The Sheraton Vistana Resort Thread (key links on p.1)

[Tricia's mom]

OMG !!!! Omg !!!
I am even more excited !!!!
Best news today !!
I love you !!!

 

[Tricia's mom]

I've figured out how to use YouTube on my smart Tv .... I get to watch Stacy anytime... Lol
My daughter loves it...it has her in the mood for going to WDW... Little does she know that she'll be going in 36 days !!

 

[Mrs~Incredible]

Hi Vistana experts! We stayed in the Falls May 2015 and it was awesome, thinking of staying in the fountains section this fall. How easy is it to walk from the north side to the south side? How long should it take? I will have a 5 year old with me.

Does anyone know if the Falls water slide has been repaired? It was out of service last time, would love to try it out even if we are in the other side.

Thanks!
Getting excited and it's 6 whole months away!

 

[bankr63]

Hi Vistana experts! We stayed in the Falls May 2015 and it was awesome, thinking of staying in the fountains section this fall. How easy is it to walk from the north side to the south side? How long should it take? I will have a 5 year old with me.

Does anyone know if the Falls water slide has been repaired? It was out of service last time, would love to try it out even if we are in the other side.

Thanks!
Getting excited and it's 6 whole months away!

The slide is refurbished and back in service. It isn't a really long slide, so it is great for the younger kids, although they should have some basic swimming skills for the landing. Although there were always a couple of parents helicoptering around the landing area.

The walk time would depend on where you are on the North side, and where you are going on the South side. The distance from gate to gate is about one (short) block. Maybe another 3 blocks to the Falls pool. As an adult, I can walk diagonally across the full resort in about 15 minutes. With a 5YO in tow, that would be greatly increased. However, you are in Orlando. Compared to walking at any of the parks, everything at Vistana is the equivalent of next door.

 

[Mrs~Incredible]

The slide is refurbished and back in service. It isn't a really long slide, so it is great for the younger kids, although they should have some basic swimming skills for the landing. Although there were always a couple of parents helicoptering around the landing area.

The walk time would depend on where you are on the North side, and where you are going on the South side. The distance from gate to gate is about one (short) block. Maybe another 3 blocks to the Falls pool. As an adult, I can walk diagonally across the full resort in about 15 minutes. With a 5YO in tow, that would be greatly increased. However, you are in Orlando. Compared to walking at any of the parks, everything at Vistana is the equivalent of next door.

Thank you so much, that is really helpful Intel!

 

[luvdisney14]

Which cascade buildings have been newly refurbished?

 

[bankr63]

The entire resort (all buildings) had a full refurbishment over a 3 year period ending in 2013. Some buildings are already starting to get refreshes on "soft surfaces". Cascades were done all in the same period, so all are the same vintage.

I also noticed that some of the lighting in our unit was converted over to LED over the past year. I much prefer these to the CFL lights used elsewhere in the units.

 

[mom2rose&john]

We loved the Vistana!! We were there from March 20-27 in Fountains rm 1384. It was on the third floor and had a skylight and was nicely decorated with two bedrooms and baths. We used the laundry a lot. On Wednesday they actually tidied the villa which we were not expecting. Gave us more towels, beauty items, started the dishwasher and stocked the paper supplies. The pool was very nice but we used it only once. The only negative was the master bed squeaked bad and some kitchen items were not cleaned properly. It didn't ruin our experience. The location is fabulous. We were never involved in the traffic in I-4 (I believe) when leaving the parks. The exit from WDW to the resort was never backed up. The worst traffic we experience was coming back from the Outlets. The lights just aren't long enough and creates a back up no matter what. It only lasted at most 15-20 minutes. Everything was within a five minute drive for us.

We would stay here again. Thanks all!!

 

[Tricia's mom]

22 more days for me !!! I just to excited ! My soon to be 9 year old still doesn't know yet .
April is a crazy months for us before we leave. I just can't handle the excitement !
I'll actually start packing on Friday when she's in school !

 

[mom2rose&john]

22 more days for me !!! I just to excited ! My soon to be 9 year old still doesn't know yet .
April is a crazy months for us before we leave. I just can't handle the excitement !
I'll actually start packing on Friday when she's in school !

She will be beyond excited!!! When are you going to tell her?

 

[Tricia's mom]

I wasn't going to tell her.... I was just gonna take her to the airport after dinner....we live. Lose and there's a good place to eat near the airport....

Or I thought about telling her tomorrow on April fools day - and then just say that we are kidding. This will be her 12th or 14th trip. Her birthday is Tuesday - I am NOT giving it to her as a gift .

 

[lonewolfinmn]

We want to use Sky Auction for an August visit. We're arriving on Monday and checking out on Saturday. We'll use only 5 of the 7 nights. The Sky Auction one-week rate is still cheaper than other 5-night rates.

If I bid for a Sunday-Sunday week from Sky Auction, I don't think Vistana Resort will object to our 1 day early checkout. Does anyone know if Vistana would still honor/hold our reservation for a 1-day late arrival? Has anyone ever done this? Thanks for your help.

 

[bankr63]

We want to use Sky Auction for an August visit. We're arriving on Monday and checking out on Saturday. We'll use only 5 of the 7 nights. The Sky Auction one-week rate is still cheaper than other 5-night rates.

If I bid for a Sunday-Sunday week from Sky Auction, I don't think Vistana Resort will object to our 1 day early checkout. Does anyone know if Vistana would still honor/hold our reservation for a 1-day late arrival? Has anyone ever done this? Thanks for your help.

Sure they will, but it is always best to let them know. We planned that exact scenario this past trip, although we were barely late after deciding to push through on Saturday. We arrived at about 10 past midnight on Sunday morning. Just let them know that you will be a late (next day) check-in. We also departed a day early so we could spend a full day at St Augustine on the way home. You don't need to let them know about early departures. You can use the Diamond Lane request form (link on page 1) to let them know of your plans.

