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

[Gina-Gina-Bo-Bina]

COURTS POOL

 

[Gina-Gina-Bo-Bina]

TENNIS

SURREY BIKES

 

[Gina-Gina-Bo-Bina]

SUPER POOL

 

[Gina-Gina-Bo-Bina]

LAKES POOL

 

[Gina-Gina-Bo-Bina]

TACKY TIKI BAR

FOUNTAINS VOLLEYBALL

FOUNTAINS/LAKES SHUFFLEBOARD

FOUNTAINS BASKETBALL

 

[Gina-Gina-Bo-Bina]

CHRISTMAS AT THE VISTANA

 

[Gina-Gina-Bo-Bina]

TACKY TIKI BAR

 

[amie416]

Due to some very last-minute complications with the (BlueGreen) timeshare my aunt had booked for us, we've booked two stays at Vistana Resort, separated by our shortened BlueGreen stay... starting next week! AHHH!!!

We've never stayed off-property before, except at my aunt's timeshare, so I'm not totally sure what to expect. I booked our 2-bedroom villa through a Canadian travel website that uses Booking.com so I guess that is a hotel stay, right? Is there anything I should know about hotel stays here? Are there any requests I should make or are all the hotel stays in the same part of the resort? I have to admit, I'm more than a little bit stressed out by the last-minute changes in our plans!!!

 

[bankr63]

Nothing in particular about hotel stays; and yes, this certainly should be a hotel stay. Sheraton has villas in all sections available for rental. During the recession, Sheraton actively bought up unit weeks from the owners' associations as owners defaulted. These villas primarily make up the Sheraton rentals, and are located throughout all the sections.

Hotel stays generally include daily housekeeping, although they often offer an option to exchange housekeeping for daily breakfast. Hotel stay guests also get to use the Disney shuttles for free as part of the Disney Good Neighbor Hotel program. Shuttles to Universal and SeaWorld are not free. I have seen no indications that Sheraton or Vistana gives preferential treatment to any class of guests (Sheraton renters vs. Vistana owners); villas are assigned in a "run of resort" fashion.

The stressful part should soon be over! I hope you can truly relax and enjoy yourselves once you are settled by the pool with a nice fruity drink in hand. Just another 19 days until we head the car South ourselves for the long trail down. Always happy to arrive at the Welcome Centre and be greeted with "Welcome Home".

 

[haPevraftr]

Yay! Nothing like this thread to get me in the mood for another fabulous visit to SVR! Bankr and Gina, I am thankful that you have kept this thread going! It is wonderful.

We will be there April 1-8 (with a short trip to Cocoa Beach preceding our arrival to SVR). We have tickets to US/IOA/VB, but DD14 has made me promise that we will have down time. She is now at the age where multiple rope drop days are not so appealing. We are looking forward to some much needed R&R by the pool and at the resort. And happy hour at the Tacky Tiki...well, enough said!

I referred my close friend and first time Disney visitor to SVR last summer for their first WDW family trip and on a limited budget. I loved being able to help her get an amazing location for a reasonable price (and to know that she was not getting a second rate experience). Ever since their trip, I have been itching to be back at SVR.

This time, we are bringing our bicycles, so I am even less concerned about which section we are in, because pool proximity is a non issue with the use of our bikes. I know that I will fill out a Diamond Lane form and follow up with requests for a first floor villa (so we can get the bikes in and out), away from traffic noise, and a pond facing porch rather than pool facing. Our previous visits, we have always been given our requests so I am hopeful that this year will be no different. I want to be sure to make contact with Jennifer at Diamond Lane (thanks Gina for giving us that contact info) because this year we will be arriving later in the day. I would like to know that my requests have been received in advance since we won't be there at or before 4 pm since we will be spending the day at the beach before heading to SVR. I don't want to be worried that we get whatever villa is left by the time we get there on one of the busiest weeks of the year.

Has anyone here used the pre-stock grocery service? I am interested to hear feedback. What did you order and do you feel it was worth it for the convenience? I am wondering if it might be nice to have a few things there waiting for us when we roll in that night. It will be Easter Sunday and I am just thinking that DH will not want to go to the store that late. If we do a park day on Monday (not sure if we will), it would be Tuesday before we would get to the grocery (if DH didn't go Sunday night). Any insight would be helpful.

