For vacation this year, we booked in the Silver Lake Resort in Kissimee, Florida.  We wanted to go to the gulf coast but couldn't find a 3-bedroom unit in any of the resorts so we had to make a change in plans.  My youngest daughter and I love Harry Potter so we settled for this resort in order to visit Islands of Adventure.

Booking:
We booked through RCI using points plus paying a booking fee.  If you own a time share anywhere, it's usually RCI you have to book through.  I don't think it's necessary to own a time-share to stay at Silver Lake as I saw where you could rent a unit for around $200 a night.  I'm not 100% sure of this so you may want to call and find out.  

Check in:
Check in is not until 4 but that's not going to happen.  At least it didn't for us and several other families waiting.  Those with small children were tired and only wanted to crash but couldn't as their room hadn't been "released."  It was nearly 4:30 before our rooms were ready and we could unpack and rest.  I considered this poor management and really felt for the families with children.  The people at the desk didn't seem to be overly concerned with the comfort of their visitors.  They stayed hunched over at the desk not meeting anyone's eyes and weren't all that friendly.  However, other staff we encountered in our stay were super friendly and helpful.

We were given info brochures and parking passes when we checked in and we also had to pay a mandatory security deposit of $200 (via credit card) which was refunded when we checked out.

Our parking passes were placed on the dashboard of our cars and were checked at the security gate every time we entered the resort.

Pets are not allowed.  No smoking in units is allowed.  If you smoke anyway, you could lose your unit and pay penalties.  None of us are smokers so this didn't apply to us.  There are designated smoking areas outside.

A Continental Breakfast was provided every morning at 8 but we never took advantage of it.  The men went down to see what kind of food was offered but said it wasn't the best so we either ate in our room or went out.

Check-out is 10 a.m.  

Location:
Silver Lake Resort is located at 7751 Black Lake Road in Kissimmee, FL 34747 which isn't far from Walt Disney World, Universal Studios, Typhoon Lagoon, Animal Kingdom and Sea World.  We spent one day at Islands of Adventure for the thrill of Harry Potter World but the thrill was lost due to the number of people who were also there to see Harry Potter World.  We were packed like sardines in a small can and could hardly turn around, move or inch towards points of interest.

Some local restaurants were the Olive Garden, Cracker Barrel, Outback Steakhouse, Longhorn Steakhouse (which we preferred), Carrabba's Italian Grill and for a good breakfast, we found IHOP to be the best.

Silver Lake is around 20 miles from Orlando International Airport and can be easily reached by car, taxi or public bus.

Our rooms:
We had a lock off unit.  Two bedrooms in one unit and one bedroom in the second unit.  There were 8 people and one baby.  An old fashioned metal crib (free) was provided but my granddaughter was always getting her legs stuck through the bars, was crying, and couldn't get unstuck so she hated the crib and rarely slept in it.

We had 3 king size beds, 3 flat screen TVs (62 channels), 3 bedrooms with Jacuzzi in master bath, tub/shower in the other 2 bathrooms, and 2 couches with pull out beds.

The master kitchen was small but fully equipped.  It came with a blender, coffee pot, microwave, refrigerator along with cooking pots and pans, plates, silverware and glasses.  Each unit was provided with enough basics to get you started until you could go grocery shopping.  An ironing board, iron and broom were also provided.

The kitchenette in the one-bedroom unit came with the same items as the master unit but, for some reason, didn't have a dishwasher.  

There's a local Publix, Target and Walmart close by for shopping.

The master bedroom and bath were very nice.  Only the master bath provided a Jacuzzi Tub.  A shower was provided in each unit with plenty of nice, thick towels, hand towels and wash cloths.  We could either wash them in the washer/dryer in each unit or have housekeeping pick them up on Tuesday and replace them with fresh ones.  With so many baths taken, we washed our own along with our clothes (even though we took plenty).

