Vistana Resort

[PURTYPAT1]

Hi All,

Got back last night, & wanted to give a quick run, on our Vistana stay.


One month before, our trip I fill out the Diamond form & requested the Cascades and to be near the pool.

Upon arrival,(was bumped off the plane & arrived later than expected in the eve) We check in 11:00 pm Diamond lane was closed, with one person ahead of me, check in went smoothly.

We receive the 2 bedroom villa in Cascades 2122 & was very pleased with the location, & the room.

About a mile from the VISTANA is a HUGE Walmart. We did a big food shop, & pack lunches & snacks for the park, every day. The restaurants lines were long in all of the parks. When I got up in the AM it was easy to cook a (dinner)chicken roaster, before we headed to the parks. When we came home late, we had a great dinner. We froze our water bottles & crystal lite in the eve for the following morn, & enjoyed cold water all day. Had a washer & dryer, in our room, therfore, we packed so lite.1 pair of pants, 1 shorts, 1 summer top & winter top. We threw a load in the wash every eve & it worked out great. Suitcase was light, & no need to check it in at the airport. Hair dryer in the room needed to be updated. Jacuzzi was magnificent. Loved having breakfast on outside porch every morning, overlooking the pool, & lake fountains. DD loved watching the ducks & turkeys.

The activities, & the service good not have been more better My DD11 took advantage to some of the children's activities. On Friday night I dropped her off at 5pm to 10pm for Pirates night. Age 5 to 12 Fee was $20.00 they had pizza for dinner, did lot's of arts & crafts, had a golf torament boys against the girls. (girls won) Afterwards they went to the arcade. I went to the Lakes for a night of Poker. We all had a blast.

We also rented bikes, & rode around the complex. Front desk, could not have been more helpful, with directions, & information.

Final thoughts. I have stayed in the Lakes, Falls, Courts & now the Cascades We are very fussy, & do complain, if there is a need. Just my personal opinion, but my all time favorite, out of all above was my unit last year, which was in the Falls.(it was older) Falls unit 308. It did have some minor problems, but a pick up of the phone & my problems were quickly resolved. The location to the kids pool, tennis courts & the stores, were great. To me, it was more charming, private and not so busy. I am staying in the VISTANA again this coming Nov for Thanksgiving. I will be requesting the Falls unit 308 again.

It was a very good experience.

Any questions are welcome.

Patricia

 

[ttfn3]

Patricia Thanks for posting a report. My family LOVES the Vistana too. I couldn't agree with you more about the kid activities! Ohhh -- Ahhh-- FABULOUS!

 

[Del]

glad you had a good trip...we've enjoyed all our trips to Vistana as well.

Del

 

[MiaSRN62]

Just my personal opinion, but my all time favorite, out of all above was my unit last year, which was in the Falls.(it was older) Falls unit 308. It did have some minor problems, but a pick up of the phone & my problems were quickly resolved. The location to the kids pool, tennis courts & the stores, were great. To me, it was more charming, private and not so busy. I am staying in the VISTANA again this coming Nov for Thanksgiving. I will be requesting the Falls unit 308 again.

Patricia ~
Thanks so much for your report. I was just suprised to hear someone state they actually preferred the older (actually 2nd oldest) section of the resort to the newest. This is a first for me. I'm sure it will come as a comfort to some of those who are a little leary about staying in the Falls. Actually, your Cascades unit was pretty close to the Cascades pools as location goes. The Cascades buildings are pretty spread out---you got a good one being right next to the General Store and across the street from Zimmies. If you can give any details about the Falls (maybe inside pics ?) and lend your experience to this thread, I'm sure one of the posters there will be happy to read it : http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=1009970&page=5 (particularily page 4 & 5 of this thread).
I've been reading this past week was one of the busiest President's Weeks that most can remember. The Dining Plan is practically making walking up to a restaurant and getting a seat impossible as well. I'll miss that because it's so hard to know what I'll be in the mood to do 60 days in advance. I used to plan everything out.........have taken the more leisurely pace in the last 5 years or so.
Thanks again for your report Patricia

 

[PURTYPAT1]

