It was an excellent stay - great location, friendly staff, clean & spacious suites and good onsite amenities. We did not spend a lot of time at the resort as this was a Disney trip except for 1 day that my wife and daughter spent in the pools and spa (I played golf).

Location: It is 3 miles from Disney Parks - the main entrance to the resort group (Royal Palms is part of 5 other Marriott resorts in the same location - though spread out) is on the highway that leads straight to Disney Parks. The Royal Palms snakes around Hawks Landing golf course (more on that later). It is 6 miles from Sea World (easy route to and from) and 35 mins from Lego Land (no doubt the best park of them all).

Resort: Clean & spacious with great staff. They were accommodating and pleasant to deal with. The 2 bedroom suites were spacious with usual but latest amenities (washer, dryer, flat screen TV's, iron/board, etc.). The balcony is covered with table & chairs - so no bugs or debris gets in - great for morning breakfast! We could see the 16th green and the lake which was great. The master bedroom has a jacuzzi tub, which was great - plenty of towels and soap/shampoo/toilet paper (they do not service rooms if u are resort exchange - so unless u are a messy person/family then you will complain). The rooms come with safe's and flat screen TV's - the living room has a DVD player also. There are pools all over the resorts (you can use ALL the pools in ANY of the resorts on the property - great deal since they have a large indoor pool as well). You can grill and even do simple grocery shopping in the Royal Palms check-in center (Market Place) - but as expected it is expensive - par for any resort/hotel you may travel to. There is plenty of parking, and they even have transportation to take you to/from to other resorts/golf course/restaurants in the Marriott community. Onsite basketball, tennis and shuffle board courts - small but functional workout room. So all in all, a lot to do and be comfortable with.

Restaurant: The restaurants in the Marriott resorts are expensive, the food is good but it's wiser to eat out for better quality with the same prices - and there are plenty of restaurants within 10 miles. We went to Orlando convention center area (about 10 miles) and there are a lot of choices - including upscale retail shopping. They have a lot of delivery services that come to the resort so you have that option too.

Spa: The wife used it and said it was good...and they have packages for kids too.

Golf: Hawks Landing is a good course. Not overtly difficult but water is in play on 15 holes (with Gators!). The greens are 8/9 on the stimp meter and the course is in great shape. The staff is friendly (the manager ended up being from my home town!) and it is easy to get on. However - this place is pricey ($124 with rental clubs in the afternoon) for the type of course it is, so I would recommend that you look online for coupons - the guys I was paired with did that (golflinks or tee-time watch). But easy on and u can get the local shuttle to/from the resort.

Timeshare: The exchange was easy and we got no peer pressure to go sit through a presentation. When we checked-in we were directed to the timeshare people - they were very polite and not pushy but tried to offer me a free round of golf to come sit thru a presentation - a polite no was all that was needed. They did give us a lot of travel maps and visitor info however so I was pleasantly surprised. If you do decide to go (they can give u a lot of cool perks - parks tix's, golf rounds etc.) make sure u drive yourself to the presentation center and not take the bus - as then you are at their mercy - prior experience!

Parks: The entrance to the Disney parks is only 3 miles. Then there are splits to all the different parks once u enter the main gate. We visited Magic and Animal Kingdom (our daughter is only 5 - so other parks did not make sense - too young) and the drive is simple and easy from the resort. Parking is $14/day but it is VERY efficient and I still marvel of how coordinated it is (you have to take a people/shuttle to the park). Though after a full day coming back and waiting for the people movers can be tiring for some though we did not have a problem at all. Word to the wise - if going to Magic Kingdom - split the park into two days (left side and right side of the parks). Animal Kingdom is fun but can be covered in one day. The water rides are awesome.

CAUTION: ALL Disney rides are VERY short (except Peter Pan) so going off-season is recommended (we were there Dec 3-10) - I cannot imagine going peak season and having to wait 30 mins to 1 hour (which is very common) for a 1 or 2 min ride. We never waited more than 5 mins for any ride except one.

Sea World is amazing and worth the trip. The Dolphin and Killer Whale shows (35 mins each) are worth the admission price and they do have cool rides there!

Lego Land is by far the best of them all...it brought the kid out in me. It is about 35 mins from the resort but an easy drive. EVERYTHING is made of Lego including life size Darth Vader, Ford Explorer, etc. The rides are amazing - perfect for young kids - my daughter and i rode each ride atleast 4 times and she LOVED it (Coastasaurus rocks!). The driving school is fun and the kids actually drive their own car! The miniature cities will dumbfound you - did I mention everything is made of LEGO!...the details of DC, Seattle, Paris,etc...amazing and you need to spend time reviewing everything...don't pick it as the last event to see!