Sheraton Vistana VS Disney Resort

So my parents would give us their Starwood points for the Sheraton Vistana (on In Drive) so the ';FREE'; seems to be a good idea!

But I feel like my kids might miss the whole disney resort experience.

Can we STILL sign up for stuff on the resorts? Eat at their restuarants? Go to Character dining? How about the Pirate Treasure thing?

I feel like I%26#39;d pay the extra $2000 just for the experience.

Sheraton Vistana VS Disney Resort

We took my niece to disney last year. She was 8 at the time. We stayed at the Marriott Grande Vista which is about 1/2 mile from the Sheraton. Staying in a timeshare was great. We were able to eat in, do laundry which reduced the amount of clothes we packed and saved alot on food, etc. It was much more convenient. Although convenient, the Disney resorts are a poor value for the $$. The key to having a successful trip is to plan ahead. Book all your character meals in advance. We did the Disney Princess at Epcot in the Norway Castle which was great and the Chef Mickey breakfast which we really enjoyed. Save on the hotel and spend your money on other things. We also saw La Nouba Cirque de Sole which we loved. Universal has great rides and shows also so don%26#39;t miss it.

P.S. We loved the timeshare so much we bought a unit.

Sheraton Vistana VS Disney Resort

Hi ,

my 13 year old daughter and myself stayed at Vistana this year and it was great, you get the best of both worlds by staying off site, you can pre book any Disney things you want to and there is the customer help desk at Vistana to help you book anything you want, the Vistana is really lovely we did not want to leave it even to visit the parks!!!

Have booked again for 07.

Have a great time

Hard to turn down free timeshare points. Of course, you would need to rent a car; if you stay at Disney, you wouldn%26#39;t have to. You can book character dining, and their other restaurants, though you wouldn%26#39;t be able to do the Dining plan staying offsite. But you could take some of that money you would be saving, and if you could get care for your kids, you could spend that at Victoria %26amp; Albert%26#39;s.

I%26#39;d go for the Sheraton Vistana resort. Your kids will love it. You%26#39;ll have the Vistana Codo resort experience with Disney parks. We%26#39;ve stayed there twice with our son, and he thought we should move there (liked it that much). We%26#39;ve stayed onsite before too which is great also. But I%26#39;m for a great deal and think you%26#39;ll have a terrific time. There%26#39;s a lot to be said about the extra space/ktichen/laudrey facilities in the condo. Plus the kids will love the pools, hot tub, resort ammenities.

Adding a few other points related to your questions. You don%26#39;t have to be staying on a property to do character dining // just make your reservation. You can eat at any of the Disney hotel resturants too. We, for example, on our next trip in June will have a dinner at Boma (Animal Kingdom Lodge buffet) just to get over to the resort and check things out, even though we%26#39;ll be staying off site. You might want to just go over to Disney one day, ride the monerail around, check out the hotel gift shops, swim, maybe take the boat from the Contemporary to Wilderness Lodge and Fort Wilderness, see the geyser, go to the petting zoo. You can make dining reservations at Disney hotels way in advance too. Sometimes to park at a hotel property you need to have a dining reservation if you%26#39;re not a guest. We%26#39;ve also swam at Disney resort pools, etc. after eating at the resort even when we weren%26#39;t guests. I%26#39;ve heard that they are checking keys at the Beach Club which is really more like a waterpark than just a swimming pool. I guess too many people who weren%26#39;t staying there were using the facilities (and they are wonderful, I can see why). I don%26#39;t think they are doing that anywhere else, though. When my son was only three, didn%26#39;t care for Disney Parks, and we were staying at the Contemporary, as my husband had a conference there, what we did for fun was check out all the Disney resorts. They were really empty as most people were in the parks. We swam at every Disney hotel resort swimming pool on the monerail system and on the boardwalk. We swam at Wilderness Lodge too. It was a great vacation with a toddler. That%26#39;s more than seven years ago now. I%26#39;m not familar with the Pirate Treasure experience.