Woodstone at Massanutten & Woodstone Casas Reviews & Ratings

2009 Update from a LONG time Massanutten owner: In these economic times, sales staff will become even more pushy & relentless than ever before; buyer beware. As for the reviewer who stated that maintenance fee increases are outrageous ... I have to chuckle! At Massanutten, maintenance fees for a 4 bedroom lock-out will cost you less than $600/year (approximate $40/year increases). How much has your car insurance, home owners insurance, gas and heating bills gone up per year?? These increases merely reflect the ECONOMY (jeez). Now, if you would like to compare to Gold Crown Williamsburg resorts, maintenance fees for a 4 bedroom lock-out will cost you OVER $1,100/year (More than a $500 difference, per year, than Massanutten's maintenance fees). Do the math .... it's a great resort.

We not only own 2 timeshares but ALSO decided to buy a year-round vacation home on the resort property because this place is fabulous! It's better than the huge crowds at Myrtle Beach, the Jersey Shore or Virginia Beach. If you cannot take crowds (umm, the majority of people DO vacation during late June - mid July), then perhaps you should rethink your timeframe. ANY destination will be crowded, especially with more people conserving their vacation time for the summer months.

My advice as a Massanutten timeshare owner AND year-round property owner is to stay away from the sales pitch, reserve your activities ahead of time (again, THERE ARE other people who vacation too) and you'll enjoy a GREAT experience at Massanutten!

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When considering the DOZENS of resorts that we've visited, Massanutten is one of the most incredible we've ever experienced. Our family LOVES this resort so much that we decided to purchase a year-round vacation home located next to the snow-tubing park/golf range!!!

The waterpark is now OPEN and it is fantastic!!! Our children range in age from 8 - 20 yrs. and each of them completely love the new indoor waterpark!!

The Massanutten Property Homeowners Association (year-round property owner assoc.) is now proposing construction of a go-cart track & batting cages!

Spring, Summer, Fall and Winter activities include: championship golf courses, 3 outdoor pools, 2 indoor pools, health clubs, spas, family movie nights, on-site entertainment, trout-stocked ponds, playgrounds, over dozen tennis & basketball courts, indoor racquetball courts & a gymnasium, horse back riding stables, 2 championship MINI GOLF courses, mountain biking, skiing, snow tubing, games rooms with billiards, air hockey, pinball.

I was curious to read all the reviews since I own at Woodstone. In general, I agree with most of the reviews. If you remain focused on your living quarters, the amenities, activities, cost, etc. - it is an extremely enjoyable stay. They have everything.

The flaws mentioned in the reviews are correct. The sales staff (parking pass experience) is despicable. I went through the whole 2 hour process (4 hours later) just to get a free Activities pass - never again. I lasted the whole 4 hours and continuously said no - it was amazing how far they are willing to drop the price to get you to own. If you are serious to own here - hang in there - they will drop the price an easy 50% if not %75.

As for the overcrowding - that depends on the week. We own week 30 and even though it is busy, I never had a problem getting into the pool areas, the go-kart track, the lift ride, the tube ride, mini-golf, horse-back rides and even the water park. There is a lot more to do out there. Plan your week accordingly - phone to book your activities and enjoy. If you own, remember, you'll be back again to do the things you missed.

You need a car to move around in this resort. I recommend a bike as well to move around in the "bowl" area if you don't want to drive all the time.

If all you want is a vacation and have no intentions of buying - get the parking pass and sign up for nothing else. I do recommend the activity cards though - even though they are $100 a pop - still worth it, especially if you want to do a lot of the activities and tours.

My stay was mostly pleasant, however, I must report abuse from the overly aggressive sales. Yes, I agree with the many reviews below which praise the goodness and beauty of Massanutten, but, Great Eastern Management has tainted your resort experience with a downright vicious and relentless sales approach. For those of you who value your time, steer clear of the "owner's update/tour" or the free sales breakfast/dinner. You will be offered $100 or so, but the sales staff will pressure you, nag you, and nearly drain your will to live until you either walk away or write a large enough check that satisfies the company's voracious & greedy business appetite.

