Category — w. Most Recent Stuff

As the part of the great August 2014 Bay Lake Tour and meet and greet with Josh, I’ve stayed in both a newly-refurbed Studio and a newly refurbed One Bedroom Villa at the Villas at the Wilderness Lodge.

My report on the Studio is here. I’ll do a complete re-review of the Villas at the Wilderness Lodge in a few weeks, but here’s some quick observations on the One and Two Bedroom Villas that completed refurb in May 2014:

The wooden floors are lovely…

The stainless steel appliances modernize the feel without losing the rustic atmosphere…

Some of the furniture is retained, but there’s also new stuff–e.g. this easy chair.

The rooms overall are lighter and brighter, helped not a little bit by new curtains.

The new “Bambi” theming–at least in a One Bedroom Villa–is limited to this cute pillow.

More later when I do a complete re-review of the Wilderness Lodge.

Follow yourfirstvisit.net on Facebook or Google+ or Twitter or Pinterest!!

DISNEY WORLD NEXT WEEK: AUGUST 16 TO AUGUST 24, 2014

The material below details operating hours, Extra Magic Hours, parades, and fireworks.

The same stuff is in the image, but organized by park, not by topic.

For more on August 2014 at Walt Disney World, see this.

The biggest deal next week, of course, is the meet ups and book signings with me and Josh!

[Read more →]

(For the first page of this review of Disney’s Beach Club Villas, see this.)

THE MASTER BEDROOM AND BATH OF ONE AND TWO BEDROOM VILLAS AT DISNEY’S BEACH CLUB VILLAS

The bath and master bedroom of One and Two Bedroom Villas are off a brief hall near the entry to the villa.

First you pass the laundry.

Next is the part of the bath accessible from this hall, where you’ll find a sink and shower…

…and in its own space, a toilet.

This bath connects to a second space, which is also directly accessible from the master bedroom, with a sink…

…and a soaking tub. In the 2016 renovation of these spaces, this soaking tub replaced the old whirlpool bath that used to be here. The louvered shutters that used to be on the wall between the bath and the master bedroom are also gone.

This tub felt short to me, so I measured the dimension at the base (where one would plant one’s delicate bottom) and got it as 39 inches. This is 6 inches or so shorter than a standard tub not designed for soaking, but only an inch shorter than the tub in the master bedroom at the Villas at the Grand Floridian.

In the back of this second bath space is the closet. Those who miss the voyeur opportunities from the now-gone louvered shutters can hang here instead.

You enter the bedroom proper from either the hall or the bath.

It has on one side a king bed and a desk.

This side from the back of the room.

A closer view of the king bed.

Between the bed and bath wall you’ll find this bedside table with storage.

On the other side of the bed is this desk, also with storage

Lots of new power points were added as part of the refurb, including this one on the desk.

There’s a similar power point on the bedside table, and two more at either end of the dresser, on the other side of the room.

The dresser side of the room from the back.

A closer view of the easy chair.

The dresser has a big new flat-screen TV above, and lots of storage…

…and there’s more storage in the bench right next to it.

Follow yourfirstvisit.net on Facebook or Twitter or Pinterest!!

(For the first page of this review of Disney’s Beach Club Villas, see this.)

THE LIVING/DINING/KITCHEN AREA OF A BEACH CLUB VILLA

As in other Disney Vacation Club resorts, the living/dining/kitchen area of a Beach Club Villa is identical in both One and Two Bedroom Villas.

This area easily serves the four people a One Bedroom Villa (floor plan shown, a two bedroom floor plan is on the next page).

However, as with other DVC offerings of similar designs (Wilderness Lodge, BoardWalk Villas, and Saratoga Springs) the space is too small for the full eight or nine person capacity of Two Bedroom Villas–not enough dining or living seats.

At the entry you’ll find on one side this table…

…and on the other either a closet or (much more commonly) no closet but rather an entry door to a connecting Studio.

Past this entry area one side opens to this short hall to the bath and master bedroom…

…and the other side opens to the dining/living kitchen space.

A closer view of the table and sofa side of this room. Note the three bench seats.

There’s more chairs in the Villa you can move here (as I’ve done for this shot from the other side of the table), but the table barely will fit six.

Across is a fully-equipped small kitchen.

Another angle on the kitchen.

The refrigerator and stove.

The refrigerator, open. Every basic appliance, utensil and thingy you need to prep, cook and serve is here.

Deeper in the space is the living area.  One side has this couch…

…which folds out into a bed.  I measured this bed as 65 inches wide by 78 inches long, with a four inch cushion.

The coffee table in front of the couch has a couple of drawers…

…and a table between the couch and the balcony has a large but shallow drawer.

