Sheraton Vistana

[Bryn]

Hi - I'm being a real chatterbox today but hubby & I were making decisions on the weekend about our upcoming trip so I'm totally excited and in an absolute Disney mood.

We'll be staying at Sheraton's Vistana resort. Has anyone stayed there ? What is it like ? What are the restaurants like, i.e. quality and price ? I hear they have great pools. Any info is greatly appreciated.

Bryn

 

[MikeJ]

We stayed there a couple of years ago in the Palms section, IIRC. It's a gorgeous resort with quite a few pools, tennis courts - the usual amenities. We never ate onsite - we'd either do that in the parks or elsewhere in Orlando. We had a 2BR unit with a full kitchen and laundry facilities, which was great with kids (who were then 7 & 9). We did make great use of the pools, though.

We took the tour (after all, it is a timeshare resort and they want you to buy) to get our $100 credit. On the timeshare pressure scale I'd rate their presentation as middle of the pack - much more high pressure than at Disney's DVC, but far less pressure than some local timeshares we've been to. (Their "breakfast" was the pits. ) Also, you can get a much better deal by buying resale from a reputable broker, such as The Timeshare Store, a sponsor of the DVC board here, as well as A Timeshare Broker whom a lot of people have used in resale purchases of DVC. It does waste about 2 hours of your morning, so if you're not interested in buying or are doing the parks commando-style I'd skip the presentation.

Hope this helps.

- Mike

 

[Canadave]

Bryn, welcome to the DIS. We are staying at the same resort in February 2002. Unfortunately, we have never stayed there before, so I can't give you too much info other than that the couple we bought the time from stayed there a few years ago and said it was a terrific resort. Very clean and lots of amenities. They said that there was lots of activities planned for kids. When are you going to be there?

MikeJ, thanks for the info. We have heard about the tour and we thought we might just take it, if it fits our schedule. Do they just show you around the resort or are there video presentations, accounting seminars about the fee structure , etc?

Canadave

 

[Bryn]

Thanks for the info, MikeJ. I hadn't heard about a $100 credit. We have exchanged a banked time share week to stay there so I don't know if we would be eligible for any $$. It would be a nice bonus, though. Maybe part way through the week I'll ask about it. Depends on how much time we have to spare.

We are going with my 2 year old daughter and 11 year old stepson. The 2 yr. old still naps so we're planning on returning to Vistana every day for lunch and nap. I hope that the 11 yr old won't be bored. He doesn't speak English very well (but understands perfectly) so he would be shy about participating in organized events

We will be there Jan 19-26 so I'll let you know how it is, Canadave.

 

[MikeJ]

Scratching the deep, dark, musty recesses of what passes for my memory (how's that for a disclaimer? ) here's what I recall of the presentation. I remember we were offered the credit because we were a cash rental (through a travel agent) rather than an exchange. I'm not sure if they offer you the same deal for exchanges but it can't hurt to ask.

It ran from 9:00 or 9:30 or so for about 90 minutes. They offered us a continental breakfast (various pastries, fruit, juice and coffee) and then sat us down with one of their salesmen. They did the usual spiel showing the benefits of owning vs. renting (as they all do) and asked the usual questions regarding our vacation habits. I don't remember a video presentation but that doesn't mean there wasn't one. We were then driven over to one of the newest 2BR units for a tour. Very nice unit (of course) - much nicer than where we were staying in Palms. Not that Palms was bad, mind you, they were just that much older. We were then returned to the sales center and presented with the numbers. I seem to recall that the unit we looked at was in the US$12000-$14000 range, which put it waaay out of our price range at the time. They then started offering smaller, less luxurious units, finally finishing up with the resales. Once he was convinced that we weren't interested we got our $100 (a cheque, IIRC, which we then cashed at the front desk) and used it for a nice dinner at Epcot that evening.

I always thought that Vistana would be a good place to buy (I still do), but knowing now how to tap into the resale market I don't think I'd ever buy from a developer. I expect that Vistana would be a good resort to use for trading since Orlando does tend to be a hot tourist location.

- Mike

 

[Canadave]

MikeJ: Thanks for the info (rusty memory and all). I was hoping it would be more show and less sell. I'm not very good with high pressure salesmen. We'll have to discuss as a family whether to take the tour or not.

Bryn: Thanks for the offer for the 'resort report'. Unfortunately we'll be on our way to WDW on January 25th. We're driving down, staying at ASMu for a week and then going to the Vistana Resort on February 2 for a week. But maybe we can both post to the DIS afterwards and compare notes

Canadave

 

[lawgs]

exchanges usually get a call from the marketing departments at most time shares...

at least that has been our experience.....even an internal exchange to orange lake this past week ...had them call us to have us go through an "update" of what was happening...


would not be surprised if you get a call or offer sometime while you are there....

we got one at the shearton desert oasis last may when we were there....it was a call from the "concierge" desk offering some pamphlets and info on the area ....then they asked if we would like to go through a VIP presentation....

so i think you can count on something happening...