Sun, Shopping, Sand, Surf, Sweat & Shamu: A Splashin Summertime Sabbatical at SVR!

[Lynne G]

Glad to hear about the early room available and smooth check in.

Yep, oddly we bought nothing at the Nike outlet. DS wanted sneakers, but the outlets where we live have different stock and well, sneakers are not taxed here. So, no shoes and no clothes from there for us. We never did make it to any outlet or mall either. We did get to the Target though.

 

[tristyp]

Beautiful pics of the resort. I hope our room at the villages is that nice. i love the skylight. Thats a nice timeshare presentation when they pay you upfront so you can leave after your obligation. I cant wait to hear how it went.

 

[pigletto]

It all looks wonderful Gina!! I am getting so excited.

 

[Mrs Doubtfire]

Wow that room looks lovely, especially the skylight. We have stayed at Vîstana Villages but the resort is really lush and green.

 

[minniebeth]

Loving your trip report! Your villa is beautiful! Excited to read more!

 

[pigletto]

Dh is finally home from work town for the weekend. We're going to sit down and catch up and I will show him these pics to get him excited for our trip!!
I also just saw in the dates thread that you booked your May trip!!! You weren't kidding.. you hopped right on that one!!

 

[Gina-Gina-Bo-Bina]

Glad to hear about the early room available and smooth check in.

Yep, oddly we bought nothing at the Nike outlet. DS wanted sneakers, but the outlets where we live have different stock and well, sneakers are not taxed here. So, no shoes and no clothes from there for us. We never did make it to any outlet or mall either. We did get to the Target though.

lol, Jake and Sweetie did enough shopping to make up for what you didn't buy . I bet your packing up to go home was much easier than ours!!!

Beautiful pics of the resort. I hope our room at the villages is that nice. i love the skylight. Thats a nice timeshare presentation when they pay you upfront so you can leave after your obligation. I cant wait to hear how it went.

We have done a Westgate presentation before, and this one was a breeze in comparison. Really not high pressure at all. We figured if we could live through Westgate (which they say is the worst of them all) then we were fine with Sheraton's. I was totally shocked that they gave us the cash incentive at check-in....definitely didn't expect that. I thought it was a nice touch.

It all looks wonderful Gina!! I am getting so excited.

I was thinking of you today. We were chatting about Christmas and how quickly it sneaks up on us once school is back in session. Then I thought of you and your trip....it will be here before you know it!!!

Wow that room looks lovely, especially the skylight. We have stayed at Vîstana Villages but the resort is really lush and green.

The mature landscaping is one of the things I just adore about the Resort. I am sure its a huge job for their gardening staff to keep everything all trimmed and groomed and pretty-looking. Just the lawn mowing alone would be a huge (and never-ending) undertaking!!

Loving your trip report! Your villa is beautiful! Excited to read more!

Thank you!!

Dh is finally home from work town for the weekend. We're going to sit down and catch up and I will show him these pics to get him excited for our trip!!
I also just saw in the dates thread that you booked your May trip!!! You weren't kidding.. you hopped right on that one!!

So, what did he think?

Yep, I returned to work on Tuesday morning and booked our next trip that afternoon . He who hesitates is lost, right? Actually, I just figured it would be prudent to reserve our villa for the May date since its within the booking window (October 2015 will have to wait for another month or so). And its good therapy for the post-vacation blues .... having another getaway in the works means I'm looking forward to the next adventure rather than sniffling about the end of this past one.

I think we've decided to make 2015 our Universal year. We are looking at getting AP's, hoping to squeeze 3 trips out of them (first week of May 2015, October 2015, then the end of April 2016). We've done the SW parks quite a bit now, and Steve has little interest in Disney....and with all the new things happening at Universal (our last visit was January 2012), it really, really holds an appeal. Nothing set in stone yet, but we're sure leaning in that direction.

 

[Lynne G]

We actually really like universal. At least stay one nught onsite to take advantage of the unlimited express pass. Also, use APH as the code when checking online on the hotel website. Most of the time, the passholder discount comes ou a month or so before your visit. Book the hotel separately. 5 day cancellation and no change fee if room only. Oh, and do the math, even with a power pass, you can get the room at a discount. I have a preferred AP, that costs more than a power pass, so I get free parking in the parking garages (but not hotel) and discounts on most of the food and purchases both in the parks and some in CityWalk. My kids have the power pass. Note also the power pass does have black out dates, but we go when no black out.

