Your Favorite exchange you thought you would not like

[btcctomtb Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close btcctomtb]

I have asked many many people where was the one place you did not want to exchange to that turned out to be a great vacation.

My personal favorite; I was really wanting Vegas or Sedona. Prime week of course, and could not get what I wanted so I settled for Mesquite #2033 with RCI. I loved this vacation. It was the perfect place for a first time gambler to go. The dealers in the casino actually took the time to teach me how to play the games I thought I knew. I learned Craps and Blackjack in the casino on a Friday during peak times. A good question would be would this bother me now since I almost know how to gamble, and the answer is no. I have visited 2 more times and they did the same for other players and it did not bother me. On top of all this it was a great home base for exploring the canyons and desert, We visited the North Rim, Bryce Canyon, Painted Desert, and Zion National Park. Plus it is not to far from Vegas to catch a real Vegas show. Another great big plus about the resort is the Vista Golf Course and the horse back riding through the desert which was arranged by the resort.

Anyway I thought I would post to see where the other hidden gems are. Anyone else have any suggestions on a vacation similar to mine. ( I have got a blue studio week that doesnt trade well and not worth alot of points if I do Points for deposit. Therefore always looking for a gem in the rough)

some of the other places I have stayed and really enjoyed but was not really looking for are;

Fairfield Glade (Went for the Golf)
Silverleaf Fox River Resort (Illinois and close to home)
French Lick Villas (also close to home)
Sedona Springs (to me a camping like experience with alot of good people)
The next exchange is to Massanutten and I already know I will like that one.

[Glitter Brunello Super Moderator Find all posts View Profile Close Glitter Brunello]

BION, Marriott Grande Ocean.

I had never heard anything about Hilton Head but golf, which we don't play. I took the exchange b/c it was the only thing my first-purchase-but-at-least-it-was-resale Cypress Harbor Sport (sort of Gold) would pull. We have gone back to HHI every year since that first exchange 7 years ago (one summer we went twice), except for this past summer, and I am sorely missing it. I often use this as an example when trying to explain the flexibility required for successful timesharing, and how it can be a broadening experience.

Nice topic!

[EAM Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close EAM]

Worldmark at Wolf Creek

We wanted to go to Colorado one summer, but by the time we could make definite plans, we couldn't pull anything in Colorado. So instead, we got a 2 BR at Worldmark at Wolf Creek in Eden, Utah. Beautiful area. Lovely, large well-equipped units. Snowed a little in June. Relatively close to SLC. Good hiking in the area. We had a good time.

Other nice places we have stayed but were not necessarily our first choice include:

Blue Ridge Village in NC
Crown Point Resort in Arkansas

And I agree with the OP that French Lick Springs Villas, Fairfield Glade, and Massanutten are great places to visit, even though they may be easy trades.

[bigfrank Administrator Find all posts View Profile Close bigfrank]

Many moons ago. We had just come home from being at Disney for 3 weeks on a Tuesday. Well I felt we needed a week to relax , So Wednesday I called Rci to see what was available as a last minute getaway. I booked The Jordan Grand in Maine. I did not know it was an 8 hour drive from me as I thought it was about 5-6 hours. Anyway we Left a few couple of days later. It turned out to be a great vacation. We did do a lot of driving as we went to MT Washington, North Conway NH and other areas. We had a Moose running next to the car. We saw many wild animals and foxes and raccoons were all over the place. We enjoyed Sunday River as well as the shops in Bethel.

BTW I will look to see if I still have the picture of the Sunrise from the room and edit this post to add it in.

[shopgirl Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close shopgirl]

The one that stands out in my mind is one of the most recent, just this past July.

We requested a Maui two bedroom for July from II and had set dates for our Shearwater that we had to work around. The next day, the II rep called back with a week at Kahana Villa Vacation Club. I took the week because it was a two bedroom and we had such a difficult time getting a two bedroom the year before and had to actually buy a week.

Anyway, I read all the TUG reviews on the place and had major second thoughts. I almost called to cancel the week, but then I talked to a Consolidated employee at Gardens, Mele, and she told me that KVV is pretty nice and I will be pleasantly surprised. It was amazing and really deserved a Five-Star rating, though it is about the same as Gardens, even the same counters and identical bathrooms. It was great.

[lawren2 Malibu Beach Barbie & A Super Moderator Find all posts View Profile Close lawren2]

Williamsburg Sunterra Powhattan.