Each bedroom had beautiful white duvets with matching sheets and pillow cases.  The pillows were rather lumpy/flat and small so I'm glad I brought my own.  The beds were comfortable and we had no problems sleeping on them.  Each bedroom also came equipped with a flat-screen TV on the wall as did the living room.  The living room had a DVD player but we never used it.

The carpets in the bedrooms were clean as were the tile floors.  The living room had a tile floor with a huge red shag carpet in it and boy, did that thing pick up the lint and showed every piece of it.  We never had a vacuum cleaner in either unit so we had to either request the use of one or wait for housekeeping on Tuesday.  I wasn't fond of the glass dining room table but that's just a preference; wood would have seemed more logical to me.

Housekeeping did a wonderful job with little welcoming gestures throughout each unit and cleaned our units on Tuesday.    

Our Experience:
We had a lot of rain during our stay and spent more time in our rooms or taking advantage of the activities provided (for a fee, of course).

At first, my biggest complaint was no free wi-fi.  They did allow one laptop for one week at the price of $27.00.  My son-in-law got us around that but with so many laptops, we were lucky to get between 1-2 bars.  More than a few times I was ready to give in to their cheapness and pay the $27 but there was something in me that kept rejecting the idea of giving them more money for something that even the cheapest of motels give for FREE.  Shame on you, Silver Lake Resort.

Day 2 of our stay and I was at the front desk ready to hand over $27 for Internet service but the man behind the desk was kind enough to give it to me for FREE during the rest of my stay.  I could have hugged his neck I was that thrilled.  Thanks, John!

On the downside, Internet connection was very slow and reminded me of a cross between dial-up and hughes.net but it was still better than nothing; barely.

There was internet access in the lobby (for 30 minutes) but it was always full so I never bothered to inquire about it.  Besides, I wanted access in my unit and not go traipsing to the lobby every time I wanted to get On-line.

There are 3 pools at the resort but we only used the main one which had a snack bar and entertainment.  Due to the rain, we weren't at the pool very often.  The first day we were there, the entertainment was a young girl (an OK singer) and once she was finished, canned music took her place.  The pool, and pool area, was very clean. 

The Good:
Clean rooms, nice touches, comfotable beds, appliances worked, great staff, nice TV's, clean pool, great security and centrally located for your convenience.

The Bad:
No free wi-fi and charged for nearly all the activities offered at the resort.

The Ugly:
--The water smells bad so buy plenty of bottled water.
--We had around a 2 inch frog in my bathroom.
--My son-in-law killed a large spider (an inch or more in diameter) in the living room.
--I captured a small brown lizard in my bathroom and flushed him down the toilet.
--Another member of our party saw the lower outdoor screen on their patio covered in small green frogs.

We were on the ground floor so maybe this had something to do with all the animals we kept encountering.  If I needed to get up at night, I made sure all the lights were on so I could see where my feet landed.  I kept expecting a snake to join the procession and if that had happened, I'd have been gone as soon as I could have packed my bags.  When walking on the sidewalks, there were always small brown lizards darting about so I hated to be out after dark.  I hate small creepy crawly slithering critters.

Some amenities:
Shuttle service to get around to parks and other attractions for a fee.
In Room Safes (ours was broke).
Housekeeping & Laundry
24-Hour Security
Gift Shop
Club House
Game Room
Movie Room ($5 per person)
Children's playground
Heated pools

Overall:
Our stay was an OK one.  Due to the rain and storms we spent more time at the resort than at the parks or other entertainment sites.  The game room was rather large and wasn't crowded when we were there.  We didn't get to do as much as we'd planned but there's nothing you can do about the weather.  Due to the unwanted animals in our rooms, I'd not book at Silver Lake Resort again.  Minus the unwanted critters, you could have a very nice place for relaxing but it's the animals in our unit that compel me to say, "Stay somewhere else!"



Recommended:
No




Silver Lake Resort
7751 Black Lake Road
Kissimmee, FL 34747
For Reservations: tel:1-800-745-8373 or tel:%28407%29397-9721





Many thanks to Christal for adding this to the database for me.





ddustyrose June 15, 2012

Recommended: No