VWL Groupies & Lovers Thread (Special Collectors Edition 2.0) updated 21 June 2023

[LynJ]

Oddball question. I know that, when renting a regular Disney hotel room, you can supposedly request hearing accessibility in any room type. Does anyone know If the villas have either dedicated hearing-accessible rooms, or the ability to have a hearing- accessibility kit installed?

Contrary to the beliefs of at least one member of the reservations staff, we don't require a wheelchair-accessible room to accommodate our kiddo's hearing loss.

 

[KAT4DISNEY]

Oddball question. I know that, when renting a regular Disney hotel room, you can supposedly request hearing accessibility in any room type. Does anyone know If the villas have either dedicated hearing-accessible rooms, or the ability to have a hearing- accessibility kit installed?

Contrary to the beliefs of at least one member of the reservations staff, we don't require a wheelchair-accessible room to accommodate our kiddo's hearing loss.

Yes, same company so similar options. When you book online there is a check box for if you need an accessible room. Once you select that and search for the room it will return availability with a drop down box to choose what type of accessibility you need. From everything I've seen all HA rooms can have the hearing option installed. And then at some resorts there is the option for hearing accessible rooms that are always set up for it. Just be aware that not all resorts have the options in all categories. Or the hearing option may only be available in a fully accessible room. We've booked accessible rooms at other resorts but not VWL so I'm not positive on the exact setup but based on my knowledge of the other 2042 resorts the hearing option is likely only in a room that has other accessible features. They've gotten slightly more diverse with the setups in the newer resorts.

 

[Dizny Dad]

Yes, this is what my boyfriend says, too!

My DH is the same DDad! Every now and then I'll mention something about xxx points means xxx. I get a blank look then question about the dates we are going.

All good men.

 

[Dizny Dad]

Hi DisneyDad61. Although you say this is not directed at anyone I can't help but feel it was my last post that precipitated your post. Let me say first high five for beating cancer!

Of course there is nothing more important in life than your health & your family. No one would argue that point. Moaning about changes to a Disney resort is of course a first world problem. However, this is a Disney board specifically a thread that talks about VWL so of course we are going to talk about VWL. Many of us are friends & have met often outside of this thread. We know about each other's lives & family. We're a close knit bunch but at the end of the day this thread is about VWL. I don't think I need to be scolded & told to adjust my perspective because I've done that. I love Disney as much as the next person. It has been my happy place for a long time, but less & less over the last few years. I'm of the belief just because Disney dishes it out doesn't mean I have to like it. It's not all magic & pixie dust. They have very much become about profits & not so much about the customer experience. It's all about selling DVC points to them lately. As I said in my post I don't like the changes going on & that's my right to say that & feel that way. I did say others might love it I just happen to not be one of them. That's my opinion. I'm not telling anyone else how they should feel about it. If others love the new resort good for them. I'm happy they're happy but I'm not going to pretend I'm happy about it when I'm not. I understand Disney doesn't care whether I'm happy or not. They've got 10,000 other people ready to take my place & that's fine. They can run their resorts & parks however they see fit that much is clear. It's a very real possibility we will sell out VWL points once the refurbishment is over. I will hold out final judgement until it's completed of course but the thought of that crushes me as it was the resort that made us fall in love with Disney & we've had so many wonderful times there. I understand I'm extremely blessed to have had those times as there are many, many people who have never been to Disney or on any vacation ever. I get it but I feel the way I feel & I'm not going to apologize for it.

Well said, I don't disagree with anything except . . . . ."It's a very real possibility we will sell out VWL points once the refurbishment is over." . . . . . . . Oh No . . Say it ain't so. . . . . say it ain't so!

 

[Starwind]

Oddball question. I know that, when renting a regular Disney hotel room, you can supposedly request hearing accessibility in any room type. Does anyone know If the villas have either dedicated hearing-accessible rooms, or the ability to have a hearing- accessibility kit installed?

Contrary to the beliefs of at least one member of the reservations staff, we don't require a wheelchair-accessible room to accommodate our kiddo's hearing loss.

According to the Disney website ("Services for Guests with Hearing Disabilities"):

https://disneyworld.disney.go.com/guest-services/hearing-impaired-services/

QUOTE:

Guest Room Amenities
Upon request, any Guest Room at a Walt Disney World Resort hotel can be equipped with door knock and phone alerts, phone amplifiers, bed shaker notification, a strobe light smoke detector and a Text Typewriter (TTY) telephone.


For more information or to request a Room Communication Kit, please call Walt Disney World Resort Information:

• Voice: (407) 824-4321
• TTY: (407) 827-5141
  
  

 

[horselover]

Well said, I don't disagree with anything except . . . . ."It's a very real possibility we will sell out VWL points once the refurbishment is over." . . . . . . . Oh No . . Say it ain't so. . . . . say it ain't so!

