We stayed for 7 days at the Sheraton Vistana with a family of four. The price through hotels.com was excellent and the units are very large. The washer/dryer were great to have and the kitchen is fully equiped. Although we were in the Fountains, an "older unit", perfectly acceptable, even if signs of wear.

The service is very variable; When the toaster was not working, I received an immediate replacement, yet when the card key would not work, the response was not stellar. With two small kids waiting outside in the heat, all I want to hear is, we will be right there, not I will connect you with security. Thanks to the housekeepers who noticed the predicament and let us in.
When I told the front desk that all four key cards did not work, even though two of them never left the room, was told it was impossible.

When security did show up, he told us that this was the 10th call for the same thing that day. (memo to Sheraton, if it happens 10 times a day, you have a technology or system problem)

Zimmies was great service one day and painfully long on a different day. All in all, a good value for the price paid and close to shopping, Disney and the airport

I have previously written about a visit to Orlando last year which we enjoyed but the accommodation was less than stellar. There was a serious amount of apprehension as I was booking this year to stay for 3 weeks instead of the normal 2 - imagine if the living space was poor again??

I had read the mixed reviews about the Sheraton Vistana at LBV and spent a fair few hours worrying about which section I would end up in. We were placed in a 2 bed villa in The Lakes section - with only a handful of people waiting in a queue to register after arriving about 6pm. No diamond lane for us!

When the question of attending a Timeshare presentation was suggested it was not hard sell but friendly and we could easily have turned it down. We agreed to an appointment as we were a little curious to see what all the fuss was about - and 75 dollars for being willing to listen for a couple of hours was not to be sneezed at either. A Disney holiday, unfortunately, for those from the UK does not come cheap. To offset this shopping and petrol in the USA is much less expensive! (Petrol in the UK costs more than 3 times as much)

With some trepidation we drove round to find our accommodation and, despite our initial worries, the accommodation was not some dilapidated old building. True, initial impressions of the outside was a little disappointing - 4 levels of 9 villas (they would be called tenements if you were from Scotland!) but not exactly a multi storey tower block either!

However, when we went in and saw how much room we had we were extremely pleased. The main bedroom which was huge...overlooking a small lake surrounded by trees keeping it discreet and pleasant. The children each had a double bed in a large room and both bedrooms had spacious seperate shower/toilet rooms plus dressing areas with mirrors aplenty. Electrical points were everywhere. The kitchen area had sufficient equipment to satisfy any reasonable cook and my only minor gripe was that the Microwave did not have a turntable in it.

The patio area was sufficient to hold a table and 4 chairs to eat out if we chose - not that we did too much of that thanks to Sizzlers - more of them later.

The fixtures and fittings, whilst not new, were in very good condition, the decor bright and nothing dirty or broken. The cleanliness was a world away from our previous experience.

Towels were replaced every single day and the dish washer powder was supplied each day as well.

Note: decent sized towels were supplied at the pool which meant you did not have to worry about carrying your own - or the baggage space they would take up - we have to count our Kg's carefully for the flight back :-) The pool was clean and kept tidy jjust the same as the rest of the resort and there was a small restaurant if you were too lazy to go and make your own.

We had everything needed as 'a home from home' and very comfortable it was too. The children loved the TV in each bedroom plus the large one in the lounge area. Plus there was a decent selection of programmes we could watch if the rain appeared.

The location of the Vistana in LBV is ideal for Disney, Universal, Walmart, The Malls, International Drive and just about everything one could ask for. It was also nice to get a friendly wave from the Security personnel every day on your return. Everything was beautifully kept and the setting was excellent. The Lakes pool was excellent for our children, 8 & 14, and they usually were in there most mornings.

Eating out: There are lots of nice places some expensive but others not so - the best we found by far was Sizzlers. Sizzlers Restaurants are to be highly recommended for a family of 4. Their 'kids eat free' coupons bring us back time and again - really good food at an exceptionally good price.

There were no bad points, apart from one restaurant - see below, but a couple of tips really. Can I suggest your daily cleaners try to talk a little more; 'Hello' was really all they could manage. The other point was the timeshare - can I recommend that some of the sales staff remember that not all your visitor's are American and we do not generally make decisions in a couple of hours to invest the best part of $50,000 dollars (£26,000) to buy 2 weeks timeshare. If you see us in the first week we have time to think about it and then if we say yes we are likely to be serious about it.

After all that I would thoroughly recommend the Vistana and would consider this an ideal vacation spot to return to. I saw nothing to warrant any of the poor comments about the Vistana - perhaps we were lucky or maybe some expectation levels are unrealistic. I have seen much, much worse in other countries.

Orlando Airport and the Mall at Millennia were both immaculate!!

It is a shame that it is virtually impossible for a UK citizen to come and live and work permanently in the USA. This is a beautiful country, appreciate it!

NOTE: One restaurant to give a very wide berth to is the NY China Buffet on the same road as the Vistana, the 535, just a few doors away from the Sizzlers. The food is poor and the service appalling. Definitely one to miss big time!! - bIt similar to Gatwick Airport really!!

Visited 8/20-8/27 and was given a 2bd (sleeps 8) in the Falls section. I was informed by the front desk that the room was recently refurbished. Well here goes, -

THE BAD: the sheets had stains, the blankets had holes (no kidding) and I told my kids not to use the comforters (only god knows). The doors on the showers were broken and the shower heads were coming off the walls IN BOTH BATHROOMS. I washed the linens prior to using and the stains did not come off. In the kitchen there were 8 DISHES, a few bowls, 1 frying pan, 1 pot 1 baking dish, 6 ash trays - you get the picture here. the room was clean but quite dated with pink walls, and heavy, heavy, floral drapes not curtains. on Wednesday, we were given a complementary cleaning. ok, the kitchen floors appeared clean, but were STICKY, and the stained sheets were still on the bed. NUFF SAID. I attended their timeshare and they tried to sell me a 2 bed. in the new Vistana Villages for $23K, however, since I was staying in the Sheraton Vistana, I was NOT ALLOWED TO USE THE NEW CLEAN POOLS AT THE VISTANA VILLAGES. I also, found out that RCI is considered 3rd class on the Sheraton Vistana list of guests. I was told 2x in one week by the staff. We did not use the facilities on the property .. thank god the weather was working on our side. I WOULD NOT RETURN. WENT TO ORANGE LAKE COUNTRY CLUB 2X TO ENJOY THEIR FACILITIES.

We were there July 16th -23rd..It was a little family reunion, they went out of there way to get all 3 families on the same floor and my friend who came in from London on the floor above us....They put us in the Cascades, our family and one of the other families are owners there and that is where we were supposed to be mine was through RCI and my sister inlaw owns at the Cascades....I'm not complaining the rooms are beautiful the place is really clean the maintenace people are great the houskeeping are very good, they always come when called with what ever you ask for in a timely manner....but I still really like the older sections better, the Lakes and fountains area is definately my favorite, then the Spas....for me the older units have a bit more space...I don't understand when I read people's negative reviews on this place..everyone I met at the pools were having a great time the pool areas were clean it was a bit windy when we were down there so yes there may have been a few leaves and things in the pool but it wasn't like anyone could control that it was taken care of.....I just think when people complain they just can't be happy and feel better when they do....so they are as well to stay at the RITZ.....I have been going to Vistana for almost 11 years and have never been disappointed I even go a couple times a year, I just rent it extra times just because we love it there so much..its like home to us....