Monorail Purple&Gold
How do you do? Mighty glad to meet you! Pretty goo
- Joined
- Feb 27, 2008
- Messages
- 583
So I'll keep this TR much more brief than my last. We arrived on Sat. Aug. 30, no DVC or cash ressies available for Sat. night...so stayed off property. In short, got what we paid for.
On the way we were able to book 3 nights at a 1BR at SSR. After that, booked 2 nights at AKV in a 1BR, and finally 3 nights at a VWL studio. Here's how it all went:
1BR @ SSR for 3 nights
Room Location/Room #: In The Springs, room 4125. What a location considering last minute trip and checked in at 8 am!
Resort Theme/Execution of Theme: Outstanding, beautiful grounds!
Amenities: Food court was good, pool/slide was great, enjoyed the stay throughout.
Bus service: Excellent, longest wait 5-10 minutes.
Room experience: Didn't hurt having great location, rooms well appointed, layout leaves something to be desired with that foyer being basically dead space and no barrier between master BR and bathroom (especially with a 1 y.o.). Otherwise, great room!
What I learned: The resort is not quite as spread out as the maps make it seem. This place is much easier on the eyes than when it was the Institute. We were apprehensive about the scale of the place, but truly enjoyed this resort!
1BR @ AKV for 2 nights
Room Location/Room #: Standard room view of pool on Zebra Trail, room 5466. Close to elevators and The Mara. Great view!!!
Resort Theme/Execution of Theme: Still takes my breath away, I'm almost 99.9% that this resort has overtaken the Poly as my fav! So glad we bought here!
Amenities: Food court had better variety, excellent pool, just a unique place to stay...kids playground rocked as well!
Bus service: Excellent again, longest wait 5-10 minutes.
Room experience: Loved the layout, could keep kids out of bathroom and BR. Loved the flatscreen TVs and DVD players! A bit hard to give kids baths over that "great wall" on the side of the bathtub. Did miss the walk-in shower we had at SSR (I know these will be at KV). Still in all, we LOVED IT HERE!!!!! Prior to this trip, I constantly looked at where we could change at 7 months out each upcoming trip, but I'll be hard pressed not to stay here each time!!!
What I learned: It really was painful to smell the aromas coming from Boma and Jiko in the lobby! On a more serious note, we liked the room layouts, more space to eat at the table, and just found the resort suits us!!
Studio @ VWL for 3 nights
Room Location/Room #: 3rd floor, room 3506.
Resort Theme/Execution of Theme: Definitely has that rustic/authentic feel, I can see why so many folks love this place.
Amenities: Food court had really nice sandwiches, pool is wonderful, enjoyed the boat ride to MK!
Bus service: 3 for 3 on excellence, longest wait 5-10 minutes.
Room experience: Left feeling like we missed AKV. Not sure why, but VWL just didn't do it for us. Rooms are nice, but those halls had the feeling of that hotel from "The Shining" when looking down from one end to the other.
What I learned: The villas lobby and the Carolwood Pacific room are lovely and really peaceful! Yet, I felt that the temp. outside needed to be about 25 degrees cooler for me to really "get into" the place. Our stay was nice, but probably will not stay here again--not because anything was wrong, but because we loved AKV so much!
Overall impressions:
Will stay at AKV and SSR again, VWL not so much. We are definitley 1BR people, that studio felt real small after 5 nights in the 1BR...we were spoiled. Buses were great and crowds were great all week.
We evacuated from Gustav from south Louisiana (the eye of the storm passed about 10 miles south of my home--no major damage, we were fortunate), and are so thankful that we had DVC at our disposal!!! We already had $ set aside for AP's, and since our room didn't cost any out of pocket cash our total costs for 9 days was much better than if we had to pay cash. Considering we checked in each time at 8 am and had rooms, we were fortunate.
We do not like split stays!!!
We still do not have power, but hope to get it within the week! Pixie dust and prayers to those still away or without! Hats off to the workers making things happen down here!!!
On the way we were able to book 3 nights at a 1BR at SSR. After that, booked 2 nights at AKV in a 1BR, and finally 3 nights at a VWL studio. Here's how it all went:
1BR @ SSR for 3 nights
Room Location/Room #: In The Springs, room 4125. What a location considering last minute trip and checked in at 8 am!
Resort Theme/Execution of Theme: Outstanding, beautiful grounds!
Amenities: Food court was good, pool/slide was great, enjoyed the stay throughout.
Bus service: Excellent, longest wait 5-10 minutes.
Room experience: Didn't hurt having great location, rooms well appointed, layout leaves something to be desired with that foyer being basically dead space and no barrier between master BR and bathroom (especially with a 1 y.o.). Otherwise, great room!
What I learned: The resort is not quite as spread out as the maps make it seem. This place is much easier on the eyes than when it was the Institute. We were apprehensive about the scale of the place, but truly enjoyed this resort!
1BR @ AKV for 2 nights
Room Location/Room #: Standard room view of pool on Zebra Trail, room 5466. Close to elevators and The Mara. Great view!!!
Resort Theme/Execution of Theme: Still takes my breath away, I'm almost 99.9% that this resort has overtaken the Poly as my fav! So glad we bought here!
Amenities: Food court had better variety, excellent pool, just a unique place to stay...kids playground rocked as well!
Bus service: Excellent again, longest wait 5-10 minutes.
Room experience: Loved the layout, could keep kids out of bathroom and BR. Loved the flatscreen TVs and DVD players! A bit hard to give kids baths over that "great wall" on the side of the bathtub. Did miss the walk-in shower we had at SSR (I know these will be at KV). Still in all, we LOVED IT HERE!!!!! Prior to this trip, I constantly looked at where we could change at 7 months out each upcoming trip, but I'll be hard pressed not to stay here each time!!!
What I learned: It really was painful to smell the aromas coming from Boma and Jiko in the lobby! On a more serious note, we liked the room layouts, more space to eat at the table, and just found the resort suits us!!
Studio @ VWL for 3 nights
Room Location/Room #: 3rd floor, room 3506.
Resort Theme/Execution of Theme: Definitely has that rustic/authentic feel, I can see why so many folks love this place.
Amenities: Food court had really nice sandwiches, pool is wonderful, enjoyed the boat ride to MK!
Bus service: 3 for 3 on excellence, longest wait 5-10 minutes.
Room experience: Left feeling like we missed AKV. Not sure why, but VWL just didn't do it for us. Rooms are nice, but those halls had the feeling of that hotel from "The Shining" when looking down from one end to the other.
What I learned: The villas lobby and the Carolwood Pacific room are lovely and really peaceful! Yet, I felt that the temp. outside needed to be about 25 degrees cooler for me to really "get into" the place. Our stay was nice, but probably will not stay here again--not because anything was wrong, but because we loved AKV so much!
Overall impressions:
Will stay at AKV and SSR again, VWL not so much. We are definitley 1BR people, that studio felt real small after 5 nights in the 1BR...we were spoiled. Buses were great and crowds were great all week.
We evacuated from Gustav from south Louisiana (the eye of the storm passed about 10 miles south of my home--no major damage, we were fortunate), and are so thankful that we had DVC at our disposal!!! We already had $ set aside for AP's, and since our room didn't cost any out of pocket cash our total costs for 9 days was much better than if we had to pay cash. Considering we checked in each time at 8 am and had rooms, we were fortunate.
We do not like split stays!!!
We still do not have power, but hope to get it within the week! Pixie dust and prayers to those still away or without! Hats off to the workers making things happen down here!!!
.....hope you have power soon.
Staying in regular rooms in all my previous trips...we never knew what we were missing!
!
