I'm at VGF2 now! Ask me!

[Her Dotness]

At poly, you can hear conversations next door. You can make out every word if they’re a little loud. And you can hear anything louder than that. Phone alarms, loud TV, yelling…

This was our experience at Pago Pago. Really annoying. One reason we're not at all eager to repeat that experience.

I'm not surprised about the room-to-room and floor-to-floor noise being bad. That's what I wondered about, having heard reports over at least a decade that BPK was particularly bad about that.

I don't think the interior was much renovated except for where they had to convert suites into studios. Amy Krieger said in her video tour of her and Paul's RS that it was the original structure but only repainted and redecorated with new bath tile and plumbing fixtures (faucets, etc.).

Having worked once with a steamer in a clothing store, prepping new clothes to go out, I'd take a steamer over iron and board any day--as long as they've provided a decent hook for hanging the clothing while steaming, and it's a fairly good steamer. Much easier and faster than ironing. You don't have to shift the clothes around, only the steamer.

Really sorry it's such a disappointment, Rose Gold. That stinks.

ETA: Before buying into DVC, we stayed three different times in the GF main building. Noise was never an issue except on the single night the Disney elves were dismantling holiday decorations in the lobby. We couldn't hear the orchestra the nights we turned in early.

Maybe the outlying GF lodges are the GF's "cheap seats"?

 

[Genie+]

You also can't request an iron or ironing board.

Well there goes my alternative for making toast.

So sorry to hear the disappointing situations. The room looks so awesome! It could’ve been a great stay. How is Grandma‘s room? Any more peaceful up there?

 

[RoseGold]

Extended hours were a success. So my kid who can sleep through anything came through.

Grandma would like you to know she picked off three pieces of painter’s tape. After she saw some, she checked the whole bathroom and couldn’t stand it. She said she would have fired these painters for the job they did. Not surprised by that LOL. I’m sure they’re going to touch up this paint. That one can be fixed.

She was also very glad her TV wasn’t off center. I think that made her madder than the painter’s tape.

She is on the 4th floor, not that close to the lobby or the construction. She would like you to know that she does not care about the noise level because sleeping pills work. So there you go. Grandma said she was very happy with her room. Probably because she didn’t have to deal with any kids and yea, it’s gorgeous.

 

[PalmettoPath]

With all the different resorts in my signature, I can not really ever remember any major noise issues at any of them. This baffles me about the GF.

We always seem to get the noisiest neighbors. The other standout noise resort in our experience is Wilderness Lodge. Non-connecting room, so no door (which can make it even worse). It was like they were in our room. Paper thin walls.

 

[RoseGold]

6:50 AM. They are banging on this construction next door. I can see a bunch of guys. No power tools yet, but this is crazy. I’m on my way to airport. Bye VGF2. I’ll never see you again.

 

[Her Dotness]

Grandma would like you to know she picked off three pieces of painter’s tape. After she saw some, she checked the whole bathroom and couldn’t stand it. She said she would have fired these painters for the job they did. Not surprised by that LOL. I’m sure they’re going to touch up this paint. That one can be fixed.

I used to work a summer paint crew. Grandma's right.

Completely inexcusable at the flagship resort's DVC even though easily fixed. One or two scattered bits of tape--well, yeah. Those might have been easily overlooked if very high or low.

But, checking in guests without a thorough inspection to make certain everything is cleaned up correctly? Definitely not acceptable.

Shoddy, Disney. Just plain shoddy.

 

[Sandisw]

I used to work a summer paint crew. Grandma's right.

Completely inexcusable at the flagship resort's DVC even though easily fixed. One or two scattered bits of tape--well, yeah. Those might have been easily overlooked if very high or low.

But, checking in guests without a thorough inspection to make certain everything is cleaned up correctly? Definitely not acceptable.

Shoddy, Disney. Just plain shoddy.

It sounds like they decided to rush the job and open up on time, instead of moving people...or, not having an opening date in June to begin with....Most people were curious the week before opening if it would on time as it looked like too much work still being done...

Certainly disappointing for those who got a room that had some issues. My friend just did a one night stay there Monday...I asked her about noise, etc. and condition of the room. She said they didn't hear things....and that it was beautiful..to be fair, she wasn't looking for things either...but she did say they didn't hear neighbors, water, etc....which means it wasn't loud enough for them to notice....

