My family stayed at the CPGV last year during the holidays. The decor is the same as it was several years ago, and had not been updated at that time. We thought the unit was very roomy, the kitchen is very large, and you are only about a 5 minute drive to Downtown Disney. Cici's, McDonalds, and many other restaurants are just around the corner. The pool on the CPGV side is a turtle-shaped pool, with no slide. You can (at least as of last year) walk across to the Cypress Pointe side and use the volcano pool as well. For close to Downtown Disney, this one can't be beat. Unless the units have been updated though, it seems lost in the 90's. That was not a deterrent to us, and we really enjoyed our stay.
We have also stayed at Silver Lake Resort, albeit several years ago. We stayed in the Silver Points side, which is the newer section. Our unit was beautifully furnished, and seemed brand new. The pool does not have a slide, but it is a very large one. They have a movie theater at which you can watch movies too. I don't know if there is internet in any of the units.
You can go out the back exit onto Black Lake Road, and be at Animal Kingdom in about 5 minutes.
So both of these have their good points. I know many of the folks here have stayed at both of these resorts, so I'm sure you'll get some more opinions. You can also check tripadvisor.com for reviews of any hotel or resort. That is the way I research before booking any stay. Also read the reviews at RCI too--they may give more insight, as most of those reviews come from timeshare owners.
. We are interested in clean, up to date accomodations, close to Disney with full kitchen. Any advice on these two and which would be better? me, dh and ds(6) and dd(8), so nice pools would be good, too.
