Here is my review. Sorry it's long...
We stayed here for 8 nights starting July 5th. Check-in was smooth, although they did not grant my section request. I didnt expect them to as I was an RCI exchange which gets low priority over owners. The RCI exchange was a week and we bought an extra night, and they did arrange it so we would not have to change rooms for the extra night which was nice.
We were in Cascades (Bldg 12 #2747), one of the sections that has not yet been renovated. Our building had an elevator. We got a 2-bedroom villa. I was told the rooms were now non-smoking, but in the past smoking was allowed, and while it wasnt overwhelming the villa did have a smell to it. Kind of like old smoke and something they used to try to cover it up. There was a sign in the villa to only smoke on the balcony or there would be a $200 fee.
I had read in previous reviews about problems with dirty carpets, and unfortunately this is spot on. Ours was visibly dirty, and after 2 hours of the kids running around barefoot the bottoms of their feet were black. I called guest relations and the carpet was cleaned the following day. They did a good job, no more dirty feet. I just wish they could have done it before we got there. The balcony was also quite dirty. People obviously put their cigarettes out on the floor and wall and housekeeping did not clean it. It was screened in which I liked. 4 chairs out there & a little table, plus a ceiling fan.
Other than that, the villa was pretty nice. Washer/dryer, full-sized refrigerator, stove/oven, microwave, dishwasher even a garbage disposal which was nice. There was a dining table w/ 6 chairs, and 2 stools at a kitchen counter. The living room had a sofa bed, 2 chairs and a coffee table. There were TVs in the living room & the 2 bedrooms, plus a DVD player in the LR. DVD player kept skipping but when we complained they replaced it within an hour. Free channels included 3 HBOs and Showtime. No movies on demand but there were DVDs available for rent in the Activities Center and there was a very good selection of recent titles.
On to the bedrooms. King size bed in master, plus two full size beds in the 2nd BR. Beds were very hard. The master had a nice big Jacuzzi tub, plus a bathroom with a shower. The 2nd bedrooms bathroom had a shower/tub. The bathrooms each had an area outside the door with an extra sink, counter and mirror space. In the master there was also a stool in this area to sit & do your makeup, etc. Both bedrooms had big double closets with mirror doors. Master closet had a safe for valuables. We were able to fit a playpen into the 2nd bedroom.
As for outside the villa, this resort has some nice features. There are several pools including the Cascades pool which we used. Pool had a large shallow section for the little ones with sprinklers in the middle for the kids to run through. Pool also has a waterfall and a deeper section. There was a surrey bike rental near that pool, which we did not do, but it looked fun. In addition to DVDs, the Activities Center had some toys for kids to play with, and board games and toys to rent for your room. The marketplace has a deli counter and a decent selection of groceries, as well as free internet access, though there are only 2 computers there so you might have to wait a bit. The food court delivers, but is closed at strange times such as 2PM on a Sunday. The restaurant by the Cascades pool was also closed on Saturday night at 7PM which was weird and inconvenient. We got massages by the pool one day which was very nice. You could hear the waterfall and they have a fan blowing on you so it is nice and cool. I highly recommend that. It seemed like there were a lot of fun scheduled activities, although we did not participate as we were doing the Disney parks and then crashing when we got back. I heard karaoke one night at the pool by the Activities Center.
All in all this resort was passable and suited our needs, but I would not stay there again due to the cleanliness issues.
