nickglover
Mouseketeer
- Joined
- May 23, 2000
My wife and I had a great trip to VB starting on Monday 11/8, their "soft opening", for three nights, leaving on Thursday 11/11.
My overall impression was that Disney has of course done a wonderful job in restoring the resort.
The most noticeable change is the beach view. You no longer have to climb the stairs to The Green Cabin in order to see the water and the sand. You can see the water from a rocking chair on the porch, and if you walk onto the grass lawn, you can look down at the sand.
The view is even more dramatic from the water, looking back at the resort, because you can now see the entire resort! It looks great......but just a little bit too vulnerable for the next storms.
We went to NASA on Sunday and stayed in Cocoa Beach. On Monday we drove down A1A towards the resort and we saw more blue tarps on roofs and more construction debris the closer we got. The real damage was most evident from a little north of Sebastian Inlet to the resort. After we crossed the bridge at the Inlet, everything looked different. It took a while to figure it out. Heading south, you could only see mangroves and old growth to the right - now you can see a large body of open water and then a golf course and homes. On the beachside, you can see all the mansions and condos that used to be obstructed by vegetation. In short, a lot of vegetation was completely obliterated.
You also notice this at the resort. Many more rooms probably have some view of the ocean because everything has been thinned out so much. Many sea grape plants are still there but will need a year to grow back. Some big palms have been replaced. Most of the small landscape items were new.
We stayed in a 1 bedroom in the northern-most building. From our second floor room we could see the waves to the east, and we had a view to the north of the damaged public access area and many "blue roofs". Workers were in the process of cutting concrete with saws, breaking up crumbled sidewalk, and pouring cement to make new sidewalks or to repair portions. They were working on a new sidewalk from our building towards the area where there used to be a wedding tent (northern portion of property).
The weather was nicest on Monday. A strong wind came in from the east the rest of the time and it was very windy with large choppy waves that made swimming very difficult. In fact, I only saw one other person go in besides myself. It was not too cold - just rough, especially on Wednesday when it was not even safe to go out past where the waves break. There was not a lot of dangerous debris on the beach but I was a little concerned about what I could not see. There was much debris to the south of the resort, washed up against the palmettos and sand.
Disney did an excellent job with the beach. They removed the mangled walkway and they have orange tape in a triangle area to mark where the pilings are still in the sand, with sharp broken wood. They made a temporary dune crossing directly east of the fire location. [It is not wheelchair accessible, but hopefully someone could be carried from a wheelchair to a beach wheelchair, as it is only a short distance.] We understood the fire was moved across the road and was scheduled for Monday and Wednesday. It looked like they plan to replace the main walkway and restore the fire area - just my thoughts.
They brought in tons of sand and banked it up towards the resort. Basically, what happened is what we all observed on the aerial photo - the area lost about 20 to 25 yards of vegetation, which is now banked sand. My wife and I walked over the dune crossover and then walked to the right and stayed on top of the hill, and basically wound up sitting right next to a closed beach cottage at the top of the hill, looking down on the beach. It was great! The sand is not well-packed. A good winter storm could of course wash it all away. In fact, the easterly winds continued all week and I am sure caused some erosion, but in my opinion, the beach is better than before, but the resort looks more vulnerable and less protected by natural vegetation.
What we heard is that the Inn suffered much damage from water intrusion through the 4 "skylight" areas in the ceiling on each corner of the lobby. Apparently water crashed in through the top and caused significant inn damage. Some art work remained, but all the furniture in the kid's lounge area on the way to Shutters was gone. The entire floor of the Inn was new. They managed to keep the inset turtle, but now they have done the floor in I believe a white pine. Every 8 to 10 inches, there is an inlaid banana-shaped mark on the wood floor. They go in different directions. I finally had to ask and was told by a CM that it was done that way to give it the appearance of an aged wooden floor. The CM reserved her opinion and so did I, but the silence spoke volumes! I will let everyone form their own opinions! I prefer to think of it as a whimsical design, but personally, I would have started over and sued my interior designer!!!!
Shutters was open but not the front porch area. The menu did not change except for one featured special each night. The food was good but was not quite up to par with past visits...at least not yet, but we noticed the same thing in 11/02. I hope Shutters can return to fine form again soon.
There appeared to be many new CMs in training. One CM that served breakfast on our last day had not worked since August. We kept saying we were glad to see the resort open and everyone working.
Our room had a de-humidifier in it. We would turn it off when we were in and then back on when we left. We forgot sometimes and when we got back it would be on, so we finally figured out they were coming in once a day to empty it (we think) and to turn it on. No one mentioned this to us - I think someone at check-in should have. The room did not appear wet. It had an initial smell of bad milk or was musty, but after running the ac, we never noticed the smell again. We think the inn had windows open until Monday afternoon, when they started using the AC. Our room did not have new carpets or furniture, so my best assessment was that the room had some minor water intrusion but no structural damage.
The Gift Store was open. The Green Cabin was open. The slide opened Wednesday. The outdoor whirlpool was warm but was not working right on Monday - not sure of the status. The exercise room is fine. The sauna works. The putt-putt is operational. The pool is open. Apparently just part of Shutters is closed and then 4 of 6 beach cottages (the two northern ones appeared open) and the southernmost vacation homes building was closed (or at least offlimits to guests - it appeared workers may have been staying there). We also noticed other Disney employees, including management types, staying there and working in offices, I expect. There was also a security guard on a golf cart.
