MaryAnnDVC
"Mare", DISing since '99; prefers being tagless
- Joined
- Feb 9, 2001
- Messages
- 14,950
We just spent 7 nights at the Boardwalk Villas, Dec 1 - Dec 8...our second trip since purchasing a resale in February 2001.
Our CM at checkin was Roger, and he was very nice and very efficient, and did welcome us home
(we didn't receive a "welcome home" last year, on our first DVC trip). The Bellhop also welcomed us home when he delivered our luggage.
We had requested a boardwalk view when we made our reservation 11 months before, and we did get our request...rooms 2037 & 2039 (two bedroom). We checked in at 11:00 AM, but were told that we probably couldn't get into our room until 4 PM (very busy...Sunday of Thanksgiving weekend) and were given the card with the number to call. We ended up doing EPCOT and not returning to the BWV until about 5 PM anyway.
I asked Roger what determines requests being accomodated...when the reservation is made, or what time someone checks in. He said that at the Inn, it would be what time someone checks in, but at the BWV, it was the timing of making the reservation.
I wasn't overly thrilled with certain aspects of the location of the room, altho in the whole scheme of things, it didn't matter that much. If you look at a picture of the BWV, we were in the section that has the Boardwalk sign on it...look down, above the store, and we had part of the section with the arches over the balconies. What I didn't really like was that you couldn't look out without standing up and looking over the railing...with the balcony having a solid wall, you couldn't just sit there drinking a pina colada and watch the goings-on at the boardwalk. Also, the railing was wet every morning (and at night when it had rained), so you couldn't lean against it without getting wet, and it was a wide railing to look over (about a foot, I think). We did enjoy watching Illuminations fireworks at night (over the ESPN club, from this location) and the juggler down below, but really needed to lean to see him. We had to remind the kids to keep both feet on the ground when looking out...the first day, DD12 was trying to put one chair on top of the other so her little brother (9) could see better. 
Now...about the condition of the room. The lock on the master bath would get stuck, and by day 2, the little thingy that latches into the hole in the door frame had fallen IN to the hole, so someone had to come to replace it. Also, the hardware at the top of the french doors leading to the balcony from the living room and the 2nd bedroom were both detached, but it didn't affect the use of the doors. I meant to let them know when we were checking out, but we were in a hurry...I'll write them a note.
I also noticed other areas of wear and tear, which I perhaps would not have noticed had it not been for the fact that I was looking around a lot due to one very disgusting cleanliness issue. I noticed the first night that the whole base of the toilet was covered in yellow; at first I thought it was perhaps just discoloration, but I took a tissue and...well...it was slimey and gross. We called housekeeping the next morning, and they cleaned it up. But it did make me look around a lot more, and I never felt COMPLETELY comfortable about cleanliness, altho it didn't ruin my trip or consume my thoughts. I also noticed a lot of dust (which I thought at first was mold) above the bathroom door on the wall and door frame, dried up food on the panelling above the eating counter, and a less than clean looking kitchen floor and jacuzzi (nothing major). My DH did a full load of dishes/silverware because he kept coming up with dirty items straight from the cabinets/drawers.
We LOVE the Boardwalk location, and the convenient walk to EPCOT and MGM. We almost never saw the boat docked or in the vicinity of BWV when we were leaving, so we mostly walked, which was fine. (We were a little spoiled since we had spent 3 days at the Portofino Bay Hotel at Universal before checking in to the BWV, and amazingly enough, the boat there was ALWAYS at the dock except once...VERY nice!) Before purchasing DVC, we used to stay at the Beach Club...didn't they used to have a BWV-BC/YC-S/D-EPCOT boat, and then a separate one with those resorts and MGM? Now the same boat goes the whole route, but I assume there's more than one running at the same time.
The bus to MK on early entry day (or whatever we're calling it these days) was VERY late...it finally arrived AT 8:00 AM...we had been waiting since 7:20, and there were already others there when we arrived. Meanwhile, between 7:20 and before 8 AM, THREE Animal Kingdom busses arrived, and one for MGM, and they didn't open until 9 AM that day.
Very frustrating. Then TWO MK busses came at the same time. That was the only time we took a bus TO a park; we drove to Animal Kingdom and to Blizzard Beach.
The Christmas decorations were, as always, gorgeous!
