VWL/Eastern Fantasy Cruise/AKV CL all wrapped into a fabulous b-day trip - Complete

I love all the photos from around the hotel. It's nice to see somebody in the villa pool. I have only been there once during the day, but Graham has been there a few times and said that the pool was always empty. The geyser is worth hanging around for. The cookies look delicious. I think I have to check out if they do them at the new Ghirardelli store at Disney California Adventure, too.

Corinna

Thanks :) The hotel and grounds were just gorgeous. We kept oooing and awwwing the whole time we were walking around. We talked to a guy who had just gotten out of the pool. He said the water was fantastic but it was painful getting out because the air felt so cold. It was late in the afternoon so the pool was mostly covered in shade. I wanted to see the geyser but was just too impatient to wait around. Those cookies are definitely worth trying. I preferred the chocolate chip and mom prefered the chocolate toffee. I'll have to try the white chocolate macademia nut at some point in the future, for research sake :rotfl:
 
Love the WL pictures! That's the next hotel that I check into at WDW, so I'm enjoying the preview. When we stayed there in 1997, we had a Jr. Suite and a partial view of the geyser. I would sit out on the balcony and watch it go off when we were in the room.

Maybe I'll get to the DCA Ghiradelli soon for "research" on those cookies! We already need to get out there and do a "taste test" on the vegetarian version vs the regular Monte Cristo! :rotfl:
 
Yay! You've begun! Can't wait to relive it along with you.

Thanks for the VWL photos. We were there for two days after the cruise and spent a lot of time in the pool -- it was surprisingly warm. We really love that resort a lot.

And the Earl of Sandwich is on our list for the August trip. We're starting with a mother-daughter few days at Old Key West, so will be dining at Downtown Disney for a few nights. Now we have to add those chocolate chip cookies too!
 
I guess your camera only has Auto Focus? Next time, try and focus on the branch closest to the bird and them move the focus box on top of the bird. Hope that makes sense.

Anyway, love the photos of the lodge and of the cookies....
 
Joining in. We are taking a 7 day Eastern on the Fantasy this summer, so I can't wait to see your photos!

 
Joining in. Love the pics of WLV, we haven't had the chance to stay there yet - but it is on our to do list.
 
Love the WLV/H pics. My friend had her wedding photos taken on the grounds- simply gorgeous.
 
Love the WL pictures! That's the next hotel that I check into at WDW, so I'm enjoying the preview. When we stayed there in 1997, we had a Jr. Suite and a partial view of the geyser. I would sit out on the balcony and watch it go off when we were in the room.

Maybe I'll get to the DCA Ghiradelli soon for "research" on those cookies! We already need to get out there and do a "taste test" on the vegetarian version vs the regular Monte Cristo! :rotfl:

It really is such a unique and beautiful resort. I'll have to scope out the geyser on the next trip.

Yes, a research trip to the cookies is a must popcorn::
 
Yay! You've begun! Can't wait to relive it along with you.

Thanks for the VWL photos. We were there for two days after the cruise and spent a lot of time in the pool -- it was surprisingly warm. We really love that resort a lot.

And the Earl of Sandwich is on our list for the August trip. We're starting with a mother-daughter few days at Old Key West, so will be dining at Downtown Disney for a few nights. Now we have to add those chocolate chip cookies too!

Thanks for joining me :) It was such a great trip, can't wait to tell everyone about it. I was surprised how much we liked the WL.

Oh I loved Old Key West. I stayed there for the first time last December and it was so relaxing. Yes, please try the cookies, they were fantastic!
 
I guess your camera only has Auto Focus? Next time, try and focus on the branch closest to the bird and them move the focus box on top of the bird. Hope that makes sense.

Anyway, love the photos of the lodge and of the cookies....

Thanks so much. I just had the camera on autofocus. I'll have to remember that next time.
 
Joining in. Love the pics of WLV, we haven't had the chance to stay there yet - but it is on our to do list.

Welcome! Thank you :) It's definitely worthy of a stay. That's one of the fabulous things about WDW, there's always some place else to discover.
 
