just back from bcv

[ornurse]

just back from the bcv for 7 days and what a downer... dont get me wrong stormalong bay my son loved, but over all two thumbs down... to sum it up real quick, not one welcome home no big deal... people at the desk just plan old cold.. stayed in room 560 ok view, great balcony... just the whole atmosphere was a real let down. we have been part of dvc now for three years, and never had this experience ever at boardwalk in july... or ever at okw in april off 2002.. we normally go ever 4 months, but if the points were as low as hilton head in off season. i would never go again to bcv, we are a 400 point club member but after this i would never waste a point to stay there again!!!!!! we leave again the 27 of dec to jan 2 at hilton head we have to have better luck... just booked bwv for march 8 to the 17 cant wait... please dont get mad at me but BOARD WALK beats bcv hands down...............

 

[TNdisneymom]

We were there in July for 1 night when BCV opened and the again in Sept. for 3 nights. Both times the feeling was cold and no" Welcome Home" from anyone. We are new members to DVC and are kinda disappointed. Maybe we just expected too much!
We still love our trips to Disney! The rooms are beautiful and the resort is just a hop, skip and jump from Epcot. We look forward to a family visit for New Years(with or without a Welcome Home).

 

[CarolA]

Maybe I am alone in this, but the Welcome Home does NOTHING for me so I doubt I will miss it. As long as the room is well maintained I will be fine!

 

[PamOKW]

You're not alone Carol. While it's fun to get a Welcome Home, as long as CMs are pleasant it's not a problem. Truth is that I don't think I've ever had a check-in at any DVC (except Vero) go smoothly. There's always some glitch that usually gets me all upset. But, in an hour or two it's forgotten and I'm off on another magical DVC vacation. (I have mentioned particularly bad experiences in writing to DVC management which is really the best place to air the gripes so that maybe something can be done to fix it.)

 

[StevieD]

We just returned from BCV as well - on Oct. 30. You can see from a few other posts I have made that we were less than pleased with our experience. This is our 3rd trip in the last 1.5 years, and we definitely noticed a difference on this trip. CM's were, in a word, lackluster. BCV is our home resort, but next time we are going to try Boardwalk. One thing, though - we noticed a general "bad" mood from many of the CM's during our stay (with a few exceptions, though - we found the CM's at the Disney Downtown pin store to be fantastic!). I hope this isn't a trend which is reflective of the tough financial problems Disney is encountering.

P.S. Did you notice a large convention during your stay, from an organization called "Omnilife"? They started on the last day of our visit - this really clogged the busses.

 

[PamOKW]

I guess I've got too much time on my hands Stevie but I thought I'd do a quick search on Omnilife and see what came up. I didn't keep looking to see what they are but I did bring up a web page in Spanish about the meeting. Google offers an automatic translation and I thought it was kind of interesting.

Within the many forms in which Omnilife awards the dedication and certainty of its distributors it finds the accomplishment of an annual international trip.

The one that it has been programmed for this year 2002, will be made in October and has a special character, because it has been thought to fulfill one of the dreams of the children of the distributors: to visit Disney World.

If you are Distributing Independent of Omnilife of anyone of the countries where the company is present, it consults the bases to describe and thus to travel with all the paid expenses.

 

[Jillpie]

To ornurse, could you be a bit more specific when you say you didn't enjoy the atmosphere? We are brand new BCV owners and going for the first time in April. Thanks.

 

[Zimbubba]

Welcome Home! is symbolic and important to many of us. We viewed this propert in July and throught the spaces were too small. Give us OKW any day.

 

[Maistre Gracey]

Only speaking for myself here, but a hearty "WELCOME HOME" is very good to hear. It truly makes us feel good, and somewhat distinguishes us from non-DVC guests.

 

[sandieb]

While I am not the all time expert on WDW by any stretch, I have visited three times over the last several years. All of the cast members have been pleasant to outstanding except one cranky busdriver.

