Sheraton Vistana Villages - Your reviews, tips & ratings

[My2CrazyGirls]

Can you book these with SPG points? Do you book directly or through someone else? Thanks!

[Detailor]

Originally Posted by ddluvsdisney

Great pics and info.
We're staying here for the first time this year (well at least I think so, a little confused about the vllages and the resort). It's my parents' timeshare. We are exchanging from Orange Lake. She may know better but I have no idea.
Is one of them for timeshares and the other not? From your pics I'm hoping it's the villages- looks awesome.
A little concerned about the distance though. Orange Lake looks way closer.

Orange Lake, Vistana Resort and Vistana Villages are all timeshare resorts.

OLCC is quite close to the Animal Kingdom park but both of the Vistanas are closer to the other three parks. Here are the distances (distances may vary based on the route that you choose to travel)...

From OLCC to AK 4 miles, Hollywood Studios 8 miles, Epcot 9 miles, TTC parking lot (MK) 10 miles.

From Vistana Resort to AK 7 miles, Hollywood Studios 5 miles, Epcot 6 miles, TTC parking lot (MK) 7.5 miles.

From Vistana Villages to AK 9 miles, Hollywood Studios 7 miles, Epcot 8 miles, TTC parking lot (MK) 9.5 miles.

But all-in-all, not a lot of difference in terms of either mileage or travel time from any of those resorts to the Disney parks. I'd note that either of the Vistanas are more convenient to Universal or SeaWorld than OLCC is.

Vistana Villages is a nice resort set up, somewhat, in sections with pools and amenities for those sections (but guests may use any of the facilities throughout the resort). I think that the resort store (in front of the Key West village) is limited, but there are plenty of off-resort stores in the area. I'd note that while the St. Augustine village was the section that was most recently built (it was only partially open when we were there in Dec. 2010 but fully operational in Dec. 2011), the section that has been most recently refurbished, making the interiors the newest at the resort, is the Key West village at the back of the resort. We were the first to stay in our Key West villa after it was refurbished in November 2011 - a nice updating of furniture, carpeting, paint, softgoods, etc.

Dick Taylor

[Kris74]

We've stayed here both in 2010 and 2011 and we loved both visits. We had a one bedroom each time. There are 3 of us (2 adulta and 1 child). Many, MANY perks to the rooms, but mainly loved all the space we had.

I'll try and mention things that have not been mentioned.

In 2010 we stayed in Bella Florida building #2 by the main pool on the main floor. The floor plan was huge!! It was 1 1/2 baths, full kitchen and a really large balcony. It was large enough for a small patio table and 4 chairs. (I believe the newer buildings in St. Augustine are the same).

In 2011 we stayed in St Augustine, building #26. It was OK. Had we not had the visit the year before it would have been lovely, but this room was definitely smaller. Only 2 chairs on the balcony and a kitchenette and smaller table.

Both visits, the resort was clean and well taken care of. If you don't want housekeeping to bother you just put out the "quiet please" tag on the door. Wifi was great in the rooms, the pools were fantastic, there's a waterslide at the pirate poolfor adults/school-age kids. They have activities every day from exercise classes to fun at the pool to poker games for adults.

There is a washer/dryer in the rooms, but they are loud. But they're fine to toss in a load of laundry during the day and head out to the parks or the pool or something. There are also lots of BBQ grills throughout the resort for guest use.

This IS a timeshare place though, so you may/may not get calls to attend the "talk". Our first trip we didn't get any, oue second trip we received several calls.

Location is REALLY close to everything. We spent a lot of time at Aquatica and it was less then a 10 minute drive. Shopping at Outlets was close as well as Walmart maybe 10 minutes away and a Publix (??) grocery store every closer. Lots of restaurants in the area if you don't want to cook or use the hotel restaurant. (Food was really good there - but the menu is pretty limited).

I would highly recommend this hotel and would definitely stay here again if we go to Florida and decide to stay offsite.