So glad you have a trip to look forward to. I tend not to look at next year until next tear. Much will depend on school and sports as well as having to look at colleges. I am expecting a busy summer next year.

Hope you are enjoying the week end. Waiting for my DD to finish partying with her friend celebrating the friend's Bat Mitzvah. Ahh, to be 13 again.

 

[Gina-Gina-Bo-Bina]

We actually really like universal. At least stay one nught onsite to take advantage of the unlimited express pass. Also, use APH as the code when checking online on the hotel website. Most of the time, the passholder discount comes ou a month or so before your visit. Book the hotel separately. 5 day cancellation and no change fee if room only. Oh, and do the math, even with a power pass, you can get the room at a discount. I have a preferred AP, that costs more than a power pass, so I get free parking in the parking garages (but not hotel) and discounts on most of the food and purchases both in the parks and some in CityWalk. My kids have the power pass. Note also the power pass does have black out dates, but we go when no black out.

So glad you have a trip to look forward to. I tend not to look at next year until next tear. Much will depend on school and sports as well as having to look at colleges. I am expecting a busy summer next year.

Hope you are enjoying the week end. Waiting for my DD to finish partying with her friend celebrating the friend's Bat Mitzvah. Ahh, to be 13 again.

I think we might get the Premier passes.....those will have unlimited Express for all of our visits, give us valet or preferred parking vs. the regular parking, and provide us with free tickets to HHN in October. I think we could get the value of out them, as they are each only $140 more than the preferred passes (a HHN ticket will be more than $40 in itself, so the "cost" of Express....the other major benefit of the Premier vs. the Preferred....ends up being under $100 pp. If we can be smart with the scheduling and use them for 3 vacations, then that seems like an awesome deal!).

How many times have you gone in August, Lynne? Is that generally your go-to time of year? You have also gone during the holiday season as well, haven't you? It is definitely easier to advance plan now that Jake is getting older. Seeing his childhood slip away is a real bummer, but there is a benefit or two for Mom & Dad . Gotta focus on the positives, right?

I hope your DD has fun at the Bat Mitzvah! Today was a "working" day for me (house cleaning, laundry, shopping with my mom, and dinner with the extended family....me, Steve, Jake, my mom, and my brother). Tomorrow should be more restful. I am hoping the cat will let me sleep in!

 

[Gina-Gina-Bo-Bina]

Sunday, August 17th....continued!



So after our surprising good fortune to be able to check in so darn early, we took a while to unload the luggage and get settled in, then kicked back and relaxed for an hour or so (keep in mind we had been up since just after 4 am.....and the early travel day, combined with the big adjustment up in temperature, was making us all a little weary). Jake tested out the beds, and found them to be comfy. Very comfy.



Later in the afternoon, we left the Vistana to do a little shopping. Two destinations were on the itinerary: we had promised Jake a stop at the Nike Clearance Store in Kissimmee on our arrival day, and we wanted to make the pilgrimage to Walmart for the bulk of our necessities.

We almost made it directly down the stairs and into the van....we really did. But first, Sweetie discovered the little lizards that race around the resort like tiny little Olympic sprinters.



Yep, she was totally captivated. Tried to catch a few, but wasn’t successful. Had fun giving it her best effort, though .



Finally on our way, we opted to make Nike our first order of business. I don’t really know why, but I took no pictures here. Possibly because we took the “divide and conquer” strategy: Jake and Steve made a beeline to Nike, while Sweetie and I opted to check out the Disney Outlet store and the Dollar Tree (which are both in the same plaza). Eventually, we ladies met up with the boys in Nike (we even brought them ice cold water bottles to rehydrate....aren’t we good women? ) and the guys carried all our purchases to the van. Jake declared it a great start to his wardrobe replenishment, and Sweetie was content having snagged several great deals on Florida-themed souvenirs for her family members. Shopping success #1.

Following our jaunt to Kissimmee, it was off to Walmart. Now, we normally shop at the Turkey Lake Road location, but it seemed silly to back track to Turkey Lake Road when we were driving right past a Walmart on our way back toward the Vistana. So, we threw caution to the wind and pulled into the parking lot. A Walmart is a Walmart, right?

