Anyone visited Grand Beach Resort??

[steph213]

My family will be staying at Grand Beach Resort in June. Just wondering if anyone can give me a review. The only reviews I can find online are at least a couple of years old. Some good, some bad. It is supposed to be a Diamond Resorts International property(timeshare). But from some of the other Diamond resorts we've visited, I'm thinking the bad reviews might be right.

 

[DianeV]

We have stayed there multiple times and like it. Its not a large fancy place, has 2 basic pools but the units are huge (if you are in a 3 bedroom?) Great location too. I think you should be just fine

 

[twinklingstars4u]

We stayed in a 3 bedroom last November and it's true, the villas are so nice! The kitchen had plenty of room for cooking. The laundry is in a small walk-in closet off the kitchen. There are two "master" bedrooms with king size beds, big bathtubs (one was a jacuzzi) and separate showers. A full bath in the hall and the third room had two twin beds. Plenty of closet space.

My favorite thing about the villa was the screened in porch (it was so big)! There was a small table and some chairs. Ask if you can have a villa facing the lake. We were farthest from the lake, but villa faced it and it was so pretty to sit on the porch and relax.

The pools are small, but pretty. The one by the tennis courts has an awesome jacuzzi!

HTH!

 

[PixieHollow]

I just stayed there end of March through first few days of April for my first WDW trip. We stayed as a guest of an RCI owner and allegedly for that reason it took over an hour to check in (no reservation could be found for us, seemingly they created one). We had already arrived very late after getting lost from the airport (had never been to Orlando). We were very patient but eventually ran out of patience-as a result we got attitude from one woman and no apologies from anyone..even before we ran out of patience. We ended up in our room shortly after midnight and had to make a somewhat scary and expensive trip to the 7/11 for some groceries(they told us to go there rather than the 24 hour Goodings up the street) We also received wrong directions from the concierge (to the airport) on the day we left and as a result almost missed our flight. Called the manager to complain after we got home and he explained that sometimes they get employees from other Diamond resorts who are unfamiliar with Orlando-just not an acceptable excuse in my book. We suggested preprinted directions. So if you have been to Orlando before or have a GPS and know how to use it, it would be ok as long as you don't need any directions from them. I printed Mapquest directions before we left but when you aren't even familiar with street names they become useless.

As for the unit-it is roomy and clean. Just two of us so we never paid the high cleaning or towel fees-there are plenty of towels and you can wash your own. The second master suite was rendered useless a couple of nights by the noise from wind-maybe because it was an end unit. I had to sleep in the twin room-the noise didn't exist there or in the inside master. The jacuzzi is great. We had a parking lot view so we never used the porch. I read here about the cats-yes they are still there hanging around the dumpster (along with a raccoon). Nothing against cats but that was my first and only view of the property and lake. Who needs amenities when you have WDW? It's just up the street and a right to WDW entrance. The tile floors can be noisy so I would suggest asking for a fifth floor room if they allow that. We had that and it was nice to have no one above us. Just the scraping dining chairs can be annoying, people tend to forget about others sometimes. The tv picture wasn't all that great but we didn't watch much tv. The unit AC was great, the end master being the warmest room. All bedrooms have ceiling fans-and there's one in the living area. Very cool and comfortable in the hallways too.

It's also annoying trying to jockey for a parking space every day-no assigned spaces, not even for a handicapped plate/placard.

We found it to be very difficult to find the Publix store-it's also in a very busy area near outlets. Just up the street is a Goodings (24 hour, in the Cross Roads center that also has some dining) and a Winn Dixie is further up.

In hindsight I would have stayed inside WDW for my first trip-less stress in finding way around/driving (Grand Beach has no shuttle service). But for experienced WDW/Orlando visitors Grand Beach would be fine, as long as you're not looking for resort amenities other than a clean, spacious room. Have a great trip.