grandvillas) Resort (3BR only)
4852, 7605 - Oasis Lakes at the Fountains (if really want resort w/indoor pool)
8881, 8896, 8897 - Orange Lake Country Club (2BR+, not 0670, requires a drive to pool)

We would choose from what's available, in that order, if the unit sizes are the same. But we'd take a larger unit at any of them over a smaller unit at any of them. If none of these are available, we'd also look, in no particular order, at:

0450 - Sheraton Vistana Resort (2BR 8/8 or 8/6)
2610, 6810 - Silver Lake/Points (2BR+)
3175 - Summer Bay Resort
3664 - Grand Beach (3BR)
4940 - Vacation Villas at Parkway (2BR)
5095 - Sunterra Polynesian Isles
Also Kingstown Reef, Sunshine, Orlando Int'l Resort Club, Orbit One and few others.

Most of those have a good reputation but they may lack in some way - perhaps they don't have a washer/dryer in every unit, or no jacuzzi tubs, or they're a bit older with fewer onsite activities. Still, they could offer a pleasant, spacious home base for a nice Orlando vacation. HTH!