Sunny Summer week at Summer Bay Resort

The kitchen/dining/living area is floored with ceramic tile. The full kitchen was stocked with all the necessary appliances. It also had an apartment size washer and dryer. We have stayed at several gold crown resorts and never found one where the refrigerator had food left over from the previous occupants. Also, the toaster was dirty.

There was a nice TV and VCR. My son was pleased to find that the VCR had the right connections for his Xbox. When we first arrived the TV didn’t work but within 30 minutes it was repaired. I was impressed with the maintenance crew.

There was a sleeper couch, two tables, a coffee table and two chairs. The living area opened up onto a balcony that overlooked a pond with ducks. My husband and teenagers thought the striped couch with the floral back cushions was pieced together from two couches. At any rate, it was a bit tacky.

The Master Bedroom was carpeted and had a king size bed, a nightstand and an armoire with a TV. It had a door that opened up onto the balcony as well. The bathroom had a nice Jacuzzi tub and a good size closet. It also had an individual shower stall and a private toilet area. The one area of concern we had here was the sink had leaked and under it was a large spot of black mold. We notified them and there was no response.

The second bedroom was carpeted and had two double beds, a dresser and a TV. There was also a good size closet. The second bath had a shower/ tub combination.

Overall we had a nice stay at this resort but we did have some concerns. I mention these because they are things I would want to know ahead of time.

We had a problem with ants in the master bedroom. They sent their maintenance people to try to remedy it and they also sent professional exterminators the following day. When we were checking out my little boy found ants embedded in his blanket (the one he carries around and sleeps with every night). Most of the ants were dead and I had to shake it and pick them out. My biggest problem with all of this is that when my husband mentioned this to the front desk personnel they did not respond to it at all – just a curt "have a nice day."

We also had a fire alarm go off late in the evening for no apparent reason. It was just in our unit but we had to wake the children up and get them down the hall. When the security guard came he showed us how to disarm the alarm if it happened again. We were uncomfortable with the idea of sleeping with no fire alarm so we left it alone.

Best Things Nearby:
The resort is within a few miles of Disney. It is also relatively close to Universal and Sea World. It is close to a huge outlet mall. It is located on a major road with a good variety of restaurants. There is a Publix grocery store located just outside the resort gates.

Best Things About the Resort:
The resort is beautifully landscaped. It has several pools and a lake. It has tennis courts and a full outdoor basketball court. It owns a campground and has a childrens day/evenin program. The children's activity pool is a shallow pool with a playground/water slide. This was my kids favorite. The main pool had a hot tub and tiki bar.

Resort Experience:
When you first turn in the security gates there is a Holiday Inn Express which is part of the resort accommodations. Next you pass the villas, condominums, and houses.

The resort has a full array of activities. They had a mini golf course which was $6 per adult and $3 per child or $40 per family for the week. They loaned out tennis and other sports equipment for free. They offered tennis lessons and scuba lessons. They had a campground and used it for children's activities such as the children's day camp. At night they offered supervised children's programs with a campfire and a cowboy/storyteller. They also had an activity center stocked with board games and a desk to check out pool towels.

The main pool's tiki bar offered a very popular happy hour. The main pool was crowded (probably because of the happy hour). They had live entertainment at the pool. Honestly though, you would have had to be at the happy hour for a while to enjoy it. The band was just awful - loud and terribly off key. Then they had karoke nights. Drunk men singing "YMCA" and 13 year old girls (trying to look 21) singing Brittney Spears' songs just was not my idea of entertainment. The pool also had a huge hot tub. The water was hot but it only had a few sad little bubbles.

The lake had a small beach area with floaats to climb on and a water trampoline. You can swim there for $10 per person per day. It looked like lot of fun but when you got closer you could see that the water was filled with some kind of slimy looking vine thing. You couldn't have paid me to get in that water.

There were several pools and they all looked nice. The best pool there was the children's pool. It was a one foot deep pool with a playground. It had all sorts of interactive water play areas and a water slide.

We were told that the resort plans on building a mini water park in the next phase which is already under construction.

• Unit Type: 2 Bedroom
• Activities: Very Good
• Amenities: Very Good
• Unit Satisfaction: Fair
• Family Friendliness: Good
• Service: Fair

Universal Studios and Islands of Adventure greet you with parking buildings and moving sidewalks instead of oceans of parking lots and trams like Disney. At the end of a long hot day it is a godsend to come back to a car that has been parked in the shade.

Our family has a challenge to find vacation spots that please everyone because we have two teenagers and two seven year olds. Universal is great for everyone.

Universal replaced the old King Kong ride with the Mummy, this year. It is a great indoor, dark, scary roller coaster with lots of special effects (if you keep your eyes open) and surprises. Adults and teens will love it. The ride itself isn’t that rough but SPECIAL EFFECTS COULD SCARE THE LIVING DAYLIGHTS OUT OF LITTLE ONES. Ride it first and decide for yourself.

They replaced the old Flintstones ride with a similar Jimmy Neutron ride. It’s a fun simulator ride. It made us all laugh.

There is also a new Shrek 4D movie. It was a great 3D movie with special effects. It was worth the 90-minute wait.

The E.T. Adventure takes you on a "bicycle ride" through the night sky to E.T.’s home planet. This is a sweet ride and will always be one of my favorites.

Back to the Future is a great simulator ride with cars just like Doc Browns flying time machine. The ride has all the elements from the movie including the music and Biff.

Men in Black is a great ride where you shoot aliens and earn points. Your car is competing against another car. This is a great ride, but be warned that the exit is a big bug’s mouth and a lot of fog. When my daughter was five she came unglued and wouldn’t ride anything else.

Twister is a great show with a "funnel cloud", rain, thunder, lightning and even a flying cow. Don’t miss this show.

Earthquake is another of the original rides and it is a great one. It has explosions, floods, cracking streets. It’s a great show.

Jaws is another of the original attractions. In my opinion this one is silly and needs to be replaced. Ride it if the line is short.

Woody Woodpecker Kid’s Zone has a kid size roller coaster. It also has Fieval goes West playground which has all kinds of slides, climbing areas, rope ladders, etc. It even has a tall water slide that goes fast but not too fast.

If you have little ones take them to the Barney show. I made my seven year olds go and they protested that they were much to big for Barney but they loved it despite themselves. The Barney looks and talks just like the PBS Barney and there is rain, snow and falling leaves. Your kids will love it.

The Animal Planet Live show is great too. Real animals doing tricks is always fun. They also use video screens and audience participation. Everyone will love it.