Live from VBR! Photo's of Beach Cottage and more

[loribell]

Absolutely amazing pics Anne. Now you have me wanting to try one of those Beach Cottages!

 

[diznyfanatic]

Wow, awesome pictures! Thanks so much for sharing them!

We love VB and think it really is one of DVC's "best kept secrets"!! We can't wait to return again!

 

[disneynutt1225]

Anne, those pictures were great! Makes me want to go check it out for myself...maybe in a few years.

 

[ducklite]

Here's a bit more info on the "Bug" situation.

The ant traps (they were Raid II Bait Traps--or something along those lines) worked a bit, but didn't really solve the problem. I think the problem is two-fold, partially just a coastal situation, and partially because the more I looked, the more I found that the cottage was pretty filty.

I spent probably three hours cleaning. I had brought Clorox Wipes--the big jar--and they were pretty much gone before we left. I wiped down every cabinet exterior in the kitchen, they were covered in drips and food. I scrubbed the table, counter tops, the crevices in the coffee table which were filthy. I was afraid to look under the fridge. I found M&M's covered in ants on the floor behind the dehumidifier. I really wished I had a bucket, a mop, a couple of sponges, some Dawn dishsoap, some bleach, and some Mr. Clean. I could have spent eight hours cleaning and things might have started to seem clean.

Now I mentioned before that I am a bit of a clean freak, and quite compulsive about it, but it was pretty grimey when you got past the first glance. I definitely left it 1000% cleaner than it started--but it was no where near where it should have been. I am going to write a letter to DVC and address it. We had a great time, but seriously, I think that 90% of the bugs we encountered inside wouldn't have been there if the place was cleaner.

In addition to the phantom ants we found other ants (not large carpenter, jsut medium ants), palmetto bugs (At least eight of them that I can remember), a HUGE Wolf Spider that came out of a fresh towel, and half a dozen other unidentified bugs--plus a few flying types that likely came in when we opened a door.

Anyhow, we had a great trip, but I'm glad I'm home in my clean house.

What really needs to happen is for that cottage (and I'm feeling pretty confident in saying all of the units) need to be bug bombed, then have a deep cleaning crew go in and pull out the fridge, cleaning under and behind it, clean the inside of all cabinets (I cleaned up a lot of crumbs), make certain that all pots and pans, dishes, etc. are clean (I found cheese in the grimey fingerprint covered grater that had been put away in a cabinet--once run through the dishwasher it sparkled), dust--the baseboards are gross to the point that they need to be wiped down with a sponge and sudsy water, simply dusting won't get them clean, and clean the carpets and scrub the tile.

Anne

 

[ducklite]

Thanks for all the info Anne!!



I was wondering if the menu was similar to what is posted on AllEars?

That is such a pared down version from the menu I have from when we were there spring of '06. I recently talked to the head chef about the menu, or lack of it. Their restaurant got the same treatment that all WDW restaurants received, however it sounds like they have gotten permission to be more independent in the future. I'm hoping by April there will be a bit more variety in the menu at Shutters.

Sorry, the menu appears to be the same, but we only ate there once, so it worked for us. We also ate burgers at the Green Cabin Room one night and they were OK, but gave us all a bit of indigestion.

We got Publix take-out fried chicken for dinner the first night, and I made dinner for us in the cottage two other nights, and we had breakfast and lunch in the villa every day. Our entire bill at check-out was $210--and $40 of that was the wine-tasting we attended. Cheap vacation!

Anne

 

[ducklite]

Thanks for all the photos and info!! Were those Mimosa's you were drinking? Ah, I am so jealous! lol Beautiful view of the ocean!

Yes to the Mimosa's. We had them three out of five mornings. We'd get up at 6:00 am, go down to the beach, watch the sunrise with the Mimosa's, then around 8:00 am go back to the cottage and take a nap for an hour or two.

Anne

 

[bobbiwoz]

I'm so sorry that you had to clean the Beach Cottage. You should not have gotten it in that condition!!!

Bobbi

 

[Lexxiefern]

Thanks for the great pictures! We are staying in one next month - can't wait!!

 

[LIFERBABE]

Thank you, Enjoyed it very much.

I've had a time with ants here in Texas too.

 

[eporter66]

Wow - great pics, looks beautiful!

Enjoy your vacation

 

[Cheryl N. WI]

Wow AWESOME pictures and a great report on the beach cottages I have always wanted to stay in one of those now I want to even more, someday

Sorry you had to do all that cleaning. We stayed in a 1 bedroom in June and all the handles on the kitchen cabinets felt sticky so I ended wiping them all off along with all the kitchen countertops. We didn't have any problems with bugs iin our unit, thank goodness.

 

[byoung]

Thanks for reporting, great pictures.

 

[lisareniff]

Such a great report Anne. Shouldn't have to do all that cleaning though. Thanks in advance for writing to DVC/VB about the problem. It may help us in April!!


Thanks again for the pics!

 

[dvcfamily41801]

The View From the Top Floor:

More to come...

No one else noticed the Mickey in the coulds in this picture????

Thanks so much for sharing the pictures and report! We would love to try Vero Beach for a few days someday!