bapvoeller
Earning My Ears
- Joined
- Aug 26, 2006
We just got back from our first DVC trip. We spent 3 nights at SSR and 2 nights at VB. I have already posted a report on SSR. This is a report about our VB experiences. There are 3 of us (me, DW, and DD age 6).
Day1:
We left Disney on Wednesday May 30th heading to VB. We decided to follow the directions on the DVC page and take the Beeline to I-95. We were about to get on I-4 East when we noticed the traffic was backed up. I decided to take International drive up to the Beeline, but as we got close to I-drive the road was blocked by the police. We headed back toward I-4 and tried to go North, but they had all the roads blocked. We saw at least 100 police officers, a command center vehicle, and officers carrying automatic weapons. We figured something big must have happened. We found out after we got back home that the police tried to stop 3 people from breaking into a car and they got into a shot out. I believe a couple of officers were shot. One of the assailants, escaped and this is what caused the high security levels in this area. From the articles we read on the web, car break-ins in the Kissimmee area have become very common. This is another reason I am happy we bought DVC because of the security on Disney property. We finally got to the Beeline and made it to VB.
The check in at VB was real simple. There was no wait and our studio room was ready upon arrival. We were on the 2nd floor, and our room number was 1525 We found the room to be nice and clean. We thought the room was very nice for a beach room. We have found most beach rooms take more wear and tear than non-beach rooms. We liked the studio layout at SSR much better than the layout at VB. The VB layout was adequate but nothing great, and I think we will try for an Inn room next time. The balcony was nice and it had a small view of the ocean if you looked through the trees.
We headed to the beach after unpacking. We found the grounds at VB to be very nice. It was a quick walk to the beach or the pool from our room. Our first impression of the beach was that it was beautiful and isolated. We saw two sea turtles swimming in the surf. If you went about a 100 feet from where you entered the beach, you had the beach all to yourself.
Beach not very busy.
We decided to try and eat seafood off property that night. The Disney VB area is different than most other beach areas we have visited.. There werent many shops or food very close to the resort. We drove for at least 30 minutes looking for seafood restaurants with no luck. We found out the next day that the seafood places were about 8 miles north on Hwy 1. There is also a Wal-Mart in this area if you need something like boogey boards (like we did). We ended up getting pizza at Orchids next to the resort. We took it back to the room and ended up eating the pizza on our balcony. We thought the pizza was good, but there isnt much table or counter space in the studios which makes eating in the room a little difficult.
That night we did the campfire sing-a-long. We all had fun singing group songs and making smores. The smores were much better than any I have made at home. I guess Disney is even good at making smores. Before going to bed we decided to take a stroll on the beach at night. The walk was very peaceful and pleasant. Overall our first day was extremely good.
Campfire sing-a-long (Excuse the quality camera was on wrong mode)
Night time stroll on the beach
Day2
The next morning we went for another walk on the beach around 08:30. There were only a few people on the beach at this time. My DD enjoyed playing in the surf and picking up shells. We ended up walking for over an hour on the beach.. We saw several places where turtles had come up on the beach recently. At least they looked like turtle tracks to us.
Morning walk on Beach
DD picking up shells
Turtle Tracks
Protected Turtle Nest
After the walk on the beach, we then spent about 3 hours at the pool. DD loved the kids pirate ship and the water slide. There were chairs and tables available the whole time we were at the pool. We ate some food from the outside counter service by the pool. I had the turkey wrap, and it was edible is about all I could say about it. DW and DD shared a fruit and cottage cheese plate and they said it was ok. Some of the fruit was very good and others wasnt.
DD and me at top of Slide
DD on Pirate slide
DD and I decided we needed to go to Wal-Mart and get some boogie boards. This time I called the front desk and asked for directions. It is about 9 miles north on Hwy 1. We also found some seafood places in this area. I was looking for Squid Lips but couldnt find it. We ended up eating at the Hula Grill which we thought was really good. That night we did eat at Squid Lips, but we thought the food was just ok. We liked our lunch food at Hula Grill better.
We went back to the beach and boogie boarded until we were exhausted. DD and I had a great time. The ocean was very rough so after about and hour or so of being beat up I decided Id had enough. DD and I are looking forward to our next trip to do this again. We liked it so much we got up the next morning and went boogie boarding again before we left.
