Think I have this narrowed down!

[sersee05]

For all of you who have been helping me..thank you so much. It has been crazy trying to scramble and find an offsite place. Especially since there are so many options! But this board has been so wonderful ..

So to recap..I was staying on Disney property for 5 nights with fd for $5300 with a family of 5. It was just too much..plus I really couldn't get any of the dining that I wanted anyway. So decided to check offsite.

REally wanted WBC(thanks Bellamouse!) But was having a hard time. Got a Ta quote of $2000 for 5 nights and a vrbo quote for presidential 7 nights at $2100..I think they were both 2 bedrooms.

Here is what I have found:

TUG: -I found someone who can do a 2 bedroom WbC with 2 queens and a king for$850. But I would need to find a place to stay for two nights before I can check in there.
-WBC 2 bedroom(don't know the bed situation). This guy sold his but has a colleague who has one . $845

Windsor: -3 bedroom condo for $575. Right price but a little hesitant due to low price. Looks nice though.
- 4 bedroom house with pool $1416

Emerald Island: 4 bedroom , 3 bath with pool. $1050 off of vrbo. Very nice in pictures. Don't know anything about Emerald Island?

Reunion: off of Vrbo. Quite a few . Some are especially gorgeous. The one I am looking at is Centre court and has two days of waterpark passes?? 3 bedroom $1050. HOw is Reunion?

Cypress: their website $1756
Harbor: their website $1864 but has two queens in second bedroom
Sabal Palms: $1600..Know nothing about this either.


So basically I know it's up to me. But I am uninformed on some of the locations like Sabal Palms, Reunion and Emerald. I just really want to hear what you guys have to say. Reunion looked gorgeous but didn't seem like it would be kid friendly although it has the water park so it must be somewhat? Knowing I have 3 kids(teen, 11, 8), I am picky cleanliness wise, I tend to prefer upscale hotels, we will have a car, and my husband doesn't care where we stay..lol Where would you choose?

I also realize there is a lot of price difference...but I guess I want to know if you had these options which resort would you be most excited about?


Thanks so much!!

 

[chicagoshannon]

I'd go with Windsor hills. The reason it's cheaper is they're not a time share but privately owned. They have a nice main pool with slide and a decent sized hot tub. It's also very close to Disney. It doesn't really have a resort feel per say so if you're looking for that go with one of the other places. It did have a work out room and some games and I believe the ability to rent or check out some movies. When we were there a few years so there were no scheduled activities though.

 

[sersee05]

Ok so a condo for around $575 isnt anything really to worry about? I was shocked at the pricetag.

My husband and I are ok not being in the disney bubble. I think my oldest is a tad disappointed. She loved the feeling of Disney. My other two kids don't seem to care too much. I think that is why she liked the two windsor places I found because one of the bedrooms was mickey themed.

 

[RalphiesRedRyder]

Ok so a condo for around $575 isnt anything really to worry about? I was shocked at the pricetag.

No worries. We've stayed at a fine Windsor Hills 3 BR condo for less than that - for 6 days, not 5.

As long as you're OK with the fact that, as the PP said, it's not a resort.

 

[Gr8t Fan]

We've rented 3 bedroom condos at Windsor Hills for as low as $299 a week in late August/early September and have never been disappointed. WH is a lovely, secure community, very close to Disney, and the pool and hot tub are very nice. They even have a theater in the clubhouse (40-45 seats?) with a selection of DVD movies that you can request. But it's definitely different than some of the other places you're considering because it has more of an "apartment" type feel, than a resort type feel. We love it for the price and usually stay there, but some others have been disappointed because it doesn't have the same offerings as a timeshare like games, activities, etc. For the price difference, we're willing to overlook these things because we spend most of our time at the parks. I'd go with WH too.

 

[2Pirates2Princesses]

Ok so a condo for around $575 isnt anything really to worry about? I was shocked at the pricetag.

My husband and I are ok not being in the disney bubble. I think my oldest is a tad disappointed. She loved the feeling of Disney. My other two kids don't seem to care too much. I think that is why she liked the two windsor places I found because one of the bedrooms was mickey themed.

