VWL Groupies & Lovers Thread (Special Collectors Edition 2.5) updated 2 February 2025

[jimmytammy]

We went to Beaufort, SC yesterday to visit and do a bit of sightseeing. The whole town is full of southern charm and me being a history nut, soaked it all in. During the Civil War, the town was quickly occupied by Union forces and used as a place to control trades to Europe by Confederate forces. Therefore, the town was well preserved, much like it would have been during the Antebellum period leading up to the war. So the houses, though many repairs Im sure have been done over the years, have remained. In posts to follow are many of the houses just along Bay St. Many, many more period houses remain to this day as well along the streets behind this area, but our time was just focused on Bay St.

 

[jimmytammy]

 

[jimmytammy]

 

[jimmytammy]

 

[jimmytammy]

 

[jimmytammy]

 

[jimmytammy]

The top and 3rd pix are the arsenal. Not sure who the guy was in the top picture with the Dont Tread On Me T-shirt on, but he wasn't part of our group, not looking for any trouble
The bottom pic is of homes more characteristic of those that make up the vast majority in the streets lined behind the mansions

 

[Disney loving Iowan]

That's so pretty JT. I will have to ask my sister if she has ever been there. She lives in SC

 

[Granny]

Jimmy...wow, those are some beautiful buildings, with the Spanish moss hanging from the trees and such a clear blue sky. While you were in Beaufort, I assume you visited The Kazoobie Kazoo Factory and Museum, right?

Thanks for the pictures, and here's a couple of them turned rightside up.

 

[TCRAIG]

So - Jimmy/Tammy - which house (or 2) you thinking of buying??

 

[jimmytammy]

Jimmy...wow, those are some beautiful buildings, with the Spanish moss hanging from the trees and such a clear blue sky. While you were in Beaufort, I assume you visited The Kazoobie Kazoo Factory and Museum, right?

No, doggone, we missed that! And they are closed today, so I guess since we are going home today, it will have to wait
Thank you for getting me turned around right side up, again!

So - Jimmy/Tammy - which house (or 2) you thinking of buying??

Emmmm, well we did see some lovely bushes that we could possibly rent out for a week, maybe 2

 

[jimmytammy]

As we prep for heading home after a 2 week trip, my takeaways are this...WDW is different right now, but in a safe place IMO. If anyone is going soon, WDW is doing as good of a job as they can. CMs are doing their job in the mask mandate, distancing in lines is spread out well, as long as others follow the guidelines, which we didnt seem to run into a problem with. In fact, the line spacing is a big plus. I know it won't last forever, but for now, its a plus. Grocery stores if needed in the area, at least Publix are doing good in the Covid guidelines.

HHI has some wonderful seafood eateries! I have had among the best seafood I have had in a long time at several different places. The only time I didnt eat seafood was last night and I regret it now
We love the relaxing vibe of the island, and especially of Disneys resort. We hung out at the beach house yesterday for hours and love it there! We cant wait to return! Catching up with Patrick and Chris, was icing on the cake

We spent time with Alan and Annie(aka AnnieT)mini golfing at Fantasia, grabbed a meal at DS with them, and wish we could have spent more time with them. We caught up with Kenny(some may remember him as a waiter at TL from yrs past)and spent some long lost time catching up with him.

So we will see y'all on the other side of this trip, soon I hope. Now, back to that pesky word, what is it, hmmm, oh yeah, work

 

[Granny]

We caught up with Kenny(some may remember him as a waiter at TL from yrs past)and spent some long lost time catching up with him.

That isn't the same Kenny that was a waiter at Trail's End, is it? He hasn't been there the past few times we went so I don't know if he retired or not. Glad you enjoyed a nice relaxing trip, and thanks for sharing all the details and pictures.

 

[Corinne]

Sounds like a great trip Jimmy! Thanks for sharing with us!

 

[jimmytammy]

That isn't the same Kenny that was a waiter at Trail's End, is it? He hasn't been there the past few times we went so I don't know if he retired or not. Glad you enjoyed a nice relaxing trip, and thanks for sharing all the details and pictures.

No, but I know which Kenny you are speaking of. Super nice guy. He was there for years. He told us once, when he 1st went to work at Trails End, he was a manager. He said he didn't like being a manager so they switched him off to being a waiter and he loved it. He said he would have quit if all he could be was in management.

The Kenny we met this trip was a waiter at Territory Lounge for many years, many years ago, at least 8. He moved over to Chef Mickeys and we sort of lost touch with him. So we are glad to made the reconnect with him.

 

[KAT4DISNEY]

Hello Groupies!! Just spent a bit of time catching up from when I kind of took a break from the DIS back in January. 1st place I headed to was here. Actually it was the only reason I'm on the boards today was to check in how everyone was doing! Happy to read about those getting vaccinated, was sorrowful for those who have lost beloved furry family and have thoroughly enjoyed seeing all the pictures from the past as well as from recent travels!

We're getting thru the winter and looking forward to some warmer weather to come. Gordon has gotten his 1st dose of vaccine and is otherwise prepping for back surgery on Wed. I'm waiting for my turn at getting vaccinated and prepping to take care of everything after Wednesday.

A few things I noted going thru the posts:

Thank you for the link.

Here we go, his now vs. coming:

View attachment 552404

Interesting to see the test hallway! My very 1st thought - isn't that the color scheme we used to have? Aren't they going to be sorry now that they took so much of it out in the last refurb!

