We switched our BWV christmas reservations to BCV's so we could check out the latest addition to the DVC family.
A little pixie dust.... A month before our arrival we decided to extend our vacation one additional day. When I called MS there wasn't any 1 bedrooms left for points, but we were able to secure a cash reservation for the one night at a daily rate of $385. plus tax. I asked to be placed on a automatic wait list for the one night. We left home on 12/5, as our trip actually started at Portofino Bay/Universal (loved this resort!) I called MS Friday 12/6 and much to my delight, on the very last day the wait list was available to us, the room became available for points! Thilled to save the $400 + it was going to cost us in cash compared to the 24 points we used for the night. (Interesting comparison....Those that rent points, charging $10. would have made $240 for the one night compared to the $385. Disney was prepared to charge us??!!)
We checked in just prior to 10AM on 12/8. A new cast member was working the front desk and had an experienced person working with her. We stated our room preferences again..top floor, non-smoking/medical reasons and Epcot view. We were thrilled when they advised they were able to meet ALL of our requests, however our room wasn't ready yet. No problem...we set off for provisions (Super Wal-mart on 192) We received numerous "welcome home" during our checkin process.
At 2:30 our room was ready. We were in room 557..Perfect Epcot view. Back of Canada, could see space ship Earth off to the Left and the top of America off to the Right. Mission to Mars roof straight ahead and could even see the Epcot Fountain during its performances to music.
The room: Walked in, connecting studio door to the left. There was a entry area here that would be large enough for an air mattress if you had kids that didn't want to share the sofa bed. Totally out of the way of all room traffic...except entering/exiting the unit, of course!
Very quite..we never heard a peep out of any neighbor, nor did we hear people in the hall way. Great job sound proofing this resort!
Loved the color scheme. Everything was new and in great working order. Had to adjust to all those doors in the bathroom. Got to be quite comical throughout the week! Not sure I really understand the door to the toilet area...you still have to enter/exit through the part of the bath with the shower?? Maybe families find this a beter setup?
Water Pressure in the shower....what a joke! There wasn't any pressure at all! There was a waterpic shower head, but if you turned it to other settings all that came out was a trickle of water! We spoke to others in the resort who also confirmed poor water pressure. Someone said lower floors had better pressure. Interested to hear others experiences with this??? We did mention this to the DVC staff in the open house unit, but their response was we needed to tell DVC ourselves.... Interesting response???
Air Conditioning....Not a fan of the new system. Could not set below 68 degrees. We sleep in a 60 degree room at home during the winter. Keep waking up at night because the system would shut off with no movement in the room. We never called maintenance...perhaps we should have? We understand the need for conservation...but wish we had more flexibility on temp settings while in the room.
The short walk to Epcot was fantastic! Great location!!
We took boat transportation to MGM, but always returned using the walkway back to the boardwalk. After touring the Osborne lights we found the lines for the boats were hugh, extending back to the front on MGM! On several evenings we were back at the BWV's before the first boat was even heading down to pick up some passengers! However, we loved the walk way...easy walk, well lit and very enjoyable. Even the boat captains pointed out the walk way, advising folks that if they missed the last boat at 8 PM the path was their only other alternative back to the Epcot resort areas.
Room 557 has an excellent view of Illuminations! We saw the show for the room a couple of nights. music is faint, but can be heard. We could even see the low fireworks, but not the water sprays. One evening, we watched the show while it was pouring rain outside, and I mean sheets of rain were coming down! It was great to be snug and dry in our room! I couldn't imagine folks looking up to see fireworks in all that rain!
Intersting...Zepherllias (killed that spelling!) is no longer the bottle water sold at the parks! Dasani is now being sold. When did this switch take place??
TV's ...when turned on displayed "welcome home"!! nice touch.
DVD player...wonderful to have...brought along some Christmas CD's and played them on the DVD. Nice to have music in the room!
We were there 8 nights. Never received any calls to attend a DVC member update like we always do when staying at BWV's and OKW. We did get an invitation to attend a coffee/danish meeting one Friday morning with the hotel staff. I went over but quickly learned this was the resort staff and had nothing to do with DVC, so I quickly went through the management "receiving line" and shared my comments about water pressure and air conditioning controls. Polite blank smiles...I don't think these folks had any control at all about what happens at the villa's. Didn't stay, so don't have a clue if they said anything important or not. Not many folks attending...just a couple of couples.
Lobby was beautiful decked out for the holidays. Got to meet Art, the friendly greeter. Nice man! Every person we encountered at this resort was very friendly and helpful.
Went to the open house unit to see if the DVC rep had any info to share...nothing. Everyone seemed very closed mouthed about future plans, prices etc. Eagle Pines just got a polite smile, but no update. Just the party line about DI being under construction etc. We did get our BCV pin for stopping by.
From Down Town Disney and West Side you can see all the activity going on at DI. Looks like they tore down the units that were there, as buildings were gone, and large equipment was moving around piles of dirt. Can't wait to see this resort finished!
We enjoyed our 8 nights at BCV's..it's a beautiful resort, one I'm sure we will try and stay at from time to time. Our home resorts are OKW and BWV's. Despite the cool, cloudy, rain etc. weather we encountered on many of our days this year, December continues to be our favorite time of the year to visit WDW.
