Timeshare Help Needed

[ZehnJahren]

Hey all.

We're trying to decide between a couple of timeshares - anyone stayed at any of these and can give some of their personal opinions? We'd like to be as close to Disney as possible. We'll also be going to the dark side.

Marriott's Sabal Palms (or Marriott Imperial Palms/Royal Palms)
Parkway International Resort
Blue Tree Resort at Lake Buena Vista
High Point World Resort

Would appreciate it! We're booking very soon!

 

[DVC-Don]

I've heard good things about the Marriott time share.

 

[ruadisneyfan2]

Hey all.

We're trying to decide between a couple of timeshares - anyone stayed at any of these and can give some of their personal opinions? We'd like to be as close to Disney as possible. We'll also be going to the dark side.

Marriott's Sabal Palms (or Marriott Imperial Palms/Royal Palms)
Parkway International Resort
Blue Tree Resort at Lake Buena Vista
High Point World Resort

Would appreciate it! We're booking very soon!

We have sold our TS but still belong to RCI. I haven't stayed at any of these so take this with a grain of salt. Usually anything Marriott is a safe bet. Their standards are pretty high.
Blue Tree & High Point have become rated Silver & Gold Crown in recent years. They haven't always been. They've always looked (in photos) to me that they were older motels turned TS. These ratings come & go but resorts like Hilton or Marriott start out with high rating awards and maintain.
When I say ratings come & go I mean that just because a resort is Gold Crown today, maybe by next summer will have no special award of distinction. This has happened with resorts that we traded into in Sedona & Williamsburg. At the time of our trade they were Gold Crown. We disagreed with that once we arrived and within the year after our visit, they dropped to Silver Crown then no award at all.
You can go to www.rci.com and look in the resort directory without having to log in. It will show photos and you can read reviews from people who've stayed there. Marriott resorts trade through Interval International so they won't be listed on RCI's website but looking at your list of choices it would be a very easy decision for me. This is assuming same price & # of bedrooms for all units.
jmho.

 

[goofyfigment]

We stayed at parkway there was only 3 of us so it was fine. They are 2 bedroom condos. The main bedroom has either a king or queen bed but the 2nd bedroom has 2 twin beds. Its location inst bad as you aren't down 192 where its crazy busy. We had a first floor unit And from our patio the pool was right there ( h unit I believe) I would absolutely stay here again.

 

[ZehnJahren]

How about the Sheraton Vistana Resort? The Villages? I need to figure this out and I'm seeing so many very very negative reviews about all these timeshares!

 

[goofyfigment]

How about the Sheraton Vistana Resort? The Villages? I need to figure this out and I'm seeing so many very very negative reviews about all these timeshares!

I've stayed at both Sheratons. I prefer villages over resort. But that's only because when I stayed at resort I had a bad first 2 nights.

 

[ruadisneyfan2]

How about the Sheraton Vistana Resort? The Villages? I need to figure this out and I'm seeing so many very very negative reviews about all these timeshares!

What are they saying?

We owned at Summer Bay in Clermont/Kissimmee and most of the negative reviews I read on TA were from people who felt angry over doing the tour. The resort itself was beautiful & since we bought as a resale, we didn't deal with their sales staff.
Anyway, I would read the reviews on RCI.com since those would be other timeshare owners and not those looking for a cheap rate in exchange for a tour obligation.
Some parts of Vistana are newly remodeled & the pics look beautiful. The Fountains section IIRC.

 

[pharmjenn]

We own at Blue Tree. The location is convenient to Disney, just north of the Downtown Disney area. The pools were nice. The unit is small though. The dressers were stuck in the closets, because there was no room. But they have been redone with granite, and they seem to constantly be working on the next big project to keep the resort nice (new appliances, furniture, linens etc)

 

[Gina-Gina-Bo-Bina]

How about the Sheraton Vistana Resort? The Villages? I need to figure this out and I'm seeing so many very very negative reviews about all these timeshares!

We love, love, LOVE the Sheraton Vistana Resort. In fact, we loved the resort so much we bought two weeks there when we came home at the end of August .

If you click on the link in my signature to my August trip report, I cover SVR in great detail (and there are tons of photos of the rooms and the resort itself).

SVR is closer to the Disney parks than the Villages, if that factors into your decision.

 

[chalee94]

How about the Sheraton Vistana Resort? The Villages? I need to figure this out and I'm seeing so many very very negative reviews about all these timeshares!

i've stayed at the sheration vistana resort the last 2 years straight. very very positive reviews here.

they do leave a message on your phone every day to tell you about resort activities (and try to sell you a timeshare). you should also know to stay away from the "free gift" they offer to avoid a timeshare presentation. but the resort itself is in a great location near the disney gate (it's right around the corner from the marriotts you listed) and the villas have been recently updated and are in great shape.

it's true that a few years ago, they got a lot of negative reviews as the rooms needed updates very badly...but they finally did the updates a few years ago and they look great IMO.

here are some pics of my 2BR villa in the lakes section in may 2013:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/97459835@N04/sets/72157634112517132/

 

[ZehnJahren]

Thanks for more information, everyone! I was scouring the book last night looking at where everything is and how close/far from WDW. Then I would type the name into Google and see what came up. I saw some terrible reviews about service and mold on a few properties, but I also saw some reviews that seemed to be one-off ones as well.

