Vero Beach 2014 Information & Adoration Thread

[ohionola]

How strict are they on the activities? My daughter whose 4 would really enjoy doing the tie-dye mickey. Will they allow her to do it with me helping?

I will take a look at that activity and see what I notice today. From what I noticed, if it was an activity that the parent supervises (like I think this is) age doesn't really seem to be an issue. I would sign yourself up but take your daughter and have her do it.

 

[Belle & Ariel]

It's been way too long since I've seen a pic of the day....

 

[Cmbar]

The closest Publix is the one on US1 at Barber Road. From the resort main entrance, turn right onto A1A and make a left at the first light onto 510 (Wabasso Causeway). At the first light, turn right onto US1 (heading north). Proceed about a mile or so and make a left at the first traffic light onto Barber (there will be a Walgreens on the southwest corner) and turn right into the Publix plaza parking lot.

The Vittorio's location that I've visited is located in this plaza (they have a take-out/dine-in special for pizza on Monday & Tuesday) so you could easily grab a pizza or other food at the same time you do your grocery run. I know they deliver and I believe the delivery area includes the resort, but I'm not 100% certain as I've always dined in.

Let me also add that if you're coming down I95 and want to stop for groceries on your way to the resort, there is a Publix located at the southeast corner of the intersection of 512 and 510. It is a little further from the resort itself, but again, if you want to get your groceries before checking in, this is probably the most convenient location. From here, you'd just head east on 510 (turn left out of the parking lot onto 510) and over the causeway.

Thank you so much for this information! So helpful

 

[PammyK]

It's been way too long since I've seen a pic of the day....

You asked for it...you got it.

Here's a photo I took of Elsa, the second of 2 loggerhead sea turtles sponsored by Disney in the 2014 Tour de Turtles, as she makes her way to the ocean.

 

[bobbiwoz]

You asked for it...you got it.

Here's a photo I took of Elsa, the second of 2 loggerhead sea turtles sponsored by Disney in the 2014 Tour de Turtles, as she makes her way to the ocean.

Yeah, Elsa! Thank you, PammyK.

 

[DznyDreamz]

We have stayed at VBL previously but it has been more in the April/May timeframe.

My daughter is going into high school and the luxury of taking her out of class will change drastically! So we thought of maybe taking a trip in July or August when she is on break.

Is the heat unbearable this time of year? I know how much we loved swapping from the pool to the beach and back again earlier in the season. We were however overcome by love bugs which made it less than enjoyable and part of the reason we thought of a summer season trip.

What is the feedback on a visit this time of year? It is more the weather and activities that I am inquiring about. I already know that I love the resort!!! I am also extremely tolerant of heat.

 

[staceyrhood]

We were there the week of July 4th this year and it was great. The breeze off the ocean was nice, high 80's everyday. It did rain everyday, but later in the afternoon, the pool was closed from probably 2-5ish daily from the storms.
Tons of activities daily, and when it rained they had indoor activities.

 

[dsanner106]

looking forward to our stay 9-13-2014 to 9-20-2014
Thanks,
Drew and Susan Sanner

 

[tofubeast]

I just realized I'm not on the roll call. We will be there 11/27-11/29.

 

[Belle & Ariel]

You asked for it...you got it.

Here's a photo I took of Elsa, the second of 2 loggerhead sea turtles sponsored by Disney in the 2014 Tour de Turtles, as she makes her way to the ocean.

WOWWWW! I love it! Wish I could have been there.

 

[Belle & Ariel]

We will be at Vero Sept. 11 to 13 after a week at WDW.
It will be our third time.
We spent a week there this past May with our DS, married girls, and their families. Now it will just be DH and I.
We did not get bored and will definitely be booking weeklong trips there in years to come.

 

[Gizmo1951]

Just booked the week of June 8th, 2015 for my grand daughters Honeymoon

 

[RSHEALAND]

Here's a photo I took of Elsa, the second of 2 loggerhead sea turtles sponsored by Disney in the 2014 Tour de Turtles, as she makes her way to the ocean.

great picture

 

[RSHEALAND]

looking forward to our stay 9-13-2014 to 9-20-2014
Thanks,
Drew and Susan Sanner

you have been added to roll call, enjoy your stay

 

[RSHEALAND]

I just realized I'm not on the roll call. We will be there 11/27-11/29.

You have been added to roll call, enjoy your stay

 

[RSHEALAND]

We will be at Vero Sept. 11 to 13 after a week at WDW.
It will be our third time.
We spent a week there this past May with our DS, married girls, and their families. Now it will just be DH and I.
We did not get bored and will definitely be booking weeklong trips there in years to come.

