My girlfriend and I spent Memorial Day Weekend at Desert Sun Resort from Friday 5/22 to Monday 5/25. It was our first visit since this past Thanksgiving Weekend and the changes John and Elizabeth Young have made in the past six months are quite impressive.
First, many people on this board have commented on the physical improvements to the resort. The changes are remarkable. The Chaparral rooms now enjoy fresh carpet, paint, and completely remodeled bathrooms. I was one of those who never really had too much to say about the state of the rooms beforehand - I thought they were adequate - but the changes really do put things in perspective. In particular, the previous bathrooms were very spartan and uncomfortable. The new bathrooms are polar opposites.
If there is one minor gripe it's that the furniture in the rooms still seems a little too snug for the dimensions. The table and chairs right inside the doorway is a pretty tight fit. But short of making the rooms bigger or removing the table altogether I don't really see a way around that. Just be prepared to scoot your chairs in everytime you want to come or go.
Secondly, the addition of the new fire pit is an absolute stroke of genius. The chairs are comfortable, the fire pit itself is warm and beautiful to look at (it's gas powered and topped with what looks like bits of colored glass), and the lighted water backdrop gives the whole resort a wonderful ambiance at night. The photo on the website just simply doesn't do it enough justice. My only regret was that we didn't spend enough time there the first couple of nights.
Moving on, the restaurant and bar service was greatly improved since the last time we were there. One of my previous complaints was the lack of poolside drink service. That problem was non-existent this time around. The resort has added a satellite bar and there was no shortage of servers making rounds around the pool, ensuring no guest went too long without being asked if they needed anything. The restaurant appeared to be serving steadily from the time we arrived (about 2 pm on Friday) until we left late Monday afternoon. Lunch on Saturday was served BBQ style, with burgers and hot dogs being served from the outdoor grill (I don't think I'd ever seen it used before) while sides and condiments were set up inside. It looked to be a great success.
And while the quality and attitude of the new restaurant staff was stellar, my only suggestion would be that the managers institute a little more organization when it comes to busy shifts. The restaurant seems to operate on a "come in, seat yourself wherever you like, then we'll come find you" style of hosting. For slower weekends that might not be an issue. But during a capacity weekend, it could be problematic. Because there are two avenues of entering the restaurant (either through the entrance proper or through an open patio door) guests can sometimes go several minutes before the staff notice them. Now, the restaurant isn't so big that anyone is going to be ignored, but rather what will happen (as did to us) is that our servers were overlapping their service. Instead of having one hardworking waitress, we usually had two hardworking waitresses that didn't know they were doubling their efforts. I suppose in the grand scheme of things that's probably one of the better problems to have, but it also seems like a very easy thing to fix. Assigning someone "hostess" duties to ensure that guests are placed at tables and waitresses are clearly aware of their charges might be something that only needs to be done during heavy shifts, but letting the guests seat themselves at all times doesn't seem like the right answer either. That being said, let me reiterate that the service (and food!) was fantastic all weekend, even if the organization left a little room for improvement.
Fourth, the activities that the resort set up were simultaneously engaging and non-intrusive. The first night there was a meet-and-greet in the Bare Buns Nightclub. We only briefly stopped by, but there was food and another satellite bar in there servicing the guests. We were more interested in the hot tub at that hour but appreciated the opportunity of some structured fun if we so chose. The next day, the social activities director organized a raffle for guests who'd bought tickets for the BBQ and gave out gift bags to five lucky winners. It was a brief, but welcome interlude to an otherwise peaceful afternoon. (I must also mention, the activities director whose name escapes me at the moment was nude during the day and made her way around to meet most of the guests...something I didn't expect.) That night, there was a dance in the Bare Buns complete with a DJ and a cash bar. It was very well attended, to the point that every seat and every table was taken. We made the mistake of showing up fashionably late, so we didn't stay long since we didn't want to stand in the back all night. But, it was fun while we lasted and from the looks of it most people had a very good time. There was one final, smaller event on Sunday night in the Bare Buns that was sparsely attended (a large group of guests chose Sunday as the night to head downtown) but the room was still open and available.
What I liked about the structured activities was that there was never any pressure to attend or overbearing advertisement. When you showed up, you were handed a schedule and given a short pitch but then you were left free to do as much or as little as you liked. We appreciated that. My only complaint is that the Bare Buns is VERY small. There's nothing the owners can do about that, although I'm curious what the venue across the bridge looks like.
Lastly, the crowd there was very diverse but pleasant. The Chaparral and Courtyard appeared to completely booked, and there were a good deal of day visitors as well. Every chair was taken by Friday afternoon. Saturday was filled even sooner and a few people were left to "suffer" on the grassy areas with just towels. Sunday was a little less crowded and Monday was probably down to about 50 percent of peak attendance by the time we left. The condo side of the resort was pretty barren the few times we went over to check it out, though, so apparently the water volleyball and restaurant were the big attractions.
I know there has been some discussion here about the level of nudity required at DSR, but my observation all weekend was that most people (i.e. women) went completely nude almost the entire time. At night, a few sarongs made appearances but even at the dance more than half the women were wearing absolutely nothing. There were of course no bathing suits, but a couple of guys inexplicably played volleyball wearing t-shirts which I found peculiar.
All in all, it was a fantastic and completely enjoyable weekend. We look forward to getting back there as soon as possible!
