Overall Resort Rating: Slightly below average. Wyndham’s presence and demand for quality are conspicuously absent.

Unit rating: Above average

Commentary: We stayed at the Wyndham Fairfield Plantation (Villa Rica, GA) during the summer of 2011 while on a family vacation with my wife and pre-teenage daughters. The facility is off the beaten path and nowhere near anything of historical or tourist interest. You should plan for a 40-65 minute travel time to activity in the metro Atlanta area. Do not let this discourage you as most of the path of travel is via four lane interstate highway or mass transit railway. A car is a must.

The “resort” is part of a 3400 home planned community with a 250+ acre man-made lake and a golf course. The timeshare and rental properties are sectioned off as an enclave of units on the back side of the development in a condominium community near the marina. The Google Earth satellite shots are old and do not provide a reasonable representation of the area. We stayed in the Lake Tara Villas 2 in a two bedroom deluxe unit. The overall layout and placement of the building structures is odd and yields very few units with direct lake frontage or lake views. The resort appears to be one of the properties that was inherited from Fairfield at the time of the merger with Wyndham. We do not think Wyndham has put much into this property as we believe their inventory in this facility is very limited. From what we saw many of the units in the section appear to be privately owned. The unit we stayed in was well maintained and offered spacious living areas. That said, the doorways into all the bathrooms are 24 inches wide. That combined with the layout of the fixtures in the bathrooms and water closet may create problems for those with mobility or larger body girth issues. The decor in the unit was attractive and well put together. The bedding and furniture have been updated but the countertops and kitchen have not. The kitchen is stocked with all the usual timeshare cookware inventories. Our only detracting comments regarding the kitchen are about the small physical size and the inaccuracy of the oven’s cooking temperature. The televisions and DVD/VCR player are older models and need updating. The television in the family room was the only one that would support modern electronic game devices. The beds were comfortable and the linens were fresh. We absolutely loved the screened in rear porch. We ate most of our meals on the rear deck. The main indoor eating area is a nook with a bench seat that seats four comfortably; any more at the table would be a tight squeeze. The stacked washer and dryer will accommodate a normal family of four sized load.

Amenities: The marina is a snack bar that sells food, beer, fuel for the boats. There are no boat or watercraft rentals of any kind on the property. Much to our surprise the open air bar hosts live music on Saturdays. They went until about 11:15 p.m. Fishing licenses are not required as the lake is a private lake. The marina does not sell bait.
There are several pools on the property. They are reminiscent of private back yard or local community pools. They offer nothing of significance and are run of the mill swimming pools. The one in the condo area is just outside the door of nearly every unit. It offers no shade so pack your own umbrella or be prepared to bake in the sun. All the pools were well maintained.

The property has two man-made beaches. Both are covered with imported real beach sand. The larger community beach is a twenty minute (1-1.3 mile) walk from the units. The pavilion has bathrooms, showers, and a covered veranda. There are vending machines but no snack bar. The Pavilion and beach are well maintained and staffed with lifeguards. The second beach is located within the condo complex and is very small and not so pretty or well maintained. The water in the lake was very clean and we had no concerns about swimming in the lake.

The recreation center is more like a recreation room and is in need of updating. The table games in the room are in various states of functionality and disrepair. The whole center and its contents are in need of a complete overhaul.

The county club/golf course was fare market priced for the region at $48 for a round with a cart. From the roadway the course looked well maintained.
Biggest let down: Our day trip to Stone Mountain Park. We counted a total of seven possible “things to ride” available within the park. The laser and fireworks show was average but a a slight let down. The cost of food within the park was outrageous (lunch: chicken sandwich w/ fries for four was $52). However, they do provide many venues in which you may consume food brought in from the outside. I would suggest packing your own lunch and dinner and plenty of fluids. We would not call it a must see, but it was enjoyable. Once in our lifetime will suffice. In my opinion as the guy paying the bills SMP was not worth it.

If you are looking for a mid-Atlantic lake based resort I would highly recommend the Lake Lure, NC area (but be prepared for sticker shock if you bring your own boat to put in).

My husband & I stayed at Wyndham at Fairfield Plantation the week of May 7-May 14, 2011. This was the most beautiful resort we ever stayed in. It was so spacious & was decorated very richly! The staff was so nice & friendly. if you had a problem, they took care of it right away. This is a wonderful place to get away & relax! You will not be disappointed if you go there for a visit!

Beautiful area. It is out of the way so if u want a lot of activity this is not it. If u want to go back in time. There are some restaurants in Carrolton. The Irish Pub is recommended or any of the other restaurants in the square. Its just a small block but it has everything u need including a coffee shop.

My family and my sisters stayed during spring break 2011. The area was very quiet and had steep hills to reach our unit. The unit provided space and privacy for 4 adults and six children including a upstairs loft that felt like a treehouse. The area was a little further away from Atlanta than we would have liked 45 minutes to 1 hour depending on traffic. The decor has been updated since the pictures on this site.