VWL trip report

[goofy4dvc]

We stayed in a studio at VWL. I had received my 7 nights through the wait list, one night at a time. Unfortunately, the first night was the last ressie I received which was just a week or two before arrival. All they had was a handicapped-accessible room. The room had no bathtub, which was okay because DH and I prefer showers anyway. It had a pedestal sink, no vanity area or undersink storage. The shower had low to medium water pressure but was plenty hot enough. There was no storage under the wetbar sink either. The doors to the closet armoire wouldn’t shut right. The carpets needed edge-cleaned as they were kind of dirty next to the walls. We were in room #2546, which had a view of the trees. We saw some of the MK fireworks a couple of evenings. We received a “welcomed home” nearly every time we came through security. I know it sounds like such a small thing, but it really is wonderful to hear.

We rented a car from Thrifty (had to take a shuttle), but price was cheap ($126 total). Reserved a mid-size car and got a Daewoo. Had a few problems with the car (front-end vibration above 60 mph, windshield wipers didn't work well, and flat tire) so we returned the Daewoo for a more dependable car. I had called Alamo several weeks before our arrival to ask if they were at the airport and was told no. However, we saw a billboard announcing that Alamo is now located at the airport.

I spent one day going to all the resorts taking pictures of the Christmas decorations. They were all so beautiful. We didn’t go to any of the parks this time since we had done that in April. This was a golfing vacation. We played 4 of the courses and only got rained out once. The Lake Buena Vista Clubhouse is located at Disney Institute, so while we were there we checked out the construction on the new Saratoga Springs Resort. It’s all still in the demolition stage. The golf pro (also a DVC member) told us that the amphitheater area is scheduled to become a new pool area. Wondered if this was the pool area that is in the artist renderings or maybe a quiet pool. While we were playing the LBV golf course, we saw the Treehouse Villas. I had read several posts from people wanting to stay in them, but they looked really rundown and very outdated. Some of them seemed to be too close to the golf course.

We went to Pleasure Island to the Adventurer’s Club and Comedy Warehouse. Our first time there. We also went to CityWalk at Universal Studios. CityWalk was more to our liking.

I'll try to answer any questions you might have.

 

[Granny]

Goofy...thanks for the report! Wow...7 nights at VWL and didn't step foot in the parks. You've got more willpower than I do!

And thanks for the SSR construction update. I must admit to being curious to see what tricks they have up their sleeve to help sell SSR.

 

[Simba's Mom]

Just wondering-did they tell you at check-in that your room was handicapped-accessible? They didn't tell us, then when we called to be moved (really wanted a tub), they said it would cost us $25 to be moved. I called and wrote to complain when we got home, mainly because they hadn't told us (DH travels a lot on business and he's always told if he's getting HA). Just wondering if they did what they said they would.

 

[goofy4dvc]

Yes, we were informed by CM that it would be HA room. That was all that was available that first night. She told us that if we wanted to move the next night that there would be a $25 fee. DH hates to change rooms, so we stayed where we were. I had originally wanted to stay 3 or 4 nights at VWL and the other nights at BCV, but he wanted to get all nights at one resort. I would have hated to pack up and move also, if it wasn't necessary. That means we'll just have to make another trip to stay at BCV!!