stopher1's (it was) LIVE "Triple Whammy" Report - THV/AKV/VWL - Jan 11-22

[DisneyDadC]

Hope you guys are enjoying yourselves.I have another quick ? on your report : Do the tree houses have their own food court or snack shack ( for drink refills or light food)? or do you have to walk over to SSR for food.I will be booking in a day or two so just rying to get as much info as I can before making choice. Thanks and enjoy the rest of your stay.

 

[cj9200]

Love the pics, thank you for taking time out on your trip and posting. I have always wanted to stay in the treehouses ever since they were first built. Someday. Hope you have a great time with the family.

 

[twinklebug]

I Love the tree houses! Thanks for the live report with pics! It looks like you have a great view of Frog Spit Pond.

BTW - I had never seen the size of the Owner's Locker totes in relation to any furnishings and had it hit home how HUGE those things are... It's almost the size of the stove! Yup, I might have to get one.

 

[arthur06]

Great Photos and TR!

 

[stopher1]

I know I would love the tree houses, but not being an SSR owner, I'm sure I'll never have the pleasure. Thanks for the great pictures though!

Oh Diane - you HAVE to try! They truly are awesome.

They certainly have that Midwest cabin feel. That furniture looks soooo much like the old stuff my family has "up north!'
I'm usually the first one up in the mornings too. Since we do own as SSR, I foresee several nice sunrises through the trees in my future.

Enjoy your stay!

Thanks... yeah, I grew up going to a couple of different cabins in the woods in the Sierra Nevada mountains out in CA - and these are so much better! Those were filled with eclectic furniture, kind of like goodwill finds, etc - mismatched rustic stuff. This stuff is NEW but designed to look that way. I LOVE it!

I love the Treehouses! They look like a lot of fun, the only complaint I have heard is that the walk to the transportation is a little far, how are you finding it. We are thinking of possibly renting points on a trip and the treehouses look like something we would all enjoy.

Love the pics, keep it up. Glad to hear the weather is warming up, we will be there next week and it looks like good warm days ahead.

It was around 58 today, supposed to be around 60 tomorrow, 69 by Friday and into the mid 70's by the weekend.

As far as the transportation goes - our individual unit is only about a 5-7 min walk over to the Carriage House. Not bad at all. But we are overlooking the pool, which is on the eastern edge of the THV's, much closer to the walk path than any of the units out on the western edge by the main driving entrance. THOSE would definitely be way too far away.

Good job with the report. As SSR is my home resort I am looking into the tree houses for our Dec trip So your report is great. One Question ,how is the bus route run does it have its own stop or go to SSR,and if so what order? thanks again for your report

There are the Internal SSR/THV buses that you can catch and then go over to the main SSR routes. There are two stops within the THV's - North & South. The South stop is right next to the walk path over to SSR, not too far from the pool in one direction and the boat dock in the other direction. Since we are nearest that one that's the only one I can speak of. The buses are running through here like every 15 minutes. I have heard so many of them rumbling through. Their first stop is the Grandstand. I'm sorry I can't speak much more about it - because so far, we've opted to walk since it isn't that far.

I Love the tree houses! Thanks for the live report with pics! It looks like you have a great view of Frog Spit Pond.

BTW - I had never seen the size of the Owner's Locker totes in relation to any furnishings and had it hit home how HUGE those things are... It's almost the size of the stove! Yup, I might have to get one.

Oh yeah twinkle, you'd love them. We have two, and both are filled with all kinds of stuff to make our vacations more like home. Tomorrow morning - waffles in our stored waffle maker.

 

[stopher1]

The dining table is a great place to play games!

Day 2 - Tuesday

So we started our day this morning with a hearty breakfast in the room around 9:30 – after giving my folks time to wake up, have their coffee, etc. By the time we were all showered, dressed and ready for the day – it was about 9:15. Not too bad really – though I was up and ready to go before 7. I sure did enjoy the peace and quiet this morning though. While waiting for people to get up, I snapped a few more photos of fascinating parts of this unit. I absolutely LOVE the door knobs/handles – they totally remind me of the talking doorknob in “Alice In Wonderland” –

and check out the awesome lock on the second bath. This was another thing we all just loved. Very cool, and very rustic.

Here's a view looking out our front door to our own deck.