Sounds like a great trip so far! We own at VWL, so naturally are in love with the theming, the beauty, and the comparative serenity of the resort compared to others. Glad you enjoyed our home! As for the geyser, it goes off every hour not 15 minutes, so you might have had to wait around awhile, and then you'd have missed that perfectly-timed DTD bus! Enjoy your cruise. :thumbsup2
 
I left off with us heading to the movies. We went to see Jack the Giant Slayer and really enjoyed it. It was a bit macabre so I wanted a lighter ending to the evening. I had a plan to pick up a nice Disney movie at the resort when we got back. Well that took quite a bit longer than it should have because I took us the wrong way when we left the movies. I had us quite lost and finally thought of my Disney app which has a map of DTD. We had gone completely in the wrong direction and were actually quite close to the bus stops when we were at the theater. Oh well, we burned off a few calories from the cookies. When we finally made it to the bus stop there was a bus at the stop. What wonderful Disney magic! We made it back to the resort around 10:00 and stopped in the gift shop to rent a movie. We ended up getting Alice in Wonderland which isnt really a light movie but mom has never seen it so I thought it might be a good time.

I love this bridge in the lobby

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Back to the room by 10:20 but we didnt make it through much of the movie before falling asleep. Ill have to get her to watch Alice in Wonderland another time.

Day 2:

Mom woke up at 6:30 and I drug myself out of bed at 7:00. We were taking Disney transportation to the port and we had to have the bags ready to be picked up by 8:00. Bell services called to make sure they were ready which I thought was a nice touch. We stayed in the room only a little longer, maybe until 8:30 and then we headed out. We wanted to do the nature walk before heading off to the cruise. Mom wanted a cup of coffee so we headed to Roaring Fork, of course I took pictures on the way.

Inside the villas

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I had missed getting this earlier.

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Now were in the main lodge. The bridge in the day time

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I thought this was so cool

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Walking down to the restaurant

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This place might be my only negative about this resort. It is so small! And the layout is just plain bizarre. They have people order their hot food and then instead of going to pay for it and wait for it to be made, they have them carry it all the way through line. There's no way anyone's eggs are still hot by the time they get to eat them. I only got a cheese Danish and mom had a coffee.

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I think shes getting ready to take a picture

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Not sure of what though

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Proof of our purchases

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At that point we headed off to find the nature trail. There were no signs that we could find but we had seen it on a map earlier so we knew the general direction it should be. I ended up asking someone at the bike rental place and we were actually right next to it. Again, no sign saying 'Here is the Nature Trail' just a dingy looking pathway off to forest. I just wanted to know I was in the right place.

Up next, our Nature Trail Adventure.
 
Sounds like a great trip so far! We own at VWL, so naturally are in love with the theming, the beauty, and the comparative serenity of the resort compared to others. Glad you enjoyed our home! As for the geyser, it goes off every hour not 15 minutes, so you might have had to wait around awhile, and then you'd have missed that perfectly-timed DTD bus! Enjoy your cruise. :thumbsup2

That's good to know, thanks :) I would have been waiting and waiting! It still amazes me how each resort is so unique. I own at AKV so I figured I'd enjoy VWL but was pleasantly surprised how peaceful it was. The only other time we had been there was to have lunch at Whispering Canyon Cafe and we hadn't seen any of the grounds. We'll definitely be back in the future for a longer visit.
 
The lodge is beautiful... We have never been there, but I want to do a resort only visit, and just go from resort to resort and check them all out... This one is top of my list...
 
That's good to know, thanks :) I would have been waiting and waiting! It still amazes me how each resort is so unique. I own at AKV so I figured I'd enjoy VWL but was pleasantly surprised how peaceful it was. The only other time we had been there was to have lunch at Whispering Canyon Cafe and we hadn't seen any of the grounds. We'll definitely be back in the future for a longer visit.
We love AKL, too, and as you probably know, the same architect designed both. The nature trail isn't marked but is a great way to relax or to vary your path as you head over to FW. :-)
 
The lodge is beautiful... We have never been there, but I want to do a resort only visit, and just go from resort to resort and check them all out... This one is top of my list...

WL is definitely worthy of a visit. I was really surprised how beautiful and relaxing it was.
 

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