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

[Gina-Gina-Bo-Bina]

 

[Gina-Gina-Bo-Bina]

 

[Gina-Gina-Bo-Bina]

 

[Gina-Gina-Bo-Bina]

 

[Gina-Gina-Bo-Bina]

 

[bankr63]

Hi Gina! Great to see you posting a full photo series here again!

Sorry we didn't get the DISMeet to work out, but we too had a great time down in Orlando this past week. We really enjoyed our stay at Silver Lake - a really nice 2BR in the most recently built building - it is still waiting for the 2nd tower to go up beside the shared central elevator building. Maybe driving is worth it - we arrived around 8:30-9:00 pm on Saturday with no wait to get to our villa. Of course, after 24 hours of driving, there might have been bodily harm if they weren't ready.

It is so good to see fresh photos of home - that new balcony furniture looks really nice.

How were your park experiences this time? Despite many of the changes and our refusal to fork out more money Genie+ and ILL, we managed to ride everything we wanted, and the waits weren't horrible if timed well. Crowds were not as bad as we expected for the time of year. Our worst wait was for FOP at 80 minutes - but then it was posted for 180 minutes when we got in the standby line.

 

[bankr63]

Question about the kitchen. Are those pantry cabinets beside the fridge new? I haven't seen them in any other villa we've stayed in. Is it just an open space? I have to admit that we usually end up totally rearranging the dishes in the cabinets to make space for food, so a pantry would be nice!

 

[vistana101]

Great pics!!

 

[My2CrazyGirls]

We just arrived home last night after a week at the resort. It was 13 months since our last stay, which is (I think) the longest time we have gone between visits.

This was our first time staying during the month of March, and it was both March Break week for many Canadian families (those that live in Ontario, in particular), as well some of the local Orlando schools .... so the resort and the theme parks were VERY busy. Check in on Saturday, March 11th was a hot mess: our villa still wasn't ready at 6 pm, and when we did get the all-clear (and they keys), we arrived to a room that was still filled with cleaning staff.

Apparently, the resort had more than 550 families checking in on Saturday alone. I'm sure ongoing staffing challenges made this particularly impactful.

Once we did finally get in the room, we were happy to note that a few small things had been updated since our last stay. There are new coffee makers, which unfortunately are still not Keurigs but do have the ability to serve a cup while still brewing. There was also a new knife block in the kitchen, and new furniture on the balcony.

There was also all new furniture on the pool deck and at the Tiki Bar patio.

Considering how busy the resort was, the stay was very smooth. Guests behaved well, and there was no rowdy behavior despite the crowds. We stayed mostly on the Fountains/Lakes side of the resort, and met some great folks in the hot tubs. We had drinks twice at the Tiki Bar, and they were expensive ($14 for a cocktail) but very strong ... the bartenders were free-pouring and were extremely generous. I highly recommend the blood orange margarita!

The wifi was abysmal, and most of the time we just used our cell data. At least 75% of the time, we couldn't get connected to the wifi regardless of whether we were in the villa or the recreation areas.

For some reason, I didn't get emailed a final folio after checkout, and had to call today to request one.

The credit card hold at check-in was indeed $25 for each night's stay, for a total of $175.

I have some photos of our villa and the resort that I will share in a separate post.

In the meantime, if anyone has any questions, please feel free to ask.

Hi Gina! Do the new coffee makers still take basket filters?

 

[Gina-Gina-Bo-Bina]

Hi Gina! Do the new coffee makers still take basket filters?

Yes, they do!

 

[Gina-Gina-Bo-Bina]

Question about the kitchen. Are those pantry cabinets beside the fridge new? I haven't seen them in any other villa we've stayed in. Is it just an open space? I have to admit that we usually end up totally rearranging the dishes in the cabinets to make space for food, so a pantry would be nice!

They've been in the Fountains villas as far back as I can remember .... but to be fair, I don't know what they were like prior to the "down to the studs" remodel. Those cupboards are indeed all open storage space. There is always a trash can on the bottom of the panty, but you can easily move it out if needed.

 

[Gina-Gina-Bo-Bina]

Hi Gina! Great to see you posting a full photo series here again!

Sorry we didn't get the DISMeet to work out, but we too had a great time down in Orlando this past week. We really enjoyed our stay at Silver Lake - a really nice 2BR in the most recently built building - it is still waiting for the 2nd tower to go up beside the shared central elevator building. Maybe driving is worth it - we arrived around 8:30-9:00 pm on Saturday with no wait to get to our villa. Of course, after 24 hours of driving, there might have been bodily harm if they weren't ready.