Sorry this is so long!
Peggy Sue
A little pixie dust.... A month before our arrival we decided to extend our vacation one additional day. When I called MS there wasn't any 1 bedrooms left for points, but we were able to secure a cash reservation for the one night at a daily rate of $385. plus tax. I asked to be placed on a automatic wait list for the one night. We left home on 12/5, as our trip actually started at Portofino Bay/Universal (loved this resort!) I called MS Friday 12/6 and much to my delight, on the very last day the wait list was available to us, the room became available for points! Thilled to save the $400 + it was going to cost us in cash compared to the 24 points we used for the night. (Interesting comparison....Those that rent points, charging $10. would have made $240 for the one night compared to the $385. Disney was prepared to charge us??!!)
We checked in just prior to 10AM on 12/8. A new cast member was working the front desk and had an experienced person working with her. We stated our room preferences again..top floor, non-smoking/medical reasons and Epcot view. We were thrilled when they advised they were able to meet ALL of our requests, however our room wasn't ready yet. No problem...we set off for provisions (Super Wal-mart on 192) We received numerous "welcome home" during our checkin process.
At 2:30 our room was ready. We were in room 557..Perfect Epcot view. Back of Canada, could see space ship Earth off to the Left and the top of America off to the Right. Mission to Mars roof straight ahead and could even see the Epcot Fountain during its performances to music.
The room: Walked in, connecting studio door to the left. There was a entry area here that would be large enough for an air mattress if you had kids that didn't want to share the sofa bed. Totally out of the way of all room traffic...except entering/exiting the unit, of course!
Very quite..we never heard a peep out of any neighbor, nor did we hear people in the hall way. Great job sound proofing this resort!
Loved the color scheme. Everything was new and in great working order. Had to adjust to all those doors in the bathroom. Got to be quite comical throughout the week! Not sure I really understand the door to the toilet area...you still have to enter/exit through the part of the bath with the shower?? Maybe families find this a beter setup?
Water Pressure in the shower....what a joke! There wasn't any pressure at all! There was a waterpic shower head, but if you turned it to other settings all that came out was a trickle of water! We spoke to others in the resort who also confirmed poor water pressure. Someone said lower floors had better pressure. Interested to hear others experiences with this??? We did mention this to the DVC staff in the open house unit, but their response was we needed to tell DVC ourselves.... Interesting response???
Air Conditioning....Not a fan of the new system. Could not set below 68 degrees. We sleep in a 60 degree room at home during the winter. Keep waking up at night because the system would shut off with no movement in the room. We never called maintenance...perhaps we should have? We understand the need for conservation...but wish we had more flexibility on temp settings while in the room.
The short walk to Epcot was fantastic! Great location!!
We took boat transportation to MGM, but always returned using the walkway back to the boardwalk. After touring the Osborne lights we found the lines for the boats were hugh, extending back to the front on MGM! On several evenings we were back at the BWV's before the first boat was even heading down to pick up some passengers! However, we loved the walk way...easy walk, well lit and very enjoyable. Even the boat captains pointed out the walk way, advising folks that if they missed the last boat at 8 PM the path was their only other alternative back to the Epcot resort areas.
Room 557 has an excellent view of Illuminations! We saw the show for the room a couple of nights. music is faint, but can be heard. We could even see the low fireworks, but not the water sprays. One evening, we watched the show while it was pouring rain outside, and I mean sheets of rain were coming down! It was great to be snug and dry in our room! I couldn't imagine folks looking up to see fireworks in all that rain!
Intersting...Zepherllias (killed that spelling!) is no longer the bottle water sold at the parks! Dasani is now being sold. When did this switch take place??
TV's ...when turned on displayed "welcome home"!! nice touch.
DVD player...wonderful to have...brought along some Christmas CD's and played them on the DVD. Nice to have music in the room!
We were there 8 nights. Never received any calls to attend a DVC member update like we always do when staying at BWV's and OKW. We did get an invitation to attend a coffee/danish meeting one Friday morning with the hotel staff. I went over but quickly learned this was the resort staff and had nothing to do with DVC, so I quickly went through the management "receiving line" and shared my comments about water pressure and air conditioning controls. Polite blank smiles...I don't think these folks had any control at all about what happens at the villa's. Didn't stay, so don't have a clue if they said anything important or not. Not many folks attending...just a couple of couples.
Lobby was beautiful decked out for the holidays. Got to meet Art, the friendly greeter. Nice man! Every person we encountered at this resort was very friendly and helpful.
Went to the open house unit to see if the DVC rep had any info to share...nothing. Everyone seemed very closed mouthed about future plans, prices etc. Eagle Pines just got a polite smile, but no update. Just the party line about DI being under construction etc. We did get our BCV pin for stopping by.
From Down Town Disney and West Side you can see all the activity going on at DI. Looks like they tore down the units that were there, as buildings were gone, and large equipment was moving around piles of dirt. Can't wait to see this resort finished!
We enjoyed our 8 nights at BCV's..it's a beautiful resort, one I'm sure we will try and stay at from time to time. Our home resorts are OKW and BWV's. Despite the cool, cloudy, rain etc. weather we encountered on many of our days this year, December continues to be our favorite time of the year to visit WDW.
Sorry this is so long!
Peggy Sue
