Check-in:
The resort is located in a residential area but close to area attractions. It sits
between Irlo Branson Hwy and Vineland. We arrived a day later than our check-
in date and were immediately given our room to check in. We had to go to guest
services to obtain our parking pass and a welcome gift. No welcome gift, just
a pitch to attend a timeshare presentation for Grand Beach. We declined. There
is a lobby with an activities room and a couple of outside areas in which you
could pick up free Wi-Fi.
Grounds:
The resort has about 130 units with 2 heated pools, 4 hot tubs, tennis courts,
shuffle board, playground, and putting green. Landscape around the area is
neat, clean, and well maintained. We only went to the pool near our building.
The pool is decent size, not huge, but it was heated and very clean with
adequate seating. There are some tables with umbrellas and I would say that
would be it for shade; not a lot of shaded areas. There is a security guard on
duty 24/7 that checks all cars coming in. They also will give out keys to your
unit if arriving later than 8pm. We left this morning at 5:30am and we gave him
our keys for check out.
Unit:
We stayed in unit 1214 which is the last building overlooking the tennis courts.
This was a timeshare direct exchange for us, so we did not receive any
housekeeping services. There are no elevators in the buildings, but luckily we
were on the first floor. Each building in Phase IV has 4 units on each floor but
appears to separate slightly into 2 and 2. There is a washer dryer outside
between each of the 2 units on each side, which is free. The unit itself is fairly
large and has 2 bedrooms, 2 full baths, dining area, full kitchen, living room,
and screened lanai. The kitchen has granite counters, full stove, fridge, and all
appliances. The starter pack consists of 2 coffee packets, 2 tea bags, a small
bottle of dish detergent, and 2 packets for the dishwasher and a box of clothing
detergent. If anymore is needed, you can buy them for $.50 at the front desk.
There are full salt and pepper shakers, paper towel and full service for 6-8
people. This kitchen has everything needed; nice set of pots and pans, including
3 nice fry pans. Sharp knives!!
Very nice!
The décor is nice with warms brown tones in the main living area and blues in
the bedrooms. The carpet really needs to be replaced though as it is spotted
and worn.
Master bedroom has a Jacuzzi in the bathroom with a separate shower, chaise
lounge which is great for reading and a comfortable bed. There is plenty of
storage in both bedrooms for clothing. The second bedroom has twin beds with
tub and shower. Both bedrooms have a 19 television in the rooms and the
living room has a 25.
The living room consists of a sofa bed and 2 decent sized chairs with a cabinet
which houses the TV and DVD/VHS player and also has drawers for storage. It
appears use of the sofa bed would be tight to get around if opened.
The dining area had adequate seating for six, as well as a breakfast bar which
has seating for 3.
You could purchase Wi-Fi in the room for 39.95 for 7 days, 21.95 for 3 days or
7.95 daily. However, if you choose to take your laptop to the area in back of the
clubhouse, you could get it for free.
No mid-week cleaning, towel exchange is done on Wednesdays if you put your
dirty towels outside in the laundry basket by 9am. No charge for some local
calls, but others with a prefix other than 396 or 397 were considered long
distance and the charges for those are $1/first minute, .25/each addt minute
Activities:
A complimentary newspaper is delivered every morning, board games can be
checked out at the desk and a variety of books are available in the game room.
There are also various sports equipment, such as basketballs, horseshoes, and
such also available at the front desk. There are various tickets to all
attractions available at guest services at a small discount. As far as activities
for children, they took those out of our packet since we were not traveling with
any kids; so I cant comment on those.
Overall:
I would definitely come back to this resort; it is not too big and centrally
located to everything. Disney is about 10 minutes away, SeaWorld about 15
minutes away. It is very close to restaurants. The only thing I did not care for
was that the unit was kind of dark. It may have been the location of the unit, or
the screened lanai, but the living room and kitchen were quite dark. The
bedrooms were okay with adequate daylight, it was just the main area that was
dark. There was however, great lighting in the units. The other thing was there
was a terrible odor in the unit. I bought some Glade candles which worked well,
but I didnt realize they have an ozone machine which would have dealt with the
odor. I would recommend this resort to others who would like to relax and be
near all the attractions in Orlando.