just back from BWV/AKV stay--some thoughts...

[tigger2esq]

we got back last night from a short getaway. 2 nights at BWV and 2 nights at AKV and here are a few thoughts:

1. whats with the 4pm room ready times? I cant believe that there are no rooms available earlier. we checked into both hotels early in the day and both rooms were ready at 4:05pm... crazy and inconvenient and it will almost guarantee we will not split a stay in the future as it was too much of a hassle with a 4 year old in tow.

2. at the BWV we were on the ground floor for the first time. it was also the first time I thought the place looked kind of worn and old. maybe the carpets get worn faster down here because of the maintenance etc.? but our room also had some minor issues and I was disappointed we didnt have a balcony to sit on (or a porch as we were stuck in one of the units along the main driveway that is enclosed by a large shrub. ). I still love the BW but this room just didnt do it for me (it was room 1101). we will be sure to request upper floor in the future.

3. AKV--- all I can say is WOW. we were totally impressed by the decor and the theming and the amenities and the room layout. We had a savannah view 1 BR (room 5543) and cant imagine getting any other kind. it was so cool to be able to drink my morning coffee while watching the giraffes and zebras etc. yes there was no separate shower stall and no big walk in closet in the master bedroom but it didnt bother me one bit. I kind of liked the shower in the large tub as I had more room to attempt to shave my legs!! (its not all that easy in those darn stalls!!!) and the pull out chair/bed was perfect for my DD!

I cant wait to get back in January!!!

 

[Deb & Bill]

DVC rooms are not expected to be ready before 4PM. It takes longer to clean the villas because they are not cleaned daily and there are dishes that also have to be washed. Check in for the non-DVC resorts is 3PM. It's the reason we don't ever want to do a split stay. That homeless feeling from 11 until whenever your villa is available.

Sometimes they aren't ready at 4PM and might not be ready until 5 or 6 or 7. It might depend on the guest who "self extended" their stay. Meaning DVC had to evict them out of their room because they didn't book it for that next night and they weren't in the room until later in the afternoon. That happened to us on New Year's Day once.

Ground floor villas, except for OKW (OKW will have a railing around the porch on the first floor), usually just have a concrete area with chairs and shrubs around them. Now, AKV will have to have something around them to keep the animals away from the villa. Maybe they will put a moat around the savannah.

 

[n2mm]

Thanks for the posting. We leave for BWV this weekend (been there many times now) and can't wait. We will be at the AKV in January so excited to stay at another new place too. I agree about the late checkins. I know it's posted, but lots of us got spoiled when staying in regular Disney resorts because checkin was at 3:00 and most of the time we always got our room earlier. This August we did a split stay with OKW and BCV and both stays we didn't get our rooms until after 5:00PM at each location. Yes this was tough and while I know to expect it, we still hoped for a little earlier assignment, especially with a 2 year old and a 3 month old in tow. Normally I don't care that our room isn't ready, but when you have little ones, it can be hard to deal with and we do feel like we lose precious vacation time.

 

[RLRDA]

whats with the 4pm room ready times? I cant believe that there are no rooms available earlier. we checked into both hotels early in the day and both rooms were ready at 4:05pm...

AKV--- all I can say is WOW. we were totally impressed by the decor and the theming and the amenities and the room layout. We had a savannah view 1 BR (room 5543) and cant imagine getting any other kind. it was so cool to be able to drink my morning coffee while watching the giraffes and zebras etc. yes there was no separate shower stall and no big walk in closet in the master bedroom but it didnt bother me one bit. I kind of liked the shower in the large tub as I had more room to attempt to shave my legs!! (its not all that easy in those darn stalls!!!) and the pull out chair/bed was perfect for my DD!

We split our stay in August, going from SSR to AKV, and like you, both rooms were not ready until 4pm or LATER. SSR, when we checked in our 1st day, was closer to 5:45pm. While I understand the "official" DVC check in time is after 4pm (?).....I read trip reports all the time that say..."We arrived at 10:40am and low and behold our villa was ready" or something similar. Why the big discrepancy? If you can't get into a villa until almost 6pm, DVC needs to adjust the staffing. Maybe I'm just jealous that we weren't lucky enough to have our villa ready when we got there

We loved AKV as well....glad to hear you had a great time there! It's like you've been transported to another place! We can't wait to return either.

 

[bobbiwoz]

Check in at POP is at 3, and whenever we called to see if the room was ready, we were told, check in is at 3PM...sure enough when we called at 3 it was ready! Yet, people here do mention that they have gotten into DVC rooms earlier than 4. I guess it's just a matter of luck.

I'm glad you were happy with the AKV, we were too...stayed there in Sept.

Bobbi

PS. You know, I don't think all of the ground floor villas at VB have a railing around the balcony, but I hope I'm wrong. They looked strange to me when I was looking at them earlier this year, and I think that's what was missing. Just looking, we weren't in one.

