Resale shopping again.. my heart wants one thing but my head says another. Give your opinions.

[Canchaser143]

I walked in and thought wow this is big. Went straight for the view. Nice view. We can see Epcot!. It took several minutes for my husband to say wait didn’t we book a studio? Then it hit me I was in a 1 bedroom!

Do you know how excited I am that I can take my nap in the pull down bed and keep the main bed clean for after we shower tonight?! Like next level excited.

View attachment 968007

I take a photo and my husband says “don’t tell the kids”. I say oh no definitely not I’m telling my Disney peeps!

Okay now that I told my peeps I’m gonna nap for real this time.

So awesome!!!!

 

[VGCgroupie]

The weather now is my style. A sprinkle here and there, cool breeze no sun.

Popping into MK from BLT is less enjoyable than popping into Epcot from BWV.

Headed to the Tiki Room

 

[PolyRob]

Popping into MK from BLT is less enjoyable than popping into Epcot from BWV.

The active roadway is less picturesque than the walk over the bridge into the International Gateway

 

[Sprinkles&Sprints]

The weather now is my style. A sprinkle here and there, cool breeze no sun.

Popping into MK from BLT is less enjoyable than popping into Epcot from BWV.

Headed to the Tiki Room

This is exactly why I love BWV - we end most nights wandering around EPCOT!

 

[jolynne28]

The weather now is my style. A sprinkle here and there, cool breeze no sun.

Popping into MK from BLT is less enjoyable than popping into Epcot from BWV.

Headed to the Tiki Room

this. And If you’re going to walk to MK it’s VGF all the way for us.

 

[VGCgroupie]

The active roadway is less picturesque than the walk over the bridge into the International Gateway

Yes and that light seems to take forever.

 

[VGCgroupie]

Earlier I was leaning heavy team BWV. But now I am a little bit torn.

We left the end of Main St near Casey’s at 8:34 and were at the Contemporary via Monorail at 8:48. Pretty impressive. The fireworks and views around the area at night is

We ended up seeing the water pageant from our balcony so I may change our plans for tomorrow evening. We were going to watch the water pageant from Wilderness Lodge. I may see how I feel about Poly during fireworks time. Even though I was originally here for a BLT, CCV, BWV showdown.

Checking into CCV tomorrow and it’s gonna be a tough sell going from a newly refurbed 1 bed to a studio in need of a refurb.

 

[WDWfantasy]

Earlier I was leaning heavy team BWV. But now I am a little bit torn.

We left the end of Main St near Casey’s at 8:34 and were at the Contemporary via Monorail at 8:48. Pretty impressive. The fireworks and views around the area at night is

One big thing BLT has going for it, in addition to what you’ve mentioned, is that on a stormy weather day or cold weather day, you can eat and drink at several locations, shop, people watch, get on and off the monorail, watch fireworks, enjoy activities at community hall, refill your mug, etc. without ever having to be outside, other than the short covered bridge walk between BLT and the Contemporary.

 

[VGCgroupie]

One big thing BLT has going for it, in addition to what you’ve mentioned, is that on a stormy weather day or cold weather day, you can eat and drink at several locations, shop, people watch, get on and off the monorail, watch fireworks, enjoy community hall, refill your mug, etc. without ever having to be outside, other than the short covered bridge walk between BLT and the Contemporary.

This is a great point.

 

[AstroBlasters]

Earlier I was leaning heavy team BWV. But now I am a little bit torn.

We left the end of Main St near Casey’s at 8:34 and were at the Contemporary via Monorail at 8:48. Pretty impressive. The fireworks and views around the area at night is

We ended up seeing the water pageant from our balcony so I may change our plans for tomorrow evening. We were going to watch the water pageant from Wilderness Lodge. I may see how I feel about Poly during fireworks time. Even though I was originally here for a BLT, CCV, BWV showdown.

Checking into CCV tomorrow and it’s gonna be a tough sell going from a newly refurbed 1 bed to a studio in need of a refurb.

No VGF “feels”?

 

[jolynne28]

Earlier I was leaning heavy team BWV. But now I am a little bit torn.

We left the end of Main St near Casey’s at 8:34 and were at the Contemporary via Monorail at 8:48. Pretty impressive. The fireworks and views around the area at night is

We ended up seeing the water pageant from our balcony so I may change our plans for tomorrow evening. We were going to watch the water pageant from Wilderness Lodge. I may see how I feel about Poly during fireworks time. Even though I was originally here for a BLT, CCV, BWV showdown.

Checking into CCV tomorrow and it’s gonna be a tough sell going from a newly refurbed 1 bed to a studio in need of a refurb.

CCV isn’t in bad shape, and I’m willing to bet they nail the refurb. You’re either going to fall in love with WL or it’ll be mid. For us it is a true transport to somewhere else entirely, which we love, and something you don’t get from BLT. If CCV slept 5 w/out a 2 BR we would own there.

