Hotel Review: Marriott Grande Vista

…I wish I could say we loved it but instead I’m going to tell

You stay away from this one.

For reference, we are childless millennials in our early 30s. We love themed parks and make the drive down to Orlando semi regularly. I have stayed at MANY hotels in the area in my life. This was my second time at this resort (I stayed here once when I was a child the year it opened). Our priorities are clean rooms, adult relaxation time, park proximity, and dining.

if you are a family, especially with small kids, this review really will not apply to you-you’re priorities will be completely different than ours and that’s totally fine. Just with anything online context is king.

I’ll start with the positives:

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👍🏼 lots of activities for kids if you are a family

👍🏼the hotel is beautifully landscaped and maintained on the exterior

👍🏼large golf course & tennis courts for the sporty adults

👍🏼VERY close to SeaWorld Orlando (about a mile away) and Universal Orlando Resort (5-10 min drive)

👍🏼1,2, & 3 bedroom villas with full kitchen for larger parties

👍🏼if staying as a timeshare guest your room will be more updated than you may be used to to with was a big plus.

👍🏼One BIG pro for families:

if you are childless, staying for business, or looking to relax in peace and quite, this is not for you. If you are a family with small, active kids to keep engaged while on vacation you may love this place. Lots of classes, music blaring all day, movies playing constantly at the pool, multiple children’s play areas, kids-centric pools, craft classes, etc…

Now the cons:

👎🏼for the first 3 days in a row something in our room broke and we had to call matenence to have it replaced. They would then leave the old broken item in our room for us to store while on our vacation. We had a rekey go out and the lights and frogs turned off, which meant our $80 worth of perishable groceries all went bad and had to be replaced costing us time & money. The manager was supposed to contact us to give us a credit but never did.

👎🏼the pools are LOUD. From open to till close (at 11pm) the pools have movies or tv playing on a huge screen (which is very bright for those with a pool facing room) fitness classes with music blaring, kids pool parties, and general noise from the pools being packed all day. There is an adult pool but it’s maybe 50 ft away from the main pool (loud) and is only “adult only” for a few hours each day.

👎🏼this is the kind of resort where people go leave their towels to resource pool chairs at open and don’t come back for hours. We basically couldn’t use the pool because there were never any chairs. They have a lot of signs saying they stop this but they do not.

👎🏼pool towel vending machine that charges $25 per towel per day if you don’t return it same day. Annoying, expensive, and not good for the environment. It’s an automatic fee.

👎🏼we had mold in our shower

👎🏼rooms exit to the exterior rather than a hallway. This is really loud with cars, other guests slamming doors and talking loudly, animal noises, etc. exteriors are hard surfaces which make sounds louder. It also didn’t feel very safe.

👎🏼While the resort is gated, the gate is proper open at night despite there being a security guard. Each night he propped it open and didn’t come out of the guard house.

So no, we won’t be back.

Alternative Options I do love:

▪️Whyndom Bonnet Creek (my personal favorite)

▪️Most in the Disney bubble (favorites are , The Grand Floridian, Wilderness Lodge, The Polynesian, The Contemporary, Beach Club, Boardwalk) do you reserch and see which location is best for your trip.

▪️Renaissance Hotel at Sea World

▪️JW Marriott

Rating: 1/5 ⭐️

#travelwithme2024 #orlando #orlandoflorida #visitorlando #wdw #hotelreview #travelcreator #honestreview #Lemon8Diary #DISNEY

Check out my full review here

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