I have to share a letter with you that was written after being conned by one of the staff at what is suppose to be the Massanutten parking pass desk. Exhausted from the long trip to this resort, I misunderstood the saleslady who is supposed to issue guests a parking pass. I handed the saleslady a payment for what I thought was the parking pass, later to find out it was a $20.00 charge for an invitation to breakfast. It's hard to believe, but yes, the "parking pass counter" will charge you $20.00 for an invitation to a sales breakfast. Buyer beware, do not trust the folks who are supposed to furnish you with your parking pass. The second you hear the check-in desk official tell you to go to the parking pass counter to acquire your pass, you need to mentally arm yourself with the confidence and resolve to strictly obtain your parking pass and accept nothing else from the salespeople. This is unless you have the time, patience, and nerves to endure their high-pressure sales presentation.

At Massanutten, they have a trained sales staff that tries to play on your emotions, and they will hit you with rebuttals when you try to leave or decline their timeshare sale. When I contacted the sales division to decline the sales presentation service altogether, I was not refunded the $20.00 payment. This denial of refund goes against the terms and conditions of VISA's contract with businesses, and VISA was the form of payment used for the transaction. My legal firm is assessing this situation to weigh all options and to determine how best to proceed. For the many vacation-goers who have had run-ins with this kind of scenario, I am with you and I pledge to share any information/results that may help you to avoid or remedy shady practices of this nature. For now, though, the email address for the sales lions at Massanutten is sales at massresort.com. If you run into something like this, or would just like to support the cause; you are urged to copy and paste the second paragraph of the below letter into an email to the sales staff. Together, we can stop what has become a lackluster experience at a pushy timeshare complex, and help restore it into a five star deluxe resort accommodation. Thank you.

Below is the letter written to the Massanutten sales dept. and shared with RCI/Redweek & others to express my displeasure with the sales approach:

[Today I write you to reiterate that I have declined your sales presentation service scheduled for Jan 19, 2009. My method of payment was with a VISA credit card number ending 3821. According to the VISA terms and conditions issued to both businesses and cardholders, any service that goes unfulfilled or unrendered is subject to a full refund. Since I have declined your sales presentation on the above listed date, I ask that you please credit my VISA card the full amount of $20.00 within three (3) business days. Failure to do so will result in my contacting VISA, RCI, and all other concerned entities and agencies to report this incident.

I also request in writing, that in the future I not be approached by any member of the Great Eastern/Massanutten sales staff with any offer to attend a sales meeting. I would like the parking pass and nothing else from parking pass officials. Please do not make liars out of the check-in staff who direct guests to the parking pass distributors only to be dealt an aggressive salesperson . As a customer, I feel that luring vacation-goers into an aggressive sales session by using the parking pass counter is an unethical and dishonest ploy. This tactic gives timeshare resorts a bad reputation. Please restore my pride in Massanutten ownership by reconsidering and changing this practice. Thank you for your cooperation.]

***NO MORE ABUSE from pushy, aggressive and unethical timeshare sales practices!! Enjoy your travels! de

UPDATE 2/9/09: VISA issued a full refund after reviewing the situation***

Prices are very reasonable here for everything, anyone who says otherwise must not travel much. We've stayed at resorts from Canada to the Dominican Republic and this is by far the nicest, best priced, and with the most things to see and do of any of them. The units are very nice, no complaints there, not the most upscale I've stayed in, but very comfortable and relaxing, with anything you could need. Checkin is fast and easy even on busy weekends. We've been there for Christmas, Thanksgiving, and Presidents week when the kids are out of school and always gotten right in with no wait, and they have the nicest people working there. We own here and at a dozen other resorts and this is our favorite. We have had minor problems but you get those anywhere, things break, that's life, but the staff has always fixed anything immediately and on our schedule. We wish they took pets, but there is a great kennel (Wayworn Pet Kennel) we use when we go and it's right across the street. Yes, some activities are busier than others and can fill up but that is just a testament to how popular they are. If you can't get your first choice, then try one of the other 165 different activities they offer every week. We found Massanutten by accident through RCI and have been glad we did ever since! If you take the "tour" those sales people get paid commission only, so they will try to sell you, but no one forces you to go if you don't want the $100. Go, enjoy, repeat.

My family and I just returned from The Summit. It was awesome. My room was very spacious and nice. I even invited a few more guest later throughout the week. We visited Dec 19-26, 2008. Check-in was a breeze. The snow tubing line was quick and not too long for the X-mas holiday. Beware try to go snow tubing for the first schedule of the day, it's never crowded. The park is a little pricey like other resorts, however, using the 100 dollars from the time share tour helped with the activities for the family.The water park have half-price special for after 4:30, so that helps a lot. Also included with the tour, was a all you can eat buffet lunch free for my entire guest party, so I didn't need to eat at the restaurant ((whew). The food was outstanding, just like a 5 star restaurant. I have been a owner since 2006. This was my first visit. I am looking forward to returning within the next 6 months.