So excited! Let the countdown begin!

 

[KaraLyn]

Hi everyone, I am so thankful for this thread bankr63 thank you for the detailed information and props to Gina for the beautiful pictures! My family and I will be arriving in t-minus 16 days!!! So excited We will be staying for 3 nights. I got an excellent deal through Undercover Tourist, normally we rent a vacation villa, but the home we rented was not available the full 10 days of our vacation, thus the stay at SVR....pretty stoked now that we’re able to check out SVR. I have a couple of questions and was hoping someone could help me out. Can first time users book by using the Diamond Lane form or do you have to be an owner? I booked a 2 B villa and would prefer a quieter section of the resort so thinking away from the pool. Also was hoping not to have the spa tub in the bedroom, just a personal preference. If I booked through Undercover Tourist I think that means it’s a hotel stay so we’d be eligible for the free shuttle to Disney as bankr63 noted earlier...
Again thank you to everyone who’s contributed to this thread you’ve made planning so much easier!!

 

[DizzyDis]

We just got back and had a phenomenal stay!! We had a 2BR in Fountains 2, was one of the furthest buildings, but meant it was very quiet (backed towards the highway, but no noise issues at night). We easily walked to Fountains pools most days, but drove to those over on the Cascades side. We had a car, so didn't use the shuttle service, but had been told earlier it was a $10 pp cost as of Jan 1, so worth looking into if you are considering that.

The pools were fabulous, clean, warm, not too crowded. They had pool toys, etc. you could rent or buy and they were decent quality and very reasonable priced (pair of floaties for my DD were only $6), so have no complaints about any of that. Hot tubs were also very nice and hot, my only regret is we didn't spend more time there!! (refer to earlier reference to children )

The room was huge and clean, only a couple of areas looking a little tired, but we were extremely comfortable there (2 adults, 2 kids) and DH said he could easily live there in that amount of space (I assume without me or kids!!)

Restaurants on site were decent, but I found fairly overpriced as many hotel restaurants can be (same with market). We used them a couple of times for convenience (Tiki grill and Castaway grill at Cascades), but they were neither spectacular nor cheap, so we opted to pick up some easy food to prepare in-room on days we didn't want to go out for a big meal.

We opted for the housekeeping since we were staying for 2 weeks, and the daily breakfast was an all or nothing deal (I asked about every other day, or even weekly cleaning, neither was an option) and I wasn't interested in 2 weeks without any cleaning. I have to say the housekeeping was a little hit or miss, some days the towels were all replaced, some days they missed some, some days they missed changing a garbage, etc. Not a major issue, we are pretty tidy people, but we noticed it was uneven. If we were staying less than a week, I think we would seriously consider the meal option, although we asked about doubling up the breakfasts (instead of breakfast for 2 each day, could we get breakfast for 4 every other day) and were told that was not allowed, so I wouldn't want to plan to pay for the kids every time we wanted to use our freebies.

The entertainment and activities were more than I expected, we didn't partake in much, but saw some of the live music and thought they were good. Definitely something to look into and plan for next time!

 

[bankr63]

Hi everyone, I am so thankful for this thread bankr63 thank you for the detailed information and props to Gina for the beautiful pictures! My family and I will be arriving in t-minus 16 days!!! So excited We will be staying for 3 nights. I got an excellent deal through Undercover Tourist, normally we rent a vacation villa, but the home we rented was not available the full 10 days of our vacation, thus the stay at SVR....pretty stoked now that we’re able to check out SVR. I have a couple of questions and was hoping someone could help me out. Can first time users book by using the Diamond Lane form or do you have to be an owner? I booked a 2 B villa and would prefer a quieter section of the resort so thinking away from the pool. Also was hoping not to have the spa tub in the bedroom, just a personal preference. If I booked through Undercover Tourist I think that means it’s a hotel stay so we’d be eligible for the free shuttle to Disney as bankr63 noted earlier...
Again thank you to everyone who’s contributed to this thread you’ve made planning so much easier!!

Sounds like our paths may cross at the Welcome Centre- we check in on the 10th which sounds like the day you are leaving.

