Back to update about our trip.
WBC was nice - my mother really loved the beautiful path to stroll around the lake. And we appreciated the lazy river and tried them both out. We did enjoy the free minigolf one morning.
The dueling pianos was very entertaining and my mother enjoyed the very well done luau and also hung out by the pool for some live entertainment one afternoon. The poolside games were ok - we watched one of the couples game shows and it was fun for those involved, but hard to hear all the answers even though we were seated close by.
We were disappointed there wasn’t more live entertainment in the evenings at the bar and the one aquafit class that was on the schedule through our two weeks was cancelled because the instructor called in sick.
Overall, we enjoyed our stay. DD and I really liked being so close to the parks. We used Lyft on occasion and it was just $5 from Hollywood Studios / Riviera back to WBC (higher during surge pricing).
We moved to Marriott Royal Palms for our last week. On checking in (at 8am), we discovered that the Marriott World Center had aquafit scheduled at 10am.
I called the front desk, was transferred to activities and they assured me it was still happening. Although due to cold weather the waterpark would not open until noon.
We go our gear and shuttled over. Nobody knew anything at 10am. Turns out the staff at the towel hut are completely different from the activities staff.
We found an activities staff who was there to do Sunrise Trivia. Which my DD wanted to try but they showed no interest in doing it with her since no other guests turned up for it.
They called the aquafit instructor and told us she was coming, just running behind. So we waited. At 10:20am, I went back to the towel hut staff to ask and they promised to find out and come look for me at my pool chairs to tell me. 10 mins later, it was crickets. I went back to the towel hut and they avoided looking at me and I finally lost interest in pursuing it. So we left.
Aquafit was on the schedule the next morning at 9am and I didn’t even try to go.
We wanted to try the big slides at Marriott World Center but our break days only happened on cold days and we did not bother trying to shuttle over as chances were high they would be closed and nobody would be able to give us a straight answer.
We went back one evening, braving the cold for the laser show. We got a lot of thumping music and lights, but zero lasers (we had watched
youtube videos before so knew what they looked like). Wanted to complain to the concierge, but was surprised to find no concierge desk - just front desk folks with lineups of people checking in. We didn’t try again. We’d heard they offered a silent disco, but none were on schedule during the first week of January.
We wandered the whole Marriott World Center on a Saturday night. Zero live music (then again, it was Jan 4th) and not a very bustling vibe (too cold
). Other than a stunning pool area, there were no nice paths/trails that we discovered to walk in. We did find all the restaurants and the large, well stocked quick service with typical high resort prices.
There were a lot of kid activities on the World Center schedule, but none that would appeal to 3 adult women. Definitely better with kids
We spent the rest of the week in Royal Palms and didn’t bother venturing over. The one morning we had aqaufit scheduled (yes I really like aquafit lol), the instructor was great. Another cold afternoon, there was a lonely steel drummer playing. I was out for a stroll (discovering there is no nice walking paths on property) and stopped to enjoy the music. Ended up staying 20 mins as he seemed cold and rather discouraged. DD had been listening from the balcony and said his music perked up considerably with me as an audience.
We had planned to attend an evening social with free hot dogs, beer samples, and a guitarist. But that was canceled for cold weather.
I did appreciate getting texts every night about what was planned the next day.
We loved the brighter, updated decor in our condo. Much more appealing to our tastes than all the other resorts I have tried in Orlando (Holiday Inn Orange Lake, WBC, Sheraton Vistana Resort, Silver Lake, Parkway International).
The giant windows were a delight with loads of sunshine streaming in. I like that we could get so much fresh air into the condo. The screened in balcony had a table and chairs so we could eat many of our meals out there (Bonnet Creek only has chairs and no table to eat on the balcony. Also the master does not have windows that open).
We tested out the chair single bed and the sofabed and found them shockingly comfortable (but we ended up sleeping only in the real beds).
We much preferred the condo layout to WBC. It is bigger with a larger kitchen. Also, the secondary toilet does not face directly to the dining table
!
To access the second bedroom, you go through a door which opens into a tiny hallway with a door to the bathroom and a door to the bedroom. This helped with privacy and quiet for the person in the second bedroom.
Royal Palms had a nice pool area, a really pretty tiny sensory garden (that was delightful to sit in) next to the lobby, and a peaceful area next to their fountain in the lake with tables, benches and rocking chairs. Their hot tubs are tucked away from the main pool.
During aquafit, we met a lovely mother daughter duo at the pool who ended up joining us for daytrip to the Harry P Leu Gardens. Always enjoy meeting nice people
There were things we liked at each resort and I would stay again at either depending on my travel companions, prices, and plans for my trip.
My personal favourite is still Sheraton Vistana Resort because I can usually get it really cheap, they have large windows (I like sunshine and fresh air), and a LOT more activities for adults (so many only cater to kids, which I understand). It tends to attract seniors on long stays and I meet a lot of interesting people who are there for a while.
and I like both of them, and the have their own pluses and minuses.