I truly felt like it was a dream come true when we bought into DVC.
I am so upset to hear that the BCV are not a nice place to visit. We have bought two contracts there, and I am very anxious for our first visit in May - I will be bringing my grandkids and son and daughter in law. I wonder what is going on? I am really feeling sad. The place seems pretty and convienent. Was it just the lousy reception that made such a bad impression?: Sandie

 

[Regina]

As I've mentioned in previous posts, I got a "Welcome Home" when we checked in at BCV last month. I wish I could remember the young man's name. It was quite busy, but he was very pleasant.

We crossed paths with housekeepers/groundskeepers many times, and they always smiled and said hello. We shopped in the store on two occassions, and both times the clerks were very nice. They asked us about our stay, etc.

I thought that BCV was lovely. I was particularly impressed with how meticulously the common areas were maintained. The two rooms where you can sit and relax were beautiful and spotless.

We stayed in a studio which, while smaller than OKW, had a very nice layout. I like having the vanity outside of the bathroom, and the kitchenette was much nicer than at OKW. (And no, I am not bashing OKW, I still love my "home".)

My DH loved the convenience of walking to Epcot. If we could, I'm sure we would do another add-on. (Darn tuitions )

I'm always sorry to hear when a member is disappointed, but I have to say, our experience at BCV was wonderful.

 

[sandieb]

Thanks for your post. It is notible that we each can come away with such different impressions. I have almost always had good experiences with the quality and delivery of Disneyworld services and accommodations, and I felt pretty confident that the BCV would reflect those same standards. It would be pretty disappointing to have bought into the one place that didn't meet the Disney quality standards or reflects their values.
Sandie

 

[DVCSuzyQ]

While it is always interesting to hear others' experiences at a resort I have learned take it for just that. We all have our own personal expectations. Nothing in even 'the World' is perfect. Our family stayed at BCV in a 2BR in August and had a wonderful experience, from Cast Members to our villa's just about perfect condition. We live for our yearly trip home so it would take an awful lot to disappoint us! Don't let others' negative trip reports spoil that magical feeling of anticipating your next trip home!!!!

 

[Deb & Bill]

I love hearing "Welcome Home". Since we have the DVC license plate on our car, we usually get it at OKW. We usually wear our DVC regalia (hats, shirts, etc) when we check in. When we checked into BCV in late July, we got a big "Welcome Home" from the CMs checking us in. They both told us they used to work at OKW and were very familiar with the DVC process. Maybe you just got one of the regular BC CMs instead of one of the DVC-experienced CMs.

I love staying at OKW and BCV. Have a Dec trip to OKW and June to BCV. Then Nov at VWL (we're excited about this one, haven't stayed at this home yet). BWV were okay when we stayed there, but not our favorite. Doesn't mean they're not any good, we just like others. Doesn't that make it nice for everyone? We all get something we like.

Can't wait to get back into a 1-bedroom instead of a studio. We've been staying in studios for a while since we used up a lot of points going on the Disney Cruise.

 

[kem330]

Sometimes I think reading on these boards gives us unrealistic expectations. We all have different perceptions and expectations of the DVC experience. Many long time owners bought because of the "homey" atmosphere and "Welcome Home" concept marketed by DVC. I think a big part of the attraction and appeal of this Board in particular is the sense of Community that is fostered here by an exceptional group of people. We come to expect this same environment when we travel to our DVC resort. I think you do get a feeling of being "special" for owning a piece of the WDW property. But honestly, the reason we purchased was to save money on hotel accomodations. Which we do big time. We had stayed at the BC since it opened and with kids growing up, it only made sense to buy into DVC instead of paying for 2-3 hotel rooms. Our first trip as DVC members to BWV was great because of the accomodations, location and a very helpful CM at the front desk. We did not hear one welcome home- nor have a lot of other CM interaction. The resort is beautiful, and we had a fantastic time. I expect BCV may not be up to speed with DVC as it is a large hotel in its own right and BCV was somewhat of an afterthought there. Sometimes we have had great CM's at BC, other times not. But we absolutely love the beauty of the resort, grounds and location and have based our expectations on the surroundings more than the CM's. It would be icing on the cake if they all embraced the perfect "happy" welcome home disney mentality, but they are prone to human frailities, just like the rest of us! So I choose not to let that bother me.