Anyone can use the DL form (link on page 1 and elsewhere in the report). All you need is reservation number of some sort so they can find you. Note that the DL checkin form no longer has a comments section, but it appears that they generally contact you back for more specifics. Enjoy your stay!

 

[bankr63]

Yay! Nothing like this thread to get me in the mood for another fabulous visit to SVR! Bankr and Gina, I am thankful that you have kept this thread going! It is wonderful.

We will be there April 1-8 (with a short trip to Cocoa Beach preceding our arrival to SVR). We have tickets to US/IOA/VB, but DD14 has made me promise that we will have down time. She is now at the age where multiple rope drop days are not so appealing. We are looking forward to some much needed R&R by the pool and at the resort. And happy hour at the Tacky Tiki...well, enough said!

I referred my close friend and first time Disney visitor to SVR last summer for their first WDW family trip and on a limited budget. I loved being able to help her get an amazing location for a reasonable price (and to know that she was not getting a second rate experience). Ever since their trip, I have been itching to be back at SVR.

This time, we are bringing our bicycles, so I am even less concerned about which section we are in, because pool proximity is a non issue with the use of our bikes. I know that I will fill out a Diamond Lane form and follow up with requests for a first floor villa (so we can get the bikes in and out), away from traffic noise, and a pond facing porch rather than pool facing. Our previous visits, we have always been given our requests so I am hopeful that this year will be no different. I want to be sure to make contact with Jennifer at Diamond Lane (thanks Gina for giving us that contact info) because this year we will be arriving later in the day. I would like to know that my requests have been received in advance since we won't be there at or before 4 pm since we will be spending the day at the beach before heading to SVR. I don't want to be worried that we get whatever villa is left by the time we get there on one of the busiest weeks of the year.

Has anyone here used the pre-stock grocery service? I am interested to hear feedback. What did you order and do you feel it was worth it for the convenience? I am wondering if it might be nice to have a few things there waiting for us when we roll in that night. It will be Easter Sunday and I am just thinking that DH will not want to go to the store that late. If we do a park day on Monday (not sure if we will), it would be Tuesday before we would get to the grocery (if DH didn't go Sunday night). Any insight would be helpful.

So excited! Let the countdown begin!

Glad to see someone else getting excited! I'm looking forward to arriving Home again too.

Haven't used pre-stock, and the question has gone down without answer here before, so may not be that popular. Considering you are arriving on a holiday, it sounds like it might be worth the extra cost. The groceries are actually coming from the Marketplace onsite, so if you are used to that kind of pricing, it shouldn't be much of a shock. Remember that the WalMarts are generally open 24 hours, so even of closing for the holiday, they may have late enough hours for you to stock up there. The hours are generally posted on the store page at the WalMart site.

 

[KaraLyn]

We just got back and had a phenomenal stay!! We had a 2BR in Fountains 2, was one of the furthest buildings, but meant it was very quiet (backed towards the highway, but no noise issues at night). We easily walked to Fountains pools most days, but drove to those over on the Cascades side. We had a car, so didn't use the shuttle service, but had been told earlier it was a $10 pp cost as of Jan 1, so worth looking into if you are considering that.

The pools were fabulous, clean, warm, not too crowded. They had pool toys, etc. you could rent or buy and they were decent quality and very reasonable priced (pair of floaties for my DD were only $6), so have no complaints about any of that. Hot tubs were also very nice and hot, my only regret is we didn't spend more time there!! (refer to earlier reference to children )

The room was huge and clean, only a couple of areas looking a little tired, but we were extremely comfortable there (2 adults, 2 kids) and DH said he could easily live there in that amount of space (I assume without me or kids!!)

Restaurants on site were decent, but I found fairly overpriced as many hotel restaurants can be (same with market). We used them a couple of times for convenience (Tiki grill and Castaway grill at Cascades), but they were neither spectacular nor cheap, so we opted to pick up some easy food to prepare in-room on days we didn't want to go out for a big meal.