My mind is almost made up on this Sheraton Vistana Resort or maybe Blue Tree Hotel resort. We're booking tonight; the week is a gift from my grandmother (which is awesome and so kind of her) and we get a week in a 2 bedroom from her trade - but we need to do it SOON, I'm told.

We love, love, LOVE the Sheraton Vistana Resort. In fact, we loved the resort so much we bought two weeks there when we came home at the end of August .

If you click on the link in my signature to my August trip report, I cover SVR in great detail (and there are tons of photos of the rooms and the resort itself).

SVR is closer to the Disney parks than the Villages, if that factors into your decision.

Reading your TR now; thanks for the info. Haven't gotten to a place yet (yet!) that you say how far it is from the resort to Disney?

 

[littlestar]

My first pick would be Sheraton Vistana or Villages or one of the Marriotts. I know for a fact that Sheraton Vistana and the Marriotts at the World Center have all been remodeled within the past five years.

Marriott Imperial Palms is 3 bedrooms. If you can get a 3 bedrooms versus a 2 bedroom, go for the extra space. Depending on time of year, if it's cold the indoor pool at the World Center might be nice. We loved our 3 bedroom at Marriott Imperial Palms when we stayed there. We have also had great rooms/units at Sheraton Vistana and Villages over the last few years of stays.

 

[ZehnJahren]

i've stayed at the sheration vistana resort the last 2 years straight. very very positive reviews here.

they do leave a message on your phone every day to tell you about resort activities (and try to sell you a timeshare). you should also know to stay away from the "free gift" they offer to avoid a timeshare presentation. but the resort itself is in a great location near the disney gate (it's right around the corner from the marriotts you listed) and the villas have been recently updated and are in great shape.

it's true that a few years ago, they got a lot of negative reviews as the rooms needed updates very badly...but they finally did the updates a few years ago and they look great IMO.

here are some pics of my 2BR villa in the lakes section in may 2013:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/97459835@N04/sets/72157634112517132/

Great pictures; thank you! Did you go to Disney? If so, how far were the parks from you? DTD?

Will they still be calling constantly even if we're staying through the timeshare vs. hotel? My grandmother is giving us one of her weeks.

 

[littlestar]

The Marriott World Center timeshares (Royal, Sabal and Imperial) and Sheraton Vistana are fairly close to one another. As a matter a fact, depending on which section of Sheraton Vistana you are in, some of the units have a fence separating them from the Marriott Royal Palms units. Marriott World Center properties and Sheraton Vistana are a pretty quick drive to the Disney gates. You are not far at all from Downtown Disney either.

Sheraton Vistana Villages is on International Drive a little bit farther away from the parks and Downtown Disney, but not bad.

 

[Gina-Gina-Bo-Bina]

The Vistana Resort is only a 5 minute (or so) drive from DTD....its very close.

It took us maybe 15 minutes to reach the waterparks. 20 to get to the Poly. Easy drives .

 

[chalee94]

Great pictures; thank you! Did you go to Disney? If so, how far were the parks from you? DTD?

look on google maps. i think it's less than 2 miles from the resort to the wdw gate. 5 minutes to DTD sounds right. it took me 8 minutes from the epcot parking lot to my sheraton parking space. it's very close.

Will they still be calling constantly even if we're staying through the timeshare vs. hotel? My grandmother is giving us one of her weeks.

just use your cell and don't even bother with the hotel phone. in my case at least, they didn't call - they just left daily messages. it wasn't a big deal - just something to be aware of. (if they tell you to stop by the concierge for your free gift, just nod and don't ever bother going by the concierge. easy.)

 

[Gina-Gina-Bo-Bina]

Will they still be calling constantly even if we're staying through the timeshare vs. hotel? My grandmother is giving us one of her weeks.

Many of the calls were activity updates. For example, they would let you know if inclement weather was driving the poolside bingo into the recreation center, or if some outside activities were cancelled due to weather and indoor special events were being held in their place. Or they would call to remind you about the location and time of one of the day's highlights, such as the wine tasting, poolside movies, or the Farmers Market. Those calls didn't even reference the timeshare tour.

We spoke to a very nice fellow early in our week who called to invite us to the resort preview. We politely declined, and told him we wouldn't be wasting any of our vacation time on a timeshare tour. He said he would take us off their follow up list and we didn't hear a peep from the timeshare desk for the remainder of our stay.

 

[jeff968]

How about the Sheraton Vistana Resort? The Villages? I need to figure this out and I'm seeing so many very very negative reviews about all these timeshares!

We've been staying in Timeshares since 2001 and they are the best. I'm not sure where you are reading all these negative reviews. If they were so bad there wouldn't be as many in Orlando as there are. I would just recommend going with a name brand like Marriott or Hilton. Sure, they will try and sell you one but they are low pressure and will back down once you say no.

 

[ZehnJahren]

Thank you all for the info. I was looking at Trip Advisor, since I wasn't sure where else to look. We will probably book with the Vistana Resort as long as we can trade in; if not, we may just go with a Marriott timeshare. We're booking very soon; excited to get the accommodations locked down!

 

[Shelly F - Ohio]

When we stayed at other TS we simply take the phone off the hook. If our family needs to reach us the will call our cell phone.