'OhanaMama
I'm too excited to sleep.....
- Joined
- Sep 6, 2006
Just back from our stay at Vacation Village at Parkway… The resort its self was great. Plenty of parking, plenty of pools, 10 to 15 minute drive to the parks, the staff was friendly and helpful, free “consumables” like paper towels, toilet paper, laundry soap and what not, and they provided as many clean towel sets as requested! The Jacuzzi tubs were nice and big and great after a day in the parks. I love having a kitchen and a washer/dryer set!
We traveled with extended family and had four 2 bedroom units in buildings 5 & 6. Each family had an A side and a B side. It worked out great for the teenagers b/c they each had their own B side! The units showed a bit of wear and were what I expect from RCI timeshare. They were reasonably clean, just small things like burns on the laminate counters, the tub faucet was not long enough for the tub and sprayed water on the floor, the hair dryer malfunctioned and caught on fire (okay, that was a little bit fun and) and the burners on my stove did not work. I would have no problem staying here again. I would have preferred to have one of the renovated units and I would have absolutely preferred to stay on-site, but overall it was a success!
I was able to use priceline and rent a fullsize car for $12 a day and then they upgraded it to a mini-van for free! That was a huge dusting of pixie dust!!! Parking was easy at most parks, but costly.
We left each morning at 8 am for 9am rope drop. Not early enough for MK and way to early for AK. I found that most of the mornings the ropes were dropped early. I was surprised by that! We got to go in to AK about 10 minutes to 9. We were on the safari at 9am…it was great!
We did go back to the room most days, it was just too hot last week. I was BAD imho. We tried to leave by 1 and would go back after dinner. It back fired a couple of time b/c there were several storms that shut down the coasters we had saved for last! It there is a must do, get it done ASAP.
I prepared a breakfast plan with a detailed shopping list and ended up over buying anyway b/c the kids wanted this and that. Then we had to through some stuff away. DH was not happy about that! We did take our cold waters and give them to the rental car check-in people at MCO, they were pretty happy about that.
When you leave the airport, scout out a gas station to buy gas at. We went on a wild goose chase to find a station (among other problems of our own making), got to the airport about 60 minutes before our flight and ended up missing it! Allow a minimum of 2 hours to get through the lines at MCO. It was CRAZY!
On our second attempt, DS18 was selected for extra screening and they pulled him over to swab his bag. A little guy in front of us was pulled out for the extra special pat down and he was almost in tears. It was just heart breaking.
Remember where you parked, start heading to your car before you are worn out and if your kids need a break (no matter what age), take it! DD13 broke down in tears b/c she was tired and DH had to find some mystical magical cup. Not pretty...
We went resort hopping the next day via the monorail for DH to get his shopping fix in while in the AC!
If you have an specific questions, please ask!
Did you have any problems with the timeshare sales people? We are going in September and the reviews I've read have said either they loved Vacation Village or they absolutely hated it (mainly because of the extemely rude and pushy sales people). Oh, and a lot of maintenance issues. How were your issues handled?
and....do you think an "A" unit is big enough for 3 adults?
Thanks in advance!