Currently at VWL

[aero99]

Good Morning,

I meant to do this earlier in the trip but today is our half-way point so I'm not too late. We are having a great time here at the VWL. We are in a studio on the third floor looking over the walkway. At first I was a little disappointed but I have really enjoyed people watching. We had a little snafu when we first got here. They sent the wrong luggage up to us. We are Carter and they sent Cotter. I was a little stressed at the time because we had an ADR for Boma. We ended up arriving 4 minutes late and were seated just fine. As for the pool construction, they shut-down the kiddie pool and hot tubs yesterday. So all that is opened is the villa pool & hot tub. And yes, the ducks have moved over. I saw them drying off this morning on my walk back from Roaring forks.

We did go over and the see the new models yesterday. Since the pictures are already posted, I won't post mine. We did not have a "guide" showing us around but a staffer so as expected, I knew more about the resort then he did (thanks disboards!). It was confirmed that (in a book he had for reference) about the 5 lock-out rooms total for concierge (or 10 rooms if no one books a 2-bedroom). YIKES!! The huge bathrooms were great although when my husband went to look he showed me how difficult it will be to manuevr around the toilet to close the door. The studio seemed bright but the one-bedroom seemed dark. That is one of my big complaints about AKL so I think we might visit is sometime but not buy in.

Ok, enough rambleing, if you have any questions for me, please respond and I will do my best to answer.

 

[Granny]

No questions, just a hope that your trip is a great one! I saw your other post about waiting for your husband to go to the bus....now breathe deeply and relax! Us husbands enjoy the rare chance to be the one holding things up!!




Seriously, I'm glad that you are enjoying the villa, and were able to turn your bit of disappointment into enjoying a new viewpoint from which to people watch.

Enjoy the rest of your trip!

 

[Lexxiefern]

I'm so jealous! I wish I was there. Have a wonderful trip. Is is very crowded?

 

[Thumper4me]

I am glad you are having a good time. We will be down on Saturday for a long weekend. Is it crowded? Would you recommend making lunch reservations before we come down?

 

[aero99]

It has not been very crowded except when we go to eat dinner. I was talking to our host last night at Ohana and he said that next week (starting on Tuesday) all of the disney resorts are sold out. I guess we are in a lull before the crowds. I have not seen the restaurants full for lunch so I wouldn't worry about a lunch adr. (and yes we are STILL in the room right now). We usually don't eat much and we eat pretty healthy. Three nights of food here has done a number on our systems so we are going slow. Ok make that my husband is going slow. I want to go to Magic Kingdom dang it!!

We went to Epcot on Monday and are longest wait was 10 minutes (of course we fast passed Soarin). BTW, all of the Soarin fast passes were gone by lunch time. We took the time this year to really enjoy the countries. We spent some time in the tomb warier display in China (plus saw the acrobats), listen to the fife band & the singing group in American adventure, saw the drums in Japan and was present for two showings of the band in Germany. (and if you were at the last showing, yes that was me doing the chicken dance!)

I will give a full MK report if we ever get there!

 

[Thumper4me]

Thank you for the update. We will be arriving on Saturday and leaving Tuesday so hopefully we will miss the big crowds.

Good luck getting to the Magic Kingdom.

Kelly

 

[tiggercrew]

Glad to hear you are having a good time! We will be at VWL at the end of May (Memorial Day week) and are really looking forward to it (and planning for the crowds).

Where exactly are the new models? I thought I remembered reading that they were at SSR...is that correct? I would love for us to get a look at them while we are down there in May.

Enjoy your day at MK!

 

[bobbiwoz]

I will be checking into the VWL 2 weeks from today I'm glad you are enjoying your stay....and have reported on it. It's helping me make it through the waiting time.

Bobbi

 

[spiceycat]

going next week on Sunday - but staying (for me) a long time - until 3/22 - so hopefully will find a few days to enjoy the parks.

love your trip report.

also loved you turning around a bad room into a wonderful room - great attitude!!!!

oh I got excited just reading your report!!!!

