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Mouseketeer
- Joined
- Apr 28, 2001
- Messages
- 379
Synopsis of our 5 night trip to BCV (5/4- 5/9)
We took a 7AM flight out of Boston, took Tiffany Town Car, stopped at a grocery store and made it to BCV around 12:30. Although they do not give out room numbers, I confirmed that our requests were met (non-smoking, quiet room on top floor). The check-in CM said they had been but the room was not ready. We had a great time eating our welcome home lunch at B+C and then enjoying SAB (temp was in the 90's the entire trip), checking on the room periodically. Well, the room was not ready until 3:30, by which time my dd was begging to take a bath and lie down. Realizing that Disney was within their rights to not have the room ready till 4, I did not get upset. I was a little bit concerned when we saw the room (2 BR lockoff 469/471). Although it had an interesting view (you are right over the canal, with a view of both SE and a couple of the countries), the road is also very close to the room. We were on the 5th floor/Epcot view last time and it was quiet. In this case, however, we were on the 4th floor, and, since you are right over the canal, the road is closer to you because the bridge elevates it. I talked to the front desk and they said that this room should indeed be very quiet at night. The room also reeked of smoke, and the front desk said they would 'ionize' it in the morning. (Does anyone know if this works?) Well, this room was not quiet at night. Although dh slept soundly the rest of us were woken up constantly. There was even some persistent beeping starting very early in the morning. And our baby had a terrible time of it and let me tell you if the baby ain't happy, ain't nobodby happy!!!!! Realizing we had no choice but to move (including all of the groceries....ugh!), but still dreading having to pack and re-pack, we asked to be switched to the most quiet 2BR available. There was one facing Ariel's courtyard; they said we could pack up everything and the room would be ready after we got back from the parks. So, we spent a couple of hours re-packing everything, sending it downstairs, and went to Typhoon Lagoon for the day.
Typhoon Lagoon was awesome! Needless to say it was very enjoyable on such a hot day and we like it SO much more than BB. The tropical, lush atmosphere, the surf pool, the lazy river, the shark pool, the kiddy raft ride @Ketchakiddee Creek. I even like the storm slides better than the straight down, over in a second slides at BB. But I'm glad BB is popular because it makes TL less crowded.
Well, around 6:15 we come back wet and tired and rushing to get to our 7:30 ressie @ R+C. We ask for keys to our new villa. There is much whispering and pensive looks and no one will look me in the eye. After 20 minutes of huddling, and "we'll have this straightened out in just a minute", I go to see my dh + kids in the gift store. When I come back 10 minutes later, the huddle has gotten bigger. Finally, I demand to hear the truth... they gave the room they had on hold for us to someone else. OOPS!! What's worse, there were no more rooms to accomodate our party size. There were no 2 BRs in the entire DVC system! Well, I did not lose my temper, but the fact that I was upset was no great surprise either! I felt sorry for the CMs who were caught holding the bag, but I was also stunned that we were somehow left homeless. Finally, the virtuous manager Brian Blakely came to rescue the situation. He did everything that a manager should do: he owned up to the problem right away (he did not try to blame us or come up with excuses) and while he could not produce a 2BR villa which did not exist, he did present several options and we ultimately agreed that a 2 BR suite in the regular Beach Club w/ a refrigerator would be OK, even though we would have to move again the following night. There were some other very nice things that this manager did for us and he moved us to a quiet 2 BR @ BCV the following night. Despite all the moving around during our 5 night stay, this manager was so nice to us, I almost felt guilty for being upset in the first place! It was interesting to be in the Beach Club suite. It was so spacious and luxurious, it almost seemed like a honeymoon suite. Although it was a corner suite facing both the back BC courtyard and the Boardwalk, it was completely quiet and we all slept, well, like a baby should! (... better soundproofing?)
Anyway, the following day we did the much anticipated Cindy's breakfast. 3.5 dd was overwhelmed by this, and it took her a while to cope with all of the commotion and excitement. As usual,she enjoyed toontown and went on Goofy's Barnstormer, her 1st rollercoaster ride, and then Buzz, which she liked but thought was a little bit scary. Later, we did Cirque du Soleil, which we liked but didn't love.
We all slept well in our new 2BR villa. Although the original room we were in would probably be wonderful for most people given the view, those with babies or very light sleepers in their party should stay in this room with caution. Although we had a good experience with our 1st Epcot view room, I don't think we will be taking chances again with an Epcot view!
