VWL Groupies & Lovers Thread (Special Collectors Edition 2.0) updated 21 June 2023

[jimmytammy]

Did anyone see the live walking tour of our beloved Lodge tonight with Lou Mongello?
He had wonderful shots of the sun going down over Bay Lake as the boats were going by

 

[bluecastle]

Did anyone see the live walking tour of our beloved Lodge tonight with Lou Mongello?
He had wonderful shots of the sun going down over Bay Lake as the boats were going by

Where would I find that?

 

[jimmytammy]

Where would I find that?

Here ya go!

I got to meet Lou once as he was coming out of Epcot. Great guy who absolutely loves WDW.

 

[ClaraOswald]

Well, Southwest released flights for January so I booked OMA to MCO for late January! Still haven't booked our room though because we are waiting for our new contract to close. Just signed closing documents yesterday so it will be a while. Hopefully rooms will still be available when my points finally arrive!

 

[bluecastle]

Here ya go!

I got to meet Lou once as he was coming out of Epcot. Great guy who absolutely loves WDW.

Thank you! The sunset is so beautiful! I watched it on my TV and enjoyed it so much. I loved that The Big Country was playing as he walked into the villas. Thanks!!

 

[Corinne]

@bluecastle sorry to hear about your losses it’s always hard to,lose our parents, even when they lived long lives - hugs.

 

[Corinne]

We had such a great stay, the weather was warm and delicious. We went to Moonlight Magic at AK on our last evening, the moon was full and it was just beautiful! Our very first Moonlight Magic was also at the AK years ago, it was chaotic to say the least! What a difference this experience was! Really could not say anything bad except (my own fault) I didn’t realize Kilimanjaro safari would not be running so we should have headed over earlier to experience it. A+ DVC!

 

[Granny]

We arrived in Orlando earlier today for a one week trip, staying at VWL. I think my brain is fading a bit as we realized at MCO that I hadn’t received a text from Owners Locker that our locker was delivered. I checked online and sure enough, I forgot to book the OL delivery for this trip. I called them and they said that the drivers were all out and probably couldn’t get my locker to us until tomorrow. They then said that we could swing by and pick it up from their warehouse on the way to WDW. So I learned how to set up a multi-stop Uber request!

We had to wait until about 3:30 for our room to be ready, which meant we were forced to hangout in Geyser Point for a couple of hours in beautiful weather, with a great view of Bay Lake. We managed to handle that assignment well.

We got our room, 5524 which is a dedicated 1BR on the bus side of the resort. It is probably one of my least favorite room assignments we’ve had a VWL, but it is fine for our needs. Because it is 5th floor, the lobby atrium was walled off and the rooms have dormers and no Murphy bed in the living room…just the regular sleeper/sofas. Again, that’s no big deal. The balcony has the solid walls which I don’t care for, and the villa is close to the covered walkway. We are high enough up that we shouldn’t be bothered by luggage and cart traffic on the walkway.

The kitchen only has one drawer with the contents of the second drawer in a box on a shelf in a cabinet. The dishwasher door won’t close all the way which makes it hard to open the one drawer that they do have.

The master closet is really strange with a weird angle and not a lot of room. Again, no big deal on any of this, but we always share the good, bad and the ugly on our trips. I’ll share some photos once I get settled in. Like I said, not my favorite villa.

But we are so happy to be here at VWL, and are looking forward to a nice week.

 

[jimmytammy]

We had to wait until about 3:30 for our room to be ready, which meant we were forced to hangout in Geyser Point for a couple of hours in beautiful weather, with a great view of Bay Lake. We managed to handle that assignment well.

Granny, you had me at hanging out at GP

 

[Granny]

So here’s some photos of room 5524.

The view from the room:



I had thought that the dishwasher didn’t close properly which caused the blocking of the drawer in the kitchen, but then I realized the dishwasher is closed just fine. Unfortunately we can only open the drawer with the flatware to the point in this picture before it rubs on the dishwasher handle.



And what should have been in the missing second drawer was in a container in the cabinet. Just strange.

 

[Granny]

Here’s a picture of the walk in closet. It’s hard to tell, but it is small and angled away from the front.



It’s just a weird configuration. There are only a few inches on each side of the door of closet space not visible here. For the two of us, no big deal. And there is a lot of hanging space in the front hallway closet had we needed more.

 

[ClaraOswald]

I really, really hope we never end up on the top floor. Did you put in any room requests beforehand?

 

[bluecastle]

Granny: thanks for your warning about the utensil drawer and the dishwasher. Looks like when they replaced the DW with a newer model with the buttons on top they didn’t account for the size difference. I think I would probably try to get out all the utensils we might use and put them in a mug or something on the counter.
Hope all the wonderful things outweigh the configuration and balcony issues!

 

[Granny]

I saw the thing about outside refurbishment. I wonder what kind of work they are going to be doing exactly. We'll be there in January (hopefully) so I suppose there's a chance it could take longer than they think.

There is definitely outside refurbishment going on.

Here’s a vehicle parked in the front yard for the weekend.




It looks like they are power washing and painting during the day. We got a message last night that guests should not leave anything out on the balconies.

 

[Granny]

I really, really hope we never end up on the top floor. Did you put in any room requests beforehand?

We always request lake side (odd number room), upper floor. I think this is the third time in a row we have gotten the fifth floor.

My current theory is that a lot of DVCers are avoiding the fifth floor primarily because of the sleeper sofa situation…they really want/like the Murphy bed.

It’s not a bad room and we are not unhappy. It’s just got a lot of quirks that I find unusual. But the weather today was gorgeous and we enjoyed strolling around EPCOT taking in the sights of the F & G festival.

 

[Granny]

Granny: thanks for your warning about the utensil drawer and the dishwasher. Looks like when they replaced the DW with a newer model with the buttons on top they didn’t account for the size difference. I think I would probably try to get out all the utensils we might use and put them in a mug or something on the counter.
Hope all the wonderful things outweigh the configuration and balcony issues!

I think it is just a room with some strange dimensions. We've stayed in 3 other villas since the refurb and none of them had this issue with the drawer and the dishwasher. I agree that the new dishwasher probably sticks out an inch more than the old one. Rather than redoing the cabinets for this one unit, I guess they figured it was no big deal.

I did get the drawer open enough to slide the flatware tray out and it is now sitting on the counter. So we’re done with that issue.

And all the wonderful things definitely outweigh these quirks. The lobby, the music and ambiance are still what we love about this place. And the CMs have been as friendly as can be. It’s been another magical trip so far.

 

[CarolynFH]

I did get the drawer open enough to slide the flatware tray out and it is now sitting on the counter.

Does the drawer come all the way out when the DW door is fully open? If not, how did you get the drawer open?