I'm in love with a new resort. Sorry, OKW!

[La2kw]

Actually, OKW still has a special place in my heart, but we were lucky enough to get room 5519 at the WLV last week and we loved it! It was a 5th floor corner room with a unique layout and had two separate balconies, one off the bedroom and another off the living room. We have never had this room before, and have stayed at this resort a couple times. It had windows all over and fantastic views of the lake. The only odd thing was the lack of storage. Very small closet in bedroom and no drawer space for clothes. The kitchen also had less storage space since the washer/dryer were located in one of the kitchen cupboards. Here's some photos for you. Enjoy!

Dining area from entry.

Living room from entry area. Living room balcony is to the left of chair.

Living room and kitchen. Washer/dryer unit is located behind brown doors next to microwave.

Looking back at entry.

Bathroom.

Master bath area.

Master bedroom balcony.

Master bedroom.

Master bedroom with bathroom.

Armoire and television- both very small.

Looking back towards bedroom entrance.

Another view of bathroom area.

Up next, the views!

 

[La2kw]

Now for the views from room 5519 at the WLV.

From the bedroom balcony.

From the living room balcony:

The resort-

The lake.

Hidden Springs Pool.

The resort-

Through the windows:

It was just so lovely and unexpected to get this room. I still have trouble with the transportation from this resort and the amount of time stopping at the campground takes, but with a room like this, we never wanted to leave.

 

[BWV Dreamin]

You have been touched by the VWL magic! We too have a new love affair with the lodge after our stay in May. Grab yourself a groupie siggie and post over on the VWL groupies thread! We can't wait to go back. Love your pics, thanks!

 

[jade1]

That is a great room-hope we get it some day. Thanks for the pics-very nice detail.

 

[Sammie]

Interesting layout of the room especially the kitchen, did you have any upper cabinets?

 

[katmittens]

We are OKW owners and love it there but switched our Jan stay from OKW to VWL. I feel better seeing your pictures. I hope we get that room. It looks great. I'm still not sure about this since I know I will miss all the room at OKW, but as of now we are sticking with VWL. I figure it will be one trip and if not happy we will be back and stay at OKW. Of course DH wants OKW, DD wants BCV and DS wanted VWL. I guess I'm the tiebreaker and I said OK to VWL, but I always second guess my decisions. I am a stickler for getting a good room and usually OKW you have a better chance of a great room location, since there are alot of rooms. I'm also going to miss my big balcony at OKW, but I do love the theme of VWL and we will be there Jan 1 thru Jan 9 so it is a good time for the Lodge. I like the quiet pool and the food options so there is alot to look forward to.
So as of now we will be at VWL and I hope for a great view.

 

[Sammie]

We are OKW owners and love it there but switched our Jan stay from OKW to VWL. I feel better seeing your pictures. I hope we get that room. It looks great. I'm still not sure about this since I know I will miss all the room at OKW, but as of now we are sticking with VWL. I figure it will be one trip and if not happy we will be back and stay at OKW. Of course DH wants OKW, DD wants BCV and DS wanted VWL. I guess I'm the tiebreaker and I said OK to VWL, but I always second guess my decisions. I am a stickler for getting a good room and usually OKW you have a better chance of a great room location, since there are alot of rooms. I'm also going to miss my big balcony at OKW, but I do love the theme of VWL and we will be there Jan 1 thru Jan 9 so it is a good time for the Lodge. I like the quiet pool and the food options so there is alot to look forward to.
So as of now we will be at VWL and I hope for a great view.

Don't feel bad, you have company, Me. You would not believe how many VWL bookings I have cancelled after making them and booked something else.

Just can't seem to get past concerns.

Hope you have a great trip.

 

[oakmanner]

Great pics!

 

[Granny]

Interesting layout of the room especially the kitchen, did you have any upper cabinets?

Sammie...I've stayed in the room below this one with the same layout. There are upper cabinets for glassware and dishes. As you face the sink they are to your left (behind the wall that you see in the picture) as well as over the microwave and refrigerator.

We are OKW owners and love it there but switched our Jan stay from OKW to VWL. I feel better seeing your pictures. I hope we get that room.

