skyauction which resort?

[latenthart]

I succesfully bid on a ready set go auction. Now to pick my dates.

Seems like the following resorts keep showing up

summerbay
silver lake
orbit villas
westgate

and occasionally Ive seen orange lake, but not for my dates as of yet.

Has anyone been to summerbay or silverlake?
Ive heard horrible things about westgate and so so stuff about orbit.

I previously have stayed at Vistana Villages. I am afraid I will never be happy with these other places after staying at Vistana villages. I can not afford VV but I am hoping skyauction was the answer to my prayers. Any thoughts?

 

[HeatherC]

Hi - We too won a ready set go auction for Orange Lake this NOvember. I've heard great things about it from this board and others. The only other resort I've heard good things about is Silver Lake. Never stayed there though. I've heard that Orange Lake is the resort to shoot for through Sky Auction. Wish I could be more help to you.

We have also stayed at VV and loved it. The following time we stayed at the Marriot Grande Vista which is very similar...but I love the pool at VV much better. Just wish it wasn't so expensive now.

Heather

 

[AJKMOM]

We stayed at SilverLake a few years ago as an RCI exchange. We thought it was nice, but not great, like you hear about Orange Lake. Since, for us, it was a gift, we especially liked it. It had a nice pool area, movie theatre, and playground. My only real gripe was that they charged $25 fee so you had to attend a timeshare presentation. If you went, you got 2 tickets to SeaWorld; if not, you lost the $25. I don't think SilverLake is as much of a "resort" as the newer places.

 

[Straitlover]

Luckily I was able to get Orange Lake, but I was also looking at Summer Bay and Silver Lake.

When are you wanting to go? It took me about 1.5 months for what I was looking for to show up. Right now, if you look in September, Orange Lake has tons of stuff available. If you could hold off until 1-2 months before you want to go, more might show up. I almost decided to take a 1 BR at Siver Lake but decided to wait one more day. Then poof! a 2BR showed up at OL!

If you don't want or can't wait, from what I've found out here on the DIS, I would go w/ Silver Lake or Summer Bay. Summer Bay looks really nice; it's just farther away than the others. OL and Silver Lake are right behind Animal Kingdom, and there's a back road into WDW so you dont even have to get on 192!

Also, I hear that Orbit One is not bad, it's just older than some of the others. If you want to see more on it, go to www.islandone.com and look it up there. You will find more stuff there than on SkyAuction.

HTH!

 

[spiceycat]

My brother's family is going to SummerBay next week with a week I got on skyauction - she is used to Disney so she could give a good comparison.

I have also seen the Sherton's Vistana Resort here too - but it was auditioned at a much, much higher prices than what I wanted to pay for a 1 week stay.

I was also looking at Silver Lake - it is pretty nice - but I went with the Summer Bay because they have the week I wanted and the price was great.

 

[jessiesue]

I haved stayed at Orange Lake. Summer Bay, and Sliver Lake. I liked OL the best. Eventhough I have not stayed at VV, I would say OL would be the closest in comparison. It's a toss up between the other two. Depending on what you are looking for depends on which one to choose.

 

[latenthart]

Originally posted by jessiesue
I haved stayed at Orange Lake. Summer Bay, and Sliver Lake. I liked OL the best. Eventhough I have not stayed at VV, I would say OL would be the closest in comparison. It's a toss up between the other two. Depending on what you are looking for depends on which one to choose.

what would be the pros/cons of silver lake and summer bay in your opinion.

Which one has a better pool?
which one is newer?
do both have restaurants?
distance from disney?
how long ago did you stay at these places.
do they have washer dryers?

 

[jessiesue]

I'll try to help the best I can.
Pools- both had average nice size pools. Nothing fancy, no slides, no waterfalls
New- SB's (3 bdrm) unit was brand new. You could smell the fresh paint. Very nice furnishings and ceramic floor. I saw the old units in the front . You do not want to stay there. They are run down. It looked like they try to put evryone in the newer ones. I don't know if we were in SL's (2bdrm) newest unit but it was nice. My DH did not like looking at pink walls the whole week. LOL It didn't bother me. Ratan furnishings. SL had a bigger living area. SB definitely had the better looking unit but if you want size then it's SL
Restaurants- to my knowledge neither had one. They both had a little store to by snacks, drinks, lotion, etc. SB has a Publix right next store.
Distance- SB further from disney. It's a mile past OLCC. SL is closer to Disney and is a hop, skip & jump from Animal kingdom. There's a back way to get there. Ask for directions if you stay there.
Time- We stayed at each for a week through sky auction.
W & D - Both had them. I was told SB villas do not have them

I am told all these timeshares have old units and I think its just a gamble you take by booking through sky auction that you might be put in an older unit. I have read on the board how people were put in older units at OL.
Please remember these are my opinions about these 2 resorts.
I hope this helps.

 

[Lisa P.]

I agree with what's been written. We stayed in an older 2BR at Silver Lake but it had been very well-maintained (incl brand new mattresses).

At that resort, the only thing that I'd avoid would be a small 1BR unit or a unit that overlooks the road at the back of the resort. This road is actually the one which leads along the back route to Animal Kingdom (Sherberth?), so could be noisy at times.

FWIW, I'd definitely stay there again - clean, convenient, spacious rooms with nice amenities, a good pool area, stuff for the kids to do, quiet when we wanted it to be.

We only toured at Summer Bay. Looked nice. I believe that both SL & SB have a bar/grill at the main pool, selling drinks and a limited menu. HTH.

 

[bearzabout]

I've stayed at both SB and SL. I love Silver Lake. I use the unit mainly as a bedroom, so resort amenities aren't important to me. I love the short drive (5 minutes or so) to my favorite park, Animal Kingdom.

I also love the room amenities. Rooms are large, most have washer and dryers and a Jacuzzi tub and separate shower in the bathroom. All of the units I have stayed in had white walls and white tile or dark green carpeting. The decor is not as fancy as some other resorts, but the units seem to me to be well maintained and very soundproof.

Silver Lake is a small resort. They serve food at the bar near the pool. I think there are pictures of the pool area on their website.

We stayed at the older units years ago at Summer Bay. The unit was tiny, there were roaches in the kitchen and the unit was very poorly built. We toured the new units. They were much nicer but I would never stay at a resort so far away from Disney again. I'm just too tired to spend 20 minutes in the car at the end of a long day in the parks.

Orange Lake is closer than Summer Bay and more people seem to like it. It seems to offer the best mix of resort and room amenities of the three resorts mentioned in this review.

 

[latenthart]

new resort coming up that I have never seen before
Fairfield Orlando at Cypress Palms

any thoughts on this place??????

 

[Lisa P.]

Most reviews are very favorable. Fairfield Orlando at Cypress Palms is a smaller, newer resort (no older sections) off 192 in Kissimmee, about 5 miles east of Disney. It's set back a block behind Cracker Barrel and behind a small lake. Did a drive-thru and thought it looked pretty with nice landscaping.

The two pool areas are simple, heated, w/hot tubs, kiddie pools and plenty of seating (no waterfalls nor slides). There's also a playground, a game room, a picnic area w/bbq grills and a few organized activities. Because it's smaller, this is not the hopping social place but rather a nice, quiet, comfortable place to stay with about a 10 minute drive to MGM. There's free (very limited), direct shuttle service to the TTC, Sea World & Universal, with 24 hours advance reservation.

The 1BR Standard rooms are okay with basic amenities. But the 1BR Deluxe and larger units appear to be very nice, with all the better amenities... full kitchen, washer/dryer, double jacuzzi tub, balcony/patio, etc. Take a look at the photos at the website link above. HTH!