Grande Vista Orlando??

[siki]

Hello all,

My family and I will be arriving in Orlando in May 2012. 8 adults will be traveling in our party, the youngest being 20. I have done a lot of research and have narrowed my choices down to the Grande Vista and the 2 Sheraton Vistana resorts. I am leaning towards the Marriott since that is what I'm use to.
Have all the rooms at Grande Vista been refurbished? If not, which ones have been? How are the pools? How many? Do they have a pool bar? What are the hours?
How is the location of the resort? We will be visiting Sea World, Universal, and of course Disney.
Any other info is greatly appreciated.
Thanks!
Michelle

 

[dioxide45]

Grande Vista has four pool complex areas. I think in total there are six or seven pools total. There are also two pool bars, the Copa Loca Bar and Grill at the Plaza Del Sol pool area and the one at the main Village Center Pool. I think it may be called Grande Cove. Unfortunately I don't know the hours. There is also a food court onsite with Pizza Hut Express. There is also the onsite restaurant Nick's Grill. If you go here, be sure to pick up a restaurant.com coupon.

At just about any given time there are some units undergoing some type of refurbishment. If a refurbished unit is important to you, request one when you make a villa request.

I haven't been to the Sheraton property, but Grande Vista is a little closer to Universal and Seaworld. As for Disney, it would be a tossup since from Grande Vista going I4 may be best, but from the Sheraton it may be better on the side roads.

Being biased, I would recommend Grande Vista. From what I have read on Disboards about the two properties, I think most tend to also lean toward Grande Vista.

 

[chriskre]

I've stayed at both and Sheraton Vistana is right on 535 and closer to Disney without having to go thru the congested part of I-Drive when it's busy.

All the rooms in Vistana have been redone and are very nice but not all the building have elevators. I thought the decor at Vistana was actually nicer than Grande Vista has elevators. I thought they had better activities for kids in the recreation club at Vistana than Grande Vista. We did two weeks back to back last year, first Grande Vista and then Vistana, so it was easy to compare.

Grande Vista is nice but is a more adult centric resort with the golf course theme. We had a remodeled room but not all the appliances were new. The W/D was an older model along with the refigerator. No biggie but not completely redone. The grounds are much more fancy then Vistana so it gives it a resort feel. Vistana is nice but has more of an apartment community feel to it with little ponds behind the rooms with fountains.
You can park right in front of your unit at Vistana, not necessarily so at Grande Vista.

Either one is a good choice. I don't think you could go wrong with either one.