Linda Mac's Orlando Adventures

On September 16, 2008, Disney Vacation Club finally announced plans for the long-rumored Bay Lake Tower at the Contemporary Resort.

Bay Lake Tower Information Sheet and Photographs

The Bay Lake Tower Model is open at the DVC office at Saratoga Springs.

Here are photos of the Studio Model:

The layout of the studio (bedroom/living room) is a standard DVC floor plan except the kitchen has a twist to it. The kitchen area is no longer out in the open where you pass through it on the way to the living room. It is now set up like a butler's pantry or galley kitchen, long and narrow. The design is sleek and modern. The handle on far left of the photo is used to pull out the storage shelves. You will find the same thing in the 1-bedroom units only larger.

Here's the real twist to the newly designed kitchen area -- When looking in from the hallway, on the wall on your right is the kitchen (as shown above) but on the wall to your left is the bathroom vanity. It's in the same "room" as the kitchen. I could put an English Muffin in the toaster with one hand and brush my teeth with the other hand, all at the same. It is a little too close for me. Would it stop me from staying at the new resort. No way!

Let me just say, that most of my DVC stays are in studio units. So I am familar with many of the studio layouts at Walt Disney World. I have never found it odd that bathroom vanities are across from the studio kitchens because there is a walkway in between.

The shower/tub and toilet is in a seperate room when you first enter the studio.

The construction of the main pool at Caribbean Beach is progressing nicely.

Here's a photo taken today:

The Orlando weather was so picture perfect last weekend that I decided to visit the Caribbean Beach Resort to look for new updates (and get some exercise too). It is one of the prettiest resorts at Walt Disney World. But, as anyone who has stayed there will tell you, it is a large and spread out property.

So, with camera in hand, I set out to walk the entire property beginning at Old Port Royale. Unlike other Disney resorts where the check-in and luggage services are housed in the same building as the shops and restaurants, Caribbean Beach has them in two separate locations. Old Port Royale houses the gift shop, lobby concierge, counter service and full service dining. The Customs House is where you check-in, have lobby concierge, and luggage service.

My December blog has some photos of the renovations.

The last time I visited the resort in mid January, a new boardwalk had been completed and the rehab of the Old Port Royale feature pool had just started.

The new boardwalk begins near the Banana Cabana pool bar and winds around the pool area toward Trinidad North. Caribbean Beach is made up of several "villages", each named for a place in the Caribbean.

You can also access the bridge to Caribbean Cay (originally called Parrot Cay), a lush, tropical island which leads you to the Villages of Jamaica and Aruba as well as the promenade around the Barefoot Bay.

When the resort first opened, Caribbean Cay was bird sanctuary. Now, besides being the most direct route from Jamaica and Aruba to Old Port Royale, it's mainly used for recreational events like outdoor movie nights. It is also a great place to have an afternoon picnic or just relax in a hammock. I figured this was a good spot to start my resort trek.

Here are a few photos of Caribbean Cay.

It's time to leave Caribbean Cay and start my walk around the Barefoot Bay Promenade.

I headed into Jamaica to check on the temporary slide that was suppose to be at the village's leisure pool. Some folks still refer to these pools as quiet pools but they actually now called "leisure pools" by Disney.

Jamaica's slide still has not been installed. Currently, the only village pool that has a slide is Barbados. The first photo shows Building 45 in Jamaica and then a shot of Caribbean Cay from Jamaica's beach.

Next up, I'l make a brief stop for photos at Barbados and then on to the Old Port Royale Pool construction and the new boardwalk.

Construction at Disney's newest Vacation Club, Animal Kingdom Villas-Kidani Village is moving right along. The new resort will feature studio, one-bedroom, two-bedroom and grand villas units; a barbecue pavilion, basketball and shuffleboard courts, community hall, gift shop, fitness center, arcade, pool, tennis courts and special kids' play area, Uwanja Camp. Two new eateries are scheduled to be constructed too -- the full-service Sanaa (serving breakfast and dinner) and the pool bar, Maji.

The Animal Kingdom Villas -- Kidani Village will share an expanded Sunset Savanna with the Jambo House and will also have its own Savanna. It is hoped that a couple new animal/bird species will be on the new savanna.

A new boardwalk is currently under construction as part of the major refurbishment of the feature pool at Old Port Royale. The boardwalk construction began in October and should be completed prior to the pool closure. The pool will be closed between January 7, 2008 and mid-September 2008. Small, child-size, pool slides will be temporarily added to the pools at Villages of Jamaica and Barbados.

NOTE: These photos were taken just before MouseFest so the boardwalk part of the project maybe finished by now. I will be updating these construction pictures in the next few days.

