Sheraton Vistana Villages - 3rd ranked resort I've stayed at

[jp10558]

I have to give it to dioxide and the forum, this II getaway blows Villa Roma away, and is probably my 3rd best stay so far. An abriged version of my review on TUG2 is below:
Some con's dropped it down from a 10 to a 9.

Cons: Hot Tub, Sauna, Steam Room is a little hard to access from Bld12 / the Key West area. A bit of a walk, and it is very non-obvious if you could drive and really get close.

The negatives out of the way:

The units are nice and except for no filtered water there's nothing wrong. Nothing feels worn out or ancient, the laundry is IN UNIT, the views of a pool with a fountain right from the balcony are all quite nice. They have text to front desk which I also greatly appreciate.

There's a great set of walking paths around the central pond with some interesting wildlife you can get pretty close to for photographs - Cranes, Muscovite Ducks, other ducks.

Check-in was simple. No attempt at sales whatsoever. Greatly appreciated for me.

It's in Orlando - so there's a huge amount of things to do there outside the resort, but you could also spend significant time in the resort doing the activities, grilling, and at the pool, hot tub, ping pong, sauna etc. No extra charges so far - equipment for ping pong / pool is hung at a fence right near the tables.

The main table in the 2BR is fine for working, though I might have preferred a slightly different setup for getting to the power plugs, it's not bad by any means.

All in all, this is a great resort and well worth an II getaway! I guess it does redeem II after Villa Roma (search the forum for that). I'll hope to be back home and have my youtube review sometime in January. I suppose I may well post here vs just trusting the existing reviews, because if you can believe it this locations is actually rated lower on TUG2 than Villa Roma, and that's a backwards world outcome if I've ever seen it.

 

[Cornell]

I'll add - extremely average fitness centers if that matters.

 

[jp10558]

I'll add - extremely average fitness centers if that matters.

I'll never be the one to talk fitness center - I almost would have missed the Sauna and Steam room except being bored and decided to randomly walk into the fitness center that houses them. I usually never go into the fitness centers - wouldn't have occurred to me to look there for anything but exercise bikes...

I will say, from my perspective the bikes with the video road that "moved" as you pedaled was pretty high tech / cool...

 

[dioxide45]

I'll add - extremely average fitness centers if that matters.

I’ve not seen many exceptional fitness centers at a timeshare. They all seem to be pretty standard stuff.

 

[Cornell]

I’ve not seen many exceptional fitness centers at a timeshare. They all seem to be pretty standard stuff.

The gym at the Westin Riverfront in Avon, CO is the nicest hotel gym I have ever seen. It's so fantastic that it's open to the public. I asked -- public rates are $150 / month. Multiple squat racks. Totally unusual.

Most Westins have nice gyms. Both Kierland and Desert Willow have multiple Peloton bikes. Full range of equipment to get in a nice workout. I consider them beyond "standard stuff". I workout almost every day and when I'm at these places I can get a great workout in at the timeshare. Otherwise, I'm buying a daypass at a local gym which is an extra expense and logistics.

Bad hotel gyms are small, broken or poorly maintained equipment. Often times it's a few random pieces of cardio equipment.

 

[claraj]

@jp10558 There are some really good Getaways especially if you can travel during non-peak weeks. I helped a friend save over $1,000 when he had to go to Cancun for 2 weeks on a medical stay and he was about to stay at the Westin Lagunamar for the weeks he needed.

 

[TUGBrian]

I can say with all honesty ive never given one flying flip about a fitness center while on vacation at a timeshare!

#fatfriendlyvacations

 

[Dori]

Me neither Brian!

Dori

 

[sponger76]

I can say with all honesty ive never given one flying flip about a fitness center while on vacation at a timeshare!

#fatfriendlyvacations

I always make it a point to look at the fitness center, and then somehow my vacation schedule is too full of relaxation to actually use it...

 

[Cornell]

One of my dream trips is to schedule a visit to NYC around a live ride at the Peloton studio

 

[heitmullerj02]

HHV in Oahu has a very nice gym, now if they would upgrade the pools….

 

[GTLINZ]

I can say with all honesty ive never given one flying flip about a fitness center while on vacation at a timeshare!

#fatfriendlyvacations

One of the things i love about timeshare vacations is being able to walk down to the workout room and excercise - before i sit at the theme pool all day and not worry about calories !

The gym at Coconut Cove is one of the better ones and has a great view.