Silver Lake or Cypress Palms?

[FayeW]

Very tentatively considering a 7 day trip the first week of Dec.

Currently, skyauction has 2bdrms at both Silver Lake and Cypress Palms available for that week. We have not stayed at either of these resorts in the past and I am wondering which would be the better choice. I have read reviews of both on trip advisor and they seem to be pretty evenly rated. I am leaning towards Silver Lake for a couple of reasons: 1) Proximity to WDW. We know just where it is as we drove past it everyday on our vacation last year. It is very close to AKL and easy to get to and from the parks. We don't know where Cypress Palms is... perhaps it is just as close?

2) Silver Lake has a cabana bar which serves food. Although we always stay in condos and buy some groceries to make light meals/snacks, it is nice to have the option of grabbing a burger or sandwich. I didn't read anything about Cypress Palms serving food or drinks.

3) Our neighbours stayed at Silver Lake and enjoyed it, so we have a "verifiable" review.

I require internet access, preferably wireless. I have read that Cypress Palms has wireless internet for a fee, but I don't know if internet is available in room at Silver Lake.

Any opininons on either of these properties?

 

[Brian Noble]

Sliver Lake seems to get very variable reviews to me. I think it depends on whether the reviewer was in Silver Points or the older section. I've bypassed SL on the basis of this several times---in favor of Orbit One---because OO is just a tad bit farther, but gets much more consistent reviews.

I think it's fair to say that a skyauction unit is probably the older phase, because they are separate in RCI---and SLSP comes up much less frequently in my own searches than SL.

Cypress Palms is right at the limit of acceptable distance for my family---15 minutes to the MK parking lots. My impression is that the units there are consistently very favorably reviewed.

Finally, FWIW, SL is a Silver Crown, but CP is a Gold.

I don't know what the internet facilities are at SL. Overall, SL has more "resort-like" activities on site than does CP.

I would lean to CP if you are a "go and come back only once" sort of visitor, but SL if you take a mid-day break, between visits to the parks in the morning and afternoon.

 

[KLAIT]

We just returned from a week at Silver Lake...the older units and we had no complaints at all. We requested building 700 as it is close to the pool....yes, the unit was on the older side, but it was clean and taken care of. The thing that I did not like was all the mirrors on the walls....mirrors were the walls!

I was pondering this same question as we are heading down to Orlando again in the spring and was wondering if we should try someplace else or go back to Silver Lake...we LOVED the pool area....there is a little snack shop/ Bar by the pool......it was quiet when we were there....

The only place I have to compare it to is the Vistana Resort..we loved the pool area much more than the Vistana, but I think I liked the unit better at Vistana...my son, on the other hand like Silver Lake better because the 2 bedroom was larger than the 2 bedroom at the Vistana.

I will be curious to see the responses to this thread as Cypress Palms and Orbit One are the other resorts we are looking at...and hoping for.

 

[BonnieA]

I stayed at Silver Lake last November. We really like it. I wanted to get it again this November but it wasn't available when I was looking on skyauction (in May). Instead I got Cypress Palms. The reviews look great. I don't think it's too far away, although no doubt Silver Lakes is closer. I'm well acquainted with the area and have stayed in homes off Poincianna before. I like the idea that we can walk to a few restaurants at Cypress Palms. And it's probably not a bad idea to try different places. That being said, I still wish I had waited for Silver Lakes.

 

[bearzabout]

I've stayed at both. It depends on what you are looking for.

I think Cypress Palms is too far to drive. I'd rather have an easy drive with little traffic at the end of the day.

Silver Lake is not perfect. In fact, I expect a lot of little issues (I've stayed there at least 16 weeks in recent years). It is my first choice because of its location and they offer some sort of security (guarded entrances).

I had some issues at Cypress Palms. We stayed there years ago. Hopefully, they have upgraded the units. They had carpet in the living room that was very stained. I hated looking at light green carpet with dark and light spots all over from stains. I could see why most condos now use tile instead of carpets in the living room.

In my unit, there was no way to keep maintenance from entering the unit when I was in it. Most condos have latches to flip that will keep someone from entering. Imagine my surprise when a maintenance person entered the condo when I was in the bathtub.

The views were nice, pools looked nice, but driving through traffic on 535 and 192 in the dark at the end of long day is not my first choice.

If you require internet, call the resort. I don't think it is available in the condos at Silver Lake. They do have a computer room with units for guest to use.

 

[Brian Noble]

I will be curious to see the responses to this thread as Cypress Palms and Orbit One are the other resorts we are looking at...and hoping for.

Orbit One is an older and smaller resort. There are few onsite amenities---a pool with a very small slide, a tennis court that may or may not be serviceable. But, the units themselves have recently been refreshed, and poor reviews of the *units* are few. It's not Vistana, or Orange Lake, or any one of the other mega-resorts with a million and six things to do on site. It's also not top-shelf Marriott, DVC, or HVGC. But, it's almost as close to the parks as possible without staying on Disney property, can be obtained inexpensively, and has consistently solid reviews.

 

[FayeW]

Thanks for the responses!

We stayed at Orbit One last year and liked it, but it didn't WOW me enough to want to stay again. There are too many other great looking resorts, however, if my choice was Orbit One for dirt cheap on skyauction, or another resort that was 2-3 times more $$$, I wouldn't hesitate to stay at Orbit One. It was nice and clean. Part of it was that it was our first time in Kissimmee, and we like Lake Buena Vista better. Silver Lake looks like it has more of a resort feel and I would be willing to stay in Kissimmee again to try this resort.

Sadly, I don't know if we will ever be as pleased with another resort as we were on our first trip in 2003. We stayed at Cypress Point Grand Villas. That was jaw dropping WOW! Nothing since has measured up. but it rarely comes up on skyauction.