You have been added to roll call, enjoy your stay

 

[bobbiwoz]

Current standings in Tour de Turtles!

http://www.tourdeturtles.org/alt-index.php

 

[bobbiwoz]

If you want to keep track of the turtles:

http://conserveturtles.org

 

[Hanover]

We just returned from a WDW/Vero/WDW trip. This was our first time ever staying at Vero. We were in an ocean view studio on the 4th floor of the inn. We also booked my parents in the same room category one night and then a one bedroom another night (couldn't get the same room 2 nights in a row even wait listed). We thought the rooms were a nice size and the one bedroom was great. We will definitely book a one bedroom for our next trip. It looked just like the one bedroom I've seen at Old Key West. We had a perfect view of the ocean. For some reason, outside our room we had a swarm of dragon flies all 5 nights that we were there. They didn't bother us at all, they just flew around constantly except during the thunderstorms.

We had a great time and really enjoyed Vero. We will definitely be staying there again. Our 13 and 17 year old sons really enjoyed the relaxation. Each day we spent time on the beach and at the pool. Twice we ate at the pool snack bar for lunch and the other days we went out or ate food we purchased from Sam's Club (about 15 min away) and Publix. We also ate at Squid Lips (in both Sebastian and Melbourne), Captain Harims, Chucks (in Ft. Pierce) and at Shutters on Monday for the Pirate Night dinner. We enjoyed them all, but would not do the Pirate Party again. We were not seated until an hour past our reservation. It took forever to get our drinks and food and then to get a refill of chicken and macaroni and cheese. The first bowl of mac and cheese was so small that we literally got 3 spoonfuls each. We went to Squid Lips and Captain Harims based on reviews I read on Disboards and from friends. We really liked them. While at Squid Lips in Melbourne, we saw that they had a groupon and were able to save about $30 that night. We also were able to buy another groupon and use it in Sebastian. We liked the Squid Lips in Melbourne better than the one in Sebastian. It had a larger menu and we thought the restaurant there was nicer. We went to the one in Melbourne thinking it was closer to where we would need to be for the turtle walk we had reserved in Melbourne, but it was actually farther than the Sebastian Squid Lips would have been to the sanctuary.

We did the turtle walk in Melbourne on 7/29 through the Sea Turtle Conservatory. They were right that the mosquitos were bad at night on the beach. We really loaded up on bug spray and long sleeves but my poor husband and 17 year old still ended up with about 50 bites each. We had to stop for Benadryl Spray on the way back. We enjoyed the seminar on turtles and waited patiently a few hours for the turtle scouts to report a turtle sighting, but unfortunately not a single turtle showed up by 11:30 and we left. We saw a family with two young girls the next day at Vero that had also been on the turtle walk and they said that they had stayed until 1 AM and still did not have a turtle sighting. We were told by the head guide that only one other night the entire summer didn't have a turtle sighting.


Last Sunday we went to Cocoa Beach. Our boys had taken surf lessons at Typhoon Lagoon in June and we were so impressed with the Ron Jon surf school that did the lessons, that we signed them up for ocean lessons. They enjoyed the 2 hour lesson and then we went and had lunch at Grills. We looked longingly at the Dream and later went to the jetty park to watch 4 ships including the Dream set sail.

Our boys jet skied a few times at Vero and enjoyed that. I was glad that we didn't sign them up for the surf lessons there because the waves broke at the shore line and they wouldn't have been able to do much surfing. We went fishing one night at a park near the resort and within minutes caught a big catfish but the bugs were very bad again even with bug spray, so we left within a half hour. One night we did the camp fire/s'mores and enjoyed that. We saw a nice big snake slithering along the path and due to the low lighting (because of turtles) my younger son and husband nearly stepped on it. I am not a snake lover so I made sure to shine my phone light on the path as we walked at night from then on. Our boys worked out in the gym several times and were able to get in the work outs they usually do with their football teams.

We checked in about 2PM last Saturday and our room wasn't ready until 4 so we went to Sam's Club and stocked up on lunch meat, bread, breakfast items, snacks, and a beach umbrella. It was cheaper to buy one there and give it to my parents to take back to their vacation home in Clearwater than it was to rent one for 5 days. The breeze and ocean temperature was nice, but we were hot when we were not under the umbrella. It stormed each day, but not for long. We didn't know we would have beach towels issued so we brought our own and only used them in Cocoa. It was nice to be able to turn them in for clean ones whenever we wanted them. We had been on the dining plan at the Beach Club before Vero and the cashier said when we redeemed them that we could use them at Vero too since we were continuing on a Disney vacation and back on the dining plan at WDW. We asked the person at the snack bar at Vero if that was true and she said yes and that they should work and if not she would reset them. Our sons only drank water so they never used their mugs for soda, but my husband and I used them when we had lunch there twice. We didn't even redeem the new set of mugs we could have received when we returned to WDW. The original ones were set through 8/22 for some reason by the lady at the Beach Club. We thought the Vero pool snack bar food prices were decent for the offerings and found that it was nice to just be able to eat and not have to leave the property and find lunch elsewhere. We had a laundry room around the corner from our room with 3 washers and 6 dryers. We did laundry a couple of times and found them to be empty most of the time.

Overall we were very glad we finally vacationed in Vero and really cannot wait to return.