I would highly recommend this resort to any family with small children and young adults in their family. You will not be sorry. I have a 12 and 19 year old. We had a blast, on a frugal budget. I got 2 thumbs up for such a wonderful vacation. We traveled everywhere. Hawaii, Florida,and Mexico etc... The kids are already booking a spring/summer trip for the family to return back to Massanutten.

We live in Maryland and had never heard of Massanutten until recently. We decided to check it out for a free weekend (March 1, 2008) in exchange for a "90 minute" tour. My parents, husband and three children (6, 4 and 6 mos.) arrived and got upgraded to a casa de campo suite at Woodstone. The rooms were very nice- new, super clean and comfortable! Lots of space! We were on the second floor and my complaint was that you could definitely hear the people banging around above us. We attended the tour right after arrival- it was 4 hours long!!! While we were very impressed with the resort, we were very angry about the tour taking so long- completely unnecessary. Friday night my kids went to the kids club ($40 for 3 hours for both kids). It was great having childcare so we could go to dinner. We ate at the Farewinds restaurant- good food but service is extremely slow. Saturday we took my kids to the new waterpark- it was awesome! We had dinner there and it was good. Highly recommend. Sunday we did the candle making class- that was terrific and later went back to the waterpark so my kids could play the arcade games. We were very pleased with the resort and are definitely planning on going back in the near future. Lots of activities to do anytime of year.

We have owned at Massanutten since 1999. Woodstone has some of the newer units and they are very nice. I personally prefer to stay on top of the mountain, but have rented here several times due to the fact these units are much more accessible for my mother who is handicapped. Some of the sales staff are very aggresive, so be forwarned. Overall though you can't beat this place for amenities. championship golf courses, 3 outdoor pools, 2 indoor pools, health clubs, spas, family movie nights, on-site entertainment, trout-stocked ponds, playgrounds, tennis & basketball courts, indoor racquetball courts & a gymnasium, horse back riding stables, 2 championship mini golf courses, mountain biking, skiing, snow tubing, games rooms with billiards, air hockey, pinball, go kart track, kayaking, white water rafting, a huge waterpark, several restaurants now and they are saying they are now going to build a Mall and another waterpark!!!!!. I still didn't get them all. Some amenities are a bit pricey ecspecially the internet service.

We just returned from Woodstone and it was fantastic. The water park is unbelievable and the kids just loved it. We enjoy golf, so this resort is perfect and right next to the course. Because we have handicapped family members the access to the units is wonderful and especially with wheelchairs. I highly recommend this resort and don't base one poor rating on this as the true picture of this resort.

I don't think that you can effectively rate this resort because it depends on what section of "Woodstone" you are located in. We recently stayed in the newer "Casa De Campo" section and were extremely disappointed. From what I understand, the other units in the original Woodstone location (close to the recreation center) are a different story. We will not return to Massanutten, despite it's convenient location to our home. The resort is overdeveloped, with numerous timeshare units, and has not provided the infrastructure to accommodate all the guests. Everything is crowded, and everything requires a fee. Check- in was chaotic, with a line snaking through the lobby and out the door. We waited in line for 30 minutes and then had to go to another line to "fight" the sales pitches and obtain a parking pass. We endured three other sales calls during our visit, depsite informing them that we already owned at another resort and were decisively NOT INTERSESTED in attending a "survey." The water park is expensive ... and crowded. The classes and activities booked up, even though we called to schedule the day we arrived. Evening activities required a long wait in line -- 90 minutes ahead of show time in order to secure a seat at the magic show. The best part of our visit was stumbling onto a beautiful hiking path at the top of the mountain ... by accident. It's not advertised anywhere in the extensive resort information guides because it's not something they can make money off! Despite exchanging for a unit in "Woodstone" we were placed in Casa de Campo, nearly a mile from the recreation center we hoped to utilize. The units are new, but cheap, cheap, cheap - thin walls, bargain basement furnishings, shoddy construction. We could hear every word and every door slam in the neighboring unit. Our unit had ants in the kitchen and bathroom. We were disappointed on many levels, and we won't be back.