Any questions - I will check back.
My overall impression was that Disney has of course done a wonderful job in restoring the resort.
The most noticeable change is the beach view. You no longer have to climb the stairs to The Green Cabin in order to see the water and the sand. You can see the water from a rocking chair on the porch, and if you walk onto the grass lawn, you can look down at the sand.
The view is even more dramatic from the water, looking back at the resort, because you can now see the entire resort! It looks great......but just a little bit too vulnerable for the next storms.
We went to NASA on Sunday and stayed in Cocoa Beach. On Monday we drove down A1A towards the resort and we saw more blue tarps on roofs and more construction debris the closer we got. The real damage was most evident from a little north of Sebastian Inlet to the resort. After we crossed the bridge at the Inlet, everything looked different. It took a while to figure it out. Heading south, you could only see mangroves and old growth to the right - now you can see a large body of open water and then a golf course and homes. On the beachside, you can see all the mansions and condos that used to be obstructed by vegetation. In short, a lot of vegetation was completely obliterated.
You also notice this at the resort. Many more rooms probably have some view of the ocean because everything has been thinned out so much. Many sea grape plants are still there but will need a year to grow back. Some big palms have been replaced. Most of the small landscape items were new.
We stayed in a 1 bedroom in the northern-most building. From our second floor room we could see the waves to the east, and we had a view to the north of the damaged public access area and many "blue roofs". Workers were in the process of cutting concrete with saws, breaking up crumbled sidewalk, and pouring cement to make new sidewalks or to repair portions. They were working on a new sidewalk from our building towards the area where there used to be a wedding tent (northern portion of property).
The weather was nicest on Monday. A strong wind came in from the east the rest of the time and it was very windy with large choppy waves that made swimming very difficult. In fact, I only saw one other person go in besides myself. It was not too cold - just rough, especially on Wednesday when it was not even safe to go out past where the waves break. There was not a lot of dangerous debris on the beach but I was a little concerned about what I could not see. There was much debris to the south of the resort, washed up against the palmettos and sand.
Disney did an excellent job with the beach. They removed the mangled walkway and they have orange tape in a triangle area to mark where the pilings are still in the sand, with sharp broken wood. They made a temporary dune crossing directly east of the fire location. [It is not wheelchair accessible, but hopefully someone could be carried from a wheelchair to a beach wheelchair, as it is only a short distance.] We understood the fire was moved across the road and was scheduled for Monday and Wednesday. It looked like they plan to replace the main walkway and restore the fire area - just my thoughts.
They brought in tons of sand and banked it up towards the resort. Basically, what happened is what we all observed on the aerial photo - the area lost about 20 to 25 yards of vegetation, which is now banked sand. My wife and I walked over the dune crossover and then walked to the right and stayed on top of the hill, and basically wound up sitting right next to a closed beach cottage at the top of the hill, looking down on the beach. It was great! The sand is not well-packed. A good winter storm could of course wash it all away. In fact, the easterly winds continued all week and I am sure caused some erosion, but in my opinion, the beach is better than before, but the resort looks more vulnerable and less protected by natural vegetation.
What we heard is that the Inn suffered much damage from water intrusion through the 4 "skylight" areas in the ceiling on each corner of the lobby. Apparently water crashed in through the top and caused significant inn damage. Some art work remained, but all the furniture in the kid's lounge area on the way to Shutters was gone. The entire floor of the Inn was new. They managed to keep the inset turtle, but now they have done the floor in I believe a white pine. Every 8 to 10 inches, there is an inlaid banana-shaped mark on the wood floor. They go in different directions. I finally had to ask and was told by a CM that it was done that way to give it the appearance of an aged wooden floor. The CM reserved her opinion and so did I, but the silence spoke volumes! I will let everyone form their own opinions! I prefer to think of it as a whimsical design, but personally, I would have started over and sued my interior designer!!!!
Shutters was open but not the front porch area. The menu did not change except for one featured special each night. The food was good but was not quite up to par with past visits...at least not yet, but we noticed the same thing in 11/02. I hope Shutters can return to fine form again soon.
There appeared to be many new CMs in training. One CM that served breakfast on our last day had not worked since August. We kept saying we were glad to see the resort open and everyone working.
Our room had a de-humidifier in it. We would turn it off when we were in and then back on when we left. We forgot sometimes and when we got back it would be on, so we finally figured out they were coming in once a day to empty it (we think) and to turn it on. No one mentioned this to us - I think someone at check-in should have. The room did not appear wet. It had an initial smell of bad milk or was musty, but after running the ac, we never noticed the smell again. We think the inn had windows open until Monday afternoon, when they started using the AC. Our room did not have new carpets or furniture, so my best assessment was that the room had some minor water intrusion but no structural damage.
The Gift Store was open. The Green Cabin was open. The slide opened Wednesday. The outdoor whirlpool was warm but was not working right on Monday - not sure of the status. The exercise room is fine. The sauna works. The putt-putt is operational. The pool is open. Apparently just part of Shutters is closed and then 4 of 6 beach cottages (the two northern ones appeared open) and the southernmost vacation homes building was closed (or at least offlimits to guests - it appeared workers may have been staying there). We also noticed other Disney employees, including management types, staying there and working in offices, I expect. There was also a security guard on a golf cart.
Any questions - I will check back.
