KNWVIKING 2.0
03-23-2008, 07:42 PM
Last year we bought a Sheraton timeshare ( even year 2 bdrm at their PGA resort in Port St Lucie ). We used it last week, but stayed at the Vistana resort across from DTD. We were in the newest section, Cascades, stayed in a one bdrm. Two complaints: toaster didn\'t want to \"pop\" all the way up, would burn toast and the toilet wanted to \"run on\" after a flush, like the tank was leaking down. Both very minor, assume no one bothered to call maintenance. We did, but on check out day. Also a little odd that our housekeeping day was Tuesday - we checked in on Saturday. The room itself was beautifull, cleaned to our satisfaction.
The resort itself is VERY large. Don\'t know all the history of the resort, but it is obvious that it was built in many phases, by different owners, first phase probably more than 20 yrs ago. Resort has all the ammenities one would expect from a world class organization such as Starwood. Honestly, IMO, their resorts are considerably better than Disney\'s, mostly because they have to be in order to compete. Example: They\'ve had free, resort-wide, wireless internet for a few years now. I got the impression that, too many families, the resort experience is the bulk of their vacation.
As for our vacation: When I booked this week about 8 months ago I had NO idea that Easter was on the 23rd. Easter never made any sense to me ( not the Resurrection ) on how the date is picked. Something to do with the Jewish calander, the phases of the moon and a groundhog named Vern in Jerusalem. Sidenote: Apparently, March 23rd is the absolute earliest day for Easter. No one in our lifetime has seen it on the 23rd and no one in our lifetime will ever see it again.
Needless to say, crowds were an issue. I don\'t like Halloweiners in my naborhood, much less springbreakers in my parks. Maybe next year I\'ll call the Pope before booking a spring trip. We spent about 3 hrs total in MK, only stayed in MGM long enough for lunch at ABC, the Booty and Da Beast show and the new Dance-Till-You-Have-a-Stroke Parade. We did have a good EPCOT day on Friday, did pretty much everything but Soarin\' ( needed a FastPass just for the FastPass distribution area). Thursday was a good AK day, did everything but E:E
We spent a day at SW\'s new waterpark - Aquatica. Nice park, not really competition for TL or BB but it will make W-n-W work a little harder. One neat feature at the park is a daily meal plan. They have a BBQ pavillion, ( The Banana Beach Cook-out ) that serves hamburgers, hotdogs,bbq chicken drumsticks, various salads,Corn-on-the-cob, watermellon,cantalope,honeydew, puddings, etc, Pepsi cold drinks and coffee. You buy a wrist band and eat all you want as often as you want. With our SW AP discount the price with tax was $38.00 total for both of us. BBQ was open from 11 - 7:00 pm. Needless to say, I got my moneys worth. And Millie\'s. You can\'t take food out of the area, but you can take beverages. They also have other CS locations that you pay as you go with, similar to TL and BB.
Spent a couple days at SW, one of our favorite parks.
In our latest DVC mag was an article on The Nature Conservancy. We drove there and did the 2.5 mile trail. Not much wildlife was disturbed, but it was well worth the drive and $6.00 admission. If you get a chance, try it.
All-in-all a very nice trip dispite the crowds.
The resort itself is VERY large. Don\'t know all the history of the resort, but it is obvious that it was built in many phases, by different owners, first phase probably more than 20 yrs ago. Resort has all the ammenities one would expect from a world class organization such as Starwood. Honestly, IMO, their resorts are considerably better than Disney\'s, mostly because they have to be in order to compete. Example: They\'ve had free, resort-wide, wireless internet for a few years now. I got the impression that, too many families, the resort experience is the bulk of their vacation.
As for our vacation: When I booked this week about 8 months ago I had NO idea that Easter was on the 23rd. Easter never made any sense to me ( not the Resurrection ) on how the date is picked. Something to do with the Jewish calander, the phases of the moon and a groundhog named Vern in Jerusalem. Sidenote: Apparently, March 23rd is the absolute earliest day for Easter. No one in our lifetime has seen it on the 23rd and no one in our lifetime will ever see it again.
Needless to say, crowds were an issue. I don\'t like Halloweiners in my naborhood, much less springbreakers in my parks. Maybe next year I\'ll call the Pope before booking a spring trip. We spent about 3 hrs total in MK, only stayed in MGM long enough for lunch at ABC, the Booty and Da Beast show and the new Dance-Till-You-Have-a-Stroke Parade. We did have a good EPCOT day on Friday, did pretty much everything but Soarin\' ( needed a FastPass just for the FastPass distribution area). Thursday was a good AK day, did everything but E:E
We spent a day at SW\'s new waterpark - Aquatica. Nice park, not really competition for TL or BB but it will make W-n-W work a little harder. One neat feature at the park is a daily meal plan. They have a BBQ pavillion, ( The Banana Beach Cook-out ) that serves hamburgers, hotdogs,bbq chicken drumsticks, various salads,Corn-on-the-cob, watermellon,cantalope,honeydew, puddings, etc, Pepsi cold drinks and coffee. You buy a wrist band and eat all you want as often as you want. With our SW AP discount the price with tax was $38.00 total for both of us. BBQ was open from 11 - 7:00 pm. Needless to say, I got my moneys worth. And Millie\'s. You can\'t take food out of the area, but you can take beverages. They also have other CS locations that you pay as you go with, similar to TL and BB.
Spent a couple days at SW, one of our favorite parks.
In our latest DVC mag was an article on The Nature Conservancy. We drove there and did the 2.5 mile trail. Not much wildlife was disturbed, but it was well worth the drive and $6.00 admission. If you get a chance, try it.
All-in-all a very nice trip dispite the crowds.