Just Back From BCV

rockr1

Earning My Ears
Joined
Jul 7, 2002
Messages
6
First note, we are not DVC owners, we had never seen nor been in a DVC room before. I am a bargain hunter by nature, and found the idea of renting points to be the perfect solution for our family to take a much deserved vacation.

Second note, the person whom we rented the points from pwoodham was an absolute gem to work with, went the extra mile and then some. The icing on the cake was arriving at check-in and having an amazing suprise waiting for us from her including a beautiful disney bag filled with Mickey Mouse stuffed animals for all three kids, what a wonderful way to start the vaction!

We arrived at BCV amid worries of Isadore, Lili, and Kyle, and a forecast that called for rain everyday of our 5 day trip. HA! We had maybe a sprinkle the first or second day, but other than that it was clear blue skies the whole time. Granted it was hot, but a slight breeze kept things out of the extreme range.

We had requested top floor, epcot view, non-smoking. Now, we had seen pictures of the rooms on a few sites, but man, none of them did the place justice, it was simply amazing and trust us, we had high expectations. We got a 2-Bedroom 552 which was at the end of the hall toward Epcot. We had an amazing view of Spaceship Earth from each of our 3 balconies. I was shocked at how good a view of Illuminations we had, other than the ground stuff, we saw everything very clearly as the room isnt really blocked at all by trees. In fact the room shook we were so close. As well during the day we could clearly hear the drums and music from Tapestry of Dreams, and the Beatles music from the UK. The only negative to this room is that it sits on the end of the building and the trash area is right below, and you can hear the trucks at times pulling in and taking out the huge trash dumpsters.

A few thoughts, suprises, etc based on expectations:

- Our room was at the very end of the hall, and we were still suprised at how close we were to the elevator, boardwalk, etc. The walk to Epcot is so short you could roll out of bed and land in the International Gateway.

- The automatic air conditioning was much better than expected. It could get really cold during the day if you wanted it too, ours went down to 62. It doesnt run like others that I have seen, where they shut off when you are not detected and on when you are. These run continually if you set it too. I like to sleep in an igloo and I was never uncomfortable. Speaking of which the king bed in the master bedroom is quite comfortable.

- The showers stink. The water pressure was horrible and the temp was never hot enough. Very odd seeing how the tub pressure and heat were very good.

- The parks were dead. I knew going in late Sept/early Oct would be a good time, but I was shocked. Our first day, Monday at MK we walked onto everything. MGM and Epcot were even worse, we went on rides like Star Tours and JIYI that not only were there no waits, we were the only people on the ride, it was a little creepy. But with three young kids, it was a dream come true. I never imagined we would get through so much so quickly.

- Lastly, I will just say, that while this board including the resorts, theme parks etc areas are a great help, alot of people seem to have such a critical eye on disney we were ready for the worst and for the place to be falling apart and every cm to be a witch. Nothing could be farther from the truth. Disney puts on a show unlike any other, and we were constantly amazed at the kindness of the cm's and the beauty of the parks and attractions.

Please feel free to ask any questions, and I will do my best to answer, it is the least I can do after all the help I recieved from the members here.
 
Lastly, I will just say, that while this board including the resorts, theme parks etc areas are a great help, alot of people seem to have such a critical eye on disney we were ready for the worst and for the place to be falling apart and every cm to be a witch. Nothing could be farther from the truth. Disney puts on a show unlike any other, and we were constantly amazed at the kindness of the cm's and the beauty of the parks and attractions.
I just got back from WDW a week ago Sat and I agree 100% with you! WDW was just as magical and wonderful for me as it has been for the last 25+ years!!!!!
Glad you had a great time!!!!
:D
 
I'm glad you had such a wonderful, magical time. :bounce: :bounce: :bounce:
 
rockr1 ... thanks for sharing your thoughts and comments with us. Excellent report.

And you obviously know how to take the good with the bad on any given trip...and don't let it spoil your magic.

Thanks for putting your thoughts on this thread.
 

Thanks for sharing your report. I wish we could get the EPCOT view like you. Of course we made resv's as soon as we could but according to this board first come first service and since we get in after 5pm I guess we are last serviced :(. This will be our first time at BC and I hope I love it.

Did you have rain while you were there? Hopefully not much.

Pwoodham whom you rented the points from was GREAT :) on setting up your vacation and including having a gift for you and your kids upon arrival. That was so sweet. I wish everyone could be like them.
 
but one quick question - since you were above the garbage bins, did it ever smell? We are going in July and love your description of the room but I would be concerned about the smell on the balconies. We do spend a lot of time in the room and relaxing taking in the sites. Thanks for the room number and all of the details. It helps alot.:smooth:
 
Thanks for the report. As you can see from below, we'll be there shortly. I am so anxious, I can hardly stand it.

Glad to hear so many good things about your trip. I know ours is going to be great.
 