 

[Dean]

ornurse, there's no reason to expect a flame on this one. You had a bad stay and it was obviously your personal experience. The people who get flamed are the ones that post where the expectations were obviously unreasonable. Now if no "welcome home" alone had been the main thing that ruined you're entire trip, I'd be taking a different view.

While I like BWV and WLV, I prefer OKW as a rule. I haven't stayed at BCV or BC itself for that matter so I can't speak to it. I can say that SAB isn't a big deal for us but I know others diagree. That's the thing about DVC, there are a lot of choices and things most people enjoy. I know other timeshare people that stayed at BWV and OKW and hated it. For most, I think they let their preconceived ideas or some petty issues get in the way of a good time, but that's their prerogative. The most outspoken one that comes to mind was set on not liking it from the get go and used the minor differences between exchangers and DVC members to "prove" his impression. He was lobbying for II to through out DVC and for other II members to boycott DVC, fat chance, LOL. While I don't agree with DVC charging exchangers $95 extra above the exchange fee, it's still the best exchange and value most of them will ever see. I know there are many exchanges I'd like to make with my other timeshares where I'd pay an extra $95 and get what I truly wanted, DVC included.

 

[BigTigger]

Sorry to hear of your bad experience. I know how much I look forward to our annual DVC visit and how I would feel if it was spoiled for any reason.

We visited BCV last month on our OKW trip as we wanted to see the villas and decide on a BCV add-on. We had stayed at the YC a few times when I had convention there (pre and post BW being built) before joining DVC and always loved the homey atmosphere from the Commodore greeting you to the rocking chairs on the porches overlooking the pool to the big couch area in each lobby. Of course our sweet tooths were always in heaven at Beaches and Cream.

After self parking, we entered the BC lobby and were greeted by the Commodore. It wasn't "Welcome Home", but my girls couldn't stop laughing as he said "Hello Sir and maam and maam and maam and maam and maam" to our party of six each time we went by him. Our impressions of the BCV are that they are quietly removed from the central hubbub of the BC. We loved the model with the exception of all of us feeling that it had too many doors between all the rooms. The common area were very nice as well. The kids loved the quiet pool area. My wife thought the two sitting areas (the library room and TV room) were also very nice. The only other thing to note is that it's quicker to get to BCV via the Boardwalk entrance and going around through the tunnel under the Epcot waterway link than to cone around by the Swan, Dolphin, and Yacht Club. We are on the fence on an add-on, as we feel a resale purchase of VWL or BWV are more bang for the buck at $65 to $67 a point than BCV at $80.

 

[invalid_char]

Hi. We just got back yesterday. (11/1). Don't have time to do a full trip report but want to say that the BCVs were AWESOME!! But then, we have always loved the Beach Club.

SAB is even more awesome than I remembered because it is no longer over-crowded. You cannot swim in the pool unless you are staying at BCV, BC or YC. It is an extremely relaxing and rejuvenating pool with the sandy bottom, all of the private free-form areas, the waterfalls, the 3 hot tubs which look like they are part of the natural landscaping, the great slide which is part rocket slike/ part turning under waterfalls, the awesome kid slide in back of the ship, the lazy river, the whirlpool, the large tidepool area for the younger kids and then a great ice cream parlor to retreat to add back the calories you've just burned! I can see how the resort may lose some appeal in the colder months, but the week we were there it was hot... also the F&W festival was in Epcot and door to turnstile a moderate paced walk (with kids and stroller) was exactly five minutes! Plus, the rooms are very elegant with high-end touches such as granite countertops. I agree that there is probably one too many doors in the master bath area, but that is such a minor negative. The only other negatives were that there was a long check-out line and you could hear (but also see) the fireworks from the room. The rooms are beautifully decorated. I DID get a hearty Welcome Home from the CM upon check-in and I couldn't care less if I ever hear it again. I understand the symbolic importance for some, but for me, I just want to get great accomodations at a super resort at a great price. FIVE THUMBS UP (We all loved it) Some people don't love SAB. I can't understand it myself, but more power to 'em. I like the Boardwalk but it is not a relaxing enough atmosphere for us. We are already too spoiled by fantastic proximity to Epcot to consider OKW or VWL.

