BWV's answer to the Dreaded Dumpster View at VWL: the Dreaded Gutter View!!

[Granny]

We found the Dreaded Gutter Room at BWV!!

Okay, I know that the title of the thread is controversial. And that if you good folks didn’t know me better, you’d think that I was just a troll stirring up trouble.


Well, I am stirring it up a bit, but hopefully in a manner that will be taken in the tongue-in-cheek manner intended.


Let’s start by saying that I am a BWV owner to the tune of 270 points. So I’m not bashing someone else’s resort or something I have minimal ownership interest in. We truly enjoy BWV and everything it has to offer by way of amenities, activities, dining and theme park location. You can see my recent trip report on this board and find that we had a great time.


That said, our last trip we stayed in a 2BR lock-off (of course, since that’s all BWV has for 2BR’s) villa numbers 5069 & 5071. We made no request at all for our room other than Non-Smoking, which was irrelevant by the time we stayed there.

All I can say is….”be careful what you folks wish for”, as I see many people who think the hallways at BWV are so l…..o…..n….g! Read on, and think about that request of “close to the elevators” for future reference.

As you exit the elevators and turn down the SV hallway, these villas are the first two doors you come to (on the left, naturally). Here’s a photo indicating the location of our villas from the outside, circled in red:

So what’s the big deal about these rooms? Well, here’s the view when looking straight out and down from the master bedroom balcony (far right in the previous photo) onto the roof and drainage roof areas which I've termed "the gutter" :

Here's the view when looking directly to the right from this balcony:

Here’s the view when looking to the left from the same balcony::

I’d have to say that these views were no better than the much maligned “Dreaded Dumpster View” villas at VWL. Here’s a refresher photo of that:

Okay, so you say that it’s not just the view but the noise at VWL with the maintenance vehicles, et al. Well, I have to say that those maintenance vehicles have nothing on the Magical Express cages being rolled around, clanged together and loaded onto a truck a few times per day. Here’s a couple of photos of the cages and the truck loading,

The ME noises started early in the morning and continue sporadically throughout the day. Not really a big deal, but certainly noticeable at night time and early morning.



But as they say on infomercials….BUT WAIT, THAT’s NOT ALL!!!



All night long we hear a whirring, almost humming kind of noise intermittently going off and on. A maintenance guy we came across several days into the trip said it was probably the elevators, but we were across the hallway from them. After we discussed it, we really couldn’t think of anything else unless it was air conditioning condensers on the roof or something like that???? If it really was the elevators, I’d sure hate to be the room that actually had a wall backing up to the elevators!


So there you have it. I can only assume that the floors directly below our villa experienced the ME noise even more, though their view of the roof/gutter diminished as they get closer to the ground.

I think every resort has some rooms that might be less wonderful than others. I don’t recall seeing a lot on these particular rooms other than one previous report talking about the ME noise. So I thought it would be fun to share some photo observations.


So, the next time we make a reservation at BWV, will we ask to be “far away from the elevators”? Nope. Everything I’ve described was manageable, and instead of focusing on the rooftops and gutters, I tended to look at this particular angle from our balcony:

It was quite nice, and my teenage daughters enjoyed watching the cute valet & bell service guys at work.

By the way, if you look to the right on the VWL balconies that have the Dreaded Dumpster View, you’ll see a beautiful wooded scene. I haven't had those rooms yet, but don't think they'll bother me much when I inevitably get one at some point in the future.

Moral of the story. We’ll be staying at DVC resorts for many, many years to come. Views may be more or less wonderful, but we will never let them impact the fun we have on vacation. We had another great trip, in the Dreaded Gutter View Room of all places!

 

[Entropy]

I guess that it's very hard to design a resort where everyone has a million-dollar view.
When we booked the Grand Californian for Disneyland's 50th, we had a choice of Downtown Disney view, Pool view, park view and STANDARD view. Beware the standard view because it's correct title in our case was Carrier-5-Ton-Package-A/C-Unit-With-An-Occasional-Monorail-Zooming-By view. We shoulda spent a few more bucks for the Park view.

