VWL Groupies & Lovers Thread (Special Collectors Edition 2.0) updated 14 June 2024

[ArielSRL]

Good luck ArielSRL! Hope the process goes quickly for you.

Thank you!

 

[jimmytammy]

Update: paperwork was sent off to Disney today so we are officially in the ROFR waiting game...

Oh and, as long as all goes well with the contract, we decided to forego our June 2018 beach trip and we will be doing a (mostly) resort only trip to explore our new (fingers crossed) home resort for 4 nights - we will do one MK day.

Thanks to everyone here for being so helpful. The resort does speak for itself, and we fell in love with it, which is why we chose it, however it will be nice to officially join the groupies in a couple/few months!

Just for the record, you love the Lodge, so you are automatically a groupie
Sending Moose Dust that the contract is yours, pronto!!

 

[ArielSRL]

Just for the record, you love the Lodge, so you are automatically a groupie
Sending Moose Dust that the contract is yours, pronto!!

Thank you!

 

[Granny]

Just for the record, you love the Lodge, so you are automatically a groupie
Sending Moose Dust that the contract is yours, pronto!!

​

Ariel...good luck with your contract!!

 

[Roxyfire]

Update: paperwork was sent off to Disney today so we are officially in the ROFR waiting game...

Oh and, as long as all goes well with the contract, we decided to forego our June 2018 beach trip and we will be doing a (mostly) resort only trip to explore our new (fingers crossed) home resort for 4 nights - we will do one MK day.

Thanks to everyone here for being so helpful. The resort does speak for itself, and we fell in love with it, which is why we chose it, however it will be nice to officially join the groupies in a couple/few months!

Congrats! I wish there was a good VWL contract when I was on the hunt. I will certainly envy those folks staying at the Lodge during the Christmas season

 

[sleepydog25]

Thursday was our last full day at the World, and we did FP Soarin', and though we had an FP for Spaceship Earth, the wait there was north of 15 minutes. We opted to go to Tutto Gusto Wine Cellar for lunch, instead. It was great, as usual, and we were the first people there. Sat on one of the low couches, got out of the heat, wined, and dined. Good stuff! We decided we'd had enough after nosing around the Showcase a while, and we went back to BLT where we'd checked in after four days at SSR. Water was a bit too warm, but we did manage to find a couple of lounge chairs under an umbrella. For dinner, we went ate in as I had some leftovers from a couple of restaurants, and Luv got a small flatbread pizza from Contempo. We watched the new fireworks show from TOWL, and to be blunt, didn't enjoy it nearly as much as Wishes.

Friday, we hit MK for a few more rides--BTMRR, HM, Buzz, and Mickey's Philharmagic--before heading back to BLT and checking out. Sad to leave, but we didn't have far to go since we drove over to Melbourne to see my eldest and her family. Fun catching up with them, and we drove back today. Happy to be home!

HIGHLIGHTS
- Artist Point
- Room at BLT
- Non-Disney restaurants (Bice, Morimoto, WP)
- Access to Disney Springs while at SSR
- RnR, BTMRR, Flight of the Avatar (or whatever it's called)
- The smell of the lobby at WL and sneak peek of a cabin

LOWLIGHTS
- Roaring Fork
- Oppressive heat and humidity--above average for both even for this time of year
- Rain (heavy) at dinner time every day but one
- Lack of freezer in mini fridge at SSR
- Lack of Adventureland and Frontierland being open on EMH day--only Tomorrowland and Fantasyland were open
- Rope drop procedure--too many stops