Patricia ~
Thanks so much for your report. I was just suprised to hear someone state they actually preferred the older (actually 2nd oldest) section of the resort to the newest. This is a first for me. I'm sure it will come as a comfort to some of those who are a little leary about staying in the Falls. Actually, your Cascades unit was pretty close to the Cascades pools as location goes. The Cascades buildings are pretty spread out---you got a good one being right next to the General Store and across the street from Zimmies. If you can give any details about the Falls (maybe inside pics ?) and lend your experience to this thread, I'm sure one of the posters there will be happy to read it : http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=1009970&page=5 (particularily page 4 & 5 of this thread).
I've been reading this past week was one of the busiest President's Weeks that most can remember. The Dining Plan is practically making walking up to a restaurant and getting a seat impossible as well. I'll miss that because it's so hard to know what I'll be in the mood to do 60 days in advance. I used to plan everything out.........have taken the more leisurely pace in the last 5 years or so.
Thanks again for your report Patricia

I did like the Cascades, it was a newer unit, smaller unit than the Falls court.
I had a 2 bedroom unit with 3 tv's vhs, & cd player.

The Cascades parking was impossible after 9 pm. (not fun on arrival night, long haul from space to unit with our suitcase & carryons in hand)

Three floors to a unit. We were on the second floor, with noisy neighbors about us. I could here the flush. Low pressures from the showers.


My unit on the Falls, was down the block away from lot's of people & traffic. Our Falls unit was much bigger than our Casscades unit. In the Falls unit, I had unexpected company, & was able to put them in the living room, (couch turned into a queen size bed)

Falls unit Kitchen was perfect. Master bedroom a+++ with a master bathroom. Master bathroom would be my only complaint. Bathroom was great, heated light, jet tub, better than Cascades, but the whirlpool was not working properly. The maintance came in & fixed it. Cascades bathroom was more updated.
Falls second bedroom had 2 double beds, TV was fine. 2nd bathroom was fine also, loved the washer & dryer. VHS & Cd player.

The Falls screened in porch was beautiful, private & very large. It over looked a bridge with a lake & fountain. The Cassades porched seemed newer in looks, but I still like the quiteness of the Falls.

My Falls location, was just accross the street from the children's pool, & activies center. I never had problems with parking.Iit was clean & acceptable. I would stay in this Falls unit section in heart beat. It was more private than the Casscades.

We go to Florida every year for President's Week. This year seemed to be the busiest I have ever seen. The parks were very crowed, but we did well ,& never waited more than 20 to 30 minutes on anything. We followed the Unoffical guide book. Packing our lunch worked out well, & saved time. We did make the reservations, to Hoopey Doo (spelling???) & Mexico resturant in Epcot 2 months in advance. Both A+++ My advice. If it is a nice day, go to Hoopey DO early, & go sit by the water in the sand & watch the boats coming in. It was the most beautiful sunset, & I will never forget how peaceful. This was in my top 10 favorite things on our trip.

The airports, were unbelievable. We were bumped twice (we volunteered DD wants to go to Italy, & we received enough to go) We ended up, our choice, we ended up flying later but flew first class to get there. It also turns out that our orginal flight was delayed 4 hours, so it was really worth us giving up our seats.

My advice to everyone, print out your boarding pass 24 hours before you leave, this way, if you don't want to get bumped, you will be at the top of the list, & chances are, they won't pull you off. They will pull from the bottom
I saw MANY families being pulled off, some missed there cruise. It was really horrible.


Hope this helps.

Patricia

 

[Taratink]

Patricia- I am happy to hear that you had a great time. We leave in 7 days for our 1st stay at the Vistana. We requested Lakes or Cascades. I am trying not to get my heart set on anything so I don't get dissapointed. How was the weather? I just packed and after hearing how light you pack I might go through it my suitcase again. I promised myself and family that I would not over pack. My kids are 5 and 6 and very messy so they probably need 2 outfits a day. Thanks for the report.
Tara

 

[Scotfan]

We were there last week as well in the spas section - I much prefer the older units, always have done and keep telling people this.
Funny though, I felt the parks were quieter than previous years - we must have hit it lucky.

 

[MiaSRN62]

The Cassades porched seemed newer in looks, but I still like the quiteness of the Falls.