Ugh, wrong!

The actual shopping selection was fine, but OMG was it busy. Like crazy busy . I thought for a minute that it was Christmas eve and not the middle of August......the sheer volume of shoppers was insane, and the check-outs even worse. Yes, the following day was back-to-school for the locals, but we certainly didn’t expect that every resident of Kissimmee would be buying backpacks and lunchboxes for their wee ones on the last day before school started. Line ups were ridiculous, people’s carts were HEAPED to overflowing, and it took us a full hour (no lie) from the time we first took a space in line (which snaked through the clothing section behind it) until we finally, mercifully, reached the check-out.

I think we may have danced to the van. We were finally free!!!!!!

We whisked ourselves back to the Vistana, unloaded our purchases (all....those.....stairs.....huff......puff....we.....love.....being......on......the....third.....floor ) and then decided we had earned dinner.

We let Sweetie and Jake pick. They had spied Cici’s across from the resort, so I knew where we would be headed.



Now, Cici’s isn’t gourmet by any stretch of the imagination, but its perfectly good, cheap pizza. Being a buffet, there was no wait to be seated and served so we could just dig right in (the boys were getting kinda peckish, so this was a huge bonus). I had a BOGO coupon, so the total cost for our meal (4 buffets and 4 gigantic fountain drinks) was a whopping $25.50. Where else can you get unlimited salad, pasta, pizza, dessert and drinks for just over $6 a person including tax?



I must say, too, that I liked this location much better than some of the others area. It was cleaner, brighter, and a little less.....chaotic.



Oh yes, we also bought 3 “to-go” pizzas for snacking and breakfasts for the kiddos. 3 specialty pizzas for $10.99 plus tax. Again, can’t beat the price.....and if the kids (ahem! or Steve ) have the munchies, at least pizza is reasonably healthy.



After dinner, we headed back to the resort for an evening of enjoyment in the Fountains pool. After what we just consumed at Cici’s, let’s just say that some physical activity was definitely in order. We had also pretty much used up all our travel day adrenaline, and an evening of pool time was about all we had energy left for.

 

[Gina-Gina-Bo-Bina]

Swimsuits on, towels in hand, and to the Fountains pool we go!







Being Sunday evening, there were lots of special, fun events going on at the Fountains pool. They had a fellow playing the steel drums outside the Tacky Tiki Bar:



The FUN team (decked out in their green shirts) had the fire roaring, ready for guests to make s’mores:



The giant screen was being set up for the night’s “dive-in” movie, Rio 2:



And to top off all the fun, we got to watch a spectacular sunset over top of the palm trees:



We swam, we splashed, and we all had just the most marvellous evening....it was so relaxing and just what the doctor ordered. And hence began our love affair with the north side of the resort.





pigletto, remember when you asked me (right after we arrived) if we preferred the south side or the north side? And I said that it was hard to pick, that we loved different aspects of both? Well, I must be honest.....we are north side converts. While the Super Pool in Spas is awesome, it comes second to the Fountains pool for us. We love the quietness of the north side, we prefer the Fountains pool to the Super or Cascades pools, and the skylight in the unit just sealed the deal. I must still agree with bankr63 that there really isn’t a “bad” section in the whole resort, but we are grateful to have discovered (and purchased in) the Fountains. By sheer good luck, it definitely is the place for us!

 

[ZehnJahren]

I was showing my mom your pictures; maybe we'll end up in Fountains too! It just gets us more excited for the resort.

Ah, Cici's. How did you like the pizza? It IS nice that it's all ready right away - there's no need to wait!

That pool and poolside entertainment sounds great - I love a good steel drum player! And the big blow up screen for Rio 2 looks like it was definitely big enough to see from anywhere. I wonder if we'll have any time for resort activities....

 

[dancin Disney style]

We always go to the Walmart on 535.....until last year being at the MGV we went to the Turkey Lake Rd location. Holy mother of ....... Turkey Lake Rd was waaaaaay busier than the one on 535. Gina, you just hit a bad time. It's often busy but never lined up through the clothing section. Try in again next trip and see. It's so much closer to the SVR than Turkey Lake. You can also go another 3 minutes past to the SuperTarget on 192. That store is NEVER busy. There is also a Publix on Vineland but I find that store a lot more expensive than Walmart. However, if you want to buy fresh meat Publix is better.

