BCV Studio rehab- a hot mess!

lovin'fl · Jul 28, 2016

I added on direct for F&W trips...BWV and could have chose BCV for same cost. We chose BWV for being able to save points by booking standard view. Shortly after adding on I regretted not buying BCV as it was our fave of the 2. But now I am VERY happy with our BWV. Those renos at BCV are dull and very much like a Holiday Inn...AND...they took out the ceiling fans AND jetted tubs (1/2BR villas). DH just asked me, for fun, if we could do a dream 3 week stay in DVC at WDW, what resort(s) would I want to stay in...I started to say BCV but then corrected and said BWV as I want my jetted tub. I would also do AKV and VWL...a week at each.

I also don't like the added flip down bed. It looks dumb, adds wear and tear to the room (5 guests instead of just 4) and seems like it will need lots of repairs/maintenance. I too am a 1BR for just 2 of us dweller. We do stay in studios when low on points (when just 2-4 of us) but would never have bought DVC for our family of 5 to stay in a studio...would have just stuck with booking CRO at POR.

Smile&Nod · Jul 28, 2016

I may have missed this but is the ceiling fan just gone from the "studio" or is it out of the bedroom in the one bedroom?

Dean · Jul 28, 2016

La2kw said:
Also bbq grills and we have also used an electric skillet.

While I haven't seen an official policy from DVC, timeshares normally outlaw electric skillets just like they do small BBQ grills on the balcony.

hakepb said:
Unfortunately the sales does a great job telling the story of all the design decisions when you buy .... Then the refurb department rips all the pages of the book out

FWIW, I just did the Poly bungalow tour, and loved hearing how the DVC designers worked and received approval from 1971 Imagineers, and included artwork from Mary Blair ... It doesn't seem like the re-design process is anywhere that detailed.

Not unfortunately, that's their job. It's the buyers job to consider the risks, possibilities and negatives before buying.

lovin'fl · Jul 28, 2016

Smile&Nod said:
I may have missed this but is the ceiling fan just gone from the "studio" or is it out of the bedroom in the one bedroom?

It's removed from the 1/2BR villas as well.

BLTtinkerbell · Jul 28, 2016

lovin'fl said:
It's removed from the 1/2BR villas as well.

I wish there were a dislike button. I love the ceiling fans.

mjr0483 · Jul 29, 2016

I think all the DVC resorts have been heading mostly down hill. I do love the split bathroom designs of the Poly and GF, but that is it. The tub is the worst. You can't lay down in it, as the wall is right up against the edge of the tub and there is no place for your head to go.

Also there is NO storage anywhere. I guess they expect you to live out of your suit case, but there is no place to put it out and no luggage tray.
I just came off a Royal Caribbean with a room way smaller then every DVC studio and there was WAY more storage. We unpacked everything and the luggage fit nicely under the bed.

Someone at DVC needs to wake up.

lovin'fl · Jul 29, 2016

My theory is they need to cram in the most bodies since the price is so high now that typical folks (new families buying in) can only afford a small contract so DVC is trying to sell them on staying in studios for minimal points ('look, now the studios sleep 5'). Back when we bought, in 2006, we bought so that our family of 5 would not be all crammed in 1 tiny hotel room (we basically bought for the master bedroom door on the 1/2BR villas). If we were a younger family starting out with Disney/DVC today, we would not bother...just would keep booking POR.

kreckl · Jul 30, 2016

This is discouraging. Staying in our first-ever BCV next month with 4 people. We always unpack. I even usually use a hanging sweater shelf in the closet, and now doubt that will fit.

DenLo · Jul 30, 2016

La2kw said:
By the way, did you notice how small the coffeemaker is? Now that might work for some people, but not for this coffee lover. I have never seen such a small coffeemaker in any DVC room for the 20+ years we have been members. Fortunately, they did bring me a decent (normal) size coffeemaker for the room. I didn't have this problem at Vero, as they kept the large coffeemakers in those rooms that were redone.

View attachment 181991

The one on the right comes with the new reno, the one on the left I had to ask for.

The glasses cabinet doors are just dust catchers. What were they thinking?

As to the coffeemaker, the reno does not include a 4 cup pot, but a 10-12 cup Mr. Coffee. Housekeeping made an error there as they are the ones that adds the dishes, pans, appliances and linens after the remodel. They seem to make this mistake when the resort is attached to a cash resort and the 4 cup coffeemakers are in supply for the other side of the resort.

Whoops, I forgot this was for BCV. They have had a problem with the coffeemaker at BCV for quite a while.

Was the closet that tight before the renovation? Or did someone measure wrong? That needs to be fixed, it was definitely a construction error.