I will agree with ya on that the Cascades units are smaller than all other units on property and they are in a much more hustling/bustling section of the resort. I often inform people, that while the Cascades are the newest and most modern, they're also the smallest. We felt the lack of space very noticeable in the living/dining room area.
I'm guessing you liked the Lakes better than the Cascades though ? This is my favorite section and it is much quieter over there. I could see parking being more of a pain in the Lakes/Cascades vs all other sections because they built those building "up". They are usually 3-5 floors high (4-5 being average). So that's ALOT more people competing for parking spaces in the same size parking lots. We never (at least rarely) have trouble finding a spot close to our villa when we stay in the Fountains. And I'd assume even less trouble finding a spot in the Falls because they're only 2 stories high.

Glad u had a nice trip !

 

[PURTYPAT1]

Patricia- I am happy to hear that you had a great time. We leave in 7 days for our 1st stay at the Vistana. We requested Lakes or Cascades. I am trying not to get my heart set on anything so I don't get dissapointed. How was the weather? I just packed and after hearing how light you pack I might go through it my suitcase again. I promised myself and family that I would not over pack. My kids are 5 and 6 and very messy so they probably need 2 outfits a day. Thanks for the report.
Tara

Hi Tara,

You won't be disappointed the Vistana is really Magnificent.

The weather was in the 80's everyday, except Friday, it was 69 & cloudy. On the plane,we wore our, light winter sweaters, & a light winter jacket which we wore if it was cold at night.

I knew we would have the wash machine, so I went to the dollar store & grabbed two packages of powder tide, & bought down dryer sheets. I saved lot's & had just enough soap for the week. I packed not many clothes, & it worked out just fine.

Freeze your water bottles at night, & your water or juice will be cold all day.
Try to bring snacks, pretzels, grapes & you will save also. We actually saved lot's $$$ since I made sandwiches the night before & bought them to the parks. My DD loves chicken nuggest, so I bought Swansons frozen TV dinners cooked them in the AM & packed them for DD. The TV dinners were only $1.00 each. She was very happy with them in the park. The food lines were very long. We saved lot's of time, by brings our own.

Chanel 16 in the Condo TV gives you a listing of all the goings in the Vistana. This was quite helpful. Last word of advice, we took the phone off the hook every night, so no one from the Vistana would call.

Don't forget if you have a Disney Visa don't forget to get your free 5 by 7 photo with Mickey & Minnie in Epcot. No lines to meet Mickey.

Have fun.

Patricia

 

[Taratink]

Calling Patricia and other experts.... I have some more questions.

1 Is the Walmart is a super Walmart?
2 I have a Disney Visa and I don't know the location where the meet and greet is in Epcot.
3 Are there any restaurants that you would reccomend that are close by?
4 How much should I tip for the 1 time housekeeping service? Do I pay at the end or do I leave it the day they are going to clean.
5 What is check out like? Do I need to leave myself a lot of time to stand in line or can we just leave our keys in the room?
Tara

 

[MiaSRN62]

Hi Tara~
I'll try and answer some of your questions.....
1) yes....it's a "super" Walmart. It was crowded the two times we were there....but it's very conveniently located to Vistana so I'm sure we'll go again.
2) Don't have a Disney Visa so cannot help you there.
3) Bennigans and Bahama Breeze are very close to Vistana as well as a Pizzeria Uno and Perkins (Crossroads).
4) Tipping: I leave a small tip for the midweek cleaning (maybe $3-$5), then a larger tip when I check out ($10-$15). This is for a 2 bedroom.
5) Check-out: you can leave your room with the security guard at the gate when you leave if you have not incurred any charges. If you left a major cc at the desk when you checked in, they will charge that if need be. I usually call the front desk the night before checkout to inquire if there are any miscellaneous charges. We rarely have any. I don't like to use the phone there---we use our cells.
Hope this helped Taratink

 

[PURTYPAT1]

Hi Tara,

When you come out of the Vistana, make a left turn, & go under the route 4 underpass. (it's about a mile down the street) after the under pass, you will see lot's of resturants. Chilli's, Olive garden, Waffle house, so..many more.
If you want to go to the super Walmart, make a right hand turn when you leave the Vistana. It will be about 2 miles down the street.

If you have a Disney Visa, you can get your "free character photo" when you go to Epcot. When we went there was nobody waiting, my family got a photo with Minnie & Goofy. I actually asked the CM to take photos with my camera. They came great.