 

[Duckbug.Ducktales]

We love it. It doesn’t give me those feels that the Boardwalk did though.

View attachment 968059

Earlier I was leaning heavy team BWV. But now I am a little bit torn.

We left the end of Main St near Casey’s at 8:34 and were at the Contemporary via Monorail at 8:48. Pretty impressive. The fireworks and views around the area at night is

We ended up seeing the water pageant from our balcony so I may change our plans for tomorrow evening. We were going to watch the water pageant from Wilderness Lodge. I may see how I feel about Poly during fireworks time. Even though I was originally here for a BLT, CCV, BWV showdown.

Checking into CCV tomorrow and it’s gonna be a tough sell going from a newly refurbed 1 bed to a studio in need of a refurb.

Oh, the night vibes at CR are awesome. MK lights, Seven Seas Lagoon and the other resorts, plus the lights from the CR A-frame visible from BLT. The monorail going by...

 

[Duckbug.Ducktales]

CCV isn’t in bad shape, and I’m willing to bet they nail the refurb. You’re either going to fall in love with WL or it’ll be mid. For us it is a true transport to somewhere else entirely, which we love, and something you don’t get from BLT. If CCV slept 5 w/out a 2 BR we would own there.

IKR? Personally I adore BRV. And they really knocked it out of the park with the refurb. But even without the 2042 expiration, the lack of the small murphy bed in the living room makes it difficult to own. We end up booking 2BRs. At least the point charts are low, and availability not bad--staying there for a week in July

 

[Girlstar30]

My favorite part of BLT is jumping to CR and the monorail run right thru the damn hotel lol

 

[HyperspaceMountainPilot]

Catching up and happy to hear that your day turned around and appears to be quite enchanting. Apologies in advance for the lengthy post, here goes:

I thought it, but I wasn’t going to say anything….

Wishing you pixie dust on an early check in!

I actually think it was me who strongly urged you to book a cheap airport hotel and crash for a few hours…but I would have put the odds at about 10:1 of not getting a check in before 2PM.

Hahaha please keep updating this thread, I'm so invested! And guess what, rope dropping actually does suck. We've tried so many times and finally gave up. We'd rather be out in the evening for extra hours when the sun is down than up before dawn trying to race to the parks.

Rope drop is so brutal, especially coming from the west coast—if you aren’t there an hour before early entry by the gate closest to the ride you want, you’re torturing yourself for very little benefit. Also, if you don’t add in time for things to go wrong with transit and long security lines, you can miss EE entirely.

The last trip we did it (2020 pre-COVID) we had a long delay on the friendship boat (BCV to DHS with a double stroller), hit a long security line, and missed it entirely…the next morning we were sprinting across Epcot with said double stroller at EE rope drop, only to arrive at test track about 5 minutes later with the line stretching back out of the building all the way to the central spine.

We used to love stacking LLs with Genie + and lazy mornings letting the kids sleep in, still working out a strategy with LLMP, but for now we just visit less often.

For us West Coasters: LL + EEvening > EEntry

Absolutely, but we need more Extended Evenings back— there used to be 4 a week!

I haven't rope dropped at all my adult life. I just can't do it. We typically make it to the parks around 10 or so. But we go in the winter so don't have insane heat to contend with. (WDW trips are only in Jan/Feb for us.)

In addition to the exhaustion not being worth the 1-2 short waits at rope drop, it can be brutally cold at rope drop during the winter.

The People Mover is my favorite ride at MK!
I read they are putting new windows on Main Street at DLR so I'm excited for those since some of the old ones have been broken for a while.

I'm really excited to hear what you think about the resorts!

People Mover is probably my favorite too. I grew up going to DL, but also it’s relaxing, the line is short, and our family of 4 sits together and chats, so it feels like quality time. Since it reopened, Country Bear Jamboree has been giving it some competition.

11:52 am Room ready

I would have bet so much money against this, and an upgrade to boot! Maybe DVC is following these boards and knows you are thinking about buying more.

I am having a love / not so love with poly. I actually love the location, I love the water. The lobby of the tower is gorgeous, GCH is pretty nice too. My problem is everything feels a bit faux. Faux leis at check in. Terribly cheap looking faux aged wood.

I don’t know why but I actually really love the 70s tiki vibe at Poly— like it’s clearly going for the commercialized fantasy and not authentic Polynesian — very much like Adventureland. The reason we bought VGF over Poly was that Poly feels crowded and chaotic much of the time, especially the pool. We like to visit (and occasionally do short stays there) but it was crowded before they opened the tower and I imagine it’s worse now. Also, I feel that the architecture of the new tower takes away from the unapologetic and immersive tiki vibe.

