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

[Granny]

Hi, apologies if this information is elsewhere, but I couldn't find it. Will be staying in a two-bedroom villa at Boulder Ridge in a few weeks. My understanding is that some of the rooms have 2 queens in the second bedroom, while others have a queen and a pull-out couch. Is there a list somewhere of the rooms that have the two queen beds? We'd like to request one of those if at all possible. Thank you.

As others have noted, dedicated 2BRs (two queens in second bedroom) should be designated on your reservation. If not, you would be getting a lock-off with the studio portion as the second bedroom.

The first page of this thread has the layout for Dedicated and Lockoff 2BRs for your information, and in this posting: VWL Room Map link


By my count there are 41 Dedicated 2BR and 47 Lock-off 2BRs. But if someone books a lock-off studio or lock-off 1BR, it takes that lock-off 2BR out of the reservation picture. In our many stays at VWL 2BRs, I'd say that we got a dedicated 2BR about 75% of the time.

Refurb or no refurb, all should be wary of rooms 1502 & 1503. These rooms were shoehorned in at the end of the hallway when you take a right out of the elevator. Excuse me for saying, but you really have to open either the hallway door or the slider to F**T. When the couch bed was opened up, you could not walk between it and the regular bed or the slider to get outside, and there was only a foot or so at the bottom of the bed to move around. It was fun, it was cozy, BUT IT WAS UNBELIEVABLY SMALL!

DDad...Those two villas are studios...sounds like they shoe-horned them into the corner of the first floor. For whatever reason, on the other floors there is a 1BR in the space of those two studios which should be much less cramped.

 

[twinklebug]

Refurb or no refurb, all should be wary of rooms 1502 & 1503. These rooms were shoehorned in at the end of the hallway when you take a right out of the elevator. Excuse me for saying, but you really have to open either the hallway door or the slider to F**T. When the couch bed was opened up, you could not walk between it and the regular bed or the slider to get outside, and there was only a foot or so at the bottom of the bed to move around. It was fun, it was cozy, BUT IT WAS UNBELIEVABLY SMALL!

Hey, 1502 is immortalized in my brain as the room with the black widow spinning her web on the patio chair. I remember that room well as it was also the first time my 12 year old son insisted he wanted to make a bed on the floor at the foot of the pull out sofa. It was tight, and darker than the other rooms we've had. What was nice was the exit door that was right there. Easy to get to the bus stop.

 

[Corinne]

Has anyone seen The Lion King yet? We very rarely go to the movies, but we did see TS 4 a few weeks ago, it was OK, but I could have waited to see it at home.

 

[Dizny Dad]

Has anyone seen The Lion King yet? We very rarely go to the movies, but we did see TS 4 a few weeks ago, it was OK, but I could have waited to see it at home.

Boy, talk about rarely going to the movies, the last time DiznyDi & I were at our local theater was in about 2002. We generally wait until they show up in the $3 bin at Walmart!

 

[sleepydog25]

We haven't seen hardly any of the new Disney remakes the past few years. They haven't been great. We saw CINDERELLA a few years back, and JUNGLE BOOK around the same time. We did enjoy the latter; the former was fine but just fine. We caught ALICE on DVD. Have not seen ALADDIN or DUMBO or LION KING. Sometimes, more is not better. Now, we do go see some movies that are best captured on the big screen: DUNKIRK, AVENGERS, et.al. As much as I love TS, I felt the end of #3 was perfect. We'll wait for TS4 to hit the small screen.

 

[Lakegirl]

We went to a Drive In theatre last night up in NH and saw Spider Man And Toy Story 4. I wanted to see Lion King instead of Spider-Man but my daughter said she would cry because the animals look really real. I read some reviews and it sounds like she maybe right so we moved the car for the second show. Drive-in was so fun. My daughter had never been to one but. I grew up with one in my hometown.

 

[KAT4DISNEY]

Has anyone seen The Lion King yet? We very rarely go to the movies, but we did see TS 4 a few weeks ago, it was OK, but I could have waited to see it at home.

Not yet and actually not certain I will. I loved the animated but I don't 100% love very real looking animals talking.....and dying. I did see the Jungle Book and enjoyed it but I couldn't say I enjoyed it more than the original. Kind of like Beauty and the Beast too. Absolutely didn't go see Dumbo. It never was my favorite although I liked Dumbo himself and it was the 3rd plush toy I ever got at Disney ages and ages ago.

 

[twinklebug]

Boy, talk about rarely going to the movies, the last time DiznyDi & I were at our local theater was in about 2002. We generally wait until they show up in the $3 bin at Walmart!

Many movies hit those bins surprisingly fast after release. I just wait for them to come to Netflix, of course with Disney building out Disney+ streaming service, that will change.
Last movie I saw in a theater... it was either Monsters University or the Hobbit - the Desolation of Smaug. Both in 3D, but I felt like only Disney used the tech right.

 

[twokats]

twokats, we are expecting thunderstorms as relief today, too!

Our cool front got us in the lower 90's for a couple of days, but so far no rain.

 

[ErinC]

DD 19 and I went to see Lion King today. We thought it was really good. We've seen Aladdin this summer, and Toy Story 4. I loved Aladdin and Lion King, TS 4 was probably my least favorite in that series. I'm a happy endings girl though, and TS4 didn't give that to me.