I will say the way you book your reservation determines "how good" of a room you get. Our first trip we booked directly through Sheraton and got a really great deal with the better room. The second time we booked through expedia (or travelocity or something) and even though we paid the same amount, it wasn't as good of a room.

[Beccabunny]

Finally booked this resort for three days in May. We'll be staying here before joining our family for a week-long reunion at WBC, and then two days at the Poly after that. I know, we're crazy to do a three-way split stay, but we like trying different resorts.

I booked through Last Minute Travel. The rate online was $144 per night for a two-bedroom unit, but I called Last Minute Travel directly and got a rate of $137per night. Just a small discount, but every little bit helps.

DD has a lot of medical issues, and because of her severe allergies and difficulty walking long distances, I asked for a recently renovated room close to a pool. I hope the resort can honor those requests. I'm wondering if I should call them directly sometime before we arrive?

[Kirby]

Since this is a gated community, does anyone know if you can have guests visit you?

The reason I'm asking is we are planning a family reunion for 2013/2014 and WDW is one of the places we are considering. I've been looking around for accommodation options and this place looks like it could fit the bill. We want a place that we could all gather and have lunch/dinner spending the day together as our main "family" day. Some of the family might decide to stay at a Disney Resort so would need to be a guest of a person staying there.

[DisMomAmy]

I'm glad I found this thread... We're staying at Vistana Villages (2BR) for a week at the end of April. We've stayed at Vistana Resort twice (April 2010 & Feb 2011) and liked it a lot. We exchanged our timeshare through Interval International and only Villages was available this time so we booked it. I'm hoping we like it just as much.

I am going to submit a Diamond Lane form to speed up our check in process and note our room requests. I'm still trying to decide which area we want to request. It sounds like our kids will love the St. Augustine pool so I think that will be our first request. We also like the top floor to avoid having noise above us.

Question about the distances to the pools... I know the resort is significantly smaller than Vistana Resort but how much smaller? Is everything within walking distance? At Vistana Resort we had to take the car if we wanted to go over to the little store or pools in the sections that were further away. If we were in Key West & wanted to visit the St. Augustine pool, how long would it take us to get there?

[Detailor]

Originally Posted by DisMomAmy

I'm glad I found this thread... We're staying at Vistana Villages (2BR) for a week at the end of April. We've stayed at Vistana Resort twice (April 2010 & Feb 2011) and liked it a lot. We exchanged our timeshare through Interval International and only Villages was available this time so we booked it. I'm hoping we like it just as much.

I am going to submit a Diamond Lane form to speed up our check in process and note our room requests. I'm still trying to decide which area we want to request. It sounds like our kids will love the St. Augustine pool so I think that will be our first request. We also like the top floor to avoid having noise above us.

Question about the distances to the pools... I know the resort is significantly smaller than Vistana Resort but how much smaller? Is everything within walking distance? At Vistana Resort we had to take the car if we wanted to go over to the little store or pools in the sections that were further away. If we were in Key West & wanted to visit the St. Augustine pool, how long would it take us to get there?

Vistana Villages is a fairly compact resort and everything is easily walkable, in my opinion, from any of the buildings. From the furthest building in Key West I think it would take no more than seven or eight minutes to leisurely walk over to the St. Augustine pool area (it's less than a half mile). If you choose to request St. Augustine, please note that those villas are the smallest at the resort (the Key West regular 2BR villas are the largest).

Dick Taylor

[DisMomAmy]

Originally Posted by Detailor

Vistana Villages is a fairly compact resort and everything is easily walkable, in my opinion, from any of the buildings. From the furthest building in Key West I think it would take no more than seven or eight minutes to leisurely walk over to the St. Augustine pool area (it's less than a half mile). If you choose to request St. Augustine, please note that those villas are the smallest at the resort (the Key West regular 2BR villas are the largest).

Dick Taylor

Thanks Dick! Sounds like we'll be happy in any location.

The size of the units is a good point... the two 2BR units we stayed in at Vistana Resort were 1174 sq. ft. (Lakes section) and over 1200 sq. ft. (Fountains section). The largest villas at Vistana Villages (Key West) are 1126 sq. ft. and the smallest (St. Augustine) are only 1070 sq. ft.

