Hyatt Vacation Club at The Welk Reviews & Ratings

This is such a fabulous, year-round location! Plenty of activities (golfing, swimming, crafts) as well as spots to enjoy tranquility - whatever you want or need, you'll find it here. Easy (20 minute) drive to Temecula, explore "Old Town" as well as the wine country. The city of Escondido is just 10 minutes away - retail shopping, restaurants, grocery stores, etc. Convenient "hub" for exploring San Diego County including Legoland, San Diego Zoo, Balboa Park, and beautiful local beaches nearby in both Oceanside and Carlsbad. Truly a home away from home...our family and friends enjoy getting away to this great resort several times a year - nothing but good memories!

Welk Resort is a lovely place to get-away for the family. They have activities on-site, and a golf course for the guys. The Safari zoo is nearby and it is 30 minutes away to Legoland. A wonderful stay for the week!

Neat, calm, great for kids, Loved the location, facing away from sun, was not hot. Staff came during the week and washed the floor, kept things clean. Fast towel service. Over all, would come and recommend people to come here for vacation.

We have owned property all over the western US and this is by far our favorite spot. So much to do nearby, golf, casinos, seaworld, legoland, etc. and the location is perfect. The on-property golf course is perfect for a vacation course, not too tough, not too easy, and makes for a great afternoon or morning. There are numerous pools on the property and tons of activities for the kids. There is a pizza hut on-site and the resort restaurant has a wonderful menu. There's absolutely no reason to leave the property! We love it here and have been coming back for years. They continue to update the villas and maintain the property. This is one of the best family investments we've ever made.

Recently spent a week here using two 2BR villas. Both were recently refurbished, well appointed, and very clean. Response to maintenance requests was prompt and satisfactory. Grounds were excellent; theater was fun. Recreation centers were well organized, stocked and staffed. Front desk staff was helpful and responsive.

Only downside is that roof replacement (tile) was being done right next to our villas and it was busy with construction vehicles and comotion throughout the day. Also, if you are NOTa points member, do not subject yourself to the very aggressive and almost rude sales presentation up on the mountain.

It was nice to return to L Welk after several years elsewhere. Five stars all around.

We returned from our April visit, most days the weather was nice but still a bit chilly. The resort staff is friendly and helpful. I had read complaints on a few sites, but I couldn't find anything wrong. My kids loved the water slide at the Boulder Springs Club House. We just had a fabulous time. I had also read that the magic and comedy show was great, but it was simply OK. The week we were there they brought in a Comedy Hypnosis guy that didn't seem to be too successful in hypnotizing people.

We travel with our kids a bunch and this is one of the nicest places we have stayed (except for Hilton Head - such a great city). The 35 - 40 minute drive to San Diego did get old, but it is worth it to stay at a very nice place like the Welk Escondido.

We just got back from a stay in the Villas. We had a 2 BR lockoff unit. Since we have a teen, this was very nice. She enjoyed having her own 'apartment'. We found the unit to be very clean and spacious. All the appliances were newer and worked well.

There were tours each day to various places. We took the Los Angeles / Hollywood tour, which was OK, but a three hour ride and, being as we're close to New York, we were not all that impressed.

We had signed up for a Mexico tour, which ended up being cancelled - not enough people. Remember to bring your passport if you come here so that you can go to Mexico! We ended up scheduling our own tour with Coach America and enjoyed it immensely. We took the half day (afternoon) tour. Definitely go!

We also parked at Old Towne and took the trolley tour to various other places. Worth it! Balboa Park is great to walk around and there are lots of museums to see. The Seaport Village was also a very scenic place to stop and there are many shops there. Old Towne has a lot of Mexican restaurants and also a lot of tourist shopping.

Facilities at the resort were plentiful. We did go to eat at their restaurant one night, The Canyon Grill, and were disappointed with the quality of the food. Skip that one....

All in all a nice resort and we would definitely return here if we are back in the area....

Our unit was beautifully decorated and very spacious. We overlooked a lake and had a great view. The unit has not only two bedrooms with two full beds in one and a king in the other but a great sofa sleeper in livingroom. Very comfortable. Big kitchen ...tons of activities for children. Great activities for children on sight. Fishing in lake. Executive golf course and tennis. About 35 min to San Diego....but in April it was warmer in Escondido which allowed the kids to swim.

We just got back from the Villas and we enjoyed our time there. The kids enjoyed the waterslide and kids water play area. The units were good and we like the split floorplan of having the living room between the two bedrooms. It was also nice to access the two bathrooms without having to go through a bedroom. The resort provided two computers for internet use however they charged approx. $8.00/hour which is something we are not use to paying a fee. They have numerous pools, however we had an adult only (18 and over) pool right across from our unit. They have two 18-hole golf courses on site (both executive), but I would recommend playing the longer one (Fountains) which can be challenging. We were so busy we were unable to attend any shows or try the restaurant. We did find out the restaurant had a lounge, but it closes at 9:00 p.m. We saw that they will be getting a Pizza Hut on- site in the near future.

We would definitely go back given the opportunity.

The unit was spacious and in generally good condition. Our room had a very nice view of one of the two golf courses at the resort. We played the 18-hole course, which had no par fives, but was well maintained and enjoyable nonetheless. Restaurant was surprisingly empty for breakfast (not necessarily a bad thing, but odd). There wasn't a convenience store on the premises, so the need for a quick item required a 5-minute drive to the supermarket. Plan on a minimum 20-minute drive to reach La Jolla and 5- 10 minutes more for San Diego. Overall a very enjoyable stay.

I thought this resort was very nice!! I was however disappointed with all the construction that was going on, and that none of the shops were open. The staff was very friendly and more than accomodating. I would highly recommend Lego land if you have young children. It was awesome!

