Offsite that feels like a luxury resort?

[Aflyingbuttress]

I'm attempting to book an offsite hotel for our disney trip and I am somehow both overwhelmed by the choices and not sure I am finding what I want. I want a place that feels like a luxury resort, not a generic apartment complex, and that's what I am finding with most of the vacation resorts coming up in my searches.

I just can't seem to narrow down which hotels have all of my must haves, so I am hoping some of you with experience can make some recommendations. Here they are:

• An amazing pool, preferably with poolside food and drinks. I love lazy rivers so that would be ideal. Comfy chairs would be the icing on the cake.
• Lot's of food choices. It definitely needs to have more than one restaurant.
  
• Beautiful accommodations. Comfortable beds and seating, nice finishes, clean, feels polished and like I'm on vacation.
• Kids activities and pool area.
• Easy parking (this is a serious must, because I am disabled and trying to avoid long walks from the parking lot)

Here are some of the places I'm considering, but each of them has something I'm unsure about:

• Sheraton Vistana Villages - Has great pools, including kids pools and activities, as well as nice accommodations, but only one place to eat.
• Sheraton Vistana Resort Villas - Has an awesome pool and many places to eat and the rooms look nice for the most part (there are some styles I don't care for), but I am unsure about parking and kids activities.
• Hilton Grand Vacation Resorts - They all look great but I can't figure out if there are things for kids to do at most of them or what the parking situation is.
• Marriott Grande Villas or Harbour Lakes - Similar conundrum to the Sheraton Vistana choices. They look really fun, but I've read that the accommodations are dated and worn. I'm not sure how true that is.
• Wyndham Bonnet Creek - I know this has quite a following and it looks fantastic. Is it really worth the extra cost compared to the others? It's about twice the price for my trip dates.

I know I'm picky and I anticipate the price will be higher to reflect that, but hopefully no more than $300 per night.

Thank you in advance. I know a lot of you put real time and effort into your responses. You're always so helpful.

 

[Upatnoon]

You should be able to book all of these for less than $300 a night -- much less. You can find most of these on ebay to give you an idea of what they go for.

 

[greenclan67]

Have you looked at Orange Lake? You can get drive up units and walk right in. Has all you are asking for. The rooms are nice. 2 bdrm stand alone villas. You can pm me if u like.

 

[Aflyingbuttress]

Have you looked at Orange Lake? You can get drive up units and walk right in. Has all you are asking for. The rooms are nice. 2 bdrm stand alone villas. You can pm me if u like.

I’ve looked at it a little bit. I love, love, love the lazy river. It looks incredible. I’ve seriously considered it but I was worried about the resort seeming so large. From the resort map it looked much larger than any other resorts I’ve encountered and I’m concerned about ending up in a room that is very far away from everything. Is it a guarantee that I’d get a drive up unit and can I drive over to the lazy river and park there when we want to use it?

 

[spiceycat]

Sheraton Vistana had close to your unit parking. the ones you mentioned are all timeshares. besides ebay would look at redweek, myresortnetwork,tug2

 

[Shanti]

I'm attempting to book an offsite hotel for our disney trip and I am somehow both overwhelmed by the choices and not sure I am finding what I want. I want a place that feels like a luxury resort, not a generic apartment complex, and that's what I am finding with most of the vacation resorts coming up in my searches.

I just can't seem to narrow down which hotels have all of my must haves, so I am hoping some of you with experience can make some recommendations. Here they are:

• An amazing pool, preferably with poolside food and drinks. I love lazy rivers so that would be ideal. Comfy chairs would be the icing on the cake.
• Lot's of food choices. It definitely needs to have more than one restaurant.
  
• Beautiful accommodations. Comfortable beds and seating, nice finishes, clean, feels polished and like I'm on vacation.
• Kids activities and pool area.
• Easy parking (this is a serious must, because I am disabled and trying to avoid long walks from the parking lot)

Here are some of the places I'm considering, but each of them has something I'm unsure about:

• Sheraton Vistana Villages - Has great pools, including kids pools and activities, as well as nice accommodations, but only one place to eat.
• Sheraton Vistana Resort Villas - Has an awesome pool and many places to eat and the rooms look nice for the most part (there are some styles I don't care for), but I am unsure about parking and kids activities.
• Hilton Grand Vacation Resorts - They all look great but I can't figure out if there are things for kids to do at most of them or what the parking situation is.
• Marriott Grande Villas or Harbour Lakes - Similar conundrum to the Sheraton Vistana choices. They look really fun, but I've read that the accommodations are dated and worn. I'm not sure how true that is.
• Wyndham Bonnet Creek - I know this has quite a following and it looks fantastic. Is it really worth the extra cost compared to the others? It's about twice the price for my trip dates.

I know I'm picky and I anticipate the price will be higher to reflect that, but hopefully no more than $300 per night.

Thank you in advance. I know a lot of you put real time and effort into your responses. You're always so helpful.

Waldorf Astoria Orlando or Bonnet Creek Hilton (not the Disney Springs Hilton). Both are within the Disney gates. Both share the same pool complex, which includes water slide & lazy river. Both are relatively new (about 5 years) & are attractive.

 

[jsantini]

I would look at The Grove or the Omni Championsgate

 

[AdamEfimoff]

Why not four seasons

 

[Aflyingbuttress]

Such great suggestions. Thank you all!

Why not four seasons

Because the four seasons is $1000 per night. If I had that kind of money this wouldn’t even be a question.

I guess I should have been more clear that I’m not looking for perfection or to have 5 star service. Although that would be nice, I understand that I can’t afford it. I just wanted it to feel higher end and have some great amenities. Similar to what several people have suggested here.