OBSERVATIONS
- The new Navi River Ride is lovely to take in. . .once. No real need to do it again anytime soon. As has been discussed on other threads, the narrative is muddled. Very creative but not terribly compelling.
- The avatar ride is thrilling!
- The night lights in Pandora, while pretty, aren't worth an extra trip to see when the park is filled as it was around the 4th.
- New landscaping at WL is well done. . .though I still feel the entire thing was unnecessary. Given that, they did a grand job, it appears.
- From the last cabin on the south side, 8026, you can step onto the old nature trail. Not sure if it still connects to main bike/walking path down the trail, but I think it might.
- It is a LONG haul from the outermost cabins to the main Lodge. Want coffee in the morning? Might be lukewarm by the time you get back.
- The new Soarin' is just okay. Not as much fun, too much CGI, and the images of the tall buildings, mountains, etc. are warped as they lean to your right quite a bit.
- Happily Ever After fireworks show is a disappointment--if you don't want to be among the hordes in MK, then you miss all the projections on Cindy's Castle. TOWL is no longer as good a spot to watch the show. Plus, the songs reflect the newer generation of songs and characters, thus giving less time to the classics. For example, no more Jiminy Cricket. Instead, we get a voice over from some stuffy man. The show doesn't build much momentum, just seems to be a bunch of explosions and projections (did I mention you can't see them from TOWL, Poly, CG, GF dock, etc.?
- Enjoyed the ambiance and room at Port Orleans French Quarter more than SSR. There, I said it. No haters, please. Didn't dislike SSR, but the decor was bland; the a/c didn't do well with the humidity; felt more like a standard hotel room than deluxe resort; only one side table for the bed (so, I had no place to put my glasses, cell phone, et. al.); drawers in bureau stuck a lot so were hard to open and hardware on two drawers were hanging loose--I'd tighten only to have the loose the next day; small TV that was set low on the bureau, so hard to watch over your feet; no freezer in fridge; landscaping is mostly grass. Again, SSR wasn't bad, but for us, and it's only our opinion, the studio set up didn't feel very deluxe. We did love the access to DS since we were in Congress Park. Also, didn't like the driving aspect. Signage isn't very good in that area, and we wound up retracing our steps in the vehicle since the roads were confusing. GPS would send us out one way and bring us by DS every time. Too disjointed.
- Overall Disney feel seems to be going the way of "new." We see less and less of Mickey and Minnie. The older characters and experiences are losing ground to Moana, Anna, Elsa, Rapunzel, Merida, et. al. They're fine characters, but I miss the old songs, the classic Disney feelings. I suspect in 20 more years, we'll barely recognize the songs and shows. Just consider the new fireworks show. It's clearly anecdotal, but I didn't see the sheer happiness when the newer songs and characters were around. Smiles, yes. Some "oh, cool" statements? Sure. But, when classic shows (trolley car singers/dancers) and songs came on, people would clap and dance and laugh. The newer stuff simply doesn't have the heart of the classics. Call me old, but that's how I feel. As Disney loses its bedrock, it becomes more and more commercial and less emotional. I think that's a shame.

That's all for now. Again, thanks for all the anniversary wishes from you great Groupies!

 

[ArielSRL]

View attachment 251368


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Ariel...good luck with your contract!!

Thank you!!

Congrats! I wish there was a good VWL contract when I was on the hunt. I will certainly envy those folks staying at the Lodge during the Christmas season

Thank you! Yes, that will have to be on my bucket list because as a teacher, it's hard to get any time off other than a day or two before the holiday.

 

[Starwind]

Are the fridges in the studios good and proper small fridges that can keep perishables [eg raw chicken, milk, leftovers] in the safe temperature zone and yet not turn them into a block of ice ?

We have had mixed luck with the fridges in the hotel side and wouldn't trust them with perishables, especially things like raw meats.

Thanks !

SW

 

[ArielSRL]

Are the fridges in the studios good and proper small fridges that can keep perishables [eg raw chicken, milk, leftovers] in the safe temperature zone and yet not turn them into a block of ice ?

We have had mixed luck with the fridges in the hotel side and wouldn't trust them with perishables, especially things like raw meats.

Thanks !

SW

Ours seemed fine in June. I will admit that we did not keep meats in there, but we had 2 half gallons of milk, water, soda, Gatorade, wine, sweets and they stayed cold yet did not freeze. I did have to adjust the temp though. At first I did not and the items were not getting cold.

 

[Starwind]

Ours seemed fine in June. I will admit that we did not keep meats in there, but we had 2 half gallons of milk, water, soda, Gatorade, wine, sweets and they stayed cold yet did not freeze. I did have to adjust the temp though. At first I did not and the items were not getting cold.

Thanks !

 

[jimmytammy]

Are the fridges in the studios good and proper small fridges that can keep perishables [eg raw chicken, milk, leftovers] in the safe temperature zone and yet not turn them into a block of ice ?

We have had mixed luck with the fridges in the hotel side and wouldn't trust them with perishables, especially things like raw meats.

Thanks !

SW

We had a good one at Kidani back in May. Kept everything at a good temp the whole time.

 

[Starwind]

We had a good one at Kidani back in May. Kept everything at a good temp the whole time.

Thanks ! Good to hear they seem to be good ones !

 

[jimmytammy]

- Overall Disney feel seems to be going the way of "new." We see less and less of Mickey and Minnie. The older characters and experiences are losing ground to Moana, Anna, Elsa, Rapunzel, Merida, et. al. They're fine characters, but I miss the old songs, the classic Disney feelings. I suspect in 20 more years, we'll barely recognize the songs and shows. Just consider the new fireworks show. It's clearly anecdotal, but I didn't see the sheer happiness when the newer songs and characters were around. Smiles, yes. Some "oh, cool" statements? Sure. But, when classic shows (trolley car singers/dancers) and songs came on, people would clap and dance and laugh. The newer stuff simply doesn't have the heart of the classics. Call me old, but that's how I feel. As Disney loses its bedrock, it becomes more and more commercial and less emotional. I think that's a shame.

