Summer Bay Resort

[snowwite]

Just got back. We traded RCI week for week near Disney.The resort is pretty well maintained. We had a few problems in room(broken a/c,smoking room when req non smoking,broken beeping smoke alarm and red ants). Maintenance fixed promptly even at night when smoke alarm went off.
We had been told there was a water park and it is prominently displayed in thier brochure but it has not been built yet. We were disappointed that we needed to pay to upgrade to what is standard at our home resort and tghat there is zero maid service when you rent time share unit.Not even a towel change out. We got detergent @ Publix and did laundry.Sales staff very pushy. I made it clear we were owners and not interested but they hounded us at every turn. Would only return in a pinch. Plenty of better places to stay near Disney.

 

[eh24fan]

Oh no! We just booked Summer Bay for February 2007! My mom and stepdad did anyway. We are staying there with them. How far from Disney? Was it an easy drive? I was excited, but now I'm nervous.

 

[gjw007]

Just got back. We traded RCI week for week near Disney.The resort is pretty well maintained. We had a few problems in room(broken a/c,smoking room when req non smoking,broken beeping smoke alarm and red ants). Maintenance fixed promptly even at night when smoke alarm went off.
We had been told there was a water park and it is prominently displayed in thier brochure but it has not been built yet. We were disappointed that we needed to pay to upgrade to what is standard at our home resort and tghat there is zero maid service when you rent time share unit.Not even a towel change out. We got detergent @ Publix and did laundry.Sales staff very pushy. I made it clear we were owners and not interested but they hounded us at every turn. Would only return in a pinch. Plenty of better places to stay near Disney.

Other than the pushy sales people (and they are enough to ruin a stay), it sounds like a good stay. I have not been to Summer Bay but it does get mostly good reviews. It sounds like you traded another resort for the stay but then state that you are owners. Are you owners of Summer Bay? If so and if during your normal week you have the trash-and-towel service, I think you have a valid complaint. If you are not Summer Bay owners, some resorts have the trash-and-towel in the middle of the week; some don't. The resorts that don't have this help keep maintenance fees down for the owners. I wouldn't write off a resort because it doesn't do a trash-and-towel that your home resort does although you may wish to inquire further before making reservations at resorts that do have this feature so that you can enjoy your vacation. Personally, I don't think it is worth the expense as an owner as for the additional $50 to $100 it adds to the maintenance fees, just tossing the towels in the washer/dryer is easy to do. I also like to go on a relaxed vacation getting up when I want to and not have somebody knock on the door and disturbing me. It is the advantage timesharing to not have to tell somebody that I don't wish to be disturbed. Of course, other people vacation different and have different expectations. There is nothing wrong with that either.

 

[snowwite]

Oh no! We just booked Summer Bay for February 2007! My mom and stepdad did anyway. We are staying there with them. How far from Disney? Was it an easy drive? I was excited, but now I'm nervous.

Dont worry. It was nice and like I said the maintenance staff were prompt and corrected any problems immediately.
We were disappointed because the resort misrepresnted that it had a water park when it did not.
The unit itself was nice but we own a timeshare in Aruba which is a 2 bedroom Deluxe.The layout is identical to the condos at Summer Bay but we had to pay an upgrade to get a condo because the RCI trade is not a comparable unit as it is a smaller Villa. We had two kids 13/17 and they each need own bed so it wa worth the extra 150.for the week to upgrade.
We have only traded our week twice and both other resorts (Playa Linda and Liki Tiki) offered maid service and clean towels. Playa Linda actually had daily maid service like a hotel and Liki had trash and towels mid week and you could call for extra if needed.I hate having to do housework on vacation so I was annoyed to have to do own beds, wash towels and empty garbage but I like having the space. As far as the other post re:maintance fees.
The drive was about 25 mins due to construction but we started going left onto street by 7-11 I think it was Black Lake and you go Left at the end by Holiday in West gate and it takes you to disney the back way.That took about 12-15 mins depending if we got stuck at the light.
We did save a bit by buying groceries and making some meals in room. We tried to picnic one day.I made lunch and got a locker.We park hopped and forgot it there.Oops. We decided to get CS and have it later but it was pretty soggy.My DD did not like the floating icebergs.She could not climb them. It is 5.00 per kid for 1 hr or 10.00 for day to use water trampolines etc. DS on the other hand loved it and did 2 hours.
You can rent surrey bikes and play mini golf. There were multiple activities ranging from free-10.00(to tye die a shirt or canvas bag)
We didnt spend much time at resort. It just wasnt what I expected and the pushy people really bugged me.
My fees are wicked high and I still have to pay them even if we deposit and trade our week. We are relatively new to timeshare ownership but I do expect to get apples for apples that is I expect to get equal to what I deposited for trade.
Summer Bay only allows you to go there once every 4 years as a trade anyway so we will try another one next time.

 

[magiroux]

Last time I stayed at Summer Bay they DID have a water park. Granted, it was a small one, but there was one there as indicated on the map. It looked fairly new last summer. Was that one torn down or not working?

Just curious, who did you have to pay an upgrade fee to? Any unit in Aruba(other than maybe a hotel unit) I would imagine is comparable to anything in Orlando.