Before - red and green tiles in the bathroom:

Before - red paint that's a perfect match to the hallway carpet!

Before - more red, more green.....:

It was all there! Maybe the designer was inspired by some older photos.

Overall I think it looks pretty good. Might not be my first choice but at least the carpet still has some character. They need to change up the plan for the walls though - too white. It gives me some hope for the room interiors but some concern that we will end up with white walls and more generic fixtures etc.

For general woods views, VWL cant be beat. And lake views are possible, but iffy. KAT4DISNEY can share her experience on the ever so elusive lake views Right, Kathy?

lol - actually it was a post on the DIS facebook group of a beautiful lakeview picture from a VWL room that brought me here today! I had to read in the explanation what that was as I haven't personally seen it but others verified that it was indeed from VWL, just not my VWL view.

View attachment 559200

View attachment 560359
The guardians of galaxy building from the parking lot. There are a lot of big buildings going up property wide right now

The reminiscing over previous groupie meets was still in my mind when I saw these pictures posted by Jimmy. Remember when they used to make these show buildings part of the show? Just look at Space Mt. It could have been a big boxy building but it's not. Think of ToT. It could have been a tall box but it's not. Look at Space Ship Earth. It also could have been a big box but it's not. Don't get me wrong that as I'm looking forward to both of these attractions but it's just a little sad that the whole "show" doesn't get the attention that it used to. The attention that is part of what really gave Disney that extra edge.

However, I am happy to see that a lot is still moving forward! Also hope that everyone enjoys the rest of this short day. I didn't even realize the clocks were changing today - when you don't really go anywhere so time isn't quite the concern that it used to be.

 

[Disney loving Iowan]

Hello Groupies!! Just spent a bit of time catching up from when I kind of took a break from the DIS back in January. 1st place I headed to was here. Actually it was the only reason I'm on the boards today was to check in how everyone was doing! Happy to read about those getting vaccinated, was sorrowful for those who have lost beloved furry family and have thoroughly enjoyed seeing all the pictures from the past as well as from recent travels!

We're getting thru the winter and looking forward to some warmer weather to come. Gordon has gotten his 1st dose of vaccine and is otherwise prepping for back surgery on Wed. I'm waiting for my turn at getting vaccinated and prepping to take care of everything after Wednesday.

A few things I noted going thru the posts:

Interesting to see the test hallway! My very 1st thought - isn't that the color scheme we used to have? Aren't they going to be sorry now that they took so much of it out in the last refurb!

Before:

Before:

Before:

It was all there! Maybe the designer was inspired by some older photos.

Overall I think it looks pretty good. Might not be my first choice but at least the carpet still has some character. They need to change up the plan for the walls though - too white. It gives me some hope for the room interiors but some concern that we will end up with white walls and more generic fixtures etc.



lol - actually it was a post on the DIS facebook group of a beautiful lakeview picture from a VWL room that brought me here today! I had to read in the explanation what that was as I haven't personally seen it but others verified that it was indeed from VWL, just not my VWL view.



The reminiscing over previous groupie meets was still in my mind when I saw these pictures posted by Jimmy. Remember when they used to make these show buildings part of the show? Just look at Space Mt. It could have been a big boxy building but it's not. Think of ToT. It could have been a tall box but it's not. Look at Space Ship Earth. It also could have been a big box but it's not. Don't get me wrong that as I'm looking forward to both of these attractions but it's just a little sad that the whole "show" doesn't get the attention that it used to. The attention that is part of what really gave Disney that extra edge.

However, I am happy to see that a lot is still moving forward! Also hope that everyone enjoys the rest of this short day. I didn't even realize the clocks were changing today - when you don't really go anywhere so time isn't quite the concern that it used to be.

Kat so nice to hear from you! Missed you on here. Best of luck to Gordon with his back surgery. I hope you can get your vaccine soon. DH and I just had our first one this past week. DD isn't in the age group yet but she is volunteering at the one site so she can get hers. So relieved that her and I will have ours done before our trip. One tip I will tell everyone is to make sure you check your local pharmacies when you try to make an appointment. You may have more luck than trying to do it with one of the hospitals or mass vaccination sites.

 

[KAT4DISNEY]

Kat so nice to hear from you! Missed you on here. Best of luck to Gordon with his back surgery. I hope you can get your vaccine soon. DH and I just had our first one this past week. DD isn't in the age group yet but she is volunteering at the one site so she can get hers. So relieved that her and I will have ours done before our trip. One tip I will tell everyone is to make sure you check your local pharmacies when you try to make an appointment. You may have more luck than trying to do it with one of the hospitals or mass vaccination sites.

Hi DLI! Thanks for the tip on finding the vaccine when I'm eligible as I know I'll need it! Unlike Gordon I'm not counting on googling where they are doing vaccines in Reno, clicking on the 1st one and finding that they have a few spots for the next afternoon! We think they probably just opened up as it coincided with them also be the location that was just receiving the first shipment of the JnJ vaccine that day. He got booked and checked again about 5 minutes later and all the other slots were gone. He's on the 2 shot routine but I'm glad he at least has had one dose before heading into the hospital for surgery. Thanks for the well wishes for him. It's not his 1st back surgery but it's been awhile and the surgeon is pointing out that the recovery might take a little longer than when he was 20 something.

Happy you'll be set before your trip!!! I bet you're getting very excited now! I know I would be!!!

 

[jimmytammy]

Hey KAT!!

 

[KAT4DISNEY]

Hey KAT!!

Hi Jimmy!