Skyauction and Silver lake ?

[hockey mom]

I just one a week at SL and noticed that my condo says "sleeps 6". My question is has anyone ever been assigned the units that sleep 8. We have 13 of us going so I will be bidding on one more week but I have one person to many. If it is a condo for 6 is it ok to put an air mattress on the floor and is there enough room? One more question has anyone asked to be upgraded to a 3 bedroom and pay the difference?
TIA.

 

[spiceycat]

can't get on the RCI site

but in their book they list

2bedroom 6/6 and 2bedroom 8/6
also 3bedroom 10/10

so if you have already won the audition - I would ask the resort.

 

[bearzabout]

I've stayed in a two bedroom unit in both the old and new buildings at Silver Lake. In the old buildings (three stories with no elevators), one bedroom had two twin beds and the other had a king bed. There was a fold out sofa in the large living room. The living room was huge. There was plenty of room for air matresses.

In the new building (five stories with elevator), the 2 bedroom units are smaller. One bedroom was nearly filled with the king bed. The other bedroom was a lock off unit with a partial kitchen. It also had a king size bed. The smallish living room had a sleeper sofa.

The three bedroom units consist of a two bedroom unit with a separate one bedroom lockoff unit. The lockoff may just have one king bed or may also have a sleeper sofa in the living room, depending on which lockoff you are assigned.

On one occassion, I was assigned a small one bedroom lockoff. They quoted $100 to upgrade to the larger one bedroom unit. Since the third bedroom is essentially a separate one bedroom condo, I would think the price of upgrading (if possible) would be very high.

I love Silver Lake. It is so close to Animal Kingdom. You can see the park from the higher stories of the new building.

There is a lot of construction going on at the resort. When I was there in November, they were in the process of painting the exteriors. Half were the new pretty shade of yellow, and the other the old light pink/mauve color. The resort was a bit of a mess. It should be nice when the construction / repainting is done.

 

[maggiew]

When do they expect this construction to be done?

Maggie

 

[Straitlover]

Are you going to be bidding on a RSG auction or one specific to Silver Lake? I had a RSG auction to use and a week cam open for Silver Lake that I booked. It was a 2 BR, and it specifically said it was the one that slept 8/6. That tells me it has to have a king in the master and 2 doubles in the other BR because that's the only way to have privacy for 6 people.

Is one in the family an infant or small child? I would call SL and ask if that person would be included in the count.

If it is a SL specific auction, sometimes they will inculde the option of upgrading to a 3BR in the auction itself.

 

[siobhan1997]

We stayed at Silver lake and received a two bedroom that slept 8, King size in Master, 2 doubles in 2nd bedroom with pull out couch. The unit was nice, but had no carpets at all even in the bedrooms. The resort was great, you will have a great time.

 

[KLAIT]

Can anyone tell me what the pool area is like at this Resort? Is there a game room?

 

[Lisa P.]

The pool area consists of a group of interconnected pools (a donut shape, a lap pool and a freeform pool) plus a hot tub and a kiddie pool. Next to the pool area, there's a playground, a drink/food cabana, a huge indoor fitness center, large activity & game room (arcade video coin games, table tennis, billiards, etc.) and a small computer/business center.

Our 2BR in an older building slept up to 8, including 2 double beds in the 2nd BR. It was a nice place. Not as large as some with fewer organized activities and NO elaborate pool features (waterfall or slide, etc.) but we would go back without hesitation. Great location too.

 

[KLAIT]

Thanks for the pool info Lisa P!

 

[Straitlover]

LisaP,

Hey! I'm LisaC from NC . Do you know anything about a Sterling Casino cruise offered by Silver Lake for $5? Someone mentioned it on another thread. I asked for clarification but haven't gotten it yet. They said they did it while staying at SL, so I'm assuming it's one of the activities the resort offers? My sis and I are staying there in May and would be interested in it. Not for the gambling, but to see if we can handle bein gout on the open water before we book a real cruise. I don;t mind wasting $5 if we hate it, but I don;t want to waster the big bucks on a real cruise! Thanks!

 

[iluvflorida]

Re. Stirling Cruise: It is a gambling cruise offered by Stirling and not the resort. It is available from almost all resorts and even some large hotels. It is to get you to gamble but you are under no obligation. As for a test of sea sickness it is unfair. It is a much smaller ship with no stabilizer on it than you would have on a "real Cruise". I have seen many seasoned cruise people sick on rough nights on this. Best way is to talk to people that have been on real cruise you want.

 

[Straitlover]

We're not so much worried about seasickness but being out w/ no land in sight . I think I could probably handle it, but I don't know about my sis. I would hate to be down in the Caribbean somewhere and her freak out because she's stuck on a boat out in the middle of nowhere, so I thought this might be a good test. At least on this one, we would be headed back to dry land in a few hours .

 

[bearzabout]

I went on the Stirling Cruise from Silver Lake Resort. It was offered on Thursday night for $5.00 round trip. A bus picked us up around 4:00 and dropped us back off at the resort around midnight or so. It took about an hour to arrive at Port Canaveral so bring something to read on the bus with you.

The ship is smallish in size and quite old. The outside decks have limited seating - mainly picnic tables - since they want you to be inside throwing money away in those one armed bandits. There is a free buffet of marginal food -mainly cold cuts, veggies and dip.

I spent a lot of time on deck watching the sun set and enjoying the views. The ocean was as smooth as glass. They had a person playing a steel drum on deck in the early evening. After dark, I went inside and watched other people throw a lot of money away. I figured out quite quickly that they had some incredibly tight slot machines on board.

I'd give the cruise a try. For $5, it is a great diversion. Just remember that most cruise ships are 100 times nicer than this rather utilitarian vessel. Bring a light sweater since it can be a bit chilly on deck after the sun goes down.

The ship is no comparison to newer cruise ships. A three or four day cruise with one or two shore excursions would be a better introduction to cruising. Just don't be surprised if you end up addicted to cruising.