I own a one bedroom elsewhere and I have traded it for one of the 3 bedroom Houses at Summer Bay this summer without any fees applied other than the standard RCI exchange fee. If you have enough trade power to pull a resort/unit size with RCI, then that's your unit. Now, if you decided to upgrade once you arrived, that's a different story. Just curious if RCI's policy changed.

 

[crjack]

When we were at Summer Bay last July there was a small water park/play area right behind our building. My children were 8 & 10 but they had fun checking it out one afternoon on our way back from the pool. Definitely a fun area for younger ones to play and no costs involved.

There was also a water activities area near the main pool that had the water trampolines, etc. Those had an extra fee associated.

 

[snowwite]

When we were at Summer Bay last July there was a small water park/play area right behind our building. My children were 8 & 10 but they had fun checking it out one afternoon on our way back from the pool. Definitely a fun area for younger ones to play and no costs involved.

There was also a water activities area near the main pool that had the water trampolines, etc. Those had an extra fee associated.

There was a water mushroom thing in the small pool in back of our building too but the water park w/slides etc has not been built yet.We were told it was delayed because of the hurricanes.

 

[snowwite]

Last time I stayed at Summer Bay they DID have a water park. Granted, it was a small one, but there was one there as indicated on the map. It looked fairly new last summer. Was that one torn down or not working?

Just curious, who did you have to pay an upgrade fee to? Any unit in Aruba(other than maybe a hotel unit) I would imagine is comparable to anything in Orlando.

I own a one bedroom elsewhere and I have traded it for one of the 3 bedroom Houses at Summer Bay this summer without any fees applied other than the standard RCI exchange fee. If you have enough trade power to pull a resort/unit size with RCI, then that's your unit. Now, if you decided to upgrade once you arrived, that's a different story. Just curious if RCI's policy changed.

We own a 2 bedroom deluxe w/lockout in Aruba.It is the exact layout as condo units at summer bay but the standard RCI unit at Summer bay is a villa which is smaller and did not have adequate beds for our needs. We paid summer bay a month prior to arrival additional 24.00 per day to upgrade to a 2 bedroom condo. We could have paid more to upgrade to a 3 bedroom.We went over Easter week. I have no idea how you were able to trade a 1 bedroom for a 3 bedroom without paying extra

 

[gjw007]

We own a 2 bedroom deluxe w/lockout in Aruba.It is the exact layout as condo units at summer bay but the standard RCI unit at Summer bay is a villa which is smaller and did not have adequate beds for our needs. We paid summer bay a month prior to arrival additional 24.00 per day to upgrade to a 2 bedroom condo. We could have paid more to upgrade to a 3 bedroom.We went over Easter week. I have no idea how you were able to trade a 1 bedroom for a 3 bedroom without paying extra

Did you make your reservations with RCI online or did you call them? If you do it online, you can see what units are available for you to trade into. I don't think that you should have had to play the $24 per day fee. I have exchanged into Orlando from a 1-bedroom unit (February unit Hilton Head, SC) into a 3-bedroom in Orlando. The only time I've been disappointed with a trade has been when I called RCI and got an exchange into Vacation Village @ Parkway, the B-side. Even VVP sales people said it was a bad exchange. I could have lived with the A-side but the B-side was not what I was lead to believe. Of course, I never had a problem with an exchange up to that point and I wasn't 'bright' enough to know what questions to ask. I now ask questions even if they seem obvious.

 

[snowwite]

Did you make your reservations with RCI online or did you call them? If you do it online, you can see what units are available for you to trade into. I don't think that you should have had to play the $24 per day fee. I have exchanged into Orlando from a 1-bedroom unit (February unit Hilton Head, SC) into a 3-bedroom in Orlando. The only time I've been disappointed with a trade has been when I called RCI and got an exchange into Vacation Village @ Parkway, the B-side. Even VVP sales people said it was a bad exchange. I could have lived with the A-side but the B-side was not what I was lead to believe. Of course, I never had a problem with an exchange up to that point and I wasn't 'bright' enough to know what questions to ask. I now ask questions even if they seem obvious.

We called and they sent a confirmation letter via web site. No where did it state we could upgrade. By the way, why are you being so argumentive with me about this? I gave my opinion and have had to defend myself ever since stating what happened to me on my vacation.Youre experience may have been different but I stated the facts about our experience at this resort. we have only had the timeshare for a few years and have only traded twice so I guess I dont know all the right questions to ask yet.

 

[gjw007]

We called and they sent a confirmation letter via web site. No where did it state we could upgrade. By the way, why are you being so argumentive with me about this? I gave my opinion and have had to defend myself ever since stating what happened to me on my vacation.Youre experience may have been different but I stated the facts about our experience at this resort. we have only had the timeshare for a few years and have only traded twice so I guess I dont know all the right questions to ask yet.

Wow! I am sorry that you took the posts to be argumentative as that is not the tone nor the intent. I made no accusations, thus you have nothing to defend, but I gave a different perspective and tried to understand the circumstances; I accepted that you had an experience that was less than what you had expected. I have learned from other people's experience. I think there is an issue with RCI not presenting all the options and explaining the differences between the resorts but that is not your fault or the resort.