Description: Christmas Mountain Village is a large resort affiliated with Bluegreen Vacations Unlimited, a large timeshare developer and management company operating resorts mostly in the United States. This resort has multi-ownership structures so it is possible to rent a cabin, cottage, villa or townhouse style unit from a resort owner or an owner through the Bluegreen timeshare structure. They also have an RV and camping park on the premises.
Resort guests and owners have access to a full scope of amenities including dining and recreational options. In addition to their indoor and outdoor swimming pools, they are well known throughout Wisconsin for their golf course and ski slopes. Off property but very nearby, guests can also find horseback riding and snowmobiling.
Onsite they have dining options including Mulligan's Bar & Grill. During our visit, we considered going there to watch the Packers' game on Sunday night, but opted instead for a pizza delivered from Firehouse Pizza which is also offsite but very close to the resort. NOTE: When you are in the Dells you will no doubt notice all of the pizza places throughout town. Heck, this is a tourist area catering to families and kids, so of course they have plenty of pizza joints up and down the strip.
That said, be careful as you could be in for sticker shock when ordering pizza. Moosejaw Pizza and Dells Brewing Company is well known for theirs. Having been there several years ago, I was thinking it might be a good place to order a pizza. At $19 for a 14 incher with two toppings, I nearly fell out of my chair! The pizza at Firehouse was a couple of bucks less expensive . . . still a tad bit overpriced in my opinion given what we're used to paying for a really good pizza in Milwaukee.
As for the timeshare cottage we had, it was a very nice two bedroom, one bath unit that was freestanding without neighbors on any adjoining side wall. The total square footage of the unit was around 900 sq. ft. The living area was cozy and would have been on the crowded side if we had the maximum occupancy of six. The living room had a sleeper sofa and an arm chair. The wood fireplace was nice, although we didn't buy any wood to burn. (Wood is available throughout the area, including the resort's shop for $4/bundle.)
The eat-in kitchen would have also been a bit on the tight side has there been six of us using the cottage. The dining table only had four dining chairs, with two additional folding (card table type) chairs found in the closet. The refrigerator was full sized, although the range, oven and microwave were all on the smaller kitchenette size. Again for just two of us, it was all good.
We had two bedrooms which were spacious enough for two adults in each. The first had a queen sized bed while the other had two twin beds. Both had a dresser, average sized television and a hotel style clothes hanging area (no closets).
Our bathroom was the standard shower over tub, toilet and vanity with sink with off-name brand toiletries provided for those who enjoy that sort of thing from their lodging provider.
I picked up this rental from one of my timeshare forums for under $200 for the week. So even with staying just four days and three nights, $200 was still a great deal. I have found that there are a lot of rentals available throughout the year at Christmas Mountain Village with the going rate "in season" (summer and winter) of around $700 per week. Off season rentals can often be found for around $350 to $400 per week. Be aware, however, this resort does charge a mandatory $65 per week housekeeping fee. You should attempt to negotiate this into your rental fee when dealing with individuals who own there.
NOTE to those considering a future stay here . . .
I've read many of the older reviews here on IgoUgo and understand that this resort is a bit on the dated side. Some of the furnishings in many of the units are reaching the end of their lifespan. The resort understands this and has an expensive updating and renovation project in the works. Scheduled to begin in 2013, all units throughout should see improvements over the coming three years. Owners, including those in the Bluegreen timeshare system are paying sizable "special assessments" to complete the renovations that necessary to keep up the high standards owners and renters expect.
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