What was your sense of the resort being at full occupancy: 100-75%; 74-50%; 49-25; or less than 25%? If 50% or less, did it appear that management had attempted to fill certain buildings while leaving others closed?
Maybe 50 % ?
Just got back from WDW last night (7 night stay in 2-BR lockoff). The place was fully booked and will be for the rest of the month, according to the front desk folks (two people independently confirmed this). As others have mentioned, the restaurant, spas/hot tub, slides, workout facilities, Kids Club, etc. are closed. Also zero housekeeping, not even mid-week refresh. Pools were super busy but staff was good about the mask requirements (wear them when walking around, but not when sitting or in the pool). We rented cabanas on three different days and really recommend it. It's great to have a home base for the day and some shade. Also they come with a snack bag and waters. At the main pool, you can get food and drink service. The servers seemed to give the cabanas more attention.
I see a lot of empty lot with fence around it, but I have not actually seen or hear any construction going on for the past 3 days.
With Interval, they offer an option ($ 69 ?) whereby after you've got your exchange, you can re-trade up to 3 more times. For more details, limitations, Flex change considerations etc., go to the FAQs on Interval and/or read the Buyer's guide.
No, that's not true. You can exchange via II (with a discounted exchange fee, I think) with MVC properties, but there is no direct reserving of MVC properties.
I just checked - - ePlus is $59 (in the US). I generally buy it for every exchange. With the uncertainty with Covid, I think that it is wise. I "moved" a bunch of res's from last year into this year.
I do as well, often to "uptrade" after getting something I'm satisfied with, but always looking for something higher quality or with a better check-in date for my schedule.
Masking was common except in the pools or the golf course. The 2 hour protocol was not enforced at the quiet pool. Did not seen any new construction on the resort grounds but noticed a lot of residential units had been completed and others under construction along Country Club Road next to Manor Care.Thanks for the update, I didn’t know about the water park, that’s interesting. Hopefully none of the units will look out onto the water park. It does seem like they did a fantastic job of orienting the villa buildings so that all the views are of the golf course or pools.Brief report. We were at WDW the last two weeks of April. Thanks to all who answered our questions about what to expect. We declined the offer for an update Our traveling friends accepted and purchased a 4 day "encore" package, good for 2 years. The most significant bit of information confirmed (we saw a sign while there in January of 2020) was that the plans for a waterpark located between the resort and the Desert Willow Golf Clubhouse are proceeding. It seems crazy to us considering the water shortage in the area. It will certainly raise the noise level at the resort.
Weekends(FR-M) seemed near capacity while the balance of the weeks were less crowded. Several 100F plus days warmed the Quiet Pool.
The grounds were in excellent condition but we sensed that the residential staff was understaffed at this time.
We took a trip over to WMH to see "the wall" and look over the grounds of both the hotel and the Villas. The grounds were excellent but we did not ask to see the inside of a villa. The pool renovation was complete and looked good. About half the chairs were occupied which appeared to be true at the hotel pool also. The grounds seemed very quiet. We hope the the two companies can reach an agreement to allow access between the hotel/TS properties before we return next year.
My guess would be that buildings 2, 5 and 10( when completed) would have a view and be most affected.