And then looking down the stairs to our own bbq. Every unit has one. They're just charcoal ones, but very, very cool to have.

I wandered down the stairs this morning and under our unit to explore and check out the pool a bit more up close, rather than just from above. We really are right next to the pool - as walking directly under and then behind it gets you right up to the fence. I wish there were a direct path to it from our little "pod" of treehouses - but alas there is not. You have to walk back around the loop to get to the only entrance gate on the other side of the trees along the roadway.

It really looks like a nice one, even if it is pretty basic. The spitting frogs in the corner are cute, and the Jacuzzi looks great. So far there’s been a portable sign out saying it’s closed… hopefully tomorrow’s warmer temps will allow us to at least use the Jacuzzi, if nothing else. I'm not sure what the temps were this morning on my exploration, but there was a lot of steam rising off the water of both the pool & the jacuzzi. The bell services guy who delivered our OL's and grocery order told us they keep the pools at 85 degrees. True or not I'm not sure, but the air/water temperature differential this morning was certainly apparent.

While the adults were getting ready this morning, my DD enjoyed cuddle time with daddy, and then got back into bed (the bottom bunk) and read for a while. She absolutely LOVES that there is a wall light above each bed, with a little switch that she can turn on and off as needed. She's a character that one...

My boys were enjoying the tv’s. There are 4 of them in these units - one in each bedroom and in the living room. All flat panels, probably 37 or 42 inch screens. Our only real beef with them is that there is only 1 DVD player, in the living room. We brought our portables on the plane, and we have our connector cables so that we can use the portables in the bedrooms…but if we hadn’t, that might just stink, especially for the 13 & 11 yo’s who don’t want to watch Ariel singing about being part of your world one more time while their sister uses the living room tv to watch Ariel’s exploits for the ba-jilenth time. Basically, for those folks who don’t have connector cables with them, or simply don’t bring their own media devices along with them – they’re screwed. Now I know something new to add to our Owner’s Lockers for the next trip – a set of connector cables so that we are certain to have them here.

Wandering around outside I saw numerous squirrels, probably, by far, the most common critter to be found in these parts. I know there are a lot of others, but there were several very close by this morning. The pine trees are just beautiful, as well as so many of the other types of vegetation growing in here.

Here's a view of our unit from the road. Our little "pod" of units is a trio. Some are a quartet.

When it was finally time to leave for the MK, we considered taking the internal bus over to SSR, but just ended up walking. No golfers were out this morning while we were going through, but it was an absolutely beautiful morning for golf.

It’s actually good we walked too, because when we arrived at the Grandstand stop, and waited for our MK bus, the internal bus showed up AS WE WERE PULLING AWAY from the bus stop. We would have had to wait for another 15-20 min or more for the next MK bus. I will say that I am pretty non-plussed about the lack of direct theme park transportation from the treehouses. I do not mind, per se, for the 3 nights that we are staying here dealing with it – but it would be so much better to have direct transportation. Our unit is close enough to make the walk to the Grandstand or the Carriage House easily – but the people staying in the farthest units are pretty much stuck taking the internal buses or hoofing it a very long way. From what I have seen (and heard through the trees), the internal buses are running about every 15 min or so, but then factor in the rest of the SSR stops – and you have a pretty lengthy trip to any one theme park. Having a car would have been the best choice – but again, for 3 nights, it’s not something I’m losing a lot of sleep over. If we were here for a week however, that would definitely be another story.

 

[KAT4DISNEY]

Love the pictures and report! Ever since staying at POR (well, not what it was called then!) and seeing the treehouses for the institute from the boat I've wanted to stay there. Maybe someday we'll luck out with a reservation.

 

[stopher1]

Day 2 continued

Here's another view inside our treehouse. I'm sitting in the sleeper chair next to the master bedroom door, looking towards door to the 3rd bedroom (with the bunkbeds). The unit has cathedral ceilings, and I just love how they carved out the kitchen space and made it feel like it's own little room through this ingenious use of beams and lighting.

The Magic Kingdom. My personal favorite park here at WDW, pretty much because it’s most like my favorite Disney park of them all, the one that started it all – Disneyland. Since we planned on making this a relaxing kind of day for the grandparents, and they’ve been to the MK before, it really wasn’t a big deal for us to not be there early. Later in the week when we go to Animal Kingdom and the Studios, we’ll be there earlier since they have never experienced AK, and it’s been so very long since they last experienced the Studios & Epcot. We planned on departing the room by 10. We were off by about a half an hour. No biggie. The walk/wait for the bus/circling SSR/drive to the MK in total was about 45 minutes – so we got to the MK later as well. Again – no biggie.

