Boardwalk Villas -- very minor complaint

[montessori]

We have stayed at the Boardwalk Inn and the Boardwalk Villas many times.
For our Christmas vacation, we rented points from a terrific DVC owner for a studio in the villas.
We made the reservations a long time ago but I'm not sure when exactly.
The reservation was for a preferred view studio.
Boardwalk view was requested and we did get that view.
We arrived at 8:00 am Sunday morning. We pre-checked in and stored out luggage.
The CM checking us in was very nice and I told her that I really didn't want the kind of balcony that has a solid wall instead of railings. I explained that we have gotten that kind of balcony too many times even though we specifically ask NOT to have that kind. We like to sit and watch the activity on the Boardwalk and we wanted to put our Christmas lights out there.
I'm sure you can see where this is going.
We checked back a few times during the day and the room was ready right around 4:00. I was disappointed when I saw the wall balcony so I called the front desk.
I explained what I had requested earlier but the Cm didn't seem to know what I was talking about.
She asked me, "Are you trying to say there's something obstructing the view from your balcony?"

I asked her if she knew what I meant by this kind of balcony and she said "No".

Eventually, she told me that she could move us to another room but it would have the same kind of balcony.
The balcony was the whole problem. Not a BIG problem, but a minor irritation.

We stayed with that room and we had a fantastic vacation!

My mother and daughter stayed on the other side at the Inn.
Those rooms are so much prettier than the villa rooms.
I've always thought so. The villas have their advantages, that's for sure. The Inn rooms are simply much, much prettier.

We LOVE the Boardwalk and will continue to vacation there as often as we possibly can!

This is our room with our lights on the balcony.

from the balcony

 

[montessori]

I can't find a picture of the inside of a villa but the rooms on that side are rather drab, there's just nothing special about the decor.

Here's a picture of a room at the Inn.
Pretty, isn't it?

 

[Puffy2]

I'm just confused. your picture looks to me like you had a room with a balcony that had railings (metal bars for a balcony)/ not so?

and , just wondering, aren't all the balconys at the resort the same (except for maybe size?). Just didn't know they were different.

 

[montessori]

Our balcony had a wall not the railings. There's a balcony with the railings above ours. There are more balconies WITH railings than without.

You have to stand up to see anything from the kind of balcony we had.

 

[montessori]

Our room is the one with the Christmas lights on the balcony, not the lights on in the room. Maybe that's where the confusion comes from.

 

[melindaandrob]

I see what you mean! I would want the balcony without the wall also. Can you request specific floors like anything above the second?

 

[ez]

I have been a dvc member for 2.5 years. We take several trips a year. After many requests, I've still never gotten a bw view. So from where I'm sitting, you've been pretty lucky!

 

[drusba]

Getting boardwalk view is itself an acheivement as there are not many rooms over the boardwalk. Also, there are a couple of things you may not have been aware of when you requested the view: (a) the majority of the boardwalk view rooms have the enclosed type porches; and (b) refurbishment is going on at the villas and many of the boardwalk view rooms with open balconies were out of use when you went.

 

[DebbieB]

I agree that you were lucky to get any BW view. I made a reservation at exactly 11 months for December 2000 with a BW view request and we ended up with a quiet pool view. BW views are only about 20% of the total resort. I went to the DVC annual meeting during that trip and the assignment of Boardwalk view rooms was a big discussion because many members were disappointed that they did not get one as requested.

I don't think the front desk cm's know which rooms have which type of balcony. I've seen them look into the book with the room charts and they just have blocks with the room numbers.

 

[montessori]

I am very grateful we got the Boardwalk view!

I am also aware that the resort is being refurbished and there are not as many rooms available as there normally would be.

I don't THINK there are more enclosed porches than the type with the railings. It sure doesn't look like that to me.

My husband, who is very easy-going, actually liked the enclosed porch. I much prefer the open kind, so we can sit and watch life on the Boardwalk.

Our tree (and the enclosed porch)

 

[jgates]

Actually I like you balcony better!!!!

Seriously though- I LOVE YOUR LITTLE TREE!!!! Where did you get it? It is exactly the size and type I am looking for to avoid the messes we have had the last few years with real and our big huge artificial trees.

 

[montessori]

Originally posted by jgates
Seriously though- I LOVE YOUR LITTLE TREE!!!! Where did you get it? It is exactly the size and type I am looking for to avoid the messes we have had the last few years with real and our big huge artificial trees.

I got the tree at Target. I didn't have time to decorate it properly this year. I'll fix up the basket and get more tiny ornaments next year.

 

[DebbieB]

I stayed in a standard view room earlier this month, we were on the 4th floor facing the bus stop. We had a fully enclosed balcony and it turned out to be a blessing because on the nights with heavy rain we could still go out and watch Illuminations (could see it over the convention center roof), with an open balcony we would have been standing in the rain.

 

[Puffy2]

I see now, I was looking at the other one before.