Mystic Dunes Resort: The good and bad review you need to read

Mystic Dunes has something good to offer and a lot of bad. So should you stay at Mystic Dunes? Would I return to the resort?

I will preface this last page by saying I used my points to stay at this resort and thus it cost me nothing out of pocket sans the $3.99 WIFI upgrade that didn’t work.

Positives: 

• A lot of space for big families
• Clean inside and well-manicured outside
• Outdoor closed in patio or balcony
• Comfortable beds
• Large spacious master bathrooms and large enough second bathroom
• Really nice pool with a bar, cabanas, and slide
• Golf course, putt-putt, on-sight restaurant (did not dine here), and other entertainment amenities.

Negatives:

• WIFI and cell phone reception is almost non-existent
• The Master bath is not doored off from the bedroom instead it is open with little privacy if any.
• Traffic in the area is so bad you need to find other routes or allot more time to get to your destination.
• Constant calls to do timeshare presentations
• The front desk is hard to reach (they don’t answer the phone quickly) and they are not very cordial or friendly
• Our unit did not have a working dryer but I’m sure that is a unit-specific issue
• Lack of security presence. There are signs posted everywhere to lock your car and that the resort is not responsible for theft. There is little security visible once inside the resort.
• We locked ourselves out and called the front desk to get a key, they said they would send security over. Security never showed up and we found a cleaning person who was willing to let us in.

Overall – would I go back?
While the space at this resort is great and the grounds are well kept, I honestly can’t get past the horrendous cell and internet service that is here. I stayed previously at Parkway International which is another Diamond Resort hotel. It is located down 192 on the other side of I-4. I had no internet or phone issues and was only about 5 miles away from Mystic Dunes.

The traffic is so bad that we found ourselves leaving parks early to get back at a reasonable hour, even at night this section of 192 is horrible. At Parkway, we didn’t have those problems and while we may have had a lesser pool, we didn’t lose that much space and were able to accommodate the same number of people in the room.

I do not see myself staying at Mystic Dunes again. I just can’t spend a week fighting traffic almost immediately outside of the gates and dealing with the issues we had with the internet. There are comparable options around the area that will allow you to avoid the problems we had. Then again, if you are looking to stay at the resort with minimal adventures outside of it, it would work, provided you don’t mind the disconnect from the real world.