Originally posted by jcanary
but one quick question - since you were above the garbage bins, did it ever smell? We are going in July and love your description of the room but I would be concerned about the smell on the balconies. We do spend a lot of time in the room and relaxing taking in the sites. Thanks for the room number and all of the details. It helps alot.:smooth:

No, I never smelled a thing, but then again we were on the 5th floor. They seem to keep some of those bins covered from what I could tell. Any lower and this spot would be about the worst as far as I could tell in the building, because you wouldnt even get a great view of Illuminations or Epcot, never mind the proximity to the garbage area.

Where you can close the balcony doors and just barely hear the road noise, the noise from the trucks picking up the garbage bins is very noticable and loud, even on the 5th floor.

Let me say though, I am a really picky hotel room person, and if I am not satisfied I have no problem asking to be moved and the thought never crossed my mind. But as far as I can tell, the rooms down the other length of hall, I believe they started at 553 and moved up, would probably make for a better situation. The only thing I wouldnt be sure of, was the view of illuminations. The way room 552 sits, there isnt one tree blocking your view of the fireworks, you literally see and feel everything, which is pretty cool.

Any other questions, please feel free to ask.
 
Great report!

I agree that the airconditioning worked for us. It was great being able to adjust the temperature up or down by a degree. We never noticed it getting to warm at night - maybe because our kids are such restless sleepers? :p

The walk to Epcot is quick and amazingly relaxing, especially with the music. And since the Int'l Gateway was usually deserted, bag inspection & entry were always super quick.

I agree with you about the shower water pressure. But I thought it was a great idea for them to place the water controls by the shower door rather than by the shower head - no getting wet turning on the water before getting undressed.

With your glowing recommendation, I predict a run on points being rented by pwoodham! :D

Glad you enjoyed your DVC stay!
 
Great report! I have a curious question though, did this make you want to become a DVC member?
 
Originally posted by Jillpie
Great report! I have a curious question though, did this make you want to become a DVC member?

Yes, it did for sure. In fact even previous to going down there just reading the posts on this board made me want to. But unfortunatly we realistically will only make it down to Disney once every 3-5 years.
 
Thanks for taking the time to share your time with us. We will be leaving in 2 days and also staying at the BCV (Studio - quick long weekend trip).

We are so looking forward to being close to Epcot and are hoping to get one of the few Epcot/Illuminations views as we requested the top floor with the view.

Hoping the weather will be a nice but as of today, tropical storm Kyle is still in the Atlantic and seems to be head south toward Florida. Well, either way we will be in the most magical place on earth no matter what the weather.

Also, what a nice suprise waiting for you. I did this on 2 occasions for friends and family.
 
Thanks for your report. It appears there is a problem with the water pressure at BCV since many people have experienced the same thing. How did you get the air conditioning to stay on during the night? I will be there in June and was concerned by some other posts that the rooms tend to get hot at night. Annmarie
 
Originally posted by BCVOwner2002
Thanks for your report. It appears there is a problem with the water pressure at BCV since many people have experienced the same thing. How did you get the air conditioning to stay on during the night? I will be there in June and was concerned by some other posts that the rooms tend to get hot at night. Annmarie

As far as I could tell it worked just like a standard home air conditioner. It was nothing like the systems that go on and off based on room occupancy, movement or whatever. You could lower the tempature down to 62 and it would run until it got that cold. The best thing I found was to set it to hi or low rather than auto. Along with the fans, the air conditioning worked great and cooled down the room really quickly.

As for the water pressure, it seemed to be just the shower. The tub had really strong pressure and filled very rapidly.
 
Hi there! Great report, lots better than I'm doing ;)

Being down here now, sofar there has been very little of what you've been saying happened last week to this week, the parks are now what I'd call average busy, with a 10 min or so wait for any ride in the parks, above average on the kids rides(Peter Pan hops to mind) But there's also some kind of big IT(computers) convention that just happened too, so I'd guess that's boosting attendance some.

About the shower, it's the shower head causing it to be so weak, they use the Water Pik Shower massage, and leave the water saving device in it. I have the same one at home, and mine was lousy till I removed the device, as it, combined with the water saving faucet to turn it on, just make it too wimpy.

And I will report that BWV doesn't have these confusing thermostats yet, but it still took us 3 days of fiddling to get ours to make the room comfortable, so it's not just the thermostat.
 
Originally posted by rockr1
- Lastly, I will just say, that while this board including the resorts, theme parks etc areas are a great help, alot of people seem to have such a critical eye on disney we were ready for the worst and for the place to be falling apart and every cm to be a witch....(snip)
You must be reading the News & Rumors Board. :cool:
 
We are on our way there in less than a month, so it was good to hear such a great review.
What were the temperatures like while you were there?
 
Originally posted by SamanthaL
What were the temperatures like while you were there?

It was still quite hot, upper 80's to low 90's. We were just happy at that point to miss the hurricanes and the rain.
 
Thanks for your review. We just bought into DVC at the BCV mostly based on how wonderful our entire Disneyworld experience has been. We too found almost everything to be delightful. The person you rented from certainly had a pocketful of pixie dust. Sandie
 















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