VWL review (long)

Maistre Gracey

DIS Legend
Joined
Apr 23, 2002
Messages
11,586
Well, we are now back from VB / VWL. My last post was from VB, and I intended to post live from VWL, but my laptop pooped out. :(

Since this is the DVC board, I will not go into depth about other aspects of WDW. I will briefly say that all parks appeared to be in great shape, all restaurants were satisfactory, and MNSSHP was awesome. We also had a good time parasailing, and at The Food and Wine Festival.


We checked into room #3535, a dedicated 2br. This was a woods view, on the lake side of the resort. It was not too far from the elevators, and it was on the third floor.

We noticed that additional housekeeping was needed. Yes, we are somewhat picky, but I think most here would agree that some touching up was necessary. The largest issues were vacuuming, and cleanliness of the sink areas. I must be noted that these issues were attended to promptly, and courteously.

The villa was in good repair, except for a few chip marks on the kitchen table and master bedroom TV cabinet. I have yet to find a VWL villa that does not have any of these marks. I think that perhaps the dark furniture at VWL may emphasize this.

My FIL was room charging, and when he went to square his bill with the front desk, they gave him a copy of our charges. This would not normally be a big deal, as he was a registered guest. The problem was that he was not asked to show ID, or room key. I do not like the thought of just anyone being able to look at our statement. I hope this was a one-time oversight.

The transportation was hit or miss. We waited a looooong time for an Epcot bus (we had a car, but we were planning on drinking at F&W Festival). There were three ticket & transportation busses, and four Fort Wilderness busses before we had a single Epcot bus. It then took a while to get to Epcot, as we did the FW swing.
Many other times the transportation was right on target.

We saw the construction of SSR, as well as the models. I can’t say anything about the construction that the most recent pictures don’t show, except that I was very surprised how close they are to Downtown Disney. The pictures do make them look further away.
The models of the interiors are very impressive. I really like them, especially the colors. I don’t think the pictures do them justice. I really envy those of you who bought SSR.
At the member update, they said that SSR GVs would possibly have a two-story window overlooking the lake.

A few side notes - My FIL stuffed a huge bagel into the toaster, and triggered the smoke alarm. I thought for sure the front desk would be aware of the alarm, but when I called they had no idea.
Also, (being the night owl that I am) the WL / VWL lost electrical power at about 1:30 am on one of the days. They delivered a flashlight to me, and said that the Contemporary also lost power. The only light I had to use the bathroom was my wife’s blinking pumpkin headgear that she bought at MNSSHP. That was an interesting visit to the commode :teeth: . Power was restored before we woke up, and I would bet 99% of the folks never new they lost power.
The tour of the Lodge was interesting. Our tour guide was great, and a friendly guy. I recommend this to those who have not done it.

Overall, another outstanding Disney quality vacation. The million things that were not mentioned were all awesome, and up to Disney standards.

I will be happy to answer any questions… :cool:
 
Originally posted by Maistre Gracey
Well, we are now back from VB / VWL. My last post was from VB, and I intended to post live from VWL, but my laptop pooped out. :(

comp03.gif


Thanks for the report MG.;)
 
MG...thanks for the excellent report...not too long at all!!

We've been looking at those parasailers out on Bay Lake and wondering if that's a good thing to try. We might try it next time. Can you give us any particulars on that? I think they base them out of the Contemporary, right? And could you share the cost information?

Knowing how much you really enjoy VWL, I appreciate your candid remarks about the few shortcomings you saw. They sounded minor, and were quickly remedied.

The bus transportation everywhere seems to have some hit or miss aspects to it. It is frustrating to see multiple busses for the same destination come by while you're waiting for a different destination.

Our last trip, we just decided to walk to the bus stop and see which bus came first. The first theme park bus that showed up, we went on. With extended stays and FastPass management, we always got to see the things we were most interested in by the end of our trip.

Sounds like you had another enjoyable trip at your two homes. Thanks for sharing your thoughts with us. :)
 
There were three ticket & transportation busses, and four Fort Wilderness busses before we had a single Epcot bus. It then took a while to get to Epcot, as we did the FW swing.

Sometimes it is easier to just hop on the ttc bus - a short hop - and ride the monorail to epcot. If going to epcot we usually hop on the one that comes first. It's the only reason I can figure out for them to have the TTC bus (besides maybe the water level being bad at the boat and someone mobility impaired not being able to get on the boat to MK).
 

The only light I had to use the bathroom was my wife’s blinking pumpkin headgear that she bought at MNSSHP. That was an interesting visit to the commode
LOL...I can only imagine ! What a handy investment that turned out to be ! :laughing:
Thanks for the report MG.
 
Hi,

Good trip report!!!

Allison an associate
 
The tour of the Lodge was interesting. Our tour guide was great, and a friendly guy. I recommend this to those who have not done it.

How do you arrange a tour? We haven't stayed at VWL yet, but plan to next year and would love a tour. Is this free?
 
MG
You were gone a long time. Glad ya'll had a good time. We got the trip report from VB and then nothing. Was wondering about that.
So I take it you did'nt add on points for SSR.
I'm looking forward to my trip to VWL in January. Did you eat at the Lodge? Have drinks at the bar? Just wondering.

