DVC Beach Club question

[Lupin]

I recently came back from WDW last week and had a wonderful time. My DVC points are with the Beach Club and that's where I usually stay. On this trip I was walking around outside on the ground level of the Beach Club and couldn't help but notice that most of, if not all, of the non-villa rooms are much nicer (ie: new furniture, flat panel tvs embedded into the wall in a picture frame, etc.) than the villa rooms. Is Disney in the process of upgrading ALL of the Beach Club rooms, or are the DVC members stuck with old stuff? I'm not trying to be petty, but it bugged me a little bit when I saw this. Maybe I'm naive for thinking that they would all be the same.

[vicki_c]

The resorts and the DVC properties do not get refurbished on the same schedule, DVC less often.

Keep in mind that it's your dues that pay for refurbishments at the DVC properties. So you can either have higher dues and more frequent refurbishments or not.

And the Beach Club Resort was just renovated in the last year so everything is sparkling new. BCV did get a small soft goods refurbishment in the past year as well - but no new TVs.

[tjkraz]

The BoardWalk Villas are getting some upgrades now. They are getting new appliances, flat panel TVs, new armoires, reupholstered furniture, new carpet, new paint & wallcoverings, etc.

However it's important to note that the BoardWalk Villas are 6 years older than BCV. BCV just opened in 2002.

Disney has business reasons for keeping its cash resorts up-to-date. They have a difficult time commanding $400-600 per night for a standard Deluxe room with outdated furnishings.

DVC is a different matter. DVD's obligation was to construct the units and to spend whatever is necessary (via annual dues) to maintain their condition. Since our dues pay for all of these upgrades, don't expect Disney to be reckless in how they spend the money. A single upgrade like flat panel TVs wouldn't be an extraordinary expense so it will probably happen sooner rather than later. But wholesale room refurbishments are costly and may still be a few years off for a resort that is only 7 years old.

[disneynutz]

Disney has a conflict of interest when it comes to maintenance of the DVC resorts. As vicki_c posted, our dues pay for everything that goes on at a DVC resort. If Disney increased the maintenance and upgrades, the dues would go up. At the same time, they don't want the dues to go up because it would be harder to sell contracts and that is where the money is.

[mgilmer]

DVC rooms have tvs? :happytv:
:rotfl2:

[bobbiwoz]

Our balconies are so much nicer at BCV compared to BC!

Bobbi:goodvibes

[DebbieB]

When you get your budget in the mail around the end of next month, you will see a page that details how much of your dues will go into the capital reserve fund and what the balance in the fund is. It will break it out into roof replacement/repair, interior refurbishment, external building painting, common element renovation & pavement resurfacing. By far the biggest item is interior refurbishment. It will also show how many years the estimated useful life is and how many years remaining. This is where the money will come from. Disney is not responsible for it, the members are.

[corpcomp]

Our balconies are so much nicer at BCV compared to BC!

Bobbi:goodvibes

So are the jacuzzis!

[photobob]

it is closer to Epcot too!

[DznyDreamz]

I think I may be in the minority, but the type of tv in the room is the least of my concerns with my DVC ownership. Sure, the flat panels in the cash rooms are nicer, but we spend so little time watching tv it is really a non-issue for me.

I would rather keep my dues lower then to replace a tv that I may watch a total of 5 hours over the entire trip (and most of that is Stacey's "must see" show that my DD watches over and over).

Just my opinion, and I agree, the cash rooms are nicer in other ways. But the DVC benefits outweigh the bedding, tv's, etc for us.

[K9pal]

We stayed at BCV the first week of October, and both TV's in our 1BR were flat panels with HD. And we saw new mattresses being delivered to the villas too. Villas are quite nice, IMHO!

[CoolDisneyCat]

We were at BC Villas last week. The couch had new fabric which is very pretty. The large screen TVs are in the living toom and bedroom. Every thing was nice and clean.

[vicki_c]

We stayed at BCV the first week of October, and both TV's in our 1BR were flat panels with HD. And we saw new mattresses being delivered to the villas too. Villas are quite nice, IMHO!

You're the first person I've seen say that there are new TVs at BCV. Interesting - I don't remember anyone else saying that yet. I don't really care either, but it wouldn't be a bad thing.

[DznyDreamz]

You're the first person I've seen say that there are new TVs at BCV. Interesting - I don't remember anyone else saying that yet. I don't really care either, but it wouldn't be a bad thing.

I agree, I was there earlier this week and there were no flat panels in the 1BR's nor any signs of work being done to install them. Not to mention no notice from MS about what could potentially increase our dues.....

[DebbieB]

I agree, I was there earlier this week and there were no flat panels in the 1BR's nor any signs of work being done to install them. Not to mention no notice from MS about what could potentially increase our dues.....

You will receive the 2010 dues notice at the end of November. It will show how much money is in the reserve and how much of your 2010 dues are going to each category (roof, exterior, interior, etc).

[mel&me]

You're the first person I've seen say that there are new TVs at BCV. Interesting - I don't remember anyone else saying that yet. I don't really care either, but it wouldn't be a bad thing.

If a TV stopped working, I would say any replacement would be a flat screen. They may have just been in a room that needed a TV replaced. Stuff does go bad.

[K9pal]

We were in a 1BR villa, #203. Both living area and BR had flat screen LG brand TV's. I agree that they are probably being upgraded as needed - we also stayed in a 1BR at SSR and had a clock with an iPOd dock in it in the BR. First time I'd seen that (but no flat screen TV's).

[xipetotec]

Our balconies are so much nicer at BCV compared to BC!