I forgot to ask her what floor...but it was a Lagoon View room and I know not 1st floor.

 

[lowlight]

The two important things for me are noise levels and can I store milk for my kids in the beverage cooler. I’ve heard conflicting answers for both so I have no idea what I’m going to do with my reservation.

 

[mamaofsix]

Wow, yikes. We bought in this year specifically for the 2 bedroom suites and knew we would likely never stay in the resort studios. Looks like the demand for the original building is going to be even worse than before if all of the new owners don't want to stay in the new building. I'm still glad we bought in order to get that 11 month priority for the original building suites.

I'd say the most important room request for resort studios would be "top floor" after reading this.

 

[Sandisw]

The two important things for me are noise levels and can I store milk for my kids in the beverage cooler. I’ve heard conflicting answers for both so I have no idea what I’m going to do with my reservation.

Reports have said that milk has been fine...not many yet...but a few...again, reports for noise have been some think its bad and some thought it was normal. I think it will be nice to have more reports...

 

[DVC92]

What do you think of the fact that the sofa doesn't face the TV for viewing?

 

[Sandisw]

What do you think of the fact that the sofa doesn't face the TV for viewing?

That is one of the drawbacks....

 

[SL6827]

I think Disney will now push the envelope as far as possible.

 

[PinkPixel]

We planned this trip around the late hours at Epcot and MK. We’ve been only going at night, and yea we were trying to sleep in!

The email about construction says it starts at 9AM. I thought we were talking about a painting crew or hanging some art, not a jackhammer twenty feet from my ground floor room and thirty people ripping off the side of the building. Why even put people ground floor, this close to this much construction? There are plenty of other rooms in this building. They’ve now ripped the side of the building off and there’s exposed plumbing and such. It is LOUD.

On the positive, this is the best Disney mattress I’ve had, hands down, even better than the new Poly ones. The blankets are still the sad DVC blankets. I think VGF 1BR has actual duvets maybe? The velvet bolster is just beautiful, at least it is for now brand new. The nightstand has plugs galore on all sides.

They offered to move me up and across the building, but the damage is done. Nap time is already out, and we already got woken up early. The flight leaves too early for it to matter tomorrow. I hope we can hang for the late hours, which was the whole point of the trip. But seriously who jackhammers that early at a hotel like this. Embarrassing.

I stay at A LOT of hotels, and I can’t remember the last time I asked to switch like this. I have from time to time with a broken shower or something, but this is a joke. No one should be in this room right now. That should be obvious to anyone with ears.

I swapped a BW 2BR for two rooms at VGF2, and honestly I wish Id kept BW, even if it meant a pain of a couple bus rides. It’s not like the VGF boats have been great. Or heck, I should have gone with Poly. You don’t know what you have with that TTC boat until it’s gone.

Ignoring the construction, I like GF in general, and I really like the looks of the new rooms, they are beautiful. But the noise problem is way worse than poly, and I consider poly very noisy. I don’t think I ever heard upstairs neighbors or this level of hall noise at poly. Equal points, dining better at poly. The lake view is good enough for theme park view for me. Transportation is enough for me to pick poly next time.

I was just there, they are doing the same thing to Boca Chica they just did to BPK (and will go to each building). Replacing the stairwell facing the pool. Demolition work, replacing doors, siding etc, gutting rooms. When they said you would see and hear construction, they def meant it! We lucked out that they did not do as much this past weekend , with no major demo work on Sunday and when it rained too much on Friday evening. I stayed at a Kimpton hotel years ago that gave me no warning and jack hammerered nonstop, it’s the worst sound and I was not expecting it. After that I ask hotels if there will be construction noise, so when I got the email I thought, this could be interesting. I was in Conch Key and the air compressor for the jack hammer was staged on my side so all I heard was that which kind of drowned out the air gun etc. I had low expectations going in and decided to keep my reservation because my daughter loves the GF. I had a Poly res but cancelled because there was no discount on the room. We were cash.

 

[PinkPixel]

6:50 AM. They are banging on this construction next door. I can see a bunch of guys. No power tools yet, but this is crazy. I’m on my way to airport. Bye VGF2. I’ll never see you again.

The BPK building you stayed in was a 24 hour build from what I heard from staff.

