littlestar
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Jun 9, 2000
- Messages
- 2,864
We spent four days at Disney's Vero Beach. Our impressions:
The Beach - Pleasantly surprised. We thought the beach was very pretty. It sloped. Not flat like the gulf beaches. Vero Beach sand was more of a light tan color. Still pretty and soft on the feet (a little courser feel than gulf beach sand). It reminded us a little of the beaches on Maui - minus the crystal clear coral reef water on Maui of course!
The Resort - Definitely beautiful with a tropical feel. A lot of palm trees and flowering trees. The pool was pretty big. We had no trouble finding a lawn chair (even at 11:00 a.m.) The only restaurants on site were Sonya and Shutters and the pool side snack shop. The pool snack shop stopped serving food (except pizzas) at around 5:30. No sign stating this (a lot of people were waiting in line only to be told this after their wait). They really need a sign. Only one person working the counter at the pool snack shop and answering the phone. Lines would be pretty long at times! This is where we started missing Disneyworld on site amenities and service. If you stay at Vero you really need to stop at the grocery store and have some quick lunches available in your room - you won't be able to get it any other way. The mini golf course was cute - but it had broken items that needed to be fixed. Very un Disney like.
The room - We had an ocean view inn room. The view was great. The room was clean. But, we got a handicapped room. With two women in the room, there was no counter or drawer space for makeup/toiletries. We ended up putting stuff on the floor under the sink- messy. The balcony was big though, must be because of wheelchairs being able to go out there.
The Vero staff - This is hard to describe. The Vero staff weren't rude, but they didn't have that extra "something" that on-site WDW resorts have. Example: There was one ice machine on the 4th floor for the inn rooms. Husband went to get ice one morning and it was broken. He called the front desk. They said sorry. If you walk down to the lobby, they had ice down there and he could come get some. Husband said no thanks. He didn't want to have to wait in the check-in line to get ice. We had this happen at Old Key West last year and when I told a Disney employee she picked me up in a golf cart and took me to get ice and then called maintenance and they were working on the ice machine when we passed back by. We noticed the Vero staff didn't have that extra something like we usually see on Disney property. Vero is beautiful, but three days there would be my max. We got the impression there were a lot of locals staying at Vero. We talked to numerous people who were from Florida. My daughter ran into a church youth group from Florida that were staying there for a retreat. There didn't seem to be as many DVC members as one would normally think.
VWL - After we left Vero it took us about 2 hours to drive back over to VWL. The front desk was great. They got us in a room at 1:00. I told the front desk we had been in a handicap room at Vero and we sure would appreciate a regular room if they could do it. She gave me the choice of three different rooms. We stayed on the 1st floor and actually enjoyed not having to catch an elevator. Didn't see any snakes on the patio (thank goodness!) We throughly enjoyed our visit to the lodge - ran into Ranger Stan and he welcomed us back with a big smile.
Conclusion - The next time we want to see the ocean I want to try Hilton Head. My brother raves about the cast members at Hilton Head. He is planning his 3rd trip there on cash (yes, I told him he really needs to join). We may go back to Vero some day (maybe). And VWL - well, I've got two trips planned already to go back.
The Beach - Pleasantly surprised. We thought the beach was very pretty. It sloped. Not flat like the gulf beaches. Vero Beach sand was more of a light tan color. Still pretty and soft on the feet (a little courser feel than gulf beach sand). It reminded us a little of the beaches on Maui - minus the crystal clear coral reef water on Maui of course!
The Resort - Definitely beautiful with a tropical feel. A lot of palm trees and flowering trees. The pool was pretty big. We had no trouble finding a lawn chair (even at 11:00 a.m.) The only restaurants on site were Sonya and Shutters and the pool side snack shop. The pool snack shop stopped serving food (except pizzas) at around 5:30. No sign stating this (a lot of people were waiting in line only to be told this after their wait). They really need a sign. Only one person working the counter at the pool snack shop and answering the phone. Lines would be pretty long at times! This is where we started missing Disneyworld on site amenities and service. If you stay at Vero you really need to stop at the grocery store and have some quick lunches available in your room - you won't be able to get it any other way. The mini golf course was cute - but it had broken items that needed to be fixed. Very un Disney like.
The room - We had an ocean view inn room. The view was great. The room was clean. But, we got a handicapped room. With two women in the room, there was no counter or drawer space for makeup/toiletries. We ended up putting stuff on the floor under the sink- messy. The balcony was big though, must be because of wheelchairs being able to go out there.
The Vero staff - This is hard to describe. The Vero staff weren't rude, but they didn't have that extra "something" that on-site WDW resorts have. Example: There was one ice machine on the 4th floor for the inn rooms. Husband went to get ice one morning and it was broken. He called the front desk. They said sorry. If you walk down to the lobby, they had ice down there and he could come get some. Husband said no thanks. He didn't want to have to wait in the check-in line to get ice. We had this happen at Old Key West last year and when I told a Disney employee she picked me up in a golf cart and took me to get ice and then called maintenance and they were working on the ice machine when we passed back by. We noticed the Vero staff didn't have that extra something like we usually see on Disney property. Vero is beautiful, but three days there would be my max. We got the impression there were a lot of locals staying at Vero. We talked to numerous people who were from Florida. My daughter ran into a church youth group from Florida that were staying there for a retreat. There didn't seem to be as many DVC members as one would normally think.
VWL - After we left Vero it took us about 2 hours to drive back over to VWL. The front desk was great. They got us in a room at 1:00. I told the front desk we had been in a handicap room at Vero and we sure would appreciate a regular room if they could do it. She gave me the choice of three different rooms. We stayed on the 1st floor and actually enjoyed not having to catch an elevator. Didn't see any snakes on the patio (thank goodness!) We throughly enjoyed our visit to the lodge - ran into Ranger Stan and he welcomed us back with a big smile.
Conclusion - The next time we want to see the ocean I want to try Hilton Head. My brother raves about the cast members at Hilton Head. He is planning his 3rd trip there on cash (yes, I told him he really needs to join). We may go back to Vero some day (maybe). And VWL - well, I've got two trips planned already to go back.
We are staying(5 nites) in the Inn for the 1st time. Booked at the 7 month window using leftover OKW pts.Requested direct ocean view,top floor, and keeping our fingers crossed.
