Girlstar30
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Feb 1, 2025
- Messages
- 4,162
Less than stellar reviews are always not fun for me to write and I know owners are very passionate about their home resorts, so I would suggest VB diehards probably skip this one.
We were super excited to get to VB after three weeks at Disney World. Everyone had told us we had "done it right" booking VB at the end of our Disney World trip for a relaxing way to end it. Unfortunately for us, VB was not the relaxing experience we had hoped for. We were two families traveling together and we loaded up a cargo van with our luggage and were on our way. Between the two families there were 21 items (including smaller shopping bags and water) so it was no small feat packing this thing up. Upon our arrival, we were kind of surprised there were no bellman around, as this is what we had become accustomed to being DVC.
I went inside to ask for a bellman's help and to our surprise there were no bellman
I was just really surprised that a deluxe resort wouldnt have bellman that I never even thought to look up this possibility before staying. What we've come to understand is that they do provide "luggage service" which it seems like whoever is at the front desk or available is the chosen one to help 
and let's just say they weren't jumping to help.
Aside from that, everyone was super excited walking into the lobby. I loved the Southern look and was told that the southern hospitality was the best on DVC property. I was in the lobby chatting with some extra friendly cast members and they were telling us all of the activities that the resort had to offer. Pluto was in the lobby taking pictures and we were ready to go. We had our stuff loaded onto three bell carts and went to ask them to please take it to our room. The girl who kind of helped us to load had a very unhappy look on her face. She told us because of the thunder, her life would be at risk to take our luggage to our room now. I asked her when they would be able to and she said a couple of hours probably if we wait for them and that other people were before us.
When I saw how close the room was, I asked if we could just push it ourselves. She said yes, but warned us that we were risking getting struck by lightning right now. I understood, safety first, but I couldnt help but think that there was a reluctance to wanting to help as well playing into this. After about 15 minutes (and still thunder) she apparently changed her mind. She said that her and another cast member could help us push two of the luggage carts, but that one of us would have to push the third one because they needed help to push fast as possible for safety to get it done quick.
I was seriously questioning whether I was actually at a DVC resort or if there had somehow been a mistake. I started thinking about the fact that we drove two hours away and it seemed pretty isolated, perhaps we walked into a horror film scenario where we would be trapped with no escape by an evil corrupt mouse (overactive imagination, I know)
Anyways, one of my cousins pushed the cart and we followed behind them. My wife said she caught an eye roll as they were helping us unpack. It made her super uncomfortable and she told me she would never ask for their help again this trip. My cousin offered tip and one of the cast members insisted that he wouldnt accept, that this was his job. Strange that actions weren't matching words. I offered my tip after and the other cast member couldnt snatch it up fast enough after the other one refused my cousin. I dont blame her and im glad she took it, it was a lot of stuff! But nonetheless, very awkward experience.
I wrote a lot about that because I think its important that people know there is no dedicated bell service. Here goes most of the rest.
The bad:
1. The room smelled strongly of mildew/mold. Getting anyone to come out to do anything took a very long time, hours, if not the next day. Again, it seemed like whoever was available would be the chosen one to help. A humidifier housekeeping dropped off the next day didnt work. Another housekeeper came the day after with air purifiers and fragrance. She was very kind and that did help, but it was a couple of days of us smelling that and we were not too thrilled.
2. No one told us that renting beach loungers was a requirement upon checkin. We woke up early to get good loungers the day after check in. The cast members that were setting up saw us lounging without a reservation and were putting up the reserved signs and setting up other loungers. We thought they would have said something if our loungers were reserved and they weren't, until they were. A couple of hours later, we were kicked out and told that someone else paid. Excuse me?? I would have gladly paid $30 daily if someone had told me thats how this works. I asked where else we could sit and it was an i dont know, check the green room. What is that? I was pissed. I told the front desk manager we were kicked out and what we should do and she walked me over to pay and said they will put us there tomorrow. Wow. Not the treatment we were used to, thats for sure.
3. Cast member friendliness was hit or miss. This really surprised me the most. I was told by several people that VB had the friendliest people. I watched as a british man next to me ordered pita bread at QS with his accent and a cast member rudely "corrected" him and said "PEETA, its pronounced PEETA bread, not PIT AH. Totally unnecessary, i apologized for them and said were not all like this (Americans) to ease the tension
4. Noseeums. I was warned about this and thought that bringing my own bug spray and a variety of different methods (patches, sprays, etc would work as well as using the resorts lotion) WRONG. Every single one of us got bit up bad to the point I made a comment that they were probably going to think we had measles on the plane and yes we used everything, it seems like these lil buggers are immune 
My cousin said she wanted to rip her skin off and my wife said she would never go in September again.
