Just Back: BCV & OKW mini report

[mello]

We had a Grand Gathering of 17 people coming and going for 18 days May 9-28. We stayed our first 2 nights at the Poly, then 9 nights at BCV and 7 nights at OKW. We liked them all very much, but BCV has my heart!

Poly was wonderful for the weekend, and our first 2 days making use of the monorail for MK, Chef Mickey's, Ohana, and a GG Fireworks Cruise (which was fantastic, btw). If DVC ever builds at the Poly, we're in.

At BCV we had room 178 - at the very end of the "neverending hallway" as my sis/dbil & bro/dsil dubbed it. (I didn't even tell them about the hallways at BWV...) The location would have been fabulous, had the Dunes Cove pool been open; alas it wasn't. Most of our family was right near us, but my mom & dad were on the 3rd floor with a nice view of the Eiffel Tower, which they enjoyed very much. Our 2br home was lovely, the service was excellent; we loved having the DVC folks at the desk greet us as we came and went. I just love everything about Beach Club - the decor and ambiance, the whole overall feel of the place is so homey to me, SAB is wonderful, the location just cannot be beat - such a nice walk to Epcot (our favorite park); and everytime we stepped out the door I couldn't help saying, "I just love this place!" We did another small add-on while here - our waitlist had come through just prior to our trip, and our stay confirmed that we did the right thing for us.

OKW is just lovely, and we had the most fantastic location, #4624, a very nice 2br villa with a beautiful view of the canal. We loved the size of course, but the thing we enjoyed the most was the nice large porch with the table! I wish all DVC units had porches like that! We breakfasted every morning out there and watched the boats go by; it was wonderful. OKW is so laid back and nice, we love the overall feel of it, and immensely enjoyed Olivias, and our boat rides to and from DTD. If we weren't reliant upon the darn Disney buses, we would have been head over heels for this resort too! But unfortunately, the inefficiency of the bus system ruined the feel for us because we were so stressed out about being late everywhere we went. We got lucky once with a MK bus that pulled up just as we arrived. The entire rest of the time we waited... and waited... and waited... sometimes for over an hour. It seemed like some sort of Murphy's Law thing - the day we needed to get to the Grand Floridian for tea, we got to the bus stop 1 1/2 hour early, and by darn, 3 Epcot buses came by, and a couple of AK buses, a Studios bus, and even an internal shuttle, and a DTD bus (those were the rarest of the rare), but not an MK bus among them. Finally, with 15 minutes until our ADR time, we called a cab, and wound up being only 5 minutes late. That was the earliest we ever arrived for an ADR the entire time. I swear, my blood pressure went up 10 points while there! But other than those infernal buses, our stay there was very nice, and I would definitely stay there again - but I'd either rent a car or not go anywhere except DTD (the boats run like clockwork - why, oh why, can't the buses do the same???)

Crowds in the parks were very manageable except for Memorial Day Weekend. We were in MK that Saturday and it was nuts, but we were primarily there for Bibbidy Bobbidy Boutique and lunch in the Castle for my neice's b-day. The girls absolutely loved BBB and CRT both, and DD 5 asked, "Mommy, can we go to bibbidy bobbidy boutique again tomorrow?" The CM's there were just fantastic - so patient and sweet. It's just a little girl's dream in there. Lunch at the castle was nice - Major Domo's pie was good, but the whole thing felt a tad bit rushed to me. But worth it for the girls anyway!

We did two Grand Gathering experiences:

The Fireworks Voyage and the Celebration Safari. We would do the Fireworks cruise again in a minute. The whole experience was great - the character interaction was fun, Patch the Pirate was a hoot, and the view of Wishes was unique and unspoiled (it was so nice to be able to actually hear the music, it was so quiet out there!). Really Fabulous.

The Safari part of that GG was very nice, and well worth it. Our safari guide, Josh, was great with the kids - walked with them from place to place and chatted with them about the park, the animals, his job, his education, etc. The safari was fantastic - we saw tons of animals, and learned quite a lot. Dinner was nice while the salad & bread were on the table, but for some reason I had thought the whole thing was served family style, and we were a bit disappointed to have to stand in a long buffet line. Then, before we were halfway finished eating, they started the dancing, so we wound up clapping & taking pics of the kids instead of having dinner, and then we had to stand in a long line in another room to meet the characters (I somehow thought they would come around like they do at normal character dinners), and while we were doing that, dessert was brought and cleaned up, so that we missed dessert entirely. When we got back to our table, the older folks (without kids) were finished, and the server was cleaning up the table. I asked for a cup of coffee, and she said it would have to be in a to go cup. I was not too happy about how that all went. For the price we paid (over $500 for our immediate family) I thought we should at least get a chance to taste the food and have some dessert with coffee, without having to stand in long lines for everything and then be rushed out the door. I would not do that experience again.

