Resort Questions

For those of you that already had a time share at TSR, would you say that it is kind of peaceful, or over run with kids? If I stay away from spring break times, etc., is it less congested? I stayed at a place in St. Petes Beach in March and it turned out that my friends and I were the youngest people there (45, 48 & 51). It was sooo nice not having a lot of kids around the pool all day(even though I love my kids and grandkids), but we could go out to the clubs at night and listen to bands, dance, etc. It was a good combo.

I wonder when are you going we go mid feb to end march some kids, and yes sometimes noisy, during day night nice and quiet. i think the resort does it's best for instance hot tub shuts down about 10pm automaticaLLY also very nice bunch of timeshare owners. For those of you that already had a time share at TSR, would you say that it is kind of peaceful, or over run with kids? If I stay away from spring break times, etc., is it less congested? I stayed at a place in St. Petes Beach in March and it turned out that my friends and I were the youngest people there (45, 48 & 51). It was sooo nice not having a lot of kids around the pool all day(even though I love my kids and grandkids), but we could go out to the clubs at night and listen to bands, dance, etc. It was a good combo.

james2602 wrote:

I wonder when are you going we go mid feb to end march some kids, and yes sometimes noisy, during day night nice and quiet. i think the resort does it's best for instance hot tub shuts down about 10pm automaticaLLY also very nice bunch of timeshare owners. For those of you that already had a time share at TSR, would you say that it is kind of peaceful, or over run with kids? If I stay away from spring break times, etc., is it less congested? I stayed at a place in St. Petes Beach in March and it turned out that my friends and I were the youngest people there (45, 48 & 51). It was sooo nice not having a lot of kids around the pool all day(even though I love my kids and grandkids), but we could go out to the clubs at night and listen to bands, dance, etc. It was a good combo.

Thanks for responding, James. Now if I could only get the guy that's selling his timeshare to repond.....

Re: >> For those of you that already had a time share at TSR, would you say that it is kind of peaceful, or over run with kids? <<

20+ years of my own experience here tells me there is no single correct answer to your question and ANY answer at all must be determined by DATE. This facility was built in the early 1980's and sold out. Generational changes mean that owners' children (and even grandchildren) are now routinely in the mix. There are young kids there now whenever school is out, college kids during "spring break" (which somehow seems to get longer and longer all the time). In addition, BlueGreen acquired a whole bunch of weeks here and that also created another variable in user demographics. In short, it's impossible to give you an accurate answer that fits all weeks, except to say that if you want to encounter minimum numbers of children, go when they are IN school. Even then, you'll still encounter some children too young to yet BE in school.

P.S. I previously inquired about the RedWeek advertised week 20 for sale at TSR myself, but ultimately changed my mind and bought something else. The owner took nearly 3 weeks to respond to my inquiry, although I first inquired about 5 minutes after the ad first appeared. My advice is to be patient; Mr. Ellis will get back to you eventually (and the week for sale is actually in progress RIGHT NOW, so he's probably there using that week one last time before selling).

Good luck, enjoy.

ken1193 wrote:

Re: >> For those of you that already had a time share at TSR, would you say that it is kind of peaceful, or over run with kids? <<

20+ years of my own experience here tells me there is no single correct answer to your question and ANY answer at all must be determined by DATE. This facility was built in the early 1980's and sold out. Generational changes mean that owners' children (and even grandchildren) are now routinely in the mix. There are young kids there now whenever school is out, college kids during "spring break" (which somehow seems to get longer and longer all the time). In addition, BlueGreen acquired a whole bunch of weeks here and that also created another variable in user demographics. In short, it's impossible to give you an accurate answer that fits all weeks, except to say that if you want to encounter minimum numbers of children, go when they are IN school. Even then, you'll still encounter some children too young to yet BE in school.

P.S. I previously inquired about the RedWeek advertised week 20 for sale at TSR myself, but ultimately changed my mind and bought something else. The owner took nearly 3 weeks to respond to my inquiry, although I first inquired about 5 minutes after the ad first appeared. My advice is to be patient; Mr. Ellis will get back to you eventually (and the week for sale is actually in progress RIGHT NOW, so he's probably there using that week one last time before selling).

Good luck, enjoy.

Ken - Thanks for the thorough answer. So, I assume you already have a week at TSR and were thinking about buying another one? If so, sounds like you like it there. Do you have a flex or fixed week? If fixed, what are the odds of getting a week other than the fixed week you own? I wouldn't be crazy about going to Florida in late May, but February or March would be great. I thought maybe I could trade, or whatever, for a week earlier in the year if I bought week 20.

