Not ROFR thread - general discussion

[ClaraOswald]

It was a very good trip, although I have come away materially poorer than when I left!

We visited: Boardwalk, Beach Club, Yacht Club, Rivera, Grand Floridian, Polynesian, Wilderness Lodge, and Animal Kingdom Lodge.

We traveled by: Foot, Boat, Bus, Monorail, Skyliner, and Lyft.

Favorite ways to travel: Foot and Boat
Least Favorite Way: Skyliner

We ate at: BW Pizza Window, Via Napoli, Flying Fish, Brown Derby, Cake Bake (bakery and restaurant ), BW Club Lounge, BW Ice Cream, Walgu Grill (breakfast only), Pineapple Lanai, Narccoosse’s, Citricos, Gaspirilla Grill, Geyser Point, Tiffins, and Toppolinos.

We early entried, lighting lane multi and single passed, and we went to the after hours MK and HS events.

We got things delivered from water butler and door dash.

It was quite the trip.

Biggest takeaways:

1) The signature restaurants at WDW are quite good.
2) The resorts are fantastic.
3) The DVC rooms get worked hard.
4) The cast members in aggregate were absolutely top notch.
5) Most guests were in good spirits.
6) The parks are ridiculously capacity constrained and the line times for most attractions are miserable without a LL.
7) My family absolutely loved the Boardwalk and my wife was smitten with Grand Floridian.
8) Guardians Cosmic Rewind- Amazing!
9) Favorite Park= EPCOT

What do you mean the DVC rooms get worked hard?

I agree about the capacity issues at the WDW parks. It's so crazy that there are basically the same amount of attractions at DLR...but just in 2 parks.

Epcot is definitely the best park at WDW.

I think I would be smitten with the Grand Floridian too if I stayed there. I used to kind of hate the idea of it but it's grown on me. My husband still seems "meh" about it. So not sure if we'll ever try to stay there.

In second topic… yes… all of the WDW parks are in desperate need of additional guest capacity.

Attractions like Slinky Dog and Snow White’s are fun…. but as a Disneylander I don’t see why they should be more than 30ish minutes except for a lack of alternatives in those parks.

I suppose the good news is that they seem to acknowledge this and are building out additional capacity.

Of, I forgot to mention… my wife said that Guardians Cosmic Rewind is the best attraction she has been on in her entire life… so EPCOT remains by far our family’s favorite park.

I need to work up the courage to go on Cosmic Rewind one of these years.

All of us at team BCV would love to have you!

Realistically, I think they would be 45-60m waits at DLR, but no way should they be 120+, ever.

Your wife has good taste! It’s the main reason we scheme from LAX to MCO twice a year (we also love AK).

Agree with all of this— we’d do multiple LLSP for GOTG if Disney would sell it to us.

Yeah, alcohol is NOT your friend here. If you’re prone to motion sickness, save it for late in the day and take a motion sickness med (or Benadryl) about 45m before riding…so shortly before getting in line with LLSP or while getting in line standby.

I agree with this. It’s weird (trying not to give away spoilers) the first few times I rode I thought I would puke during the first 10 seconds and after time 4 or 5, I don’t feel nauseous at all, even though my trips are often separated by several months.

It was NOT the case before the change. It’s probably cut LL waits by 75% or more at WDW, I would say only by 30-50% at DLR… But I think the nature of DLR Makes surges in the lightning lanes more likely (often at least one or two major rides are down, distributing anytime LL passes, which can be used between parks).

If you can do space Mountain, you’re going to be just fine with the drops (Honestly, there aren’t many noticeable drops? Husband says far fewer than Space Mountain) but if you can’t do aliens or tea cups, you may hate it— There’s a decent amount of rotation, which is what many of us find so incredible. I don’t wanna discourage anyone from trying it, but if aliens is too much, it could ruin your day.

I have to disagree here. Half my family can’t do mission space, and I personally would rather skip it — But it’s given my son a huge interest in space and aerospace. Not every ride has to be for everyone and I think the ones that inspire people to learn about science and engineering are worth keeping, especially in EPCOT. They do offer a less intense mission that’s also charming (and less nauseating for me).

Agree on FoP— I’m also a bit of a curmudgeon about Pandora land generally— But it is beautiful. I would do the FoP ride with my kids occasionally if it was a walk on and free, but even with a LL it’s quite a time suck. I’d rather do Safari, Everest or Dinosaur a 2nd/3rd time. I love Tron, but find the ride vehicles for FoP moderately claustrophobic (I think you are in them a lot longer?).