The guys did the Segway tour of World Showcase and they had a blast! They all came back just elated about the whole thing, and wanting to buy Segways lol. So that was definitely a hit.

Now OT a bit: we also went to Sea World and Discovery Cove.

Sea World was nice, and we all loved feeding the dolphins, the Believe Show, and the Atlantis ride, especially. We did notice that the employees are not generally as friendly or as knowledgeable as Disney CM's. The park is quite nice though.

Discovery Cove truly was the experience of a lifetime for me. I have wanted to swim with a dolphin since I was about 6 years old (I'm in my mid-40's now!) and the experience actually made me cry. It was just phenomenal. The park is beautiful, and the staff is wonderful, and I could just go on and on, but I won't. I would love to do that again, though!

Let's see... did I leave anything out? Oh dining, I'll do a small report over on that board later.

Oh, and on the whole extended family thing: it went way better than I expected it to. Of course there were minor mishaps and a grumpy moment here or there, but on the whole, everything went smoothly; I commend the GG folks for getting our rooms mostly nearby, keeping us posted on our activities, calling in advance to confirm things, etc. The advance planning meetings we did really paid off. People knew what to expect, and though we all got tired, everyone got along well, and got to do most everything they all wanted to do. I had thought we would break up into smaller groups more often, but they mostly wanted to stay together, which at times made the going a bit slower than some liked, but on the whole they were happy with that arrangement. We arranged a few times for just guys, just girls, couples, and grandparents/grandkids to be together without the others, which was nice. The reward for me was toward the end when they all started talking about doing it again! I never thought in a million years some of them would want to go back - especially my dad, but he even started asking questions about DVC and real estate in Florida! DSIL said to me at one point, "Now we see why you guys keep wanting to come back here again and again".

Anyway, the whole thing was just really a great experience, and I'm sad it's over.

Well, this turned out a bit longer than a min-report I guess, lol. If anybody's got any specific questions about the resorts or anything I'll be happy to do my best at an answer.

 

[perpetualplanner]

Sounds like you had a great trip. I'm glad it all went well with the HUGE group. When we bring others I always try to have a pre-planning trip to get input but it always ends up with everyone looking at me and saying - "You know it all so you plan." How did you get everyone to actually give input??

 

[Cee]

That sounds just wonderful. Kudos to you for getting the whole thing together.
That must have been quite an undertaking.

I know what you mean about OKW buses. UGH! But I do so love the place.
Aaaaaah..........................

I guess since everybody wants to go back, you better get on the stick
organizing the next one!

 

[alldiz]

Thanks for the report....sounds like an awesome trip. With the Disney buses....I learned to get on what comes 1st...
Ie....to go to GF...when the epcot bus came...I would have got on and then got on the monorail to GF. Usually works for me....I like to keep moving.
Kerri

 

[mello]

Sounds like you had a great trip. I'm glad it all went well with the HUGE group. When we bring others I always try to have a pre-planning trip to get input but it always ends up with everyone looking at me and saying - "You know it all so you plan." How did you get everyone to actually give input??

They did say that quite a lot! We had a few meetings, and each time we'd show them different videos, books & brochures to sort of get a feel for what they'd like to do. I made a basic itinerary with 1 park/ADR per day and said that's what we'd be doing, and if they wanted to join us fine, if not that would be fine too. They all said, "We'll just do what you do" lol. And for the most part they did. I think the important thing was that we made it really clear that there would be no hurt feelings if someone wanted to go off on their own. We wound up with what we called "the fastpass group" who rushed around ahead of the rest, collected fastpasses and did the e-ticket rides again and again, and the "geriatric group" who strolled along, took pictures, watched parades and noticed details. DH and I fall somewhere in between, so we divided our time between the two groups a lot. The fastpass group would dart back and forth, checking on the others, and then dart off again. It worked out pretty well overall. I'm afraid next time they'll all have too much input to give LOL!

 

[mello]

I guess since everybody wants to go back, you better get on the stick
organizing the next one!

You are so right - gotta have something to plan!!!

 

[mello]

Thanks for the report....sounds like an awesome trip. With the Disney buses....I learned to get on what comes 1st...
Ie....to go to GF...when the epcot bus came...I would have got on and then got on the monorail to GF. Usually works for me....I like to keep moving.
Kerri

We definitely should have done more of that!

 

[Tine731]

Its sounds like you had a great time. I do have a question about your OKW villa....Was it a dedicated 2 bedroom or a lock-off? That sounds like a great location and would love to sit on the porch and watch the world go by.

 

[MJS]

Please tell me more about your room location at the BCV. Were you right next to the parking lot? Isn't 178 the last room at the end of a very long hallway, on the other side of the canal from the pool? (If you exited that end of the building, you would have to walk over the canal to get to the pool). Was it noisy?

Thanks!