We had such an amazing time that we did a 100 point add-on while we were down there, even though we promised ourselves to only do 50!

Every CM I encountered was just about as Disney friendly as I could take... a welcome home at every turn would personally get on my nerves. Not everyone counts the number of welcome homes they get and I'm glad the CMS at the Beach Club take a more moderate view.

Maybe the original poster just had bad luck and should try going again once more. Each resort has its own personality. Perhaps in the end the poster will find that BCV is not for her and she can find a resort that suits her better! To everyone else, I would say do not be discouraged by this thread! I spoke with many people at the quiet pool while I was down there and everyone thought it was the greatest thing since sliced bread! Don't worry, and just go down and see for yourself!!!

 

[Lil]

We are back from a wonderful stay at the BCV. The atmosphere is different from OKW....but that's what Disney theme resorts are all about.

The only glitch we had at check-in was the assignment of a handi-capped room......we requested no handicapped and it was in writing on our reservation. I have back problems and a slip on a wet bathroom floor could cause serious damage.

Interesting enough, the CM checking us in was the same one that checked us in last summer at the BWV, assigning us a handicapped room (we took it and didn't like it). My husband told her we would not accept the room and the reason why, she checked with her manager and since the request was on our reservations......we were moved to another room.

We loved our stay, the pool, and the quick walk to Epcot for the F&W festival. Although the studio is smaller than OKW...we appreciated the sofa and larger counter space in the "kitchen"area.

Yes............Disney must have gotten a bargain on doors.

We noticed more people in the lobby, due to the DCL and conventions, and villas. I did feel there were not enough CM at the check in area, so I went off to one of the lovely quiet areas to read while hubby checked in. I really appreciated all the quiet areas, inside and outside, and convenience of valet or self parking.

I did not appreciate the outside door by the elevator...leading to quiet pool.....being left open as late as midnite if not later. One nite while sitting in the hot tub----my version of physical therapy Disney style.....a CM came out to the pool and told two parents their kids were too noisy and would be asked to leave the pool if she had to return due to complaints.

Although we love OKW, when we return with son, wife, and twin girls (they'll be 2 1/2). We have decided BCV is the place for them. Last October we took our other son's family and OKW was perfect for them. The beauty of being a DVC member.

 

[pwoodham]

We had a great stay at BCV in September, and we did get a "Welcome Home." I am also convinced, as Dean stated, that our expectations as vacationers vary widely.
We only go to WDW once every 2 years or so, and I plan that vacation in detail for 11 months. It would take a major catastrophe to make us think we didn't have a wonderful time. The downside is that it probably makes us not too objective about the experience! The upside is that we still think we had the time of our lives!!
I can think of a few things that would be a problem for us, like small, off-site, or dirty accomodations. Those have never been and are likely not to be problems with DVC, so we've already eliminated many of the vacation variables. I feel my family has made an investment in a place and atmosphere that is magical already, even without a "Welcome Home" or an Epcot view, and even with 4 doors to the bathroom and a handicap accessible room!! I would think that maybe we're just too easy to please, but we did spend a bunch of $$ to make sure we always have a DVC vacation experience.
I do appreciate other points of view that I get from this board, because it makes me more realistic about what to expect when I get to WDW. I'm able to adjust my expectations and still have a fabulous vacation. Many times, the issues that bother some folks are not a big deal to my family, but sometimes they are a big deal, and it's nice to be prepared. Thanks.