 

[colleen costello]

We had a room a few years back on that walkway. We loved it -- every night the kids and I would say goodnight to topiary Mickey's tail! I could take photos of him and our balconies were in the background... It was fun. Close to the lobby was great for the grandparents!

We check in Sunday at OKW. I assume the parks will be crazy by later in the week, what else is new? Such is the lot of those of us who have to travel on school breaks. Looking forward to retirement when I can go in off-seasons... For now I am happy to be going at all!

Thanks for the report

 

[Granny]

Looking forward to retirement when I can go in off-seasons

Can I hear a big AMEN!!!!

 

[LisaS]

Great report! I'm relieved to hear the ducks have figured out which pool is still open. I love watching the little ducklings learning to swim in the calm waters of the WL and VWL pools! Enjoy the rest of your stay.

 

[Granny]

Great report! I'm relieved to hear the ducks have figured out which pool is still open. I love watching the little ducklings learning to swim in the calm waters of the WL and VWL pools! Enjoy the rest of your stay.

Lisa...those guys enjoy the not-so-calm waters too!

[/IMG]

 

[jimmytammy]

Lisa...those guys enjoy the not-so-calm waters too!

[/IMG]

Love the picture Granny! They look so at "Home"

 

[jimmytammy]

Glad youre having a good time. Thanks for sharing with us. Helps with the homesickness

 

[LisaS]

Lisa...those guys enjoy the not-so-calm waters too!

Great photo! We stopped by WL on our trip last December. It was a very cold day and the pool was empty except for a mother duck and two ducklings and two lifeguards. It would have made a great photo with the lifeguards watching over the ducklings going in for one of their first swims.

I mentioned to one of the lifeguards that I thought it was nice that they don't chase the ducks out of the pool. He laughed and said, "Well, this is Wilderness Lodge".

 

[Granny]

I mentioned to one of the lifeguards that I thought it was nice that they don't chase the ducks out of the pool. He laughed and said, "Well, this is Wilderness Lodge".

I mentioned a similar thing to a lifeguard in December, and she told me that as soon as the ducks came to rest on the pool water (or any other part of WDW property), that they became protected. Disney has some very strict rules about wildlife and basically it sounded like they couldn't chase them out even if they wanted to.

I agree...they add to the ambience of the resort. When I asked about "droppings", I was informed that they are miniscule and don't even register on the water analysis readings they regularly do.

 

[colleen costello]

Some of my kids' fondest memories at Disney involve the little duckling groups you see in the pools. We saw one little guy get stuck in the pool, in the whirlpool section of Stormalong Bay... Momma kept calling to him and finally -- PLOP! -- he made it out of the water and onto the side of the pool. Everyone let out a sigh of relief! It is very magical to see those little dudes swimming along with everyone else.

 

[aero99]

A WONDERFUL day at Magic Kingdom!! We got to the park at 11am and didn't have to wait in any lines more then 10 minutes (well except to see Mickey in Toon Town). We didn't even use fastpass. Space mtn and buzz were 5 minutes. Everything else we did was 10 minutes. We also got to do the laugh floor comedy club. It was a lot of fun but they still have some technical work. For example, they messed up the joke we text them and at the end we lost the audio for Roz. Oh, I finally figured out the special place to aim for on Buzz (while we got stopped in the room) so my score was in the 800,000's!! We just finished a really nice dinner at WCC. We both had the skillet and LOVED the corn bread and most everything else. Definitely on our return list.

I think I only had one more question to answer, and the AKV models are located in the theater at SSR. They have fake windows projecting what one could see out of the villa's window. (and boy do they over do that)

 

[lisaviolet]

Hi,

Thanks for the posting. We are staying at VWL in mere months and I'm so excited. I'm going with someone who is a little anti-VWL (blashphemy....I know) so I have a question for you. How is the light level in your studio? You mentioned how you felt in the AKV suites. It is similar to the light in the VWL studio?

Thanks so much. I can't wait. I'm hoping that she'll love it. Regardless, I love it. Yeah!

Enjoy the rest of your vacation,

Lisa