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

[sleepydog25]

People here know that Disney is part of who I am, so now they're surprised when I'm NOT heading there. And they seek my advice quite a bit.

Best wishes for your pup, KAT.

 

[KAT4DISNEY]

A few pictures for the day from my trip a week and a half ago.

This was a sand sculpture at AK. I also saw one at Epcot and took in a preview of the movie at One Man's Dream at DHS. What I saw looked very well done although perhaps darker than the previous version. I really thought the voice actors in that were so iconic it was a little difficult for me to see the characters here with different voices but think I may go see it in the theater if we get the time.

FOTLK is pretty much a must do for us and it was a first time for my DSis:

Dark and early the next morning....one of the start corrals for the Darkside 5K:

Just one of the character spots:

A bit of a walking bottleneck around SE:

And later that cloudy day from F&G:

 

[DiznyDi]

Kathy, thanks for the pictures! We've got our bags out and the packing has begun. Your pictures make me all the more excited! The long range weather forecast looks to be beautiful!
Our fur babies are part of the family. I hope yours is ok.

 

[Granny]

Kathy...best wishes for your dog. It's amazing that even when they're not doing well all they want to do is make you happy. Good luck!

And for some reason, I'm getting image errors from all the Photobucket pictures you posted, as well as the ones in Di's signature. Weird.

 

[Granny]

Okay, time for the construction update. Please turn your eyes from the screen and fast forward if you are weak of heart.

I took the boat from Ft Wilderness so I could see the entire view of VWL from the water. If you recall, in the past you could barely see some sections of the roof through the trees.




Here's a close up that includes better detail on the new building:




And a view of the new building from the geyser area:

 

[Granny]

Here's a general view of the construction area near VWL:




And more construction looking towards WL:




You can see that they are tearing out a room from the WL south wing. Here's a closer look at the tear out:

 

[Granny]

And here's a look at the north wing of WL and the tree thinning that has gone on there:

 

[Granny]

There is also extensive outside work being done on VWL itself. Scaffolding, scraping, painting and staining is taking place on both sides of the villas.

I think I have officially eliminated VWL from our December trip. It's just hard to watch, and the construction noise was substantial on that side of the villas.

 

[Kathymford]

Great photos @Granny! The tear out in the south wing is kind of indisputable with that photo. I can understand you not wanting to stay there, but who knows what state it will be in by December.

With this state of construction, it feels real now. And now that it's real, I'm kind of excited to see what they do. I'm ready for renderings and information already.

 

[rkstocke5609]

Thanks for the pictures Granny! Clearly I am not confident about a trip even for next March. Time to enjoy the 7 month options!!

 

[twinklebug]

TY for the pictorial update Granny, if you wondered what that sound was, it was my heart cracking in two
(find my happy place, find my happy place, find my happy place... they destroyed one of my happy places!)

 

[KAT4DISNEY]

Thanks for all the well wishes for my fur baby!

He made it thru the surgery ok and they removed the tumor intact so now we wait to see. The poor baby did eat well this evening but is shaking a lot which I'm guessing has a bit to do with the drugs he was given although in the past year or two he has gotten more sensitive to cold so having this trauma plus the sudden cold weather might be a part of it. He's definitely not himself but generally doing as well as he ever has after surgery so at least that part of the hurdle is over. He's just such a sweetie so it's hard to see him hurting.

Granny - those pictures are really tough to look at too. I think VWL is hurting too. Thanks for the scouting though!

 

[jimmytammy]

Kat
Prayers and best wishes for your fur baby.
Thanks for all the pics, very much enjoying!

Granny
Sad, sad, sad. What are they doing to us?

 

[circhead]

Been missing in action.

Happy belated bvirthdays to LUVVWL and DisneyDi.

Kat - I hope your dog does well and gets back to what he was.
I lost my 14 yo golden retriever 2 years ago and I'm still not over it. My sister breeds them and keeps asking if I want another dog. I told her I'm not ready and that I will never ever get another golden. Junior was the dog I had always wanted and finally got to have. It would not be fair to another golden because I would always be comparing it to Junior and no dog is ever going to match up.

There is also extensive outside work being done on VWL itself. Scaffolding, scraping, painting and staining is taking place on both sides of the villas.

I think I have officially eliminated VWL from our December trip. It's just hard to watch, and the construction noise was substantial on that side of the villas.

Granny I was on the phone for a long time with MS yesterday - the cast member told me that the quiet pool will be open and functional by then. All restaurants are operating and decorations will be as glorious as past years.
Construction is limited to daytime hours and they will try to limit the impact because of the holiday season and not wanting to disrupt the guests vacations. I made the reservation and bless his heart he did note that there will be a newborn with us so to give us a room as far from the construction as possible.
I miss my home and I'm going back for New Year's.

 

[Granny]

One last comment about our VWL. When I was at the WL resort, I looked for someone to talk to. No Ranger in sight, nobody staffing the DVC desk, nobody loitering in the area that looked like he/she might be able to tell me something about our missing topiaries. The resort looked very empty, though it was about noon and most people are at the parks. The pool wasn't overly crowded either. The one good thing was that Whispering Canyon had a good lunch crowd and was its usual lively self. So I was not able to get any information about the topiaries or anything else. I'll have to pass the baton to Dizny Dad and Di for information gathering!

 

[Granny]

Granny I was on the phone for a long time with MS yesterday - the cast member told me that the quiet pool will be open and functional by then. All restaurants are operating and decorations will be as glorious as past years.
Construction is limited to daytime hours and they will try to limit the impact because of the holiday season and not wanting to disrupt the guests vacations. I made the reservation and bless his heart he did note that there will be a newborn with us so to give us a room as far from the construction as possible.
I miss my home and I'm going back for New Year's.

