1st time staying at BWV! Some questions...

[Pluto14]

I called today and was able to get a 1BR Villa (Standard View) for July 12-18. We usually call "home" VWL, so we've never stayed anywhere else. We know exactly where we like to "live" when we stay at the lodge (ie. what floor, location to the elevator, etc.) Does anyone have any good recommendation as to where to request for BW? We will have a 3 year old along, so the shortest route to the bus would be best (and maybe somewhere on the quieter side...not that I can have the best of both worlds, but I can dream!) I am not familiar with the layout of BW, so any advice would be appreciated.

Thanks!
Kris
Joe
Katie

 

[3DisneyKids]

Definitely do some research about the bus situation. Obviously, Epcot and MGM are right there (take the boat since you have a little one). But the buses to MK from BW are not great. There are ways to make it better, so you will want to check around.

 

[llmurphy17]

We just came back and it was wonderful We had room 5074 which was close to the elevators and faced the lunar pool near the center.

The lobby is on the 2nd floor which is where you would get off to walk to the front of the hotel to catch a bus for mk, ak, dtd, and the water parks. We had a wait time of less than 10 minutes. The bus will also stop at the swan and dolphin. To walk to the boardwalk or the pool you would get off on the 1st floor. The boardwalk atmosphere and view was amazing. Housekeeping and the staff were very nice. We were also able to go to the merry mixer easily since it was only a five minute walk.

You can walk to Epcot about 5 minutes or mgm about 25 minutes. There is also the friendship boat to mgm or epcot. It picks up BW then BC then Swan and Dolpin. If you have a stroller you need to sit in the inside back of the boat.

We went with three young children and it was terrific to travel to mgm or epcot.

Hope you enjoy your stay as much as we did.

 

[Granny]

Does anyone have any good recommendation as to where to request for BW? We will have a 3 year old along, so the shortest route to the bus would be best (and maybe somewhere on the quieter side...not that I can have the best of both worlds, but I can dream!) I am not familiar with the layout of BW, so any advice would be appreciated.

Since you have a Standard View, and want a quieter room, then I'd advise to request far from the elevators, across from the bus stop. However, that is not particularly convenient to the elevators or the bus stop.

Here's the layout with the SV rooms represented by the blue line:

Away from the elevators also means that you are away from the front drive-up area and the ME cages that can be a bit noisy at times.

You also get a bit better view of Illuminations over the BWI resort rooftop the further down the halls you are, assuming you aren't around the corner overlooking the parking lot.

 

[pixie08]

Over the summer we had a 1bdr on the 2nd floor right off the elevator lobby that leads out to the pool area. The room had a pool view. It was great...never found it loud and it was close to the elevator and lobby which means closer access to the bus!

 

[crisi]

In five + years of ownership, we've never had a location request met at BWV. If we ask for high floor, we are on the ground floor. If we want close to the elevators, we are 3/4ths of the way down the hall towards MGM.

But we've never had a bad room either.

 

[melk]

We requested an upper floor, away from the elevators and that's what we got. We could see Illuminations from our balcony and it was fun to just sit out there in the morning and see the comings and goings. Just be prepared--those hallways are long!

Also, we could walk right down the stairs near our room and we were directly across from the bus stop. It worked really well for us.

 

[GILL-WDW]

My Waitlist just came in for BWV and i was wondering if someone could tell me what Studio Garden/Pool View would be?

Sorry for jumping on the thread

 

[DebbieB]

My Waitlist just came in for BWV and i was wondering if someone could tell me what Studio Garden/Pool View would be?

Sorry for jumping on the thread

See Granny's post above. It's the areas in red. Basically facing the 2 pools, the Swan/Dolphin or the courtyard.

 

[Pluto14]

Thanks for the advice! Just wondering exactly how long is LONG, as far as those of you mentioning that the walk to the elevator can be long. Are we talking 1-2 minutes, 5 minutes??? MORE?

I saw some of you mention seeing fireworks from your rooms. Is this even in the Standard view room? I'd imagine you'd have to be on one of the higher floors, right?

I'm under the assumption that BWV also has free valet parking to DVC members. Is this also correct (aside from tipping, of course! )

TIA!

 

[crisi]

Generally speaking, the higher you go and the further down the hall you go with a standard view room, the better the fireworks view is going to be. But we've seen high fireworks from the ground floor close to the elevators - and if a tree is in the way, you might not see much from a higher floor further down. (Same with the Boardwalk - not a lot of preferred view rooms see any fireworks). Remember that much of Illuminations happens close to the lake. Even the best fireworks view at BWV isn't the same as sitting near the Lagoon. We usually walk in if we want to SEE Illuminations - we usually peek at, but don't watch from start to finish, from our balcony if we are in our room.

As to how long the hall is....I don't think its THAT far - we've had rooms with longer walks at WL and AKL (not the Villas) - Disney resorts are big, BWV is no exception to that. The lobby is pretty much in the center, so there shouldn't be any reason to walk end to end. I'd say about two or three minutes from the lobby to a far room at any end of the hall. Longer if you are travelling with slow walkers - shorter if you are chasing running children.