I hope not DDad. You know I do. Holding out on my judgement until it's completed but so far not liking what I'm seeing. But no worries. I will never let go of you & Di & all the other wonderful friends I've made through this thread. Now if only we'd overlap on a trip so I could see you! It's been way too long.

Happy Friday groupies! Hope everyone has a great weekend.

Loved all your Hawaii pics on FB Jimmy! As soon as I said I hadn't seen any boom there they were!

 

[jade1]

Well said, I don't disagree with anything except . . . . ."It's a very real possibility we will sell out VWL points once the refurbishment is over." . . . . . . . Oh No . . Say it ain't so. . . . . say it ain't so!

I think waiting to sell would be good advice, not to see how good (or bad) it turns out-but because with new points being around say $160 the used VWL market can only go higher IMO. Thank you Disney.

Only difference is locking VWL down at 11 months, and then checking the lodge or cabins at 7 months.

We actually have renewed interest in VWL with this addition. The WL/VWL location has kept us away lately.

But what we love about WL/VWL has always been the Main Lodge, Lobby and Courtyard of the waterfall/pool/geiser/bar. That appears unchanged. And now we can even reserve rooms inside that area?

 

[horselover]

But what we love about WL/VWL has always been the Main Lodge, Lobby and Courtyard of the waterfall/pool/geiser/bar. That appears unchanged. And now we can even reserve rooms inside that area?

I'm not sure about that. My impression was the rooms that face the villas were the ones being converted. Is it the entire south wing? I'm sure someone here knows.

 

[jade1]

I'm not sure about that. My impression was the rooms that face the villas were the ones being converted. Is it the entire south wing? I'm sure someone here knows.

I suppose that's possible, the pool side is boarded up currently-so I guess they could just be reworking those as hotel rooms.

Regardless, what we love remains unchanged with this. And we can now reserve inside the lodge, or a cabin and have a better 2nd pool, another restaurant, and likely a nice increase in the investment.

 

[sleepydog25]

But what we love about WL/VWL has always been the Main Lodge, Lobby and Courtyard of the waterfall/pool/geiser/bar. That appears unchanged. And now we can even reserve rooms inside that area?

No one knows for certain--as in Disney confirming anything--just which rooms in the south wing are being renovated as DVC units or if they will all be DVC suites. My thoughts are the entire south wing is being converted (WDWKOOK on one of the WL threads agrees); otherwise, there would a) be a very small number of DVC villas for the new 14th resort, and b) if they renovate just one wing, that would create a booking inequity with the north wing since they would be an older refurb. As for booking rooms in the upcoming Copper Creek resort, current classic VWL owners will only be able to reserve rooms at 7 months unless they buy points there if everything we know about home resorts and non-home resorts holds true. . .which it should. About the only thing we do know for certain is what Disney has told us. To re-use Granny's quote: "The planned project at Disney’s Wilderness Lodge, when completed, will be the 14th Disney Vacation Club development and the second at Disney’s Wilderness Lodge." The particulars remain to be seen.

P.S. Okay, I have to insert here that despite my reluctance to accept the changes to my beloved VWL, my interest is definitely piqued to see just what those changes will be when all is completed and operating.

 

[jade1]

No one knows for certain--as in Disney confirming anything--just which rooms in the south wing are being renovated as DVC units or if they will all be DVC suites. My thoughts are the entire south wing is being converted (WDWKOOK on one of the WL threads agrees); otherwise, there would a) be a very small number of DVC villas for the new 14th resort, and b) if they renovate just one wing, that would create a booking inequity with the north wing since they would be an older refurb. As for booking rooms in the upcoming Copper Creek resort, current classic VWL owners will only be able to reserve rooms at 7 months unless they buy points there if everything we know about home resorts and non-home resorts holds true. . .which it should. About the only thing we do know for certain is what Disney has told us. To re-use Granny's quote: "The planned project at Disney’s Wilderness Lodge, when completed, will be the 14th Disney Vacation Club development and the second at Disney’s Wilderness Lodge." The particulars remain to be seen.

P.S. Okay, I have to insert here that despite my reluctance to accept the changes to my beloved VWL, my interest is definitely piqued to see just what those changes will be when all is completed and operating.

Good points.

"if" "if" the entire wing is DVC, I wonder if that is 2 booking categories. My suspicion is they might "try" to make the VWL side somewhat comparable to the courtyard side, meaning they are both one category. Both a nice pool view, hopefully some nice rock work/trees etc. Be interesting.

Has there been artwork on that side?