I think it's great you're going back. But based on Disney's construction schedules, I don't know if they will have the quiet pool open in 8 months. Not only do they have to have that pool complete and functional, they have to also have some of the surrounding work done so they can provide access to the new pool. Maybe that's why they started work on the new food service building first? But it's hard to look at the current scene and imagine that much progress so quickly. But we'll see, and I really hope for the best for your trip.

I will say that I sat in the main lobby for a while, and THAT calmed me down quite a bit. Yes, I could see the South Wing all walled off but the overall ambiance was great. Just not a lot of people. But as I listened to the theme from Silverado, and then the one from Magnificent 7, I did feel myself easing into the lure of the Lodge. I know it will still be beautiful at Christmas time, and the bus side of VWL was as beautiful as ever (though very little water in the "bayou"). So yes, I believe that it will still be a wonderful place to stay. As Sleepy has continually told us, it's really a state of mind and depends on whether one feels that it is a depressing construction area or a unique chance to have a wonderful view of Bay Lake.

Lastly, I will reiterate that I think that when the dust settles, it will be a beautiful overall resort. Different from what we knew and loved, but the kind of resort that if we saw it as a first time visitor, we would still be blown away. At the end of all this, I think it will be a better overall resort property, though somewhat at the expense of our "old VWL", nestled in among the trees. What bothers me most of all is that the project will take years, and since we only have 25 use years left, I hate to see them using up any of them.

 

[Dizny Dad]

. . . . . . I'll have to pass the baton to Dizny Dad and Di for information gathering!

Golly, the heat is now on to perform!

Thanks for the pictures; it will make it less startling when we arrive on the boat for a visit next week. But we can all be thankful that we can remember The Lodge as it was, and enjoy it as the metamorphosis occurs! I'm sure Stan is watching over the changes and is smiling with wide eyes . . . .

 

[Flossbolna]

Granny I was on the phone for a long time with MS yesterday - the cast member told me that the quiet pool will be open and functional by then.

Wow, this is the first time any timeline as to what will open when is being put out! On the pictures Granny posted, it did not look like they have even started on the quiet pool, but maybe this is the next step. One would think that a pool can be built within 6 months, but then I look at other building projects at WDW and things seem to take a very long time often. I do hope that your CM was right though, we are planning to be there towards the end of the year as well...

 

[LisaS]

Thanks for all the well wishes for my fur baby!

He made it thru the surgery ok and they removed the tumor intact so now we wait to see. The poor baby did eat well this evening but is shaking a lot which I'm guessing has a bit to do with the drugs he was given although in the past year or two he has gotten more sensitive to cold so having this trauma plus the sudden cold weather might be a part of it. He's definitely not himself but generally doing as well as he ever has after surgery so at least that part of the hurdle is over. He's just such a sweetie so it's hard to see him hurting.

So glad to hear he made it through the surgery. I know all too well the stress of waiting for the phone to ring with a post-surgical update from the vet, especially with an older fur baby. I hope he recovers quickly and that there is something you can do about his condition. It's great that he ate well. That's probably a good sign (it is in cats at least!)

 

[KAT4DISNEY]

Kat - I hope your dog does well and gets back to what he was.
I lost my 14 yo golden retriever 2 years ago and I'm still not over it. My sister breeds them and keeps asking if I want another dog. I told her I'm not ready and that I will never ever get another golden. Junior was the dog I had always wanted and finally got to have. It would not be fair to another golden because I would always be comparing it to Junior and no dog is ever going to match up.

Thanks! So sorry to hear about your guy. My pup is 11 1/2 now and I've always known it will be devastating to lose him. Without a doubt he's been the dog for my heart. We love the Cardigan corgi's but sometimes I think it might be better for a different breed when the time comes for exactly the reason you mentioned. Dh's best friend lost his Golden to cancer a few years ago that he had a similar connection with. He immediately got another puppy and the poor thing has not been able to come close to living up to the memory.

So glad to hear he made it through the surgery. I know all too well the stress of waiting for the phone to ring with a post-surgical update from the vet, especially with an older fur baby. I hope he recovers quickly and that there is something you can do about his condition. It's great that he ate well. That's probably a good sign (it is in cats at least!)

Thanks Lisa! Wanting to eat really is a good sign for him. He's been my surgery dog having had issues with urinary tract stones starting back when he was 4 and he's always been slow to get back on the food so this was really encouraging. He's showing he's pretty sore today but again wanted to eat this morning and no trouble doing meds with some cream cheese. Now I'm just crossing my fingers that pathology shows this is the end of it and once he recovers we're good.

Granny I was on the phone for a long time with MS yesterday - the cast member told me that the quiet pool will be open and functional by then. All restaurants are operating and decorations will be as glorious as past years.
Construction is limited to daytime hours and they will try to limit the impact because of the holiday season and not wanting to disrupt the guests vacations. I made the reservation and bless his heart he did note that there will be a newborn with us so to give us a room as far from the construction as possible.
I miss my home and I'm going back for New Year's.

Interesting news! I had always hoped they would concentrate on getting the common areas pulled back together first as they are affecting existing ownership so hopefully it does happen. This was a picture of the Poly Oasis Pool and how far it was along approx 3 1/2 - 4 months prior to opening. I couldn't find at what time they had finished destruction there and started constructing but it was closed around 8 months total and AFAIK they kept working on it from day 1. Disney better get cracking on the VWL pool!