Originally Posted by
CokeandTaco
Thank you for posting this detailed review. It is very informative. I am considering a stay at this property to take advantage of the 4nights/25k promo. I have a question for you:
1) Is there a better section of the resort (out of four) to stay in? You stayed in the North and next time in the East?
Thank you.
I'm not an expert on the property but this is what I understand the configuration to be:
There are four villages, the North, East, West and River Island.
River Island is by far the newest. They are established in 'condo' units. The negative about them is they are stacked 4 high (four floors) and some of the layouts feature split/locked units, so if you only need a 1 bedroom unit, the other two bedrooms will be split with a separate unit. I don't know HOW they are split, so it feels awkward--is it like the double-doors you have in a regular hotel when you have two 'adjoining' rooms? So we've opted to skip River Island for the time being.
The North and East villages are essentially identical.
EDIT: The units are identical but the buildings are totally different.
North Village: They seem to be formed of 2 story buildings with 4-6 condos in each, the lower floor being two 3-bedroom units or two 2-bed and one 1-bed and the upper floor being two 2-bedroom units. They have been part of a refurbishment project and at least the unit we stayed in in the North Village was one of those refurbished as it had the luxurious spa bath in the master bedroom.
East Village: These are newer than the North Village villas and are pre-built to the 'luxury' standards. They are formed of 6-story blocks (yikes!) with about 6 units across per building. We have been placed in a top-floor unit so I can't tell whether or not the people below us might be disturbed by us moving about. I have heard the neighbors through the shared wall next to us, so it's not built to a super high standard but pretty decent. There are elevators for these buildings (the North Village does not have elevators to get to the second-floor units).
The West village is I believe the oldest area without having been refurbished. The larger units are stand-alones so you get your own private driveway etc. The smaller units I believe are put together in multi-story buildings.
At first we were keen to stay in the West Village for the privacy factor but in the end we found the North village so modern and serene we wanted to stay there again. Unfortunately the North village wasn't available for our second trip but the East Village is essentially identical so we're hoping for the best.
As far as my recommendations go, I would suggest the North and East villages since we've stayed in the North and the East should be identical. I wouldn't suggest the West village until it's been completely refurbished as why would you pay the same amount for units which will offer you less? As for the River Island units, just from our experience I'm not keen on the split units with the multi-level buildings, as even our neighbors upstairs who were by no means loud were still audible to us. So imagine having people above, beside, AND below your unit--it could get very noisy! Plus some of them overlook one of the main pools, whereas the North and East villages are primarily situated next to the VERY quiet golf course!
Also: there were plenty of car parking spots in each unit area (about 8 spots per 4-condo unit) so we needn't have worried about that!
This website is pretty good for showing you the layouts of the various villas and units plus has some other information on the resort:
http://www.hiclubvacations.com/floorplans/orlando.html