Just back from BWV, Vero and AKLV. Highs and lows!

[Tinker74]

Arrived back this morning in the Uk..after a long night flight..so tired and`sad to back after another amazing vacation.....Me, Dh, ds18 and dd11...I thought I would share our highs and lows.

HIGHS!!
LOVE LOVE LOVE Bwv!!...we had a 1bed bw view...FANTASTIC...Iam biased though as we fell in love with the epcot
area a few years ago and our fave is BCV...but now I think BWV has stolen my heart because of the amazing view!...we had a top floor above thimble and threads.

Getting all requests at BWV and room ready at 7am!!...I really could not fault any of the service or cast members at BW...friendly and helpful..we were greeted as soon as we stepped out of car to check in and escorted into the lobby...very impressed.

sitting on my balcony at BW early morning and evening...watching the BW wake up and finishing the day to the sights and smells of the boardwalk at night...along with illuminations..PERFECT!

The weather...we had a few cooler cloudy days which were perfect for touring world showcase.

Grey goose slushie in France....Yum!!

My dh loved having an ice cold beer in Germany...and I loved the caramel shop!

Being the first to ride toy story on our DHS day!

Relaxing on the beach at Vero...and having cocktails on the cabin room balcony before a delicious dinner at shutters.

No ride breakdowns this year!...it was crowded and hot but we got to do everything we wanted with very little wait due to ariving at rope drop.


Iam sure we have lots more Highs but too jetlagged right now..


LOWS!

Now I think AKL is a beautiful hotel...but..its not for us...we were spoilt by BWV in the first week. My requests were not met..or even looked at. I had a standard 1 bed at jambo. I booked at jambo because at the time I booked all standard view were pool view. Therefore all quite handy to the lobby/mara/boma pool. However I became aware that a couple of rooms were declassified from savannah to standard recently. I much prefer pool due to the proximity to the amenites and I actually prefer pool view..(weird I iknow)
So..I made sure to request..pool view close to lobby. I know its only a request but as the VAST majority of standard are actually pool I thought this should be no problem.
You guessed it I was given savannah view..right down the bottom of the LONG hallway!

I preotested...politely..Nothing the CM could do..unless I wanted a parking lot view...or to change rooms in a couple of days. I asked to speak to a manager. He found me a room with pool view straight away!


Room ready text did not arrive for AKLV..I went to front desk at 5pm...to find out it was ready..but no text??

Room keys did not work at AKLV...we trot back to the front desk..AGAIN!

OMG!!..Pool view is soooooNOISY!!!...Even my 18 year old was complaining..LOL...Serves us right !...LOUD music from 1pm till late.

At the pool they play a movie at 9.15 till 11pm EVERY NIGHT!!!...Did I mention it was loud!!


On a vero note...we missed not having any storms this year...last year we loved watching them sweep in from the atlantic.

The service in restaurants is down....And Iam not hard to please...most dissapointing was Ohana..le cellier..and crystal palace.

Le cellier was our family fave...until now...the server was not friendly..no drink refills..my Dh asked for wine with his steak...the server brought it out AFTER we had finshed eating!...The beer was warm..YUK.

Crystal palace...the server took our drinks order then did not bring us our drinks till we had almost finshed eating!...We were dying of thirst whilst she stood chatting away to a family a few tables away..with or drinks on her tray. I wanted to just walk up and take them off her..but we waited with our forkls down patiently till she finished her convo!

Ohana....server was sullen..we had NO drink refills at all...even though my DS downed his sprite in the firsat 5 mins and sat with an empty glass for the next hour!...we asked..but they never appeared. This was the only time I have not left at least an 18% tip. I left about 12
The WORST LOW OF ALL!....2 days ago we went to play mini golf at fantasia...I got hit in the FACE ....FULL HIT!...by by dds swing. The actual club hard in my FACE!...It was HORRIFIC!

I fell to the ground..Ido not know how i did not lose my teeth or an eye..or break my nose/ jaw!...My face is a mess..swollen and bruised..They took good care of me at fantasia..ice..cloths for the blood...Iam OK now but it was scary at the time..dd felt awful poor thing.


But we did have a great time...the lows were quickly forgotten..and Iam missing it all already

 

[DVCconvert]

Your 18 yo son was swinging a putter like a baseball bat????

 

[Tinker74]

Your 18 yo son was swinging a putter like a baseball bat????

No it was my dd11...she was swinging it like a golf club...but my face got in the way..

 

[DVCconvert]

No it was my dd11...she was swinging it like a golf club...but my face got in the way..

Faces and golf clubs and NOT a good combination!
Glad you weren't hurt worse!

I agree with you about the storms at Vero...There's nothing better than to watch a thunder storm traveling down the coast!
(especially from the upper front balcony of a beach cottage! )

 

[CarolMN]

Sorry to hear about your accident - hope you recover quickly.

Thanks for sharing so many details of your trip. I also love the BWV and never regret purchasing there.

 

[KAT4DISNEY]

Yeouch! Glad you didn't lose any teeth!!

Enjoyed the quick report. We do really enjoy AKV but I wish that the CM's would get a bit better with the differences between DVC and regular rooms. Since the only DVC rooms at Jambo that face the parking lot are value cateogry I'd be very curious on where they were going to get the standard parking lot view for you. In May we had a Standard studio for 1 night and were also placed in one of the new Savannah views when I REALLY had been hoping for pool. Then we were told we were lucky we weren't looking at a parking lot. Maybe we just had the same CM!

And service down at Le Cellier? Not good since they became a signature!

Next trip you'll have to try the other slushy at France - they're all great!!

 

[dumbo_buddy]

wow, a full golf swing at a miniature golf course? if i were a kid and i did that i probably would have been murdered!

thanks for sharing your experience. i'd love to try boardwalk - sounds like it was really a nice time! sitting on the balcony sounds lovely!

i like how one of your lows was something about mother nature not behaving. lol! shame on her for not having any storms for you to watch! write a letter!

that is a real bummer that the pool view at AKV was so loud! especially since you had put up such a stink to get it. sounds like karma gone bad! but just because it's pool view doesn't mean it should be too loud! we go to bed early while at WDW (we have a toddler who wakes very early and goes to bed around 8pm so we're back in the room by then) and i'm hoping the fireworks at BLT won't be too loud! lol! i have a feeling i won't get my way with that one!

 

[bobbiwoz]

Twice in Jambo, I had a pool view. Once was in December and never noticed noise, but one June I had a value 1 bedroom with a pool view and it was very noisy. I usually fell asleep before midnight, but it wasn't easy because of the noise.

I'm sorry that you got hit with the golf club.