Great visit to Desert Sun. The place looks as good as it ever has, with new green paint on all of the doors and trim. The volleyball pool has been resurfaced and looks great, and was the cleanest we've ever seen it.
Jack is certainly not there, and doesn't sound like he'll ever be back. His name came up more than a few times while we were there and everybody seemed to know much more than they were letting on.
We were disappointed that the restaurant was not open all week until Thursday, but I don't see how they could make a profit if they did open with the sparse numbers at the resort.
There is "new" furniture in the Chaparral rooms, but in our room it was most certainly not new. It was pretty beat up and the drawers in the armoire were broken. The furniture is way too big for the rooms, it made the room look even smaller and the size of the chairs and table made it nearly impossible use them and still move around the bed. The shower drains are still hit and miss, one day it drains fine, the next day you're standing in a puddle. The room A/C quit working on the day we left, making the room very stuffy and warm. The lack of wireless internet is also frustrating, although you can get service in certain places if you know where to look.
We were very happy about the new rule sheet we were given upon arrival, including no smoking around the pools, no cell phones and no laptops outside the rooms. Unfortunately, there was no staff to enforce these rules, as we had a few smokers around the pool and one person that had his cell phone out punching buttons a little too much for my liking (I determined that his phone had no camera, but still) It would be nice if a staff member periodically did a lap around the pools and enforced rules, it is a bit uncomfortable to be the enforcer as a guest. (if the cell phone guy had been doing what he was doing in the vicinity of my wife, I would have had NO problem enforcing that rule)
The guests are almost always the best part of the visit, and although we didn't socialize much this trip we do enjoy talking with other guests when the opportunity arises.
By and large it was a great visit, nothing so glaring that it deters us from considering DSR as our favorite resort. A few little things could really make is stellar though, and we hope that the new owners and staff are on their way to making DSR even better.
