Anyone annoyed by that @#$%^ bell at VWL?

[Margie J]

I just returned from VWL on Sunday and I'll tell you ... I was about to smack some people that were ringing the bells outside the arcade! Thankfully, I was in 2538 and never heard any noise on that side.

There were a bunch of teens wandering the Resort late at night on the weekend. Maybe they were up to no good (besides cavorting in the hot tub around midnight).

 

[DisneyKidds]

Some good theories out there but I'm still not sold on one. Thanks Deborah for confirming that we are not insane . What room were you in?

George - I am pretty sure it was outside and not in the building. That would explain why DVC Don never heard it. He was in an odd number room so he faced Bay Lake and was on the other side of the building from the suspect dumpster area. Were the alarm inside he might have heard it.

I like Mickey well enough, but if he wants to hawk ice cream at 3 am I'll show him that a Goofy Premium Ice Cream bar will in fact fit in his...... almost forgot, this is a family site .

 

[BIERMUGG]

FW has no pools on property. River Country is closed, rumor has it for good. Rumors on another board is that River Country will reopen as FW resort pool. If this is true We will have a real water park to pool hop to.


George

 

[ohiominnie]

FW has pools. I don't know how many, but I'm sure I saw one as we took the orange loop bus around one day. It wasn't anything spectacular, but it was a pool.

If they open up RC as a FW pool and we are indeed allowed to hop there, I hope they do something about checking ID's or something so the place doesn't turn into another SAB.

 

[ErinC]

We were there this past weekend. I never heard the bell but we were on the 4th floor facing bay lake. I was in the line for a boat back from MK Friday night for that 45min. wait. Frankly the boat and transportation service we had on this trip (our first DVC) was probably the most wait time we have ever experienced with the Disney system. Several waits for over 20 min. for buses on a few days. Our best was probably when we stayed at the value resorts, and then the mods. I have never figured out why those that spend the most money at Disney get the worst transport service. go figure!

 

[melk]

BIERMUGG,
OhioMinnie is correct, FW has two pools. One is pretty large, in the center of the campground, used mainly by the campers. The other one is smaller and is situated in the cabin area. Neither one is themed, maybe part of the problem of FW guests wanting to go visit a more interesting pool.

 

[Maistre Gracey]

I always here bells when I sleep... Then I realize that I am just hitting the snooze button about 50 times.

 

[BIERMUGG]

Goes to show you can not believe rumors, sorry.

George

 

[Caskbill]

A couple of observations:
First:

I am a camper (and do plan to camp someday at FW). But to tell you the truth I probably will poolhop only because it is my one of my dvc privies!

Sorry to disappoint you but DVC pool hopping priviledges apply only when staying at a DVC resort on points. Pool hopping is not a DVC priviledge when staying at any other resort.

Second, I get the impression some DVD'ers seem to act like the CG resort guests are 2nd class citizens. I own DVC (since 1993) and also have a 34 foot Motor Home, and believe me I paid a lot more for that Motor Home than for my DVC membership. (Actually about 7 times more). Paying $50 for a campsite where you basically get a parking space with electricity and water is not cheap. (Camping there is $70/night during premier season)

Staying in a VWL studio, mid season is 14 points a night, so considering dues that's less than $50 worth of annual dues. So the campground guest is paying more for their vacation stay considering their initial investment in a camper and their daily camping fee than a DVC guest staying in a studio mid-week.

I've stayed at both VWL and the FW campground. I agree the FW guests should not be using the WL pool, (just like GF or Poly guests should not use the WL pool), <u>but I see no problem with sharing boat service.</u>

Remember that at one time the Wilderness Lodge was knows as Ft. Wilderness lodge. Many people still call it this, and I believe many guests may still be confused between the two names. When the checkin papers at FW mention the Wilderness pool I think they are referring to the main campground pool, but I can see where some may mistake this as meaning the "Ft Wilderness Lodge pool".

 

[Maistre Gracey]

I don't remember "Ft Wilderness Lodge" (but I do remember The Polynesian Village!)
Anyway, I think both FW & WL should have dedicated boats to the MK. It may help with the "full boat frustration". It may not make a difference if there are two shared boats, or one dedicated for each. Just Psychological I guess.

