Orlando Feb 2010

Sheraton Vistana Villages, International Drive
http://www.starwoodhotels.com/sheraton/property/overview/index.html?propertyID=5607

Used a "certificate" instead of exchanging a week. Cost $313 instead of the $149 exchange fee, but get the 1BR instead of 2BR with full kitchen.

only minutes from Walt Disney World with free theme park shuttle service.
http://www.booking.com/hotel/us/sheraton-vistana-villages.en.html
Shuttle available with VERY limited scheduled times. We wouldn't have done this without a rental car.

Warm bubbles surround you and melt away your stress when you take a hot soak in one of our 9 outdoor whirlpool.

For your grocery needs, visit The Marketplace.

Fountains Food Court

Kentucky Fried Chicken, A&W All American Food® and Pizza Hut are located inside the Fountains Recreation Center.

For great food in casual surroundings, dine at the Flamingo Café for breakfast, lunch and dinner or Zimmie's Casual Eatery for a fast meal or just a snack.

Nice jacuzzi in the room too. Some people complained about being pressured into a timeshare presentation but we didn't participate due to the fact that we didn't want to spend the time. It was no problem.

. This resort is located about 10-20 minutes away from DisneyWorld and, while their is a shuttle bus that stops in the main street located in front of the hotel, I would highly recommend a car. While the resort will keep you happy inside, any other activity, restaurant or grocery store is far enough away to prevent you from walking there. Having a car is much, much cheaper than taxis and provides you with complete freedom. I wouldn't do it any other way.

having to visit the resort's lobby for free towels after hours (6pm I think.) All resort towels require you to exchange a pool towel card which they give back to you upon return of the towel. I can understand the policy so it is only a minor inconvenience

wide variety of activities throughout the day, seven days a week. Most of them, if not all, were free to participate

!). The resort is conveniently located--grocery, drugstore, outlet mall, fast food + 10 minutes or less to Seaworld, a waterpark, and Disney

The negatives... same as previously mentioned about the lack of maid service & lack of parking (but if you return late from the parks like we did, what can you expect

If there are negatives, it would be the lack of maid service, and a lack of parking.

pool! We used the hotel shuttle several times and the driver was brilliant-the hotel is at a quieter end of i-drive but the trolley stops right outside and it is walking distance to the local walmart publix which was massive and cheap!!it is also closer to the prime outlets mall

There are many daily activities run by the hotel which sounded great but again we had no time for.I would recommend a car if staying at Sheraton as it is located away from all Bars, restaurants & Parks; this wasn’t a problem for us. We brought an unlimited (14 day) I-Ride trolley for $17 per adult, children under 12 rides free. The trolley stop is right outside the entrance and will take you to Shops/Restaurants/Bars as well as parks like Seaworld, Aquatica, Discovery Cove & Wet ‘n’ Wild (avoid the last one at all costs though).It is a very short drive to both Disney & Universal parks but you will need a car or make alternative transport, Sheraton does provide limited transport daily to the parks

Sheraton timeshare, or "point share" property. You will be invited to a free continental breakfast where you will be pressured to purchase. An hour of your time can easily turn into a lost vacation day if you have a hard time saying "no".

. The shower was probably 6' long by 4' wide, it was a huge steam shower. The pools were both heated and beautiful. You could check out tennis racquets, ping pong equipment, shuffle board, basketballs, etc. and we were fine spending a day or 2 just relaxing at the resort and going putt-putt golfing down the road. Best food on the trip was Bahama Breeze (a chain restaurant) and was great

We have stayed at both of the Sheraton resorts and this one is much newer and nicer. This resort is 5 minutes from Sea World and across the street from a Publix grocery store shopping plaza. It is also minutes from the good Orlando outlet mall and 10 minutes from Disney. Lots of parking right in front of the condo unit.

I believe the whole resort is in the process of being updated and the second weeks unit was modern and everything we were expecting, so hopefully soon all the 70's style will be modernised.

Tip: You can request no solicitation phone calls when you check in. Never received one. We got one call a day about daily activities and I think they call to notify you if the pool is closed or open due to weather. I actually never heard the phone ring. Somebody commented that their cell phones didn't work there. I have Verizon and my partner has AT&T. Neither of us had problems there. Didn't use a computer so I can't comment on the Wi-Fi.

We lucked out with a new building. #23-506. Ask for a new building. Ours was beautiful. Granite cabinets, large island with sink, nice, huge garden shower. The place was beautiful!! It was great. They also included housekeeping for free!! Yes, Free!! This was great after a full day at Disney!

drills. The internet worked very sporadically and slowly the entire week. No one could figure out why, and every time we called about it, they connected us with India.

Beware if you are staying less than a week--you will not get any clean up service and you will be charged to have towels, detergents, etc. given to you

was! It's not far from the parks and there is transportation to them from the hotel. We preferred to rent a car.

and they said that they had me staying in the newest section"Augustine", but if I preferred Amelia they would see about changing it. I decided to take the Augustine, since I hadn't seen pictures of it but it was the newest, I figured it had to be good. So we found the section easily -building 24. It was absolutely beautiful

We did not participate in any sales meetings, passing on the 'gift' we were told to pick up and unplugging 'both' phones the minute we walked in the door. We were never bothered by anyone. We also were lucky enough to have daily housekeeping with our package.

