October 2009 review
For the money, this was a very nice place. I would stay here again if I needed room for a large group.
First, let me say
Lake Buena Vista Resort Village and Spa is NOT a timeshare. These are full-deed "luxury condos". I experienced no sales pitch, although it appears the management group is primarily interested in foreign investment.
We stayed six nights Oct 24 through Oct 30. There were eight of us in a three-bedroom two-bath full-kitchen condo. Plenty of room. At no point did I feel like we were stepping all over each other. If we had neighbors, we didn't hear them.
Entire facility was clean and well kept, but the carpets were a bit ragged. We had a handle fall off one of the toilets and found a slow bathroom sink drain. Called maintenance and they were prompt in fixing them.
One oddity (to me) is housekeeping is not included. All the usual hotel conveniences are provided; towels, complimentary soaps and shampoos, cookware and small appliances in the kitchen, etc. and refills are available from the front desk. If you want to have someone vacuum, make the beds, swap out towels, take out the trash, and wipe things down during your stay it has to be booked and paid for separately. This was fine by me since I normally only allow housekeeping in our room once every few days during a stay. With 8 of us there was enough people to keep the place tidy without additional housekeeping. The room included a washer/dryer so we just washed our own towels. Naturally an after-stay cleaning is included... You do not have to leave the room exactly the way you found it.
Wife says: The hallways had an "odd odor". Our building did not have trash chutes (newer buildings near the lobby do) and the "trash rooms" (on our floor) were locked. Many guests left their trash outside their doors. Housekeeping cleaned the hallways daily, but it's hard to get "leaky trash smell" out of carpet.
Great location. Just two blocks from World Center Drive (
map). Wal-Mart and all kinds of food/shopping two blocks in the other direction. Backs right up to a small outlet shopping center.
We were on the east end of "building two". Our balcony faced due east. We could see the spire at Seaworld. The Cirque tent could be seen from the north-facing windows next to the elevators. I'm pretty sure one could see fireworks from many of the North/West facing rooms.
Two pools. A "quiet pool" near the convenience store, and a large Pirate theme pool near the lobby. One end of the theme pool has a "beach entry" (aka "zero entry") slope and large Pirate ship which encloses a spiral water slide. Both pools were extremely clean. The pool bottoms are a bit abrasive, so I'd recommend pool shoes.
Room includes wired Internet service in the living room. I had to change my NIC to 10Mbps full-duplex to get it to work. That just might be my NIC not auto negotiating properly. Wireless Internet is available in the lobby, but I did not try it. There is also a computer kiosk which one can use for a fee.
Wife adds: Checked out the spa. The facility is "immaculate" and the prices seemed very reasonable. Did not purchase any of the services, only because no one else in our group would join her.
So, in summary, clean but due for new carpets and needs better trash handling. Great location. Great rates. Great for large groups. Be prepared to clean up after yourself.
The resort should be listed on most travel sites. I originally found it on Expedia, but ended up booking through a discount program at work (TicketsAtWork.com). Of course you can always book through
their web site.
