Review The Sheraton Vistana Resort Thread (key links on p.1)

[Gina-Gina-Bo-Bina]

Those all sound great! Thank you so much. I’m booking today on SkyAuction so we will be there. It’s half the price of the rental home we booked on our February trip. I go back and forth on if I like rental homes or timeshares better—so I want to with a timeshare this trip.

I have followed, and enjoyed, your trip reports for YEARS so it will be like spotting a celebrity for me if I see you on our trip!

We are planning on mostly using our US APs that we got on our last trip, and are thinking of adding on a day at Legoland and possibly SW. My husband and I will be celebrating our 10 year wedding anniversary as well.

Any chance you want to babysit one night so my husband and I can go to HHN? LOL—I’m kidding.

I will take a pass on the babysitting offer LOL, but if you're up to meeting at the Tiki Bar for a cocktail one night, absolutely PM me and we will make it happen!! We have Boo Bash at MK on Sunday the 5th, Electric Ocean at SW on Monday the 6th, and Howl-O-Scream at SW on Friday the 10th, but other than some dining reservations, our other nights are all free. I would love the chance to say hello!

 

[dioxide45]

Wondering if there is a specific section that goes to people who 1. Trade in on Interval International or 2. Purchase an II Getaway?

In my experience, no. We have bought getaways and used Accomodations Certificates and used our Vistana StarOptions and have been placed all over the resort. They will probably want to try to put you into Cascades. It is the biggest section and if you book a 1BR, you will for sure be in Lakes or Cascades.

 

[Gina-Gina-Bo-Bina]

Just put in our first Pre-Arrival requests with Joshua.....we arrive in 3 weeks. I will let you know if he responds to me or not. I know there has been a lot of recent posts suggesting that Pre-Arrival requests are not necessary, but honestly, I don't want to be that family that holds up the line at check in because the preassigned villa doesn't match what we would have wanted. I personally, out of respect for fellow guests, would rather submit our requests in advance (even though they are petty basic.....just a top floor villa close to the Fountains pool) and be able to breeze through the check in process. It's a win for us AND the other weary folks behind us (especially if they have kids). Considering we are arriving on a holiday weekend as well, it definitely seemed prudent.

The countdown is on!

 

[Mickey_Maniac]

Hello All, I'm a newbie to this thread. I'll preface this by saying I am not an owner, just a 1 week renter. We have a reservation for a 1 BR villa first week of November and I had a couple questions after seeing all of the information here. Any help would be appreciated.

Do any of the 1 BR units have skylights similar to the 2 BR pics I've seen here?

Are all of the 1 BR units the same floor plan?

Any recommendations for which section/building we should request at check in? We'd like to be relatively near one of the pools and the amenities, but far away enough to not be bothered by noise.

This might sound like a weird one, but are the coffee makers drip style, or Keurig? Just wondering which type of coffee to bring with us.

Thanks,
MM

 

[Gina-Gina-Bo-Bina]

Hello All, I'm a newbie to this thread. I'll preface this by saying I am not an owner, just a 1 week renter. We have a reservation for a 1 BR villa first week of November and I had a couple questions after seeing all of the information here. Any help would be appreciated.

Do any of the 1 BR units have skylights similar to the 2 BR pics I've seen here?

Are all of the 1 BR units the same floor plan?

Any recommendations for which section/building we should request at check in? We'd like to be relatively near one of the pools and the amenities, but far away enough to not be bothered by noise.

This might sound like a weird one, but are the coffee makers drip style, or Keurig? Just wondering which type of coffee to bring with us.

Thanks,
MM

If you have a one bedroom villa, you are guaranteed to be placed in either Lakes or Cascades, as they are the only 2 sections that offer one bedroom configurations. Both of those 2 sections have 2 different types of one bedroom villas: a one bedroom premium (which will be larger in square footage, have a full standard kitchen) or the smaller one bedroom (which will have a smaller footprint and less kitchen amenities). Do you know if your confirmation states which type of one bedroom you have reserved?

Here are the links to the different one bedroom layouts:

Cascades one bedroom premium:
Orlando Vacation Villas | Sheraton Vistana Resort

Cascades smaller one bedroom:
Orlando Vacation Villas | Sheraton Vistana Resort

Lakes one bedroom premium:
Orlando Vacation Villas | Sheraton Vistana Resort

Lakes smaller one bedroom:
Orlando Vacation Villas | Sheraton Vistana Resort

I have stayed in a top floor one bedroom villa in Lakes (the larger premium style), and it did indeed have a skylight. I don't know if the Cascades top floor one bedroom units offer the same.

In Cascades, you will be much closer to some of the more major resort amenities: the Marketplace, Zimmie's restaurant, the mini golf course, surrey bike rentals and more pools (Cascades pool with the splash fountains & waterfall, the Super pool with the volleyball net, the Falls pool with the waterslide and splash area, the Springs pool and the Courts pool). In Lakes, you will be in a quieter area with easy access to two pools (the Fountains pool with the waterfall, volleyball nets, deep middle section and dual hot tubs) and the Lakes pool (which is zero entry). Preference on which "side" is better is very much subjective, but having stayed on both sides I can attest that both have their merits. We personally like the quieter vibe of the Fountains/Lakes side (and prefer the Fountains pool to all the others) but we also don't travel with little ones, so that absolutely makes a difference!