Sleepy, I am there with you on the feel of the place changing. IMO, Disney is going back through some changes that came about a few yrs back. In reading books from guys like Marty Sklar and a few of the original Imagineers, its seems like they(the Company)has tried distancing themselves from Mickey and many of the classic characters and stories that put them on the map in the 1st place. And they always come back to them. I think they are just reacting to the times, Frozen, etc. that is driving the profits right now. Same thing happened when The Little Mermaid, Lion King and all those came along. Cash cows, and Mickey and the likes took a backseat

 

[sleepydog25]

Sleepy, I am there with you on the feel of the place changing. IMO, Disney is going back through some changes that came about a few yrs back. In reading books from guys like Marty Sklar and a few of the original Imagineers, its seems like they(the Company)has tried distancing themselves from Mickey and many of the classic characters and stories that put them on the map in the 1st place. And they always come back to them. I think they are just reacting to the times, Frozen, etc. that is driving the profits right now. Same thing happened when The Little Mermaid, Lion King and all those came along. Cash cows, and Mickey and the likes took a backseat

Likely so, JT, but I don't like it. I believe Disney underestimates the emotional heft of the classic characters which you don't get with the current crop. The latest trend brings you back a few years; emotional ties bring you back for decades.

 

[rkstocke5609]

Fix for no bedside table, I own one and love it...

https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/s//ref=mw_dp_a_s?ie=UTF8&k=Urban+Shelf

 

[bobbiwoz]

Are the fridges in the studios good and proper small fridges that can keep perishables [eg raw chicken, milk, leftovers] in the safe temperature zone and yet not turn them into a block of ice ?

We have had mixed luck with the fridges in the hotel side and wouldn't trust them with perishables, especially things like raw meats.

Thanks !

SW

Ours at BCV last week was fine. It did also have a little freezer.

 

[ElizabethCB]

Hi, groupies!

I have been watching the 3 br villas at Copper Creek since we are staying there in January. I've been meaning to post this and realized I'd better do it today!

Check this out. It looks like someone booked the 3br villa for 5 nights in February. They booked before the 7 month mark, so they must be CCV owners...of 575 points! (Or maybe half that, and they are borrowing from 2018?)

I'm a new owner, and we bought resale, so maybe I'm off here...just looked like a pretty big investment in CCV! I'm jealous, although that would wear off once I got the annual fee bill.

 

[sleepydog25]

Fix for no bedside table, I own one and love it...

https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/s//ref=mw_dp_a_s?ie=UTF8&k=Urban+Shelf

Hmmm. Interesting.

Hi, groupies!

I have been watching the 3 br villas at Copper Creek since we are staying there in January. I've been meaning to post this and realized I'd better do it today!

Check this out. It looks like someone booked the 3br villa for 5 nights in February. They booked before the 7 month mark, so they must be CCV owners...of 575 points! (Or maybe half that, and they are borrowing from 2018?)

I'm a new owner, and we bought resale, so maybe I'm off here...just looked like a pretty big investment in CCV! I'm jealous, although that would wear off once I got the annual fee bill.

Yeah, those GV suites cost more points than the cabins. The new CC points aren't inexpensive ($170 pp), and on top of that, the yearly fees started at $7.32 pp making them second only to VB, I believe. Thus, new owners at Copper Creek are making a substantial financial commitment.

 

[DiznyDi]

Good Morning Groupies!
DDad was on vacation last week - so I'm just getting caught up on the thread. I hope everyone enjoyed their 4th holiday celebrating with family and friends. We had both our moms with us for the day. Rich's mom will be 92 and mine will be 87. The weather was beautiful, the food plentiful and best of all, family was here.

I'm so sorry I missed your anniversary sleepy! Wishing you and luv a belated Happiest of Anniversaries! And to celebrate at the Lodge is spectacular! I appreciated reading your commentary.

Moose dust ArielSRL on your contract! I hope everything goes well and you'll soon have those points in your account for trip planning.

Do we have an update on the pup that was attacked? Our 4-footed family members can really pull at our heart strings.

Raining all day in Ohio today, and tomorrow too.

 

[Granny]

Raining all day in Ohio today, and tomorrow too.

Di...great hearing from you! Feel free to send us some of that rain. Looks like upper 90's again today and no rain for a couple of weeks now.

I'm a new owner, and we bought resale, so maybe I'm off here...just looked like a pretty big investment in CCV! I'm jealous, although that would wear off once I got the annual fee bill.

Elizabeth...If I haven't already said so, CONGRATULATIONS on your DVC ownership!