Comparing BCV, BWV, OKW, SSR.... would or wouldn't you buy again at these resorts?

[Deb & Bill]

What mess did they make with the re-do?
Trying to learn all I can. : )

They didn't do anything to the bathrooms, not even steam the grout and in some villas do repairs on cabinets, drawer and cabinet pulls, etc. A lot of the older furniture was poorly refinished (don't even ask about the alligator table in the living room) and dark colors were used instead of the pickled woods and light colors previously.

They replaced the old wooden blinds in the living room and on the french doors with roman shades. While the roman shades are nice, the mechanism to open them is awful. They got the most child-proof mechanism every imagined and it takes forever to open the shades.

The beds in the master bedrooms used to have a metal headboard, footboard and frame (not brass, but a painted metal). Now it just has a dark wood headboard secured to the wall and the mattress is on a box platform.

They did add the sleeper chair to the living room, but it is the ugliest dark brown fabric. The sleeper sofas used to be somewhat comfortable, but now they are not that great for sleeping. And the fabric on the cushions feels like sandpaper against your skin when you are trying to sit on them. It used to be more like a canvas fabric. Now it is seriously non-natural fiber. Maybe old cactus.

 

[Dean]

Great, unbiased response Dean.

I'll clip out one phrase



This is really the key phrase for any home resort choice. As long as this condition is met, then let the other factors mentioned lead you to your home resort.

IMO, the "buy where you want to stay" phrase was never a good response unless one wants to stay at a given resort most trips or wants/needs a high demand option routinely. I believe the better choice for most is to buy the lowest option that you're comfortable with. And when the price break becomes large enough, the other risks can be worth it even for VB/HH points. For those more selective, multiple home resorts can be a good option as well.

 

[cvjw]

We own at BCV, OKW and SSR - and are happy with all of our purchases. We also own at VWL. We bought BCV and VWL to use at the 11 month mark, and SSR and OKW to use at the 7 month mark. We tried to buy a BWV contract, but it fell thru, and we are very happy about that now. After multiple stays at BWV, it has fallen in our favorite resorts list. It has been replaced with KV and BLT - the extra bathroom and sleeper chair are wonderful for our family.

 

[Ciciwoowoo]

I think the important thing is to buy where you want to stay. If you can, try to stay at all these resorts to see if you like them.

Of the 4, I've only stayed at the BWV. We own points there. I love Boardwalk because of its proximity to both Epcot and DHS. The entertainment at night is great too! Drawbacks include a lack of a typical counter service place to eat and no dedicated 2 bedroom villas.

It can be tough to get a reservation at BWV at the 7 month mark, especially if you are requesting a standard view or Boardwalk view.

 

[Dean]

I think the important thing is to buy where you want to stay. If you can, try to stay at all these resorts to see if you like them.

To me these are contrarian ideas if one buys at a resort with higher buy in or higher dues unless one waits to buy until after they've stayed at them all. Better to own at say SSR at $50 a point and wish you had a different resort than say BLT at $140 per point. Often people buy more points than they currently need or will need in the future. With smaller kids and smaller families, often they see an expansion over the years and it's not uncommon to go from a studio to a 1 BR to a 2 BR. It's also not uncommon to go the other way as the kids age and go off to college etc. Grandkids could see another increase in need for additional points. One needs to consider carefully how many points they really need (WITHOUT Cruises, etc), and not over buy. I feel that FEAR of not having enough points is a major factor in causing people to over buy. There are always options to supplement points for the occasional situation where you don't have enough.

 

[alanapapa]

I feel that FEAR of not having enough points is a major factor in causing people to over buy. There are always options to supplement points for the occasional situation where you don't have enough.

I think you have hit the nail on the head Dean, but that goes against the normal American attitude as espoused by Tim "The Tool-Man" Taylor that more of anything is better, & bigger means better. We do not want to seem needy, so we will buy more and consume more just because it is available.

But I also think that this is straying from the OP's question, would we buy again at these resorts, and why or why not.

