UPDATE: Vero Beach Renovations

[Ed]

Renovations have been completed on the 2nd and 3rd floors of the Inn and work is beginning now on the 4th floor. Villas have not been renovated yet, but all work is supposed to be completed "in the summer of 2016". I've seen some photos of the renovated Inn rooms and they are very nice. The blue and orangish tiles are gone, and the rooms are much brighter. Guests are presently occupying the 3rd floor rooms, and will be occupying the 2nd floor this week. :mickey:

[Mushu11756]

Renovations have been completed on the 2nd and 3rd floors of the Inn and work is beginning now on the 4th floor. Villas have not been renovated yet, but all work is supposed to be completed "in the summer of 2016". I've seen some photos of the renovated Inn rooms and they are very nice. The blue and orangish tiles are gone, and the rooms are much brighter. Guests are presently occupying the 3rd floor rooms, and will be occupying the 2nd floor this week. :mickey:
Are there pictures on line yet , would love to see. We will be there in 36 more days . We have a inn room I'm hoping they will be finished and we get a remolded room:mickey:

[Ed]

If you're on Facebook, check out the page named "Disney's Vero Beach Resort Rocks". There are a lot of pictures there. The second and third floors of the Inn have been completed and work on the fourth floor will begin right after Easter/Spring Break.

[Ed]

UPDATE 4-15-16: Confirmed by CMs at the resort today that "Sonya's" restaurant is being closed and that area, plus the porch area facing the pool, will be converted into a poolside bar area. Time frame is not known at this time.

Also, some good news; Dole Whips have returned at Bleachers !!

[Mackflava99]

Renovations have been completed on the 2nd and 3rd floors of the Inn and work is beginning now on the 4th floor. Villas have not been renovated yet, but all work is supposed to be completed "in the summer of 2016". I've seen some photos of the renovated Inn rooms and they are very nice. The blue and orangish tiles are gone, and the rooms are much brighter. Guests are presently occupying the 3rd floor rooms, and will be occupying the 2nd floor this week. :mickey:

We are going to Vero for our first ever visit there in August- do you think the rooms will be complete?

Any help would be awesome!!

Bryan

[Ed]

I read recently that the 4th floor of the Inn has been completed but some rooms were awaiting inspection. That would complete the room renovations in the Inn.

Villas in Building 15 (southernmost of the buildings) are being renovated now; that building is totally closed for now. Completion date TBD. Building 14 is likely next.

By August a large percentage of the total renos will likely be completed. The DVC website says completion is expected to be "in the Summer of 2016".

[Laughin' place]

Do you mean Sonja's will not return ? I hope that is not the case. One of the few things that I can say the VB lacks is good dining, and we have very fond memories of dining at Sonja's. I think that Shutters and Green Cabin alone aren't sufficient, and that a nice, almost Signature level place is like Sonja's is needed. Say it ain't Sonja's...

[Ed]

Sorry, but Sonya's is history. :(

Shutters is moving into the ballroom while their former space undergoes renovation, after which time it will reopen with a new name, new decor, and hopefully new menus.

An email from the General Manager of the resort says (in part):


As part of this effort, Sonya's has permanently closed, and Bleachers Bar & Grill will be closing in mid-June to make way for exciting new experiences. Our table-service restaurant, Shutters, will be temporarily relocated to the nearby SeaGrape Room.

During your stay, the following food and beverage options will be available for your enjoyment:




Goofy's Beachside Character Breakfast will continue to be offered at Shutters' temporary location. In addition, a buffet-style breakfast offering will be available in The Green Cabin Room, and grab 'n' go options will be available in the Club Gallery located adjacent to The Spa at Disney's Vero Beach Resort.







A quick-service offering, along with full-service bar, will be available at the pool deck.







Dinner can still be enjoyed at Shutters in its temporary location, where the classic dinner menu will be available in addition to several Guest and Member-favorite items from Sonya's.







The Green Cabin Room will continue to be available for cocktails and light fare.

[Ed]

Forgot to mention - - I learned today that building 15 renovations are complete, but renovations to buildings 12 and 14 will not resume until after Thanksgiving. Originally, they had planned for all renovations to be completed by the end of Summer; obviously that optimistic plan has fallen by the wayside.

The DVC Member website now shows this:


Disney's Vero Beach Resort is undergoing a refurbishment in waves, including refreshing fabric and décor, updating bathrooms, replacing select furniture and more.Initial waves are expected to be completed by late July 2016, with others scheduled to begin in late November for the remaining villas as well as the Resort's Beach Cottages.

In addition, as part of our ongoing commitment to enhance and refresh the Guest experience, Sonya's has closed, Bleachers Bar & Grill has closed and Shutters will temporarily be relocated through fall 2016 in order to make way for new offerings.

While we are working on our magic, it is possible that you may see and hear construction taking place around the Resort. We will attempt to limit any work most likely to cause a noise impact to start after 9 AM.

:mickey:

[Ed]

To add to the confusion, plans have changed AGAIN....

Management has now decided to keep Bleachers Bar & Grill open through the end of the summer, verified by staff this morning. The member website still says that it has closed.

Stay tuned, folks. Plans seem to be changing on a very frequent basis.

[Mackflava99]

i called the front desk yesterday and they said bleachers is closed? i am puzzled..

[Ed]

i called the front desk yesterday and they said bleachers is closed? i am puzzled..

I'd have to think that you may have gotten a call center rather than the actual front desk, and the call center CM went by what is still showing on the member website. A guest who was there yesterday verified that it is still open, and today a CM who works at VB verified that it's staying open through the end of summer.

Ain't clear communications wonderful ? :shrug:

[Ed]

UPDATE: We have been at Vero for a little over a week now. Our first three nights were in an ocean view Inn room, and we were assigned to 2411 on the 4th floor. The good news is that we were the first people to occupy that room since renovations. The bad news is that we were the first people to occupy that room since renovations. :) The room was very large and beautifully renovated. However, we discovered a few problems. We first noticed that there were no trash cans anywhere in the unit, so we figured we'd call Housekeeping. Until we discovered that the phone was dead. So we called via cell phone. They quickly sent CMs to rectify both problems. Later on we found that there are no "pull out" clotheslines in the bathtub as in the past, and there was no paper towel rack, just a roll of towels under the sink. CMs tell us they have had lots of complaints about the clotheslines.

We were then moved to a 2BR villa in the fully renovated building 15. Again, beautifully renovated. The kitchen has all new stainless steel appliances, and all the old salmon and blue colored tiles have been replaced by white subway tile and solid countertops. The big island that once housed a large CRT television has been slimmed down and now sports a HUGE flat screen TV on one side and a good size countertop, open storage and three drawers on the opposite side. The huge jetted tub in the bathroom has been replaced by a freestanding "slipper" tub, and the large opening between the tub and the bedroom has been eliminated. Great for privacy, but makes that part of the split bathroom very dark with the lights turned off. The overall decor is very nice. We discovered a few minor maintenance items that were quickly resolved. The villa also has no clothesline and no paper towel rack.

[Mackflava99]

Thanks for the update, we are going there on Aug 9th. This will be out first stay there.