Monday, August 04, 2014

Wyndham Reunion Resort*

This resort is very spacious, over 2,000 acres with Wyndham owning a small section of the property. It started out as a planned community. Probably was hoping to be like a Celebration, but didn't quite make it. Wyndham bought into it and added it this summer. Their section is toward the back of the property in two different villa areas. Our area was Sandy Ridge and was the farthest out, but it was right on the Arnold Palmer golf course and our view from our unit was quite nice.



To get from our unit to the front exit took five minutes drive time. There was nothing within walking distance except the pool in our villa area. There were eleven pools and a waterpark, but the pools were all spread out over the entire complex in different housing areas. The waterpark was between Wyndham's two villas, but we still had to drive to it. There was a large parking lot across the street from the facility and a walking path to cross. The waterpark had a lazy river, a slide, a large pool, and a water play area for children.


The waterpark had lifeguards on duty, a bar with yummy, tropical, fruity drinks, waiters that walked around taking your order, and a manned station that gave out towels and lifejackets. There was a sandy area for games such as corn hole and volleyball too. We visited it one afternoon and evening. The lazy river was way too slow and the water was hot and not at all refreshing. I thought the park too small compared with the attractions at Wyndham Glacier Canyon. I spent my time near the bar. The girls enjoyed the lazy river.



The unit itself was very nice. It was very spacious and with the bedrooms built at either end of the unit it was like having two separate areas. The teenagers hung out at one end and I hung out at the other and we met in the middle for meals.

Things wrong in our unit
  1. The lock on our door wasn't quite right. Or maybe it was. When we shut the door it did not latch automatically as all hotel doors do. The mechanism tended to get stuck inside the door so that we had to jiggle the handle inside to release them before the door would latch and lock. Sometimes we had to use the key to lock it. We eventually got use to this, but a lot of times upon returning our door was never shut properly. Because this didn't happen every time we shut the door we tended to think it was broken.
  2. The second day of our stay we discovered three caterpillars, two walking in the hallway heading toward the kitchen, one in Savanna's bed. Caterpillars are not roaches so I wasn't too worked up about it this being Florida. Madison rescued them and took them back outside, but Savanna hollered and carried on as if she had discovered snakes or rats wandering around. Since we never saw another caterpillar after that first day I really don't even count this as an issue.
  3. The dryer got so hot that we could barely touch the door to open it and it heated the little closet space it was tucked into like an oven. We did not leave the unit when it was running.
  4. We did not have any oven mitts to remove hot dishes from the oven. 
  5. Savanna also wanted me to gripe about the large grasshoppers that were in abundance outside our unit and around all the shrubbery and pools. Really? She wants Wyndham to control nature too? I don't think any of us expect that.

Things Wyndham Reunion needs to improve in Reunion
  1. The washer/dryer combination was odd. This unit was huge. In the master bedroom were two walk-in closets across from one another that were so large I could have slept in them. They were completely empty except for an ironing board and iron in one. Yet the laundry machines, for a unit that sleeps eight, was in a tiny closet tucked behind the door to the second bathroom. It was an up and down laundry unit and so small that we could not wash more than four bath towels at a time. If you are going to have large units you need to have larger laundry machines. 
  2. Some of the items on my improvement list for Pompano were already taken care of here in Reunion. For example, they handed out a list of rules and regulations at check-in. One of those rules was that they would not replenish household supplies such as toilet paper, paper towels, laundry detergent, etc. beyond that which was stocked in the room. I wouldn't have an issue with that if the number of supplies already given in the room made sense. Each bathroom had two rolls of toilet paper. The unit sleeps eight. Do they really think that in a week's time, or even in the five days we were there, that six rolls of toilet paper were enough? Someone in charge of TP obviously doesn't buy for his own family.
  3. It would be nice to have some blankets stocked in the unit. There are no blankets on the beds and none offered except for the pull out sofa bed. I suppose they feel the "duvet", and I use that word lightly because it is a poor man's duvet, is warm enough. Doesn't matter. Offer up some extra blankets in those two large closets.
  4. There was a working vacuum, but again, like Pompano, the broom was all crazy with bristles going in all directions. The kitchen was tile and after five days it got sticky. I would suggest adding a mop to the supply closet. If I had had small children that would have driven me more nuts then I got with the teenagers sticking up the floor.
  5. The Wifi was better then in Pompano, but we had to constantly log on with the password after it would kick you off. Darcy said it never reached her bed which was the one closet to the front door. In this day and age wifi is huge. Get that worked out.
  6. There was only one dumpster for our Villas and it was a hike to get to it. I have never encountered that with Wyndham, usually they offer trash chutes or trash rooms in the hallways. This dumpster was on the other side of the road and depending on where your unit was located it could be a stinky, dripping walk. There was also no recycling.
Things Wyndham Reunion did well
  1. We loved that we had a pizza baking pan and pizza cutter. We didn't discover this until after we returned from the grocery with supplies for homemade pizza making and finding those was a pleasant surprise.
  2. We had ten beach towels for our unit. We never used more than five, but high five for those extras if we had needed them.
  3. The knives in the unit were top notch, sharp and sleek. 
  4. The electrical box was hidden like a safe behind a picture frame in the hallway that was hung on hinges. It was a little touch that someone thought of to hide what would have been an eye sore. I would have mentioned this in the rules sheet though just to alert people.
  5. There was no real sales pitch. Instead they called it a workshop, it was worth my time, and they paid me for it. A much better experience in that respect than I've ever had before.

*I am a Wyndham Club Resort Owner and blog my experiences as such.

1 comment:

Michelle said...

It looks like your summer of checking out resorts is fun but a lot of work too. Of course that is the kind of work I think I could enjoy!