Xmas Present - RCI Week - need help with hotel choice

[missymj]

Can't decide as to which timeshare I should book as I know nothing about any of them, here are some of the choices:

Fairfield Orlando at Bonnet Creek
Cypress Point
Hilton Grand Vacation Club at Seaworld
Hilton Grand Vacation Club at International Driver
Sheraton Vistana
Orange Lake Country Club
Celebration World Resort
Worldmark Orlando

Do any of them offer free transportation to Universal, Disney World or Disney's water parks. Are there restaurants at each of the locations? How are the pools? Do any offer Lazy rivers? Any or all help would be appreciated!

 

[swilshire]

Are those REALLY your choices or just weeks you saw in the resort directory? I've never seen the Fairfield Bonnet Creek show up as available. What dates are you reserving?

If those are really all available, then I wouldn't hesitate to book any except maybe the last two, which I am not familiar with.

Sheila

 

[Lisa_M]

Don't stay at the Sheraton Vistana. It's old and I have read some negative reviews about it. Check out Tripadvisor.com for reviews. We are staying at the HGVC on International Drive through an RCI week gift in June. It gets great reviews and it's gorgeous. As far I know they don't have shuttle service, but you can look at each individual resorts website or call them to find out.

 

[Brian Noble]

In general, you will want a car. Many timeshares have shuttles, but they are typically inconvenient.

If that's really what you can book, and you are focusing on WDW, book Bonnet Creek. Only Disney-owned resorts are closer to the parks (and not all of those are, either.)

But, like Sheila, I'm not aware of *anyone* who has exchanged into Bonnet Creek, primarily because Fairfield gets much more money by renting out excess inventory directly than they would by depositing it for exchange. Plus, as of last summer, FF owners cannot deposit weeks with RCI directly---they have to ask FF to deposit something for them, and FF gets to pick the week to deposit.

 

[cey]

I was on the waiting list for an RCI exchange into Bonnet Creek for over a year for March 2007. RCI kept stringing me along saying that I would get the exchange until they finally called at Christmas and tried to force me into accepting an alternate exchange into the Fountains. I ended up cancelling the exchange and booked a week at Bahama Bay because RCI was only offering older resorts. I have found over the past couple of years, if you are trying to travel during peak season, RCI appears to have very limited availability.

 

[Tinkabella]

If you can get the reservation at Bonnet Creek..grab it. This is a super resort. Check out trip advisor.com

 

[swilshire]

Don't stay at the Sheraton Vistana. It's old and I have read some negative reviews about it. Check out Tripadvisor.com for reviews. We are staying at the HGVC on International Drive through an RCI week gift in June. It gets great reviews and it's gorgeous. As far I know they don't have shuttle service, but you can look at each individual resorts website or call them to find out.

There are mixed reviews of Vistana, but this resort remains my family's favorite. We've stayed at HGVC Sea World, Grand Beach, Orange Lake, Summer Bay, Wyndham Palms and probably another one or two I've forgotten. The kids usually complain all week that they'd rather be at Vistana. The location and amenities are hard to beat, and we've never had a bad unit, in spite of being in the Fountains and Falls.

I just made a trade yesterday for a March 2007 week. I had a very weak trader to exchange and wasn't offered a lot from RCI, but there are a few acceptable weeks showing up even now. We'll be staying at Westgate Vacation Villas.

Sheila

 

[SparkleDust]

My parents loved Vistana, but I've only stayed at Orange Lake. The restaurants there were only so-so, and the shuttle to Disney is $13 per person round trip. At that rate, it's better off renting a car and paying for parking! On the plus side, the rooms are nice and the pools are great! They just finished building a lazy river, so I'm looking forward to trying it when we go down in April.

 

[motherhen17404]

We were also given a RCI week from my parents. We were told that even though Bonnet Creek shows up in RCI's resorts, that only owners at another Fairfield resort can do an exchange for Bonnet Creek through RCI. When we booked, just a few weeks ago for Nov. 7th, RCI really did not have a whole lot to chose from. We ended up picking Orange Lake. Not sure this was the best choice, but it will save us a lot of money on our lodging so we are not going to be too picky on what we get.