Sheraton Vistanas Resorts vs village

[langin]

Hello,

Is this the same place or two different places? If different, which is closer, newer, nicer,etc...?

 

[spiceycat]

sheraton Vistana Resort is much closer to WDW. has more swimming pools and activities.... it is also much older. It is about mile or two from WDW.

Sheraton Vistana Village is around 5 miles away. Is being built. So some of the units are new.

 

[Buzz2001]

Just spent 2 days at the resort and found it to be very close to WDW and highway access to Universal. We stayed there 2 days before heading over to CSR. I couldn't find a single room on Disney porperty for the 2 days so I found this place on the internet and got a great rate of $175.00 per night for the 2 bedroom villa. We stayed in the PALMS section to be close to friends of ours also staying there, rooms 642 & 719. I was pleasantly surprised at the size of the suites. The rooms were huge, 3 tv's, a vcr, 2 bathrooms, very clean and well maintained. We had no complaints.

 

[MiaSRN62]

"IF" you can secure a reservation in the Cascades sections at the main Vistana resort, they are the newest. Constructed over a period of years ('98-'01 approx) and they would be comparable to the newer Villages units. If you go through a travel agent you might have a fairly good chance of getting the Cascades at the main resort. But if you are an RCI/II exchanger, you take a chance on where you could be placed. Some of the sections on the main Vistana resort date back to the early '80's. So you have the old and new mixed at this resort. The Villages is all pretty consistantly new---though they have been under construction for a number of years now. There is still construction going on there but I don't think it's too much of a bother. Maybe someone who has stayed there can shed more light on that.
As Spiceycat said, there are many more resort amenities at the main Vistana resort, including onsite dining and room service. You will have to go offsite at the Villages to eat unless you're ok with sandwiches/bagels etc at their general store or cooking in your villa.

 

[Red-Snapper]

They are actually about 3 minutes away from each other.

Villages is smaller, quieter and newer - at the very bottom end of International drive. They have a nice pool area but only a small deli/shop type thing on site. The 2 bed units are very nice.

The Resort is much bigger, has far more on site amenities but the quality varies greatly depending on where on the property you end up.

 

[ChristusG]

We have stayed at the Vistana Resort before.....it was very very nice. And it is right outside of an entrance to Downtown Disney. Plenty of resturants close by....grocery stores down the road, etc.

 

[jcpuppy.com]

I booked my reservations at CRS for 8 nights for 2 rooms..we have 5 people and don;'t want to be crammed together. i saw the 2 Sheratons on all ears and it would save us over $1000. is CRS worth $1000 more than the Sheraton?
We like the Disney resorts for convienence..don't want to have to drive or think much.
Are the Sheraton shuttles that easy ? can you see fireworks from any? Bummer about the pools I assume none have slides?

 

[MiaSRN62]

Are the Sheraton shuttles that easy ? can you see fireworks from any? Bummer about the pools I assume none have slides?

I'm not Buzz, but I'm a Vistana owner (at the main Vistana not the Villages).

No, I wouldn't consider the Sheraton shuttles easy based on their limited schedules. They leave maybe 3 different times in the am and return 3 different times in the pm. So they're not nearly as convenient as Disney. Also, if you are in a villa that is very far from the shuttle pickup/dropoff, you could have a bit of a hike to get to the shuttle stop.

Fireworks. From a select few villas you can catch the very short fireworks at DD. One year we could catch a glimpse of Planet Hollywood restaurant in DD from our balcony....but that's about it.
Bummer about the pools ? Not sure what you are referring to. But only one pool on the resort (there are 7) has a slide. It is in the older Falls section. It's an enclosed tube slide. Here's a pic :

There are 2 zero entry pools and they have fountains in them (Cascades and Lakes). There is another pool in the Fountains area that has a rock waterfall. Here's a pic of that one :

Hope this helps.

 

[mbb]

I didn't know that they were that close together, SVR and Villages..

Are the pools at Villages as nice as the pools at SVR?

Anyone care to share some pics? (Thanks MAria, for posting yours of SVR )

 

[MiaSRN62]

It would be nice if someone posted some pics of the Villages. You can get a pic of the pool there from the web site : http://www.starwoodvo.com/resorts/welcome.jsp?resortID=1

I didn't know that they were that close together, SVR and Villages..

Yep, when you mapquest them out, they're about 3 miles from eachother. A friend of mine stayed at the VV a couple years ago. And even though they are fairly close to the main Vistana, I think there is more traffic in the area of the VV. My friend told me it took them about 25 min to get to WDW----and it usually takes us in the area of 10-15 min from the main Vistana.

 

[Buzz2001]

I booked my reservations at CRS for 8 nights for 2 rooms..we have 5 people and don;'t want to be crammed together. i saw the 2 Sheratons on all ears and it would save us over $1000. is CRS worth $1000 more than the Sheraton?
We like the Disney resorts for convienence..don't want to have to drive or think much.
Are the Sheraton shuttles that easy ? can you see fireworks from any? Bummer about the pools I assume none have slides?

We only visited US and IOA while at Vistana. We had a rental car so we didn't use the shuttles. Vistana is a huge resort. Our stay was fine but I'd rather be onsite any day of the week. As you mentioned, for the convienence. That's just my preference. I love CSR! But if you are looking to save the $1,000, try the family suites at All Stars.

 

[MiaSRN62]

Our stay was fine but I'd rather be onsite any day of the week. As you mentioned, for the convienence. That's just my preference.

I'm torn with onsite vs offsite. You do get the perks of EMH, disney transportation, package delivery when staying onsite (and all this is great), but if having extra room, a full kitchen, balcony, washer&dryer, jacuzzi/whirlpool tub on your vacation sounds good you may want to weigh the pros and cons. We bought DVC so we could have the best of both worlds---onsite magic & perks and lots of space & amenities at our finger tips. Good luck with your decision.

 

[spiceycat]

They are actually about 3 minutes away from each other.

did you go through the same traffic lights I did?????

I spend over 3 minutes at the traffic light alone.