Fred in Colorado

Location: Estes Park, Colorado

Date of visit: September, 2006
Reviewer: Fred in Colorado

Resort/Unit Description: This is the second time we have been to the Estes Park WorldMark resort, the first was in January, 2005. What a difference from then to now. The new construction is complete with units in 6 new buildings and the landscaping appears to be almost 100% complete. The swimming pool is open; there are three spas, and three barbecue areas. We were in a two bedroom unit with a king size bed in the master bedroom and twin beds in the second bedroom. The unit had a full kitchen and was equipped with the normal stacked washer dryer combo found in most of the WorldMark resorts we have visited.

The unit was somewhat smaller compared to some of the other resorts we have visited, but was in no way tiny. One difference is in the closet space. There was a small coat/utility closet and each bedroom had an armoire for clothes rather than a closet. That takes less room in terms of square footage than building in a full closet, but does limit the available storage space.

The Good: Situated on the bank of the Big Thompson River with views of the Colorado Rocky Mountains from many units, the resort is an excellent showplace for my home state. About 1-1/2 hours from Denver on year-round roads and just minutes from the entrance to Rocky Mountain National Park, it makes a good home base for exploring the park.

The Bad: A minor disappointment was the fact that there is no deck or individual barbecue grill for the 2 bedroom units. There are 4 new buildings which appear to be identical, each containing 8 two bedroom units. None of those buildings have decks or barbecue grills for the units. There are 4 barbecue grills located on the resort grounds for all to use.