First Visit to BWV - Utterly Disappointing

[rocketriter]

We usually have a long wait checking in at WL. As you said, it's not the wait in line, it's the actual interaction with the CM. But we've found that during that 20 minutes or so the CM is interviewing us about our needs and reservations, and cranking out passes and maps and anything else our group might want. It hasn't been wasted time, just annoying when you're off the plane after a bumpy flight and the kids are tired.

 

[MelissathePooh]

We have frankly been very disappointed in Spoodles food for the past few visits. It is ok but nothing like what it was a few years ago before they got rid of the breakfast buffet and changed the menu.

I agree

 

[JUDSON]

Originally posted by BWVDenise
Food in the hallways-- I've seen it before but I don't remember it being a "tremendous" amount. That could be a problem that may need to be addressed by management.

whoa... wait a sec.. now that this has been mentioned, i was at BCV this past Oct and I did notice a few trays of food laying around the hallways; I just shrugged it off and chalked it up to a few inconsiderate people who just didn't know any better. But after reading this, am I to understand that leaving food trays in the hallways is standard practice at these resorts?? I mean, what kind of slob says "hmmm.. i'm sick of looking at this garbage i think i'll just leave it in the hallways for everyone else to step around"? C'mon, if you can't just wait the five minutes to have HK remove the tray from inside your room.... Done a lot of business traveling, enough to know that garbage in the hallways is not the norm.

 

[goofy4tink]

Okay, I don't really want to seem stupid but.....what should be done with these food trays? We saw more than a few at the Polynesian last August also. We don't 'do' room service so it's never been an issue. But, if you have room service, do you then call them back when you are done and they pick up the used trays/dishes outside your door? Is there some reason housekeeping doesn't take care of this when they come in to clean? Just curious.

 

[Disney Enthusiast]

Originally posted by JUDSON
whoa... wait a sec.. now that this has been mentioned, i was at BCV this past Oct and I did notice a few trays of food laying around the hallways; I just shrugged it off and chalked it up to a few inconsiderate people who just didn't know any better. But after reading this, am I to understand that leaving food trays in the hallways is standard practice at these resorts?? I mean, what kind of slob says "hmmm.. i'm sick of looking at this garbage i think i'll just leave it in the hallways for everyone else to step around"? C'mon, if you can't just wait the five minutes to have HK remove the tray from inside your room.... Done a lot of business traveling, enough to know that garbage in the hallways is not the norm.

Uh Oh, I may be one of those inconsiderate people. We walked our garbage to the garbage area, and even carried another guest's garbage that they left sit out. But we did leave our trays w/ room service out in the hallway..... because the CM who delivered it told us to do that. And we weren't shunning our tipping duties..... we left the 18% charged to us on the bill and another $10! Luckily our room was the last one in the hallway and cut in a bit.... no one could see our tray from down the hall unless they were right next to us. The second time we ordered in room dining, the CM came back to pick up the tray w/o us calling. We figured it was because they needed the dishes due to it being a busy night w/ the Superbowl. But we weren't being lazy and didn't realize we needed to call HK. We thought it was like most resorts where you leave the tray outside when finished and they pick it up throughout the night. And the CM told us to do just that. I knew they have those door hangers for breakfast the next day so figured they were looking for those and would see our trays then and take them away. Sorry if I ruined someone's vacation or made a mess of the hallways...... Sorry! I will call HK the next time.

 

[Disney Enthusiast]

Originally posted by goofy4tink
Okay, I don't really want to seem stupid but.....what should be done with these food trays? We saw more than a few at the Polynesian last August also. We don't 'do' room service so it's never been an issue. But, if you have room service, do you then call them back when you are done and they pick up the used trays/dishes outside your door? Is there some reason housekeeping doesn't take care of this when they come in to clean? Just curious.

You're not stupid... Apparently I thought wrong as well. And the CM who delivered our food told us to leave it outside our door and that he or someone else will be back to pick it up. And to think that everyone down that hallway thought I was being lazy or cheap.......