Overall, we had a great trip. There were a couple of other, non-DVC issues, but I'll post them on the appropriate board.
Our CM at checkin was Roger, and he was very nice and very efficient, and did welcome us home
(we didn't receive a "welcome home" last year, on our first DVC trip). The Bellhop also welcomed us home when he delivered our luggage. We had requested a boardwalk view when we made our reservation 11 months before, and we did get our request...rooms 2037 & 2039 (two bedroom). We checked in at 11:00 AM, but were told that we probably couldn't get into our room until 4 PM (very busy...Sunday of Thanksgiving weekend) and were given the card with the number to call. We ended up doing EPCOT and not returning to the BWV until about 5 PM anyway.
I asked Roger what determines requests being accomodated...when the reservation is made, or what time someone checks in. He said that at the Inn, it would be what time someone checks in, but at the BWV, it was the timing of making the reservation.
I wasn't overly thrilled with certain aspects of the location of the room, altho in the whole scheme of things, it didn't matter that much. If you look at a picture of the BWV, we were in the section that has the Boardwalk sign on it...look down, above the store, and we had part of the section with the arches over the balconies. What I didn't really like was that you couldn't look out without standing up and looking over the railing...with the balcony having a solid wall, you couldn't just sit there drinking a pina colada
and watch the goings-on at the boardwalk. Also, the railing was wet every morning (and at night when it had rained), so you couldn't lean against it without getting wet, and it was a wide railing to look over (about a foot, I think). We did enjoy watching Illuminations fireworks at night (over the ESPN club, from this location) and the juggler down below, but really needed to lean to see him. We had to remind the kids to keep both feet on the ground when looking out...the first day, DD12 was trying to put one chair on top of the other so her little brother (9) could see better. Now...about the condition of the room. The lock on the master bath would get stuck, and by day 2, the little thingy that latches into the hole in the door frame had fallen IN to the hole, so someone had to come to replace it. Also, the hardware at the top of the french doors leading to the balcony from the living room and the 2nd bedroom were both detached, but it didn't affect the use of the doors. I meant to let them know when we were checking out, but we were in a hurry...I'll write them a note.
I also noticed other areas of wear and tear, which I perhaps would not have noticed had it not been for the fact that I was looking around a lot due to one very disgusting cleanliness issue. I noticed the first night that the whole base of the toilet was covered in yellow; at first I thought it was perhaps just discoloration, but I took a tissue and...well...it was slimey and gross. We called housekeeping the next morning, and they cleaned it up. But it did make me look around a lot more, and I never felt COMPLETELY comfortable about cleanliness, altho it didn't ruin my trip or consume my thoughts. I also noticed a lot of dust (which I thought at first was mold) above the bathroom door on the wall and door frame, dried up food on the panelling above the eating counter, and a less than clean looking kitchen floor and jacuzzi (nothing major). My DH did a full load of dishes/silverware because he kept coming up with dirty items straight from the cabinets/drawers.
We LOVE the Boardwalk location, and the convenient walk to EPCOT and MGM. We almost never saw the boat docked or in the vicinity of BWV when we were leaving, so we mostly walked, which was fine. (We were a little spoiled since we had spent 3 days at the Portofino Bay Hotel at Universal before checking in to the BWV, and amazingly enough, the boat there was ALWAYS at the dock except once...VERY nice!) Before purchasing DVC, we used to stay at the Beach Club...didn't they used to have a BWV-BC/YC-S/D-EPCOT boat, and then a separate one with those resorts and MGM? Now the same boat goes the whole route, but I assume there's more than one running at the same time.
The bus to MK on early entry day (or whatever we're calling it these days) was VERY late...it finally arrived AT 8:00 AM...we had been waiting since 7:20, and there were already others there when we arrived. Meanwhile, between 7:20 and before 8 AM, THREE Animal Kingdom busses arrived, and one for MGM, and they didn't open until 9 AM that day.
Very frustrating. Then TWO MK busses came at the same time. That was the only time we took a bus TO a park; we drove to Animal Kingdom and to Blizzard Beach.The Christmas decorations were, as always, gorgeous!
Overall, we had a great trip. There were a couple of other, non-DVC issues, but I'll post them on the appropriate board.
)report.Glad you had a good time.
Maybe they did, but I think I'm going to relay my experience to them, and let them know what I heard about yours...maybe this situation needs to be looked at again.
