4.5 Stars
9/10/21 - 9/12/21
Backstory
This was more of an Okammor staycation than vacation. Every weekend our kids are at home running around terrorizing each other and junking up the house. I figured it was time for a family outing. We used RCI points to book a room in nearby Clermont, FL, which was basically right next to Disney.
We actually missed the first night because we were too exhausted to finish packing and drive out there. Plus my wife wasn't exactly geeked about the trip, she didn't see or feel the need for a staycation. I spent about an hour, to avail, trying to get in touch with someone at the front desk to inform them of our late arrival. Whenever I'm going to be late for check in I always let someone at the front desk know so there's is no confusion when we get there.
So we woke up Saturday morning and i guess the sleep reinvigorated my wife because she was now ready to check out the resort. I gave them a call and finally was able to speak to someone at the front desk. I was informed that my reservation had been canceled and marked as a no show! Whaat! Kudos to the young lady who answered my call because after some back and forth she was able to reactivate the reservation. I made sure to ask to talk to her manager to share what an amazing job she did.
Staycation back on!
Hotel Review (Review starts from the moment we arrive)
Check in: Check in was a breeze. Normally the timeshare check in process is annoying because they are trying to pressure you into coming to the timeshare owner meeting where they say its 2 hours but actually they keep you there 4 or 5 hours. I was asked one time if i wanted to attend the meeting, after I said no to the meeting and no to the $200 resort restaurant card I was not asked again.
One thing to note, since my stay was shorter than 7 days I was charged a short stay fee of $75.
Room: Location, Location, Location! Our room was directly across from the front office with most amenities close by. There was a lake with water feature and pool about 15 yards from the back door of the room.
The room was perfect and spacious. The room was a 2 bed 2 bath split floor plan. You walk in to an open design with a full kitchen to the right that allows you to see the living area and out of the back sliding door. We normally cook and make frozen drinks during our vacations so a full kitchen is a must.
The kids room had 2 twin beds, TV, phone, and most important no whatnots. Lol. Although i eventually had to remove the phone from the room because my son thought it was his personal cell phone and was carrying it around the room. Right outside their door was a bathroom which was perfect for my daughter because she wakes up in the middle of the night sometimes to use the potty.
The master bedroom was great. Comfortable bed, jacuzzi tub with wooden blinds that allow you to see into the room from the bathroom. I like this ability because I like to take long bubble baths and so I was able to take my bath and talk with my wife while she laid in bed. Nice tile job in the stand up shower and separate room for the toilet.
Lastly, the patio area was good. Nice view of the lake and scenery. The only thing it was missing was a screen cover. That's important, especially if you are the ground floor because the resort has ducks and cranes that walk around freely and are not afraid of humans. We had a few walk up the patio while were there.
Buccaneer Bay: One of the main reasons we book the resort was to be able to take the kids to the resort water park. We had an ABSOLUTE BLAST! As we were walking in about 2 or 3 families were walking out and as we started setting up the last family left which means...We had the entire waterpark to ourselves! We didn't have to worry about being around other people, sharing slides, sharing space or anything. We ran around and played on everything our kids wanted to play on as much as they wanted to.
There were other attractions there like a huge bounce house, zipline, boating area, etc but because of the pandemic many of the attractions were closed.
Check out: Went well. Nothing out of the ordinary. We were parked right out side the room so no help or carts were needed.
Conclusion: This was a much needed staycation and we had a great time we are already booked to come back for a full weekend next month. We made reservations for one of their 3 bedroom houses with a private pool. Already looking forward to our next staycation there.