 

[JUDSON]

Originally posted by Disney Enthusiast
You're not stupid... Apparently I thought wrong as well. And the CM who delivered our food told us to leave it outside our door and that he or someone else will be back to pick it up. And to think that everyone down that hallway thought I was being lazy or cheap.......

i guess my phrasing was a bit harsh there in my earlier reply, sorry about that. i think that by staying in a dvc resort we have this 'we're all in this together' situation, and that everyone should err on the side of courtesy, for the sake of their neighbors.

 

[rocketriter]

I saw plenty of trays in the hallway the last time I stayed at a resort in Las Vegas (that well-known bastion of good taste).

If somebody who's reading this is staying at a DVC resort right now, could you please ask housekeeping a few questions and report their answers back?

1) What's the preferred way to handle trays when the meal is over?

2) If the preferred way is to park them in the hall, who picks them up and when?

Some concrete answers would enable us to do what the resort needs while grossing out our neighbors a little bit less. And if enough people don't like the existing policy, then we can know what we're talking about as we request that it be changed.

 

[Disney Enthusiast]

I didn't take offense Judson.... I am glad you and the other posters told us what was on your minds. I just feel badly that I was trying to do the right thing, and may have still offended some. I am such a neat freak and I cleaned the room before we left, washed the dishes, wiped over the countertops, put all the towels in a pile, so I really hate to be untidy or have others think I am. Didn't mean to point out your post and make you in any way uncomfortable. I just wanted everyone to know that sometimes the CM's tell you to leave your trays in the hall for pickup thru the night. I should have trusted my gut but when the CM said what to do w/ the tray, I didn't think to question him and I didn't want him to knock and wake the kids up either since it was after 10 pm. And my tray was hidden behind the curve. Only those going out the Exit door and down the flight of stairs would have seen it so I let it go. But if I was located halfway down the hallway, I'm afraid I might have done the same thing. So I am sorry if I sounded harsh as well. I will be sure to call HK next time. If it weren't for you and the PP's saying so and these boards, I wouldn't have ever known.

 

[CarolynFH]

We just got back from the BWV's 0n 2/17 and had another great stay. Check in at 11pm was smooth and even got a "Welcome Home". The food order that we had faxed in to the Screen Door was in our room when we arrived. The room was clean and in good working order. Transportation to the parks went well and the cast members that we came into contact with were friendly.
My only complaint has to do with the guests that do not follow the rules like smoking as they are walking in the parks and the guests not following common courtesy in the parks.

 

[MinnieGi]

Wow, sorry to the original poster that had a bad BWV stay. We arrived home Feb. 9th from our second BWV stay and couldn't have been more pleased. We had a smooth, fast check-in complete with a "welcome home." Our friends who arrived about an hour after us also had a fast check-in and in fact they were so pleased with the front desk cm they are writing a recognition letter b/c she was just sooooo helpful.

I did not notice many trays outside doors. But I know from experience in Disney and other hotels room service tells you to leave the trays outside your door. So this can be a problem anywhere.

We love the walk or boat rides to Epcot and MGM. Yes, the boat stops at S/D and Y/B but we are never in that much of a hurry. We like to take it leisurly while on vacation. The bus transportation is always in hot debate. We only took the bus once to AK. It was okay. To MK we always take our car over.

Hope your next DVC trip is better.

 

[cheyita]

I'm so glad that many of you followed up with positive experiences. While the issues the OP addressed wouldn't necessarily scare me away from BWV, I have a little concern. We've stayed at BCV three times and as we are planning a trip for June, BCV is entirely filled up for the week we want. BWV is not, and I figured it's the closest thing I can get (we can still have Beaches & Cream and eat at Cape May). To read "utterly disappointing" is a little scary - but the rest of you made me feel better about our plan.

