• Welcome to the FREE TUGBBS forums! The absolute best place for owners to get help and advice about their timeshares for more than 32 years!

    Join Tens of Thousands of other owners just like you here to get any and all Timeshare questions answered 24 hours a day!
  • TUG started 32 years ago in October 1993 as a group of regular Timeshare owners just like you!

    Read about our 32nd anniversary: Happy 32nd Birthday TUG!
  • TUG has a YouTube Channel to produce weekly short informative videos on popular Timeshare topics!

    All subscribers auto-entered to win all free TUG membership giveaways!

    Visit TUG on Youtube!
  • TUG has now saved timeshare owners more than $24,000,000 dollars just by finding us in time to rescind a new Timeshare purchase! A truly incredible milestone!

    Read more here: TUG saves owners more than $24 Million dollars
  • Wish you could meet up with other TUG members? Well look no further as this annual event has been going on for years in Orlando! How to Attend the TUG January Get-Together!
  • Now through the end of the year you can join or renew your TUG membership at the lowest price ever offered! Learn More!
  • Sign up to get the TUG Newsletter for free!

    Tens of thousands of subscribing owners! A weekly recap of the best Timeshare resort reviews and the most popular topics discussed by owners!
  • Our official "end my sales presentation early" T-shirts are available again! Also come with the option for a free membership extension with purchase to offset the cost!

    All T-shirt options here!
  • A few of the most common links here on the forums for newbies and guests!

Arrival at HGVC Orlando I-Drive

PortableTech

PortableTech

TUG Member
Joined
Jun 6, 2005
Messages
123
Reaction score
2
Location
West Melbourne, FL
Well, we have arrived for our 6 Day / 5 Night vacation here at I-Drive. Building 1 / Floor 6 / Pool View in a 1 BR. I have to say we are loving it so far.

A few things of surprise, first, after reviewing the documentation they gave us at check-in (which was very personal and professional) the cleaning service is really top notch every day, cleans almost everything, will even get your dishes in the dish washer for you.. I thought it was only done once a week or so.

Next, this is our 5 year wedding anniversary, and a few hours after arriving here, Hilton had a cheese tray and crackers and a bottle of wine, with a nice personal card signed by what I assume is several of the staff (5 signatures). I have to say I am quite impressed. It has rained all the way here, and is just now finally letting up, but that is fine as we need rain so very badly these days here in Florida.

The view is great, the tub is large, and the kitchen is very well stocked. The wireless internet seems to be acting up and keeps jumping from low to high signal, but I am plugged into an Ethernet cable at the moment and that works fine. Kinda wish I had brought my spare router from home, could just plug it right in here in my room. I will try to get some pictures and post later on, but thought I would comment as things go on to help others. We will be here until Sunday.

Doug
 
Last edited:
Doug said:
A few things of surprise, first, after reviewing the documentation they gave us at check-in (which was very personal and professional) the cleaning service is really top notch every day, cleans almost everything, will even get your dishes in the dish washer for you.. I thought it was only done once a week or so.
Click to expand...
I have occasionally gotten daily housekeeping service at this property as well. Because of the randomness of it, I tend to believe that when I get it, it's just a mistake. One time, we had it for the first three days and then it stopped! I think they realized the mistake. lol

I actually don't mind not having people come in the unit everyday. I like it when no touches my stuff. It's one of the things about TS-ing that I don't mind at all (compared to regular hotel stays).
 
After taking a closer look at this card, I believe this is tied to the fact that we are here on an Owner's Update, and as such are taking the 60 minute update tour of the new Orlando resort on Saturday.

All this information is printed on a blue card that is titled:

To our Valued Marketing Guest.
Important Information About Your Grand Vacation

Under the section titled

Housekeeping Services

It states:

You will be provided a daily cleaning during your stay to include the following services.

1. Making the bed and replacing the linens as needed.
2. Remove trash and replace plastic liners.
3. Remove towels as needed following our conservation program.
4. Clean the sink, shower, and bathtub and replace toiletries.
5. Put items in dishwasher and start the cycle.
6. Vacuum and mop the floors in the villa.

Servicing the rooms are from 9am - 6pm. Your service time may vary. If you need any additional items for your villa, please dial "0"
 
Doug said:
I believe this is tied to the fact that we are here on an Owner's Update, and as such are taking the 60 minute update tour of the new Orlando resort on Saturday....
Click to expand...

Ahh! They're on their best behavior for you.
You could get lucky, but don't count on your "tour" lasting only 60-minutes, and don't count on it being a tour as much as a hard-sell -- you simply have to have more points. At some point, they will let you go.
 
Last edited:
Well considering that my first 4800 point package was resale as well, the change stating that no resale (even those form prior Authorized HGVC Resellers), can count towards Elite status like they used to, that sure take away one of their large beneficial points.

It is hard to complain about taking the tour, the wife wanted to see the new resort anyways, and we got 6 Days/5 Nights + 2 Universal Tickets (1 Day / 1 Park) all for $199.

Good price to not have had to use my points.

