We've stayed at VV at Pkwy a number of times with our granddaughters in the buildings 1-6 section where the playground is. We never had any complaints about our units. Earlier this year was our first time staying there without either granddaughter. They put us in building 20, where the main pool is, which we enjoyed.
The amenities fee is now $30 and I hope to see all the activities come back. We and our granddaughters so enjoyed the face painting, sno-cones, movie nights at the pools and the games and activities at the pools.
When I didn't have a two bedroom booked I usually got the requested free upgrade to a two bedroom within 14 days of check in. I pay to have the platinum benefits on our RCI points account.
This is what I've observed. A number of owners wanting out at this resort are fixed week owners. Over and over I've seen owners saying they aren't using their week, or in some cases haven't ever used their week. They don't seem to know that they can deposit their week and get TPUs, Trading Power Units, to go to other places.
With any timeshare system, be It fixed weeks or points, failing to learn the system and how to make the best use of what they own is the single biggest cause of owners being unhappy with what they own.
The 2 times after going Platinum with RCI that we requested unit upgrades at Vacation Village At Parkway, the requests came through, once for A+C units & the other time A+B.
The value of the upgraded 2nd room -- actually, a week in a 2nd full stand-alone condo at that resort -- was worth lots more than the cost of a year of RCI Platinum status.
BTW, Vacation Village At Parkway is where we caught the timeshare bug in 2002. (At the time, when the timeshare sellers were showing us Vacation Village At Parkway, I thought they were selling what turned out to be Parkway International Resort. Who knew?) On the sales tour, we were shown an exact, detailed, fully furnished & complete stand-alone mock-up of a Vacation Village At Parkway A+B 2BR lock-off unit, housed in a temporary building. We were not shown an actual unit in a resort tower, possibly because construction was still underway & no finished units were ready, I don't know. Regardless, we were beyond impressed --
wowed actually. We did not buy because of the price ($18
,500) & because we are resistant to sales pressure aimed at getting us to buy
now-now-now. But the seed had been planted. We soon discovered the resale timeshare market & bought a nice 3BR lock-off floating-week unit at Cypress Pointe (Orlando). The rest is history.
Part of that history is getting to stay at Vacation Village At Parkway a few times as non-owners via RCI. Later, we actually bought a Vacation Village At Parkway points unit via eBay. Even then, when we stayed at Vacation Village At Parkway we went via last call, etc., rather than using our own paid-for time. Our last & likely final buy/sell timeshare transaction was to sell off our Vacation Village At Parkway 2BR points unit & buy (resale) an equivalent 1BR Grandview At Las Vegas points unit -- roughly half the points for about 1/2 the maintenance fee. We still enjoy Vacation Village At Parkway greatly & hope to keep on getting bargain reservations for future timeshare vacations there with our daughter-in-law & granddaughters.
Added Note: When RCI Platinum
Unit Upgrade comes through on a Vacation Village At Parkway 1BR reservation, the upgrade actually gets us 2 complete stand-alone adjoining 1BR condos instead of 1 condo with 2 bedrooms & 2 bathrooms. When the upgrade comes through (as it has both times we put in requests for it), we get 2 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms, 2 living rooms, 2 dining areas, 2 kitchens, 2 washer-dryers, 2 balconies, 2 sleep-sofas, 2 everything. It was ideal when we were there with our son & daughter-in-law & 2 granddaughters, & has been just right when we've stayed there with 2 granddaughters plus 2 friends. The kids love the units & specially love the pools. Our older granddaughter (13) said that of all the nice places we've taken them in Orlando & Kissimmee, she likes Vacation Village At Parkway the best.
-- Alan Cole, McLean (Fairfax County), Virginia, USA.