We were surprised to see Christmas decorations up still upon our arrival, and to hear the Christmas music loop still playing at this late date. The lights on the castle had already begun to come down, in fact that ugly crane is right there ruining a lot of people’s coveted pictures

But it was the sight of the tree in Town Square that really threw us all a bit. Garlands, wreaths, and other decorations were all still up.

Kinda funny really. The last time we were here in January the decorations all were down by around the 8th – so this year it’s a bit later. I’m sure they’ll be gone by the time we go back to the MK next week – but at this rate, who knows?

We caught the tail end of the show in front of the castle, which just made my DD’s morning, and then proceeded into Adventureland. Here’s a view of the moat, pretty much drained.

The Jungle Cruise was our first destination, as my middle boy really wanted to try to trip up the skipper with the corny jokes and bad puns with some of his own. We were pleased with the wait time. It was posted as 15 minutes, but really ended up only being about 10. Given the relatively light crowds, no FP’s were available today, which perturbed my eldest, but totally pleased me- as while the FP system does have it’s positives, it also has it’s negatives and I personally don’t think the pros outweigh the cons. But that too, is a whole ‘nother story that I don’t need to nor will go into now.

As soon as they opened up a couple of the roped off areas, the line heading outside the queue buildling quickly disappeared. Just seeing any kind of line sticking outside of the queue building always sends my eldest into a tizzy... he just doesn't think anything is worth it if he has to wait more than 10 minutes - oh the stories I could tell (and actually have many times) of those days gone by growing up at DL, and the multiple-hour long waits as new attractions opened for the very first time over the course of the years. Even still, he is not a very patient kid, and as such if he doesn't have a FP, he just doesn't want to get in line. Thankfully both of his parents remember the good old days when there was no such thing as FP and everyone had to wait or they simply didn't ride. And honestly, what's the point of being there if you aren't going to experience at least some of the attractions? I mean come on, there's only so much shopping and dining you can do in a given day.

I enjoy the Jungle Cruise, I always have. I like the differences between the DL and MK. Both are neat in their own ways. Regardless of the park, I always love the exploration party who'll "get the point in the end" and the " back side of water".

Proceeding westward through that land, we went over to POTC – a family favorite.

Wow, by then it was already lunch time. Since we were right there anyway, we ate at Pecos Bill’s. It wasn’t great, but it wasn’t bad either. None of us were bowled over with our individual choices, but it satisfied our tummys so we moved on feeling okay with it all.

Splash is down for rehab this month, which is/was a major disappointment to us all, but most especially to my DD. She loves it. It was her first “big” ride last year, and she was so looking forward to going on it again this year. Oh well, she’s just going to have to wait for our trip to Disneyland this summer.

 

[stopher1]

Day 2 continued

After our lunch we wanted to go on BTMRR, but sadly it had broken down – in fact as we were approaching it we saw CM’s evacuating guests from the lift hill on the back side. They said it might be down for an hour or more… but we never made it back over to that side of the park today, so I don’t know how long it actually took, except that we did see it running later on while on the riverboat. Perhaps next week we can ride it.

We enjoyed the Country Bears – though not as much as the guy sitting next to me… he was just a hoot. Every song he tried to get people to clap along with, and just ooh’d, aah’d and reveled in the lyrics – even singing along with several. He clearly loves his Country Bears! My favorite has always been Teddi Beara, but her swing wasn’t swinging – both DW and I thought that was kind of odd – she just hung there, kind of limply.

Liberty Square was then were we stayed for a while, as we enjoyed my favorite The Haunted Mansion,

followed by a journey around the Rivers of America,
(here's my DW and I on that watery journey)

watching the parade pass by and then another journey, this time through our presidential history in the Hall of Presidents. Like New Orleans Square at DL, Liberty Square is my favorite MK land. The attention to detail and theme is just executed so very, very well.

Master Gracey's grave looked freshly filled. I like the little touches here too.

The one thing that really, really bugs me though, at the HM, is the very bad show that can be seen while in the queue near the hearse.