Unless they have updated the coffee makers since our last stay in April, they are still the drip style. A pet peeve of mine LOL. One of these days, hopefully they will finally upgrade to Keurig style brewers.

 

[ttfn3]

This might sound like a weird one, but are the coffee makers drip style, or Keurig? Just wondering which type of coffee to bring with us.

Thanks,
MM

We just stayed in a one bedroom (premium with balcony) in the Lakes section the end of July with a full kitchen and we had a drip basket style coffee maker - large sized maker (not the 4 cup).

 

[Mickey_Maniac]

Thanks, this is great information. Looking at my reservation, it just states 1 BR Villa with balcony. Based on the link I used to reserve it and the room description (square footage), I'm thinking it is the premium style. I'm assuming if it was the "smaller" villa style, it would state that on the reservation. To be safe though, I'm going to call and confirm. As for the location, it looks like either one would be fine, but I think our preference would probably be Cascades. I guess we'll see how things work themselves out.

Again, thanks to both of you for the info.

 

[dioxide45]

Thanks, this is great information. Looking at my reservation, it just states 1 BR Villa with balcony. Based on the link I used to reserve it and the room description (square footage), I'm thinking it is the premium style. I'm assuming if it was the "smaller" villa style, it would state that on the reservation. To be safe though, I'm going to call and confirm. As for the location, it looks like either one would be fine, but I think our preference would probably be Cascades. I guess we'll see how things work themselves out.

Again, thanks to both of you for the info.

The smaller 1BR units don't have a patio, so it does sound like you booked a Premium.

 

[ttfn3]

Thanks, this is great information. Looking at my reservation, it just states 1 BR Villa with balcony. Based on the link I used to reserve it and the room description (square footage), I'm thinking it is the premium style. I'm assuming if it was the "smaller" villa style, it would state that on the reservation. To be safe though, I'm going to call and confirm. As for the location, it looks like either one would be fine, but I think our preference would probably be Cascades. I guess we'll see how things work themselves out.

Again, thanks to both of you for the info.

My tip is to ask for a newly renovated 1 BR. The renovations are nice! Have a great trip.

 

[dioxide45]

My tip is to ask for a newly renovated 1 BR. The renovations are nice! Have a great trip.

That would be the Lakes phase. All units there have been renovated.

 

[Mickey_Maniac]

Thanks for the advice. Does anyone know if all of the buildings have been renovated or is it only certain ones?

 

[dioxide45]

Thanks for the advice. Does anyone know if all of the buildings have been renovated or is it only certain ones?

All of the buildings in Lakes and Fountains have been renovated recently. I did a video of a 1BR in Lakes and a 2BR in Fountains showing the renovations, but I can't post them here anymore. If you search YouTube for Sheraton Vistana Resort, you will find a number of different videos of the resort and rooms.

 

[Mickey_Maniac]

All of the buildings in Lakes and Fountains have been renovated recently. I did a video of a 1BR in Lakes and a 2BR in Fountains showing the renovations, but I can't post them here anymore. If you search YouTube for Sheraton Vistana Resort, you will find a number of different videos of the resort and rooms.

Would you be willing to share your YT user name so I can search for your videos? If not, or you can't on here, I totally understand.

 

[Gina-Gina-Bo-Bina]

We are officially one week from our arrival for our next stay....almost to the minute!

Just wanted to follow up and say that the new pre-arrival coordinator, Joshua, seems to be an excellent contact and has been very responsive. Super friendly fellow and very much wanting to ensure a guest's stay is as perfect as possible. We are arriving on Labor Day weekend so our expectations are managed as to whether or not he can fulfill every request that we submitted (top floor villa in Fountains and close to the pool), but we will be happy as long as we are on a top floor regardless of pool proximity. I suspect there will be more people checking OUT that weekend than checking IN, but things are so weird right now, who knows?

He tells me that the Tiki Bar is open 12-8 every day now, provided they have enough business to support being open a full 8 hours per day, so that was happy news.

The countdown is on! 7 days to go!

 

[Mickey_Maniac]

Will the pre-arrival coordinator help all guests, or is that only for members?

 

[Gina-Gina-Bo-Bina]

Will the pre-arrival coordinator help all guests, or is that only for members?

He will help any resort guest, regardless of how your stay is booked. We have never been treated any differently when we were booked via an airline package, using our ownership week, or when we picked up a deeply discounted week through Skyauction.

 

[Gina-Gina-Bo-Bina]

We are here! All settled in to our Fountains villa with this view:



It feels wonderful to be "home" again!

 

[erinch]

Gorgeous! We will be at Vistana 2 weeks in early June. Hoping for Fountains 1.

 

[Mickey_Maniac]

Looks very nice. What size unit are you in, and can you post some pics?

 

[Gina-Gina-Bo-Bina]

Looks very nice. What size unit are you in, and can you post some pics?

We are in a 2 bedroom in Fountains. Here are some pics of the interior.