Sheraton Safari, or Fairfield/Courtyard/Springhill Suites at the Marriott Village?

[NancyIL]

I'm flying to Orlando for my mom's 80th birthday weekend in June, and will spend one night in the WDW area. I'm trying to make this as inexpensive as possible, so can use Starwood points to stay at the Sheraton Safari, or Marriott points to stay at a Marriott property. Which would you choose?

 

[dis-happy]

My dh is a road warrior who accumulates Marriott points, so we have only stayed there. I like the Little Lake Bryan location and facilities, no experience with the Sheraton Safari. However, my question is this: have you checked availability for a points stay yet? It doesn't seem like the Marriott sets aside very many rooms for points--we stayed last August on points at the Courtyard, and there was no other choice for the other hotels (normally when travelling with the kids I would have picked Springhill Suites for the free breakfast and larger room). Anyway, good luck making a choice--sounds like a fun trip.

 

[NancyIL]

My dh is a road warrior who accumulates Marriott points, so we have only stayed there. I like the Little Lake Bryan location and facilities, no experience with the Sheraton Safari. However, my question is this: have you checked availability for a points stay yet? It doesn't seem like the Marriott sets aside very many rooms for points--we stayed last August on points at the Courtyard, and there was no other choice for the other hotels (normally when travelling with the kids I would have picked Springhill Suites for the free breakfast and larger room). Anyway, good luck making a choice--sounds like a fun trip.

Yes, I checked, and all 3 of the Marriott properties are available with points. The Fairfield Inn requires 15,000 points for one night, and the Courtyard and Springhill Suites require 20,000. That's a LOT of points for 1 night! Using Marriott points makes more sense for longer stays, where the per-night "cost" is less.

 

[KLAIT]

I have stayed at both the Sheraton Safari and the Courtyard Marriott Village. I am not sure if everyone here will agree with me, but we preferred the Courtyard.

Both locations cannot be beat..they are very near each other at the entrance to Downtown Disney.

I have to say that our opinion of the Safari was probably swayed due to room location. We had a room in the same building as the lobby is located in in the same floor as all the conference rooms...so, it was extremely noisey all night. They would set up for conferences and clean up the rooms all night...so it equated to rolling carts of dishes right by our room all night...plus, our room was not the greatest...housekeeping did a great job and we tipped them accordingly, but the room itself left a bit to be desired...

The pool area was better at the Safari if you are interested in a slide, but the area at the Courtyard was nice as well with a zero entry on the outside with a waterfall and then it goes inside....

Both hotels were very nice public areas...the Courtyard is in the same complex as the other 2 hotels and has a nice little "food court" area...The Safari has full service restaurants.

 

[NancyIL]

Thanks for the replies so far. I won't be using the pool...just a cheap (as in FREE!) place to lay my head so I can use my AP at WDW one evening and the next morning.

KLAIT - did they have the Sweet Sleeper beds when you stayed at the Sheraton? I'm used to the Heavenly Beds at the Swan and Dolphin (neither had availability for my date), so I think I'd enjoy sleeping at the Sheraton.

 

[KLAIT]

When we were there, they were in the process of replacing all the beds..some of the buildings had them and some did not...they had one set up in the lobby announcing all beds were being upgraded. I am sure that by now they are all replaced....

 

[NancyIL]

When we were there, they were in the process of replacing all the beds..some of the buildings had them and some did not...they had one set up in the lobby announcing all beds were being upgraded. I am sure that by now they are all replaced....

KLAIT, I'm guessing you did NOT get a room with the new beds?

 

[KLAIT]

NancyIL

No, we did not...I heard a conversation in the lobby about a few of the buildings being completely done and that the lobby building was the last one scheduled...