zackiedawg
WEDway Peoplemover Rider
- Joined
- Aug 5, 2008
- Messages
- 3,758
You ever hear about those hidden gems...something unexpectedly better than you imagined? Well last week I got one. I originally booked preferred view 1-bedroom villa, but decided to go ahead and waitlist for standard view - I just decided saving some points would be nice since this was a last-minute trip, and in June with the heat, we really just want a place with air conditioning and won't be using the balcony much anyway. The waitlist came through, and we got the standard view - I figured I'd at least try to put in a request for something closer to the lobby, looking at the front driveway and valet stand, rather than the parking lot view way down in the next county at the end of the building.
Well we were disappointed to learn we were not close to the lobby, but all the way down the end. So we went to the room...waaaaaay down the very end of the hall, right on the last turn towards the parking lot. And opened the room to find...huh? This doesn't look like the normal layout! What's with the living room being oriented sideways? Hey, check out how big the kitchen is, all open to the main room and with a full breakfast table! Check out the big windows, and 3 sets of glass doors in the living room out to the balcony! And oh my...this balcony is ridiculous! It wraps around 130 degrees, running for at least 35 feet since our room is situated right on a bend of the building. And there are absolutely no balconies or rooms on either side of us - 100% privacy! And the bedroom has it's own private balcony, completely secluded and separate from the huge main balcony! There's room in the living room for the fold out couch, and one entire queen size inflatable matress on the floor, with room still there for the chairs and breakfast table!
We were shocked - the room was gorgeous, and I do have experience with a lot of 1 bedroom villas - this one is basically the same size as Old Key West's, minus the laundry room. And those of you who've seen those know how big those are. There are, as far as I can tell, only 3 rooms like this one - 2nd, 3rd and 4th floor in this location. And the kicker: The view is better than some premium views I've paid for! We were facing the general vicinity of the parking lot, however we were directly fronted on the large pond with fountain at the entrance bridge into Boardwalk. The bridge was perfectly framed outside the window. We could see Japan & USA over the treetops in World Showcase, and about half of illuminations right from the balcony. And though the lobby is a trek away...there was a door outside directly below us 2 floors, with a staircase just across from the front door, and it was just a short meandering path to the bus stop.
All this, and we're paying the cheapie standard view points.
Here are some pics of the room and view. Note: these aren't 'pro' style shots all nicely lined up - they're snapshots taken informally and quickly when we first got to the room and started to unpack!
First off, here's the bedroom...nothing too different there:
And the small private balcony outside the bedroom - private not only from any neighbors, but also from the main balcony of our own villa!:
Bathroom...this is the vanity section and whirlpool tub, plus walk in closet, that is on the bedroom side:
The other part, with the toilet and shower, is accessed either by a door from the bedroom section of the bathroom, or a separate door from the living room...so the person sleeping out there can access these without disturbing the bedroom:
So far, mostly standard. The only thing different, and the only thing that is less than the normal room, is the slightly smaller shower (but it's still a respectable walk in with a door).
Now for the living room, which is where it starts to get different:
I'm standing in the kitchen for this shot. Normally, the Boardwalk living room is a long rectangle with sliding doors to the balcony at one end, couch & TV facing eachother, and a kitchen bar and kitchen at the other end. The only dining facilities are the kitchen bar, or a slim bench seat and table against the wall. In this case though, the kitchen is open to the living room, with no bar. There is enough extra space for a full 4-place table with chairs for dining. The layout of the living room is widthwise, rather than lengthwise, and the space is walled on one entire width by 3 separate large sliding glass doors, in a bay shape. The couch sits in front of one sliding door, rendering it a window, while the other two remain usable to access the balcony, which wraps around some 30 odd feet, the entire width of the kitchen and living room! The room was situated on a bend in the building, facing out, so the whole floorplan was built around that curve, in 3 bay-window style angles. The extra space produced in the living room was significant...you can see in the living room shot above how much space there is beyond the couch in front of the other sliding door - with just a lonely chair over there. There is EASILY enough room for a queen inflatable matress on the floor without interfering with movement around the villa - something you cannot do in most 1-bedroom villas (except OKW). The space was exceptional! And the kitchen felt much more open and usable, since it was not just a narrow slot - you could have several people milling around the kitchen space at once without bumping or crowding.
Now, with Boardwalk, we know the two point schemes: Preferred view, and Standard View. Preferred View can be any of the following: Boardwalk view, river view, pool view, garden view, or inner courtyard view. I often book preferred view with a Boardwalk view request - but I'm still not guaranteed to get something I love - for one, I'm not a big fan of pool views, and don't think they should be in the same class as river and garden views. But generally, you get a nicer view than Standard. Standard view is usually one of the following: Back of some maintenance or storage shed view, parking lot view, or front entrance/valet stand view. So Preferred is usually better for most people.