5. The beach. Three out of the four days, it was too rough to go in the water. It is painful getting in with the seashells and then there is a drop that comes quickly that scared us because we didnt know that you just need to pass it and then the sand would be smooth and you'd be able to touch. We figured that out and were able to go in the water day 4, but my wife was too scared and I wouldn't recommend for young kids. There are no lifeguards anywhere, the swimming is at your own risk. Getting out was very scary to me. The water pulls you in and the wave breaks are pretty large if your not far enough. We did have fun the one day it was calmer tho, although there are much prettier beaches in Florida we woukd rather vacation at.
6. Dinner was not good to me. I didnt find one thing on the menu I thought tasted good except for the complimentary corn bread. Service was painfully slow at dinner time and apparently their idea of a medium rare steak is a completely raw center.
7. Its really dark at night. We were expecting this, but my teenage cousin did not feel safe to go outside by herself at night to get QS and shes never felt like that before at a Disney resort. Some men leering at her from their balconies, trying to get her attention and calling for her made her understandably uncomfortable. I wondered how many people staying here and using the pool actually owned DVC
The good:
1. Unique food items like key lime dole whips and key lime stuffed waffles were delicious! I thought breakfast was delicious (our favorite overall of the dvc resorts and desserts were great too!
2. The adults only hour at the green cabin was a lot of fun! We loved the games they offered like Majority rules and it reminded us of being on a disney cruise. The prizes were pretty good too!
3. Music at the pool. That was my complaint at a lot of other DVC resorts pools. Where's the music and vibes. This pool played disney music, hits from 80s, etc great variety. Felt like we were on a fun vacation
4. Lots of cute merchandise in the store and a lot of dvc clothes too, ended up purchasing a really cute jacket.
5. The kids loved mini golf and it was complimentary for DVC membership! There's a lot of activities like fishing, mini golf tournaments, bocce ball, questions with a naturalist etc.
6. Super comfortable bed and despite the smell, the room was really cute and homey, we liked the TV in the middle of the living room and the Nemo theme. It felt like being at a real home away from home.
So there you have most of it! We had some expectations we felt weren't met, that should have been. Never say never, but we're not itching for another VB trip again (pun intended) any time soon!
I loved the idea of Disney having other destination resorts, but this one didn't cut it for us. We both agreed that going during June's turtle season would be the only real draw for us to go back, but maybe in 5+ years. My wife prefers to try to find a different hotel to see the turtles in the area
Sadly it was a miss for us, but like I always say, I am glad there is variety for people to choose from and what we like or works for us may be completely different for the next family! Despite the hiccups, my cousin said she really enjoyed it and would stay again. As for my wife and I, you can find us at WDW, with a bell man and no mosquito bites
We were super excited to get to VB after three weeks at Disney World. Everyone had told us we had "done it right" booking VB at the end of our Disney World trip for a relaxing way to end it. Unfortunately for us, VB was not the relaxing experience we had hoped for. We were two families traveling together and we loaded up a cargo van with our luggage and were on our way. Between the two families there were 21 items (including smaller shopping bags and water) so it was no small feat packing this thing up. Upon our arrival, we were kind of surprised there were no bellman around, as this is what we had become accustomed to being DVC.
I went inside to ask for a bellman's help and to our surprise there were no bellman
I was just really surprised that a deluxe resort wouldnt have bellman that I never even thought to look up this possibility before staying. What we've come to understand is that they do provide "luggage service" which it seems like whoever is at the front desk or available is the chosen one to help and let's just say they weren't jumping to help.Aside from that, everyone was super excited walking into the lobby. I loved the Southern look and was told that the southern hospitality was the best on DVC property. I was in the lobby chatting with some extra friendly cast members and they were telling us all of the activities that the resort had to offer. Pluto was in the lobby taking pictures and we were ready to go. We had our stuff loaded onto three bell carts and went to ask them to please take it to our room. The girl who kind of helped us to load had a very unhappy look on her face. She told us because of the thunder, her life would be at risk to take our luggage to our room now. I asked her when they would be able to and she said a couple of hours probably if we wait for them and that other people were before us.
When I saw how close the room was, I asked if we could just push it ourselves. She said yes, but warned us that we were risking getting struck by lightning right now. I understood, safety first, but I couldnt help but think that there was a reluctance to wanting to help as well playing into this. After about 15 minutes (and still thunder) she apparently changed her mind. She said that her and another cast member could help us push two of the luggage carts, but that one of us would have to push the third one because they needed help to push fast as possible for safety to get it done quick.
I was seriously questioning whether I was actually at a DVC resort or if there had somehow been a mistake. I started thinking about the fact that we drove two hours away and it seemed pretty isolated, perhaps we walked into a horror film scenario where we would be trapped with no escape by an evil corrupt mouse (overactive imagination, I know)
Anyways, one of my cousins pushed the cart and we followed behind them. My wife said she caught an eye roll as they were helping us unpack. It made her super uncomfortable and she told me she would never ask for their help again this trip. My cousin offered tip and one of the cast members insisted that he wouldnt accept, that this was his job. Strange that actions weren't matching words. I offered my tip after and the other cast member couldnt snatch it up fast enough after the other one refused my cousin. I dont blame her and im glad she took it, it was a lot of stuff! But nonetheless, very awkward experience.