On another point, the wireless issue has been resolved, I just ran over to Wal-Mart and picked up a wireless router and plugged it into the in room ethernet. Now we hae 5 bars for both my wife and I.

Will continue to check in as we go.

Doug
 
Doug said:
On another point, the wireless issue has been resolved, I just ran over to Wal-Mart and picked up a wireless router and plugged it into the in room ethernet. Now we hae 5 bars for both my wife and I.
Doug
Click to expand...

Doug, I'm across the lake from you! We are in building 6, top floor. I was looking around and I actually have a wireless router in my room. It's above the TV and connected to the ethernet so my wireless signal is very strong. I'm surprised you were having troubles over there. Maybe there is not one in your room?

We've been here 10 days, leaving tomorrow. It's only rained once since our arrival and that was yesterday. Only problem we have had here was parking. When getting back to the resort after 9-10pm there was no parking at any of the out buildings! I mean zip, nothing. You had to go park near the front desk office and either a long walk back to your building or wait for an employee giving shuttle cart rides.

Poor design when you can't park anywhere near your building. The crowd seemed to ease a bit yesterday and we found spots way in back around 11pm. Still had a long walk to bldg 6.

Enjoy your stay!
 
JonathanIT said:
This is a great idea! Something else to stash in my Owner's Locker. I hope it will fit! lol
Click to expand...
Just a heads up. Make sure you install security on your personal wireless router and your laptops. When you first sign on, you agree to a bunch of things with Hilton to connect. The last thing you need is any neighbor within 700 feet downloading a bunch of illegal porn through YOUR router (making it look like you did it) and having the FBI show up at your door.
 
jestme said:
The last thing you need is any neighbor within 700 feet downloading a bunch of illegal porn through YOUR router (making it look like you did it) and having the FBI show up at your door.
Click to expand...

Personal experience? :p
 
Talent312 said:
Personal experience? :p
Click to expand...

Not my experience. But, as an IT guy, with a lot of IT network security background, I do know the potential. It could just be the "PC smart" kid of one of your neighbors, or someone much more serious, but it is your IP address that is being tracked, and you are responsible for it.
I'd recommend the security. It's free, comes built in to the router, your PC, and most routers have good instructions on how to set it up. It could save you a ton of embarrassment or potential legal headaches.
 
I was there in March and one of the recreation people said that there are a lot of Disney international interns saying over at those apartments/condos that back up to Buildings 1-3 and they use the HGVC wi-fi all the time. When I was there, a lot of people were complaining about not being able to get on the wi-fi and that was why. So be careful!!!
 
Nope, no router here at all, and while I can see the hgvc AP, I have zero bars to it. But my in-room one works just fine. And yes, it is WPA2 secured with a very good key. I am a Geek by trade as well.

As for the internet overall, it is a bit slow, good for web and email, but not much else. Only see about 300k downstream at any given time. Had an issue today where I could not obtain a DHCP assignment to my router or ethernet directly, but a quick call to their tech group not only got this resolved, but they manually extended my lease for the full term of my stay to help prevent any other issues.

Never had any issues with parking over here, always one in front my building, but I sure wish people could park straight, many are very lopsided in their slots.
 
Out of curiosity, how did you get the package. My wife was going through and mentioned she wanted to do something similar. I haven't really done anything like that, just said no to the past few owner updates as they were 2 hours for 50 dining credit, which wasnt worth the time.

Thanks for any info you can provide

Nathan
 
Well, the based package was 4 Days/3 Nights + 2 theme park tickets for $199. When we booked they were offering an additional night free. So that got us to 5 Days/4 Nights. A month or so later we decided we wanted to go a day earlier, so we called them and they just added it to the package for us.

The feeling I got from them was that as we were already owners they were willing to make things work for us a little more.

Doug
 
Ok, just a few thoughts of this resort so far, feel free to chime in if you agree/disagree.

1. Is it just me, or are the beds a bit short? I am not exactly tall, 5'10.5" but I keep finding that my feet hang off the end of the bed. The bed is also a bit firm for me, but i believe that is a personal preference more than anything.

2. Large Jacuzzi Tub - What is there to say, I love it.

3. Kitchen, well designed, well stocked, but how about some baking sheets. Seems to be the one missing things that stands out.

That is all for now, off to Wonderworks and then to Star Trek on the IMAX.

Doug
 
Doug said:
Ok, just a few thoughts of this resort so far, feel free to chime in if you agree/disagree.



3. Kitchen, well designed, well stocked, but how about some baking sheets. Seems to be the one missing things that stands out.


Doug
Click to expand...

Call housekeeping or the front desk. We wanted to make pop'n fresh biscuits and they provided us with a pizza round baking thing. Worked just fine.
 
UWSurfer said:
Call housekeeping or the front desk. We wanted to make pop'n fresh biscuits and they provided us with a pizza round baking thing. Worked just fine.
Click to expand...

Forget which resort, but my wife once called the front desk to complain about the lack of a hair dryer.
"Did you look in a drawer?" they asked. ..."Yes. All of them!"
"Did you see a cloth-bag with a draw-string? ..."Now that you mention it. :doh:
 
Last edited:
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top