That is around what we paid for our three bedroom Windsor Hills condo this past May and we loved it. The price does seem too good to be true but like a pp mentioned the rental rates for a privately owned condo are going to be lower than a condo that is a timeshare. Our unit was nice, clean, spacious and the layout was perfect for our family with that third bedroom. We loved the main pool, my kids loved the castle themed playground, and important to us was the fact that Windsor Hills is a gated complex and is a short drive to the Disney parks.

 

[Bellamouse]

Yeah that price wouldn't scare me either. We stayed in Emerald Island 2 years ago in a 3 BR townhome for $490 for the week. We went with another couple and split the cost so it only ended up being $245 per couple. It was fine since we don't spend much time in the room anyway.

We do prefer WBC though for the location and the resort feel and all the "extras". But I would do EI again (or WH) if for some reason I couldn't get WBC.

And just FYI, my understanding is the bed situation for the 2BR deluxe at WBC are all the same - 1 King and 2 Queens. I don't think they have any other configuration. So if you wanted to take the one for $845 I'm 99.99999% sure that's what you'd be getting.

 

[wiigirl]

No worries. We've stayed at a fine Windsor Hills 3 BR condo for less than that - for 6 days, not 5.

As long as you're OK with the fact that, as the PP said, it's not a resort.

 

[Detailor]

I think that one of the resorts that you're asking about is Marriott's Sabal Palms. It's a nice little timeshare resort that was one of Marriott's three original Orlando timeshares. This resort is tucked in behind the Marriott World Center Hotel, which is just off World Center Drive (which, in turn, becomes Epcot Center Drive about a mile or so down the road as you enter Disney property). The resort is mostly surrounded by a golf course and is a very short walk to the hotel's huge pool area (the resort also has its own pool but nothing as massive as the hotel's - on the walk to the big pool area there's a small hotel "area" pool and an indoor pool).

You access Sabal Palms from the entrance road to the hotel and other two timeshare resorts, but it's kind of a funny entrance to Sabal Palms by way of an access road to the back of the hotel and the hotel's parking garage. Sabal Palms has a nice, laid back atmosphere. Fitness center, pool area, basketball court, tennis courts. I can't remember if all of the villas are in two story buildings but it seems that that's correct. No elevators - ground floor entrance to first floor, access by short sets of stairs to the second floor units. The villas there are pretty big and are all 2-bedroom/2-bathroom units. Kitchen, dining room/living room and a screened-in lanai that overlooks the golf course (for most of the villas, a few have interior resort views). The master bedroom has a king bed and en-suite bathroom and I think they have jacuzzis in those masters, too. The second bedroom, I think, has both a queen size bed and (oddly) a single bed - maybe it's just two singles, that actually would make more sense but I can't remember for sure. Standard queen sofa bed in the living room.

Guests at Sabal Palms may use any of the amenities are either of the other two timeshare resorts or those at the hotel. So, if you don't like one pool, there's plenty of other choices. I think that they have a shuttle from Sabal to the other Palms resort (and vice versa) but it's also reasonably walkable. There's a Marriott Marketplace store at Royal Palms and there's a food court and some shops at the hotel, just off the lower pool area. Also a bar or bar and grill outside at the hotel pool complex.

A couple of things of note...
1) the location is outstanding, very close to Disney property and close by an entrance/exit for I-4 if you're heading to Sea World, Universal Studios or any number of other area attractions or shopping.
2) the staff at Sabal Palms are outstanding, too, very accommodating (I requested in advance a specific villa for our stay there and they gave it to us, that doesn't happen at most timeshare resorts. They were also very helpful in supplying us with some needed items that didn't initially make it to Orlando with us due to an airline misdirection of one of our pieces of luggage.).

I like this resort and gladly recommend it.

Dick Taylor

 

[happymommy]

I think that one of the resorts that you're asking about is Marriott's Sabal Palms. It's a nice little timeshare resort that was one of Marriott's three original Orlando timeshares. This resort is tucked in behind the Marriott World Center Hotel, which is just off World Center Drive (which, in turn, becomes Epcot Center Drive about a mile or so down the road as you enter Disney property). The resort is mostly surrounded by a golf course and is a very short walk to the hotel's huge pool area (the resort also has its own pool but nothing as massive as the hotel's - on the walk to the big pool area there's a small hotel "area" pool and an indoor pool).