 

[Dizny Dad]

I hope not DDad. You know I do. Holding out on my judgement until it's completed but so far not liking what I'm seeing. But no worries. I will never let go of you & Di & all the other wonderful friends I've made through this thread. Now if only we'd overlap on a trip so I could see you! It's been way too long.

Happy Friday groupies! Hope everyone has a great weekend.

Loved all your Hawaii pics on FB Jimmy! As soon as I said I hadn't seen any boom there they were!

Well, we all know that once a Groupie, always a Groupie! (With or without points)

 

[DisneyNutzy]

Hi Groupies old and new. Time for my annual check in. Since I retired in 2011 I dont get to spend as much time on the boards as I used to which means I am busy and I guess that is a good thing. We are heading to VWL (I will always call it that no matter what crazy name the suits come up with) in early November for a 10 day stay. For those who have been recently how is the construction noise? Any tips or room requests we should make? Thanks in advance. I will certainly get back on here during our trip to post a few pictures.

 

[Granny]

Hi Groupies old and new. Time for my annual check in. Since I retired in 2011 I dont get to spend as much time on the boards as I used to which means I am busy and I guess that is a good thing. We are heading to VWL (I will always call it that no matter what crazy name the suits come up with) in early November for a 10 day stay. For those who have been recently how is the construction noise? Any tips or room requests we should make? Thanks in advance. I will certainly get back on here during our trip to post a few pictures.

DisneyNutzy...always great to see you drop by!

WL/VWL is still a major construction zone. My understanding is that construction runs only from 9:00 a.m. to about 4:00 pm each day. If you want to avoid seeing a lot of dirt and construction equipment, you can put in a request for an even numbered room which will put you on the bus stop side of the villas where there is no construction. If you like the "knothole view" of construction, you can request an odd numbered room. The one advantage there is that without all the trees there is a pretty good view of Bay Lake on the construction side. Enjoy your trip planning!

 

[Granny]

Good points.

"if" "if" the entire wing is DVC, I wonder if that is 2 booking categories. My suspicion is they might "try" to make the VWL side somewhat comparable to the courtyard side, meaning they are both one category. Both a nice pool view, hopefully some nice rock work/trees etc. Be interesting.

Has there been artwork on that side?

I agree with [B]@sleepydog25[/B] that they will convert the entire South wing to DVC. If they do, I would anticipate that there will not be a view classification and they will just handle requests the way they currently do at VWL. Seems like the courtyard view might have some villas with a Wishes view. If so, I'm sure those will be highly requested. But otherwise, the views should be very similar.

 

[jade1]

For those who have been recently how is the construction noise? Any tips or room requests we should make? Thanks in advance. I will certainly get back on here during our trip to post a few pictures.

Have not stayed lately, but probably 2 schools of thought.

1) minimal "noise" request would be bus stop side (not sure how to request that)

2) Upper level lake side, certainly noise during the day-but we would be all over that since you can now see the lake, plus we enjoy seeing what is happening

 

[jade1]

DisneyNutzy...always great to see you drop by!

WL/VWL is still a major construction zone. My understanding is that construction runs only from 9:00 a.m. to about 4:00 pm each day. If you want to avoid seeing a lot of dirt and construction equipment, you can put in a request for an even numbered room which will put you on the bus stop side of the villas where there is no construction. If you like the "knothole view" of construction, you can request an odd numbered room. The one advantage there is that without all the trees there is a pretty good view of Bay Lake on the construction side. Enjoy your trip planning!

yes what you said

 

[DisneyNutzy]

DisneyNutzy...always great to see you drop by!

WL/VWL is still a major construction zone. My understanding is that construction runs only from 9:00 a.m. to about 4:00 pm each day. If you want to avoid seeing a lot of dirt and construction equipment, you can put in a request for an even numbered room which will put you on the bus stop side of the villas where there is no construction. If you like the "knothole view" of construction, you can request an odd numbered room. The one advantage there is that without all the trees there is a pretty good view of Bay Lake on the construction side. Enjoy your trip planning!

Thanks Granny! I will leave that decision up to the ladies. They are the ones who tend to sleep in a little later than the boys.

 

[Granny]

Okay Groupies...I learned on another site that if you use the @ symbol before a user name in a post, it sends an alert to that user that they were "mentioned" in a post with the link to the post. So I'm starting to use that symbol if I'm mentioning someone but not quoting them. See my post above where I flagged Sleepy that way.

It's not like I don't read every post here, so it really isn't all that helpful for us. More of a fun toy to play with. But it does come in handy on the other board I frequent where I tend to bounce around much more. It seems that if I stray from this thread on these boards I tend to get in a little trouble.

 

[Granny]

Thanks Granny! I will leave that decision up to the ladies. They are the ones who tend to sleep in a little later than the boys.

It's ALWAYS better to leave most decisions up to the ladies!