Bobbi:goodvibes

On our last trip, my brother got a corner balcony overlooking the quiet pool. OMG it was HUGE!!!!! He referred to it as his "Sick Balcony" :), we spent a lot of evening relax time there :)

[BCV23]

We stayed at BCV the first week of October, and both TV's in our 1BR were flat panels with HD. And we saw new mattresses being delivered to the villas too. Villas are quite nice, IMHO!

Good to know. That is at least the second time the mattresses have been replaced since BCV opened in 2002.

We were at BC Villas last week. The couch had new fabric which is very pretty. The large screen TVs are in the living toom and bedroom. Every thing was nice and clean.

Can you please describe the fabric on the new couches? That has been the only thing that I really don't like at BCV...not a big deal but i'm glad to hear of a change.

Our balconies are so much nicer at BCV compared to BC!

Bobbi:goodvibes

So true, Bobbi! :thumbsup2

I do hope eventually the patio furniture is replaced with something of a higher quality. The newest DVCs do have good quality patio furniture.

I'm not sure at all that DVC resorts aren't renovated as often as other WDW resorts. Most of our trips are splits between deluxe (weekends) and DVC. Rehabs seem about the same to me. One difference is that patterns/designs last longer (or forever:goodvibes) at DVC.

[K9pal]

We were at BC Villas last week. The couch had new fabric which is very pretty. The large screen TVs are in the living toom and bedroom. Every thing was nice and clean.

We were there the first week of October. Like I said earlier, we had flat screen TV's - but same old crappy looking sofa! So apparently furnishings at BCV are replaced mostly as needed.

[famgel]

I'm just bumping for curiousity, all of this sounds so good!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!1

[ChickieToo]

We were there from Sept 25-30 with friends. Stayed in Studios 260 and 255, and both had flat screen TVs. We were very surprised. I agree that they need some upgraded furniture to put the TVs on. Perhaps a mid-height six or eight drawer dresser with a flat top so that we get more drawer space.

[poggs]

We were there the first week of October. Like I said earlier, we had flat screen TV's - but same old crappy looking sofa! So apparently furnishings at BCV are replaced mostly as needed.

Hmm.

We are just back from our week stay in a 1bed room 220. It had a lovely new pull out sofa but old tv's!

[PolynesianAlex]

Any Pictures of the New Villas??

[bamagirl@hrt]

We stayed in studio #463 from 10/1 - 10/10. We had a flat screen LG TV with HD. I was recovering from surgery, so we did spend more time in the room than usual. We also had a huge balcony! Our room was right next to a staircase (and across from the back elevators). I guess our balcony extended across the space taken up by the stairs. It was fantastic! We could watch the high Illuminations fireworks to the right, and to the left, in the distance, we could see the MK fireworks! Since we were in our room earlier on many nights this trip, it was awesome to have the larger balcony with a view of fireworks!

[famgel]

Thank you for the post and hope and I hope you are feeling better!

[LIFERBABE]

We stayed in studio #463 from 10/1 - 10/10. We had a flat screen LG TV with HD. I was recovering from surgery, so we did spend more time in the room than usual. We also had a huge balcony! Our room was right next to a staircase (and across from the back elevators). I guess our balcony extended across the space taken up by the stairs. It was fantastic! We could watch the high Illuminations fireworks to the right, and to the left, in the distance, we could see the MK fireworks! Since we were in our room earlier on many nights this trip, it was awesome to have the larger balcony with a view of fireworks!


Sounds Wonderful!!!:goodvibes So glad you had extra pixie dust:wizard:

We were 3 floors down in a 1 bedroom Villa 163 on 10/13/09 and our Villa was totally refurbed!!!:cool1:

2 brand new LG 32" TV's, new mattress and bedding, new sofa, new dining chair upholstery, it even looked as if the cutlery had been replaced!! This was a first floor pool view unit. Right behind the umbrella tables at the cove pool. Dh and I did not want to leave!!

TV channels were much better at BCV too!! I walked the 10K and was pretty sore, so I had more downtime this trip and noticed that BLT channels are terrible. Many more channels at

One thing missing was the Ihome. Still had a regular clock radio.

On check out day, had some holding points that we used to stay another day so we could have a late checkout at 4pm:wizard: Totally worth it i had to work the next day and it was nice to relax and prepare since we had a late flight (only 1 nonstop a day and its late)!!

Mousekeeping promptly knocked on our door at 11:00 am sharp as I was on my way to the front desk for our new keys after hanging up with Member Services.

[Pirate Jack]

I just got back from BCV on 10/14. We also had a flat screen tv in a studio. The sofa fabric looked to be new and the mattress was VERY comfortable. The room was immaculate. It was our first stay at BCV and we were very impressed!

[baj0505]

Just back from BCV stayed in a studio #416, we had an LG LCD. It was very nice :happytv: and we were excited to see it, but we only used it once to watch a movie one nite when it rained :rolleyes1

They also let us know they were doing painting on the 3rd and 4th floor rooms and advised if there was any problem to let them know.

BTW bamagirl we've had that room before and ask for it every time we go--we've only been lucky once. The balcony was awesome and very nice to sit on while the kids napped. The kids actually wanted to sleep out there one nite, of course that lasted all of 15 minutes when they realized concrete wasn't as soft as the sofa bed.

We stayed in studio #463 from 10/1 - 10/10. We had a flat screen LG TV with HD. I was recovering from surgery, so we did spend more time in the room than usual. We also had a huge balcony! Our room was right next to a staircase (and across from the back elevators). I guess our balcony extended across the space taken up by the stairs. It was fantastic! We could watch the high Illuminations fireworks to the right, and to the left, in the distance, we could see the MK fireworks! Since we were in our room earlier on many nights this trip, it was awesome to have the larger balcony with a view of fireworks!