We just bought a timeshare at Woodstone. We own one in the Summit. Our family loves the mountains. The new waterpark is fantastic. Our kids, 11 and 13, including ourselves, had a terrific time there. There is plenty to do for ALL ages. Plenty of slides AND what's so great is that it's open in the winter. The tubes for the slides go outside but are all heated to accomodate the cold weather. We are planning on coming back this fall.

We just got back from Mass and it was awesome! We bought a timeshare because we will definitly be coming back for more. The indoor waterpark is phenominal. My kids said it was better than their week at Disneyworld! Now that is living proof! Our unit is brand new and I'm so excited to use it this fall! The outdoor waterpark is opening this summer and plans for a shopping mall are in the works as well. You won't leave the resort to have the vacation of a lifetime!

Beautiful units. Most of the floor plan is an upper or a lower each 2BR sleep 6. There are some units I hear that are new and are 1 BR. Master has a king bed. Second BR has two twins. Large BR in hall with spa tub. Try to get a luxury unit. There is a difference. In the regular units, the deck is through the master BR. There is a gas grill on the deck but taking my food through the BR just seems stange to me. Also, no one can use the deck for morning coffee is someone is still sleeping. In the deluxe or luxury units, the deck is off the kitchen. There is a w/d in the shared foyer.

Very upscale facility. Is also still an area with construction. Very near waterpark, but there is a fee for that ($25-35/day?ea)

However, if you want the mountains and trees, you need to go up the mountain to the Summit(s) or Mountainside instead. Woodstone is in the valley with golf courses around it not trees. We do so much at the rec center up the mountain, we wouldn't pick this if options available just due to location. Otherwise great condo.

This was one of the finest resorts in which we have stayed. The two bedroom ground floor unit was impeccably clean, decorated and maintained. The kitchen and bathrooms lacked nothing. I cannot comment on the activities and recreation opportunities as we did not use them.We drove the parkways, hiked the trails, visited the caverns and then relaxed on our balcony, sipping wine and watching the sunset over the mountains. We were there in September. We will go back!!!

We own a time share here at Wood stone and this was our first year to use it. We own week 34 and we were there 8/23 - 30/2003. For us this is truly a 5 star resort. We loved Woodstone! The condo's were all first rate. We were very pleased.

The area was breath takingly beautiful and all the staff we came in contact with were first rate.

The golf courses were also good though one was under construction.

We would go back again and again. It was relaxing/peaceful and most enjoyable. Ed/Lorraine Myles and family

Loved the area and the shopping found great slaes.

My girls and I stayed here for a few days of R&R, and we really enjoyed ourselves. The children's program were well-planned and thoroughly supervised. I also found the guided hike and various classes I partook of to be well organized and facilitated by professionals. All of us got a kick out of Jason Bishop's magic show that Monday Night.

The Woodstone Unit we stayed in was extremely clean, wonderfully decorated, and well-stocked. I didn't want for anything. We primarily ate at the Fareways Resturant which serves a Beef Quisadillia to die for! The food there was really yummy. I assume the Woodstone Deli served great food to, because the line at lunch was out the door.

If I had anything to warn future vistors about, it would be about being nickled and dimed to death. Pretty much every activity has some type of fee attached. The $99.00 dollar activity fee is a good idea because many activities are free if you have one. However, if you arn't going to be there the entire week, you may not do enough on the resort to make it worth having purchased one. On the other hand. anything you do or participate in will be worth your time and money. Finally, I'd like to say how impressed I was with the Check in/Check out service. These people have so many different things to juggle because of the variety of people coming onto the resort. There are the owners, visitors, and promotional guests. Everyone has to be handled a different way with different paperwork. But still everyone was cordial and efficient. I really appreciated that.

The front desk people will tell you that you can only have your room keys at a certain time. However they are very accomondating and will let you have your keys earlier if a unit is ready. Also, they have this great perk called a "smooth move". If you are staying in a different facility such as the hotel on the resort and you want to move somewhere else, you can immediately get the keys to your new unit the next morning with a minimal amount of paperwork or hassle. I loved that. I really recommend Massanutten to families. There is something for everyone to do everyday

Top of the line resort. Great family resort and things to do all year around. The improvements to the golf courses were a welcome addition. Rooms are very spacious and better than home.

This is a really nice place. Lots to do at the resort, something everyday and everynight. Nice mountain golf course and also a 9 hole executive course that is pretty challenging. Our unit was a two bedroom, well equiped three TVs and huge jacuzzi tub. You need a car at this resort, its huge.