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Best place to stay in Branson? RCI exchange

aralston

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Trying to decide between #5824 French Quarter or #3294 Wyndham Branson at the Meadows. We will be traveling with young children (under 5) so we are looking for a family friendly resort. It looks like the Wyndham has wifi in the units which is a nice plus and also has multiple pools. Any help is appreciated!
 

puppymommo

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Meadows

We stayed at the Meadows several years ago and liked it very much. One plus is that they have an indoor pool. Don't know what season you are planning to travel but if it is not Memorial Day to Labor Day having that indoor pool is very nice.

We were (a few years ago) able to get wifi in our unit but not sure it is available in all units. The best way to know for sure is to call the resort directly.

I've never stayed at the French Quarter so I don't have an opinion but I would recommend Wyndham Meadows. I like Wyndham Mountain Vista a little bit more, if it is available. They also have an indoor pool.
 

Hophop4

TUG Review Crew: Rookie
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Sugar Land, Texas TugMember since 9/2003
Resorts Owned
HICV/Silverleaf Owners-Holiday Hills, Branson; Seaside, Galveston;
Landmark Holiday Beach Resort, PCB, FL
We were at Wyndham Mountain Vista for Thanksgiving week and it was very nice. There is free wi-fi in all the units. Indoor pool and hot tub, outdoor pool, children's pool and hot tub. Outdoor pool is kept heated during the summer too but shut down and covered during the winter season. It has a nice activity center with games and pool tables and buildings at Vista and Meadows have elevators. They also have an Entertainment Sampler where anywhere between 12 to 20 entertainers come in and perform to give you a taste of what their show is like and pass out flyers and coupons. This cost us $12.50 per person which included a buffet dinner.

I have some pics of the unit as soon as I upload them, I will post the link.

We went to the Yakoff Dinner Show and it was a very good show. It is about the Russian Circus so there are circus acts which kids and adults really enjoyed and best of all 2 for 1 tickets are offered.


Just uploaded the pics:

http://picasaweb.google.com/EHophop8
 
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dougp26364

TUG Review Crew: Expert
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Location
Kansas
Resorts Owned
Marriott Grand Chateau
Marriott Shadow Ridge
Marriott Ocean Pointe
Marriott Destination Club Points
Hilton Grand Vacation Club Las Vegas Blvd
Grand Colorado on Peak 8
Spinnaker French Quarter Resort Branson
We own at French Quarter because we enjoy the location and it has one of the better pool's in Branson, not that Branson resorts are known for great pools. For us it's more about the location as FQ is right on the strip (76 Hwy) but the back enterance goes out onto the yellow traffic relief route. There is also an iHop and Olive Garden within walking distance of the resort and a Cracker Barrel Country Store/Restaurant across the street. Because of the easy access to the traffic relief route, we can get anywhere reasonably quickly and avoid as much traffic as possible.

Since I have not stayed at the Wyndham properties I really can't compare the two. French Quarter's developer filed for bankruptcy a couple of years ago and the resort is now being managed by Southwind Management, which is the same management company for Spinnaker Resorts. I really haven't seen a decline in quality since the bankruptcy was filed and guests don't seem to know about it unless they're owners.

Click the picture to go to our Webshots photo album of our 2010 vacation at FQ. The unit we own is a two bedroom loft unit.




Edit: FQ does not have WiFi unless you go up to the lobby. In certain areas I could catch a weak signal. Enough that I could get online but it wasn't easy or convenient.
 
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bellesgirl

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We stayed at the Wyndham Meadows in Oct. and loved it. If you wind up with a 1BR make sure it is the deluxe (A side) because the B side is much smaller. And, yes, we had free wi-fi. We found the resort to be very helpful with booking most shows. They even gave us a coupon for a show that they could not book.
 

chriskre

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South Florida
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DVC- SSR, Poly,
Wyndham Las Cascadas
HGVC Tuscany
RCI Pts VV Parkway
Enchanted Isle resort.
Marriott GV
I also stayed at Wyndham Mountain Vista which was very nice and you have access to the other Wyndham pools and facilities just down the road. It's in a quiet area not on the strip but high on a hill. Take your phone off the hook cause the salespeople will hound you from check-in to check-out if you don't. They wanted to take a survey of our stay when we hadn't even been in the room for 15 minutes. :rolleyes: What opinion could I possibly have after 15 minutes other than they were annoying me already. :annoyed:

Definitely don't stay at Holiday Hills unless you want to golf. We did a split stay it's not near anything but the downtown area and even then you have to drive quite a ways over the bridge.
 

MichaelColey

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Palace View Branson (4 Lockouts), Grandview (Points), CMV (UDI), DVC (SSR 25)
We've stayed at Wyndham Meadows a couple times (and Wyndham Mountain Vista across the road, also) and they were great stays. I haven't stayed at French Quarter yet, but it's pretty high up on my "short list" of places to stay in Branson based on TUG/RCI ratings, sizes, location and amenities.

I suspect that you would be very happy in either place.
 

ace2000

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Not sure about your timeframe. But, have you checked into Big Cedar yet? I think the consensus would be that it's the best resort in the Branson area. It's located about 15-20 minutes from the main strip.
 

Hophop4

TUG Review Crew: Rookie
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Sugar Land, Texas TugMember since 9/2003
Resorts Owned
HICV/Silverleaf Owners-Holiday Hills, Branson; Seaside, Galveston;
Landmark Holiday Beach Resort, PCB, FL
Not sure about your timeframe. But, have you checked into Big Cedar yet? I think the consensus would be that it's the best resort in the Branson area. It's located about 15-20 minutes from the main strip.

We have stayed at Big Cedar a couple of times and loved it there too. But this year I have not seen any availability for RCI exchanges for it. In the past I have been able to pick up a non-summer week but nothing for this year. What's going on with that?
 

MichaelColey

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Palace View Branson (4 Lockouts), Grandview (Points), CMV (UDI), DVC (SSR 25)
I've had an ongoing search for ANYTIME in the summer for QUITE a while, and haven't got a single match. I've seen off-season (non-holiday Nov/Dec/Jan/Feb) ones once in a while, but it's been a while since I've seen those. It certainly looks like the cream of the crop for Branson, but not a reasonable expectation for an RCI exchange at this time.
 

Hophop4

TUG Review Crew: Rookie
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Sugar Land, Texas TugMember since 9/2003
Resorts Owned
HICV/Silverleaf Owners-Holiday Hills, Branson; Seaside, Galveston;
Landmark Holiday Beach Resort, PCB, FL
Both times we went to Big Cedar it was during Thanksgiving week. I use to see it all the time and some early spring but nothing this year. So we ended up at Wyndham this time and it was a nice stay.
 
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