 

[AdamEfimoff]

Such great suggestions. Thank you all!



Because the four seasons is $1000 per night. If I had that kind of money this wouldn’t even be a question.

I guess I should have been more clear that I’m not looking for perfection or to have 5 star service. Although that would be nice, I understand that I can’t afford it. I just wanted it to feel higher end and have some great amenities. Similar to what several people have suggested here.

sorry did not read. Waldorf

 

[AdamEfimoff]

when are you going?

 

[sympatico]

Reunion Resort or maybe Gaylord Palms

 

[Jennasis]

We thought the Vistana was great! We parked right outside our unit and it was just a few steps to our room.

 

[GPC0321]

I've never stayed there, but what about the Hyatt Regency Grand Cypress? It doesn't have a lazy river, but it's a pretty great looking pool (has a slide and an area where you can swim through "caves"). It also has "Camp Hyatt" program for kids with a long list of activities.

 

[baler31]

IMO the best value and most affordable with the majority of what you are looking for would be either Hilton Bonnet Creek or Waldorf Astoria. Hilton I have done for as little as 125 before fees and taxes and Waldorf was around 175 before fees and taxes. Depending on when you are going the rates could be much higher. Use the hiltonfamilymvp discount if you qualify.

 

[Monykalyn]

If you are looking at Timeshare condos- subscribe to TUG or Redweek to rent from owner. We are TS owners and always trade into the Marriott resorts. They always look much larger on paper. We just stayed at Marriott Cypress Harbour over Thanksgiving week. Frankly it was hard to leave resort to go to parks with so much going on at resort! My kids and I did- tie-dye tshirts, music bingo around pool, Gatorland brought critters for a program one day (held baby alligator). Resort also had putt putt golf, basketball court, shuffle board, quiet pools in addition to main pools, club house with lots of kids activities. Never had issue with parking right by our unit

 

[estnh]

Have you considered the Swan or Dolphin? Both have the feel of a Deluxe with the price of a moderate, and smack in the middle of the Boardwalk area. Transportation options are fantastic, with boat service to Epcot and DS and bus service to MK and AK. Beautiful grounds and recently renovated. Beds are incredibly comfortable. We spent ten days at the Dolphin in late October, and loved it. No lazy river, but meets your other requirements.

 

[GusGus77]

Wyndham Grand. It shares the lake and property with Bonnet Creek but is separate. It is the fanciest place I ever stayed!

 

[Shellyred8]

I'm attempting to book an offsite hotel for our disney trip and I am somehow both overwhelmed by the choices and not sure I am finding what I want. I want a place that feels like a luxury resort, not a generic apartment complex, and that's what I am finding with most of the vacation resorts coming up in my searches.

I just can't seem to narrow down which hotels have all of my must haves, so I am hoping some of you with experience can make some recommendations. Here they are:

• An amazing pool, preferably with poolside food and drinks. I love lazy rivers so that would be ideal. Comfy chairs would be the icing on the cake.
• Lot's of food choices. It definitely needs to have more than one restaurant.
  
• Beautiful accommodations. Comfortable beds and seating, nice finishes, clean, feels polished and like I'm on vacation.
• Kids activities and pool area.
• Easy parking (this is a serious must, because I am disabled and trying to avoid long walks from the parking lot)

Here are some of the places I'm considering, but each of them has something I'm unsure about:

• Sheraton Vistana Villages - Has great pools, including kids pools and activities, as well as nice accommodations, but only one place to eat.
• Sheraton Vistana Resort Villas - Has an awesome pool and many places to eat and the rooms look nice for the most part (there are some styles I don't care for), but I am unsure about parking and kids activities.
• Hilton Grand Vacation Resorts - They all look great but I can't figure out if there are things for kids to do at most of them or what the parking situation is.
• Marriott Grande Villas or Harbour Lakes - Similar conundrum to the Sheraton Vistana choices. They look really fun, but I've read that the accommodations are dated and worn. I'm not sure how true that is.
• Wyndham Bonnet Creek - I know this has quite a following and it looks fantastic. Is it really worth the extra cost compared to the others? It's about twice the price for my trip dates.

I know I'm picky and I anticipate the price will be higher to reflect that, but hopefully no more than $300 per night.

Thank you in advance. I know a lot of you put real time and effort into your responses. You're always so helpful.

We just got back from a 7 night stay at Marriott's Harbour Lakes. We thought it was great. We ate at the on-site quick-serve a few times and the food was above average for a quick-serve type of place. Our room was fantastic! Huge! All of the units are a 2-br/2-ba. In the building we were in, it was a 4-story building, but only 6 units on each floor. So, getting to your room from the elevator was a short trip, as the elevator was located in the middle of the building. Parking was also great. There is ample parking outside of each building (at least there was when we were there). We didn't use the pools, but they looked pretty great. There is an activity center that has lots of things to do. Board games, video games, crafts, shuffleboard, mini-golf, bean-bag toss, etc... All of the staff that we encountered were super nice. The resort grounds were very well maintained. My biggest "kudos" for this place was for their clean bathrooms. Both of the bathrooms in our unit were very clean. Many of the resorts we've stayed at in Florida have mold/mildew issues. Not this room!

I don't know if all of the rooms have been recently renovated, but when we checked in, the gal made a comment that we were in a room that had just been renovated last year or so.

The only "annoyance" that I had with this resort was all of the speed-bumps. While I understand the need for them, they still got annoying after awhile.

Overall, it was a great stay and we wouldn't hesitate to stay there again in the future.

Happy planning!

 

[SummerPicnic]

From where did you get your quote for WBC? Perhaps try checking another source?