 

[sssteele]

My wife and I own most of our points at BCV, and love it for the pool and convenience to World Showcase. That being said, we have loved our OKW stays (pre-renovations), with one caveat - since it is almost always just the 2 of us in a studio, we prefer a sofa and bed, instead of the 2 beds in the OKW studios. (TV watching, reading) Don't own there, but wouldnt mind a few points if they'd make that change.

 

[Mickey'sApprentice]

My Dh and I love BWV. Sis & BIL prefer BCV.

We own at BWV because we could justify the cost for Boardwalk views, and standard points. We love the more gilded elegance and the energy of the Boardwalk. We don't swim and the pool isn't a big draw one way or the other. I've got foot issues so the boat to Epcot is much more attractive than the walk from BCV.


Sis & BIL love BCV because they and their boys love SAB, and the convenience to Epcot. BCV's understated elegance is much more attractive to Sis. The view means nothing to them.

Both my family and my sisters family prefer the parking and restaurants at BC.

When it came down to brass tacks...me and DH could happily justify the cost of BWV. The lower point cost and the lower points required, and our desire to frequently visit made it a no brainer for us. DH is a planner so we can almost always get the standard or boardwalk views.

Sis's family on the other hand, have not bought into DVC. They could not justify the overall cost of purchasing DVC at BCV. They have trouble justifying purchasing at BCV with the price and points charts, paying park tickets and dining for 4 adults even though the kids are still kids. They are just as likely to go to the beach or the mountains as they are to go to WDW.

I will not say that I am disappointed with my DVC purchase, but I no longer enthusiastically recommend it to family and friends.

 

[bobbiwoz]

I've bought all that you mention except OKW and I'm happy with the purchases and use them all to a certain degree at 11 months. At 7 months, I may try to move a studio over to BCV if I needed an extra room and booked it at either of the other two. When I know what we want, I do book the main villa, usually a 2 bedroom or a treehouse at 11 months, when I know we'll be going with family and friends.

I love the BWV standard view villas and especially love the cost savings when we go in the Christmas to New Years time period. I love the NYE fireworks and think it will be a tradition for many years to come!

We do not own at BLT and we had been lucky with a 2 bedroom BLT waitlist for the 2010 marathon weekend, but so far, I'm still on the waitlist for 2012's marathon time.

Bobbi

 

[bobbiwoz]

...They did add the sleeper chair to the living room, but it is the ugliest dark brown fabric. The sleeper sofas used to be somewhat comfortable, but now they are not that great for sleeping. And the fabric on the cushions feels like sandpaper against your skin when you are trying to sit on them. It used to be more like a canvas fabric. Now it is seriously non-natural fiber. Maybe old cactus.

Wow. I haven't stayed at OKW since the refurb, but we had been in a 1 bedroom years ago, and DH loved it so much and does keep suggesting that I book one again for a trip.
I'm afraid that without a rug in the main area the floors could be slippery and I don't want to deal with that in the villa. Are the floors slippery?

 

[Deb & Bill]

Wow. I haven't stayed at OKW since the refurb, but we had been in a 1 bedroom years ago, and DH loved it so much and does keep suggesting that I book one again for a trip.
I'm afraid that without a rug in the main area the floors could be slippery and I don't want to deal with that in the villa. Are the floors slippery?

No, the floor isn't slippery.

Thanks for bringing up the "wood" floors at OKW, Bobbi. How could I forget that they removed the carpet from the living room and put new carpet in the bedroom.

 

[Lost in Neverland]

We would do it again in an instant if finances would allow it. We have 2 contracts at OKW and could not imagine owing anywhere else.

 

[Sammie]

What mess did they make with the re-do?
Trying to learn all I can. : )

They did not redo the bathrooms for one thing and in my opinion they needed it more than anything they did redo.

I like the new granite countertops and the new TVs. The new carpet in bedrooms is nice. But the fake floors are not, and are noisey.

But the worst is they repainted the exisiting furniture into very dark shiny finishes which does not reflect the theme of Old Key West and already the finishes are pealing off.

