Sheraton Vistana Resort Villas (Cascades) - Without a Car?

[RCKC2018]

Hello,

We will be staying at the Vistana in the Cascades section (don't yet know the Villa #) from November 10 - 17. As we like to drink, we won't be driving ourselves to/from the parks. It is my understanding there is a shuttle at Vistana that brings you to WDW. Does anyone have any (recent) experience using this shuttle? Any information on reliability, frequency, duration, etc?

Also, what are our options for stocking up the room? I don't see any liquor stores in walking distance. Would it cost too much to get an Uber to go to a liquor store, grocery store, etc? The resort appears to be quite large, so I think we might be dependent on Ubers/cabs to take us everywhere.

Any advice is appreciated. Thanks.

 

[FCDub]

Uber/Lyft/taxi prices are available on rideguru.com

 

[RCKC2018]

Uber/Lyft/taxi prices are available on rideguru.com

Thanks for the response. I guess I was looking for any first hand accounts from people who stayed at Vistana without a car. There are some TripAdvisor posts and older posts on this site I have found, but I haven't seen anything recent.

 

[rwdavis2]

We've started there for a Universal trip about 12 years ago. It was very nice and quiet. We had a car though. After check in we were sent to a separate desk to get our keys but it was really an excuse to get a timeshare pitch. Just say No Thanks and ask for the keys.

 

[EdnaMarieMode]

We loved the Sheraton Vistana, but we had a car. The shuttle service didn't really exist. It's advertised, but I didn't see it come or go for the entire week we were there (and we were right across from the Marketplace where it allegedly picks up guests). This was a year ago, and it was the same experience 3 years before that.

There was a sign that said it departed 3 times a day (around 8:30 AM, 10:30 AM and 12:30 PM) and returned 4 times a day (at 7 PM, 8:30 PM, 10:30 PM, and 11:30 PM). I took a picture, because we waited on the first day and never saw it, so we got in the car and drove to the park. It leaves from the Marketplace at the resort, and drops off ONLY at the Transportation & Ticket Center. The sign also said to sign up 12 hours beforehand (at a desk where we did not see a staff member for the entire week) and that the fee is $10 per person ($9 if you have a timeshare there). I'm not sure if that fee is one-way or round-trip.

Bottom line is that I would not count on this as a good way to get to or from a park. If you really don't want to drive and park you'd have to use Uber/ Lyft/ taxi.

The resort itself was lovely. Clean rooms, clean pools (and many of them to choose from- never crowded). I could live without the 6:30 AM time share sales pitch phone call (whatever you do, do not tell them what your plans are- we said we were leaving for the parks around 7 and they called us at 6:30 AM- twice!).

To stock the room, there is a Walmart 2 miles up the road and they have everything you could possibly need or want. I joked that I didn't need to pack any luggage, I could have just shopped for a week's worth of stuff there.

 

[RCKC2018]

We loved the Sheraton Vistana, but we had a car. The shuttle service didn't really exist. It's advertised, but I didn't see it come or go for the entire week we were there (and we were right across from the Marketplace where it allegedly picks up guests). This was a year ago, and it was the same experience 3 years before that.

There was a sign that said it departed 3 times a day (around 8:30 AM, 10:30 AM and 12:30 PM) and returned 4 times a day (at 7 PM, 8:30 PM, 10:30 PM, and 11:30 PM). I took a picture, because we waited on the first day and never saw it, so we got in the car and drove to the park. It leaves from the Marketplace at the resort, and drops off ONLY at the Transportation & Ticket Center. The sign also said to sign up 12 hours beforehand (at a desk where we did not see a staff member for the entire week) and that the fee is $10 per person ($9 if you have a timeshare there). I'm not sure if that fee is one-way or round-trip.

Bottom line is that I would not count on this as a good way to get to or from a park. If you really don't want to drive and park you'd have to use Uber/ Lyft/ taxi.

The resort itself was lovely. Clean rooms, clean pools (and many of them to choose from- never crowded). I could live without the 6:30 AM time share sales pitch phone call (whatever you do, do not tell them what your plans are- we said we were leaving for the parks around 7 and they called us at 6:30 AM- twice!).

To stock the room, there is a Walmart 2 miles up the road and they have everything you could possibly need or want. I joked that I didn't need to pack any luggage, I could have just shopped for a week's worth of stuff there.

Thank you for the reply. That's not great news regarding the shuttle. Looks like we will be taking Ubers. I just found the Vistana thread, so I will ask over there as well.

 

[EdnaMarieMode]

Thank you for the reply. That's not great news regarding the shuttle. Looks like we will be taking Ubers. I just found the Vistana thread, so I will ask over there as well.

Anything can change in a year, it’s possible that things have changed. I may duck over to the Vistana board as well- DH just got invited to a conference for work in September and that’s one of the resorts he can book. We liked it enough to stay again (and possibly now for a 3rd time) but definitely not counting on transportation.