Two beautiful weeks at VWL

patsal

<font color=FF3399>I've discovered I don't need to
Joined
Jul 10, 2001
Messages
9,060
Thanks for the numerous replies to my constant questioning. In October we bought VWL sight unseen and finally took our first trip home June 29-July 13th. Truely a magnificent resort, and the most magical vacation we have ever had. We will return in April for Easter (that really takes the edge off of coming back home!). If there are any questions I can help to answer, I'd love to help out.:)
 
patsal:

Did you stay late at the MK any nights (like an e-night)? If so, how was the transportation back to the resort?

HBC
 
Now that you're "in-the-know", anything you can tell us would be a help! We're headed to VWL for a 10-day stay in a few weeks. Up 'til now, we only did OKW (b/c we loved it and never thought another resort could top it -- even tho we're BWV by contract!!) So this is a leap of faith for us, and we're taking my BIL/SIL and their 2 yr old son along with us for the leap (along with me, dh, and our 3, ages 7,6,and 2).

SO -- what type room did you have? Where are the "garbage view" rooms someone alluded to in an earlier thread (we certainly don't want one of those!) How early were you allowed to check in? Did you try any of the activities @ WL? Anything that you wished you'd done differently? How was transportation from WL? How bad are the crowds right now?

(Gee -- and that's just for starters!!)

Thanks in advance --
CIndy & Family
 
HBC
Stayed for an E-night, took monorail to TTC and bus back to resort. As far as transportation I think the WL is the black sheep of the Deluxe resort family. Plan on all transprtaion taking at least one hour and you will never be disappointed. After a few days it became apparant that getting around best would mean using the TTC bus and taking the monorail as much as possible. Also, using the Contemporary bus and then the boat back to WL (only until 10pm though) was a quicker way around. We did this from Ak, MGM and Typhoon Lagoon. It saved us a ton of time because we didn't have to keep going to the campground to drop off or pick up more people.
Come to think of it Roaring Forks is pretty pitiful compared to the GF and Poly casual dining choices as well. Much better food there in larger portions for less money (Brownies at WL are one layer, at GF they are three layers with M&M's and thirty cents cheaper!)

CK1

We stayed in room 3538 which is a studio (needed to save points for the two bedroom for Easter 2003). I guess it was the garbage view -- but what you saw was a utility shed thing. It was not as pretty as other views, but not as bad as others suggested either. Once the trees mature the view will be just as nice as others. I faxed a request a few days before arrival, but was not given any of them. We checked in on a Sunday, about 8:30 Am, checked the luggaage and headed for MK. After luncjh it was raining pretty hard so we went back to the Lodge, but the room was not ready. About 3pm the room was available.
Transportation was not as good as it could have been. Sharing with the campground is ridiculous. The bus is often full to standing room before gooing over to the campground to load in even more people! After a few days you'll get the hang of what works most effeciently for you. See above! Crowds were very manageable, even on the fourth of July. Use fast passes if you are staying in the more crowded afternoon times and try to do Fantasy land after 6 pm. The longest wait we had was for Ariel (about 50 minutes). We never spent more than 15-20min in any line without fast pass and less tahn 5 when using fast pass. I usually got a fastpass for the next attraction before using the current fast pass, and it worked out really well.
 

Thanks patsal:

I am a VWL owner too and agree that it is the black sheep of Deluxe resorts for transportation. What you describe is the exact same situation I had there shortly after it opened. I was hoping they would have changed things by now but I guess not. I really disliked the transportation options after the boat stopped running.

HBC
 
What are the boat hours? It just goes to MK / WL, right?

So you're saying the bus was a nightmare... (OKW, we miss you already! Wahhhh...) And you're saying that the dedicated buses to each place (i.e. direct to MGM, or Epcot, or DMP, or MK, etc.) are bad b/c you pit-stop at other resorts and cram on more people? I think I'm gonna cry!!! (Only saving grace here is that my kids think the buses are part of the magic... little did they guess they'd have quite so MUCH magic this time!) Not sure how fun it will be to "switch off" even in the interest of time (that TTC is a pain with its cattle-gate walkways, and with small kids and no stroller 'til we get to the parks... oh groooaaaan.) Disney, I hope you're listening!!

