I'm finally back from my 1.5week trip, and catching up on the DIS.
Wifi is available throughout the resort. The QUALITY of the Wifi however, from my experience, can sometimes leave something to be desired. The wired connected still exists however so no complaints there.
I got some pictures of the Main Pool refurb work per a request here earlier.
From the looks of it, They are doing work resurfacing the areas around the pools, and also redoing the tile/stone work around the pool/hot tub edges. The area should look nice when they are done.
Now to get to some question answers....
We are going to WDW next month. I asked 2 people for quotes at WBC and both said nothing available....yet one of them on her web page showed availability in lastminute deals....however it was split. We are planning on going Friday to Tuesday and the availability showed was the week before through Saturday then another availability starting the Saturday of our trip for a week. Is our friday arrival messing up the ability to stay? We have stayed 4 previous times and I haven't ever arrived on a saturday.
Oh and there is also availability through Hotwire or Expedia at twice the race we usually pay, so just wondering.
Thanks for any insight you can give.
Julie
You could ask the owner who listed 2 different reservations on their website if they'd be willing to pull the dates you wanted out of them. There's no guarantee they'll be willing to do that however. It sounds like availability at the resort is non-existant, but that the particular owner already has 2 reservations they made on the assumption they'd be able to rent them. The issue however is that while they hold reservations that would cover your dates, they may not want to cannibalize the 2 full weeks they have to rent for a single cross week stay that would leave them with time they wouldn't be able to rent out. The resort itself runs their weeks as either friday-friday, saturday-saturday, or sunday-sunday. The Friday arrival generally wouldn't cause much trouble, but with the late start in trying to find a reservation it becomes much more difficult to find exactly what you are looking for around all the existing reservations at the resort.
The Expedia/Hotwire available you are seeing are coming from the Inventory Wyndham owns/uses for their retail nightly rentals. Wyndham's direct rates are MUCH MUCH more expensive than what you can get thru an owner.
As a previous poster noted regarding the elevators. That too is one thing I was HIGHLY impressed with was the speed of the elevators never really ever having to wait on one. I have never had this type an experience at any other place or building.
We commented on this during our stay as well. Those were some speedy elevators!
I too have always been impressed with the elevator speed at the resort. For an example, I've noticed that out of the elevators at Tower 5 when I arrived back LATE at night that there was always 1 elevator parked at the ground floor, one at the top floor, and the other 2 elevators were parked and waiting at the midway points between the top/bottom floors and the middle floor. The end result is that the ground floor always had immediate available for an elevator and the rest of the building had an elevator only 2-3 floors away waiting for you.
Is the new WiFi available in your unit or do you need to be in the lobby. My FIL has an online conference to attend while we are there. Last time we were there, they didn't have WiFi yet.
WiFi is available in all the units, but I noticed that sometimes it's quality was not the best. For an online conference, due to lag and other issues, I'd probably recommend going with the wired connection anyways to avoid annoyance drops and other issues with the online conference.
Hi everybody. This will be our second trip to WBC. Last time was two years ago and it was fantastic! We are very excited to return.
That being said, things have changed in the last two years with the addition of the new Wyndham Grand hotel. I have read here that you can use their pool as well...
Does anybody know if this is true? How do you get in, show your room key? Is the pool nice?
Thanks in advance!
It's true, and with the GRand pool, it's very easy to use it. You just walk right up to the pool. it's located behind the hotel, so it's easily accessable from the walkway around the lake just like every other pool. The pool is nice, but it probably one of the most "adult" pools at the property in terms of it's layout and styling. (IE... not a ton of theming or water features that might draw the younger crowd). With the pool bar at the hotel, and the "adult" pool, (and ample deck space), it does help provide a place where people who don't want to deal with kids running around the pool area can hang out knowing that the families with children are much more likely to choose to spend their time at the pirate ship pool next door, or one of the lazy rivers, splash areas, or slide pools at the resort instead of this "boring" pool at the hotel.
We leave in 2.5 weeks and I have some questions I hope someone can help me with!
Is the hard-wired internet available only from the phone in the kitchen, or from all the phones in the suites, including the ones in the bedrooms?
Does Tower 4 have new furniture yet? I understand that Towers 1, 2, and 3 have new furniture and Towers 5 and 6 are the newest anyway, so their furniture is overall in good shape. Is that right?
It is most important for us to have a quiet room. As I understand, there is potentially more noise from pool facing rooms - is that right? Are parking-lot facing rooms more likely to be quiet?
Thanks so much!
1. Yes, Hardwired internet is only available from the kitchen phone. The other phones in the suites are not set up to piggy-back an internet connection.
2. I can't speak for the rest of Tower 4, but based off reports the past several months, and the large number of couches i saw staging in the parking garage last week, I'd say that the resort has been, and is continuing to replace the couches in the rooms as the couches become available. Due to the amount of time the reports of the tower 4/5 couch swaps have been coming in, i'd be confident to say that the worst of the couches have all been replaced by now. The ones left to be replaced are either going to be ones with minor blemishes that aren't likely to effect their usage [like the side of the couch peeling], or even just the remaining old couches that are still in decent shape but are due to be replaced as part of this overhaul.
3. Due to the resorts location, most of the noise that's generated is coming from the pools with people enjoying the pools themselves, as well as the occasional pool bar scheduled activities. As such, The rooms on the opposite sides of the buildings from the pools are not going to be subject to the noise since they have the rest of the building between them and the noise sources. That said, The walls and windows/sliding doors of the rooms are thick enough that even a pool/lake -side room on a higher floor would be unlikely to get much noise from the pool areas when the balcony doors are closed.
I've been enjoying reading these threads, the information is insanely plentiful. I do have a few questions:
1) what building would you request for a 2 and 3yo? Our trip is in December, so I can't imagine we will be using the pool much, or will we? I think my son would love the mini golf and my husband and I would love a fireworks view.
2)is it unusual that VS said there are not rooms available for my dates and yet there is availability for VU
3) I am also considering the Sheraton vista a villages or even embassy suites, any comparisons?
Thanks!
2. This is not at all unusual. Especially during the high demand periods like Christmas, Many commercial renters will reserve units with the understand/hope that they'll be able to find a renter for the unit at a later date. The end result s that the resort will no longer have any open availabilty for owners to check and book, but that some of the renters will already have reservations covering the weeks/dates you are looking for that they can rent to you.
Can anyone please compare the rooms in these two buildings for me?
Anyone have experience in both?
Just wondering if the rooms in the main building have been renovated.
Which building is better?
Thank you in advance!
There are not really a lot of rooms in the Main Building. I think MAYBE 1 or 2 floors of guest rooms (On top of the lobby floor, and the sales department and offices located on the 2nd floor). It's also the oldest building on property, but has likely had it's (few) rooms renovated just like Towers 1-3.
Tower 6 is the newest, and tallest (largest) tower. The top 9 floors (I believe) are exclusively Presidential style units, with the top 2-4 floors (I forget the exact number) Presidential Reserve units. [Virtually identical to Presidential units, but deeded differently and inventory is managed differently as part of the Wyndham Presidential Reserve program]. As for which building is better.... I'd be tempted to say Tower 6 due to it's larger size, Connection to the Grande hotel, Pirate Pool, etc....... However, some people may prefer the Main Building due to it's smaller and more exclusive feel.
I think I would ask for Lake view though next time, so as to avoid the parking lot noise.
