Yup, we stuck out the storm in our BWV home! Me, dh, our 3 kids, plus bil, sil and their 2 boys. We are technically still on "vacation" (we are at "grandma's house" now en route back home...) We were at BCV for 2 days, then had moved over to BWV on Sunday (the 8th) as Charley crept ever closer. Personally, we were quite impressed with BWV's "durability" -- we now feel fairly secure in our investment, seeing how it came through the storm! Personally, I think it weathered better than others because it doesn't have as many surrounding trees (like, say, OKW or SSR, which had so many trees uprooted all over creation, or BCV which had so much debris in SAB...) At about 8:55 pm (which was the worst part of the storm) the parking lot let out a loud pop and the power went off in the lot for all of about 5 seconds. No biggie -- it came back on as the wind continued to whip, and gradually, subsided.
The one thing I DO have to add about all this is that we experienced great disappointment in our fellow humanity. They closed all the restaurants on the BW due to the storm -- couldn't get a meal anywhere after 1 pm. HOWEVER -- BW resort, in an attempt to serve its customers in safety, decided to offer us all a "meal" in the lobby at 4:30 pm. So my SIL and the kids and I all tooled on down at 4:30 but by that time the food was quite gone. Seems some folks took far more than their share. One guy was spotted with several bags of food and about 6 cookies and such -- someone on the elevator commented, "Wow -- that's a lot of food -- you must have family waiting in a Grand Villa, huh!" His response was, "No -- just me and my buddy in a studio... but we plan to eat a lot." Now perhaps he was kidding -- but needless to say it made some folks irate when they then arrived in the lobby and there was nothing to be had. The BWV managers looked frazzled -- they told us all to return to our rooms and they would call us when more food was available. My SIL and I weren't too too concerned -- after all, we had a kitchen, food, and the power to cook. We ended up making pancakes. I felt badly for those who were in the BW Inn and had no kitchen or supplies -- that must have really stunk. We never did get "the call" (from BWV) -- at 9:30 pm (after the main storm impact had passed) I called down to make sure they wouldn't call us in the night. I said, "It's ok -- we aren't in need or anything -- I just want to confirm that there will be no food in the lobby tonight, correct, and we won't be getting any calls tonight?" THe desk seemed very agitated and the lady just sighed exasperatedly and said, "All I can tell you ma'am is that everything is CLOSED."
(extra emphasis was placed on that last word). Well, considering the fornt desk staff all lives in the area and had the added concern of their own homes, their families, etc., their lack of patience was surely understandable. Personally, I thought it was over the top for them to even consider feeding us -- a noble gesture foiled by the greed of others! The mgmt said it was like a stampede and poof -- all the food just disappeared. I think one guy quoted a number like 1600 sandwiches vaporizing.
Will post our trip report later with other storm details -- but just thought I'd add to this Charley thread. IN short -- we survived!
