Deb's Digest

We had a nice turnout for yesterday's meet at the Studios. Many folks just stopped by to say hello, grab a photo or two and headed back out. Several spent time chatting and having lunch together at the Backlot Express.

Special thanks to the lady that brought the Mardi Gras Beads from Port Orleans!
Thanks also to Matt Hochberg for being photographer!

Oh, if you are wondering why the photos have a blue tint to them, I forgot to change my light settings from Tungsten back to outdoors!

Jack Spence provided a great overall blog about Disney's Treehouse Villas.

I'll be providing a series of blogs about the Treehouse Villas.

This first blog beings a multi-part series on the accessable villas. Of the 60 Treehouse Villas, 4 are ADA compliant. These 4 are grouped in pairs, #7006 and #7007; #7047 and #7048.

These villas are unique in that each pair shares the main portion of the entrance ramp and then splits off at the top. There are no elevators in any of the villas. If the electricity went out, persons requiring an elevator would be unable to exit.

Each of the 2 villas has a handicapped designated parking space.

The ramp for each pair is rather long. I will first show a series of photographs and then a video so you have a good idea of what is involved.

This is the ramp for #7006 and #7007

Looking back at the ramp split to the other villa.

Here is the entrance ramp for villas #7047 and #7048:

In my previous blog, I explained about the entrance ramp to the Accessible Villas and how they are situated in "twos".

Now I'll show you photographs and video of villa #7047. These will concentrate on the areas that are different than the non-accessible villas.

Treehouse Accessible Villa #7047

Living Room, Kitchen.

Here is a video of the Living Room and Kitchen to go with the above photographs.

Master Bedroom with Master Bathroom

Here is a video of the Master Bedroom and Master Bathroom to go with the above photographs.

The Washer and Dryer location is identical. The difference is that the washer is front loading instead of top loading.

The 2nd bathroom has a lower tub entrance.

There will be at least 2 more Treehouse Villa blogs: Walking Tour of the Resort and Inside Photos from our Villa.

Here are some photographs and video of Treehouse Villa #7022. This villa was right next to the boat dock (which was extremely quiet).

Each Villa has a flight of steps to go up (even the accessible ones with ramps).

Once at the top you arrive to your wonderful deck and of course, the entrance to the villa itself.

As you open the entrance door, you walk into the central space of the Living Room and Kitchen.

When you stand at the entrance, look to your immediate right for a closet which contains the room safe, iron and ironing board. The room safe does NOT use a key, rather you can either enter a 4 digit code or use a credit card swipe.

Treehouse Villa Interior Tour Part 2

In my previous blog, we explored the entrance of the Treehouse Villa and the Living Room and Kitchen. Let's continue our tour.

If you continue straight back to the left of the villa you will enter the Master Bedroom and Master Bathroom.

The Master Bedroom is on the small size compared to other Disney Vacation Club Master Bedrooms. It is dimly lit, in fact, bring a flashlight with you to see in the closet at night. The windows are floor to ceiling, be sure to use the sheer curtain to allow the light in but screen out views from outside.

The desk in the Master Bedroom has the only direct Internet connection. This can be an issue if you have others in your family or group wanting to take advantage of the free Disney Vacation Club member internet access. We tried to stretch the internet cable into the living room to see if we could close the bedroom door, that didn't work well.

The Master Bathroom is quite large. Immediately on your left is the vanity with storage shelves. Unfortunately there is only one sink. I do like the small ledges on each side of the sink to place items.

Immediately on your right is a door which enters a small toilet area. There is a fan touch switch in this area.

One thing I did not like was the tile floor in the bathroom. While it looks wonderful the various sizes and height of the tile actually bothered the bottom of my feet. I would recommend flip flops especially in the shower.

A glass door welcomes you into the shower and tub area. There is a sitting area on the left between the entrance and the tub. Nice touch. The window here is frosted and the natural light was very nice.

There are 2 shower heads, one that is hand held and moveable; the other is a fancy "rain" shower head that is very high up. It takes a bit of time for the water to get through the pipes and out of either of the shower heads. I couldn't ever get the water temperature right for me on the tall shower head, plus, I couldn't reposition it. I ended up using the hand held shower head.

I didn't try the jacuzzi tub but it certainly looked inviting!

In my next blog, we'll tour the 2nd and 3rd bedroom as well as the 2nd bathroom.

We've explored the Living Room and Kitchen.

We've toured the Master Bedroom and Bathroom.

Here are the remaining rooms in the Treehouse Villa.

Standing back at the entrance, we are going to take a right. There is a hallway: on the left is the Washer and Dryer, straight ahead is the 2nd bathroom and to the right the 2nd and 3rd bedrooms.

Of the 2 remaining bedrooms, one is a double bed and one has bunk beds. All of the Treehouse Villa 3rd bedrooms are bunkbeds.

Here is the 2nd bedroom:

Next is the bunkbed room. This is a small room and definitely for 2 little ones. One nice addition to the room is a closet! We had a small adult sleep in here and they felt a bit claustrophobic in both the top and bottom bunk. There is a ladder to get to the top bunk. There is also a long list of cautions, dos, and don'ts about the bunk bed right next to the ladder.

There is a 2nd bathroom on this side of the villa.

Typical stacked washer and dryer that you'll find in the one and two bedroom DVC villas.

Each country in World Showcase has its own themed entertainment and the American Adventure is one of my favorites.

The Spirit of America Fife and Drum Corps usually plays outside the American Adventure pavillion Tuesdays - Saturdays. Be sure to check the Epcot times guide for exact days and times.

The show is about 15 minutes and features the colonial sounds of flutes and drums. Two of the songs you may hear them play are "God Bless America" and "Yankee Doodle Dandy".

The Fife and Drum Corps marches in from the left of the American Adventure pavilion (Liberty Inn side).

They position themselves between the American Gardens Theatre and the American Pavillion for the show.

There are 2 drummers, 2 flutists and the 5th member of the unit is the flag bearer.

Based on the information I found, the Spirit of America Fife and Drum Corp opened with Epcot Center and the American Adventure.

Video is taken with Flip Mino HD Camcorder! It is small, lightweight and easy to use.