I'm a massive curmudgeon about Pandora. I just thought it was so "blah" the first time I saw it. Then everyone said if I see it at night, I'll like it more. So we finally saw it at night in January.....and it's still really "blah" to me. I just don't get the appeal at all.

 

[ClaraOswald]

Random thought…I see a lot of folks with many home resorts. Which is awesome. But I wonder how many DVC visits they usually take per year, or are they always split staying?

Thinking of my own experience, where we don’t want to split stay, I think the right maximum number of resorts for us is either n or n + 1, where n is our number of DVC-based trips per year. You certainly can make n + 2 work with banking and borrowing, but it becomes messier potentially, and riskier (ie you may be more likely to lose points).

How do others think of this as a model for owning at multiple locations?

Edited for clarity.

Right now, we plan to go to WDW once a year, 2 years in a row. Then 1 year off.
So basically...
2024, 2025, 2027, 2028, 2030.

We only own at 1 WDW resort and will stay for 6 or 7 nights each trip. No desire to do split stays at all.

I would consider owning a 2nd resort (with small points) if we decided to go to the parks on that "off" year as well.

 

[AstroBlasters]

What do you mean the DVC rooms get worked hard?

I agree about the capacity issues at the WDW parks. It's so crazy that there are basically the same amount of attractions at DLR...but just in 2 parks.

Epcot is definitely the best park at WDW.

I think I would be smitten with the Grand Floridian too if I stayed there. I used to kind of hate the idea of it but it's grown on me. My husband still seems "meh" about it. So not sure if we'll ever try to stay there.



I need to work up the courage to go on Cosmic Rewind one of these years.



I'm a massive curmudgeon about Pandora. I just thought it was so "blah" the first time I saw it. Then everyone said if I see it at night, I'll like it more. So we finally saw it at night in January.....and it's still really "blah" to me. I just don't get the appeal at all.

The shower heads are really unacceptable, the furniture looks nice, but a bit beat up, appliances like washing machine and dishwasher are spotty….. it feels like people jam waaaay to many people into these rooms and the current 7/14 refresh cycle doesn’t fully account for it…..

 

[ClaraOswald]

The shower heads are really unacceptable, the furniture looks nice, but a bit beat up, appliances like washing machine and dishwasher are spotty….. it feels like people jam waaaay to many people into these rooms and the current 7/14 refresh cycle doesn’t fully account for it…..

That's a bummer. At WDW, we've just done BRV after the most recent refresh so our rooms weren't beat up yet.

 

[Brian Noble]

The shower heads are really unacceptable

A friend has a "good" shower head and a wrench in his owner's locker....

(And I mean a friend as in someone else, not "asking for a friend." I don't find them that awful.)

 

[AstroBlasters]

A friend has a "good" shower head and a wrench in his owner's locker....

(And I mean a friend as in someone else, not "asking for a friend." I don't find them that awful.)

That is hilarious. I might ponder doing that at Grand Cal just to get a handheld!

 

[disneylandtour]

That's a bummer. At WDW, we've just done BRV after the most recent refresh so our rooms weren't beat up yet.

I think I've stayed in every DVC at WDW in the last year and a half. Among those areas that seemed in really good shape were BWV, GFV, BLT, RIV, and of course the new Poly tower. Some of the roughest were SSR, OKW, and CCV, all of which have refurbs coming up. The others were in the middle. If it matters, at least from anecdotal experience, that's the breakdown.

 

[disneylandtour]

A friend has a "good" shower head and a wrench in his owner's locker....

(And I mean a friend as in someone else, not "asking for a friend." I don't find them that awful.)

The thing that is most often broken, I've found, is the nub at the end of the drawstring in the show to set up a drying line for bathing suits.

 

[kgou]

Some of the roughest were SSR, OKW, and CCV, all of which have refurbs coming up.

Bummer to hear about SSR, feels like the refurb was recent but I guess it was nearly 5 years ago now.

 

[JackosinDIS]

Bummer to hear about SSR, feels like the refurb was recent but I guess it was nearly 5 years ago now.

I stayed in a 2br 6 months ago and it was immaculate.

 

[stat]

I stayed in a 2br 6 months ago and it was immaculate.

Same. Surprised to hear about it being rough as I walked away amazed at how nice it was.

 

[AstroBlasters]

Ugh. Why are there a plenty of reasonable deals on BCV and none on BWV….

Update: Accepted offer on a BWV contract. Details to follow.

