Back from BWV...

[Beth]

My DH and I drove over Sunday to stay one night at BWV, taking advantage of the holiday yesterday.

I was very surprised to walk in the lobby on November 11th and see the Christmas decorations already up! The garland was strung over the front desk, the Christmas trees were up, and the garland was hung outside on the villas. A woman seated in front of us on one of the Friendship boats said a CM told her that Boardwalk was the first of the resorts to be decorated. I don't know - it just seemed a little too early for me. But the candy display (of course) wasn't up yet, and there was no Kenny G - so it wasn't <i>totally</i> Christmas, yet!

Something else that I didn't realize - sorry if this is old news - is that the Member Benefit sheet now says that DVC members "are eligible for merchandise discounts offered through the American Express White Glove program. Through 12/31/01 receive a 15% discount on purchases of $50 or more, and from 1/01/02 - 12/31/02, receive 10% on minimum purchases of $25 at the standard DC discount stores at DD Marketplace. Given this information, with my FL Res DDE card, I may just drop my DC membership. We'll see....

As far as construction/renovation, all of the scaffolding up over the Boardwalk that we saw on Labor Day is gone. The entire section of the villas, though, facing the quiet pool and Community Hall are covered with scaffolding. But when we passed by on the Friendship boat yesterday coming from MGM - there were <i>many</i> workers working on the job.

We stayed in the room as late as we could yesterday - to try and get out "point's worth," and, shortly after 9:00 AM, we started hearing this loud, tearing noise. Yep - they were RIPPING up the carpet in the hall. Then came the loud equipment used to clean up all the glue. But - they were working at it quickly, and the replacement carpet & glue was sitting right there in the hallway, so I suspect the job would have been finished by the end of the day. Don't know for sure the progress on this through the rest of the resort - we didn't walk around much.

All in all - we had a GREAT 2 days. My DH had never stayed in anything larger than a studio at BWV, so I splurged and got us a 1BR - he was impressed.

 

[PamOKW]

Sounds like a fun trip! Thanks for the update. (And I agree it is a little early for Christmas. Maybe with the cutbacks they haven't got as many people to get all the resorts finished by Thanksgiving.)

 

[BQR]

Thanks Beth,

Very useful info. and timely.

3 days, 8 hours and 10 sec. before we leave for BWV

 

[NJmouse]

glad you had a great time! What was your room # and how was the view?

 

[Hoppy]

Beth,

DH and I returned last night from BWV. I was shocked when I discovered the Christmas decors on the morning of Fri. Nov.9. CMs put up decorations in the middle of the night.

How did you find the crowds? EPCOT and MGM seemed a little crowded to us (of course this did not hamper our "couples-long weekend"). It was great to be home!

Counting the days until June 2002 trip. inkbounc

 

[Beth]

NJMouse - we had a "preferred view," room #3010. The view was fine - but nothing to "write home about..." We overlooked the DVC offices (not the ones on the Boardwalk, but the ones out back on the canal) - but could see the canal, the Swan, and the Dolphin, as well as a lovely courtyard directly below us.

Hoppy. I thought the crowds were "ok" - certainly manageable. We only did EPCOT (mostly Sunday) and MGM (Monday). We didn't do ANY rides - just ate! But there was no need for a PS at either Le Cellier and Mama Melrose's - we walked right in and were seated. The lines at the Food & Wine festival weren't bad, either. We stayed until the last set for the British Invasion last night at 7:00 - and the lines for the food booths then were really short!

There was never any threat of "not" making it on the Friendship Boats - there were always several seats.

Something else that was new - one of the Captains on the boat said that they recently went through a Safety exam of some sort, and it was recommended that they no longer allow guests waiting at the Boardwalk to wait on the aluminum ramp there on the dock - so, instead, the line forms at the top of the ramp, and backs up onto the Boardwalk. Also - they now insist that there be TWO CM's on the boats at all times so, consequently, there were several times there was NO CM at the dock to tell you a status on the next boat, etc. He said they (the CM's) weren't happy about either change.