Finally rested, we went to AK the following day and fell in love with it! There is so much to see and absorb at this park, I just couldn't believe this was the same 1/2 day park people have been complaining about on the boards. What a gorgeous place with so much to do for everyone! In fact, Kali River Rapids was my dd's favorite attraction, even more than Cindy's breakfast.... go figure! This ride had just the right amount of excitement for her and we went on it 3 times during the heat of a 92 degree day! My dh loved all of Africa, and even the garbage guy, finally hinted that he should move on. dd liked the parade at MK better as the characters interact more. I think AK is the kind of park you can 'grow old with'. Once you've done all of the major, exciting attractions in WDW several times, and you want to take time to 'smell the roses' on your vacation, this is a great place to do it. There is so much detail and beauty there! We liked AK the last time we were there, but for some reason, we were just enamored with it this time and we stayed till closing time!
That night we went to the Brown Derby for dinner. After being surrounded by all of that lush greenery all day, MGM just seemed sterile. To me, MGM is the 1/2 day park, as in RnR and ToT until I feel sick and that's it! What's Hollywood without real movie stars? Would anyone go to AK without real animals? Well, that's the great part about WDW, is there is something for everyone!!
We enjoyed TL so much, and it was SO hot out, we decided to go back for another day. I have to admit that, while wonderful on the first day, the Beach Boys soundtrack was getting a little old toward the end of the day. They need to vary the music a little more! But it was still great and 3.5 dd was starting to master the smaller waves! That evening we went to Teppanyaki. It was a lot of fun and a real change of pace. Hello, dieters. They have the most amazing no sugar/no fat ice-cream at this place. It was so good in fact (far better even than the version they have at Beaches and Cream) that I asked the server 3 times if it really had no sugar in it... usually you can taste the difference.
Our last day we did MGM (ToT/RnR) in the morning, cooled off at SAB mid-day, and Epcot in the afternoon. The flower show was beautiful, with some countries (Mexico) putting in a lot more effort than others (Britain). We especially liked the Chinese topiary dragon who would periodically spray you with a cool mist. We ran into Snow White and Dopey here, which thrilled dd. Hello, again dieters, Norway has some delicious options which won't do damage, but I think this is well known. Despite all of the extra eating, dh and I each lost a couple of pounds on this trip... but I think it was due to all of the packing
We took a 7AM flight out of Boston, took Tiffany Town Car, stopped at a grocery store and made it to BCV around 12:30. Although they do not give out room numbers, I confirmed that our requests were met (non-smoking, quiet room on top floor). The check-in CM said they had been but the room was not ready. We had a great time eating our welcome home lunch at B+C and then enjoying SAB (temp was in the 90's the entire trip), checking on the room periodically. Well, the room was not ready until 3:30, by which time my dd was begging to take a bath and lie down. Realizing that Disney was within their rights to not have the room ready till 4, I did not get upset. I was a little bit concerned when we saw the room (2 BR lockoff 469/471). Although it had an interesting view (you are right over the canal, with a view of both SE and a couple of the countries), the road is also very close to the room. We were on the 5th floor/Epcot view last time and it was quiet. In this case, however, we were on the 4th floor, and, since you are right over the canal, the road is closer to you because the bridge elevates it. I talked to the front desk and they said that this room should indeed be very quiet at night. The room also reeked of smoke, and the front desk said they would 'ionize' it in the morning. (Does anyone know if this works?) Well, this room was not quiet at night. Although dh slept soundly the rest of us were woken up constantly. There was even some persistent beeping starting very early in the morning. And our baby had a terrible time of it and let me tell you if the baby ain't happy, ain't nobodby happy!!!!! Realizing we had no choice but to move (including all of the groceries....ugh!), but still dreading having to pack and re-pack, we asked to be switched to the most quiet 2BR available. There was one facing Ariel's courtyard; they said we could pack up everything and the room would be ready after we got back from the parks. So, we spent a couple of hours re-packing everything, sending it downstairs, and went to Typhoon Lagoon for the day.
Typhoon Lagoon was awesome! Needless to say it was very enjoyable on such a hot day and we like it SO much more than BB. The tropical, lush atmosphere, the surf pool, the lazy river, the shark pool, the kiddy raft ride @Ketchakiddee Creek. I even like the storm slides better than the straight down, over in a second slides at BB. But I'm glad BB is popular because it makes TL less crowded.
