We've returned home after a marvelous first stay at VWL!
We hope to return someday.
Our 1BR villa was on the 4th floor overlooking trees and the Villas pool. In the early morning and late evening, we greatly enjoyed the peacefulness of our balcony, the music, "crickets", "owls", etc. The first half of our week was hot, humid and very rainy. The second half was beautiful, warm or hot, partly cloudy, very nice. Overall, we had a positively wonderful vacation. We love boating and having constant access to the boats on Bay Lake and Seven Seas Lagoon was a true highlight of our stay!
On the negative side, lots of noise. As others have reported, courtyard construction at WL is loud with jackhammers and even a crane was brought in for a day or so. If we had had a hotel room overlooking the courtyard, it would have been completely unacceptable to us. But from our Villa, with the windows closed, it was not disruptive or annoying at all. We do like to use the balcony for reading. However, during daytime hours when it was not rainy, the Villas pool often had many active and excited children happily playing and screaming - though we enjoy children, it seemed pretty boisterous and crowded to us, at times. Together with daytime construction sounds, the total noise level outside on our balcony was sometimes unpleasant during the day. So we tended to use our balcony more at odd hours. Regardless, we still definitely had a terrific time at the resort.
During our 9:00AM Wonders of Wilderness Lodge free tour (an hour well-spent!), we asked about the planned changes. The plain kiddie pool is gone, dirt heaps abound, and much of the surrounding patio has been removed, as well as a little landscaping around the old kiddie pool site. Water pipes are being laid for the new, themed splash zone with drenching water bucket. All pool linings and patios within 4 feet of any pool water are being resurfaced with the newer no-slip material that currently lines the Villas pool. The feature pool will have the same footprint and water volume but the patio will be slightly expanded and the path between the geyser and the Trout Pass Pool Bar will be accessible. The roof of Trout Pass Pool Bar is mostly gone now so they much be doing a bit of renovation there as well.
When we checked in, we asked about access to Blizzard Beach. We were asked how many visits we would like and these were added to our Magic Bands, to expire on check-out day. We ended up going to BB only twice due to the rain but we enjoyed it a lot. As another posted said, we found very low crowds in the parks and at BB. Downtown Disney was fairly busy on rainy days.
One minor disappointment on this trip was at MK. When we had made our early FP+ plans, there was no option to select a FP+ for Be Our Guest Restaurant at lunch time. So we planned to get in line. When we walked up around 11:30AM on the 2nd day of our week's vacation, we were told that they were not taking walk-ups and all seating had been reserved in advance with FP+. We asked if there was a good time to try back later in the day and we were told that most days, they have NO walk-up seating at all. We tried Guest Services in MK and the Concierge desk at WL, to see if there were any FP+ times for the rest of our week and no luck. They confirmed that most days, they have no walk-up seating available except for a handful of people that get in line, long before the restaurant opens at 10:30AM.
On this trip, we finally made it over to the 3:45PM free tour of the Jiko and Boma restaurants at Animal Kingdom Lodge. They describe the dishes that are prepared for the Boma buffet - soup and dessert samples are provided. They explain some of the symbolism in the design and decor of the Jiko interior - bread and dip samples are provided. This was another 45 minutes well-spent. The food was delish. So after the tour, we decided to visit the bar in Sanaa, where we enjoyed the bread service platter (9 spreads!) and an appetizer sampler platter. We left there stuffed! And we picked up a quartet of zebra domes in the gift shop to bring back to our villa for later that night. Yum!
A major highlight of this vacation was actually right before we arrived at WDW. We had scheduled a tour with A Day Away Kayaking on Merritt Island and a night in a hotel in Titusville, prior to check-in at VWL. This was the night-time bioluminescent tour. WOW!!! These microscopic organisms glow bluish white at night, whenever the water is disturbed near them, during the summer and up until early October. It's sort of like fireflies but blue, microscopic so it just looks like the water itself is visible like your white teeth under a black light. So after dark, as water swirls around your paddles, it glows in the dark. Splashed water glows momentarily. Mullet fish dart under the surface and sometimes leap from the water, wet with glowing water. We saw a dolphin blow misty air up that glowed. The kayaks glide through the water leaving glowing ripples in their wakes. It was amazing, surreal, magical!!! This is a natural phenomenon but if Disney is able to capture even a fraction of this beauty with their Avatar-themed land, it will be incredible. If you ever get the chance to do this flatwater, night kayaking tour, during the bioluminescent season, DO IT!!!! (and do bring bug repellent) We hope to be able to go back again next year during the season and bring along family and friends. This was such a unique, fun, and awe-inspiring experience.
And now, construction pictures are next.
I've been trying to keep up here, but it's been a little hectic these last few weeks. I'm happy to report we found a great candidate to replace me (they've all been saying I'm irreplaceable though
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