WorldMark Phoenix - South Mountain Preserve - questions for first time stay

[zentraveler]

We have a reservation there for later in September and would appreciate advice on what to request for building location that is relatively close to the main desk and parking and if anyone has a property map that would be helpful. I know there are no elevators and I don't imagine there will be staff to help with luggage. Any other tips and advice greatly appreciated.

 

[Soccer Canada]

I don't have a property map, just experience from staying there two weeks last fall
The parking is all pretty good and close to the units. Some of the units have small garages and some don't. The ones that have garages the laundry is in the garage. Mobility concerns aside its a pretty compact resort. The 2 buildings that are immediately to the right and the left when you enter the resort probably have the "worst" parking because there is nowhere to park in between, if you don't get a spot right across you have to park down the road a little ways, but its certainly not that far even in that event. When we had groceries (we were in the unit immediately to the left on entry) we just dropped them off at the little corridor to the unit (we had a main floor 2 bedroom) and then went and parked. The other units the parking is either your little garage (if you have one) or in between the units which would create a short walk. At least when we were there staffing is extremely minimal, one person at the front desk and a manager, they lock the door at night and have a bell you can ring for someone to come assist. If you do end up getting one of the units on the left side as you come in there is a little bridge/pathway across the dry creek bed/desert to the pool and main building. The units on the outside have some neat views into the desert, seen Javelinas just about every day, sometimes right in the parking lot (They dont seem to be aggressive, just searching for scraps). Units are a little bit dated and some deferred maintenance but the staff was really nice, fixed everything that we asked them too other then an extremely noisy dryer, but it still worked just was loud.

 

[zentraveler]

Thanks @Soccer Canada. The idea of a unit with a garage is very appealing given the sun and the heat. I assume these are connected with a way into the unit and from the unit to the W/D? Also, did you like having a ground floor unit? That sounds appealing for not hauling luggage up stairs although we usually prefer higher units for the views.

Also, for travelers this fall, I just learned that 5 of the buildings (5-9) are undergoing renovations and are scheduled to be closed until just before Thanksgiving (this should take care of the "dated" part for those buildings although I forgot to ask if the other buildings are next or were they already done). Apparently the pools etc. will be open during this time. Attached is a property map.

 

[Soccer Canada]

Thanks @Soccer Canada. The idea of a unit with a garage is very appealing given the sun and the heat. I assume these are connected with a way into the unit and from the unit to the W/D? Also, did you like having a ground floor unit? That sounds appealing for not hauling luggage up stairs although we usually prefer higher units for the views.

Also, for travelers this fall, I just learned that 5 of the buildings (5-9) are undergoing renovations and are scheduled to be closed until just before Thanksgiving (this should take care of the "dated" part for those buildings although I forgot to ask if the other buildings are next or were they already done). Apparently the pools etc. will be open during this time. Attached is a property map.

View attachment 128958

We were in building 7. I believe in 127 which did not have a garage because what you see as Unit 129 is actually 2 or 3 of these garages tied together where they have a workshop and park various small maintenance vehicles. I did see a few of these garages open and I did not notice there was a way to access the unit from in that garage, and I might remember the front desk telling someone on the phone that some did and some didnt, YMMV on that one. When I say the garages are small they are small, I don't know if you would be able to park anything larger then a Ford Escape in there without parking on one wall to be able to access the driver door, and you may have to have the vehicle out of the garage to access the laundry comfortably, from a glance they are pretty tight. We liked the view in the evenings, in the mornings you couldn't have the windows open once the sun was over the hills in the preserve. The glare/heat made it fairly uncomfortable to do so. They may have been doing work on Building 3/4 when we were there, from the aspect of driving by those may have been the best units for overall comfort being sideways to the sun going up and down yet still having a nice view of the preserve, they would be relatively close to the pools etc as well. Main floor was nice, the A/C provided more then ample comfort when it was hot, and not having to trudge up and down the stairs is nice. I actually probably preferred the laundry being in the unit, we usually try to travel fairly light and do small loads of laundry every other day or so, so its nice having it right there. We had a 3rd floor walk up unit one of the HGVC resorts near the TPC Scottsdale golf course and Im pretty sure I took years off my knees going up and down for the week we were there.

 

[zentraveler]

Between the heat and sun, and the massive renovations this does not seem like a great time to be going to that resort. The half we would be in are pre-renovation so my hope that those had already been renovated is clearly not true. We tacked it on to a trip to Sedona at the Hyatt Piñon Pointe but we might want to wait until a better time of year.

 

[Soccer Canada]

Between the heat and sun, and the massive renovations this does not seem like a great time to be going to that resort. The half we would be in are pre-renovation so my hope that those had already been renovated is clearly not true. We tacked it on to a trip to Sedona at the Hyatt Piñon Pointe but we might want to wait until a better time of year.

It certainly wasn't run down by any means in the unit we stayed in, just definitely the usual stuff that gets deferred when its getting closer to the time of a renovation. Location is great, literally right off Baseline, friendly staff. Definitely not wrong about the heat, we will be down there the first week of October staying at the Worldmark Scottsdale and a few nights at Legacy, hoping it isnt slightly cooler then the face of the sun..

 

[zentraveler]

We decided at the end of the day to postpone South Mountain Preserve for a more auspicious time of year and rearrange the trip. It seems like a lovely resort, but not at this time of year but when it is cooler. Now that I have all of this useful information I will be well poised to go in the future. Thanks for your help with this!