Sheraton Vistana Villages

Went with wife and two toddlers to Disney for a week and stayed here. Very convenient location about 15 minutes drive to any of the Disney parks. There is also a Publix right down the street which is nice to pick-up food to make or prepare to bring to the parks. We were placed in a small 1 bedroom villa in building 23 in the St. Augustine Village which was great. I forget where, but I did read this was the newest of the villages so maybe that's why the rooms were so nice. A smaller villa was plenty of space for the whole family with a living area with sofa bed, kitchen with pots and pans and small dining table as well as balcony with mosquito nets. Bathroom was humongous and very clean and updated. Bedroom was large with large king bed and new furnishings. Everything was clean and seemed recently renovated or at least very well cared for. There is also dishwasher in kitchen with cleaning tablets and washer and dryer with detergent. The location within the resort is right between the St Augustine pool and fitness center and Bella pool and fitness center. Lakes and bridges were beautiful and well kept with fish and birds. There are propane grills with seating scattered throughout for you to use. The St. Augustine pool is large with a pirate ship that the kids loved. The fitness center there is clean and large for a hotel with machines, dumbbells and cable system. The Bella pool is large with a splash pad and waterfall as well as separate "quiet pool" that was actually much noisier because adults only are there blasting music. The fitness center here is much smaller but has a sauna and steam room. The Breeze Bar & Grill is right next to the Bella pool and fitness center and seems nice enough. We didn't eat there but ordered pizza which was large and reasonably priced. It was quite good too and probably the most cost-effective option in the area. I can't comment on rooms in other villages that people complained about, so maybe just request St. Augustine rooms and you'll be happy. It does suck to pay for parking, but that's also stated when we booked through Marriott app so wasn't a surprise. Read less

This hotel thinks they are an Airbnb. They ask you to strip the beds, run dishwasher, take trash out, etc when there was no room service for 7 days. In a two bedroom they gave us 6 towels that we used for a few days and then gave us three-ish more and told us we would be charged for anymore towels. No room service and expecting guests to do the hotels work is nuts. On the bright side The pools were nice. The kids had fun playing in the pool. Read less

I chose this resort after receiving a promotional email, but it has been disappointing. I suggest looking for accommodations with superior service, as they pressure me to buy upgrade packages. Checkout is at 10am., and although I arrived early at noon, my room was not ready until around 4 or 5pm The check-in process was also excessively slow. They initially offered me 15,000 Marriott points, then changed it to a $100 Visa card, which felt deceptive. I assumed this was an upgrade offer and expected the $100 to be deducted from my vacation package immediately, but they just provided a gift card and charged me the full package price. Overall, it has not been worth it, and the room quality was lacking. The resort is large, with a few pools, but the Wi-Fi is very slow, the AC lacks adequate cooling, and the utensils are average. They only cleaned the room once during my five-day stay, and the guest service was very poor. I had to call multiple times before I got a response, which was frustrating. Furthermore, when I returned to my room at night, the key did not work. The person at check-in was not helpful; she assumed the door battery was dead, but it turned out the key card was faulty. I'm done trying this vacation club anymore. I never get any good experience and service, and even if I buy a new package, I probably will not use it. Just wasting money. Read less

We received an offer in the mail as Bonvoy members and were able to stay 5 days 4 nights for $249 in a one-bedroom suite. We knew going into it (from reading reviews) that we’d be required to attend a sales presentation. Flew into Orlando. Getting the rental car from Enterprise was so quick and easy - if you reserved online ahead of time you just go right to the parking garage. Tons of car seats and booster seats right there in the garage to grab. No more than 20 minute drive from the airport to the resort. We were directed where to park and check in. Our concierge, Juni, was very nice and helpful. I was pleasantly surprised to find out that part of the deal was free parking. So no $25 fee a day for us! Juni explained that if we did in fact attend the sales presentation, we would get a $250 Visa gift card (rather than Marriott points or a $100 restaurant gift card) and we would also get a “nicer” suite. So we agreed. The suite was indeed nice, spacious, and perfect for our 4-person family. We were in building 23, 2nd floor. There were elevators but they were slow. We were told there would be housekeeping in this particular building every other day. We arrived on Tuesday and housekeeping came on Thursday. We left on Saturday morning so obviously did not see them again. We enjoyed both the St. Augustine pool with the pirate ship and water slide and the Key West pool with a splash pad and a little waterfall the kids liked to play under. Kids can only use the water slide if over 42 inches which was a bummer for my 4-year old. Life vests were available (complimentary) for the kids. Daughters enjoyed the mermaid class (an extra $30 pp) one afternoon. Both pools were very busy! One day we came back from lunch to discover that someone had moved our belongings off of our chairs and had taken our seats! The marketplace is right next to the St. Augustine pool. I noticed a lot of people buying drinks/snacks there. The Pirate’s Cove bar is also located next to the St. Augustine pool and served drinks and some Tex-mex items. We liked the nachos and the frozen beverages. But a mudslide, for example, will cost you $17. We had dinner at Breeze Bar and Grill our first night there. I liked having the ability to sit outside on the patio overlooking the water (kids really enjoyed watching the birds!) and I liked that there was live music. It was very busy and so the wait for food was kind of long. Limited food options but everyone found something to suit them. I texted Juni at one point to ask if our relatives, who were staying at a nearby hotel, would be able to visit us one day, and what the cost for day passes would be. She said they only had to give our name/room number to the guard and they were free to visit, which they did with no problems. We appreciated that. We attended the sales presentation one morning at 8:30. We expressed our concerns ahead of time to Juni that it would last longer than the 90 minutes. She gave us a “commitment card” which specified the 90 minute timeline. By the way, they do take your credit card info so that if you sign up for a presentation and then cancel, they can get their $250 from the VISA gift card back, and whatever the upgraded room fee is. Anyway, at the presentation there were coffee and prepackaged danish and muffins. They also offered a “kids club” for our children while we attended the presentation, which mine wanted to go to. There were toys, crafts, snacks, and a TV. The presentation is 1:1 (meaning you and your significant other and the salesperson). You will talk in their cubicle and then go see some different-sized villas, talk some more, be given time to talk alone with your significant other (the manager will then pop in to offer an even better deal). My husband was interested in buying; I was not. So we ended up saying no, and that was that. The salesperson thanked us and brought us to a new area to complete a survey. It was an interesting survey, in that a new salesman brought it over and asked us the questions verbally, then filled in our answers for us. He ended up making us another offer similar to the one we used to come on this trip and we decided to sign up for that because we would like to return to Orlando around the same time next year to see a different park. So all in all, the sales pitch was not nearly as painful as some have made it out to be. And it was 90 minutes, as promised. (A little longer after we decided to sign up for another trip.) If you have trouble saying no, though, beware! These salespeople are VERY good at what they do! I would definitely recommend this resort, especially considering the price. My 7-year old wanted to know why there was only 1 true restaurant, and I guess that would be my one big complaint too. I would have enjoyed housekeeping every day also. In the end, I would return to this resort. Read less