Wyndham Cypress Palms or Summer Bay Resort

[lpol]

I won a stay through Skyauction, for an assortment of places. I have narrowed it down to Wyndham Cypress Palms or Summer Bay Resort. Any opinions on which is better? WCP seems closer, but SBR seems to have more to do. We are staying for a week, me, DH and DD (18 months at travel time). Any thoughts? We are staying offsite for the convenience of a kitchen, extra space, etc and since our DD is so young, we are planning on at least a few pool days.

 

[iluvflorida]

Summer Bay hands down. Stayed at both. Not that Cypress Palms is bad just Summer Bay better. When did you get the skyauction, I have not seen Cypress Palms on lately? I use skyauction all the time.

 

[lpol]

I just won the auction this week. It was a 7 night auction. You also had the choice of Westgate Vacation Villas,Silver Lake Resort,or Orbit One Vacation Villas. Do you think Summer Bay is nicer? Not that Cypress Palms looks bad, just more like a hotel where Summer Bay seems more home-like (for lack of a better word).

I called both places this morning to find out about cribs and highchairs. Cypress Palms offers them, Summer Bay does not. It was unclear if they rent them, or you have to rent them from an outside place. I should call back to verify.

Do you think the traffic to get to and from Disney & Summer Bay would add a lot of time or is just about the same as Cypress Palms.

 

[iluvflorida]

I actually think the traffic would be better from Summer Bay as you are coming the oppisite way. Summer Bay is basicly at the intersection of #27 and #192. It may look longer on map but for this reason is actually quicker. Just go on #192 down to Sherbeth and turn left and that takes you direct to Animal Kingdom (not marked on #192) but a well known short cut. Can't help you with crib? I'll would be surprised if Summer Bay could not help you though. Summer Bay is a more secure (gated) resort, more pool choices, more activities etc. What is age make up of family. pm me if you want. I can't believe I missed that auction. We will be at Summer Bay FEB 23. but looking for another week.

 

[7165red]

I stayed at SBR and liked it very much. great location about 8 mins. from WDW.

 

[H.E. Pennypacker]

I don't know anything about Summer Bay, but we stayed at Cypress Palms last April and enjoyed it. Nice location, plenty of restaurants very close by. It's more of a townhome/condo kind of place. I would not consider it hotel-like. It's a typical, small to mid-sized timeshare complex. We're staying there again this October. Again, I can't compare the two, but for what it's worth, I can say we were pleased with Cypress. I also heard they just completed updates and renovations to all the units, so we're looking forward to seeing what they changed.

 

[Lisa P.]

Summer Bay has several resort areas - Houses at Summer Bay (supposedly fantastic), Villas at Summer Bay (small rooms, terrible reviews) and Summer Bay Resort (quite mixed reviews in terms of maint & uncomfortable beds) - as well as a hotel (poor reviews) where they house touring sales pitch guests. If you are going during cooler weather, the lake water at SB is cool and the kiddie water features are not heated. But many families enjoy these amenities during the warmer weather months. If you get a room in a 2-story building, walking up to a 2nd floor unit is no fun with a tired toddler, stroller & gear. The taller buildings have elevators.

We really enjoy the Wyndham Cypress Palms resort. It suits our needs since we like a walkable resort that's close to the parks, close to restaurants, with nice rooms and well-heated pools. The buildings are all 4-5 stories with elevators. The 2BR condos are very comfortable and spacious, with all the nicer amenities - very home-like. The playground is covered with shade from the summer sun. If you stay there, call the week before and request a recently refurbished room - about half the rooms have been redone so far and it looks great. Best of all, we've had excellent experiences with the staff - helpful and friendly.

I've driven to both of these resorts from Disney and Summer Bay is about 5-10 minutes further from Animal Kingdom (using the Black Lake to Sherberth shortcut) than Wyndham Cypress Palms. But when driving to all the other Disney parks, Summer Bay is at least 10-15 minutes further away, IMHO. Overall, the two resorts offer similar amenities except for the lake at Summer Bay, which isn't of use with an 18 month old toddler.

Westgate Vacation Villas, Silver Lake Resort and Orbit One Vacation Villas are all similarly close to the parks, a few minutes closer than Wyn CP. These are all decent places to stay if you don't have a better choice but would not win out over either Wyn CP or SB. HTH.

 

[Lisa P.]

Oh, there's one difference bet. Wyn CP and S Bay, which may matter to you if your toddler is a climber. The balconies at SB are open, with regular, safe railings. All of the balconies at WCP are fully screened in, which we prefer when it's bug season (May/Sept - lovebugs - and summer mosquitoes). We also would have preferred the screened balcony when our kids were little, since they were climbers and would move a chair to the rail to get a better look out.