 

[VGCgroupie]

No VGF “feels”?

No. It was lovely though even with construction. I would have to stay in a room to see how it made me feel. I need to you tube a video of the rooms.

Catching up and happy to hear that your day turned around and appears to be quite enchanting. Apologies in advance for the lengthy post, here goes:

I actually think it was me who strongly urged you to book a cheap airport hotel and crash for a few hours…but I would have put the odds at about 10:1 of not getting a check in before 2PM.

You did. We powered through like we were 20 years old again but I won’t be doing it again

Rope drop is so brutal, especially coming from the west coast—if you aren’t there an hour before early entry by the gate closest to the ride you want, you’re torturing yourself for very little benefit. Also, if you don’t add in time for things to go wrong with transit and long security lines, you can miss EE entirely.

Yeah I have never been an early go getter and this time we arrived at 7:15 thinking oh wow this is great. Once we were allowed in the park it just didn’t play out well. We would’ve waited 70 min for Tron.

The last trip we did it (2020 pre-COVID) we had a long delay on the friendship boat (BCV to DHS with a double stroller), hit a long security line, and missed it entirely…the next morning we were sprinting across Epcot with said double stroller at EE rope drop, only to arrive at test track about 5 minutes later with the line stretching back out of the building all the way to the central spine.

Oh no I would’ve been crushed especially after running.

We used to love stacking LLs with Genie + and lazy mornings letting the kids sleep in, still working out a strategy with LLMP, but for now we just visit less often.

Absolutely, but we need more Extended Evenings back— there used to be 4 a week!

I am used to the DLR days where I can stay until 12am and then stroll down Main St until 1am shopping. I really think I would love WDW more if things were open later.

In addition to the exhaustion not being worth the 1-2 short waits at rope drop, it can be brutally cold at rope drop during the winter.

People Mover is probably my favorite too. I grew up going to DL, but also it’s relaxing, the line is short, and our family of 4 sits together and chats, so it feels like quality time. Since it reopened, Country Bear Jamboree has been giving it some competition.


I would have bet so much money against this, and an upgrade to boot! Maybe DVC is following these boards and knows you are thinking about buying more.

I’m pretty shocked I was prepared to have to come here an complain that it was 5pm and no room yet.

I don’t know why but I actually really love the 70s tiki vibe at Poly— like it’s clearly going for the commercialized fantasy and not authentic Polynesian — very much like Adventureland. The reason we bought VGF over Poly was that Poly feels crowded and chaotic much of the time, especially the pool. We like to visit (and occasionally do short stays there) but it was crowded before they opened the tower and I imagine it’s worse now. Also, I feel that the architecture of the new tower takes away from the unapologetic and immersive tiki vibe.

I think the tower feels completely different than the main part of poly. You are right and now that I have been to the TiKi Room I get it. I am admitting that yesterday was my 1st time at the Tiki Room I have also never been at DLR either.

 

[Matty B13]

I hear you on this. Especially if you’ve been to Aulani. Also, the pool crowds and pool chair situation at the Poly make Aulani’s perceived “issues” pale in comparison.

I think the Poly pool crowding is the worst in all of WDW, even worse than Stormalong Bay. Most of the other pools have been great to go to.

 

[cruisehopeful]

am admitting that yesterday was my 1st time at the Tiki Room I have also never been at DLR either.

That's crazy talk! It was a favorite of mine when I was a little girl. I still like to go once every few years.

think the Poly pool crowding is the worst in all of WDW, even worse than Stormalong Bay. Most of the other pools have been great to go to.

I need to remind myself to do reality checks. Whenever I hear how crowded the Poly pool is, I immediately decide that Poly can't be my home base. When I do a reality check, I remember tat I only go to hotel pools about 1% of the time that I stay in hotels. Having everyone at the pool might actually clear out the other parts of the property that I will be spending time at.

 

[Duckbug.Ducktales]

That's crazy talk! It was a favorite of mine when I was a little girl. I still like to go once every few years.

I need to remind myself to do reality checks. Whenever I hear how crowded the Poly pool is, I immediately decide that Poly can't be my home base. When I do a reality check, I remember tat I only go to hotel pools about 1% of the time that I stay in hotels. Having everyone at the pool might actually clear out the other parts of the property that I will be spending time at.

We've only stayed at the Poly twice and used the pool only on one of those visits. I didn't find it exceptionally crowded. I wonder if it varies by time of year, when we went it was March.

The Poly is a good base from a transportation standpoint regardless of the pool. But we all have different priorities...

 

[AstroBlasters]

Getting close to checkout…. time to move over to WL!

I wish I would have gotten a totem pole as a souvenir, but my wife chided me that we can only buy souvenirs from our home resorts….

Next time we are at WDW…. a WL
totem pole will be coming home with me…. only buy from home resorts… what nonsense…