On the pizza note, we always go to CiCi's but this time we went to one on I-drive and it was awful. We usually go the one across from SVR or the one on Palm Pkwy. In future we will stick to what we know regardless of location. We also tried Giordanno's for the first time and it was pretty disappointing. The deep dish was barely warm by the time we got it....it was 55 minutes from the time we ordered until it came even though we were told it would be 40 min. We had a very nice but very slow server....perhaps her 9 months preggers tummy slowed her down.

 

[Gina-Gina-Bo-Bina]

I was showing my mom your pictures; maybe we'll end up in Fountains too! It just gets us more excited for the resort.

Ah, Cici's. How did you like the pizza? It IS nice that it's all ready right away - there's no need to wait!

That pool and poolside entertainment sounds great - I love a good steel drum player! And the big blow up screen for Rio 2 looks like it was definitely big enough to see from anywhere. I wonder if we'll have any time for resort activities....

Cici's was good.....I love the variety, and their desserts are so simple but so yummy (as a cinnamon bun lover, I always look forward to their hot cinnamon rolls made with the pizza dough). Jake was in heaven as usual (for young men, pizza is a food group all on its own!!) and Sweetie adored it (she had never heard of Cici's before this trip). Places like Giordano's have far, far, FAR better pizza but of course the price is also more expensive.

If you can, try and enjoy some of the awesome activities and facilities that the resort offers. You won't be disappointed . I would think you have a good chance of being allocated to the Fountains, Lakes or Cascades sections.....it will be fun to see where you are assigned to!! Are you going to make any special requests?

We always go to the Walmart on 535.....until last year being at the MGV we went to the Turkey Lake Rd location. Holy mother of ....... Turkey Lake Rd was waaaaaay busier than the one on 535. Gina, you just hit a bad time. It's often busy but never lined up through the clothing section. Try in again next trip and see. It's so much closer to the SVR than Turkey Lake. You can also go another 3 minutes past to the SuperTarget on 192. That store is NEVER busy. There is also a Publix on Vineland but I find that store a lot more expensive than Walmart. However, if you want to buy fresh meat Publix is better.

On the pizza note, we always go to CiCi's but this time we went to one on I-drive and it was awful. We usually go the one across from SVR or the one on Palm Pkwy. In future we will stick to what we know regardless of location. We also tried Giordanno's for the first time and it was pretty disappointing. The deep dish was barely warm by the time we got it....it was 55 minutes from the time we ordered until it came even though we were told it would be 40 min. We had a very nice but very slow server....perhaps her 9 months preggers tummy slowed her down.

Sorry to hear that Giordano's didn't live up to the hype . We had it again on this trip .... we brought it into the villa versus dining in ... and it was awesome . Right on time for delivery and piping hot! One of these days, though, we're going to give Flippers a whirl...just to change things up a bit.

We did indeed hit up the Publix on Vineland during our trip as well as the Walmart. We needed a few other fresh items (more milk, OJ, etc.) and decided it was probably going to be much quicker to get the few things at Publix vs. navigating the masses at Walmart. I love Publix....its clean, bright, and we always get through the check-outs quickly. Their produce and meat sections are far superior to Walmart's, too. But the prices are definitely higher (though we got some good sale items) and I thought their bakery section was kind of lacking. Too bad, too, because the rest of the store is great!

 

[Gina-Gina-Bo-Bina]

Monday, August 18th:

Steve and I were up and about fairly early in order to be showered and ready for our Owners Update at 8 am. We didn’t bother to wake the kids as we knew our tiring travel day and late night at the pool would make them want to sleep in for a few hours yet.

The Owners Update was being held at the Cascades sales center, so we made the short drive over to the south side of the resort. A huge long line had already formed at the check-in desk for regular timeshare presentation attendees, but there was a special podium for owners to check in with no line whatsoever. We were greeted, offered a seat to wait for a few moments, then shortly thereafter ushered to the breakfast room to eat and await our sales person.

Food was your basic continental breakfast: coffee, juice, yogurt, muffins, and other assorted pastries. We skipped the coffee, having already enjoyed a freshly brewed Tim Hortons cuppa joe at the villa before we left, and instead had some juice, muffins and fruit danishes. Not long after we finished eating, we were joined by “William” of the Starwood sales team.

