I stayed here on a business trip and had a large suite (living room, kitchen, separate bedroom). It was spotless, ever so comfortable, and my only complaint is that I wasn't able to stay longer! Beautiful property, great service at check-in, and exceptional care by the manager when we had a minor mix-up with rooms. Highly recommend!

We have stayed at Grand Vista every January, or February, since 1996. We are now completing a four week visit during which we have been in four different apartments. Several of the apartments have foam mattresses which are too large for the fitted sheets, or is it the other way around? In any case the sheets come loose from the mattress in a night or two. Marriott has, like most hotel chains, adopted heavy comforters for their bedding which are much too warm for tropical climes, unless you turn the thermostat to 68 degrees, or lower. If you do this you might wonder why you are coming to Florida. Marriott claims to be going green so you may wonder why they don't encourage less air conditioning??? To save paper (or money) they have dispensed with daily delivery of the 'USA Today' directly to the rooms. Instead, they require that we trek to the main office, which can be as much as 0.3 miles distance. However, during the first two weeks of my stay they were out of papers by 10 AM. almost every day. A visit with the management resulted in them holding a copy in the office just for me. Too bad about the others who have not made special arrangements.
We have had several visits from the maintenance personell regarding the use of the TV sets. They have installed fine flat screen TVs with DVD players; but after a year still do not have instructions for their use in their "Vacation Experience Guide". Their suggestion is to call for instruction! As a topper, the TV's channel guide does not include the new HD stations, therefore you have no idea what's playing!
Marriott has not yet figured out how to provide a good night's sleep for an adult on one of their convertable couches, at least for a good sized adult. It's little wonder. As couches they sag in the middle and are extremely difficult to sit in, or get out of. During this four week stay we have also experienced doing without the only elevator for a day. We've had two toilets stopped up by normal useage, had a telephone replaced and reported lights burned out. (Do you begin to share our concern for the aging of the facility and lack of attention to interior maintenance?)
From a positive viewpoint...... The location is excellent, the grounds are beautiful and well maintained. The lake is pretty, as is the golf course and the Tuesday evening entertainment with the dueling piano's is great. It's just a shame that Marriott is losing sight of being a provider of a comfortable residence.

This is our 4th visit to the Grande Vista. I am writing this review from our villa. I know many reviews have been written and although the resort has a Wow factor upon arrival, the reviews should be better, one would think. Marriott just needs to make a few changes to give this resort a better showing at Tripadvisor.

We are Marriott owners at two other resorts and so this was a trade. We tried to get into Cypress Harbour ( our favorite) but no room there for this week. I like this resort very much but have not had the same consistent service from the staff as at Cypress Harbour. That is what gives this resort a lower rating. It mostly comes from the front desk upon ck in, spending on who you get.

I called 3 months ago to put in my request for the building we wanted.....we like to be near the Copa Loca outdoor poolside restaurant. Any of those buildings will have a panoramic view of the lake with the fountain or the pool. You need to look at their map. This time we requested the newest building, #77, or #78, right next to it. We thought it would be nice to be in the newest units, thinking they would be in the best working order. We own 2 bdrm units at our other resorts so that is what we requested. The agent at the front desk was very nice and saw my request on the reservation asking to be in either #78 or 77 and ABOVE the 2nd floor in order to have great views of the lake. She said she had a lakefront unit for us on the 2nd floor. I asked if there were any units above the first floor.....she then promptly put us on the 5th floor upon the 2nd request.....great.....you just have to ask twice, I realized to get the upper floor. Our 2 bdrm villa was beautiful upon arrival, but there was a strong smell of fresh paint and we had to open the patio doors to air it out. The building had recently undergone a soft goods renovation. Building 78 next door is undergoing a renovation right now, so there is occasional noise from hammers and workers hauling things or power washing. the view is spectacular from our terrace, so no complaints there.

The difference between buildings # 77 and 78 are the second bedroom suites. They do not have the lock off feature. They do have a balcony.

The biggest problem for us are the new mattresses Marriott is installing in the units when they refurbish. They are VERY hard and no pillow tops or memory foam as in the past. Also, the pillows are way too soft...no choices of pillows as before.

The 2nd thing is that they no longer deliver a USA TODAY newspaper to your door each wk day morning. they told me that in an attempt to go "green", they are only offering the newspaper at the front desk now or in their Marketplace store. I understand this, however, this is a very large property and a long walk for some people, especially seniors. My suggestion to them would be to at least have a newspaper stand by each elevator .

Minor issue: the hand towel racks in the bathrooms are placed too low on the wall so that the towels drag on the counter. The safe is not working...needs a new battery or something. So we take our valuables with us each day, based on other reviews I have read of room theft. Also, the master bathroom shower door does not shut properly....I mention this because on our last trip here, we had the same problem in a different bldg.

Other than the above issues, the resort is lovely and so much better than staying in a hotel. the location is so convenient to Disney parks , Sea World and Convention Center. Would I stay here again? Yes, but it would not be my first choice.

We have booked here for one whole week thru our Interval International timeshare. We got a 2BR suite good for 8 pax. Unit was big enough with a complete kitchen and laundry facilities and typical of a timeshare unit of Marriott which is of course superior. The first room has king sized bed and with jacuzzi and the second room has 2 twin beds, and the living room has a pull out sofa good for 2pax. The resort was huge and the pool area was great. We normally do theme parks in the afternoon, so during mornings my kids do fishing activities while my husband played golf at Ritz Carlton which is nearby. There are a lot of activities in the resort. The area is very near Sea World. I would suggest to have a car rental in this area. I can say that this resort is really nice.