You’ll find a balcony or patio at the end of the space.

The other side of the room has a TV/dresser and easy chair.

This side from the back of the room. Between the couch and chair, this living room seats four, although of course you can turn the chairs around from the breakfast bar to add seating.

The dresser has plenty of storage for the two people this space is meant to sleep.

THE MASTER BEDROOM AND BATH OF ONE AND TWO BEDROOM VILLAS AT DISNEY’S BEACH CLUB VILLAS

This review continues here.
 

Follow yourfirstvisit.net on Facebook or Twitter or Pinterest!!

Last weekend I had a ball recording an interview with Kristen and Aljon of the WDW Tiki Room show on Sorcerer Radio.

In it we cover  a lot of ground, but the show is mostly about The easy Guide to Your First Walt Disney World Visit–the best-reviewed Disney World guidebook in the history of the universe.

The resulting show–perhaps edited to remove our fight about The Lion King–will be on tomorrow at 8 am and 7 pm Eastern on Sorcerer Radio – SRSounds.com.

And don’t forget to drop by Saturday or Sunday for the meet-up and signing!!

If you don’t know about Sorcerer Radio, you should–it’s the #1 Disney fan-run online radio station playing on LIVE365. Sorcerer Radio plays your favorite Disney park music 24 hours a day as well as seven hosted shows. Tune in to Sorcerer Radio at SRSounds.com or by downloading the Sorcerer Radio app.

WDW Tiki Room is one of the Sorcerer radio shows.  Hosts Kristen and Aljon discuss on Fridays at 8 am and 7 pm Eastern the Disney Parks, Disney movies, Marvel, Star Wars, ABC television, Disney news, travel deals and interviews.

The show is also joined by special correspondents Natalie Henley (Strategies for Saving for Disney), Steve Sanders (celebrity reporter), Dan Barnes (Disney pop culture), Mike (Disney Geek Report) and Ryan Kennedy (Bonus Levels).

Follow yourfirstvisit.net on Facebook or Google+ or Twitter or Pinterest!!

(For the first page of this review of Disney’s Beach Club Villas, see this.)

PHOTO TOUR OF A STUDIO AT DISNEY’S BEACH CLUB VILLAS

Studios at Disney’s Beach Club Villas, after their 2016 renovation, sleep five, on a queen bed, a fold-out sofa bed about the size of a full bed, and a flip-down bed about 75″ by 33″ that sleeps shorter than that.

You enter into a hall with the bath and closet on one side, and a kitchenette on the other.

The first item you’ll see is this hat rack. The door reflected in the mirror is the connecting door to a One Bedroom Villa.

The bath has this open sink area…

…tub and such in their own separate space…

…and, next to the sink, this closet.

A view inside the large closet–which, given the limited storage elsewhere in the room, would have benefited from shelving.

On the other side of the entry hall you’ll find this kitchenette. All Disney World deluxe rooms have a mini-fridge and coffee maker.  Studios add a toaster, microwave, and very basic utensils.

A closer view of these supplies…

…and of the mini-fridge.

Deeper in the room on one side you’ll find a queen bed and a couch.

The bed side from the back of the room.

A closer view of the queen bed.

Between the bed and sofa is this bedside table with two much-needed storage drawers.

As part of the 2016 refurb many power points were added–there’s some on the back of the bedside table.

Next on this side is a sofa and coffee table.

The coffee table has a couple of drawers, one on each long side.

Don’t load the drawers with anything heavy, though, as you need to move it to open the sofa bed. I measured the sofa bed as around full size–54″ by 78″, with a four inch cushion.

At the end on this side you’ll find your balcony or patio.

The other side of the room has a long object with a flat-screen TV above and a small table and chairs in front.

This side of the room from the back.

At either end of the long object is a set of two small drawers. That’s it for dresser storage, so many families will need to supplement these four drawers with the other drawers in the coffee table and bedside table noted above.

After you move the chairs, the third sleeping spot in the room folds down from the large object, disappearing the table.

When folded down, you find a bed I measured as 75″ by 33″ with a 3 inch cushion. It sleeps shorter than the 75 inches would imply, as wood framing makes toesies suffer on anyone much taller than 5′ 9″.

A closer view of the sleeping Donald revealed when the bed is folded down.

A shot from the entry hall with all the beds unfurled.

THE LIVING/DINING/KITCHEN AREA OF ONE AND TWO BEDROOM VILLAS AT DISNEY’S BEACH CLUB VILLAS

This review continues here.
 

Follow yourfirstvisit.net on Facebook or Twitter or Pinterest!!