There are only 4 rooms with that layout/view at VWL. All are dedicated 2BR, if that makes a difference. But the odds of getting one of them are not all that good in general. No harm in asking, but I wouldn't book there really hoping for one of them.

I am a stickler for getting a good room and usually OKW you have a better chance of a great room location, since there are alot of rooms.

Almost all of the rooms at VWL have a view of trees. So really location is not much of an issue and the variety of views is pretty minimal. That can be good or bad if you like trees, I suppose.

My guess is that you will indeed miss the size of the OKW villas. There's no denying that they are substantially roomier especially the living room and balcony. Hopefully you will be enchanted by the charm of WL/VWL and see the other amenities there that are unique to that resort such as the Lodge tour, Electric Water Parade, duck races, spouting geyser and a nice signature restaurant.

 

[liznboys]

Those are really wonderful pictures, thanks for sharing them! We cannot wait to try out VWL!!

 

[kayla87]

It was a 5th floor corner room with a unique layout and had two separate balconies, one off the bedroom and another off the living room. It had windows all over and fantastic views of the lake. The only odd thing was the lack of storage. Very small closet in bedroom and no drawer space for clothes. The kitchen also had less storage space since the washer/dryer were located in one of the kitchen cupboards.

We've has this room location/layout on I think the third floor. My husband hated the lack of storage in the bedroom - he hates living out of his suitcase. We had a great view of the EWP from our ONE balcony. But four people cannot watch it from one tiny balcony. (I don't know why the fifth floor would have two balconies but the third wouldn't?) I hear a lot of praise for these rooms, but we all feel a little shafted by the layout. The view is the ONLY reason I would ever consider requesting these rooms. Just my warning/vent

 

[La2kw]

Sammie...I've stayed in the room below this one with the same layout. There are upper cabinets for glassware and dishes. As you face the sink they are to your left (behind the wall that you see in the picture) as well as over the microwave and refrigerator.



There are only 4 rooms with that layout/view at VWL. All are dedicated 2BR, if that makes a difference. But the odds of getting one of them are not all that good in general. No harm in asking, but I wouldn't book there really hoping for one of them.


Almost all of the rooms at VWL have a view of trees. So really location is not much of an issue and the variety of views is pretty minimal. That can be good or bad if you like trees, I suppose.

My guess is that you will indeed miss the size of the OKW villas. There's no denying that they are substantially roomier especially the living room and balcony. Hopefully you will be enchanted by the charm of WL/VWL and see the other amenities there that are unique to that resort such as the Lodge tour, Electric Water Parade, duck races, spouting geyser and a nice signature restaurant.

Room 5519 is a one bedroom unit, not a dedicated two bedroom. The living room area felt just as spacious as those at OKW, but the kitchen was very tiny, with much less storage space than any DVC we have stayed at (and we've stayed at all of them except AKV). The bedroom also had an odd lack of storage, yet was large enough to accomodate more.

 

[La2kw]

We've has this room location/layout on I think the third floor. My husband hated the lack of storage in the bedroom - he hates living out of his suitcase. We had a great view of the EWP from our ONE balcony. But four people cannot watch it from one tiny balcony. (I don't know why the fifth floor would have two balconies but the third wouldn't?) I hear a lot of praise for these rooms, but we all feel a little shafted by the layout. The view is the ONLY reason I would ever consider requesting these rooms. Just my warning/vent

I also found the lack of storage rather odd for such a large unit, but we travel very lightly so we had no issues with it and were still unable to pack, using the nightstands as our drawer space. We do the same at OKW. The balcony is very small, and even though we had two, you still could only fit two people comfortable on one. I wouldn't watch the ELP from the balcony anyway, it's much more fun to watch it from the beach where you can also watch Wishes.

 

[La2kw]

We are OKW owners and love it there but switched our Jan stay from OKW to VWL. I feel better seeing your pictures. I hope we get that room. It looks great. I'm still not sure about this since I know I will miss all the room at OKW, but as of now we are sticking with VWL. I figure it will be one trip and if not happy we will be back and stay at OKW. Of course DH wants OKW, DD wants BCV and DS wanted VWL. I guess I'm the tiebreaker and I said OK to VWL, but I always second guess my decisions. I am a stickler for getting a good room and usually OKW you have a better chance of a great room location, since there are alot of rooms. I'm also going to miss my big balcony at OKW, but I do love the theme of VWL and we will be there Jan 1 thru Jan 9 so it is a good time for the Lodge. I like the quiet pool and the food options so there is alot to look forward to.
So as of now we will be at VWL and I hope for a great view.