William brought us into his little cubicle and began his pitch. Essentially, his mission was to convince us to pay the fee to convert our deeded float weeks to StarPoints or StarOptions. Now, William was nice enough, but his reasoning behind the push to convert was riddled with contradictories that he must have hoped we wouldn’t pick up on. I won’t bore you with all of the gory details, but his reasoning, in a nutshell, was that the Vistana is 95% sold with most of those owners having already converted to one of the two new systems. With that in mind, beginning in 2015 we wouldn’t be able to use our weeks on a float basis, just for the two weeks of the year they are actually deeded for (mid-summer) as there would simply be no availability other than the two weeks our units were guaranteed for. This is why the majority of Starwood owners have converted to the points or options system. In the same breath, he told us that knew we would love the new system s and all their flexibility, as 70% of Starwood owners don’t even use their points/options for timeshare stays after they convert, and instead apply their points or options to car rentals, airfare, or nightly hotel stays. Now, if 70% of owners aren’t using their points or options for timeshare stays, then that leaves a LOT of availability at the Vistana, using my math and logic skills. To help sweeten the pot, they offered to give us consideration from the original ownership purchases from the original owner to offset the conversion costs, knocking down the $24000 or so that they supposedly would have wanted to about $12000. I don’t think he was prepared to hear about our very positive resale experience, how we only paid $99 per unit with no closing costs, and our general knowledge of the timeshare industry in general. I was very grateful during that 90 minutes for all the reading I had done over the past year!!

At about the 75 minute mark (from the time we were sat for breakfast....so probably a little under an hour from the time we sat down with the salesman), William threw in the towel and brought us out to the breakfast area again to get “checked out”, citing that he didn’t want to keep us beyond the 90 minute commitment. One manager came out to try and get us to reconsider or buy a “try it” package of points or options which we declined, and it was all very pleasant and low-pressure. We said no, she took us to a clerk to check us out and give us our receipt for attending, and we were on our way.

As I mentioned in a previous post, we had already received our attendance gifts the day prior when we checked into the resort ($75 cash, two light sabres, and an additional free photo book from Picaboo). We did find the full description of the points and options systems interesting and worth knowing...not really for us right now, but interesting nonetheless.

We zipped back to the resort, and the kids were just dragging their bed heads out of bed. It was just after 9:30 am. Having rested fitfully, they were ready for breakfast and showers and were hopeful that we would make the pilgrimage to the Premium Outlets on Vineland. By about 10:30, we were on our way here:



Footnote: Upon our return home , despite what Starwood wanted to lead us to believe, we were easily able to exercise our float option and book our next trip for May 2015. Completed the reservation online in under 5 minutes. I almost wanted to call William and tell him the good news .

 

[shalom]

I was totally shocked that they gave us the cash incentive at check-in....definitely didn't expect that. I thought it was a nice touch.

Our TS system offers owners cash incentives pretty regularly. I don't remember the exact numbers, but I do know owners are statistically more likely to buy more points than the people they haul off the streets, so it pays off for them in the long run. I think they're nuts to do it with owners who bought resale, but apparently a lot of resale owners end up buying retail.

Actually, I just figured it would be prudent to reserve our villa for the May date since its within the booking window (October 2015 will have to wait for another month or so). And its good therapy for the post-vacation blues .... having another getaway in the works means I'm looking forward to the next adventure rather than sniffling about the end of this past one.

One of the things I like about Timeshares is having those reservations in hand, and I will often reserve about as early as I can, just to have that to look forward to. Even though hubby's work will often reschedule us. They pay for the new reservation, so we still get our vacation somewhere, even if we had a real deal first time and can't find the same price the week we shift to. Last time they did that, we ended up gifting some friends with the week we couldn't use, and they got to go to Wilderness Wildlife Week in Pigeon Forge, while we shifted our vacation to Nashville a month or two later. They had a great time, and so did we -- win win!

So, we threw caution to the wind and pulled into the parking lot. A Walmart is a Walmart, right?

I think Walmarts in vacation areas are much more likely to be slammed from about 11:00 a.m. on. I don't go to our hometown Walmart unless I absolutely have to, but it does seem to have a lunch rush, then a lull that lasts until 3:30 or so; when we hit Walmart on vacation, even if school is in session, Walmart's busy from noon until pretty late at night.