DenLo · Jul 30, 2016

Since the OP is comparing the BCV studio to a VB Deluxe Inn Room in the photos, I am curious as to what the renovation is like for an actual studio? Are they set up to sleep five at VB as well? Does anyone have photos of a remodeled studio at VB?

wendydarling826 · Jul 30, 2016

I am very unhappy that the ceiling fans have been removed. We vacation in August, and the fans are a necessity. I haven't seen the refurbished villas yet, so I will reserve judgement, but taking away amenities in a deluxe resort is disappointing and concerning to me.

cjwags10 · Aug 7, 2016

We just got back from a week in a refurbished 2-bedroom. We love the new rooms. I love the colors and I love the accessories that give the rooms a beachy feel including the pillows, pictures and even the sand dollar cabinet knobs. My one daughter slept on the pull out and said it was very comfortable. There was plenty of storage in the rooms. The master bathroom also had a lot of storage which was nice. I will say the closet is a little awkward, but it didn't prevent us from hanging all of the clothes we usually hang. We never used the whirlpool tub, so we thought the soaker tub was a nice touch. It would have been nice if they kept the ceiling fans, but again it didn't ruin anything for us. One of my favorite parts of the refurb is the carpet in the hallways. I think it looks GREAT!!

jerseygal · Aug 8, 2016

cjwags10 said:
We just got back from a week in a refurbished 2-bedroom. We love the new rooms. I love the colors and I love the accessories that give the rooms a beachy feel including the pillows, pictures and even the sand dollar cabinet knobs. My one daughter slept on the pull out and said it was very comfortable. There was plenty of storage in the rooms. The master bathroom also had a lot of storage which was nice. I will say the closet is a little awkward, but it didn't prevent us from hanging all of the clothes we usually hang. We never used the whirlpool tub, so we thought the soaker tub was a nice touch. It would have been nice if they kept the ceiling fans, but again it didn't ruin anything for us. One of my favorite parts of the refurb is the carpet in the hallways. I think it looks GREAT!!

EXCITED to see the refurbished rooms this October! :cheer2:

drysdaleo · Aug 9, 2016

We stayed here 2 weeks ago in a 1br referb on the third floor. When we finally were checked-in at 4pm we got up to the room and there was a maintenance man in the room trying to get the bathroom door to close. He said he had to call someone and it should only take a couple of hours to fix, or we could just have a bathroom door that hung open all week. I sent him away and we put up with the bathroom door open all week. When I was taking a bath I looked up and the decorative tile around the tub was all crooked, and the last piece was just rammed in and caulked into place to make it fit. In my opinion the rooms are cold and drab with gray walls and the only pictures on the walls were in the toilet/water closet room. The main elevators were unavailable all week. The construction crew was using a door down the hall from our room to go in and out of all day and night to get to the other hallway where they were working. You could hear them rolling their carts around the hall at all hours. This has been my home resort for 14 years and I love BCV but this time I couldn't wait to leave.

La2kw · Aug 10, 2016

drysdaleo said:
We stayed here 2 weeks ago in a 1br referb on the third floor. When we finally were checked-in at 4pm we got up to the room and there was a maintenance man in the room trying to get the bathroom door to close. He said he had to call someone and it should only take a couple of hours to fix, or we could just have a bathroom door that hung open all week. I sent him away and we put up with the bathroom door open all week. When I was taking a bath I looked up and the decorative tile around the tub was all crooked, and the last piece was just rammed in and caulked into place to make it fit. In my opinion the rooms are cold and drab with gray walls and the only pictures on the walls were in the toilet/water closet room. The main elevators were unavailable all week. The construction crew was using a door down the hall from our room to go in and out of all day and night to get to the other hallway where they were working. You could hear them rolling their carts around the hall at all hours. This has been my home resort for 14 years and I love BCV but this time I couldn't wait to leave.

We were right at the end of that hallway next to the door with the service elevator that they used. It was such a pain dodging the workers every day and watching out for the debris they left behind. They really should have closed the entire floor so that they could get their work done and the guests didn't have to put up with that on their vacay. We couldn't wait to leave either. Thankfully we left and went to Vero where they did a fantastic job on the renovations, which restored our faith in DVC and reaffirmed our disgust with WDW as a whole. They should really be embarrassed with what they did to the BCV.

wdwlver · Aug 10, 2016

La2kw said:
We were right at the end of that hallway next to the door with the service elevator that they used. It was such a pain dodging the workers every day and watching out for the debris they left behind. They really should have closed the entire floor so that they could get their work done and the guests didn't have to put up with that on their vacay. We couldn't wait to leave either. Thankfully we left and went to Vero where they did a fantastic job on the renovations, which restored our faith in DVC and reaffirmed our disgust with WDW as a whole. They should really be embarrassed with what they did to the BCV.