Wilderness Back Trail Adventure is the newest Segway tour offered by Disney. As a first time Segway rider I was nervous that I wouldn't be coordinated enough to keep up the rest of our group. I put that negative thought aside since this is Disney and headed over to the day parking area at Fort Wilderness to meet my fellow "Segwayers," Deb Wills, two very special new friends, Masayo and Nozomi from Japan, and Mike Newell from MouseWorldRadio.com and WDWToday Podcast.

We were booked for the 8:30 a.m. tour. It should be noted that you will need your own transportation to Fort Wilderness day parking area for this tour. Allow an additional 20 minute to take the internal bus from the day parking lot to the settlement area. If you book the 11:00 a.m. tour, Disney transportation is available.

We made our way back to Mickey's Backyard BBQ Pavilion and received a friendly Disney welcome from a our Adventure Guides, Ron and Frank. After signing waivers, picking out helmets, a short but informative safety video and some verbal instructions from Ron, it was time to get started. Frank and Ron were amazingly patient, helping each of us individually to get on to the Segways. It was very simple, but it did take a few minutes to get used to being on top of two wheels totally controlled by your body's movement.

There were 10 people in our tour (the maximum) and 2 guides, so the one-on-one time was excellent when it came time actually stepping on to the Segway X2 Personal Transporters. These particular Segways are equipped with heavy duty tires to handle the terrain at Fort Wilderness where we were going "off roading". We practiced for 15 minutes making turns, going in between plastic cones and down a small incline.

The second hour of the 2 hour tour was spent exploring the trails around Fort Wilderness and Wilderness Lodge. Cameras are allowed on this tour but can not be used when you are on the Segway. There are a few photo opportunities so do bring a small camera with you. I really don't want to tell you exactly where we went because I think that would spoil a great part of the adventure. Sorry! I will tell that on one of the trails we encountered 2 or 3 deer only 15 feet away. That alone was worth the price of admission!!!!

I will give this tour an A+ for overall value, time on the Segway and the helpfulness of the our Adventure Guides, Ron and Frank, who really made the tour so enjoyable by sharing their knowledge of the resort and putting us all at ease riding the Segways.

Enjoy the photo gallery. At the bottom of the page you will find some facts about the tour to help you decide if it is for you and your family.

Photo Gallery of our Wilderness Back Trail Adventure on Saturday, October 27, 2007

Let the adventure begin as we made our way to Mickey's Backyard BBQ Pavilion

The special Segways were ready to go when we arrived.

Nozomi, Masayo and Deb Wills sign their waivers

Deb is showing off Masayo's Japanese Bear. This special little bear turns up in a lot of pictures I took this weekend.

Our fantastic adventure guides, Ron and Frank with Deb in the middle

Ron giving some final advice about riding our Segways. The pavilion where the safety lesson took place is right next to River Country.

Learning to Park. Trust me when I tell that dismounting properly is just as important as getting on the Segways the correct and safe way.

Ron giving us information about Fort Wilderness Resort and Campground

Nozomi during one of the photo opportunities

Halloween Decorations in the campground

How would you like to see this gang coming at you on Segways?

Cruising along the Trail.

Cinderella's Ponies

Deb Wills signing a copy of Open Mouse for Nozomi and Masayo after our Adventure

Happy Trails

Here are a few facts about the tour to help you decide if it is for you and your family. The Adventures tours may be booked for 8:30 a.m. or 11 a.m. on Tuesday, Friday and Saturday and last 2 hours. Segway Adventure Tours can consist of up to 10 people and meet at Mickey's Backyard BBQ Pavilion in Fort Wilderness Resort and Campground. The cost is $85 per person. 15% discounts are currently being offered to Passholders, DVC Members and Disney Visa Cardholders.

Guests wishing to participate in the tour must be at least 16 years of age and be accompanied by an adult if under the age of 18. You must weigh between 100 and 250 pounds to ride the Segways. Expectant mothers and guests with special needs may not participate due to safety reasons. Payment in full by credit card is required at time of booking. If you need to cancel your tour, you must do so at least 48 hours prior to the start of the tour to receive a full refund. Tours can be booked by calling 407-WDW-TOUR.

I spent a few days at All Star Sports earlier this week. The Surfboard Bay (feature pool) and Kiddie Pools are currently closed for refurbishment and are expected to open on October 5.

Buildings 1 and 6 in the Surf's Up section, where many rooms face the Surfboard Bay Pool are open but be warned there is alot of construction noise between the pool work and the rooms that are being rehabbed in Building 6. From what I was told, the guest rooms are being done in groups of 20 at a time instead of closing the entire building. Each building takes approximately a month to complete.