Well, around 6:15 we come back wet and tired and rushing to get to our 7:30 ressie @ R+C. We ask for keys to our new villa. There is much whispering and pensive looks and no one will look me in the eye. After 20 minutes of huddling, and "we'll have this straightened out in just a minute", I go to see my dh + kids in the gift store. When I come back 10 minutes later, the huddle has gotten bigger. Finally, I demand to hear the truth... they gave the room they had on hold for us to someone else. OOPS!! What's worse, there were no more rooms to accomodate our party size. There were no 2 BRs in the entire DVC system! Well, I did not lose my temper, but the fact that I was upset was no great surprise either! I felt sorry for the CMs who were caught holding the bag, but I was also stunned that we were somehow left homeless. Finally, the virtuous manager Brian Blakely came to rescue the situation. He did everything that a manager should do: he owned up to the problem right away (he did not try to blame us or come up with excuses) and while he could not produce a 2BR villa which did not exist, he did present several options and we ultimately agreed that a 2 BR suite in the regular Beach Club w/ a refrigerator would be OK, even though we would have to move again the following night. There were some other very nice things that this manager did for us and he moved us to a quiet 2 BR @ BCV the following night. Despite all the moving around during our 5 night stay, this manager was so nice to us, I almost felt guilty for being upset in the first place! It was interesting to be in the Beach Club suite. It was so spacious and luxurious, it almost seemed like a honeymoon suite. Although it was a corner suite facing both the back BC courtyard and the Boardwalk, it was completely quiet and we all slept, well, like a baby should! (... better soundproofing?)
Anyway, the following day we did the much anticipated Cindy's breakfast. 3.5 dd was overwhelmed by this, and it took her a while to cope with all of the commotion and excitement. As usual,she enjoyed toontown and went on Goofy's Barnstormer, her 1st rollercoaster ride, and then Buzz, which she liked but thought was a little bit scary. Later, we did Cirque du Soleil, which we liked but didn't love.
We all slept well in our new 2BR villa. Although the original room we were in would probably be wonderful for most people given the view, those with babies or very light sleepers in their party should stay in this room with caution. Although we had a good experience with our 1st Epcot view room, I don't think we will be taking chances again with an Epcot view!
Finally rested, we went to AK the following day and fell in love with it! There is so much to see and absorb at this park, I just couldn't believe this was the same 1/2 day park people have been complaining about on the boards. What a gorgeous place with so much to do for everyone! In fact, Kali River Rapids was my dd's favorite attraction, even more than Cindy's breakfast.... go figure! This ride had just the right amount of excitement for her and we went on it 3 times during the heat of a 92 degree day! My dh loved all of Africa, and even the garbage guy, finally hinted that he should move on. dd liked the parade at MK better as the characters interact more. I think AK is the kind of park you can 'grow old with'. Once you've done all of the major, exciting attractions in WDW several times, and you want to take time to 'smell the roses' on your vacation, this is a great place to do it. There is so much detail and beauty there! We liked AK the last time we were there, but for some reason, we were just enamored with it this time and we stayed till closing time!
That night we went to the Brown Derby for dinner. After being surrounded by all of that lush greenery all day, MGM just seemed sterile. To me, MGM is the 1/2 day park, as in RnR and ToT until I feel sick and that's it! What's Hollywood without real movie stars? Would anyone go to AK without real animals? Well, that's the great part about WDW, is there is something for everyone!!
We enjoyed TL so much, and it was SO hot out, we decided to go back for another day. I have to admit that, while wonderful on the first day, the Beach Boys soundtrack was getting a little old toward the end of the day. They need to vary the music a little more! But it was still great and 3.5 dd was starting to master the smaller waves! That evening we went to Teppanyaki. It was a lot of fun and a real change of pace. Hello, dieters. They have the most amazing no sugar/no fat ice-cream at this place. It was so good in fact (far better even than the version they have at Beaches and Cream) that I asked the server 3 times if it really had no sugar in it... usually you can taste the difference.
Our last day we did MGM (ToT/RnR) in the morning, cooled off at SAB mid-day, and Epcot in the afternoon. The flower show was beautiful, with some countries (Mexico) putting in a lot more effort than others (Britain). We especially liked the Chinese topiary dragon who would periodically spray you with a cool mist. We ran into Snow White and Dopey here, which thrilled dd. Hello, again dieters, Norway has some delicious options which won't do damage, but I think this is well known. Despite all of the extra eating, dh and I each lost a couple of pounds on this trip... but I think it was due to all of the packing
I cannot believe they gave away your room!! You are a much nicer person than I about it however... I'm curious, but why did they make you move from the regular 2 bedroom at BC? I'd figure it was their screw up & you should be allowed to stay (but that's just my opinion)