 

[mello]

Its sounds like you had a great time. I do have a question about your OKW villa....Was it a dedicated 2 bedroom or a lock-off? That sounds like a great location and would love to sit on the porch and watch the world go by.

It was a dedicated. It was a great location, we really enjoyed it!

 

[mello]

Please tell me more about your room location at the BCV. Were you right next to the parking lot? Isn't 178 the last room at the end of a very long hallway, on the other side of the canal from the pool? (If you exited that end of the building, you would have to walk over the canal to get to the pool). Was it noisy?

Thanks!

Very end of the long hallway, right next to the parking lot. The patio of the master bedroom looks straight across at foliage, and was a bit too close to the sidewalk and parking lot for my liking, so we used the living room patio, which looks more at the canal. It wasn't noisy at all. It would have been a nice easy walk to the pool, which would have been quite pleasant. We didn't mind the walk down the hallway, except it was so COLD in there! Especially the night we came back from the other quiet pool! I would prefer a different location, but it really wasn't bad at all. Nothing to complain about really.

 

[LizinSTL]

We had a Grand Gathering of 17 people coming and going for 18 days May 9-28. We stayed our first 2 nights at the Poly, then 9 nights at BCV and 7 nights at OKW. We liked them all very much, but BCV has my heart!

.....
OKW is just lovely, and we had the most fantastic location, #4624, a very nice 2br villa with a beautiful view of the canal. We loved the size of course, but the thing we enjoyed the most was the nice large porch with the table! I wish all DVC units had porches like that! We breakfasted every morning out there and watched the boats go by; it was wonderful. OKW is so laid back and nice, we love the overall feel of it, and immensely enjoyed Olivias, and our boat rides to and from DTD. If we weren't reliant upon the darn Disney buses, we would have been head over heels for this resort too! But unfortunately, the inefficiency of the bus system ruined the feel for us because we were so stressed out about being late everywhere we went. We got lucky once with a MK bus that pulled up just as we arrived. The entire rest of the time we waited... and waited... and waited... sometimes for over an hour. It seemed like some sort of Murphy's Law thing - the day we needed to get to the Grand Floridian for tea, we got to the bus stop 1 1/2 hour early, and by darn, 3 Epcot buses came by, and a couple of AK buses, a Studios bus, and even an internal shuttle, and a DTD bus (those were the rarest of the rare), but not an MK bus among them. Finally, with 15 minutes until our ADR time, we called a cab, and wound up being only 5 minutes late. That was the earliest we ever arrived for an ADR the entire time. I swear, my blood pressure went up 10 points while there! But other than those infernal buses, our stay there was very nice, and I would definitely stay there again - but I'd either rent a car or not go anywhere except DTD (the boats run like clockwork - why, oh why, can't the buses do the same???)

.

We were at OKW at the same time as you May 19th-26th. We had a vastly different experience with the buses though. We found that they were extremely consistent and regular. We never waited more than 15 minutes for any park. At one point, another family was waiting when we arrived and said they'd been there 30 minutes and had just used the little phone at the stop to express their concern. A bus showed up for them about 5 minutes later.

There did seem to be a jam at the Hospitality House stop though, primarily due to loading scooters and wheelchairs and mostly first thing in the morning. We were in building 27, so we'd walk to Hospitality House to catch the bus out and then enjoy the first stop at Peninsular Road when coming home. It took us 30 minutes by boat each time to go to DTD but only about 15 minutes by bus- including wait time. I voted for the bus each time!

 

[mello]

At one point, another family was waiting when we arrived and said they'd been there 30 minutes and had just used the little phone at the stop to express their concern. A bus showed up for them about 5 minutes later.

QUOTE]

I wonder if that was my dh you encountered! I know he used the little phone one day when he & our boys were waiting to go to DTD. I asked him why he didn't just use the boat, since he waited over 1/2 hour and the boat ran every 1/2 hour. He said he thought the bus would be faster. So we tried an experiment the next day; he & the boys waited for the bus and dd & I took the boat. We beat them!

We mostly used the HH stop too, since we found the walk up there pleasant. Most of our comings and goings were at non-peak hours, so I wonder if that affected things - ie; the buses may run more frequently at park opening and closing times and be more sporadic midday?

 

[BCV23]

We were at BCV from the 18th to the 23rd. Ah, we love that place too.

Did some people in your family use ECVs? Sometime that week I walked in the parking lot door and a grandma was getting settled with a little girl. The ECVs were parked outside the door to 178 I think.

Sounds like you managed a large family trip with great success. Congrats!

 

[mello]

Yes, my mom & dad's best friends were with us, and he had an ECV (broke his foot not long before the trip). They were all staying up on the 3rd floor, but they came down to our room quite a bit with the ECV too. It may well have been my mom or her friend with my daughter or my neice that you saw. We moved from BCV over to OKW on the 21, so if it was early in your stay I bet it was. Small World! What room were you staying in?