We opted for the housekeeping since we were staying for 2 weeks, and the daily breakfast was an all or nothing deal (I asked about every other day, or even weekly cleaning, neither was an option) and I wasn't interested in 2 weeks without any cleaning. I have to say the housekeeping was a little hit or miss, some days the towels were all replaced, some days they missed some, some days they missed changing a garbage, etc. Not a major issue, we are pretty tidy people, but we noticed it was uneven. If we were staying less than a week, I think we would seriously consider the meal option, although we asked about doubling up the breakfasts (instead of breakfast for 2 each day, could we get breakfast for 4 every other day) and were told that was not allowed, so I wouldn't want to plan to pay for the kids every time we wanted to use our freebies.

The entertainment and activities were more than I expected, we didn't partake in much, but saw some of the live music and thought they were good. Definitely something to look into and plan for next time!

Happy to hear you enjoyed your stay DizzyDis! Always hard to get back in the saddle, but nice to get back home and start planning another trip The Fountains 2 are our first pick for accommodations as well, nice to be in the quiet section of the resort. We’ll have to see if we can get the free breakfast in lieu of the house keeping, don’t think we’ll need housekeeping since we’ll only be there for 3 nights.

 

[KaraLyn]

Sounds like our paths may cross at the Welcome Centre- we check in on the 10th which sounds like the day you are leaving.

Anyone can use the DL form (link on page 1 and elsewhere in the report). All you need is reservation number of some sort so they can find you. Note that the DL checkin form no longer has a comments section, but it appears that they generally contact you back for more specifics. Enjoy your stay!

Yes, we’ll be checking out on the 10th...I don’t look anything like my DIS icon in case we cross paths at check in/out. I got a little trim around my ears Lol...couldn’t resist! We’re really looking forward to our stay at the SVR from all of the positive comments shared in the thread. Thanks for the tip on the DL form I’ll be sure to scroll back to get a copy. Hope you have an awesome stay with your family!

 

[marvel]

Hi all. For those that have stayed around the Xmas period, what type of price would i expect to pay? we are staying over 2 weeks so will have to book directly with sheraton, as we dont want to move mid stay. We are arriving a few days after xmas and at the moment the price is $277 USD, and since we have paid around $180 during non-peak, wondering if this is the best we might get, or to wait a bit longer.

 

[Gina-Gina-Bo-Bina]

Hi all. For those that have stayed around the Xmas period, what type of price would i expect to pay? we are staying over 2 weeks so will have to book directly with sheraton, as we dont want to move mid stay. We are arriving a few days after xmas and at the moment the price is $277 USD, and since we have paid around $180 during non-peak, wondering if this is the best we might get, or to wait a bit longer.

We have stayed Christmas week before (using our ownership week), but have priced it out several times for friends and family. Each time, the two weeks of Christmas vacation (the two weeks the kids are typically off school) have hovered right around $3000 [including taxes] each by the time mid summer/early fall rolls around. Made me grateful every time that we could lock in just for the price of our maintenance fees .

At any rate, I think your rate of $277 per night is a decent one. Before committing, you could also try the TUG Marketplace to see if you could snag a better rate on a rental through an owner. You're looking at almost $2000 for a week with your current rate, while many owner maintenance fees are right around $950/week for a 2 bedroom. An owner could make a tidy profit by renting their week and could still offer you a deal in comparison to your current nightly price. You wouldn't have daily housekeeping, if that's important to you (just a mid-week tidy at the halfway point of your stay), so just keep that in mind.

Also take a look at Skyauction, just to see how that price compares (assuming they even offer those weeks.....given their popularity, Skyauction might not have availability). Again, there's no daily housekeeping in that rate, but you may save a few dollars.

 

[marvel]

Thanks, yes the price isnt bad, i am hoping to get one that is flexible in case i get a better price. at the moment it is all prepay for some reason.

 

[Gina-Gina-Bo-Bina]

Thanks, yes the price isnt bad, i am hoping to get one that is flexible in case i get a better price. at the moment it is all prepay for some reason.

I don't know what exact dates you are looking at, but Skyauction has a 7 night stay beginning December 29th for $1520 ($650 base fee + $850 date surcharge + $20 booking fee). If your $277 per night includes tax, that would save you $419 on one of your weeks. If that's a tax exclusive rate, then your savings would be $545 for the 7 day stay. I would suspect that $1520 for one of your weeks is just about the best that you'll see. Worth a look!

http://www.skyauction.com/action/offer/2904579

We have used Skyauction several times and never had an issue.