Just got back from our trip and stayed Oct 5-10 in a studio. (room 1515) Points are definitely expensive. The resort is exactly as you would expect it, gorgeous. Our view was from the 5th floor, corner of the building, that overlooked the wedding pavilion, with wonderful views that included the lake, Polynesian Resort, and Monorail. The room was great but as stated above it does lack storage. You can only use one pull out drawer from under the bed as the second one is blocked by the night stand. The closet has 4 cubby style selves that we used to place the rest of the clothes that we didn't hang up. The closet is small and gets crowded pretty quick due to the pack and play and vacuum inside. Our coffee maker was broken and wasn't replaced from the visit prior to ours as I found the note the previous guest left about its condition. (no big deal really). Two showers are nice but only one sink takes some planning. The room was only a year old but already showed a little wear around the recessed lightning in the ceiling and spots in the shower. Again nothing that is probably noticed by the average person but I admit to having a problem with attention to detail. LOL. The TV in the mirror I was told by the staff that you have to hold the power button down for 9 seconds and about 3 inches from the mirror for it to come on. Now the bed was pretty hard for both my wife and I. To compound it the pillows were super flat. The walls, in the studio at least because of adjoining door, are really thin. You can here conversations in the next room. The lobby is beautiful but the staff was just ok. They really didn't seem to enthused. Not the normal Disney experience. We never got a Welcome home until I walked over to the main hotel. The walk over to the main hotel is short, covered, and only about 2 minutes. To Gasparilla Grill is only takes about another 2 minutes to get coffee, food, or booze. You can see the Magic Kingdom fireworks from out in front of the Gasparilla Grill which has seating for eating. You can also walk to the boat dock and see them from there. Overall I loved the stay there as this was out of the norm for us since we prefer to stay in the Epcot resorts for its location and convenience. I really hope this helps. Enjoy!!!
I echo many of these comments. Lovely room, gorgeous resort (including the VGF lobby), and superb views (we also had a lake view studio, 1304). The convenience factor is also wonderful since you can easily walk to the monorail, the health club and spa, and eats/drinks. The balcony is a comfortable size, and we had lovely sunrises while we were there. However, as a few others have mentioned, storage is an issue. It's doable for two, but any more than that would be inconvenient. Those cubicles in the closet take away hang up space, as do the robes, the vacuum, the safe, et. al. The one drawer under the bed is huge--I was able to fit all my folding clothes there--but you simply can't access the other drawer at all. The Murphy bed under the TV (which is huge, btw) is a nice touch but takes all the drawer space that would have been there. Further, while the extra tub/shower area would be welcome with groups of three or more, that space also takes away possible storage and only permits the one sink which is a drawback. In essence, the design to allow up to five people to occupy a studio is thoughtful; ironically, that very design has a serious flaw in that I have no clue how any more than three people could stay in a studio comfortably unless you had minimal clothes and didn't mind using a stand or coffee table upon which to place your suitcase and pull clothes from there.
While the overall friendliness and helpfulness of the CMs was good (we received "Welcome Home" a lot, oddly), we had a minor issue when we checked in. Our original CM had issues loading our MagicBands into the system, and after a half an hour, we seemed poised to head to our room. Of course, the bands didn't unlock the door. Half an hour and another CM later, we got into our room. No part of that experience was a huge issue--it happens. Later that night at dinner (and in a gift shop), our bands were denied the ability to charge to the room, even though the second CM had told me they were both set up since I asked fearing there would be issues after the initial locked out of the room problem. Again, no big deal as I just used the credit card we had on file. When we got back to the resort around 9 p.m., however, there were no CMs to be found. Apparently, they pack it in at some point during the evening hours. So, we had to either wait until the next morning or walk over to the main resort check-in desk. We opted to wait, and the first CM didn't show until 7:30 when we got the issue straightened out after another 20 minute session. Taken individually, none of these MagicBand or service issues were huge, but taken as a whole, they do represent a breakdown in service, especially at night when no CMs are available.
All that being said, my wife and I would definitely stay there again. It's normally just the two of us, so the studio configuration worked well enough for us, and we absolutely loved the furnishings (some of which have, indeed, begun to show a bit of wear), the solitude, and the view. The convenience factor was also enticing. I recommend this resort, just go into it knowing the possible limitations.