 

[minster22]

I have stayed in those rooms a couple of years ago....not my favorite room at BWV but it was a trip with a friend who had never been to WDW before so not a lot of time was spent in the room...so not a big deal...it was noisy though with all the noise from luggage, valet and ME. And yes, I do now request a room away from the elevators...I love the Illuminations view and the quick walk down the stairs to the Community pool!!

 

[jade1]

Exactly why the guaranteed BW View is such a great option.

 

[LocustPoint]

Look at it this way-a day with the dreaded gutter view at BWV is still better than a day back home at work!

 

[bobbiwoz]

The other day I realized that I hadn't heard anything more about the ME cages at BWV, and so, I mistakenly thought that Disney had changed their procedure, the problem was resolved!

Thanks for finding the silver lining.

Bobbi

 

[jiggerj]

Thanks for the pics granny- I never knew this type of view even existed!

I have always told myself that the longer the walk the better the view- and so far so good!

 

[Boston5602]

Thanks for the pics and info.

 

[eliza61]

Granny,
Thank you for a wonderful read on a dreary Monday morning. Even more thanks for the wonderful attitude on a room view. When life hands out lemons make lemonaide (and enjoy the view of the cute, hot guys in shorts)

 

[BWV Dreamin]

This makes my request for Boardwalk View even that much more worth the extra points! Thanks for the pics.

 

[Muushka]

You done good, Granny .

Folks, This is why Granny is "The Man"

PS You did not fuel my desire to stay at BWV

 

[sajetto]

Whoa, I had no idea that view existed! This makes me wonder what Value View and Standard View are going to look like at AKL

 

[LIFERBABE]

Thanks Granny!!

You sold me on the Cute Hot Guy/Gutter view rooms. I think they should charge extra points for that!

I'll be sure to take extra single dollar bills for tipping

You are sooo right about the views. We stayed at BCV last month and we had an Epcot view. Well we were sooo close to the road, I thought I was going to get hit by a bus! If you looked straight out, you saw SE and Soarin, and part of WS, and if I took pictures of just that everyone would have thought what a wonderful view, which it is, with a lot of road noise.
So they all have their thorns.

 

[SleepyatDVC]

Thanks Granny for the pictures and the report!!

You are right that views will vary per stay but the trips can be just as fun!

I think I have had that exact view quite a few times since I usually do request Std View near elevators!!! And I never even noticed the gutters!

Although, I do agree that the luggage cages are a bit noisy. But since I am from NYC, it just becomes white noise to me. Crickets on the other hand drive me NUTZ!!!! I've had a few serenade me through the windows at WDW which had me wanting to open the balcony door to scream at them to shut up!!!

Which leads me to believe that getting the dumpster view wouldn't bother me much after the first 5 minutes in the room. The only advantage of the gutter view room over the dumpster view room is probably the shorter walk from the elevator.

Having a great view from the room is some additional pixie dust on my vacation but not enough to affect the rest of my trip. The only time I REALLY spent a LOT of time on the balcony of the room was at OKW and the water views there are awesome. It's also nice that you can't see your neighbors and that there is a dining table out there that's big enough so we eat meals out there as a family.

 

[cobbler]

Just don't get any room that is 2009, 3009, 4009, or 5009. That is the very beginning of the Crest of the Wave bldg and on your balconies, if you look to the right, you look right at the red wall.

 

[lenshanem]

Nice...

I'm sorry Granny!

Well, I keep getting I swear the same room at BCV every time we go. I'm gonna have to start writing down the room numbers. I think we are marked to be put in this room. It faces that back service road and the mysterious oval. We typically close the curtains and push the coffee table up against the window and lay our luggage on it. No need to go out on that balcony...

One day, one day I'll get lucky enough to face the parking lot.

 

[lenshanem]

I forgot to ask - was that a standard or preferred room?

 

[2infinityandbeyond]

Does anyone have pix of the view one might have with a room as far away from the elevators as possible (the anti-gutter view )??

 

[Granny]

I forgot to ask - was that a standard or preferred room?

It is Standard View.

 

[jiggerj]

Does anyone have pix of the view one might have with a room as far away from the elevators as possible (the anti-gutter view )??

Sorry but I cant remember the room #- this was from the 4th floor- the very last room- standard view-- TOT at night was awesome!