BWV trip report, thoughts on new ticket sales down there

[dizfanz]

I am back from a lovely stay at BWV Jan 3rd through the 7th. We had room 3041 overlooking the boardwalk, right above the general store. This is the second year in a row we have had incredible weather just after the new year. We were married last year on the 5th and decided togo back for our anniversary. The room was nice, but not my favorite as far as color scheme goes. I am still a VWL fan. We did the tour at SSr and those rooms are lovely. And the grand villa, WOW!
Two thoughts about our trip. First, it pays to be educated on the new park ticket system down there. It seemed guest service and check-in lines were taking a while and I realized when it came to my turn why. The CM's have a difficult time explaining to people have the new system works. I understand the tickets, but I can appreciate how an uniformed person may be hesitant. That have a large laminated sheet explaing all the options. It looks like they are trying to upsell you for something maybe you took for granted. Example if you bought the old say 5 day PH. OK, you buy five days, but then it going to be $$$ more for park hopping then $$$ more for no expiration, etc... Imagine dad there thinking about himself, DW, and Jimmy, Johnnie, Joannie, etc... $$$$$$$$$
Second thought about extra hours at the park. I took advantage of the extra night hours at MK on Jan 5th. This was the first night for the MK. I thought hey, who is going to know about this already? Wrong!!! Big advice: If you want to stay, you must get a wristband from certain areas at the park and have a room key. Easy. If at MK, get away from anywhere near the front of the Park, ie Main Street or front of Adventureland and Tomorrowland before Wishes. If you get caught in this mess after the shown, my best advice is plop your butt down or shop for 15-20 minutes. Otherwise you will feel like asalmon swimming up river.

Feel free to ask any questions

 

[disney junky]

What extra hours are you talking about? Is this a new feature?

 

[sheryl0521]

I can only imagine how hard it must be for the CM's to try to explain the ticket changes. I am still reading the FAQ's to try to figure them out. Good thing we just fall back on the AP and take it from there.

The extra hour is a perk similar to the early entry. On selected days WDW resort guests can stay in a park after the normal closing time. I didn't know about the wrist bands - thanks for the heads up as we plan on using it in Feb!

 

[kweaver]

I am back from a lovely stay at BWV Jan 3rd through the 7th. We had room 3041 overlooking the boardwalk, right above the general store. This is the second year in a row we have had incredible weather just after the new year. We were married last year on the 5th and decided togo back for our anniversary. The room was nice, but not my favorite as far as color scheme goes. I am still a VWL fan. We did the tour at SSr and those rooms are lovely. And the grand villa, WOW!

Glad you enjoyed your stay! I'll agree...the weather has been fabulous. Going back to more standard winter temps this week, though.

Two thoughts about our trip. First, it pays to be educated on the new park ticket system down there. It seemed guest service and check-in lines were taking a while and I realized when it came to my turn why. The CM's have a difficult time explaining to people have the new system works. I understand the tickets, but I can appreciate how an uniformed person may be hesitant. That have a large laminated sheet explaing all the options. It looks like they are trying to upsell you for something maybe you took for granted. Example if you bought the old say 5 day PH. OK, you buy five days, but then it going to be $$$ more for park hopping then $$$ more for no expiration, etc... Imagine dad there thinking about himself, DW, and Jimmy, Johnnie, Joannie, etc... $$$$$$$$$

I'm surprised more folks don't purchase their tickets in advance...or at least do some research on the WDW website. For any family taking even a 4 day trip, park tickets are not a small chunk of change.

Second thought about extra hours at the park. I took advantage of the extra night hours at MK on Jan 5th. This was the first night for the MK. I thought hey, who is going to know about this already? Wrong!!! Big advice: If you want to stay, you must get a wristband from certain areas at the park and have a room key. Easy. If at MK, get away from anywhere near the front of the Park, ie Main Street or front of Adventureland and Tomorrowland before Wishes. If you get caught in this mess after the shown, my best advice is plop your butt down or shop for 15-20 minutes. Otherwise you will feel like asalmon swimming up river.

ROFL...we tried to escape from the Carousel at MK to the front of the park after Wishes in June...what a nightmare! We should have had a seat on a bench...but it was 11pm and I was afraid if the kids sat down, they would have to sleep there!

 

[JJ721]

We checked in th BWV on 1/2 at 9:00 in the morning. The room check-in process went as smoothly as it usually does, but the MYW ticket purchase process was not nearly as good. I seemed to have more info on the new ticket system than some of the CMs at Guest Services had (Thanks DIS board!!). It took three seperate visits to the Guest Services counter (total of 2.5 hours of my time) to convince seven different CMs that it was possible to purchase a 10 day base ticket with hopping and no expiration options. Don't get me wrong, everyone was incredibly helpful and sincere. But they also seemed to be frustrated with their own lack of knowledge on this new system.

In the end, I am frustrated that we were the "beta" testers for this system. (Had the tickets been available prior to 1/2 for advance purchase, I would have done that.) The guest services folks were very thankful to us for "educating" them on the 10 day ticket issue. And as the days passed, I noticed the lines at GS noticeably shorter.

Finally, as a result of all the confusion with the new tickets, I was overcharged by $1400 on my credit card for the ticket purchase. Another one hour to the BW billing department (another very helpful CM!) cleared this up.

It's kind of funny in that if this had happened to me at any other retail or consumer-oriented business, who knows what type of response I would have received from their "front-line" customer service people. However, at all times with every CM, I was treated with respect and a sincere interest in my satisfaction. In the end, it was the "face to face" CMs who made things right.

 

[DebbieB]

What extra hours are you talking about? Is this a new feature?

http://www.wdwinfo.com/wdwinfo/earlyentry.htm

 

[disney junky]

http://www.wdwinfo.com/wdwinfo/earlyentry.htm

thanks. that's really great news. and the listings are great too. i enjoy the early entry but sometimes the family likes to sleep in.

 

[disfountainofyouth]

Were do you pick-up the wrist bands? We are heading down in a
couple of weeks.

 

[twinscandc]

Look at the link listed above....all the information is listed, including the dates through March, 2005 and also a link to Park Hours....

Very helpful!!

 

[tinkgrl]

Hi,

Thanks for the report!!! Glad you had a good time!!!

Allison

 

[Simba's Mom]

Sounds like there were several of us at BWV at the same time. Dizfanz, we were just down the hall from you. Hope DS's trumpet didn't disturb you. Has anyone seen the lady on the Boardwalk in Western style clothes, rope, and a saddle? I heard she had a foreign accent. Somehow, we missed her whenever she performed, but I wondered-what did she do? Oh, and MK on January 5-ALL of Tomorrowland was crowded. I'd like to hear other reports on EMH as time goes on. I for one was dissappointed that it was so very busy, and no FP! So EMH didn't seem like any "perk" to me! Hoping it gets better (ie-less crowded).