We just arrived home last night from a week at WDW. We spent our first 2 nights in a studio at the BCV and the rest of the week in a standard view 1br at BWV. The resorts were just about the best part of our stay, though we did have fun at the parks as usual.
We checked into the BCV at about 10:30 am Saturday 10/25. We were able to get our room immediately.. room 270, second floor, overlooking the canal where we discovered a large number of turtles! We could also see the pool. We did see the alligator one morning...he's a big one! The room was in perfect condition and even the pull out sofa was very comfortable. Oh, I did notice that the upper lock on the balcony door didn't work, which was a little bit of an issue with my 3yo who liked being on the balcony a lot....naked. I've seen several issues with the BCV being brought up recently...and honestly, I did not experience any of them. Remembering comments on the cleanliness of the railings near the pool, I did notice that the ones over the canal needed cleaning....but it really wasn't a huge issue. Nothing really appeared dingy or in disrepair....quite the opposite, in fact. We also enjoyed Stormalong Bay, though I was a little disappointed that they no longer have the Rising Sands and the small slide out on the shipwreck was not working.
On Monday we moved to BWV....where we were also able to check into our room immediately...1101, first floor right across from the bus stop. I had requested a particular room that we love...but it wasn't available. I do wonder if the check in CM had meant it wasn't available at all, or just not at that exact moment....I wish I had been more specific and let them know that we didn't need the room immediately. As it was, we dropped our check in packet in the room and headed to Epcot for the day! The first floor room had its advantages though....we had very easy access to the bus stop, pools and boardwalk. No worries about kids climbing railings. But we did discover that if we were to leave the bathroom door open while the drapes were opened that the bus stop was visible from the toilet! We took care to not provide a view that no one would want! We also just weren't as likely as usual to keep the curtains open because of all the traffic at the check in area...the feeling that we were in a fish tank on display...so that was the down side of being on the first floor. This room was also in perfect condition...though the sofabed here was not nearly as comfortable as the one at BCV. Luckily, I didn't have to sleep on it.
We attended MNSSHP on the 30th....which was sold out and very crowded. If we were to do this again in the future we'd go to an earlier party. Seems to me they sell a few too many tickets to make it enjoyable for all. And there is really no way to do it all....even if you don't plan to ride the rides!
On Halloween night we went down to the Halloween party on the Boardwalk. This was great and we're glad we had planned to check it out. This was mostly for the kids...with quite a few fun activities and crafts for them to do. Plus, Mickey was there in his ghost costume and there was a dj who did a great job getting the kids up and dancing. Then there were trick or treat stations all along the boardwalk and in the shops. It was a very nice, low key event....not too long or too crowded. Very enjoyable. If we do Halloween at WDW again we will definitely plan to spend the evening here.
All in all we found the parks fairly crowded this past week. Not as crowded as in July or the weekend before the press event earlier in Oct.....but still much more crowded than we've experienced since way back in 1992. Makes it hard when you have a 3yo who doesn't understand what it means to have a 40 minute wait for a ride she really wants to go on and there's no fastpass available! It seems that for the past several years we haven't had to plan around the crowds...and this trip we definitely had to do that.
I'll be happy to answer any questions....we had a nice vacation, though somehow I don't feel it was one of our best. I still haven't figured out why because all the individual details were okay.
We checked into the BCV at about 10:30 am Saturday 10/25. We were able to get our room immediately.. room 270, second floor, overlooking the canal where we discovered a large number of turtles! We could also see the pool. We did see the alligator one morning...he's a big one! The room was in perfect condition and even the pull out sofa was very comfortable. Oh, I did notice that the upper lock on the balcony door didn't work, which was a little bit of an issue with my 3yo who liked being on the balcony a lot....naked. I've seen several issues with the BCV being brought up recently...and honestly, I did not experience any of them. Remembering comments on the cleanliness of the railings near the pool, I did notice that the ones over the canal needed cleaning....but it really wasn't a huge issue. Nothing really appeared dingy or in disrepair....quite the opposite, in fact. We also enjoyed Stormalong Bay, though I was a little disappointed that they no longer have the Rising Sands and the small slide out on the shipwreck was not working.
On Monday we moved to BWV....where we were also able to check into our room immediately...1101, first floor right across from the bus stop. I had requested a particular room that we love...but it wasn't available. I do wonder if the check in CM had meant it wasn't available at all, or just not at that exact moment....I wish I had been more specific and let them know that we didn't need the room immediately. As it was, we dropped our check in packet in the room and headed to Epcot for the day! The first floor room had its advantages though....we had very easy access to the bus stop, pools and boardwalk. No worries about kids climbing railings. But we did discover that if we were to leave the bathroom door open while the drapes were opened that the bus stop was visible from the toilet! We took care to not provide a view that no one would want! We also just weren't as likely as usual to keep the curtains open because of all the traffic at the check in area...the feeling that we were in a fish tank on display...so that was the down side of being on the first floor. This room was also in perfect condition...though the sofabed here was not nearly as comfortable as the one at BCV. Luckily, I didn't have to sleep on it.
We attended MNSSHP on the 30th....which was sold out and very crowded. If we were to do this again in the future we'd go to an earlier party. Seems to me they sell a few too many tickets to make it enjoyable for all. And there is really no way to do it all....even if you don't plan to ride the rides!
On Halloween night we went down to the Halloween party on the Boardwalk. This was great and we're glad we had planned to check it out. This was mostly for the kids...with quite a few fun activities and crafts for them to do. Plus, Mickey was there in his ghost costume and there was a dj who did a great job getting the kids up and dancing. Then there were trick or treat stations all along the boardwalk and in the shops. It was a very nice, low key event....not too long or too crowded. Very enjoyable. If we do Halloween at WDW again we will definitely plan to spend the evening here.
All in all we found the parks fairly crowded this past week. Not as crowded as in July or the weekend before the press event earlier in Oct.....but still much more crowded than we've experienced since way back in 1992. Makes it hard when you have a 3yo who doesn't understand what it means to have a 40 minute wait for a ride she really wants to go on and there's no fastpass available! It seems that for the past several years we haven't had to plan around the crowds...and this trip we definitely had to do that.
I'll be happy to answer any questions....we had a nice vacation, though somehow I don't feel it was one of our best. I still haven't figured out why because all the individual details were okay.