We had arranged this so we could get 2 units one for us and one for our friends. We got 4th of July week with a dog trader. I hadn't joined OY yet.

Probably 6 months before our vacation I read the reviews and prepared for the worst.


It was probably one of our BEST timeshare vacations! There is just so much to do in the area and the units were quite large and clean <of course Spence had sent me a list of recently renovateds to work with and that helped a LOT!>

You will have to let me know how you like Massanutten as that is something I can pull easily with that ame dog and might give a try someday.

Great thread idea!

[bigrick Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close bigrick]

This is not so much about me as it is about my wife. We went to DC in 2000 and I've been exchanging our way south since. We spent a week in Williamsburg which she hated from the beginning since she does not like history or museums. So I worked pretty hard finding things there so she would have a good trip and I could still see some history. Even Virginia Beach wasn't her thing although I had a good swim until the rain and lightning
began.

All that is a a lead up to this year's Virginia trip which she dreaded since I booked it. A week on the Outer Banks followed by a week at Massanutten. I promised the second week would include caving which she DOES enjoy.

We stayed at the Golden Strand, right on the beach. Beach goers parked in our area and loved the beach every day. Not us. We did see the Wright Bros Memorial (the one thing I wanted to see). We got the car stuck in the sand one day and had a fun time (with lots of great people who took the time to help us out) getting unstuck. My wife still laughs telling this story which eventually spread into another day (when we took the people who rescued us out to dinner in Virgnia Beach). Manteo was a neat town to explore and bike in (which she loves) and see movies. She liked climbing the lighthouse on the north shore too. And we actually did set foot on the beach outside our unit after we checked out on that last day. She is not a beach girl!

Massanutten was big. And pricey for us if you wanted to buy. But the caves in this area! WOW! And so many different caves in pretty close proximity! Luray also had a maze which kept us amused for a long time. I even got her to go to Monticello one day. We hiked the Blue Ridge some. She found a toy store that she still buys from. She liked this part of Virginia!

Lots of good stories about people and places came from these two weeks. Unexpected joy!

I find that all the time so I am always anxious to go places. My wife is reluctantly discovering this. What seems like a total bust can be the best experience ever, it just depends on your attitude.

[shopgirl Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close shopgirl]

History and museums, those are right up my alley! Rick and I love to drive some of our vacations and stop along the way to see what history the town has to offer.

We have yet to go to Williamsburg, though, and need to do that one for sure. The amusement park there does not have any interest to me. I wish Disney would have gotten some land there, which would entice me for sure.

We have had so many really great vacations and can only think of a few that were duds. Sometimes the location really was so important that the unit quality just didn't matter. Peacock Suites was one of those. We had no idea it was a hotel room and were disappointed at first. It turned out okay, very close to everything we wanted to see, including Disneyland.

I am pretty careful about our exchanges, generally. San Clemente Inn was the pits, but the location was great.

[shaggy Moderator Find all posts View Profile Close shaggy]

Cindy , if you like history you will love it. My daughter Kelli, didn't even want to go but she got so involved that she loved it in the end. That just reminds me of a "tale" I need to tell on my forum. Hugs, Shaggy

[shopgirl Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close shopgirl]

Shaggy, Williamsburg is definitely on my to do list! My minor is in American History, but with an emphasis on Western American History, so I know lots about Indians.

Another trade we were hesitant to take was a week at High Point in Orlando, but it was a last-minute trade for summer and we took what we could get. The units were not very nice, actually very basic and needed major updating, but this was many years ago, about twelve years ago. Anyway, we were disappointed in the unit but the kids (all four, including our son's girlfriend, were teenagers at that time) had a wonderful time at the pool and met a bunch of kids and spent every evening outside. Our son actually saved a four-year-old from drowning at that resort. Jeremy took lifeguard training and noticed a little girl trying to tread water. By the time he got to her, she was headed to the the bottom of the pool. The parents were oblivious.

I think the week turned out great, but it is only because we had peace and quiet for hours. We did laundry in the community laundry room several nights and met some nice people there as well.

Our second week was pure luxury compared to that one. It was Celebrity Resorts, one of the big units with the lockout and a washer/dryer. Those don't even make Hospitality with RCI anymore. It was extraordinarily nice and such a contrast to the first week, but the kids missed all their friends at the pool.