Dreams Puerto Vallarta OR VillaMagna?!?!

[jdusold]

Allyson- did you have your ceremony and reception at the hotel as well? IF so, what locations did you choose?

[Sandy]

Jdusold - I am having my ceremony and reception at a villa but my guests are staying at dreams villamagna. I can give you lots of info though on contacts etc. I will send you a message tonight.

[ChicagoPT]

The food was drastically better at PV! We were really disappointed with Villamagna. Much better buffet, great food and atmosphere at seaside (its more of a dinner restaurant at PV rather than the lunch spot by the pool), etc. We actually talked to the new head chef at villamagna about the food (it was a cocktail hour thing with him). He was talking about correcting all the issues they were having. They have had a huge turnover in head chefs/manager since they opened. I think he said they had like 3-4 changes in a year. So maybe the food will change.

 

 

Melissa

[ChicagoPT]

The food was drastically better at PV! We were really disappointed with Villamagna. Much better buffet, great food and atmosphere at seaside (its more of a dinner restaurant at PV rather than the lunch spot by the pool), etc. We actually talked to the new head chef at villamagna about the food (it was a cocktail hour thing with him). He was talking about correcting all the issues they were having. They have had a huge turnover in head chefs/manager since they opened. I think he said they had like 3-4 changes in a year. So maybe the food will change.

 

 

Melissa

[Malibubeachbum]

Hmmm, Villa Magna or Dreams PV or others??

Nicole and I did a recon. trip looking for just the right place. We stayed at Dreams PV but visited Villa Magna as well as Vallarta Palace and many other sites. Hate to be a downer, BUT. I asked Nicole to marry me at Dreams outside of Cabo. it was a wonderful place, however not a very kid friendly beach (typical Cabo). I was expecting the same quality at Dreams PV. Upon arrival we were placed in a hotel room on the first floor that overlooked a hedge and a bunch of alcohol bottles. Asked for a room in the new tower, explaining that we were looking at the place for over 60 guests. They were not helpful at all. We were moved to another room in the old wing with two beds. Dreams PV does have a certain charm. It is an older resort, but nice. The views are amazing with the combination of rock, beach and ocean. The turtle release was amazing! Food was acceptable, but not as good as Vallarta Palace. However, the pool area was extremely overcrowded. Way too small for the amount of rooms. I could see from my room, MANY people getting up at 8 or 9 am with their books, hats and towels reserving their poolside lounges. VERY annoying! They ran out of towels, promised to bring us some when they were ready. No one brought us towels, but I had to ask three times over the next hour and finally scored two towels. We were very disappointed with our stay, especially after the rave reviews on this site. It's an OK place but just not the "wow" factor we were looking for. We did not want for our guests to have to suffer the same lounge and towel quest we had to endure.

 

OK, Dreams Villa Magna

Very "white" very expansive. Rooms far away from the beach, unlike Dreams PV. One of the charms of Dreams PV, Vallarta Palace and many other resorts is the experience of eating by the beach/water with the amazing view. Villa Magna has NO ocean front dining from what I remember. Everything is set back from the ocean. It is a sterile environment. The wedding coordinator had some GREAT ideas and promised to send us some photos of weddings there, like the lounge area on the beach, but never did.

 

Vallarta Palace was very nice. We had stayed there previously and loved it. They have a guy that offers flaming mayan coffee in the lobby, very cool. Service was extraordinary. The downside. No more than four people in a room, so if your guests have a family of five, then tough luck or two rooms. We would have been staying there, but some of our guests have families larger than 4. Also, NO outside wedding planners allowed.

 

The Riu's: too busy, too tacky,too Vegas. Very nice beach front activities, though!

Nice indoor facilities if it rains, if you like the bordello look. I'm referring to the last Riu in the row in Nuevo Vallarta.

 

Decided on a fractional ownership place in NV with the wedding at Casa China Blanca.

Don't mean to upset anyone. I know people have had amazing weddings at all of these places and opinions are like @%$#^&, everyone has one, expecially me, just ask Nicole.

[aussie]

Thanks so much! I will reach out to her and see what I can find out.

 

Have any of you been able to lock a discounted group rate at VM?

[allyson779]

Quote:

Originally Posted by jdusold Allyson- did you have your ceremony and reception at the hotel as well? IF so, what locations did you choose?

Our wedding is not until 10/09/2010, but we are all set to have the ceremony on beach and for the reception we rented the restaurant-Oceana.
During 2009 we did multiple visits to both dreams and had a fabulous time which made for a super hard decision.

[jdusold]

I think we have decided on VillaMagna...the food when we went was fabulous- it appears that they have worked out the kinks some of you described. I choose VillaMagna because I was concerned about there being multiple weddings on my day/ weekend at PV. I also have had a much easier time getting in touch with the wedding coordinator at VillaMagna...PV takes several days to a week to get back to my emails, and are not as helpful at VillaMagna.

 

Sandy- any info on contacts would be great!!

[allyson779]

Congratulations.... I think you made a great choice. You really can't go wrong with any of the Dreams resorts.

With regards to contacts...I found that hiring a wedding planner helps and acts as another "go to person". Also they work closely with the resorts coordinator. The planner will be able to give you tons of contacts and recommendations of local vendors that they have relationships with.

Makes the planning process so stress free.

[jdusold]

Allyson- who are you using as a coordinator? I contacted Dazzling Details, but they don't do weddings over winter break Do you know of any others?