The room refurbishments will continue with Buildings 5, 4, 3, 2 and 1, in that order. Buildings 8 and 9 in the Homerun Hotel section and Building 7 in the Touchdown! section are completed. And finally when the work reaches Building 10, many of those rooms are currently scheduled to be converted to family suites.

The Surfboard Bay Pool is expected to reopen on October 5th

Due to the close proximity of the pool work to the smoking area between Staduim Hall and the Laundry Room, it has been been moved while the pool work continues. The temporary spot is located between Building 6 and the Team Spirits Pool Bar

These signs were all over the resort. Seemed to work on Friday and Saturday night when the resort was full

The All Star Sports Resort began rehabing their rooms a couple of months ago. So far both Buildings #8 and #9 in the Homerun Hotel section are completed. And Building 7 in the Touchdown! section.

Two double beds with the newly designed bedspeads which are different from the new ones at All Star Music

Dresser and TV

Table and Chairs. The chairs are also different from the new ones at All Star Music. Nicer in my opinion. Unlike Pop Century, the high speed internet connection is still located across the room on the nightstand. If you stretch the cord as far as possible, it will reach the table area but you take the risk of tripping over the it.

Bathroom with the old Mickey soap

Newly designed curtains

Donald Duck artwork

All Star Sports is the only resort still using the Mickey Mouse Soap. They are expected to change to the new H2O blue bottles and round white soap in next few weeks when the current supply is exhausted.

Afternoon view of the Grand Slam Pool with the rain coming in

Parking for the Homerun Hotel section was very convenient. Notice it is raining to the left but the sun is out in the distance

The Gland Slam Pool at sunrise

Sunrise view of the Gland Slam Pool from room 8356

This was something new I notice throughout the resort. Using the chairs to show off your plush collection.

Building 7 in the Touchdown! section

I guess not everyone knows about the dryers in the laundry rooms. LOL

Happy Labor Day!

I am spending the next few days at the Animal Kingdom Lodge Villas. Of all the new DVC units, I'm in a studio that is located right next door to where I stayed on opening day in July. Not that I am complaining but was just hoping for a different view to take photos from.

Today was Extra Magic Hour at Disney's Animal Kingdom. I decided to past on rushing over to the park once I walked out on the balcony around 7:15 am. Hope you enjoy the photos.

Note: The Sunset Savanna will be closed till mid September. I was told by an animal guide that the savanna will reopen when the animals learn to use the new barn. Each animal spends 2 hours a day in the barn for routine check-ups and supplements.

Breakfast time on Arusha Savanna. I would like to have that cast member's job.Reticulated Giraffes, Grant's Zebras, Ankile Cattle and an Eland were out this morning

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Thursday, August 2, 2007

Hello from a very dreary and wet Walt Disney World. I am staying on the 4th floor in the 60's section at Pop Century for the week. I rented a camera lens for the AllEars Southwest Adventure By Disney and was hoping to practice with it this week. Since I checked in on Tuesday, there has been lots of rain. We had a storm come through on Tuesday afternoon that had some of the darkest storm clouds, yesterday it rained from about 4 pm till almost 11 pm and it has been raining for most of today. Although the rain has recently let up, the sky is still full of storm clouds. It's late in the afternoon and that's about the time the regular showers start. So I am not holding out too much hope for sunny skies today. I wanted to share some photos from the last few days, some are with the new lens and some with old one.

Pop Century afternoon storm coming in on Tuesday. The clouds were much darker then they appear in the pictures. Except for cropping, these are untouched photos. Talk about having a dark cloud over your head!

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Construction continues on the mystery project at The Contemporary Resort. I heard the rumors it will be a vacation club or a family suites hotel. I have also heard that the next DVC resort to be announced will be at Disneyland. Hmmmm......

On a side note: There has been no work started on future Tempo Grab and Go on the 4th floor that was set to temporarly replace the food court earlier this week. A source tells me that the change will not take place for at least another month. We will have to wait and see.

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The bus lanes at the All Star Movies Resort are currently being repaved. Temporary bus stops have been set-up in a section of the check-in parking lot for Magic Kingdom and Epcot. Guests traveling to other locations can now catch their buses to the left of the luggage assistance area.

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I would like to share some of my pictures of the newly opened DVC Studio Room at Animal Kingdom Lodge Villas. Most of these photos are from Room 5419, located on the 5th floor on the Zebra Trail. My room looked out over the Arusha Rock Savanna.

Looking towards the balcony

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