If you look closely, the back side of the Mansion's facade is not finished, but rather the "show building green" where the attraction actually takes place. Furthermore to the right of it is more of the show building exposed for anyone to see and a very ugly, bright silver metal strip at the top of the building. In my training days back at DL all those years ago - that was definitely called bad show. Anything that breaks up the illusion of the land is bad show, and that's exactly what is happening here. More trees need to be planted there to hide the attraction's show building. WDW's maintenance staff should really get rid of the show building green paint and make it look like it is part of the mansion, rather than the warehouse that it is. Sorry - my own personal rant there, but it really bugs me. My DW, kids and folks all thought I was a bit odd today taking this picture, but I didn't care. None of them noticed it til I pointed it out as many others no doubt haven't noticed either, but it's still there, and ugly and bad show. Anal? Yes, I know... but it's still just plain ugly. Be sure to look for it the next time you're here and see if you like it or think it's ugly too.

I was tickled to be able to get this shot, since I have both of these buildings in my Christmas village from the Disney Parks series back when Dept. 56 and Disney actually worked together. (I also have the DL Firestation).

By now my boys were begging to go to the other side of the park. We didn’t quite appease them yet, as we had to share Mickey’s Philharrmagic with the grandparents – who really liked it. So a stay in Fantasyland was in order, but it really wasn’t all that long. We enjoyed Dumbo

and then the Mad Tea Party before finally heading into Tomorrowland. Growing up my mother, brother and I would all go on the Teacups at DL and just spin like crazy – so as soon as I asked her if she wanted to go on them today, that mischevious sparkle came into her eye and she said, “of course!.” My DW and DD went in one cup, my boys in another and my mother & I in the third. My stepdad gets sick in the teacups, so he stood that one out. We twirled and spun so fast, it was crazy. We were laughing so hard. My boys, who also love to spin, were amazed watching how fast we were spinning. It was fun – the only thing missing about that was not having my brother there to help us spin even faster. It was just hilarious!

In Tomorrowland we enjoyed the Peoplemover, Buzz Lightyear (again the wait time was posted as 10 min but it was really just 5), Carousel of Progress and dinner at Cosmic Ray’s. We’ll do Space Mtn. when we go back next week. By then it was time to figure out where we’d watch the fireworks. We hopped on the last train of the night from Toontown and rode it around to Main Street where we looked in the shops for the next half an hour. We wanted to see Wishes, but at the same time wanted to get on the bus quickly to get back to the resort. So we chose a spot near the Tree and just enjoyed them from there. Not the best viewing location, but it was still quite enjoyable.

Crowded bus ride back. American Idol & ice cream in the room – all in all a very enjoyable day was had by all.

 

[Emma's Dad]

Very nice update! I like the rustic look to those units... but I don't think my DW would like it quite the same. Sounds like a nice relaxing visit to MK this day... although that's a bummer that you missed all 3 mountains. I look forward to getting DD on both POTC and HM this year... she's very easily frightened and just the names of the rides have deterred her from riding in the past. Got my fingers crossed this year!

I like your TR style... to the point, informative, and great pics! I feel like I'm right there with you. Looking forward to the next update

How'd you like AI last night??

 

[christa112]

Great pictures. I love that your treehouse over looks the pool. That is awesome. I can't wait to read and see more pics. We are headed down next Friday. We can't wait!!!

 

[stopher1]

Sounds like a nice relaxing visit to MK this day... although that's a bummer that you missed all 3 mountains.

How'd you like AI last night??

Yeah, no mountains...but we'll be back over there next week, so it's okay. Just the way it worked out.

AI - as always there are good ones and bad ones. I cringed at many of the bad ones, and enjoyed what I heard of the good ones. I wasn't watching it per se, really just listening, as I was uploading pics and preparing the text of my report so that I could then put it all together later on after everyone else was in bed.

Slow morning this morning. 2 of the 7 are still asnooze... need to get breakfast going and perhaps that will rouse them. Today we're just hanging out here in the TH though til lunch time, and then we'll take the boat over to DTD to explore and enjoy. Gotta get those free samples from Ghirardelli! And the kids want to explore Pin Traders once again. I got them a bunch of pins for trading's sake on eBay, but we always get them one special one representing that individual trip. And I like to collect one from each resort we've stayed at. So we'll see what today brings.

