We’ve got a summer storm brewing outside this evening, so rather than my usual 3 km walk, I thought I’d do another PTR entry. It’s been super hot, hazy and humid all day.....at 10:30 this morning, our temperature was the same as Orlando’s!....and as the heat and humidity finally breaks, they’re calling for high winds (apparently gusts that could blow a car off the road), hail, thunder, lightning and possibly even a tornado. We’ve battened down the hatches and we’re staying safely indoors until it passes
.
Let’s talk accommodations then
.
As you might have guessed, we will be heading back to our beloved Sheraton Vistana Resort
.
Most importantly, we’re using one of our timeshare ownership weeks, which means we
know we’ll be assigned to our favourite section of the resort, Fountains I, in a two bedroom, two bath villa. The other sections of the resort are truly lovely, but the Fountains just feels like "home".
For our May vacation, we picked up an extra week at SVR in a one bedroom villa through Skyauction, so we knew Fountains was not a possibility (the Fountains, along with 6 of the other distinct sections within the resort, offer two bedroom configurations only). Our lovely one bedroom premium unit in Lakes was wonderful (and we were super fortunate to be placed very, very close to the Fountains pool) but yet, we missed the layout, style and “feel” of the Fountains Village.
One thing we did enjoy about being in Lakes: there was an elevator in each building, so we could be lazy and ride up to our top floor villa. In Fountains, its stair access only to the upper floors, aching legs or not:
We
always request a top floor unit via Diamond Lane check-in, about two weeks before our scheduled arrival: we love the vaulted living room ceiling with a skylight, and the peacefulness of no foot noise above us. And if I can be totally honest, all the extra steps are probably more of a blessing than a curse, as it helps us justify our vacation indulgences
.
We will have a full 1260 square feet of living space at our disposal which is WAY more than we need for just the two of us....but yet, after becoming accustomed to a villa for our vacations, we can hardly bear the idea of an extended stay in just a standard hotel room. And hey.....every woman travelling with a man knows that having two bathrooms is never, ever a bad idea
. Enough said.
We will most likely spend most nights (after the parks have closed) enjoying the Fountains pool and hot tubs: after a long day of walking around Universal Studios and Islands of Adventure, its great therapy for weary bodies. The Tacky Tiki bar always has some great music playing and we usually find some friendly folks from all over the globe to chat with.
The hot tubs:
And, the Fountains pool:
One thing we have VOWED to do this trip: rent a surrey bike and take a tour of the resort in style. They just look fun! (fingers crossed it won’t be too hot for an hour or so of peddling around the property)
We found the commute to Universal surprisingly fast and easy when we were there in May.....much better than we anticipated, with very little traffic. Of course, the construction on the I-4 may end up being a thorn in our side, depending on how it will have progressed by then. Definitely something I’ll have to check into in the days prior to our departure.
83 days and we’ll be checking in!!!