 

[Gina-Gina-Bo-Bina]

We arrive exactly 3 weeks from today....starting to get excited! I can't wait to submit my Diamond Lane requests next weekend.

@Tricia's mom , I hope we will get a chance to meet up and say hello while we are both there. It would be great to have the opportunity to meet another Diser!

 

[KaptainK]

Wow, just finished reading all the posts (took me a few days!). I'm thinking of booking 2 nights (Wed-Fri) in early May. MouseSavers has a good deal right now booking through the resort website as a hotel stay. A couple of questions...
1. MouseSavers says you can trade daily housekeeping (included when booking as a hotel) for free breakfast for 2 adults. Does anyone know what this breakfast included? I think it's at Zimmies.

2. Our kids are 1 and 4 so I'd like to be near the Cascades pool but also Zimmies since I'm assuming that's where we would get the free breakfast. I also want a unit that's as quiet as possible as the kids go to bed by 8. We are booking a 2 bedroom. Is there even an area that would meet these requests?

We have annual passes to Disney and live a couple hours away so each time we go, we've been trying out a bunch of different condos/hotels to see which ones we like the best!

 

[bankr63]

Yes, the breakfast is at Zimmies, but I don't actually know what is on the menu. We are generally so "on the go" in Orlando that stopping for a sit down breakfast just doesn't play into our plans.

Actually, since you are checking out Friday, there is a pretty good chance that Vistana might grant a Diamond Lane request for the Spas section (entire section turns over on Friday). That is where I would want to stay based on your description. That section is nestled behind Zimmies and Cascades Pool, so has relatively easy access to both, and is one of the quieter sections except the couple of buildings that face onto the Super Pool. However, hotel type stays are a bit different, I'm not certain how easy it is to grant. Cascades would be my second choice; a bit busier but close to most amenities and there are probably more "developer owned" units in the Cascades buildings.

 

[megs1313]

We're checking in on Friday and have a 2 bedroom. Does anyone know what section that means we'll be in? I'm trying to figure out if there's any reason to make a request of any kind. Quiet is most important to me.

 

[tots05]

okay, never planned on going back this soon but here we are lol... Was able to reserve a 2 bedroom villa sleeps 8 Sunday checkin in July. Not sure yet if I'm excited or not lol... We have been to Sheraton Vistana 2x already, once in Cascades and last year on Lakes. We loved our Lakes location, we were given a beautiful villa close to 2 pools. Forgot the building number but really wonderful but I could be mistaken in thinking, are the Lakes villas a little bit smaller than the Cascades ones?

Anyway, this time around we are having our in laws with us plus 2 kids so if Im right that the cascades villas are bigger, we might want to stay there. This time around, we are not going to the parks either (which is what we did on our first 2 stays). We would mostly be exploring this resort and enjoy what it has to offer. Would anyone suggest things that we can do? Any help will be truly appreciated.

Also, our reservation says 2 bedroom 2 bath sleeps 6 maximum 8 villa. Is there a way to get a lock off unit if we asks for it or is this a special reservation somewhere? The reason we asks is that in laws wants a couple of grandkids to tag along so we might need the room for more just in case... We booked through interval international if this is of any help. Again, thank you for all the advice.

Our first 2 vacations there have been a blast. Too fun that we wanted family to see it and enjoy it with us. We hope they find it as great as we do.

 

[Gina-Gina-Bo-Bina]

okay, never planned on going back this soon but here we are lol... Was able to reserve a 2 bedroom villa sleeps 8 Sunday checkin in July. Not sure yet if I'm excited or not lol... We have been to Sheraton Vistana 2x already, once in Cascades and last year on Lakes. We loved our Lakes location, we were given a beautiful villa close to 2 pools. Forgot the building number but really wonderful but I could be mistaken in thinking, are the Lakes villas a little bit smaller than the Cascades ones?

Anyway, this time around we are having our in laws with us plus 2 kids so if Im right that the cascades villas are bigger, we might want to stay there. This time around, we are not going to the parks either (which is what we did on our first 2 stays). We would mostly be exploring this resort and enjoy what it has to offer. Would anyone suggest things that we can do? Any help will be truly appreciated.

Also, our reservation says 2 bedroom 2 bath sleeps 6 maximum 8 villa. Is there a way to get a lock off unit if we asks for it or is this a special reservation somewhere? The reason we asks is that in laws wants a couple of grandkids to tag along so we might need the room for more just in case... We booked through interval international if this is of any help. Again, thank you for all the advice.

Our first 2 vacations there have been a blast. Too fun that we wanted family to see it and enjoy it with us. We hope they find it as great as we do.

Hi tots05,

The standard Lakes 2 bedroom villas are actually larger than the standard 2 bedroom villas in Cascades, by about 200 square feet. You can check out the layouts of each one at this link:

https://www.starwoodvacationnetwork...a-resort/villas/100#two-bedroom-villacascades

You could ask about the availability of lock-off villa, but I would suspect the likelihood is going to be remote. Your travel date in July puts you at the resort a busy time of year. Send in your Diamond Lane request, though, and see what happens. It never hurts to ask!

 

[bankr63]

We're checking in on Friday and have a 2 bedroom. Does anyone know what section that means we'll be in? I'm trying to figure out if there's any reason to make a request of any kind. Quiet is most important to me.

Only thing we can do is rule out Courts or Falls. All other sections have 2BR villas with Friday check in. If solitude is your thing, put in a DL request for just that; a unit away from busy areas and noise. That generally leaves you with a short walk to amenities (after all, that's where most of the noise comes from), but most people find the resort compact enough to get around.