 

[bobbiwoz]

We just returned from a WDW/Vero/WDW trip. This was our first time ever staying at Vero. We were in an ocean view studio on the 4th floor of the inn. We also booked my parents in the same room category one night and then a one bedroom another night (couldn't get the same room 2 nights in a row even wait listed). We thought the rooms were a nice size and the one bedroom was great. We will definitely book a one bedroom for our next trip. It looked just like the one bedroom I've seen at Old Key West. We had a perfect view of the ocean. For some reason, outside our room we had a swarm of dragon flies all 5 nights that we were there. They didn't bother us at all, they just flew around constantly except during the thunderstorms.

We had a great time and really enjoyed Vero. We will definitely be staying there again. Our 13 and 17 year old sons really enjoyed the relaxation. Each day we spent time on the beach and at the pool. Twice we ate at the pool snack bar for lunch and the other days we went out or ate food we purchased from Sam's Club (about 15 min away) and Publix. We also ate at Squid Lips (in both Sebastian and Melbourne), Captain Harims, Chucks (in Ft. Pierce) and at Shutters on Monday for the Pirate Night dinner. We enjoyed them all, but would not do the Pirate Party again. We were not seated until an hour past our reservation. It took forever to get our drinks and food and then to get a refill of chicken and macaroni and cheese. The first bowl of mac and cheese was so small that we literally got 3 spoonfuls each. We went to Squid Lips and Captain Harims based on reviews I read on Disboards and from friends. We really liked them. While at Squid Lips in Melbourne, we saw that they had a groupon and were able to save about $30 that night. We also were able to buy another groupon and use it in Sebastian. We liked the Squid Lips in Melbourne better than the one in Sebastian. It had a larger menu and we thought the restaurant there was nicer. We went to the one in Melbourne thinking it was closer to where we would need to be for the turtle walk we had reserved in Melbourne, but it was actually farther than the Sebastian Squid Lips would have been to the sanctuary.

We did the turtle walk in Melbourne on 7/29 through the Sea Turtle Conservatory. They were right that the mosquitos were bad at night on the beach. We really loaded up on bug spray and long sleeves but my poor husband and 17 year old still ended up with about 50 bites each. We had to stop for Benadryl Spray on the way back. We enjoyed the seminar on turtles and waited patiently a few hours for the turtle scouts to report a turtle sighting, but unfortunately not a single turtle showed up by 11:30 and we left. We saw a family with two young girls the next day at Vero that had also been on the turtle walk and they said that they had stayed until 1 AM and still did not have a turtle sighting. We were told by the head guide that only one other night the entire summer didn't have a turtle sighting.


Last Sunday we went to Cocoa Beach. Our boys had taken surf lessons at Typhoon Lagoon in June and we were so impressed with the Ron Jon surf school that did the lessons, that we signed them up for ocean lessons. They enjoyed the 2 hour lesson and then we went and had lunch at Grills. We looked longingly at the Dream and later went to the jetty park to watch 4 ships including the Dream set sail.

Our boys jet skied a few times at Vero and enjoyed that. I was glad that we didn't sign them up for the surf lessons there because the waves broke at the shore line and they wouldn't have been able to do much surfing. We went fishing one night at a park near the resort and within minutes caught a big catfish but the bugs were very bad again even with bug spray, so we left within a half hour. One night we did the camp fire/s'mores and enjoyed that. We saw a nice big snake slithering along the path and due to the low lighting (because of turtles) my younger son and husband nearly stepped on it. I am not a snake lover so I made sure to shine my phone light on the path as we walked at night from then on. Our boys worked out in the gym several times and were able to get in the work outs they usually do with their football teams.

We checked in about 2PM last Saturday and our room wasn't ready until 4 so we went to Sam's Club and stocked up on lunch meat, bread, breakfast items, snacks, and a beach umbrella. It was cheaper to buy one there and give it to my parents to take back to their vacation home in Clearwater than it was to rent one for 5 days. The breeze and ocean temperature was nice, but we were hot when we were not under the umbrella. It stormed each day, but not for long. We didn't know we would have beach towels issued so we brought our own and only used them in Cocoa. It was nice to be able to turn them in for clean ones whenever we wanted them. We had been on the dining plan at the Beach Club before Vero and the cashier said when we redeemed them that we could use them at Vero too since we were continuing on a Disney vacation and back on the dining plan at WDW. We asked the person at the snack bar at Vero if that was true and she said yes and that they should work and if not she would reset them. Our sons only drank water so they never used their mugs for soda, but my husband and I used them when we had lunch there twice. We didn't even redeem the new set of mugs we could have received when we returned to WDW. The original ones were set through 8/22 for some reason by the lady at the Beach Club. We thought the Vero pool snack bar food prices were decent for the offerings and found that it was nice to just be able to eat and not have to leave the property and find lunch elsewhere. We had a laundry room around the corner from our room with 3 washers and 6 dryers. We did laundry a couple of times and found them to be empty most of the time.

Overall we were very glad we finally vacationed in Vero and really cannot wait to return.

What a nice trip report!

Our family was very lucky regarding the turtle sighting, the walked to the beach, there was a turtle! Still once son had 50 bites. I was not part of the group. I hope you get to see a turtle laying eggs sometime, sons say it was a very special experience.