Disney’s Vero Beach Resort is a Disney Vacation Club property that includes all of the beautiful Disney amenities that we know and love. However, instead of being located by the theme parks, it resides near a quaint beach town on the east coast of Florida. It is only a 2 hour drive from the Orlando area which makes for a perfect beach getaway!
The resort opened back up on June 15th, 2020 after being closed for COVID-19 precautions. My boyfriend, Steven, and I take social distancing recommendations very seriously (especially after being in China for the initial spike of the virus!) so we kept that as a main focus during our visit. The cast members did an amazing job wearing masks, providing us with frequent hand sanitizer stations, and performing thorough housekeeping precautions in the rooms before we arrived. All of this was really appreciated! We were excited to have this little getaway and to enjoy some time in the sun!
Here are 6 activities we really loved at Disney’s Vero Beach Resort (that were conveniently socially distant):
1. Movies Under the Stars
We both agreed that this was one of our favorite offerings at the resort. When you walk out the back doors of the lobby, there’s a huge lawn area where a screen is set up at night for movie viewing. We arrived a few minutes before it began and had tons of room to spread out from other parties. (well over 6 feet away!) We brought a blanket, some wine, and our bug spray and got to enjoy an absolute masterpiece – Cinderella (2015). The movie selection switches up every night so just check the recreation schedule to see what’s playing while you’re there!
2. Grilling
This was our other favorite activity of the trip. While we were waiting for our room to be ready, we ran to Publix, which was only a 9 minute drive from the resort. We grabbed ourselves some burgers, Italian sausage, Siete Chips, guacamole, and pineapple – a perfect feast!
We were staying in a Deluxe Studio, and although it had less amenities than the villas (which have full kitchens), it had both a fridge and a microwave which was exactly what we needed.
Deluxe Studio – Disney’s Vero Beach Resort
You do need to bring your own charcoal for the grills. They do not sell it on property at the resort but they did have it at Publix! As for grilling supplies, Disney has you covered – they’re available at the front desk!
We grabbed our utensils and our cooler and walked all the way down near the campfire area. The grills are on the opposite side of the pathway, hidden by some hedges. There were two grills and two picnic tables with no one else around. We blasted some Jimmy Buffet music on Spotify, Steven grilled, and then we went back to our room and had a picnic on our patio!
3. Swimming in the Ocean
The resort has a private area of the beach set aside for guests of the resort – you need a room key to enter! Although there were more people there than we anticipated, we had no problem whatsoever being extremely far away from others and enjoying the salt water waves of the ocean. We also learned that if you want to reserve a chair down on the beach, they get booked up quickly! So whenever you check in, go straight there and make your reservations. This was something we missed out on but we were okay with it – bringing our own towels allowed us to spread out even more from other beach-goers.
4. Renting DVD’s to Watch in the Room
On the final night of the trip, we were full from all of our grilled food and exhausted from our beach day. Not to mention it was looking like a storm was looming overhead! We decided to grab our masks, walk down to the lobby, and rent movies from the gift shop.
You are allowed to rent out two movies at a time per room, which are complimentary with your stay. Their selection was quite expansive! We decided on George of the Jungle and Toy Story 2 (because you know, why not?) and spent our last night in the comfort of our studio. Every room at the resort has a DVD player so we were all set!
5. Watching the Sunrise
On our last morning, we woke up at 5:30 am and went straight down to the beach to see the sunrise. Since we are on the east coast at Vero Beach, the sun rises right over the water. It was peaceful and so cool to see.
We had one huge regret though – June is the heart of “no see ums” season. “No see ums” are bugs that are similar to mosquitos, just a little smaller. They sure know how to sneak attack and bite you… and their bites hurt. I forgot to bring our bug spray down to the beach since it was morning and that was a very big mistake. After sitting on the outer edge of a sand bank (which, again, was a huge mistake) both of us felt the constant bites from these little buggers and had to leave after a short while due to the pain. I probably had about 50 bites to show for it all over my body.
6. Driving Across the State to see the Sunset
Okay so this one isn’t *technically* Vero Beach specific, but it’s something I’ve had on my bucket list since I moved to Florida – I wanted to see the sunrise on one coast and see the sunset on the other! Since we were conveniently waking up on the east coast, we spent the day after we checked out of Vero driving to Clearwater Beach so we could end our day out west.
Just wanted to give a little plug to our favorite spot in Clearwater – Frenchy’s! This is one of Steven’s lifelong favorite restaurants and he introduced me to its greatness. We got takeout from the original location and ate it in the car. We get Buffalo Shrimp and Super Grouper sandwiches every time we go and they are SO GOOD!
Unfortunately for us, our sunset experience wasn’t smooth either! A gigantic storm rolled in about 40 minutes before the sun went down. At the exact sunset time, a giant black cloud covered the coast line. Oh well! Good news is that I got to dip my feet in the ocean and the gulf in the same day. We still had a fantastic time and have a lot of memories to show for it!
So there you have it! That was our experience at Disney’s Vero Beach Resort. Comment on this post and let me know what your favorite activity would have been! And let me know if you guys have ever been to Vero or would have an interest in going! We definitely loved having this Disney experience paired with ultimate relaxation.
Until next time!