 

[Disney Enthusiast]

cheyita: I just got back from BWV and had a wonderful time. The check in was fine and the room was clean and in good condition.... we had a marvelous view and ate at several restaurants there and at the Y&B Club w/ only superb results. You usually can't go wrong w/ the Flying Fish and Spoodles. And if you don't want to dine out, then eat at the FF and Spoodles in your room. We really enjoyed the BWV and will try to visit again.

Sorry to the OP for your bad experience. I'm thinking you might have just been unlucky that time. Hopefully the next place you stay will be better.

 

[ceejay13]

As to the room service debate, we usually order room service at least once on our stays and have always been told to leave the tray outside the door by the CMs. I also consider myself sensitive to the cleanliness issue, have never left trash outside and always try to keep our rooms clean. If the tray hasn't been picked up in a timely manner we always call and remind them. I do believe this is the practice at most hotels. We regularly eat room service breakfast when we travel outside of WDW and the practice for us has always been the same, leave the tray outside the room. A couple of months ago at Mandalay Bay in Las Vegas you would fairly regularly see trays outside the rooms but they never stayed for long. The same for the GC at DL. I do understand, however, if they are left out for quite some time that it would be bothersome.

 

[Disney Enthusiast]

That makes me feel better ceejay13 that it wasn't just me who was told that. I was very aware of the garbage threads in the past and so wanted to be a good neighbor and thought I really messed that up. Glad to hear it is a common thing to be told to leave the trays out so people don't think I was being a slob. And I did check the next morning to be sure the tray was picked up or I would have called as well. Thanks for posting your experience on this matter...... I feel a little less guilty now.

 

[ceejay13]

I'm glad I could help.

Cindy

 

[wilderness01]

We just returned from BWV the end of Jan. Our checkin was very quick and effecient. The room was clean and next to the elevators so we never saw if any trays were left out. I loved this location. The CM's were all very nice and we were very pleased. The only "bad apple" CM that we encountered was when I went up to the front dest and had a male CM wait on me at about 4:30 pm. I had to have him print out our Luau tickets and he was not only very, very rude but it took him 20 minutes to do this. He was mad he had to do this as he told me I could have "just picked these up at the Luau and didn't have to bother doing this at the BW frontdesk". That is exactly the opposite of what the lady told me when I made the PS. She told me to pick up the tickets before we got to the Poly. The frontdesk was dead so it was not as if there were alot of guests waiting. This CM was just a jerk and he let me know I put him out. I swear he took his sweet time to punish me! I even suggested that if I could really do this he could stop processing the ticket and I would do it at the Poly. He told me that it was too late now and I could just wait! I just shrugged and went on my way. Perhaps you had the same CM I did? I really should have complained to a supervisor but it was the night before we were leaving and our trip had been so nice that I didn't want this jerk to ruin it! To think the nerve of me.......asking him to do his job!

 

[PKS44]

Posting here is hardly likely to help as much as letting the BWV management know the problems...I do hope you wrote them--maybe not about the restaurant but all the other BWV related problems.

Paul

 

[jodifla]

I just wonder about people's expectations. I don't think I would ever come back from a trip with the four situations the OP had and call my trip "Utterly Disappointing."

We had a less-than-smooth check in at OKW a few weeks ago (huge crowd, long line, then I found I couldn't make out the room number so I had to go back in the long line, etc., which meant we missed our priority seating at Chef Mickey's...) but that didn't detract from the trip. We just adjusted our plans a bit. Most my check-ins at OKW have gone very smoothly during about 15 trips there in the past 7 years..

And food trays in the hall are just standard operation procedures at hotels and on cruise ships.

The Brewery's food has never been that good...we go there for beer and appetizers, and into Epcot or the Yachtsman Steakhouse, Flying Fish to eat.

 

[srf10]

Originally posted by jodifla

And food trays in the hall are just standard operation procedures at hotels and on cruise ships.

it can't be for all hotels because i've done a fair amount of traveling to NYC and it is not the case. maybe it depends on each hotel's policy (business vs. tourist clientel). whatever the case, i still think it detracts from the 'deluxe' resort atmosphere