It is so good to see fresh photos of home - that new balcony furniture looks really nice.

How were your park experiences this time? Despite many of the changes and our refusal to fork out more money Genie+ and ILL, we managed to ride everything we wanted, and the waits weren't horrible if timed well. Crowds were not as bad as we expected for the time of year. Our worst wait was for FOP at 80 minutes - but then it was posted for 180 minutes when we got in the standby line.

We anticipated big crowds everywhere, so our traditional park days were minimal. We did Discovery Cove on our Sunday, which is always our favourite no-crowds park day. Our SeaWorld Day was packed, but we arrived before opening and knocked out the coasters (5 to 30 minutes each) before things got too crazy .... as crowds mounted, we switched over and did shows and exhibits. For MK, we went to the Disney After Hours event on Thursday evening, so we waited for nothing except Big Thunder Mountain and 7 Dwarves (and both of those were minimal). Unfortunately, our Aquatica day got cancelled due to the low temps which hit for that one day mid-week ..... crummy timing, but there's so much to do in Orlando we easily crafted a Plan B!

I'm glad you ended up having such a great stay at Silver Lake!

 

[Gina-Gina-Bo-Bina]

In case anyone wanted to see what the activity schedule was like for last week, here ya go. My guys were slightly bummed that the Mixology Class at the Tiki Bar has been discontinued (confirmed by the bartending staff).

 

[Beth D]

Gina,
What pool is this? I don’t recognize this view. (edited- the picture didnt copy, I was referring to your 3rd pic, the pool with the swim lanes marked).
Thanks!

 

[dioxide45]

Gina,
What pool is this? I don’t recognize this view. (edited- the picture didnt copy, I was referring to your 3rd pic, the pool with the swim lanes marked).
Thanks!

That's the Fountains Pool.

 

[My2CrazyGirls]

It has been a while since we have been there. Do we need to bring our own dish soap, hand soap, and dishwasher detergent?

Is there anything you always bring that make not be so obvious (i know people mentioned good egg pan and spatula). Do they have cookie sheets?

 

[DVCjj]

Never saw Vistana in my life and every time at Disney (often - DVC), I've wondered about it.

I found these posts very interesting. I started with this year's posts as it looks like numerous updates occurred.

Again, thanks for details. Been going to Disney since we stayed at the Polynesian the year it was built (I'm old) so anything 'out of the Disney Bubble' is unknown. Appreciated the knowledge here about Vistana as the past few years have had a rental car. I also found the posts interesting (and layouts and pictures) in that I don't want to buy more contracts due to age but don't want to pay the exorbitant cash rates on site. (plus my Amex SPG became Marriott though the points sure didn't stay the same in the transfer...wow).

 

[Sharene0724]

It has been a while since we have been there. Do we need to bring our own dish soap, hand soap, and dishwasher detergent?

Is there anything you always bring that make not be so obvious (i know people mentioned good egg pan and spatula). Do they have cookie sheets?

When we stayed in 2021 they had dish soap, dishwasher detergent and hand soap (bar soap in the bathrooms).

We did not look for cookie sheets, but the kitchen seemed to be equipped with most things, not the best things, but we made do with what was there.

 

[Gina-Gina-Bo-Bina]

It has been a while since we have been there. Do we need to bring our own dish soap, hand soap, and dishwasher detergent?

Is there anything you always bring that make not be so obvious (i know people mentioned good egg pan and spatula). Do they have cookie sheets?

When we stayed earlier this month in Fountains, there was dish soap, dishwasher detergent, and a roll of paper towels in the kitchen. We requested more of each mid-week, and they brought it up to us very quickly.

In the bathrooms this trip, there were dispensers of shampoo, conditioner, and body wash on the walls of each shower (new since our last visit in January 2022). There was also hand soap at the bathroom sinks.

 

[My2CrazyGirls]

When we stayed earlier this month in Fountains, there was dish soap, dishwasher detergent, and a roll of paper towels in the kitchen. We requested more of each mid-week, and they brought it up to us very quickly.

In the bathrooms this trip, there were dispensers of shampoo, conditioner, and body wash on the walls of each shower (new since our last visit in January 2022). There was also hand soap at the bathroom sinks.

Oh, that's cool. Do you know what kind of shampoo it was? Maybe I won't bother packing it.