Best Starwood hotel option?

[ebjw]

We have Starwood points, so what would be best:
3 yo
1.5 yo
Bringing 2 grandmas
3 nights in January

Starwood hotels:
Dolphin
Swan
Sheraton Safari
Westin Imagine
Shearton Vistana Resort Villas (points?)
Shearton Vistana Villages I-drive (points?)

[Tinkerbell313]

If you are planning on doing all Disney, then I would do the Swan or Dolphin. You have the benefits of Disneys Extra Magic Hours as well as their internal bus and boat transportation system. Also, you are within walking distance to Epcot and DHS.

Hopefully, there are rooms available. We tried at this time last year to get rooms at both the Swan and Dolphin for any time from January 15th, 2011 on and they were booked. We ended up at POR FQ.

Hopefuly, you can get a room and have a great time.

[HallsofVA]

If you want a hotel with convenient access to Disney, do the Swan. I think you have to pay for parking there, but can take the bus (or boat) to the parks.

For Universal, the Westin Imagine is nice.

If you want a kitchen so you can cook with the little ones and have more room, try one of the Vistana villas.

[KLD313]

Vistana Resort is awesome, really close to Disney (5 mins by car) and a 2 bedroom will have plenty of room. We just stayed there last month, it was completely renovated and really nice.

[Kindra178]

Vistana Resort is awesome, really close to Disney (5 mins by car) and a 2 bedroom will have plenty of room. We just stayed there last month, it was completely renovated and really nice.

Just booked there. Was the whole place renovated, or just part of it? And what's the difference between the Vistana Resort and the Vistana Villages.

[HallsofVA]

We just stayed at the Vistana Villages (I drive location) dec 9-12. We were in building 7 which was being painted while we were there. Our unit looked fine, but the receptionist when we checked out said something about that whole building was going to be renovated. Seemed odd since everything seemed fine, but who knows.

We stayed for free using some free nights I'd accumulated via Starwood Preferred Guest program during the year, and ended up there because we couldn't get into the Swan. Honestly, I think it worked out better for us. While our free nights only covered a "standard" room, which is a 1 BR villa, we were upgraded to a 2BR villa which gave the kids their own room. The full kitchen was nice, and the washer and dryer were the best surprise, especially since I was in the middle of a two week stint of work travel and it was nice to be able to wash some things. As with any timeshare resort, they had a slew of activities if you were around the resort (we weren't), including in-room holiday stories read by "elves". We did have to avoid answering the phone, or risk getting sucked into a timeshare sales presentation, but that wasn't too hard.

We picked the I Drive location because it was the same distance to MK as Universal from there, and we did a day at each park. And the rooms were slightly bigger. However, the other location that is slightly closer to WDW/MK is also across the street from the drive-thru Starbucks we went to every night, so that may be more convenient for us in the future. If you are going to Seaworld, though, the I-Drive location is right across the street so it wins for convenience.

[KLD313]

Just booked there. Was the whole place renovated, or just part of it? And what's the difference between the Vistana Resort and the Vistana Villages.

Oh sorry I just saw this. The whole resort was renovated. I'm not sure about the villages, I've never stayed there.