You access Sabal Palms from the entrance road to the hotel and other two timeshare resorts, but it's kind of a funny entrance to Sabal Palms by way of an access road to the back of the hotel and the hotel's parking garage. Sabal Palms has a nice, laid back atmosphere. Fitness center, pool area, basketball court, tennis courts. I can't remember if all of the villas are in two story buildings but it seems that that's correct. No elevators - ground floor entrance to first floor, access by short sets of stairs to the second floor units. The villas there are pretty big and are all 2-bedroom/2-bathroom units. Kitchen, dining room/living room and a screened-in lanai that overlooks the golf course (for most of the villas, a few have interior resort views). The master bedroom has a king bed and en-suite bathroom and I think they have jacuzzis in those masters, too. The second bedroom, I think, has both a queen size bed and (oddly) a single bed - maybe it's just two singles, that actually would make more sense but I can't remember for sure. Standard queen sofa bed in the living room.

Guests at Sabal Palms may use any of the amenities are either of the other two timeshare resorts or those at the hotel. So, if you don't like one pool, there's plenty of other choices. I think that they have a shuttle from Sabal to the other Palms resort (and vice versa) but it's also reasonably walkable. There's a Marriott Marketplace store at Royal Palms and there's a food court and some shops at the hotel, just off the lower pool area. Also a bar or bar and grill outside at the hotel pool complex.

A couple of things of note...
1) the location is outstanding, very close to Disney property and close by an entrance/exit for I-4 if you're heading to Sea World, Universal Studios or any number of other area attractions or shopping.
2) the staff at Sabal Palms are outstanding, too, very accommodating (I requested in advance a specific villa for our stay there and they gave it to us, that doesn't happen at most timeshare resorts. They were also very helpful in supplying us with some needed items that didn't initially make it to Orlando with us due to an airline misdirection of one of our pieces of luggage.).

I like this resort and gladly recommend it.

Dick Taylor

Dick got a lot of details for you about this property! I stayed there for 11 of our 15 nights last August (just me and my two kids). Now it is among my favorite of the Marriott timeshares!

The second bedroom does have one double bed (or queen, think it's double) and one twin bed. But, there is a sofa sleeper in the living room I think too.

The master bedroom has a king bed, two closets (go figure) and a step up bathroom that is open to the bedroom (no biggie to me), a toilet that has a door (yes!) and no jacuzzi, but a huge shower with two heads that is super nice and huge! Matter of fact, in the 11 nights we stayed there, we all took turns just using that shower. There is an opening that lets in light to the bedroom from the shower (it has a wall of glass blocks to the outside) but I fixed that by stuffing an extra pillow into that opening.

The sunken living room is large by comparison to many timeshares. There is a full size (not stacked) washer/dryer.

For proximity to Disney theme parks, you cannot get much closer. It's about 4 miles maximum I think to Epcot (or Typhoon Lagoon and Downtown Disney).

No elevators. All buildings are two story; I had requested a top unit, and I got it. It was great - so quiet at night! There were gas grills just outside our building that I used a few times for dinners.

The feel right there was quiet and peaceful, but it was so quick to get anywhere we wanted to be (either Disney or a close by CVS right outside the resort to pick up a few things, or a super Walmart just a couple miles away for other things). I honestly cannot wait to go back!

PS: I have stayed at Harbor Lake also and loved it. It's close to Seaworld (not too dreadfully far from Disney though). The units are really nice and have two queen beds in the second bedroom.

 

[sersee05]

Thanks again for all your input... You guys are a wealth of knowledge!

For my family, the bedding situation is important. If we had to, we could use the sofabed. But our experience with sofabeds isn't great..(sore back not great). One double and one twin would be difficult I think. My oldest who is sixteen would have to be the one sleeping on the sofa since my other two will be too scared to be by themselves.

So hearing the bedding situation is very valuable to me!!! Helps me make a better decision(which I am still dragging my feet on). I contacted the WBC guy and he told me at WBC the second bedroom is almost always 2 doubles. I could make it work..there would be some fighting involved.

I think I am actually now leaning more toward Windsor/Emerald/Reunion. I can get at least a 3 bedroom which would allow my teen her own room and then my other two would each get their own bed.

I don't know much about Emerald and nothing about Reunion Resort. Emerald seems like a Windsor from what I read. And Reunion condos? From what I have seen, they are very beautiful.