 

[stopher1]

Great pictures. I love that your treehouse over looks the pool. That is awesome. I can't wait to read and see more pics. We are headed down next Friday. We can't wait!!!

Thanks. I think it's pretty cool too - of course it would be even better if they would actually allow the pool to be open. Perhaps today.

 

[Emma's Dad]

Yeah, no mountains...but we'll be back over there next week, so it's okay. Just the way it worked out.

AI - as always there are good ones and bad ones. I cringed at many of the bad ones, and enjoyed what I heard of the good ones. I wasn't watching it per se, really just listening, as I was uploading pics and preparing the text of my report so that I could then put it all together later on after everyone else was in bed.

Slow morning this morning. 2 of the 7 are still asnooze... need to get breakfast going and perhaps that will rouse them. Today we're just hanging out here in the TH though til lunch time, and then we'll take the boat over to DTD to explore and enjoy. Gotta get those free samples from Ghirardelli! And the kids want to explore Pin Traders once again. I got them a bunch of pins for trading's sake on eBay, but we always get them one special one representing that individual trip. And I like to collect one from each resort we've stayed at. So we'll see what today brings.

I'm betting the guy that was overseas and got cancer (and beat it) will be in the final 10.

Mmmmmmm... free chocolate... sounds delicious right now. Oh... my DD JUST started getting interested in pin trading. We had bought a lanyard set at WDW last year and she not very interested. This year... as we are preparing for our April trip... she suddenly remembers it and asks if she can get more pins. I had no idea how expensive this could get! But it's way cool how many pins are out there. We got a set of 20 hidden Mickey pins on Ebay for cheap... so it's a good start!

Have fun at DTD today!

 

[DisneyDadC]

great TR, I think we all feel like we are right there with you.I think we found a job for you in dec,You can be the offical Tr reporter for the Dis Dads .
Keep up the good work your Tr should be just enough Disney fix to tide some of us over untill we can get to our trips.

 

[DisneyDadC]

I'm betting the guy that was overseas and got cancer (and beat it) will be in the final 10.

Mmmmmmm... free chocolate... sounds delicious right now. Oh... my DD JUST started getting interested in pin trading. We had bought a lanyard set at WDW last year and she not very interested. This year... as we are preparing for our April trip... she suddenly remembers it and asks if she can get more pins. I had no idea how expensive this could get! But it's way cool how many pins are out there. We got a set of 20 hidden Mickey pins on Ebay for cheap... so it's a good start!

Have fun at DTD today!

Look out once they get going with the pins its over !!!My two Daughters go crazy with those things. I think each one of them have two or three lanyards full,and they dont want the cheap ones lol they want the limited edition ones.Well good luck your your collections.

Oh and Stopher just jump right in that pool,odds are they wont say anything.I see it everytime we are there pool says closed and people go right in anyways.Most of the times we go in Aug so they if they close it is due to a storm,but people still go in. So I wsay go for it!! test out that water temp

 

[Tinks "SS"]

Just love your loev TR with pics! It's great on see the Treehouses. i would love to stay in one some day. Time will tell. Anyways, keep taking lots of pics so we may live vicariously through you!!

 

[katmittens]

We just returned from our trip Jan 1-8 and someone told us the decorations were still up in the parks because the weather was too cold at nite for the workers to get the decorations down.
Maybe they will be like us in NE Pa and take them down in Marchor for us when the snow melts whichever comes first.

 

[DisneyDaddy-O]

Very nice update! This report is making it very difficult to get anything done at work, I can't wait to get there. The weather seems to be warming up, is it still pretty cold at night?

My kids started trading pins 2 years ago and love it. They are going to keep most of there pins at home and only take the ones they think they will trade with them this year. We usually get a pin for the year we are there, I like the idea of buying one for the resort as well. Looks like you guys are having a great time.

Have you seen any construction walls in front of the castle? I have read that they will be up for a while as they rehab the front of the castle.

As for American Idol, I love the blonde guy that thought he sounded like Chris Brown and the Eagles, cracks me up.

 

[Emma's Dad]

great TR, I think we all feel like we are right there with you.I think we found a job for you in dec,You can be the offical Tr reporter for the Dis Dads .

You mean you wouldn't want me to do it??