Williamsburg TS recommendations

I'm planning a winter exchange into a 2 Bdr into Williamsburg, and would like recommendations and pros/cons for the various timeshares.

What's important to us is cleanliness, comfort, a nice indoor pool, and good kitchen facilities.

We've been there many times and have stayed at the Plantation (both older and newer units - pros and cons to each), Marriott Fords Colony + Sequel, and Governor's Green.

The Marriott was the nicest, though like the other two the indoor pool was grubby (is that a Virginia thing?).

Re the Plantation, which is the newer part - WPN or WLM? I know a few years ago the Plantation was redoing the indoor pool - is it done? How is it different than before? As I recall the kitchens in the upstairs units were small, and the bigger ones were downstairs. If downstairs, will we hear people walking upstairs?

What about King's Creek Plantation? The Townes at King's Creek Plantation? (I assume these are two sections of the same resort?)

How about Westgate Historic Williamsburg?

Any others that are nice?

greensprings very nice indoor pool/spa area

we went in winter an dit was great! Gov. Green was decent---but Greensprings was WAAAAY better.

pjrose said:

I'm planning a winter exchange into a 2 Bdr into Williamsburg, and would like recommendations and pros/cons for the various timeshares.

What's important to us is cleanliness, comfort, a nice indoor pool, and good kitchen facilities.
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What about King's Creek Plantation? The Townes at King's Creek Plantation? (I assume these are two sections of the same resort?)

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The first phase of Kings Creek are all 3 bedroom lockoffs. The 2 bedroom side is HUGE!! Full kitchen, big screen TV two big bedrooms /baths and a1/2 bathroom downstairs. Great indoor pool complex. (stay away from the 1 bd side, way too small)

The Towns at KCP are the second phase and I've never seen the rooms.

The Townes at KCP are also very nice. The sunroom can easily serve as a third br. My preference is the cottages, very large and more quiet. The 1br cottage is only suitable for 2 people.

Thanks for the replies so far. How are the indoor pools at each place? size? temperature? cleanliness?

The Townes at King's Creek are huge, too. The newest section there is the Estates, which also look huge from the floor plans I've seen. I think all the Townes and all the Estates are 2br or 4br, no 1brs.

I haven't seen it in a couple of years, but the indoor pool at King's Creek is really nice. It has two sides that connect. One side is a deeper pool for swimming laps, very large, and the other side is zero-entry at one end and gradually gets deeper at the other end, where it connects to the big pool. So there's a nice area for younger children at the zero-entry side, where they can play in just a couple of inches of water.

The locker rooms were nice and clean when we were there, too. And the water must have been warm or my kids would have complained.

I personally love Kingsgate, there indoor pool is great, and they have 2 arcades that are free play all day for the kids. My kids never want to leave to do the parks?!

The best indoor pool is at King Creek.

I agree with Pedro47. Kings Creek's indoor "aquatic center" is very nice. By far the best of all of the timeshares in Williamsburg.

Nicest units are Manor Club.

For a winter stay I'd take Manor Club hands down because of the gas fireplaces, spa, and access to Ford's Colony.

Second choice would be a toss up depending on whether it was important to be nearer to Colonial Williamsburg, shopping, etc.

P.S. there is a nice new shopping center right next to Kings Creek.

Big Matt said:

P.S. there is a nice new shopping center right next to Kings Creek.

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Please tell me that it has someplace to buy groceries!

The one thing about Kings Creek we didn't like was that the nearest grocery store was so far away.

Kings Creek - which section?

Well, it sounds like Kings Creek is probably our best choice given the indoor pool complex. We'll need two bedrooms for 2 parents + 2 teens. What are the pros and cons for the different sections - Townes, Estates, etc? Is there adequate parking by the indoor pool, or should we try for whichever section is a closer walk? Is any part better or worse in terms of comfort, kitchen, and so forth?

Thanks for the ongoing help

The 2br Townes are HUGE and there's a fairly private area, intended for TV watching, where the couch is a pullout. If your teens don't want to sleep in the same room, that might be a choice for you. Now if you could get a 3br cottage, that would be GREAT b/c you could put the teens in the 1br side and they would have their own separate apartment, and you would have the nice big 2br side all to yourselves!

None of these floorplans are great, but maybe you can read them better than me.

Here are floorplans for the Townes

http://www.kingscreekplantation.com/kcp/townes.cfm

And the Cottages

http://www.kingscreekplantation.com/kcp/cottages.cfm

They don't seem to have floor plans for the Estates up yet, but I think they are at least as big as the Townes.

Here's an overall map of the property. The pinkish things are the Cottages and the yellowish things are the Townes. The indoor pool is in the Aquatic Center. The distances aren't vast, I don't think--should be walkable. You could call KCP and ask your questions, they're usually quite helpful there. Good luck!

No separate apartments for my teens!

Thanks so much for the info!

I'm not so sure this would be a good thing though -

wackymother said:

Now if you could get a 3br cottage, that would be GREAT b/c you could put the teens in the 1br side and they would have their own separate apartment, and you would have the nice big 2br side all to yourselves!

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I'd just as soon keep more of an eye on them! Yes, my daughter does sometimes call me "overprotective," but I just smile and say "thank you!" There are just too many "hot guys" around for my comfort.

pjrose said:

Thanks so much for the info!

I'm not so sure this would be a good thing though -

I'd just as soon keep more of an eye on them! Yes, my daughter does sometimes call me "overprotective," but I just smile and say "thank you!" There are just too many "hot guys" around for my comfort.

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Relax, there's a connecting door (the Cottages are lock-outs) and you're all in the same little building. You can just sit on the front porch with a shotgun and a mean look in your eye.

lprstn said:

I personally love Kingsgate, there indoor pool is great, and they have 2 arcades that are free play all day for the kids. My kids never want to leave to do the parks?!

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Unfortunately, it's not really free. It's covered by the mandatory $5.00/day/unit activity fee. So let your kids play all they want. You'll be recovering the money that way. We're going in june and it'll be wasted money in our case.

wackymother said:

Relax, there's a connecting door (the Cottages are lock-outs) and you're all in the same little building. You can just sit on the front porch with a shotgun and a mean look in your eye.

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OK, and I'll have DH cover the windows in the back. I'm better for the front porch, as I definitely have a meaner look than he does (he's a "hot guy" IMHO, and not good at "THE LOOK"!)

The Cottages would probably be the closest to the indoor pool, though the Townes wouldn't be a bad walk. I believe the Estates would be farthest away. I've found the Townes to be sometimes too busy...although going in Winter that shouldn't be a problem. I laughed when I read about "keeping an eye" on the kids when in the Cottages. One concern we had was being so far away from the kids br that we wouldn't be able to hear them if they needed us....the Cottages truly are HUGE. I don't think you can go wrong in any section, KCP is really a great choice.

coachb said:

The Cottages would probably be the closest to the indoor pool, though the Townes wouldn't be a bad walk. I believe the Estates would be farthest away. I've found the Townes to be sometimes too busy...although going in Winter that shouldn't be a problem. I laughed when I read about "keeping an eye" on the kids when in the Cottages. One concern we had was being so far away from the kids br that we wouldn't be able to hear them if they needed us....the Cottages truly are HUGE. I don't think you can go wrong in any section, KCP is really a great choice.

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Thank you! KCP sounds great - I'll start looking for an exchange!