What room were you in? Would like to avoid that area of the villas when we check in next week. Thanks

cjwags10 · Aug 10, 2016

I am amazed at all the negative comments. Yes they were working on the rooms while we were there last week. From what I understand, they are working on the last section and all other rooms are complete. There were workers around, but we didn't notice the mess and noise at all hours of the day because we were at the pool or the parks. A refurb is never easy and they usually save the worst part for last. There was no noise when we slept which is all that mattered for us. It would be next to impossible to complete the refurb without any disruption to the guests. We were in a 2-bedroom and our walls were light blue, not gray. There were pictures in all the rooms. As I said earlier, we were really happy with our room and thought the décor was very nice and warm. I respect that everyone has a difference in opinion. On the plus side, all those disgusted with the resort will leave more availability for others that have not gotten to stay here before.

Dean · Aug 10, 2016

cjwags10 said:
I am amazed at all the negative comments. Yes they were working on the rooms while we were there last week. From what I understand, they are working on the last section and all other rooms are complete. There were workers around, but we didn't notice the mess and noise at all hours of the day because we were at the pool or the parks. A refurb is never easy and they usually save the worst part for last. There was no noise when we slept which is all that mattered for us. It would be next to impossible to complete the refurb without any disruption to the guests. We were in a 2-bedroom and our walls were light blue, not gray. There were pictures in all the rooms. As I said earlier, we were really happy with our room and thought the décor was very nice and warm. I respect that everyone has a difference in opinion. On the plus side, all those disgusted with the resort will leave more availability for others that have not gotten to stay here before.

If there's no ceiling fan it will affect demand and resale prices. If DVC goes that rout it will similarly affect other resorts though maybe less so if it's across the board the same. It will have more effect if it's just that resort with no ceiling fans.

La2kw · Aug 11, 2016

cjwags10 said:
I am amazed at all the negative comments. Yes they were working on the rooms while we were there last week. From what I understand, they are working on the last section and all other rooms are complete. There were workers around, but we didn't notice the mess and noise at all hours of the day because we were at the pool or the parks. A refurb is never easy and they usually save the worst part for last. There was no noise when we slept which is all that mattered for us. It would be next to impossible to complete the refurb without any disruption to the guests. We were in a 2-bedroom and our walls were light blue, not gray. There were pictures in all the rooms. As I said earlier, we were really happy with our room and thought the décor was very nice and warm. I respect that everyone has a difference in opinion. On the plus side, all those disgusted with the resort will leave more availability for others that have not gotten to stay here before.

To be fair, I was the OP and my recent comments weren't from an additional person with issues, just the same person with issues, lol. Also, the title of the thread is about the refurb of our particular studio unit as a hot mess. So of course, the comments about it are not going to be glowing.

I'm surprised at the comments about how much they love the redo- but to each their own I guess.

My issues with the redo are not that the resort is loud or that they kept me up all night.

My issues were with the design itself, the removal of certain things that have always been there, and the quality of workmanship displayed in our particular unit. Also, the lack of concern given to the customers staying at the resort and the fact that complaints to management are useless due to the way WDW runs its hotels. A member, or any other guest should not have to dodge construction workers or put up with unsightly and unsafe construction debris left behind after the construction crew leaves for the day. That would be unheard of at a real hotel. WDW with their recent safety mishaps should be even more concerned about things like that.

We usually spend a few nights at Loews Miami Beach after our WDW trips and we weren't able to this year. Why? Because the entire resort is closed for refurbishment. They would rather close the entire resort than have it's guests be inconvenienced with construction work, etc.

Vero Beach closed an entire floor of the Inn building at a time for renovations. Even though the fourth floor was mostly completed when we were there, they still closed the entire floor while they made sure that all the work was done. I know there was noise for a while and that's understandable. But no one was allowed on that floor and they didn't try to stick guests in the rooms adjacent to construction.

That's how you refurb a hotel.

Dean · Aug 11, 2016

La2kw said:
That's how you refurb a hotel.

You have to accommodate for members with timeshares. For seasonal resorts you do it during slower times and you do it in stages. It's more costly to do it in stages though. Marriott was doing 2 buildings (of 10) per year with a 5 yr plan. They did 2 years then did the rest in a given year since it was much cheaper to do so. But it's seasonal enough that it was workable.

BCV Studio rehab- a hot mess!

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