Back from 1st VB trip,(long).

[KNWVIKING]

Dw and I were there from the 4th to the 12th,maybe just a little too long for a VB trip.

1: The resort is beautifull. We had an Inn room -2411- with a great ocean view.The room was huge and clean.Bed was too firm for my wife,but housekeeping sent up egg crates that worked perfectly.Our bathroom exhaust fan was noisy,had it replaced. Seemed odd we had to request dish soap,sponge & dish towel. Also think the balcony could have better chairs and a data port near the table would have been better the the one on the phone.

2: Shutters was nice,food a little pricey, menu nothing to brag about, but never had a bad meal. Only meal at Sonya's was the Sunday brunch- absolutely great. Consider it a "must do" event. The Green Cabin Room nice,but I'm glad we were there in an off season, the place must get packed in the high season. They needed more staff,service very slow. Basically had one bartender and one waitress who was running her tail off picking up food orders. Bleachers was what we expected, easy lunch platters,quick service,food was good.

3: The pool was great.The kids pirate ship area looked like they haven't kept up with repairs, looked like some kinda water cannons had been removed after they broke. Played mini golf,shuffle board, tennis,all in good shape. The arcade..... well... did the same person design the one at OKW. Now that DVC no longer maintains a sales staff or office at VB, maybe they could convert all that wasted space on the first floor to a first class billiard and game/arcade room.

4: The beach is definitely not what I'm used to up here in Jersey but that's neither good nor bad,just different.The resort hadn't started the turtle watch yet but DW and I headed out a couple of nites when the stars were bright. 1st nite we saw a huge one come out of the water,but right in front of the resort ramp,it turned & went back into the water. Next nite we found tracks,spotted the turtle laying eggs,then walked her back into the water,really neat.

5: Outside the resort it really gets a little slow. We did the kayak trip,had a great time,recommend it to all. It's $40.00 pp,which seemed hi at first,but the company's that Disney use charge $30.00 pp & a tip is generally expected plus you'd have to transport yourself to the launch spot, so $40.00 pp is really not too bad. We spent time on Indian River Rd in Sebastian. Captain Hiram's is a good place too eat- try Martin's Dirty Oysters- with a great beach bar. Hurrican Harbor is just down the street,again good food and during the day the Harbor Princess- a pontoon style boat,seats around 40- goes out on 3 hrs trip, $14.00 pp, highly recommend it. DO NOT SPEED on this road. We also drove up to port Canavral, went out on Sterling Casino Cruise ship. The cruise is free,get reservation,buffet style food & non-alcoholic drinks are free. Lounges with live entertainment was nice. Stay off the slot machines- very stingy.Basically the 5 hr event is free unless you drink in the lounges or loss on the slots or tables. It was nice,would do it again.went to the outlets on Rt 60, same as any other outlet mall,nothing special.

Conclusion: Would not return as a primary vacation location. Would return as a primer for a WDW trip or as an unwinder after a WDW trip.

 

[Maistre Gracey]

Thanx for the review!
That is exactly why my wife and I added on VB- as a "primer & unwinder". A few days at VB, just to relax.

 

[rbuzzotta]

I love VB for 2-4 nights. Especially the weekends because of the DJ at the pool (mykids love that). I am sad to hear that the Pirates area of the pool looks in need of repair. My little ones really enjoy it there. I hope it's fixed before August!

Why did they remove the sales staff from VB???? A billiard/game room area would be great....

 

[KNWVIKING]

From what a CM told me they closed the Sales office down because of a lack of business. DVC feels the resort is close enough to selling out that the staff at WDW can do the job or it can be handled by phone.

As for the pirate ship- maybe the cannons,(or whatever they were) have been gone for a long time,I have no idea. The other parts of the area looked fine,kids were having a blast.

 

[CaptainMidnight]

If you liked an Inn room, you should try a one bedroom, they are wonderful, and spacious, although your not gauranteed the ocean view. We were there the week after you, look like we both had wonderful weather.

I think your right abo
ut the Pirate ship area. The removed the canons but didn't do any repair work where they are removed. If they are not going to replace them, the holes need to be covered. The netting on each side of the slide area needed attention as well. Looks like they repaired the put put golf course and removed several of the obstacles when they did. It is still a very nice shaded diversion in the day.

There was also lots of beach erosion. The bottom of the boardbalk area went from completely covered, to a foot drop off because of the sand washing away during our stay, it was a little surprising.

Each time we visit, we are still in awe and struck by how beautiful the place is and what a wonderful relaxing place it is to vacation. We love it.

We also find the Green Cabin room to be lots of fun, and very kid friendly. Although they used ot have games for the kids, but they were no longer there this visit. You could play candyland, listen to music, drink milkshakes and eat alligator rolls (like oriental spring rolls). The alligator rolls dissappeared from the menu this year.

One find we had this year was a nice Oriental Food take out right next to the publix market on route 1. We ordered several meals and snacks and too those back to the Villa to easily heat up for lunches and dinner. Great food, all fixed and little fuss.

I was very surprised over mothers day how many locals crashed the Vero Beach pools. They just wait at the gate for someone with a room key to open it for them and walk right in. There must have been 35 people sitting right around us who were not members or staying at the resort. I actually asked some of them if they were staying at the villas or the Inn and they couldn't answer and said they were there visiting a "friend," but they really couldn't point the friend out. I struggled with going to the CM's to complain, and wanting to have little stress during my family vacation. The problem dissappeared during the week, and seems to be more likely on weekends.