DD and Me Boogie Boarding
Overall we had an excellent trip. We are all looking forward to our next stay at VB, and we are planning on staying longer on our next trip.
Day1:
We left Disney on Wednesday May 30th heading to VB. We decided to follow the directions on the DVC page and take the Beeline to I-95. We were about to get on I-4 East when we noticed the traffic was backed up. I decided to take International drive up to the Beeline, but as we got close to I-drive the road was blocked by the police. We headed back toward I-4 and tried to go North, but they had all the roads blocked. We saw at least 100 police officers, a command center vehicle, and officers carrying automatic weapons. We figured something big must have happened. We found out after we got back home that the police tried to stop 3 people from breaking into a car and they got into a shot out. I believe a couple of officers were shot. One of the assailants, escaped and this is what caused the high security levels in this area. From the articles we read on the web, car break-ins in the Kissimmee area have become very common. This is another reason I am happy we bought DVC because of the security on Disney property. We finally got to the Beeline and made it to VB.
The check in at VB was real simple. There was no wait and our studio room was ready upon arrival. We were on the 2nd floor, and our room number was 1525 We found the room to be nice and clean. We thought the room was very nice for a beach room. We have found most beach rooms take more wear and tear than non-beach rooms. We liked the studio layout at SSR much better than the layout at VB. The VB layout was adequate but nothing great, and I think we will try for an Inn room next time. The balcony was nice and it had a small view of the ocean if you looked through the trees.
We headed to the beach after unpacking. We found the grounds at VB to be very nice. It was a quick walk to the beach or the pool from our room. Our first impression of the beach was that it was beautiful and isolated. We saw two sea turtles swimming in the surf. If you went about a 100 feet from where you entered the beach, you had the beach all to yourself.
Beach not very busy.
We decided to try and eat seafood off property that night. The Disney VB area is different than most other beach areas we have visited.. There werent many shops or food very close to the resort. We drove for at least 30 minutes looking for seafood restaurants with no luck. We found out the next day that the seafood places were about 8 miles north on Hwy 1. There is also a Wal-Mart in this area if you need something like boogey boards (like we did). We ended up getting pizza at Orchids next to the resort. We took it back to the room and ended up eating the pizza on our balcony. We thought the pizza was good, but there isnt much table or counter space in the studios which makes eating in the room a little difficult.
That night we did the campfire sing-a-long. We all had fun singing group songs and making smores. The smores were much better than any I have made at home. I guess Disney is even good at making smores. Before going to bed we decided to take a stroll on the beach at night. The walk was very peaceful and pleasant. Overall our first day was extremely good.
Campfire sing-a-long (Excuse the quality camera was on wrong mode)
Night time stroll on the beach
Day2
The next morning we went for another walk on the beach around 08:30. There were only a few people on the beach at this time. My DD enjoyed playing in the surf and picking up shells. We ended up walking for over an hour on the beach.. We saw several places where turtles had come up on the beach recently. At least they looked like turtle tracks to us.
Morning walk on Beach
DD picking up shells
Turtle Tracks
Protected Turtle Nest
After the walk on the beach, we then spent about 3 hours at the pool. DD loved the kids pirate ship and the water slide. There were chairs and tables available the whole time we were at the pool. We ate some food from the outside counter service by the pool. I had the turkey wrap, and it was edible is about all I could say about it. DW and DD shared a fruit and cottage cheese plate and they said it was ok. Some of the fruit was very good and others wasnt.
DD and me at top of Slide
DD on Pirate slide
DD and I decided we needed to go to Wal-Mart and get some boogie boards. This time I called the front desk and asked for directions. It is about 9 miles north on Hwy 1. We also found some seafood places in this area. I was looking for Squid Lips but couldnt find it. We ended up eating at the Hula Grill which we thought was really good. That night we did eat at Squid Lips, but we thought the food was just ok. We liked our lunch food at Hula Grill better.
We went back to the beach and boogie boarded until we were exhausted. DD and I had a great time. The ocean was very rough so after about and hour or so of being beat up I decided Id had enough. DD and I are looking forward to our next trip to do this again. We liked it so much we got up the next morning and went boogie boarding again before we left.
DD and Me Boogie Boarding
Overall we had an excellent trip. We are all looking forward to our next stay at VB, and we are planning on staying longer on our next trip.