Re: >> Do you have a flex or fixed week?<<

2 consecutive fixed winter weeks. A flex week here would be next to worthless to me, since it would never allow for any winter usage. The ONLY time I ever want to be ANYWHERE in Florida is WINTER! Heat, humidity, bugs and hurricanes in all the other times of year have absolutely no attraction for me whatsoever.

Re: >>.....what are the odds of getting a week other than the fixed week you own? <<

If what you're really asking is "if I buy the week 20 (in May) can I exchange it for a week here in the winter?", then the odds of that ever happening are exactly ZERO. Bear in mind that there is already an "in house" waiting list of CURRENT OWNERS on file with the TSR management / sales staff --- owners who are looking to buy additional fixed winter weeks from other current owners (if / when they even become available --- and they very seldom do). These rare winter weeks of high value never even get publicly advertised before changing hands by private transaction. Practically speaking, why advertise that which is already actively sought out by an established list of fee paying, current owners? Additionally, owners can always rent out such valuable weeks for big bucks, so why would they choose to "deposit for exchange" in the first place?

RE: >>... February or March would be great. I thought maybe I could trade, or whatever, for a week earlier in the year if I bought week 20. <<

Unfortunately, that's really NEVER likely going to be true if by "earlier" you mean "during any winter months". You can't realistically deposit "copper pipe" and then reasonably expect to get "gold bars" in return --- and February and March weeks in SW FL are indeed GOLD. A winter week at TSR, rarely available for sale at all, last sold for somewhere between $5-10K (and I was not high enough on the waiting list, even after many years of ownership, to even have a remote shot at it).

I'm not trying to be negative or pessimistic, I'm just trying to provide you with a realistic and objective portrayal of the true facts, based upon my own knowledge and experience. My advice to you is don't buy a mediocre week (either here or anywhere else) if your (very mistaken) belief is that you can then somehow trade it for something far more valuable -- it just ain't gonna happen! Buy only what you'll actually use --- as is--- or that you are willing to trade for something of comparable value. Don't expect to get "more" for "less". There are far too many people looking for far too few available prime weeks for that to ever be likely --- particularly with RCI practices. If RCI had such a good week on deposit, they'd likely just rent it out themselves at top dollar. With RCI the unspoken motto now seems to be "profits first, members last". RCI has changed a lot over the years, and in my opinion NONE of those changes are for the better. But that's a whole other subject, isn't it?

Good luck.

Ken is telling like it is, i have 4 weeks there ( fixed) have been trying to buy 2 more for well over a year now with no luckso far. I do like the island towers resort and may try there for 2 weeks

RE: >> .... were thinking about buying another one? <<

I failed to address your assumption in my reply. My interest was initially to purchase the reasonably priced TSR week 20 for NO other purpose than to convert it to "points" into a RCI "points" account. TSR is NOT a "points" resort (and it doesn't plan to ever become one, at least to my knowledge), but any "weeks" owner at any RCI affiliated facility can choose to "deposit" an owned "week" into a "points" account (IF he/she also has ownership at a RCI "points" resort). Ultimately, I chose to skip the TSR purchase and just buy a points resort week directly, thereby already having its own "points". Our TSR weeks will ALWAYS be used at TSR, never deposited or traded, but I have two OTHER (much less valuable or useful) weeks at other places which I wanted to be able to convert into "points". Sorry to complicate the matter and/or my answer, I just wanted to make very clear that I did NOT consider buying the advertised week 20 at TSR for purposes of ever actually being in Florida in May. My brief interest was solely to buy that week to convert it into points every year --- and then use those points elsewhere.

Re: >> i have 4 weeks there ( fixed) have been trying to buy 2 more for well over a year now <<

Just a year??? I've been trying for over a DECADE now. In short, don't hold your breath.........

Re: >> I do like the island towers resort and may try there for 2 weeks <<

I've been over there, but not inside any units. Besides the obvious (a nice Gulf fronting location, which many other places also have), what is it that you particularly like about Island Towers?

we were on the third floor( about as high as i want to get) great view over the gulf. the units were very nice. clean, modern and up to date. i think all are 1 br. plus a pull out. carpets were clean kitchen utensils if not new certainly looked it, likewise furniture, same for grounds and elevator. just well maintained resort

We own at bothTropical Sands (3 weeks) and at Island Towers (1 week). They are both great places. Island Towers is right on the beach with gorgeous views off your patio. Tropical Sands is a very spacious unit with nice amenities. Hard to compare them as they're very different but both excellent IMO.

Nancy

Is there an elevator? Handicapped. Accessible rooms?