Trip to Orlando & Our Stay at The Sheraton Resort

This post shares our most recent trip to Orlando and our stay at the Sheraton Vistana Resort Villas, Lake Buena Vista/Orlando.

Heading to Florida

My husband had a business trip for work in Orlando, FL this past December 1st through 3rd. We were invited to go along. I knew it would make the kids happy since they’ve been desiring to go on another trip. More so, our first daughter’s birthday was November 29. We decided it would make her even happier if she was travelling to her favorite place for her birthday. So since my husband was off work into the Thanksgiving holidays, we decided to head to Orlando a few days prior to his work assignments to do family things and to celebrate our daughter’s birthday.

Driving to Orlando

It was a 5 hour drive to Orlando. With traffic and stops, it took us about 6.5-7. We rented a vehicle through my husband’s work. We’re so glad we got a big enough van this time so everyone could have enough room along with our luggage. We’ve had a long trip in a very small SUV before and let me tell you, that was very uncomfortable.

Arriving at the Sheraton Vistana Resort Villas

We arrived at the resort sometime around 10pm. It was all nicely lit up with Christmas lights. By the time we got settled in for bed it was around midnight. First, we had to check in, which took about 40 minutes. The line wasn’t super long so I’m not sure why it took so long. Then we needed extra bedding for that pull-out couch they had in our room. That took another 40 minutes before they brought them over. Once they brought them, we were all excited to get into bed.

Daytime Photos of the Sheraton Vistana Resort Villas

We were here about 2 years ago and really enjoyed the stay. I do love the set-up of this resort and how family-kid friendly it is. There are different groupings of building (like buildings 1, buildings 2, buildings 3, etc). I love that the kids could walk around and observe the ducks & fish swim in the ponds. I love that they can watch the water fountain in action. I love the he do-it-yourself BBQ area & the hammock to relax next to it. Love the various pools including the ones that are created with kids in mind. There’s so much to love about it. I’ll let the photos speak for themselves.

Pond Area – With Fish & Turtles

Further Down the Pond with Ducks

BBQ Hangout & Hammock Spot

A Random Turkey

The Pool Area

There are 4 pools a this resort. Two of them are more kid-friendly with areas for smaller kids to swim, a waterslide, a boat to play in, etc. We haven’t been to the other two. This one we’ve been two when we were here two years ago, and also another one where the water falls down from a “rock”. The kids could go into it while the water falls both inside and out. It’s so fun. We didn’t get around to going to it this year.

Such a Fun Pirate Ship for the Kids to Play in the Water

Other Side of This Same Pool

This the day before our sweet girl turned 11. She had so much fun in the water and on the entire trip! Plan to share her birthday in part 2, while on the trip.

It Was a Bit Chilly Once They Got Out of the Water

Recreating a Photo

I wanted to recreate a photo from when we were here for the first time two years ago. Except they were in bathing suits without the towels around them and were a bit more chillier.

Park

There’s also a little park next to this swimming area. I think we were so excited about getting into the water that we didn’t notice the park until after swimming (we’d forgotten about it from our first visit). But the kids were too cold and a little tired to want to stay and play in it.

A Water Fountain

Watching the Fish at this Pond Again

Heading Out to Dinner and a Bit of Shopping

Concluding

We stayed at the Sheraton Resorts from Saturday night until Tuesday morning. It wasn’t very long but there’s plenty for entertaining….. not to mention

• It’s in a very popular area, so much so that the great Sea World is right down the street. We even saw some families walking from the Sheraton to Sea World, for real.
• It’s very family friendly with everything mentioned about that you can do during your stay (even if you have no place else to be for the day).
• Some of the rooms are a tad small for larger families.
• Also, we were on floor 1 which was pretty noisy at nights and early in the mornings. Not sure if that is true for every floor and every section at the resort.
• Didn’t see any breakfast areas – I don’t know if there is any. Or maybe we simply paid for a package without that (my husband took care of these details).

Be Aware: If you are considering the Sheraton at some point, know that it is a Timeshare business. They will try to get you to attend one of their timeshare meetings for 1.5 hrs in exchange for $150 Gift Card. You can always no, you do not want a package. If you do attend, they will indeed try to string your arm into buying one of their homes. If you are not into this sort of thing just hold your ground. Kindly decline and take your $150 and go enjoy Disney or one of the other amusement parks near-by. We have done the timeshare two times before. Not this time but one time here when we came two years ago and another with timeshare at a different resort about 5 years ago.

But if you’re just looking for somewhere comfortable, beautiful, family friendly and close enough to the popular amusement parks while you visit Orlando, then this is a great option with very reasonable pricing.

I’m working on the next post with photos from the rest of the trip and what we did on our daughter’s 11th birthday while there in Orlando. She had a very fun time!

She looketh well to the ways of her household, and eateth not the bread of idleness (Proverbs 31:27).