This place is great. Huge units, well equipped! Excellent facilities. Even had a desk in the master bedroom. The grounds are beautiful and well maintained. The only drawback I saw was the restaurant. It was good but not great. Getting to better restaurants was too long of a drive. I would go back again but the resort has a 1 in 4 rule on a RCI trade so it will be awhile.

This is the second time we have stayed at this resort; last time at Villas on the Green, this time at the Resort Villas. Both times we have been extremely impressed with the resort. It is one of the best we have stayed at over the years. Clean and well maintained; kids programs were good as well. The new waterpark is great. We'll be back!

The Description of this resort definitely needs to be updated. The resort actually has 3 recreation centers, 6 swimming pools and a children's pool making it 7. Nine whirpool hot tubs. A WATER PARK and WATER SLIDE!!! The grounds are immaculate and the Villas on the Greens (the new development on the Resort) are absolutely exceeding of Gold Crown! I have been to many so-called Gold Grown resorts and this one is truly deserving of it's rating. As far as having people their to change your kids diapers, well, heck, I think everyone should change their own kids diapers. Anyhoo, back to the resort... They are the only lock off in southern California that has kitchens on each side and not just an efficiency. The price is definitely what I expected. I mean come on, you can buy a vacation ownership for much less, but who wants to own in florida, where there is no supply and Demand or building restrictions. I think the price was right for Southern California--San Diego Co. Deeded real estate. The sales presentation was smooth. The lady who toured us was not cut-throat and very laid back. Which is definitely a plus. With the 2 for 1 exchange our lock off unit is worth 4 weeks of travel elsewhere. Great buy.. 4 weeks and 1 maintenance fees.

A five star resort. Close to many family attractions. Great place to just stay and relax.

For Rent 7days at the Gold Crown Resort Lawrence Resort Villas in Escondido, Calif. May 28th - June 04th 2005. For Only $600.00 for the entire week! Hurry this won't last! Call Annamaria at (562) 430-9641

Very nice resort.

5 pools, 5 jacuzzis, a lap pool, a small kid splash zone, a water slide (48 inches and up only!), a sauna, two small workout facilities and two golf courses make this an active person's ideal place. Grounds sweep over several blocks so just a beautiful walk around the property is good exercise.

I saw the show I Love You, You're Perfect, Now Change, which was well acted but pretty cliched writing, so not as enjoyable. I would love to see the players doing any other show, though.

If the resort wants to start catering to a younger crowd, as I believe they are trying to do, they need to include the younger children in kid activities. With a 4 year old and a 2 year old I found myself stuck. The staff is evidently unable to manage the possibility of a messed diaper, so won't take any kid under 4 in any of the great kids' programs. Older kids have amazing activity times--up to 5.5 hours for Mom and Dad to get a break while kids have dinner and fun with friends in a well- supervised setting. Also they have put in two children's rooms with ample books and play items just their size.

Sales pitch was low pressure and the newest units are AMAZING but waaaaaaay overpriced. Still the 2 week for 1 exchange rate makes this a resort we're strongly considering buying into.

It is remote. The onsite market is poorly supplied and convenience-store overpriced. The nearest supermarket is about 10 minutes away. You really must have a car if you want to do anything but golf or swim. The San Diego Wild Animal Park is within half an hour and an amazing experience.

As noted previously, the concierge is useless. Also, our unit was missing the in room guest directory facility overview booklet, so we had no idea what the facility had to offer until we asked the front desk TWICE to please get us one. I am very surprised that the monthly newsletter and the in-room guest directory have no information on the "new" waterpark area--it opened 3 months ago. Also an outdated blurb in the guest directory indicated that laundry was free because some of the new lockout units do not have washers and dryers in them. The laundry is NOT free, it's $2 a load. There was no change machine and the good folks in the rec office by the laundry facility had no quarters to buy. I had to walk my two kids to the restaurant to buy quarters off a waittress.

When they clue in to having activities for kids of ALL ages, they will have a 5-star resort. For now, I'm giving them 4.

Gold crown certainly justified. Expansive, well-kept resort with top notch amenities including botiques, a theatre, restraurants, executive and championship golf courses. Beautiful grounds and large units furnished nicely with most things one would need. We availed ourselves of several tours which were arranged by the on-site consierge including a trip to Mexico and a tour of San Diego. The dinner theatre Christmas Show was outstanding. There are many things to do should one choose. The San Diego Wildlife Park, the wine country and the smaller ocean communities were fun to visit. There are a number of casinos within reasonable driving distances should that be of interest to anyone. We did notice that a majority of the clientele seemed to be middle aged and up but that was of no concern. All in all, this was a very enjoyable vacation area. A car is necessary. We would go back.

UNITS WERE LARGE AND CLEAN. GROUNDS WELL MAINTAINED. DID NOT RECEIVE ANY INFORMATION ON AREA UNLESS WE WERE TO TAKE SALES PRESENTATION TOUR. CHECK-IN SHOULD HAVE BEEN MORE THOROUGH.

Large units good for families. 2 golf courses on site range from easy to difficult. Lots of retirees.

First class accomodations and friendly and helpful staff. Beautiful golf course, and something to do for everyone. We would definately recommend to all.

Gold Crown rating completely justified. Friendly, courteous, and responsive staff from check-in to check-out. Large, lap, childrens' pools all heated. Activity center in each sub-complex. Professional theater, excellent restaurant on site. Par three and regular golf course on site. Tennis on site. Villa had equivilent of two master bedrooms with large livingroom and kitchen. Only two small concerns - some cooking utensils were not provided, and check-in included a brief pitch to consider time-share tour. NOT ONLY FOR SENIOR CITIZENS, despite the name!