Please help me decide where to stay - RCI timeshare

[BlueFairy]

Hi.
We have been given a week to exchange in my parent's RCI timeshare ownership. Here are the places I need to pick from (I've already narrowed it down a lot):
SUNTERRA RESORTS POLYNESIAN ISLES
SUNTERRA RESORTS GRAND BEACH
Sheraton Vistana Villages
FAIRFIELD ORLANDO AT CYPRESS PALMS
ORANGE LAKE COUNTRY CLUB
Sheraton Vistana Resort
SUMMER BAY RESORT


We want a NICE condo with lots of choices for relaxation. I think seeing WDW might be secondary this trip, but we will go to the parks some. We probably will skip Universal. Price obviously isn't a question. I'm particularly curious about which has the most "Disney-like" atmosphere. We really get into the Disney theming and architecture, but you can't always stay onsite. Right now I'm leaning toward Orange Lake. Please SELL ME on your choice.
Thanks!

 

[amandaC]

We just returned from Orange Lake last week through Skyauction. We stayed in a very nice and spacious 2 bedroom. We were very happy with our stay. The pool areas were nice and we spent most of our time at splash lagoon. There are plenty of activities around the resort.
It is not themed however. If this is very important, you might not like it. I too love the magic of Disney and prefer staying on world. So we stayed an extra day at POFQ and I got my Disney fix!

 

[AJKMOM]

I would check out www.tripadvisor.com you follow the links and get peoples opinion about all those places in Orlando. I use it all the time. I have never stayed at any of the places you listed, but have heard that Orange Lake is very nice. There are newer parts of it to request. Try the search feature on this website to help narrow down the choices. I doubt you will get a "Disney" feeling at any of these places.

 

[Melynny]

Here's my list in order of choice!

Sheraton Vistana Villages-luxury resort, stayed there in 2001. Awesome accom. great decorating, (dark tropical greens with palm tree decor)Neat pool with a huge hot tub, and lux. pool area and a water fall. Interriors are smaller than others, but the feel is very luxurious.

SUNTERRA RESORTS GRAND BEACH ( stayed here in may 2003)Large traditional decor, 3 bedrooms are wonderful with 2 masters, noticed more activities for kids here, than Vistana Villages. This is a smaller resort, same distance from wdw as VV. smallish pool area, but I have heard a new one opened this year. Located on a lake. ( lake bryan)

SUMMER BAY RESORT, also located on a lake, not familiar with interrior of units, ( we stayed here 2000 and 2001 in the Villas section). great pool with a tropical feel, cute bar area. farther away on 192 than Orlange Lake.

ORANGE LAKE COUNTRY CLUB , Stayed here several times ..Huge resort. always clean and friendly. I did not choose this as my first choice,but it will always be a contender for me. There are smaller single/2 story villas ( where we have always been put with RCI) and larger higher rise, multi story newer units. Decor is blue with a very tropical feel. Great pool and lots to do, This would be a good choice if you did not have a car, internal shuttle, 3 pools, several shops and restaurants.

FAIRFIELD ORLANDO AT CYPRESS PALMS, not stayed here, but have considered it my self.

SUNTERRA RESORTS POLYNESIAN ISLES toured this resort... it looked ok. also on my list of " It will be ok if we needed a trip and nothing else was available" security was tight, would not even let use drive thru. Very tropical feel. ... somewhat like the Polynesian.

Sheraton Vistana Resort, I have heard scary things about this resort and rci exchanges. Driving by, they had several units that looked to be used as storage rooms, I could see matteress stacked in front of the windows.. I would not like to get assigned next to an unused uinit, or section. I am curious to hear if other exchangers have had good luck with this one.

Again, these are just my opinion. I always compare quaility, cleanliness, appearance and friendliness of the staff to OKW. I am a very picky traveler. Hope this helps!

 

[BlueFairy]

Thanks!
Melynny - That's a lot of detail. You make me curious about Sheraton Vistana Villages, I will have to check it out more.
AJKMOM - I will have to try tripadvisor! I have used it before with good luck. Haven't tried it yet for Orlando.
AmandaC- Sounds like we would enjoy Orange Lake. Glad to hear you had a good experience.

Anyone else? We're still debating.

Thanks again!

 

[BlueFairy]

Hi.
Just wanted to say that we will be at Vistana Villages. I got to searching and saw some not-so-great pictures of the OLCC villas (the older ones). Didn't want to take my chances, so we opted for a 1 BR at Vistana Villages
Can't wait!! Thanks for the input guys.

 

[disneymom3]

Just for info's sake we have stayed at Vistana Resort 4 times-twice as an RCI exchange and twice as just hotel nights. We have been totally thrilled every time. The staff is fabulous--way better than our experience with Vistana Villages--the grounds are incredible and the units we hae stayed in have always been very nice. The sad thing is that you can only exchage into there every 4 years. We did find it for one of the exchanges on Sky Auction.

Vistana Villages is a nice resort. The units are great and the pool was fun. We had a few issues that came up that were handled so poorly that we would never stay there again.

My sis in law stayed at OLCC and they were very pleased. They could not believe Vistana could possibly be better,so we were both happy with our choices.

No expereince with the other two--the pics i have seen of Sunterra have made me not want to stay there--too hotel looking instead of resort.

 

[Melynny]

Thanks for the info about Vistana. Isn't it strange how 2 people can have totally different views of resorts? That just goes to show that none of us are totally correct about things and it's just our perceptions! Also, for what it's worth, I believe that all of the older units at OLCC have been up graded to the newer blue decor. I just recieved an email from OLCC that talks about a new toll road going right thru the resort... that may change my views of that one!

 

[monarchsfan16]

Sheraton Vistana RESORT is incredible. There's plenty of opportunity for relaxation. We've been there on 3 separate RCI exchanges and never had a bad experience. We've stayed in the oldest and newest units, and somewhere in between. There is an incredible amount of stuff to do there, you won't be bored. And it's in a great location if you decide to do any parks.

My grandparents really enjoyed Orange Lake when they were there this year. And they go solely for relaxation and have HIGH standards with their timeshares (Jiminy Peak just got 3 pages of comments from my grandmother due to her standards). So if they liked it, it's good. They also loved Vistana Resort the 2 times they've been there.