But hubby thinks I'm a Walmart wuss; he usually does our main shopping at Walmart, then I hit the other stores about 8:30 a.m. to round things out with meat and other things I don't want from Walmart, so I'm going the lowest crowd time to stores that are never as busy as Walmart anyhow. I comment on vacation Walmarts as kind of busy in the mornings, when they really aren't bad at all, and hubby laughs at me.


Please tell me more about the desserts at Cicis. I think we're going to hit more buffets in Orlando this next trip, and I'd kind of like to put Cicis on the list, but middle daughter thinks buffets=desserts, so I'm not sure that one is going to work.

 

[Gina-Gina-Bo-Bina]

Please tell me more about the desserts at Cicis. I think we're going to hit more buffets in Orlando this next trip, and I'd kind of like to put Cicis on the list, but middle daughter thinks buffets=desserts, so I'm not sure that one is going to work.

They only have two items for dessert.....cinnamon buns made with the pizza dough, and chocolate brownies sprinkled with icing sugar. Both are served warm. Generally I really like both of them, but for some reason, the brownies weren't as good at this location . Sweetie said they tasted like play dough, and you know....she was on the right track with that description. So we ate extra cinnamon buns....'cause they're calorie-free on vacation, right?

 

[dennise]

CiCi's also has a dessert pizza, apple pie filling on a pizza crust with icing drizzled over it. If it's not out I have asked for it and they make it. It's quie good.

 

[Gina-Gina-Bo-Bina]

CiCi's also has a dessert pizza, apple pie filling on a pizza crust with icing drizzled over it. If it's not out I have asked for it and they make it. It's quie good.

Really?!?! How have I missed that on all these trips???

It sounds delish!

 

[Gina-Gina-Bo-Bina]

Monday, August 18th....continued!

We bounded down the stairs to the van, and were just ready to pile inside when Jake spied this in the sky:



Turns out we would see these notes of inspiration scrawled across the sky multiple times during our stay. The sky writers were certainly busy during that first week in particular!!

We arrived at the outlet mall in no time (love, love, LOVE that it’s so close by!) and miraculously, it was pretty easy to find a decent parking space. We had expected to have to pay to valet the van, so it was nice to have a little cash saved as a result. The kids had certain stores they wanted to visit while Steve and I had others, so we agreed to divide and conquer for the first while with a meet-up in a couple of hours.



Jake and Sweetie opted to start at the new portion of the mall that has been built directly across the street from the main buildings:



....while Steve and I set off in a different direction.



It was hot, sunny, and absolutely glorious. A little too hot maybe, but considering how chilly and dreary it was when we left home, we were definitely not complaining!

The kids met up with us at the exact time we asked them to, and it was clear that their shopping expedition had yielded the results they had hoped for. There were smiles all around, and lots of bags in hand:



By this time, it was about 1:30 pm and the natives were getting hungry. Feet were getting sore, legs were growing tired, we were freakishly hot, and all of us were desperate need of a hydration break. Steve and I had scoured our dining options at the mall but quite frankly the food court didn’t hold a lot of appeal. Across from the mall was a stand-alone McDonalds, but none of us were too keen to eat there, either. The kids still wanted a bit more time after lunch to do some additional shopping, so we didn’t want to leave (and forfeit our parking space).....so we lamented a bit over what to do.

Next to the new part of the mall (the portion that’s across the street) looked to be a new table service restaurant (one that had been built since our last visit). The logo on the side of the building was of a cartoon fellow with a beer mug in his hand, so we assumed it was some sort of pub. Faced with the options of Mickey D’s, the food court, or the mystery pub, the vote was unanimous: let’s live a little and see what the pub has to offer. As long as they have a pitcher full of iced water, somewhat passable food (something more elegant than a Big Mac), and the air conditioning cranked, we’d be good to go.

We tossed our purchases in the van and made the treacherous journey across the street (I say treacherous, because there are no stop lights to help vehicle traffic and pedestrians safely co-exist....they have multiple police cars and officers at the intersection to help people cross safely, but man.....there were so VERY close calls. I sure hope they install a set of traffic lights here, and soon).

So....what’s this place called, anyway?

Dick’s Last Resort.



Let's just say.......we had no idea what we were in for .