I wrote a lot about that because I think its important that people know there is no dedicated bell service. Here goes most of the rest.
The bad:
1. The room smelled strongly of mildew/mold. Getting anyone to come out to do anything took a very long time, hours, if not the next day. Again, it seemed like whoever was available would be the chosen one to help. A humidifier housekeeping dropped off the next day didnt work. Another housekeeper came the day after with air purifiers and fragrance. She was very kind and that did help, but it was a couple of days of us smelling that and we were not too thrilled.
2. No one told us that renting beach loungers was a requirement upon checkin. We woke up early to get good loungers the day after check in. The cast members that were setting up saw us lounging without a reservation and were putting up the reserved signs and setting up other loungers. We thought they would have said something if our loungers were reserved and they weren't, until they were. A couple of hours later, we were kicked out and told that someone else paid. Excuse me?? I would have gladly paid $30 daily if someone had told me thats how this works. I asked where else we could sit and it was an i dont know, check the green room. What is that? I was pissed. I told the front desk manager we were kicked out and what we should do and she walked me over to pay and said they will put us there tomorrow. Wow. Not the treatment we were used to, thats for sure.
3. Cast member friendliness was hit or miss. This really surprised me the most. I was told by several people that VB had the friendliest people. I watched as a british man next to me ordered pita bread at QS with his accent and a cast member rudely "corrected" him and said "PEETA, its pronounced PEETA bread, not PIT AH. Totally unnecessary, i apologized for them and said were not all like this (Americans) to ease the tension
4. Noseeums. I was warned about this and thought that bringing my own bug spray and a variety of different methods (patches, sprays, etc would work as well as using the resorts lotion) WRONG. Every single one of us got bit up bad to the point I made a comment that they were probably going to think we had measles on the plane
and yes we used everything, it seems like these lil buggers are immune My cousin said she wanted to rip her skin off and my wife said she would never go in September again.5. The beach. Three out of the four days, it was too rough to go in the water. It is painful getting in with the seashells and then there is a drop that comes quickly that scared us because we didnt know that you just need to pass it and then the sand would be smooth and you'd be able to touch. We figured that out and were able to go in the water day 4, but my wife was too scared and I wouldn't recommend for young kids. There are no lifeguards anywhere, the swimming is at your own risk. Getting out was very scary to me. The water pulls you in and the wave breaks are pretty large if your not far enough. We did have fun the one day it was calmer tho, although there are much prettier beaches in Florida we woukd rather vacation at.
6. Dinner was not good to me. I didnt find one thing on the menu I thought tasted good except for the complimentary corn bread. Service was painfully slow at dinner time and apparently their idea of a medium rare steak is a completely raw center.
7. Its really dark at night. We were expecting this, but my teenage cousin did not feel safe to go outside by herself at night to get QS and shes never felt like that before at a Disney resort. Some men leering at her from their balconies, trying to get her attention and calling for her made her understandably uncomfortable. I wondered how many people staying here and using the pool actually owned DVC
The good:
1. Unique food items like key lime dole whips and key lime stuffed waffles were delicious! I thought breakfast was delicious (our favorite overall of the dvc resorts and desserts were great too!
2. The adults only hour at the green cabin was a lot of fun! We loved the games they offered like Majority rules and it reminded us of being on a disney cruise. The prizes were pretty good too!
3. Music at the pool. That was my complaint at a lot of other DVC resorts pools. Where's the music and vibes. This pool played disney music, hits from 80s, etc great variety. Felt like we were on a fun vacation
4. Lots of cute merchandise in the store and a lot of dvc clothes too, ended up purchasing a really cute jacket.
5. The kids loved mini golf and it was complimentary for DVC membership! There's a lot of activities like fishing, mini golf tournaments, bocce ball, questions with a naturalist etc.
6. Super comfortable bed and despite the smell, the room was really cute and homey, we liked the TV in the middle of the living room and the Nemo theme. It felt like being at a real home away from home.
So there you have most of it! We had some expectations we felt weren't met, that should have been. Never say never, but we're not itching for another VB trip again (pun intended
) any time soon!I loved the idea of Disney having other destination resorts, but this one didn't cut it for us. We both agreed that going during June's turtle season would be the only real draw for us to go back, but maybe in 5+ years. My wife prefers to try to find a different hotel to see the turtles in the area
Sadly it was a miss for us, but like I always say, I am glad there is variety for people to choose from and what we like or works for us may be completely different for the next family! Despite the hiccups, my cousin said she really enjoyed it and would stay again. As for my wife and I, you can find us at WDW, with a bell man and no mosquito bites
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