OKW is still number one for us, but this was a nice change and this particular room was a nice surprise. Most of the rooms are the size of the SSR and BCV rooms, so that's what we were expecting. The VWL has a lot to offer, and is in our favorite location, near the MK. The bus service is not good, especially if you are used to the OKW bus service, which has always been excellent. I don't understand why these two resorts have to share buses with the campground. It is too far out of the way. It took us way longer to get to Epcot by way of Fort Wilderness than it does from OKW. Out of curiosity, we ended up taking the boat to MK, hopping on the monorail, and then transferring to the Epcot monorail and found it took us just as long as the bus did. We do enjoy taking the boat to the MK and two of the restaurants at the resort. I wish WCC was just a regular cafe instead of what it currently is with the idiotic waiters.

 

[DVCGeek]

I wish WCC was just a regular cafe instead of what it currently is with the idiotic waiters.

DW & I have found the wait staff's antics amusing in the past... You say "currently"- have they changed things around since October of 2008? Is there anything in particular you didn't like??? I'm staying at VWL this Oct. and my 90 days for ADRs starts tomorrow. I was hoping to do Whispering Canyon for dinner on Friday, lunch Sat., and Breakfast Sunday just because it amused me to try the three different skillets! To date I usually have dinner there one night of each WDW trip, although I only stayed at the lodge once in the late 90s... Since I'm staying there this time I though I'd sample other meal times!

 

[La2kw]

DW & I have found the wait staff's antics amusing in the past... You say "currently"- have they changed things around since October of 2008? Is there anything in particular you didn't like??? I'm staying at VWL this Oct. and my 90 days for ADRs starts tomorrow. I was hoping to do Whispering Canyon for dinner on Friday, lunch Sat., and Breakfast Sunday just because it amused me to try the three different skillets! To date I usually have dinner there one night of each WDW trip, although I only stayed at the lodge once in the late 90s... Since I'm staying there this time I though I'd sample other meal times!

We haven't eaten there since 1994. The restaurant is in such a nice setting, but the servers act like goofballs. I prefer a quiet meal in a dignified setting. WCC takes the nice setting and makes it loud and annoying. Judging from the all the noise and yelling, it hasn't changed at all since 1994.

 

[wildernessDad]

Right, room 5519 is the 1-bedroom part of a 2-bedroom lockoff.

The lower 3 floors (4th, 3rd, 2nd) have what I call the 'atrium' 2-bedroom dedicated villas. I've been fortunate to have one of those every time I've booked a 2-bedroom.

 

[melk]

Oh, thank you for the memories!! We stayed in 5519 a few years ago and we can honestly say it was one of the best rooms we ever had at Disney (the other being a GV at OKW).

Thanks for all the great pictures, believe it or not I have very few from our stay, although I did take video.

Our favorite thing was to sit out on the balcony at night and enjoy the view.

 

[katmittens]

We are booked for a dedicated 2 bedroom. So I have three chances to get that room. I have requested pool/water view, closer to elevators. I don't know if I can directly request certain room numbers, I hate to be too picky.
At OKW we are usually near HH, so I do request certain buildings, which I have always gotten, but I know there is a much larger inventory at OKW compared to VWL.
Should I call and request certain room numbers? I don't want to be all the way down the end of the hall. I have some medical problems which at times makes it difficult to walk alot. Any help appreciated.

 

[Granny]

Room 5519 is a one bedroom unit, not a dedicated two bedroom. The living room area felt just as spacious as those at OKW, but the kitchen was very tiny, with much less storage space than any DVC we have stayed at (and we've stayed at all of them except AKV). The bedroom also had an odd lack of storage, yet was large enough to accomodate more.

Thank you for correcting my assumption that all the "XX19" rooms were dedicated 2BR's. I knew that 3519 and 4519 were and made the sin of assuming that the next floor up would be the same.

I too found the reduction in storage area as well as the loss of the walk in closets to be a drawback. But the living room is so much roomier especially around the table that my DW and DD's all love this room layout.