It happens every time I arrive at any Marriott resort to check in — I’m excited, I’m in anticipation mode, and I’m usually tired.
Parking Parking is free. One “all-area” pass is given per villa. Additional “garage only” passes are given as needed. The garage is closer to the main lobby, but you can totally unload your car at your villa, and then return to the garage. You could then ride the resort shuttle back to your room if it’s a long walk, or enjoy the outdoors. It is easy and convenient.
You will get a wrist band for everyone 12 years of age and older to show you are authorized to use the pools. Or you could donate some money to Children’s Miracle Network and get these bands — https://maxingmarriott.com/2020/10/06/have-you-ever-seen-these/. People who have them said very positive things about them — especially if you are going to the beach.
Now for some good tips!
Getting into your villas early if you have a large group with multiple villas reserved. In my last post, I talked about the advantage of having 1 villa check in a day earlier than the other villas in your group: https://maxingmarriott.com/2020/10/15/all-things-newport-beach-villas-before-you-go/ . Well this year is the first we did exactly that, and it was really nice!! What made it truly AWESOME was that because I had called ahead and requested our rooms be together, https://maxingmarriott.com/2020/09/25/tip-alert-how-do-i-get-that-room/, in order to accommodate the request, Marriott kept the other two villas empty the day before they were needed. So . . . . . when I checked in a day early, they told me that I could complete check-in of the other villas the next morning. I had keys in hand for those two villas at 8:00 am the next morning!!! Even those who flew in on an early flight were able to go directly to their villa and unpack. I don’t know if this will happen every year — we will try it again this year. But it definitely worked for us this year. You might want to try it out!
OKAY the other great tip that NO ONE TELLS YOU ABOUT is saving money on groceries! The best place to get a few groceries, in my opinion, is Pavilions. It’s pretty close to the villas. When you are at the check out counter in their store, make sure you tell them you are staying at the Marriott Newport Coast Villas, and they will give you the member discounts. It makes a difference — I saved about $5 on our $24 grocery bill when I was there in July.
There are other places to get groceries — Trader Joe’s is fairly close and we love their snacks. We also make a drive to Costco when we have the whole clan. We set our GPS to avoid all toll roads for this trip, or you’ll be paying a hefty toll. It only takes about 10 minutes longer if you go the long way avoiding the tolls — well worth the time to save the money.
The only other thing you might want to do before you get going doing all the fun things you have been dreaming about for weeks — get a list of the restaurants that give discounts to anyone staying at the resort. It doesn’t make our decision of where we will eat, but there are number of the restaurants that we would eat at anyway, and it’s nice to get a free dessert, or 10% off of our order.
Let the adventures begin!!!