 

[PolyRob]

Agree on FoP— I’m also a bit of a curmudgeon about Pandora land generally— But it is beautiful. I would do the FoP ride with my kids occasionally if it was a walk on and free, but even with a LL it’s quite a time suck. I’d rather do Safari, Everest or Dinosaur a 2nd/3rd time. I love Tron, but find the ride vehicles for FoP moderately claustrophobic (I think you are in them a lot longer?).

Back in the FP+ days I would book FoP and my family would just skip it for other attractions because of how long it took. I don't think I could ever buy a LLSP for it

Agreed. The cave has always been this way for me. I half-suspect it is worse for me becaue my contacts only correct for distance vision, and I think the screen in FoP is relatively close, vs. the other 3D attrations where it is far away.

I still really enjoy it---the swooping-over-the-breaking-wave scene is worth the price of admission on its own.

And, in 100% fairness, the scene in Muppet Vision with just Waldo on the black background also doesn't quite render correctly for me.

I don't wear corrective lenses or glasses, but it could be! I just assumed the glasses didn't fit my face right and I was missing out on something everyone else experienced. Hearing other confirmations about blurriness makes me think I am not crazy.

 

[PolyRob]

The shower heads are really unacceptable, the furniture looks nice, but a bit beat up, appliances like washing machine and dishwasher are spotty….. it feels like people jam waaaay to many people into these rooms and the current 7/14 refresh cycle doesn’t fully account for it…..

The only thing OG VGF bathrooms got in the "7 year" soft refurb was new paint and TVs ripped out of the mirrors. It's crazy, but 14 years for a full refurb from opening day is Oct 2027!

I am scared seeing the progress on VGC and hope VGF gets a true remodel when it's time. You already see cuts like the removal of paneled Monogram refrigerators for Haier refrigerators. I guess it's something that they are still french door vs top freezer/bottom refrigerator. I think the only other WDW DVC 1-bedroom with that is the new tower at PVB and those are brand new.

 

[Sandisw]

It is a lot of fun if you are OK with the motion. We LL’d it 3x on our trip.

My oldest and I liked Tron…. my wife said the seat design makes her feel claustrophobic… so they went and got Orange Bird softies while my son and I rode it for a second time on our last day.

I am NOT a fan of 3d screen rides (exception for OG Star Tours). Remmy’s was a one and done for me…. Wasn’t big on Avatar FOP either…. it started off really fun, but then the screen got blurry and my brain started to get angry with me.

Just came back from a few days at Universal for a review and the rides at US were pretty much screen. Won’t go back again.

IOA is much better…and more traditional type of rides. Still, Disney wins hands down for us. But, I at least have the background I need!

 

[byurick]

I stayed in a 2br 6 months ago and it was immaculate.

Same.

 

[AstroBlasters]

Just came back from a few days at Universal for a review and the rides at US were pretty much screen. Won’t go back again.

IOA is much better…and more traditional type of rides. Still, Disney wins hands down for us. But, I at least have the background I need!

Yeah…. no bueno on the screen rides….

 

[Cfabar1]

The shower heads are really unacceptable, the furniture looks nice, but a bit beat up, appliances like washing machine and dishwasher are spotty….. it feels like people jam waaaay to many people into these rooms and the current 7/14 refresh cycle doesn’t fully account for it…..

Yes... they really need to do a couple of things:

1. As things get beat up/damaged, replace them immediately
2. They need to move more to ideally a 4/8 cycle for the refurbishments, or at least soft refurb every four years....

Yes, I realize my dues will go up.... Yes, I still think it is worth it.

 

[Cfabar1]

The only thing OG VGF bathrooms got in the "7 year" soft refurb was new paint and TVs ripped out of the mirrors. It's crazy, but 14 years for a full refurb from opening day is Oct 2027!

I am scared seeing the progress on VGC and hope VGF gets a true remodel when it's time. You already see cuts like the removal of paneled Monogram refrigerators for Haier refrigerators. I guess it's something that they are still french door vs top freezer/bottom refrigerator. I think the only other WDW DVC 1-bedroom with that is the new tower at PVB and those are brand new.

I'm still annoyed the TVs were ripped out!

I hope they don't slow walk renovating the VGF rooms...

 

[PolyRob]

I'm still annoyed the TVs were ripped out!

I hope they don't slow walk renovating the VGF rooms...

I am hopeful they stick with the timeline because the soft refurb was done pretty close to the determined schedule considering the shutdowns in 2020.

Resort studios being identical to cash rooms also makes me think they will 100% be refurbished on that schedule and they share materials across the buildings. The new hallway carpeting in all the buildings is the same material as the area rugs in the 1/2-bedrooms. I know they're on a different hard/soft schedule, but I can see them wanting to keep costs down by sharing as much as possible.