This trip though, view wasn't important - I was willing to look at the valet stand or generator building if need be - I just wanted to save some points, and be close to the lobby. We started off on the wrong foot immediately, when we were told we were nowhere near the lobby. We were in fact 10 rooms away from the farthest point in the entire building from the lobby. The walk from the room to the lobby was like walking from Spaceship Earth to France. No kidding. You could hold a marathon through those halls. We lobbied like crazy, and were given the concession that they could move us the next day, but we'd have to spend the first night over in Siberia. And of course, having been down there before, I knew the view was pretty much a parking lot.
So weren't we surprised to finally reach the room, open it up, and find that strange and lovely big place with the odd layout! But even more surprised were we when we got a load of the balcony and the view. No kidding, I've had preferred view rooms with worse views, and only ever had one balcony that came close to the size, and none with quite the wraparound view that went nearly 180 degrees in 100% privacy, with nary a balcony or window on either side that could see onto our balcony.
Here's that standard view:
Remember...folks pay more points for 'water views'...and don't see this much water! And rarely can see as far either...many preferred view rooms have more preferred view rooms looking back at them from across the courtyard or pool. Here's the view a bit more to the right, on the next segment of balcony:
Now technically, that IS the parking lot...so we did get a parking lot view. And the bridge in the first shot is the front entrance road, so we have a street view too. But call me crazy...this is one of the nicest parking lot/road views I've ever had!
Here's the kitchen glass door out to the balcony...starting at the far left corner of the balcony:
Here's looking around the first bend, to the longest segment of balcony, that faces that pond and parking lot:
And here's around one more bend, to the final segment of the main balcony, where you would come out from that living room door:
Note how the building juts out there...with no windows. That's the bedroom wall, so there's no way for anyone to look onto the balcony. The same wall exists on the left side over by the kitchen. And the balconies above and below are not tiered, so none can see onto the others. And remember, there's one more small balcony attached to the bedroom, and it too is fully secluded and private. From the bedroom balcony, you could see the river to Hollywood Studios and the Tower of Terror. From the main balcony, you could see Japan and American Adventure in Epcot, and a good chunk of Illuminations.
This rainbow shot was taken from the bedroom balcony, to give you an idea of the treetops view there:
Pretty nutty! Saved points, got a better view than usual, and a bigger villa to boot! And in the end, the distance from the lobby wasn't that big of a deal...because of the proximity to the bus stop!
Well we were disappointed to learn we were not close to the lobby, but all the way down the end. So we went to the room...waaaaaay down the very end of the hall, right on the last turn towards the parking lot. And opened the room to find...huh? This doesn't look like the normal layout! What's with the living room being oriented sideways? Hey, check out how big the kitchen is, all open to the main room and with a full breakfast table! Check out the big windows, and 3 sets of glass doors in the living room out to the balcony! And oh my...this balcony is ridiculous! It wraps around 130 degrees, running for at least 35 feet since our room is situated right on a bend of the building. And there are absolutely no balconies or rooms on either side of us - 100% privacy! And the bedroom has it's own private balcony, completely secluded and separate from the huge main balcony! There's room in the living room for the fold out couch, and one entire queen size inflatable matress on the floor, with room still there for the chairs and breakfast table!
We were shocked - the room was gorgeous, and I do have experience with a lot of 1 bedroom villas - this one is basically the same size as Old Key West's, minus the laundry room. And those of you who've seen those know how big those are. There are, as far as I can tell, only 3 rooms like this one - 2nd, 3rd and 4th floor in this location. And the kicker: The view is better than some premium views I've paid for! We were facing the general vicinity of the parking lot, however we were directly fronted on the large pond with fountain at the entrance bridge into Boardwalk. The bridge was perfectly framed outside the window. We could see Japan & USA over the treetops in World Showcase, and about half of illuminations right from the balcony. And though the lobby is a trek away...there was a door outside directly below us 2 floors, with a staircase just across from the front door, and it was just a short meandering path to the bus stop.
All this, and we're paying the cheapie standard view points.
Here are some pics of the room and view. Note: these aren't 'pro' style shots all nicely lined up - they're snapshots taken informally and quickly when we first got to the room and started to unpack!
First off, here's the bedroom...nothing too different there:
And the small private balcony outside the bedroom - private not only from any neighbors, but also from the main balcony of our own villa!:
Bathroom...this is the vanity section and whirlpool tub, plus walk in closet, that is on the bedroom side:
The other part, with the toilet and shower, is accessed either by a door from the bedroom section of the bathroom, or a separate door from the living room...so the person sleeping out there can access these without disturbing the bedroom:
So far, mostly standard. The only thing different, and the only thing that is less than the normal room, is the slightly smaller shower (but it's still a respectable walk in with a door).
