What is your favorite off site resort

[hegsag]

and why is it your favorite resort to stay at? I stayed at Orange Lake resort this past trip and loved it. There were numerous pools for my whole family to enjoy. They also had arts and crafts, an alligator show & loads more that I didn't utilize. I am starting to think about my next Florida vacation and wondering if we should try a different resort or go back to Orange Lake.

We do alot of non Disney stuff and have no intentions of staying on Disney property. I have a year old that naps so we actually spend quite a bit of time at the resort itself. TIA

 

[Head_in_the_clouds]

We have stayed at Orange Lake, Vacation Village at Parkway, HGVC SeaWorld, Sheraton Vistana Resort and Bahama Bay. Out of these my favourite was undoubtedly HGVC SeaWorld - I absolutely loved it. This June/July we have booked to stay at HGVC I-Drive so I am looking forward to it alot, we will also probably be spending the first two nights of our vacation at Bahama Bay again. I don't know what it is like for children's activities though as I don't have any children yet. I think Parkway and Vistana had a lot going on for kids though. Alot of people say Floridays is great and a lady we met while waiting for our rental car loved Vistana Villages (not the resort we stayed in) and she had 3 kids. I usually check on trip advisor before we book, I think its saved us a few bad experiences. Out of the resorts I've stayed in I'd rate them like this;

1. HGVC SeaWorld,

2. Bahama Bay

3. Vacation Village at Parkway

4. Sheraton Vistana Resort (our unit was in an older building and in need of refurbishment)

5. Orange Lake (Long story but, although room in newer building was beautiful, we would never stay there again due to bad experience)

 

[Brian Noble]

In terms of on-resort activities and a self-contained "vacation" it would be hard to beat Orange Lake. I've heard Summer Bay can be similar.

 

[Detailor]

My top choices are two Marriotts - Cypress Harbour and Grande Vista, in no particular order. Very nice resorts, all the villas at CH have been refurbed and most at GV have been as well - beautiful accomodations. Lot's of activities, great pools, top notch poolside bar and grill, and GV has both a full sit-down restaurant and a golf course. Both offer what I believe to be outstanding vacation experiences. Anxious to see how the new Grande Lakes Marriott comes out when it's finished (over near the Ritz Carlton and JW Marriott hotels).
Otherwise we like the Hilton Grand Vacation Club resorts - SeaWorld was very nice when we stayed there and I expect that the newer one on International Drive is at least as nice (there's a new one being built on Palm Parkway, too).
Sheraton Vistana Villages looks like a top notch resort, but we haven't stayed there yet.
Orange Lake is quite nice, but there's a wide range of experience and up-to-datedness depending upon which area of the large resort that you stay in.
Cypress Pointe is quite nice, for a smallish resort, particularly in the newly refurbished Phase I section.
And Sheration Vistana Resort is also a high quality but is so big that it has many phases that are in different degrees of refurbishment.

Dick Taylor

 

[Lisa P.]

1. Wyndham Bonnet Creek Resort - great amenities and pools, newer resort, beautiful rooms, excellent location next to Disney's CBR.

2. Marriott Cypress Harbour - beautiful grounds, lots of amenities.

3. HGVC at Sea World - excellent amenities and rooms, very deluxe feel.

4. Wyndham Cypress Palms - small resort, everything within walking distance, limited amenities but sufficient and newly refurbed rooms.

We always prefer resorts with nice grounds for walking and we usually don't care for mega-resorts where you need a car or shuttle to get to some amenities. So YMMV. We've been to many others and just prefer these 4 for offsites. We've never rented a resort pool home since we use our timeshare weeks to trade in.

Would like to try Sheraton Vistana Villages (lovely grounds!) and HGVC on Int'l Dr (it's a Hilton, they're great!) at some point. With our favorites so readily available through RCI/II and occasionally DVC, I don't know when/if we'll get around to them! So many nice resorts... so little time.

 

[jlp879]

We stayed at the Marriott Harbour Lake and loved it. It is very family-friendly, especially geared to those with younger kids. Teenagers might find it a bit boring.

The entire resort is not very big so that you feel safe and secure letting your kids run around. They have an excellent kids program and have activities for kids going on all day long. The pools are excellent for toddlers and little kids -- zero entry and play features in the pool. There are separate wading pools as well. There is an entire water play park just for spraying and dumping water. Free mini golf, basketball, ping pong, etc. The kids program staff really loved the kids and my kids wanted to do lots of things with the kids club just to be with the staff members. They had a special "pirate party" one night which we used to sneak away for a romantic dinner.

 

[littlestar]

Here's mine so far of the ones I have stayed at:

1. Marriott's Cypress Harbour - beautiful, relaxing tropical Florida feel.

2. Marriott's Harbour Lake (Horizons) - nice tropical feeling and themed pools with slides.

3. Sheraton Vistana Villages - Nice rooms -new themed pool area being built with pirate ship slide and fun interactive pool area.

4. Marriott's Imperial Palms - spacious 3 bedroom Marriott that has been totally refurbished. Sits on the grounds of the Marriott World Center hotel.

5. Marriott Grande Vista - Will will stay here for the 3 bedroom units - they are large and have three bathrooms.

6. Sheraton Vistana - We like the Lakes area. They have a new food court and pretty tropical grounds and pool areas.

7. Cypress Pointe - Probably the cleanest resort I've ever stayed in. Units were spotless. Very close to Downtown Disney.