 

[ohiominnie]

Originally posted by Caskbill


So the campground guest is paying more for their vacation stay considering their initial investment in a camper

That works if they bought a 34 foot fully loaded motor home. But I'll bet a few points that a good percentage of the campers at FW did not spend more than we did for DVC. Tents, pop ups and other little trailers don't come close to our financial expenditure.

Does that make me think I am BETTER than them or that they are second class citizens? No. But I feel the same way about them as I do about other "non-WL" guests. They shouldn't be using our pool unless they are DVC. That's the rules.

 

[Caskbill]

OhioMinnie:

I definitely agree with you about who should and who should not be using the WL and VWL pools. That's for the guests staying at those resorts and any FW guests have no more right to be using those pools than someone staying at the All Stars, or even the GF for that matter. Pool hopping among Disney resorts is not permitted except for DVC members pool hopping between DVC resorts, when, and only when, they are staying at a DVC resort on points.

And yes tents and pop-ups are less expensive than probably all DVC memberships. Please note though that in my experiences camping at FW I believe the vast majority of campsites have motorhomes , fifth-wheel campers, and full size trailers. New these types of units will range from $25k to $250k, and up, so I still feel that most FW guests have more invested in their camping unit than most DVC members. Even the pop-up campers today cost $4k to $7k today. However we don't camp at FW during the summer, when school is out, but rather off-season. It is highly likely that the makeup of campers during the summer may include a higher percentage of tent, or pop-up campers of families on more limited budgets.

I also concede that it is also true that owning a camping unit allows vacations at other than WDW, so even though the investment is higher in many cases as compared to purchasing DVC, the total investment can allow more days usage (camping) during a season than a given number of points will allow at a DVC resorts.

On the downside, though, my camper has decreased in value each year since I purchased it , while my DVC purchase has increased in value every year. . On the flip side, taxes on my camper have gone down every year (they're based on value), while my DVC dues have gone up.

Anyway the point I was trying to make is that these guests have just as much pride in staying in their campers at FW as we have pride in staying in our DVC resorts. And therefore I thought that it sounded a little stand-offish saying WL and VWL deserved their own boat service and shouldn't have to share it with FW guests.

BTW it is my understanding that during high capacity seasons, the CG does have it's own boat, and the Lodge has it's own also.

Maybe I just read the tone of some of the posts wrong. I also believe I stand corrected in that the Wilderness Lodge was never offically named Ft. Wildrness Lodge. I know it has been called that, incorrectly, and that may be from where my earliest recollections came from.

Sorry for getting off-topic here. As to the bell at the villas, I have never heard it so really can't help out there.

 

[msdis]

Bill

You are so right about the campers at FW. We rode bikes from WLV every day to FW on our recent trip and were blown away at the vast majority of the campers there. I have owned 2 campers in years past and although they did not rival my investment in DVC they were nice campers. But what we saw there would rival my HOUSE and I think I have a really nice house. And there were not a few but a great deal of REALLY nice, expensive "homes". And the cabins for rent looked REALLY nice too. We teased about how the FW cabins and camp sites had more space between neighbors than Celebration does. LOL!!!

 

[Dano1182]

The Bell is one of two Cow Bells located out side of Arcade.
Every kid passing them sems to ring them.

The breakfast in Roaring forks was terrible.

Our CM waiter was going through the motions.Not very happy in his job.

The others seemed to be making attempts at entertaining children.But were not very good.
I go to disney expecting some cheesey entertainment but this was bad.

THE WORST BREAFAST I HAVE EVER HAD

What were those potatoes ?????????

 

[Dano1182]

I forgot to mention it seemed as though we were the only people staying in the lodge poolside most seemed to be campers from Ft Wilderness.
Even met a couple of local teeenagers crashing the pool.


Back to Boardwalk next year.

 

[MAC3]

Wasn't trying to make anyone feel out of sorts. I certainly don't have aot of cash so No big deal. I am a camper I sleep in a two room tent couldn't afford what you have.

But I still believe good fences make good neighbors. I don't think that I am any better than anyone staying at the campground (which I have always wanted to do) or people saying @ the All Stars (which I have done many times and would do again).

Just my opinion,