 

[Lakegirl]

DD 19 and I went to see Lion King today. We thought it was really good. We've seen Aladdin this summer, and Toy Story 4. I loved Aladdin and Lion King, TS 4 was probably my least favorite in that series. I'm a happy endings girl though, and TS4 didn't give that to me.

I agree TS4 did not have a great ending. We also saw Aladdin and thought it was great. My DD actually saw it twice.

 

[Crabby_Dan]

Toy Story 4 is a good movie, for the most part, but the ending soured the whole movie ( and the Toy Story franchise, in my opinion.) At this point I wish they never made a Toy Story 4. Of course, I can just imagine the Toy Story sequels that were opened up by Toy Story 4.

 

[Corinne]

We went to a Drive In theatre last night up in NH and saw Spider Man And Toy Story 4. I wanted to see Lion King instead of Spider-Man but my daughter said she would cry because the animals look really real. I read some reviews and it sounds like she maybe right so we moved the car for the second show. Drive-in was so fun. My daughter had never been to one but. I grew up with one in my hometown.

Drive ins ARE fun! Sounds so great! There are so few left....where in NH is the drive in?

 

[Corinne]

Toy Story 4 is a good movie, for the most part, but the ending soured the whole movie ( and the Toy Story franchise, in my opinion.) At this point I wish they never made a Toy Story 4. Of course, I can just imagine the Toy Story sequels that were opened up by Toy Story 4.

I really didn’t love TS4.

 

[sleepydog25]

Morning, Groupies! On a good note, it's pretty here and should be for the weekend. On a not so good note, I'm another weekend closer to the start of school. I'm in a race to finish painting the deck by the time we start. Still have roughly two weeks. We'll see. The deck is large (over 850 sq ft) and older so the boards aren't all smooth and easy to paint. Lots of small cracks, knots, and just a general tendency to soak up a lot of paint.

In Lodge-ish news, I read with a great deal of envy that the new retirement home--er, Reflections--appears to include a traditional sit down restaurant that will sit on the water. If so, why oh why, did Disney opt NOT to do that at the Lodge? Two DVC properties and still a deluxe category (I could argue the merits of that, though), yet no place for a nice, sit down, non-character, non-all-you-care-to-eat place that doesn't sit in a bar. Sigh. I'm frustrated by Disney's seeming lack of love for our beloved home away from home. If this new place at Reflections does happen, and it's halfway decent, Luv and I will be taking our money there and away from the Lodge.

Have a wonderful weekend, people!

 

[PeterPanFan123]

Good morning fellow VWL groupies! I get excited when I see availability at VWL, even if it's not the days I need! So in case anyone is interested in Christmas week 2019, looks like as of this writing, there's availability in a studio!

 

[bobbiwoz]

We are doing a West Bound Trans Atlantic in September, and with 5 days at sea, I am looking forward to catching up on Disney Movies. We did see and enjoy Aladdin.

The only one I am not sure I want to see is Dumbo. I am ready to enjoy The Lion King, Toy Story 4, Penguins, and that Avengers movie. If they feature any of the Star Wars Movies, that would be great.

 

[jimmytammy]

I used to take the kids(they are young adults now)to every new Disney movie that came out. We don't go anymore, very seldom do I frequent the theaters for that matter. People on their cell phones, having conversations amongst themselves whilst the movie is playing, etc. has driven me away long ago.

We built a 2 car garage for Caseys mustang and his 83 Monte Carlo rebuild(he has a lot tied up in that last one)so while we were doing so, we decided to add on that home theater Tammy and I dreamed about ever since we saw one at Epcot many a year ago. Does anyone remember that, located at one of the Innoventions? We walked out of there amazed and for years said we are going to build one someday in our home. And its got a WLish theme to it! Dark green throughout, wall sconce lights that harken back to some familiar ones before the refurb(s) that dim. Cherry cabinets that Casey and I built that incorporate the screen and will eventually house many mementoes from past WDW trips are the focal point of the room. And behind our seating area we put a cherry wood wet bar in with a couple items from Rose n Crown to keep in the WDW spirit.

So we wait til the DVDs from this summers Disney movies are released then we watch, over and over if we like.

 

[KAT4DISNEY]

In Lodge-ish news, I read with a great deal of envy that the new retirement home--er, Reflections--appears to include a traditional sit down restaurant that will sit on the water. If so, why oh why, did Disney opt NOT to do that at the Lodge? Two DVC properties and still a deluxe category (I could argue the merits of that, though), yet no place for a nice, sit down, non-character, non-all-you-care-to-eat place that doesn't sit in a bar. Sigh. I'm frustrated by Disney's seeming lack of love for our beloved home away from home. If this new place at Reflections does happen, and it's halfway decent, Luv and I will be taking our money there and away from the Lodge.

Have a wonderful weekend, people!

Exactly the same question/thoughts I had whenI read about that Sleepy.

 

[Granny]

Has anyone seen The Lion King yet? We very rarely go to the movies, but we did see TS 4 a few weeks ago, it was OK, but I could have waited to see it at home.

We haven't seen it yet (nor TS 4 either). I'm sure Lion King is very well done, but I imagine it will basically be like the other live action rehashes of Disney classic animated movies. They must be running out of them by now...what's left? Maybe Little Mermaid?

It seems like Malificent is the only one that came with a whole new story. Probably no coincidence that it is the one that will have a sequel.