We were also little surprised at how rude some people can be. When we went to go down to the beach for about a 1/2 hour, we returned to our pool table that had all our stuff on it to find that a lady had pushed our table chairs out from under the table umbrella and pushed her lounge chair underneath the table umbrella. We had an infant with us that we needed to keep out of the sun, so I ended up politely asking her to move. We also had someone take one of our childrens folding lounge chairs while we were there, a little dissapointing that there is theft in the vero resort pool area.

For our next trip, I'm going to contact the manager of the resort and find out who makes the decision regarding the pool temperature. A year and a half ago, we were there over Christmas. The resort was beautifully decorated, very impressive. There was a huge tree in the lobby, with turtles and all kinds of Vero theming in it. But it was a little chilly outside, around 65-68. Unfortunately, the pool was kept cold as well. If the pool would have been heated to a warmer temperature, swimming would have been much more enjoyable. Given the high point season I wanted to find out who make the decisions regarding the pool temperature so that we might be able to better plan for our next Christmas visit there and possibly talk the decision maker into keeping the pool a bit warmer if the outside temperatue isn't quite warm enough. In hot weather, it is refreshing. In cold weather it needs to be kept warm, like HH pools are. It would have made a big difference for us on our Christmas visit. Of course, we were also wearing gloves that year at Epcot. I know the weather at Christmas time can be chancy in Florida. Hopefully this year it will be warm.

We also noticed that the sales materials and the television DVC information station didn't list the Beach Club resort yet.

I dissagree regarding this being a primary vacation destination. With three pre-school children this is a wonderful relaxing getaway. We love it. The kids can spend all day in the pool and at the beach, which makes it very relaxing for us. I also greatly appreciate that they do not close the pools at 10:00pm as long as your quiet your allowed to continue swimming. We swam many nights and had wonderful times looking at the stars and the moon while floating in the pool. We plan to go back soley to Vero beach many, many times in the future. Sometimes coupling it with a WDW trip is nice, other times we like to just go hang out at the beach and the pool for a week, and Vero is a very wonderful place to do that, with many activities for the kids like the unbirthday party, campfire sing along, and other activities. I look forward to our next trip in 7 months.

 

[madcoco]

I was very surprised over mothers day how many locals crashed the Vero Beach pools.

Sorry to hear. Being part time locals we eat there and relax on occasion but would never consider using the pool when we are not staying there as members.We have not personally witnessed this repeatly going on, but have been guilty of leaving the key in the room or with the DW and have to "loiter" near the gate.

As far as beach erosion goes,There has been a big fight going on concerning beach replentishment and in some areas it is causing more harm than good. Some seawalls have been built in front of local condos/homes(some illegally) and it disrupts the natural sea flow which doesn't help.
Capt Midnight.Thanks for the tip on the Chinese takeout.

 

[KNWVIKING]

... I'm sure if we still had young children we'd feel different about VB as a primary location,but we're empty nesters. If my job permitted me to be away for two weeks at a time,I'd love to start at VB for 2, WDW for 10-12 and finish with VB at the end for 2 more. Boy,what hit the beach on or after mothers day- we left at 8:00 am. The sand was covering probably the first 10 feet or so of ramp and 1 or 2 steps on the stairs. If you noticed the bait shop at Rt 1 and CR510, they had a sign saying "NO TO SAND PUMPING". Apparently the city wants to spend some 50 million $$ to pump sand back onto the beaches. Jersey does it every year,but it just washes down to Wildwood's beach, which is now so long they have a tram to transport you down to the water. I also know what you mean about the pool. On our arrival Saturday we jumped in, it was like bath water- which delighted my DW but I don't like to sweat when I swim. Next day I think I saw what the titanic hit. Rest of the week it was pretty much ok though. I tell ya thou, the locals have that resort down pretty good. They play in the ocean, rinse off at our pier showers, then wait to come on in and hit the slide. It's frustrating to say the least.

Around the pool we did notice a little of the "drop off towels then leave" syndrome, but the CM's did a pretty good job of observing and removing unattended towels. Once though,after playing shuffle board,our towels - two wet,laid out & drying,and two fresh towels were removed,even though our chairs were littered with several personal items- very obvious they were in use. no biggie,just got fresh towels. I bet we would love the 1 bd, but if I'm doing an ocean trip,I have to have the view,plus I'm stingy with my points.

One last bit of advise: I don't know how long the season lasts,but if you drive to WDW, stick to I-95 and 528. We took the more scenic I-192. WHAT A BIG MISTAKE IN MAY !!!! We killed 3 billion "luvbugs". I have driven in blizzards with better vision. I drive a van with the aerodynamics of a billboard which I swear acted like a vacuum for these suicidal bugs. Never driven thru anything like it. At first I got mad,then it just got hystarically funny. i was never so glad to find a gas station in my life. Spent 20 minutes SCRUBBING those glue guts off my windshield.

 

[Maistre Gracey]

DARN!!!
KNW, you reminded me...Sept is the "Luv Bug" season right?
I forgot about those pesky things. Maybe that's why points are low in Sept!

*EDIT- I meant to say May

 

[mistermouse]

We can confirm - luv bug season must be in May. We drove from Orlando to VB last May and had the same experience. Our rental did not have any washer fluid and the sig of that first gas station was a HUGE relief. What an experience...glad you had a great trip; we enjoyed VB very much, but will likely be the primer and unwind type.

 

[madcoco]

Here everything you need to know (which is way too much) about these harmless but annoying flies. They keep the car bra and washes in business. http://www.floridaenvironment.com/programs/fe00508.htm
Glad you enjoyed your trip overall.