The character greeting is in Innoventions West from 1:30-4:30 daily. The characters are all curtained off when you get there, but you'll see a cast member with a clipboard. They ask to see your Disney Visa, then they give you a coupon for your free photo. What's really cool is that we got some family shots with all 2 characters in them You can take your photopass to the photo shop at the front of Epcot and then choose whatever picture you want for your freebie. It's a great deal and a fun character experience, too.
Thanks to kfeuer for filling us all in on this great deal.

Hope this helps

Patricia

 

[Taratink]

Great info guys. I finally feel like I am ready to go. i can't wait!
Tara

 

[MiaSRN62]

3) Bennigans and Bahama Breeze are very close to Vistana as well as a Pizzeria Uno and Perkins (Crossroads).

Wanted to add.....all of the above restaurants can be reached by making a left turn out of Vistana's main entrance driveway. The only problem is...you cannot physically make a left. You have to make a right out of the driveway, then get into the far left lane and make a U turn to go left. Bennigans is right next door to Vistana. There are also a couple other restaurants in the nearby Crossroads shopping center.

you can leave your room with the security guard

Goofed here Obviously you can't leave your "room" with the guard....meant to say room key. But I guess you figured that out.....

 

[Taratink]

Maria- have you ever ordered groceries before? I was thinking of looking into Goodings delivery. Do you know if the Vistana allows this? The general store seemed expensive and too limited.
Tara

 

[MiaSRN62]

Maria- have you ever ordered groceries before? I was thinking of looking into Goodings delivery. Do you know if the Vistana allows this? The general store seemed expensive and too limited.

I have not recently.....back in '95 was the last time we ordered groceries and I used Netgrocer.com. It was not a problem to have them delivered, so I don't think anything has changed since then. Just call the security guard's station if you're not sure so they clear them to enter the section of the resort you're staying in. But usually it's not a problem..........
Also, Goodings will be more expensive than Publix and Walmart....but less than the Vistana General Store.

 

[ttfn3]

I had to jump in and add my hints. If you can't get to a grocery store, and can do a bit of walking - I would suggest making a stop at the Walgren's near Vistana Resort. If you have a car, even better. Take the back road near the back section (near the Fountains) - and it goes right by the Walgrens - and to a traffic light on 535 if you need to turn left. The groceries at Walgren's would be cheaper than the groceries at the VR General Store. I often left my DS pick out some candy/snack stuff here instead of the VR. Plus there's a liquor store right next door. We actually do our grocery shopping at either Publix or Winn Dixie. I'm not a big fan of mega grocery stores - tho. the Publix is pretty big. AVOID Goodings - very expensive.

As for restaurants, we have had pretty mediocre food at the Bennigans. Besides Disney restaurants, we like the Orlando Ale House. It's on 535 just past Downtown Disney on the left (behind a 7-11). It's very family friendly. My DH has found a sushi place he likes. It's around the corner from the Publix - the one behind the Premium Outlet Mall. He often gets it to go (I'm not a fan of sushi).

 

[ALDISNEYFAN]

Hello, can any of the experts on the Vistana tell me whether the older units have any kind of moldy, musty smell? My son has asthma and he is VERY sensitive to this. We are planning to be there in May for our first stay. I am very intrigued by the post I have been reading on the quietness and size of the older units.

 

[MiaSRN62]

Hello, can any of the experts on the Vistana tell me whether the older units have any kind of moldy, musty smell? My son has asthma and he is VERY sensitive to this

Hi,
From what I've read about past experiences in the older units, it's generally that people feel they are a little musty. But I've also read posts from people who said they didn't feel there was and they loved them. I, personally, have not stayed in one of the older units since '99. I stayed in the Spas and did notice a slight hint of mustiness. Nothing major, but if your son is very sensitive, it may impact him negatively.
I would fill out the Diamond Lane request form online and request a newer unit for "medical reasons". https://www.svosecure.com/starwoodvo/diamond.jsp?resortID=5
I truly don't think any chances should be taken with your son's sensitivity to it. You wouldn't want a full blown asthma attack. The Lakes are a newer unit under the Cascades and would be quieter on the most part, compared to the Cascades.

 

[Taratink]

We will be arriving at the Vistana at 2:30. I was hoping to check in a little early if possible. We have a adr at Ohana's at 5:15. Are we cutting it too close if we get into our room at 4:00? Has anyone gotten into their room earlier or is that a long shot? I am traveling with a family of sloths. My DH moves sooooo slowly and I might have to strangle him if he makes me miss my Ohana's Island Sunset frozen drink.
Tara