It just looks cheap to me. OKW is still a great resort I am just not happy with the current upper management and decisions that are being made. Just like Bay Lake Towers they cheaped out on those furnishings too and they are showing it.

 

[Mickey'sApprentice]

Oh yeah,

If this makes a difference...

all 2 bedrooms at BWV are lock-offs. All studios have a queen bed and a sofa.

Some 2 bedrooms at BCV are dedicated and have 2 queen beds in the studio side.

BWV have Grand Villas available for a lot of points, while BCV have no Grand Villas at all.

 

[palhockeymomof2]

We purchased BWV over 10 years ago no regrets and would buy there again if we needed more points

 

[thelobstershanty]

I have to say I think I'm starting to feel the same way. We paid less than $60/point for most of ours and nearly gagged when we had to pay for our small AKV contract back before AKV opened. I love our DVC points and our DVC stays, but the value and the quality have fallen greatly in the past 5 years. It no longer has the "wow" factor it did back in the 90's when we first purchased.

So sad and unfortunately so true.

 

[Starshine]

We spend most of our time at EPCOT so BCV is our choice. Yes we do go to the other parks sometime during our stay but all of the special activities are at EPCOT and that is a draw for us.

This is our reasoning too. We spend more time at Epcot and DHS than anywhere else so we originally bought BCV. Of course the add-on bug got us and we bought BWV points too, but honestly we're happy at either resort.

 

[dmoore22]

They didn't do anything to the bathrooms, not even steam the grout and in some villas do repairs on cabinets, drawer and cabinet pulls, etc. A lot of the older furniture was poorly refinished (don't even ask about the alligator table in the living room) and dark colors were used instead of the pickled woods and light colors previously.

They replaced the old wooden blinds in the living room and on the french doors with roman shades. While the roman shades are nice, the mechanism to open them is awful. They got the most child-proof mechanism every imagined and it takes forever to open the shades.

The beds in the master bedrooms used to have a metal headboard, footboard and frame (not brass, but a painted metal). Now it just has a dark wood headboard secured to the wall and the mattress is on a box platform.

They did add the sleeper chair to the living room, but it is the ugliest dark brown fabric. The sleeper sofas used to be somewhat comfortable, but now they are not that great for sleeping. And the fabric on the cushions feels like sandpaper against your skin when you are trying to sit on them. It used to be more like a canvas fabric. Now it is seriously non-natural fiber. Maybe old cactus.

In spite of this we would still buy at OKW. As Dean and others have suggested it all depends upon the experience that you want. As DCV members we do resort hop and enjoy what they have to offer. Your not locked into staying only at your home resort. The other resorts maybe a little more challenging to reserve only because of the 7 month window, but not impossible. Perhaps you could rent some points and try before you buy. Here's a link where you can view slideshows and get some info on the various resorts: http://allears.net/acc/faq_hot.htm

 

[Noelle]

We spend most of our time at EPCOT so BCV is our choice. Yes we do go to the other parks sometime during our stay but all of the special activities are at EPCOT and that is a draw for us.

Totally agree with DVC Grandpa...We LOVE Epcot and so BCV is our favorite & we love Stormalong Bay.

After we bought our BCV, we added on SSR as it was new. Now, we liked our stay at SSR; but my kids have kind of fell in love with OKW so we've stayed there pretty frequently. Less points in most instances too.
When we bought SSR, we envisioned years of going to the Adventure's Club with our kids as they got older as another plus to buying at SSR. OH WELL...
We're hoping to get a Treehouse Villa at SSR for our upcoming July trip at 11 months out and that might give us another reason to stay at SSR more frequently. But I kind of wish we had bought OKW instead of SSR, just didn't know we could do that at the time.

 

[Candy Orlando]

I think all the DVC resorts are beautiful but I'm not the type that likes hotels. That's why we bought at OKW and SSR. They really are my second home. We will add more points at OKW, so we can stay for a month or two in the winter, when my husband retires.