Thanks for the scoop... we'll try it both ways , I guess, and see which is less painful... Good to hear that the crowds weren't dreadful. I imagine that when we go it should be a bit thinner, due to schools starting back. Every lil' bit helps.

Cindy

:) :bounce: :Pinkbounc :bounce: ;)
 
I just tried to post room reports but the page was not available. Anyhow, I think I had a "garbage view" room--#5556. We were so far up, though, on the 5th floor, it didn't matter! We could look down on a little building that had a dumpster next to it by a service drive. It was on the far end of the building.
Next time I'd like to get a room on the other floors so I could see that open lobby--no open space on the 5th floor. Two girls even asked me "what's on the 5th floor?" like it was some kind of mystery!
We were happy with the resort though, and it is DH's new favorite.
Robin M.
 
CK1,
The boats run from the WL to MK and to the Contemporary. You can catch the monorail from the Contemporary to the TTC or to MK(or other Deluxe resorts for meals). The boat from MK stops going back to WL about 45 minutes after the park closes. Boats stopped running from the Contemporary at 10pm. Yes, you share the bus with another resort, The campground. The boat is also shared. This was a nightmere first thing in the AM especially to water parks. Although some of the campers did think that the pool at the WL was theirs to enjoy as well!:rolleyes: I guess my biggest problem was that at the end of an already long day, an addional stop to drop off others was not where I wanted to be with two tired kids (not to mention an exhauseted self and husband!) Besides, I don't go to Disney to stay on a bus longer than I need to. It really isn't that bad once you get used to it, but I really think they need to reconsider the way the buses and boats do the pick-ups especially when there are a lot of guests at both resorts.
We really enjoyed our stay at the lodge, we jsut thought the transportaion was something that really needed more attention.
:D
 
CK1,
The boats run from the WL to MK and to the Contemporary. You can catch the monorail from the Contemporary to the TTC or to MK(or other Deluxe resorts for meals). The boat from MK stops going back to WL about 45 minutes after the park closes. Boats stopped running from the Contemporary at 10pm. Yes, you share the bus with another resort, The campground. The boat is also shared. This was a nightmere first thing in the AM especially to water parks. Although some of the campers did think that the pool at the WL was theirs to enjoy as well!:rolleyes: I guess my biggest problem was that at the end of an already long day, an addional stop to drop off others was not where I wanted to be with two tired kids (not to mention an exhauseted self and husband!) Besides, I don't go to Disney to stay on a bus longer than I need to. It really isn't that bad once you get used to it, but I really think they need to reconsider the way the buses and boats do the pick-ups especially when there are a lot of guests at both resorts.
We really enjoyed our stay at the lodge, we just thought the transportaion was something that really needed more attention.
:D
 
I found one way to avoid the bus problem at VWL was to take a nice boat ride over to MK and then take a bus to whereever I wanted to go. The only way this doesn't work is for the waterparks.

The only nightmare day I had was last time when I met friends staying at VWL and the boats weren't moving due to fog...THAT was a nightmare getting a bus.

If they are going to make VWL and FW share busses then they should have more busses on the route.
 
We were at VWL in early June and thought the boat launch to the MK was usually pretty fast. It seemed the return trip from MK was split 50/50 whether we were dropped off first or FW was. One night we had to wait for three boats due to crowds after the fireworks at MK, but that was the only time we didn't just stroll right onto the boat. We used the busses for the other parks and had to wait an eternity for an Epcot bus. We tried this year to hit the parks at opening every morning and it was really frustrating to be ready by 8:00 a.m. then still not make it to the park as early as we had planned. We did decide to drive to BB, instead of using a bus. We really hated all the stops we made last summer just trying to get to BB. One evening at DD while DH and older kids were at DisneyQuest, I decided to take the baby and go on back. I watched many busses for other resorts come and go two and three times before one for WL ever showed up! I too wish they would improve the transportation for WL and VWL to the standards of the other deluxe resorts. Even with the bus problems, we still love VWL and will visit our "home" many more times!:)
 



















DIS Facebook DIS youtube DIS Instagram DIS Pinterest

Back
Top