For anyone else who is interseted here is the square footage for all of the 2BR villas at Vistana Villages:

St. Augustine: 1070
Bella: 1080
Amelia: 1102
Key West: 1126

Our little 3 bedroom house is only 1300 square feet so honestly, I'm not sure how much the square footage really means to us. Plus, we'll be staying onsite at Disney (Beach Club) for three nights before moving offsite so anything larger than a standard hotel room will be a huge improvement! If there were going to be more than just the four of us, I might think differently.

But again, I think we'll be happy in any location! Thanks!

[Ninja Mom]

We stayed at the villages in Jan of 2008 (Building 10) and I have to say that we loved having a whirlpool tub in our room. the family would fight to see who got to use it when we would get back from the parks. In January, when it's a bit too nippy out for the pool, a good soak in the hot tub really took the park out of our tired tootsies.

Our room was really lovely with a screened in patio and a nice view of the pond. Everything in the unit was in good shape and the towel closet was always unlocked so we could swap out linens as needed.

I would definitely consider staying here again. Hopefully 4 years later everything is still as nice as it was 4 years ago. We are planning a December trip and we are trying to decide between SVV and an on property resort. I'll keep my ears open for reports about what this resort is like now. Thanks for all the help everybody!

[lindseywithane]

So much great information! I think we have decided that this will be where we stay. I did have a quick question, does anyone know if the pools will be open in October?

Thanks so much!

[Detailor]

Originally Posted by lindseywithane

So much great information! I think we have decided that this will be where we stay. I did have a quick question, does anyone know if the pools will be open in October?

Thanks so much!

All of the pools are open all around the calendar.

In the off-chance that they are refurbishing a pool during your stay, it will only be one of them and the other two pools will remain open.

Dick Taylor

[popsynic]

Originally Posted by Detailor

Vistana Villages is a fairly compact resort and everything is easily walkable, in my opinion, from any of the buildings. From the furthest building in Key West I think it would take no more than seven or eight minutes to leisurely walk over to the St. Augustine pool area (it's less than a half mile). If you choose to request St. Augustine, please note that those villas are the smallest at the resort (the Key West regular 2BR villas are the largest).

Dick Taylor

St Augustine Villas are newer than Key West. We used the Key West pool one day, and I just felt that felt like it was almost part of a separate resort. Nothing wrong with that, but that was feeling I got

[popsynic]

Originally Posted by DisMomAmy

I'm glad I found this thread... We're staying at Vistana Villages (2BR) for a week at the end of April. We've stayed at Vistana Resort twice (April 2010 & Feb 2011) and liked it a lot. We exchanged our timeshare through Interval International and only Villages was available this time so we booked it. I'm hoping we like it just as much.

I am going to submit a Diamond Lane form to speed up our check in process and note our room requests. I'm still trying to decide which area we want to request. It sounds like our kids will love the St. Augustine pool so I think that will be our first request. We also like the top floor to avoid having noise above us.

Question about the distances to the pools... I know the resort is significantly smaller than Vistana Resort but how much smaller? Is everything within walking distance? At Vistana Resort we had to take the car if we wanted to go over to the little store or pools in the sections that were further away. If we were in Key West & wanted to visit the St. Augustine pool, how long would it take us to get there?

100% everything is walking distance. Once you park your car by your villa block, that's it. You can easily walk the lovely pathways to all pools, main buildings, restaurants, shop and amenities.

[lindseywithane]

Originally Posted by Detailor

All of the pools are open all around the calendar.

In the off-chance that they are refurbishing a pool during your stay, it will only be one of them and the other two pools will remain open.

Dick Taylor

Thanks! I figured they would be open year round, but wanted to make sure!

[kidsister]

Anyone know the cab fare from Vistana Resort to Downtown Disney?

A friend rec'd I stay in Cascades,but is that section for a Saturday checkin?

Does Cascades have the jacuzz in the master bd or bath?