It was my first stay at the Marriott Grande Vista, but the above title alludes to the front gate lady who puts way too much enthusiasm behind welcoming each carload back into the resort from their day at the parks. If you've been there, you know what I mean - this lady belts it out while waving fanatically to you..

And yes the Marriott Grande Vista is in a great location for visiting the theme parks - with Sea World less than a mile away, and Disney and Universal easy 5 minute drives in opposite directions from the resort. Nearby is a very nice high-end factory outlet mall with designers such as MaxMara, Armani, Donald Pliner, etc. as well as the Lake Buena Vista area/Downtown Disney.

The resort is an easy drive down the Bee Line from the airport and is located off of International Drive. As you make the turn off of International Drive, you see a giant mirrored Marriott Vacation Club building - which had me wondering each time I pulled in, if that was the office building that Time Share owners personal information was stolen from (the week we were arriving in late December).

The building was most certainly the site of many 90 minute presentations on the benefits of time share ownership - though I preferred to pay for my trip in cash, rather than time.

Upon entering the property you pass the timeshare building and drive back about 1 mile on a road that has frequent speed humps, and a posted 8mph speed limit.

I reserved a 2 bedroom 'Villa'. For reference here's Websters definition:

1 : a country estate
2 : the rural or suburban residence of a wealthy person
3 British : a detached or semidetached urban residence with yard and garden space

Marriott's is a little different. They took the space occupied by 3 hotel rooms, in a 5 story building and combined them into a 2 bedroom 'villa'.

In fact, there were two exterior doors, with two different room numbers associated with our villa, although only one key was neccessary.

In any case, nomenclature aside (I would have called it a suite), the interior was very tastefully decorated with the main entry leading into a kitchen with granite countertops, full refridgerator stove and microwave, and a dining room, followed by a living room with a large television with a vcr - no dvd player - and no front inputs on the tv or vcr, making it a small pain to plug in your own. To the left was the master bedroom, which shared access to a small porch with the living room. The master bedroom had a large jacuzzi tub, and a door leading into the bathroom which had another door leading out to the kitchen area - the problem here was that you might forget to unlock the bathroom in one direction if you lock it when you're in. Causing people to have to scurry around the other side.

The second bedroom was essentially the size of a standard hotel room, with a very similar layout, bathroom, couch, tv, and the addition of a wet bar and small sink. The door connecting this 2nd bedroom to the rest of the 'villa' is the standard hotel connecting rooms doors, that lock on either side. I'm sure based on reservation demand, that Marriott rents this room out as a King room if it needs to versus being the second bedroom of the 'villa'.

The living room has a pull out sofa, so you really have 3 private rooms to sleep in - with two bathrooms. Really all in all, the villa is pretty spacious and well decorated, with high ceilings, moldings, and a tuscan feel.

The rooms were clean and with the exception of one Palmetto Bug over a 4 night stay, it was a pretty good location.

Not too much in the way of bath products was provided, soap and shampoo, and while this was a Vacation club property, daily maid service was provided.

The resort encompasses many different building and is quite large. We checked out a nearby pool area that had two pools - one standard, one lap, a hot-tub, and lots of patio chairs.

The resort had a 'Market' place - which had a small Pizza Hut, who's closing hours were of no small discussion (as they were closing earlier than advertised 9pm vs 11pm) and really was about the only food on the property that we sampled, aside from a convenience store with a nice selection of food and neccessities - though no microwave popcorn, interestingly enough. In the mornings you could get some coffee (starbucks beans, but not operated) and Krispy Kreme - a deadly combination - although there was no hot light for the donuts as they were brought in.

The only other interesting thing about the property was that they spammed your voicemail with Time Share related advertisements and or party promotions (I could only imagine the NYE party for timeshare residents) - and there's no way to delete a message until it's listened to, so unless you don't mind the blinking light (who would be calling us anyway??) you had to dial in to clear it off.



Recommended: Yes