DVC Beach Club question

[Lupin]

I recently came back from WDW last week and had a wonderful time. My DVC points are with the Beach Club and that's where I usually stay. On this trip I was walking around outside on the ground level of the Beach Club and couldn't help but notice that most of, if not all, of the non-villa rooms are much nicer (ie: new furniture, flat panel tvs embedded into the wall in a picture frame, etc.) than the villa rooms. Is Disney in the process of upgrading ALL of the Beach Club rooms, or are the DVC members stuck with old stuff? I'm not trying to be petty, but it bugged me a little bit when I saw this. Maybe I'm naive for thinking that they would all be the same.

 

[vicki_c]

The resorts and the DVC properties do not get refurbished on the same schedule, DVC less often.

Keep in mind that it's your dues that pay for refurbishments at the DVC properties. So you can either have higher dues and more frequent refurbishments or not.

And the Beach Club Resort was just renovated in the last year so everything is sparkling new. BCV did get a small soft goods refurbishment in the past year as well - but no new TVs.

 

[tjkraz]

The BoardWalk Villas are getting some upgrades now. They are getting new appliances, flat panel TVs, new armoires, reupholstered furniture, new carpet, new paint & wallcoverings, etc.

However it's important to note that the BoardWalk Villas are 6 years older than BCV. BCV just opened in 2002.

Disney has business reasons for keeping its cash resorts up-to-date. They have a difficult time commanding $400-600 per night for a standard Deluxe room with outdated furnishings.

DVC is a different matter. DVD's obligation was to construct the units and to spend whatever is necessary (via annual dues) to maintain their condition. Since our dues pay for all of these upgrades, don't expect Disney to be reckless in how they spend the money. A single upgrade like flat panel TVs wouldn't be an extraordinary expense so it will probably happen sooner rather than later. But wholesale room refurbishments are costly and may still be a few years off for a resort that is only 7 years old.

 

[disneynutz]

Disney has a conflict of interest when it comes to maintenance of the DVC resorts. As vicki_c posted, our dues pay for everything that goes on at a DVC resort. If Disney increased the maintenance and upgrades, the dues would go up. At the same time, they don't want the dues to go up because it would be harder to sell contracts and that is where the money is.

 

[mgilmer]

DVC rooms have tvs?

 

[bobbiwoz]

Our balconies are so much nicer at BCV compared to BC!

Bobbi

 

[DebbieB]

When you get your budget in the mail around the end of next month, you will see a page that details how much of your dues will go into the capital reserve fund and what the balance in the fund is. It will break it out into roof replacement/repair, interior refurbishment, external building painting, common element renovation & pavement resurfacing. By far the biggest item is interior refurbishment. It will also show how many years the estimated useful life is and how many years remaining. This is where the money will come from. Disney is not responsible for it, the members are.

 

[corpcomp]

Our balconies are so much nicer at BCV compared to BC!

Bobbi

So are the jacuzzis!

 

[photobob]

it is closer to Epcot too!

 

[DznyDreamz]

I think I may be in the minority, but the type of tv in the room is the least of my concerns with my DVC ownership. Sure, the flat panels in the cash rooms are nicer, but we spend so little time watching tv it is really a non-issue for me.

I would rather keep my dues lower then to replace a tv that I may watch a total of 5 hours over the entire trip (and most of that is Stacey's "must see" show that my DD watches over and over).

Just my opinion, and I agree, the cash rooms are nicer in other ways. But the DVC benefits outweigh the bedding, tv's, etc for us.

 

[K9pal]

We stayed at BCV the first week of October, and both TV's in our 1BR were flat panels with HD. And we saw new mattresses being delivered to the villas too. Villas are quite nice, IMHO!

 

[CoolDisneyCat]

We were at BC Villas last week. The couch had new fabric which is very pretty. The large screen TVs are in the living toom and bedroom. Every thing was nice and clean.

 

[vicki_c]

We stayed at BCV the first week of October, and both TV's in our 1BR were flat panels with HD. And we saw new mattresses being delivered to the villas too. Villas are quite nice, IMHO!

You're the first person I've seen say that there are new TVs at BCV. Interesting - I don't remember anyone else saying that yet. I don't really care either, but it wouldn't be a bad thing.

 

[DznyDreamz]

You're the first person I've seen say that there are new TVs at BCV. Interesting - I don't remember anyone else saying that yet. I don't really care either, but it wouldn't be a bad thing.

I agree, I was there earlier this week and there were no flat panels in the 1BR's nor any signs of work being done to install them. Not to mention no notice from MS about what could potentially increase our dues.....

 

[DebbieB]

I agree, I was there earlier this week and there were no flat panels in the 1BR's nor any signs of work being done to install them. Not to mention no notice from MS about what could potentially increase our dues.....

You will receive the 2010 dues notice at the end of November. It will show how much money is in the reserve and how much of your 2010 dues are going to each category (roof, exterior, interior, etc).

 

[mel&me]

You're the first person I've seen say that there are new TVs at BCV. Interesting - I don't remember anyone else saying that yet. I don't really care either, but it wouldn't be a bad thing.

If a TV stopped working, I would say any replacement would be a flat screen. They may have just been in a room that needed a TV replaced. Stuff does go bad.

 

[K9pal]

We were in a 1BR villa, #203. Both living area and BR had flat screen LG brand TV's. I agree that they are probably being upgraded as needed - we also stayed in a 1BR at SSR and had a clock with an iPOd dock in it in the BR. First time I'd seen that (but no flat screen TV's).

 

[xipetotec]

Our balconies are so much nicer at BCV compared to BC!

Bobbi

On our last trip, my brother got a corner balcony overlooking the quiet pool. OMG it was HUGE!!!!! He referred to it as his "Sick Balcony" , we spent a lot of evening relax time there

 

[BCV23]

We stayed at BCV the first week of October, and both TV's in our 1BR were flat panels with HD. And we saw new mattresses being delivered to the villas too. Villas are quite nice, IMHO!

Good to know. That is at least the second time the mattresses have been replaced since BCV opened in 2002.

We were at BC Villas last week. The couch had new fabric which is very pretty. The large screen TVs are in the living toom and bedroom. Every thing was nice and clean.

Can you please describe the fabric on the new couches? That has been the only thing that I really don't like at BCV...not a big deal but i'm glad to hear of a change.

Our balconies are so much nicer at BCV compared to BC!

Bobbi

So true, Bobbi!

I do hope eventually the patio furniture is replaced with something of a higher quality. The newest DVCs do have good quality patio furniture.

I'm not sure at all that DVC resorts aren't renovated as often as other WDW resorts. Most of our trips are splits between deluxe (weekends) and DVC. Rehabs seem about the same to me. One difference is that patterns/designs last longer (or forever) at DVC.

 

[K9pal]

We were at BC Villas last week. The couch had new fabric which is very pretty. The large screen TVs are in the living toom and bedroom. Every thing was nice and clean.

We were there the first week of October. Like I said earlier, we had flat screen TV's - but same old crappy looking sofa! So apparently furnishings at BCV are replaced mostly as needed.