Hilton Grand Vacation Club, just back, any questions?

[jeff968]

We're back from our 11 day stay at the Hilton Grand vacation Club in Orlando. We had a great time. I'll post a full report by the end of the week but if any of you have any specific questions let me know.

 

[PolyGirl]

We're staying there in July for our first time. We will have a 3 bedroom unit. How is the pool, is there a slide??? Any and all info you can give on the resort would be GREAT. We usually stay on-site at the Poly but we thought we would try this resort. Will we be dissapointed????

 

[jeff968]

There are three full size pools (2 heated, 1 not), 2 children's pools, 4 hot tubs, no slide. The pools were great. We even made it into the cold pool last Thursday when temps hit the high eighties. No slide. Lots of things for the kids to do. They loved the shuffleboard and croquet and they were really nice courts! We had a rainy day on Saturday and rented the movie theater which was great. The rooms were large and the grounds were beautiful. I'll post all the details soon.

 

[Robinrs]

Welcome back, Jeff. Looks like you guys had a great time!

 

[ivanova]

Jeff,

Which building did you stay in? We've previously stayed in Hamilton and just found out we'll either be in Pembrook or St George's in 5 weeks.

 

[Jackie824]

We are going to Disney March 16-23 and staying at the Hilton Grand Vacation Club. My parents have a timeshare with Hilton for the one in LasVegas but switched sites for us to use this yr. I stayed there 4 yrs ago with my parents, aunt and my son, we had a 2 bedroom then. This yr, since it will be just us, we will have the 1 bedroom. Do you know anything about the one bedroom? Yes, I remember the heated pools and the "cold" pool. Some people really like that cold pool. When we were there 4 yrs ago there was alot of construction going on, Im curious to see how it all came out. Now for questions,how long did it take to get to all the Disney parks? I know its very close to SeaWorld, is it walking distance to Sea World? Is the HGVC close to International drive?

 

[ivanova]

Jackie,

We stayed in a 1 bedroom in 2000 -- 3 of us (myself, DH, 10 year old DD). Our daughter slept on the sofa sleeper in the living room. We had ample room to spread out, kick back and relax. The 1 bedroom has a full kitchen (oven/stove, microwave, dishwasher, washer/dryer), living room w/ sofa sleeper, master bedroom w/ king bed, whirlpool bath tub, screened in patio/balcony. We were located in the Hamilton building, overlooking the main pool area.

 

[jeff968]

Jackie, the resort is completed so there is no more construction and it came out very nice. The Disney parks are about 5 to 10 minutes away depending on which park and the traffic. When you come out of the resort you take a left and you have an entrance to I4 south. The first exit south is Exit 27 which is the exit for Downtown Disney. If there is no traffic this could take you no more then 5 minutes to get to. The next three exits south are for the parks with the last one, 25B, for the Magic Kingdom. This will take you 10 minutes. On the way home, traveling north on I4, exit 27A drops you right at the Resort which is very nice. There is NO 27A coming from the north (from Universal) so you have to get off exit 28 and drive south down International drive. Seaworld is right across the street. On a nice day, and if you are in for a walk, you could walk to it (save $6 for parking). Go straight over the main intersection to the parking lot rather then the main entrance which is down the street and to the left. International drive is a minute away but the HGVC is south of all the action. You'll have to turn left and drive North past the convention center to get to all the resturants and International drive attractions. It is a nice location. Ivanova, we were in Warwick house which has a pool next to it but is second farthest away from the main building (smith being the farthest).

 

[Jackie824]

Jeff,Thanks so much for answering my questions.We sure are looking forward to our trip to Disney. It will be my11th trip down there, and very much looking forward to it.
Thanks again for answering my questions.

 

[ivanova]

Jeff,

Do the rooms still have VCPs in them, or are they starting to put DVD players in there? If they've got DVDs then my DH will be thrilled (he's already going thru the collection to see what he might want to possibly take & watch).

 

[jeff968]

Our room had a VCR. Their library had only VCR tapes. They even had a special deal. I think that individual tape rentals were $8 each but you could pay $20 and have unlimited rentals for the day. I guess this might not be too bad for a rainy day. No one mentioned DVDs during the promo or room tours.

 

[ivanova]

My DH is a technology nerd - owned DVDs before we even had a DVD player. I'll let him know that he'll need to bring his laptop if he wants to watch DVDs.

We've got 3 "down" days tentatively planned for our 2 weeks there ... we might take advantage of the $20 unlimited movie rental deal on one of those days. Do you remember if they had fairly recent releases available, or older movies?

 

[jeff968]

They had some recent titles. When we were there, we went to one of the adult movie nights and watched "It could happen to you". I had never heard of the movie. When I was at Blockbuster last week I noticed it was listed as a brand new release. I'm a DVD guy as well.

 

[allicat]

Just wondering if you went to the time share tour and was it high pressure? If you went, was it longer than 90 minutes?
We are staying there for part of our trip and Im assuming they have childcare while you are taking this tour. I dont think my daughter would last in babystiing more than 90 minutes!

 

[Jackie824]

Do they give you anything for doing the timeshare tour? Last yr at the Vistana we got $50 up front for just signing up for the tour. Was wondering if it was worth it to listen to the timeshare presentation. We are not in the position to buy but if we got a good incentive to go listen we would.

 

[jeff968]

Allicat, jackie824, I'll respond to your questions under my HGVC review.