I've stayed there several times, and I own a 3 BR lock-off unit there. It's a very nice resort. Close to WDW. When we are not staying on Disney property, I really like staying at Star Island.
There are 2 different types of 1 BR units at Star Island. The larger unit w/ a kitchen is very spacious. The smaller unit has a mini-kitchen in a living room w/ a pull-out queen sofa and 2 double beds in the other bedroom.
Here is the review that I posted on another site after our most recent stay in December:
We had family that were staying at Star Island during New Years week, so we traded into the resort to be close. I was impressed with the resort and the room. I own here and have stayed before, but this was not my unit since I traded in.
Our unit was 1224B - located in building 12 on the second floor. We had a one bedroom B unit - the larger of the one bedroom lock-outs. My father was staying in a 3 bedroom unit in building 11, which is a combination of the A and B units.
When I checked in, we were supposed to be in building 19, but after asking if it were possible to be located closer to my fathers unit we were assigned to building 12. I was told that both buildings 11 and 12 have been refurbished in the past month or so. Having stayed in non-refurbished rooms in the past, I can say that they did a very good job at updating the rooms.
I liked the room for the most part. There was plenty of room, and the kitchen was well stocked. The sofa in the living area was large enough so that it could be pulled out to form a queen sized bed, and still have enough room for my daughter to sleep on the part of the sofa that did not pull out. It was nice for both kids to have their own bed, even though they were right next to each other. Even with the sofa bed pulled out there was room for the kids to play with toys on the floor. There were flat screen TVs in both the master bedroom and the living room (and I noticed in my fathers room that there were flat screen TVs in the A unit as well.) Even though we didnt stay in an A unit, I was really impressed with the kitchenette in that part of the unit in my fathers room. The conditions of the rooms were excellent - 9.5 out of 10.
I didnt care for the lack of privacy in the master bedroom in the B unit. The glass shower door basically looks right into the rest of the bedroom, so there is no privacy if anyone else is in the room. Also, there is no access to the toilet without going through the master bedroom. The fan that goes on with the light above the toilet sounds like the engine of a 747.
A final complaint would be the lack of elevators to the second and third floors of the building we stayed in. It wasnt a big deal for us, but I can see that it could be a problem for others.
There were many activities at the resort, although we spent almost all of our time at Disney and didnt take part in any of them. I would say that Star Island offers more activities than most other timeshares I have stayed in. Some examples: Karaoke, free bucket of range balls at the driving range, nature trail, boat and watersports rentals, and live music. There were lots more activities than that, those are just some examples.
I didnt utilize the spa that was on-site, but others we were traveling with did, and they said that it was quite nice, but nothing overly amazing or special.
I found the staff to be very helpful and polite, although I didnt really have much contact with them other than at check-in.
The resort is very convenient to Disney - about 5 miles from the parks. It usually took us about 10-15 minutes to drive in to a park. We didnt go to Universal or Sea World, but it would be pretty easy to get to those parks from Star Island as well.
Overall, I would definitely recommend this resort to those looking to travel to Disney and wanting to stay off-site. I have also stayed in Sheraton Vistana Villages, and found this resort to be comparable. Star Island seemed to have more activities within the resort, both rooms were very well maintained and nicely furnished. I liked the layout of the room better at Vistana Villages.