 

[AKV707]

Ground floor villas, except for OKW (OKW will have a railing around the porch on the first floor), usually just have a concrete area with chairs and shrubs around them. Now, AKV will have to have something around them to keep the animals away from the villa. Maybe they will put a moat around the savannah.

There are no ground floor villas at Jambo because they are all on the 5th and 6th floors. At Kidani, I believe that there will be parking under the building which would mean that there would be no ground floor villas there either.

 

[Deb & Bill]

We splite out stay in August, going from SSR to AKV, and like you, both rooms were not ready until 4pm or LATER. SSR, when we checked in our 1st day, was closer to 5:45pm. While I understand the "official" DVC check in time is after 4pm (?).....I read trip reports all the time that say..."We arrived at 10:40am and low and behold our villa was ready" or something similar. Why the big discrepancy? If you can't get into a villa until almost 6pm, DVC needs to adjust the staffing. Maybe I'm just jealous that we weren't lucky enough to have our villa ready when we got there ...

Sometimes I think if you have more requests, they do try to meet your requests and it might take longer to get them all. When we checked into the BCV in June, we checked in about 1:30PM and our room was ready. We had absolutely no requests on this reservation. For our 1/1/06 reservation we needed a lockoff two bedroom so we could occupy the one bedroom portion for three days, then the two bedroom portion for four days. We didn't get into that one until 5:45PM.

 

[3DisneyKids]

FWIW, we have always gotten in well before 4pm....as early as 9am once, and the lastest time for us was about 2:30...so definitely no complaints here. However, we travel during slow period and rarely check-in on Sunday (busiest check-in day). We usually arrive mid-week, when there are lot less folks checking in OR out....and I think that makes a big difference in the whole room availability thing.

However, you got in a 4:00 on the dot, it seems, and that is what DVC sets as expectations

There may have been many rooms available before 4pm...however they likely went to guests who were there before you were.

Glad you loved AKV...it is our second home and we were blown away by it, too! Totally agree, though, it makes the other DVCs show their age.

 

[RLRDA]

Sometimes I think if you have more requests, they do try to meet your requests and it might take longer to get them all. When we checked into the BCV in June, we checked in about 1:30PM and our room was ready. We had absolutely no requests on this reservation. For our 1/1/06 reservation we needed a lockoff two bedroom so we could occupy the one bedroom portion for three days, then the two bedroom portion for four days. We didn't get into that one until 5:45PM.

I can understand what you're saying. But in our case, we hadn't made any requests, either. So, I guess it's the luck of the draw. One of these days we'll hit the "DVC check-in lottery"!

 

[n2mm]

FWIW, we have always gotten in well before 4pm....as early as 9am once, and the lastest time for us was about 2:30...so definitely no complaints here. However, we travel during slow period and rarely check-in on Sunday (busiest check-in day). We usually arrive mid-week, when there are lot less folks checking in OR out....and I think that makes a big difference in the whole room availability thing.

However, you got in a 4:00 on the dot, it seems, and that is what DVC sets as expectations

There may have been many rooms available before 4pm...however they likely went to guests who were there before you were.

Glad you loved AKV...it is our second home and we were blown away by it, too! Totally agree, though, it makes the other DVCs show their age.

No logic for us either. We make no requests, don't care a hoot about the view. Never travel during busy times, always off season, and our last trip we were checking into OKW on a Wednesday. Never gotten into a room before 4:00PM and that is 7 DVC resort stays for us since 2005 and 3 for my daughter. Guess we just don't have very good checkin mojo. Doesn't seem to matter whether we are checking into a studio or a 2 bedroom. Guess we'll see if my record goes unbroken as we checkin BWV this Sunday for a nice long 12 night stay!!

 

[Joey7295]

We will be at AKV Jan 6 - 11

 

[tigger2esq]

we have stayed at BWV multiple times in the past and have always been able to chek in well before 4pm. I can honestly only recall one trip (our very first visit in 2002 to OKW) when our room was not ready when we got there and checked in. I guess thats why I was disappointed this time when neither room was ready until 4pm --they had me spoiled with higher expectations of early check in. and we also had ZERO room requests this time for both BWV and AKL. I have to agree that if they cant get the rooms ready by 4pm and have guests waiting till 5 or even 6 they need to hire more staff (and yes I realize that this will mean higher maintenance fees but I am sure willing to pay a few extra bucks a year to have a room ready when I get there!!).

oh and to clarify yes our room did have the patio slab but because of the shrubbery that was RIGHT up against it and a bit overgrown I would have felt somewhat clausterphobic sitting out there to drink my morning coffee... so I just stayed inside. I MUCH prefer the balcony!

 

[DVC Grammy]

I guess we've been very lucky....................on all our trips as DVC members (about 10 years), with multiple visits each year, our villas were ready by 4 pm. Since we have a bunch of trips scheduled for the future, I'm keeping my fingers crossed that it will continue.

 

[bobbiwoz]

We've been able move into a DVC room many times before 2. Only once was a villa, a 2 bedroom BWV, not ready by 4, and that was during a busy December rush time on a Sunday.

Bobbi