Now for the living room, which is where it starts to get different:
I'm standing in the kitchen for this shot. Normally, the Boardwalk living room is a long rectangle with sliding doors to the balcony at one end, couch & TV facing eachother, and a kitchen bar and kitchen at the other end. The only dining facilities are the kitchen bar, or a slim bench seat and table against the wall. In this case though, the kitchen is open to the living room, with no bar. There is enough extra space for a full 4-place table with chairs for dining. The layout of the living room is widthwise, rather than lengthwise, and the space is walled on one entire width by 3 separate large sliding glass doors, in a bay shape. The couch sits in front of one sliding door, rendering it a window, while the other two remain usable to access the balcony, which wraps around some 30 odd feet, the entire width of the kitchen and living room! The room was situated on a bend in the building, facing out, so the whole floorplan was built around that curve, in 3 bay-window style angles. The extra space produced in the living room was significant...you can see in the living room shot above how much space there is beyond the couch in front of the other sliding door - with just a lonely chair over there. There is EASILY enough room for a queen inflatable matress on the floor without interfering with movement around the villa - something you cannot do in most 1-bedroom villas (except OKW). The space was exceptional! And the kitchen felt much more open and usable, since it was not just a narrow slot - you could have several people milling around the kitchen space at once without bumping or crowding.
Now, with Boardwalk, we know the two point schemes: Preferred view, and Standard View. Preferred View can be any of the following: Boardwalk view, river view, pool view, garden view, or inner courtyard view. I often book preferred view with a Boardwalk view request - but I'm still not guaranteed to get something I love - for one, I'm not a big fan of pool views, and don't think they should be in the same class as river and garden views. But generally, you get a nicer view than Standard. Standard view is usually one of the following: Back of some maintenance or storage shed view, parking lot view, or front entrance/valet stand view. So Preferred is usually better for most people.
This trip though, view wasn't important - I was willing to look at the valet stand or generator building if need be - I just wanted to save some points, and be close to the lobby. We started off on the wrong foot immediately, when we were told we were nowhere near the lobby. We were in fact 10 rooms away from the farthest point in the entire building from the lobby. The walk from the room to the lobby was like walking from Spaceship Earth to France. No kidding. You could hold a marathon through those halls. We lobbied like crazy, and were given the concession that they could move us the next day, but we'd have to spend the first night over in Siberia. And of course, having been down there before, I knew the view was pretty much a parking lot.
So weren't we surprised to finally reach the room, open it up, and find that strange and lovely big place with the odd layout! But even more surprised were we when we got a load of the balcony and the view. No kidding, I've had preferred view rooms with worse views, and only ever had one balcony that came close to the size, and none with quite the wraparound view that went nearly 180 degrees in 100% privacy, with nary a balcony or window on either side that could see onto our balcony.
Here's that standard view:
Remember...folks pay more points for 'water views'...and don't see this much water! And rarely can see as far either...many preferred view rooms have more preferred view rooms looking back at them from across the courtyard or pool. Here's the view a bit more to the right, on the next segment of balcony:
Now technically, that IS the parking lot...so we did get a parking lot view. And the bridge in the first shot is the front entrance road, so we have a street view too. But call me crazy...this is one of the nicest parking lot/road views I've ever had!
Here's the kitchen glass door out to the balcony...starting at the far left corner of the balcony:
Here's looking around the first bend, to the longest segment of balcony, that faces that pond and parking lot:
And here's around one more bend, to the final segment of the main balcony, where you would come out from that living room door:
Note how the building juts out there...with no windows. That's the bedroom wall, so there's no way for anyone to look onto the balcony. The same wall exists on the left side over by the kitchen. And the balconies above and below are not tiered, so none can see onto the others. And remember, there's one more small balcony attached to the bedroom, and it too is fully secluded and private. From the bedroom balcony, you could see the river to Hollywood Studios and the Tower of Terror. From the main balcony, you could see Japan and American Adventure in Epcot, and a good chunk of Illuminations.
This rainbow shot was taken from the bedroom balcony, to give you an idea of the treetops view there:
Pretty nutty! Saved points, got a better view than usual, and a bigger villa to boot! And in the end, the distance from the lobby wasn't that big of a deal...because of the proximity to the bus stop!
. My mom thought I was nuts, I kept saying "we got the special room!".
jackpot.
!! Don't ya just love it when some
happens ? 