Because I am part of Interval International Timeshares, I have been lucky enough to stay at a few different Orlando resorts during my time there. I have previously been to Marriott's Grande Vista, Marriott's Cypress Harbour, and finally, Sheraton Vistana Villages. Not to be confused with Sheraton Vistana Resort, SVV was a beautiful resort with lush surroundings and beautiful scenery. It is very important to request to be in an Amelia or Keys villa, because those are the two newest models, complete with granite countertops, flat screen televisions, and newly renovated rooms. Also, in the Keys section, which I was fortunate enough to stay in, there is a separate pool. This is very important because the main pool gets very crowded with people, and the Keys section also has its own clubhouse

The tranquil setting of the master bedroom wasn't so tranquil once darkness came. You could hear a very loud sound that went throughout the night, EVERY NIGHT, we believe it came from some sort of duck or other animal that lived in the pond. Since the pond is surrounded by hotel units the sound from the pond is magnified. Along with the animal sound that started every evening like clock work, there was sounds from guests who were outside on their screened in balconies. Once again with the design of the hotel units encircling the pond there was no where for the sound to go and it was very, Very loud with partying people along with the pond animal life going each night until the wee hours of the morning

. we decided not to rent a car this holiday and the staff would order you a taxi and it would get there straight away to pick you up. we had the orlando flex ticket and went to most of the attractions by the i-ride bus service which picks up at bus stops along international drive, it cost around 10 dollars each for a pass for a week and we got on and off the bus when and where we wanted. the drivers were helpful with any questions you had. there was a supermarket 5 minutes away on the i-ride and a shopping centre. the attractions and good restaurants are close by and takes around 15mins to get to. taxis are cheap but the i ride does most of it all for you
place

...but avoid being enticed into a timeshare preview! We were told it was to last 90 minutes...well for us to get the discounted tickets and $75 it lasted 3 hours. It took a half day of vacation

The not-so-good: We were definitely stuck in an old part of the resort with rooms that needed some updating. Since we were there on a special package, I expected to *not* get the best

, she asked why we did not call to be moved and we told her that we would find any room there smelly and she told us that they had new non-smoking rooms in the newer buildings. She told us that they were only smoking rooms on the resort, so make sure you ask for the newer building. It was a beautiful resort, but far from Disney (because of the thousands of hotels and traffic). They did have shuttle service, but it was not free. There is a bus service along international drive that is well worth taking if you don't want to drive everywhere. Cheaper too! Free parking

in bldg 30 (newer ones) 5th floor- i asked at checkin what she'd recommend cause theres lots to pick from. Only noise was from some wierd bugs/frogs at night from the pond. Never noticed any thin walls and I had neighbours on both sides.I did unplug my room phone, and I didnt take the bait to get the BSwelcome package (granola bar and some maps). The main pool was enormous and beautiful - didnt get to see smaller one in Key west. Never ate there, ate out casue theres lots of palces nearby and publix down street to buy groceries for breakfast.I may end up doing the presentation next time to get one of those sweet $400 deals for 4-5 nights plus disney tix, nahhh, they compensate me more than that.I was told by a buddy to do the presentation and let the guy know that you dont have cash and throw in you have dependants who are sick and need medical care and they will back off quickly - any idea you give them that you are interested and have cash will result in a 3-4 hr con job, not 90mins. Why would anyone want to pay 10-25 grand when you can book with expedia for a proce just higher than the timeshare maintenance fees? I see u can actually buy resale timeshares at this resoprt for 10-12 grand.

. Two things to know if you stay here and are NOT interested in purchasing a timeshare:

- After checking in, don't go to the "concierge" counter for your "complimentary welcome package." All it is is a couple of shampoo samples and a granola bar in a plastic bag. What they are really going to do is spend 20 minutes telling you what fabulous deals you can get on the parks and dinner if you only attend the complimentary"welcome breakfast" at 8:00 the next morning.

- When you get into your unit, the first thing you should remember to do is unplug all of the phones (all bedrooms and the living room) and TURN OFF YOUR ALARM CLOCK. They're pretty sneaky. They set the alarm for 7:30 a.m., and as if that's not enough, they give you a wake up call at 7:45. I had read about this on a different review, so I remembered to unplug the bedroom phones when I got there. I forgot about the alarm clock and was rudely awakened by it after getting in fairly late the night before. Then, as I was dozing back off again, the living room phone rang. Nice.

-Older buildings like Key West are of better construction
- The building you stay in can effect your stay
- Bad internet service

ut after the lame offers (free breakfast and a single Disney park ticket reduced to $20) and the harassing phone calls we were embarrassed by the treatment and they had second thoughts about a Starwood timeshare.