:earsboy:
July
 
Originally posted by Granny
We've been looking at those parasailers out on Bay Lake and wondering if that's a good thing to try. We might try it next time. Can you give us any particulars on that? I think they base them out of the Contemporary, right? And could you share the cost information?
Hi, Granny. Yes, it is Sammy Duvall's water sports based in back of the Contemporary. They have both parasailing and water skiing.
The cost is $135 for a tandem, and $85 for a single. They also offer a 10% DVC discount off those rates. You are actually flying for about eight minutes, but they have longer and higher sessions for an extra charge.
The combined weight of the two people on a tandem can not exceed about 320 lbs. I say about 320 because wind and other factors can vary this maximum.
It should be noted that parasailing on a windy day is not for the light at heart. It was very windy, and we were bounced, bumped, and swayed. Personally I found it to be a blast bouncing around, but I am sure some would not find it enjoyable, and perhaps even frightening. My wife tandemed with me, so she was fine with it.
The thing is that you have no way to know what the weather will be when you book, although it is possible to get a walk up appointment. It should be noted that if it gets too windy, they will cancel (this happened to us the first time we booked it).

We are truly glad we did it, and we enjoyed it very much... :cool:
 
Originally posted by MelissathePooh
Sometimes it is easier to just hop on the ttc bus - a short hop - and ride the monorail to epcot. If going to epcot we usually hop on the one that comes first. It's the only reason I can figure out for them to have the TTC bus (besides maybe the water level being bad at the boat and someone mobility impaired not being able to get on the boat to MK).
This is true, however I kept saying "it's just gotta be the next bus coming around the corner...". :cool:
 
I would bet 99% of the folks never knew they lost power


:rotfl:

Well, Maistre Gracey, I remember the outage well. My DH missed his race because of it:eek:

It was a very interesting trip to say the least.

I thought I saw you and your wife shortly after we checked in on Thursday. My family and I walked down to play checkers and there was a couple who looked like the couple from AnnieT's pictures talking to people sitting in the big rocking chairs. I wasn't sure if it was you or not. :confused:

Sounds like you had a wonderful time.

We just got back from Vero last night. We didn't want to leave.
:(
 
Originally posted by IndyScott
How do you arrange a tour? We haven't stayed at VWL yet, but plan to next year and would love a tour. Is this free?
Hi, IndyScott. Yes, the tour is free. You just show up in the lobby at the designated time, and on the designated day. For us it was 9:00am on Wednesday, but I think the schedule changes. The time and days were listed in the brochure we received at check-in, and the cast members at the desk also knew all about it.
I think the tour may be slightly different between tour guides, as I have seen them outside before. Ours did not leave the lobby.
It took 45 minutes, and discussed some building techniques used, and explained some Native American markings.

We enjoyed this, and will do it again in hopes of a different guide showing us different things.
I don't mean to imply that our guide was not great, but rather different guides would show us different things (I hope that makes sense)... :cool:
 
Originally posted by July
MG
You were gone a long time. Glad ya'll had a good time. We got the trip report from VB and then nothing. Was wondering about that.
So I take it you did'nt add on points for SSR.
I'm looking forward to my trip to VWL in January. Did you eat at the Lodge? Have drinks at the bar? Just wondering.

:earsboy:
July
Hi, July. No, we didn't add points at SSR (at least not yet). The models were awesome, and I really would like points there, but we decided that if we are going to buy more points it would be at Vero. We simply love it there. Perhaps I can convince the Queen Bee to let me add both!?!?... :teeth:

We did not have dinner at the Lodge, but we did breakfast at Roaring Fork, and nachos and drinks at Territory Lounge. I have ate dinner at Artist Point several times before, and have always enjoyed it very much. I truly recommend both Artist Point, and Whispering Canyon Cafe, but we just ran out of days before we could eat there... :cool:
 
Originally posted by floridafam
:rotfl:

Well, Maistre Gracey, I remember the outage well. My DH missed his race because of it:eek:

It was a very interesting trip to say the least.

I thought I saw you and your wife shortly after we checked in on Thursday. My family and I walked down to play checkers and there was a couple who looked like the couple from AnnieT's pictures talking to people sitting in the big rocking chairs. I wasn't sure if it was you or not. :confused:

Sounds like you had a wonderful time.

We just got back from Vero last night. We didn't want to leave.
:(
Hi, floridafam. I am happy to see that you enjoyed Vero! :cool:
Yes, we did walk through the Iron Spike Room, but I don't recall talking to anyone in the chairs. It is possible though, as we were with my MIL, and FIL. They may have parked themselves in the chairs. There were people at the checker table while we were in there.

I hope your trip was great!... :cool:
 
Ending our trip at Vero was the best thing we ever did.

It was wonderful. We wished we had left VWL early to go there.

We decided not to go through with our SSR add on and decided to possibly wait list for more VB pts instead.
 
MG.....thanks for the feedback on the parasailing...that seems like something we'll definitely have to try at some time! :)

Really glad that you had a great trip, and that you have returned safely from your travels. Sounds like you might need a new laptop though! ::yes::
 
Glad you had such a great trip! Thanks for the reports.
 
MG: Thanks for the info, especially on the transportation. I'm glad it was on target more than it was off. Were you at the MK late any nights, especially after the boats are shut down? If yes, how was that transportation back? I always found that to be the most frustrating transportation problem and unique to VWL.

HBC
 










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