Just Back (10/21 - 10/28) Boardwak Villas

[Hopefully]

We got back late last night from a great week at the Boardwalk Villas. We are not DVC owners, but rent through CRO. This was our first time at the BWV. We have stayed several times at BCV and love it there, so we were a bit skeptical about the BW. We were pleasantly surprised.
We were in room 4102, a 1 bedroom villa on the fourth floor overlooking the quiet pool and the canal beyond. We could see ToT from our balcony. It was a great view. I had requested a balcony from the bedroom and we had a single long balcony spanning both rooms Delightful!!!
Our room was spotless and Mousekeeping was great all week, Never a problem. Since we were paying cash we had daily Mousekeeping. The only thing I requested was extra Tide and 2 boxes were left for me.
We had a towel animal on the shelf in the bathroom when we arrived. It was adorable and I left it for the next family to enjoy too. We did not expect or receive any others during the week.
My son (adult) loved the new pull out couch in the Living Room. He said that it is much, much more comfortable than the old style. He slept soundly.
On Tuesday they put up scaffolding from Spoodles to the ESPN club. By the end of the week that whole area of the Inn was enclosed by boards on the Boardwalk level and by netting above. The Bakery and Arcade were open, but it was hard to see that they were. It was a bit of a disappointment.
We love the Epcot Resort location. I was looking forward to enjoying the Boardwalk and this took away from the ambience.
We ordered grocery delivery from wegoshop.com and as always their service was perfect. Marge is great. We ordered coffee, juice, soda, water, beer, wine, cheese, crackers and snacks. We were on the DDP and did not cook in.
The weather was iffy. It was sunny and hot when we arrived on Sunday, but poured in the late afternoon and a steady light rain all evening. Monday and Tuesday morning were sunny and hot, then Tuesday afternoon the clouds rolled in. The rest of the week was cloudy and cool at times with intermittant rain each day. There was a front stuck and we were just in a bad pattern. It was probably the worst weather week of all of our October stays. The silver lining was that it was cooler for park touring and we didn't let the rain ruin our time.
We love Epcot and the Food & Wine Festival and this year did not disappoint. It was great We had Hoppers and spent most evenings at Epcot after the day at another park. We walked to both Epcot and MGM.
We were on the DDP and we were pleased with everywhere we ate. We ate at: TS: San Angel Inn -surprisingly good given all the bad reviews. Good Food and Good Service. Restaurant Marrakesh - Very Good, Raglan Road Good food and had a blast listening to the Irish band and seeing the Irish Dancers, 50's Prime Time - Great server, Comfort Food and lots of fun, Jiko's - Wonderful a highlight of our trip and Teppan Edo, They have done a wonderful job with the renovations It is elegant and contemporary but still Japanese. I though the food was better than in the past.
CS: Sommerfest in Germany - Good, French Bakery - very good CS deal, Peco Bill's - Good burgers - probably the "worst" meal of our trip , Tangerine Cafe in Morroco - excellent, Cantina de San Angel in Mexico - okay, Flame Tree Bar B'Que in Ak, Columbia Harbour House in MK - Great! and Harry Ramsden's Fish & Chips in the UK - Very Good. We were able to use our snack credits for the F & W fest foods.
I had planned (overplanned) this trip since I booked in January - 10+ months. Everything was as I hoped for, except the weather
We would definitely return to the Boardwak Villas, but we all agreed that if we had a choice, we would choose the Beach Club Villas first. The main reason is the proximity to Epcot and secondarily is Storm Along Bay (even as 3 adults). The views from BWV are definitely better.
Any Questions?

 

[ElizabethB]

We just returned from our stay in a BWV one bedroom. We were down the hall from you. We enjoyed it as well. We were on a CRO reservation like you. However, we found housekeeping to be spotty. They did a good job when they showed up, but if we remained later in the room, it seemed to confuse them. One time we didn't leave until about 1:00 p.m. When we returned at about 5:30 p.m., nothing had been done in the room. Additionally, turn down service was always a question mark. We have stayed at BWV many times before and were not terribly impressed with the housekeeping service this time around.

Additionally -- we remain seriously annoyed with the fact that there are no decent pillows available. If you call housekeeping and ask for feather pillows, you are told in no uncertain terms that there are none on the entire BWV property. We were lucky and found a couple in the closet that had obviously escaped the pillow police, but it is most annoying to pay a serious price for a room and not be able to get a decent pillow.

We, too, found the F&W Festival great -- we thought the food at the booths was better than ever. We attended several separate ticket dinners, which we enjoyed.

Finally, like you, we found it to be the worst weather we've ever had this time of year (and we've been going this time every year for over a decade). It was either so hot and humid that it made August seem pleasant, or it was overcast and rainy. Ultimately, we looked forward to overcast weather since it made walking around the parks bearable. But, we had no day without rain. Other years, we've had, at most, one day of rain, and nights have sometimes been chilly. Not this time!

Overall, it was a fun trip, notwithstanding a few quibbles and the bad weather.

 

[kimmar067]

...sounds like you BOTH had a pretty good time, in spite of the weather...any pix to post??

 

[IWISHFORDISNEY]

We love the BWV too. We rented from CRO too and the location and service was over the top. Definately one of our favorite hotels in Disney.

 

[saquin]

On Tuesday they put up scaffolding from Spoodles to the ESPN club. By the end of the week that whole area of the Inn was enclosed by boards on the Boardwalk level and by netting above. The Bakery and Arcade were open, but it was hard to see that they were. It was a bit of a disappointment.
We love the Epcot Resort location. I was looking forward to enjoying the Boardwalk and this took away from the ambience.

We'll be staying in that area (Yacht Club) in about 4 weeks and hoped to enjoy the Boardwalk ambience too. Any idea what kind of work they were doing or how long the scaffolding may be up?

 

[Hopefully]

I didn't ask officially what the work was for. It looked like they were roofing on the side of ESPN when we were walking back from Epcot when day, but that was away from where the scaffolding went up, so I don't know.
Sorry!