 

[SleeplessInTO]

Thanks for this AMA/trip report!! Great read. Sorry to hear about the noise issues & construction, glad your kid was able to sleep through it! Grandma sounds awesome.

I'm checking in tomorrow to a standard view at BPK, still pretty excited to see these rooms!

 

[pbauswell]

I'm very sorry to hear the noise was an issue and that the rooms were not adjacent (or even on the same floor) as requested. We currently have an early May 2023 reservation in the resort studios. I now know to be prepared with extra ear plugs. I spent years using them before my husband started using his CPAP machine. There are some pretty good ones out there.

If there is a way to make coffee and there is a chiller for our bottled water, we are good. We enjoy treating ourselves to meals outside of the room during our vacation (and save accordingly). I am still quite excited to stay in the new resort studio. Though we own at VGF, we have frequented OKW because there is a second queen bed for our now-adult daughter.

I hate it when anyone has a less-than-magical stay at WDW. And we've certainly had our moments. It does sound like things were rushed to get the building opened on time. Though we could switch back to the deluxe studio, I'm going to be hopeful we are wowed by the resort studios next May.

 

[georgiagirl2]

I've been unplugged for several days, but I stayed last week for one night in a theme park view on the 3rd floor. We were directed to VGF1 at security gate and checked our luggage with bellman since room wasn't ready. I used online check-in so never interacted with anyone upon arrival other than bell services. Note that there are no room requests when doing online check-in. I had requested upper floor via chat when I made the reservation.

Rosegold, so sorry for all the noise you had. We could hear one of our neighbors who had a toddler but it was nothing like what you experienced. There were crews of workers all around Boca Chica and Big Pine Key when we were at the Courtyard pool. I could hear jackhammering from the pool but never in our room. Our TV was centered, paint job was nearly perfect, and the mattress slept better than any DVC mattress I've ever used. I even commented to my friend that I wish the painters I'd hired for a recent job were as meticulous as these! I liked the glass doors on the shower but I agree that they'll be difficult to keep clean.

I kept half-and-half for coffee in the beverage cooler and thought it was as cold as a small fridge. Our soft drinks were cold; we didn't store anything else in there.

The balcony was the only thing that seemed in need of a good cleaning. It appeared that new landscaping work was taking place below us between the building and the lake, new sod being laid, etc. We thoroughly enjoyed the Electrical Water Pageant, MK fireworks, and a nice bottle of wine on our balcony. It was a comfortable evening weather wise. Lots of room on balcony with 2 chairs and a table.

I use a white noise app on my phone when I travel and my friend sleeps in earplugs, so neither of us were disturbed by loud noise. I got the feeling that no one was in the room above us because we never heard a sound up there. We could hear occasional hall noise but the theme park view rooms are at the very end of hall so very little traffic outside those.

I could see myself staying here again for a RunDisney girls' trip due to the 2 queen beds and the great location. The sofa bed was like the ones on DCL cruise ships and long and very comfortable. It was made by Ethan Allen. I tried it out because I have a 6'3" son and I'm always curious if he would fit. I am 5'6" and had extra space at my feet and head. I think it would be tight for him though. Easy to open and put back.

I liked that we were closer to the main GF building restaurants and monorail compared to GFV1. But we parked in the villas lot and it was a long walk from BPK. The rooms themselves are gorgeous and the pink curtains are more subtle and less feminine looking than the pics I'd seen from travel bloggers. There is ample storage in the dresser and closet. My favorite thing might've been the real mugs and glassware. I used the Keurig. Not a big fan of those, but it was fine for one night. They came and installed the microwave right after we got to our room.

 

[RoseGold]

I didn’t even turn on the TV, so I didn’t care that it didn’t face the sofa.

The beverage cooler was pretty cold, better than the poly one I had last year. I am used to my home beverage fridge which is at 40. I’d wildly guess it was a little warmer than that. I’d store milk for a few days in it. You could also put it on ice in a plastic bag in the fridge and bring the temp down some.

 

[kes601]

While I standby what I wrote earlier in terms of our good experience here, I don’t think vgf2 should have opened until they are finished with the building next to it. It would have given them time to finish the final items on vgf2 and would spare people the noise and view of construction.

Again, we’ve had a great time, but we travel in a group of 2 and have no kids, etc. VGF2 shouldn’t have opened for at least another month. We pay too much for our points (and others with cash) for this to be what Disney and DVC gives us.