Marriott Grande Vista vs Horizons vs Cypress Harbour?

[hts]

We've stayed at the first two but have not been to CH yet (although I have read a few reviews here of the property).

Has anyone stayed at all three and if so, would you mind providing your thoughts, especially comparing CH to the other two, since we're familiar with them.

Our boys are 7 and 8, so although GV is clearly a nicer, more upscale property, we preferred Horizons because it catered more to children the same age as ours.

 

[serendipity]

I'm curious too. We're currently signed up for Cypress Harbour (2 Adults).

 

[Grumpy Grandma]

Stayed at Harbour Lake in May with 2 children - loved it. Looking at booking an adults trip for either of the other two and would like reviews.

 

[littlestar]

Of the three, my personal favorite for a couples trip would be Cypress Harbour. I just like the feel of the resort.

If I have small kids with me, then Harbour Lake (Horizons) for the themed pools and slides.

Of course, if you ask my son-in-law, he would pick Grande Vista in a remodeled or newer building. If you need a 3 bedroom, then Grande Vista is the only one that offers a 3 bedroom out of the three.

Be sure to check out the reviews and pictures of all three resorts on Trip Advisor.

 

[Grumpy Grandma]

Thanks for the reply. I have been looking at the pictures on Trip Advisor. Always thought I'd book the Grande Vista until I saw the pics of Cypress Harbour. I just fell in love. Looks so beachlike. DVC owner at Saratoga but love the looks of Beach Club. Maybe CH has the same feel?

 

[jeff968]

Hi, I've stayed at all three and Cypress Harbor is my favorite. They are all nice resorts and i would stay at anyone of them again but I like CH the best. The reason, resort layout, not too big, not too small, you can walk to everything. Something for everyone, teenagers through small children, nice big rooms, beautiful resort, mature, quiet, peaceful. We just stayed at Horizons which was very nice but more small children oriented with everything that means and still be worked on. It is also noisier being closer to route 4. GV is nice (I was there last November) but too big and i don't play golf so that doesn't mean anything to me or the family.

 

[mousecrazy425]

We've stayed at the Grande Vista last year and Cyprus Harbor this year, so I can give you my input on those two. Overall, I much prefer Cyprus Harbor. It's a little quieter, has a better pool/lake area, and it has bigger/cleaner rooms. Also, if you like the look of the Beach Club, you will find the decor here to be somewhat similar with the nautical themes (obviously you can't beat the attention to detail and theme on Disney property, but this is pretty nice.) Another great thing about this resort is that you can see the Sea World fireworks from your screened-in balcony at night. It's great to watch. Finally, we found Cyprus Harbor to be much more convenient for getting to the Disney parks since we were able to avoid all the International Drive area traffic and get pretty much straight on to I-4.

 

[FSUDisneyGirl]

I stayed at Cypress Harbor with my cousin's family a few years ago. It was a lot of fun, we loved it! Great rooms and pools. It did get crowded but we just walked to the other pool! Fun games for the kids and shade, too! My little cousins loved playing big chess and going to the playground.

 

[5Boys2Disney]

We stayed at Cypress Harbour last Oct with our 1 and 3 year olds and absolutely LOVED it! Plenty to do, yet a very peaceful feeling. We did tour the other two places as we considered purchasing a timeshare week, and we would have definitely chosen Cypress Harbour.

 

[crazycatlady]

We've stayed at Cypress Harbour, Grande Vista, and the Marriott Royal Palms. I really liked all three of them. The location of the Royal Palms was great because it was only a few minutes from Disney so you didn't have to worry about traffic in the morning. We are going to Disney in October
(SO EXCITED!) and decided to stay at Cypress Harbour again. Since I remember liking all 3 of them, I let TripAdvisor decide for me and Cypress Harbour is ranked really high (like 2nd or 3rd) for places to stay in Orlando.
I really don't think you can go wrong staying at any of these.

 

[crazycatlady]

Thanks for the tip on the fireworks!

 

[littlestar]

Thanks for the reply. I have been looking at the pictures on Trip Advisor. Always thought I'd book the Grande Vista until I saw the pics of Cypress Harbour. I just fell in love. Looks so beachlike. DVC owner at Saratoga but love the looks of Beach Club. Maybe CH has the same feel?

We, too, own at SSR and we love, love, love Marriott's Cypress Harbour. Cypress Harbour has a Florida Key West beach feel. We also like the refillable mugs at Cypress Harbour. Nice to be able to use them at the main pool.

Cypress Harbour reminds me of some of the resorts we have stayed at in Hawaii with the tall palm trees swaying in the breezes.

We're actually staying at Cypress Harbour here in a few weeks before we check into SSR.

 

[Scottk]

Hi we own at Cypress Harbour - actually brought it after a stay there we liked it so much! Last year we stayed at Grande Vista as well for a change during a 3-week vacation. Overall it had the same high quality but was a lot bigger and as a result busier. I think for teens it would be great - but Cypress Harbour has a great small resort feel and remains our firm favourite.

Out of interest we had a high view over the golf course at Grande Vista and watched a 8' gator climb out of the lake and bask on the cart path (which was next to one of the pools). We called guest services who told us they knew gators were in the lakes next to the pools and not to be concerned.

We didn't go back to those pools!

 

[SweetMimi]

We've stayed at Grande Vista. The property is very nice. Very golf oriented. At the time our boys were very young (9 and under) and I was terrified that they would break something. The dining table and other tables were glass and the tables were set with the china set up on them which was very pretty but nerve racking with little ones. So my review is a very nice resort but if you have little ones...maybe another resort would be easier on the mind

 

[ckoncurat]

I've never been to grand vista, but cypress harbor ir really nice! It definitely feels like a resort you would want to hang out in. It is closer to universal than disney- aren't the other two closer to disney?

 

[DisMomAmy]

How do the Marriott's compare as far as proximity to the parks? We stayed at Grande Vista in 2007. Are the others closer? We'll be trading through II for April 22 - May 2, 2010 and we are open to other options in the Marriott family.

 

[mcqueen n' sally]

i've stayed at all 3 and they are all pretty much the same distance to disney, though grand vista may be a few minutes longer since it is easier to hop on i-4 from the other 2... hope that helps!

 

[chicagoshannon]

We just got back from Harbour Lake. We fell in LOVE! It has 2 wonderful pools with water slides and a pirate theme. The room was huge (we had a 1 bedroom) and we too would have had a view of the Sea World fire works from our balcony if they were doing them. We could see the Sea World tower perfectly.

They have an all you can eat ice cream mug you can buy for $12 good for your entire stay. They also had a pool side bar and food at one pool and a food station at the other. And they have mini golf.

We liked it so much we are already planning on staying either there or Cypress Harbour for our 2012 stay. We trade through II but if we didn't already own a time share we would probably consider owning there!