Cypress Harbour or Harbour Lake with 9 and 11 year olds

[encinc]

We are making a last minute trip to Orlando in early July. DH has a conference at the Hyatt Regency Grand Cypress, so we'll be there for 3 nights. Looking to add on 4 more nights at a Marriott resort. We can get either Harbour Lake or Cypress Harbour with Marriott points. Not looking to do any parks this trip, so a resort with good pools and activities for DSs (age 9 and 11) is our priority.

It sounds like Harbour Lake is great for young children. Are our boys too old? DS1 is very much a tween, but still a youngster at heart. DS2 loves action and being with other kids. DH and I would like the boys to be able to entertain themselves for some of the time, so we have a chance to relax too.

We've stayed at Wyndham. Bonnet Creek for Disney trips twice in the past. The boys loved the pools, but we didn't have time to do any of the activities. If it were their choice, we'd go back to WBC, but we want to use the Marriott points.

Any suggestions to help us choose?

 

[dioxide45]

Harbour Lake is geared towards kids, but perhaps kids a little younger than yours. Have you considered Grande Vista? Or is it not available? Cypress Harbour is okay, but the second bedroom only has a queen bed and pull out sofa. It is a tight fit when the sofa bed is pulled out. Most of the units at Harbour Lake have two queens in the second bedroom and there are a large number of 2BR units at Grande Vista that do too.

You will have to use two MR upgrade certificates per night on top of the four nights points cost to book a 2BR with Marriott Reward points. Perhaps add five nights instead of four since the fifth night booked with points is free.

 

[encinc]

Harbour Lake is geared towards kids, but perhaps kids a little younger than yours. Have you considered Grande Vista? Or is it not available? Cypress Harbour is okay, but the second bedroom only has a queen bed and pull out sofa. It is a tight fit when the sofa bed is pulled out. Most of the units at Harbour Lake have two queens in the second bedroom and there are a large number of 2BR units at Grande Vista that do too. You will have to use two MR upgrade certificates per night on top of the four nights points cost to book a 2BR with Marriott Reward points. Perhaps add five nights instead of four since the fifth night booked with points is free.

Thanks. We are leaning toward Cypress Harbour. Not worried about the layout of the 2nd bedroom. Younger DS prefers to sleep on a couch (not pulled out) on vacation anyway (strange kid). We have a timeshare at Fort Myers Beach. It's only an efficiency, and we still love our time there.

The activities available are more important to us than the room layout. The boys like the idea of fishing at CH. We looked into Grande Vista, but it seems really big, and it would cost us more points (CH and HL are both available as pointsavers). We are actually on using points for 3 of our 4 nights. Would have been nice to take advantage of the 5 for 4, but we don't have that many at this point, and our time is limited by work constraints.

Anyone else stayed at both?

 

[dioxide45]

I think they both have a pretty full agenda of activities for kids. I don't think you can go wrong with either. Unfortunately I don't know the specifics since we rarely partake in any activities and don't have children. We have been to both resorts and seen the activities calendars. You may be able to call both resorts and ask if they could send you the current calendar of activities so you can compare.

 

[JanyJan]

Have you looked to see how much those rooms would cost if you paid money for the reservation? We looked at those resorts last year and the dollar value just wasn't there. I want to say Harbour Lake was only around $100/night, but costs points like it's a cat 9 resort.

 

[dioxide45]

Have you looked to see how much those rooms would cost if you paid money for the reservation? We looked at those resorts last year and the dollar value just wasn't there. I want to say Harbour Lake was only around $100/night, but costs points like it's a cat 9 resort.

Good point. Though the OP is looking for early July. Peak season and short notice. I would expect cash prices to be pretty high if it is over July 4th.

Though it is always good to compare the cash price to the points cost. In a lot of cases for Orlando, cash is a better deal.

 

[encinc]

Have you looked to see how much those rooms would cost if you paid money for the reservation? We looked at those resorts last year and the dollar value just wasn't there. I want to say Harbour Lake was only around $100/night, but costs points like it's a cat 9 resort.

We did. The points reservation is definitely not great value, but we have decided to use them anyway. Cash reservations are $250+, so even at poor value, redeeming points still saves us a fair but of cash. We've decided on Cypress Harbour. It looks like there's lots for the boys to do at both resorts, but we thought that CH might have more kids their ages to hang out with. We are all very excited!

 

[jeff968]

Having been to both, and based on your description, I would vote Cypress Harbour. It is a fantastic resort. Just the right size, so much to do for everyone iof every age, and beautiful.

 

[encinc]

Having been to both, and based on your description, I would vote Cypress Harbour. It is a fantastic resort. Just the right size, so much to do for everyone iof every age, and beautiful.

Awesome! That's exactly what we wanted to hear.