Last Week At BCV

[Ridiclious Mary]

We just returned from a week (June 6-13) at BCV. We had a great time, and our 2 BR Villa was in great condition. I arrived very early (around 8:00 a.m.) to try and get a lockout instead of a dedicated 2BR, but none was available. I was preassigned a woodlands view, but I was able to change that to a pool view on the first floor. We were a bit concerned about the first floor, since we had always enjoyed the balcony. But it worked out great - we were just steps out our patio door to the Villa pool. We would probably request this location again. The only thing we had a small problem with was the telephone. On three occasions, the person on the other end could not hear us, but we could hear them fine. Other times, the phone worked fine. I reported this to engineering upon our departure.

The pools were noticeably more crowded at the end of the week compared to the beginning. I suppose more and more schools are letting out on the east coast, as compared to the midwest.

The parks were fairly crowded, but it was nice to take advantage of the later closing times. They were still crowded, but not near as hot.

One suggestion I would make would be for everyone to have dinner at the California Grill. It was expensive, but very, very good. Probably one of the best meals I've ever had at a restaurant. We were able to watch the "Wishes" show from the top of the Contemporary Hotel - they pipe the soundtrack in and turn the lights down a bit.

Again, we had a wonderful experience at Beach Club Villas. At the first part of our vacation, we stayed at Marriott Grande Vista on a Sea World Package. The villa was noticeably larger, but did not seem to be quite as well maintained as the Beach Club Villas. The pool temperature was much cooler than at BCV. We also missed the "Disney" feel to the place. We did take the timeshare tour, and received $200 in Marriott Money to apply against our room charges. The salesman indicated that we could "at any time" trade our Marriott week for the Beach Club week - with no problem at all. He also overstated how easy it was to trade the Marriott week for a week in Hawaii. Oh well - I didn't believe him from the start, and I told him I was just there for the $200, which he found unbelievable!

Just one person's experience!

 

[J and R's mom]

We're heading to BCV later this year and also staying in a dedicated 2br. I've never stayed at BCV and am glad to hear about different people's experiences. Thanks for the post.

 

[Cruelladeville]

Good thing you didn't buy Marriott, because you can buy a week there on the resale board for around $10,000. I have Marriott, as well as DVC, and it is difficult to trade in to Disney. I know of some people who have traded in to Hawaii, but it's hard. My sister traded out to California, Arizona, and HH. I have traded around Florida. Every year I have been able to get Christmas and Easter weeks, which is good. I stayed in the building that you toured, and it was wonderful, except for the long wait for the elevator, and lack of parking.

 

[lisareniff]

Thanks for the trip report! We enjoyed being 1st floor pool view too ....well, our was actually canal view! I would just hop off the patio and go for a swim while the rest of the family napped.

I wonder if they will not change your room type at the front desk on check-in. I had a 2 bdrm- ded. 2 Queen and offered to take a 2 bdrm ded. if it would fit my requests better. I also thought some other family might appreciate the 2 Queens more then us. They seemed to not condsider the switch and I got a room that wasn't ready and not my requests (other then NS). I wasn't upset, it was a fine room and we enjoyed it, just found it interesting. What room number was your dedicated 2 bedroom and did it have 2 queens in the second bedroom? (I'm guessing it didn't)

 

[BCV23]

Thanks for the report. Makes me miss BCV.

To me it does make sense that the front desk can't change from a 2BR dedicated since it is a seperate category in booking. If they were able to do so, then I would be afraid that someone with a 2BR ded. booking could end up losing it to someone checking in earlier.

 

[tinkgrl]

Hi,

Thanks for sharing!!!

Ms. Sparrow aka Allison

 

[Ridiclious Mary]

The villa number was 134. The second bedroom did not have the two queen beds, just a queen bed and sofa bed. Again the view was great and I loved the part where we never had to wait on the elevator.

 

[lisareniff]

To me it does make sense that the front desk can't change from a 2BR dedicated since it is a seperate category in booking. If they were able to do so, then I would be afraid that someone with a 2BR ded. booking could end up losing it to someone checking in earlier.

It does make sense and is what they should do ...but I thought they might, in pratice, switch the 2 bedrooms around at check-in.

 

[lisareniff]

The villa number was 134. The second bedroom did not have the two queen beds, just a queen bed and sofa bed. Again the view was great and I loved the part where we never had to wait on the elevator.

Thanks, I'm on a quest to identify all the 2 bedroom 2 Queen rooms.

 

[Granny]

At the first part of our vacation, we stayed at Marriott Grande Vista on a Sea World Package. The villa was noticeably larger, but did not seem to be quite as well maintained as the Beach Club Villas.

I added the emphasis to your quote, since it seems that comments like these tend to get lost in the midst of a trip report.

And because it has been a hot topic from time to time on these boards.

 

[lllovell]

I am noticing that things seem to be MUCH better all around right now in both the theme park reports and the DVC reports. I like this trend and hope that the prep for the 50th and the hurricane recovery are finally over and Disney will get a chance to get back to thrilling us all.

Glad you had such a nice trip Mary!

 

[MagikMom]

Thanks for the trip post. We will be at BCV next week!!! I also requested a pool view. We will be checking in early, around 9:00 am so hopefully I'll get my request.

 

[J and R's mom]

I've noticed that some posters have written that you can step off of the patio and go where you need to go. Can you exit from all of the 1st floor BCV patios? As I stated earlier, I've never stayed (or been) at the BCV before.

 

[disneyfreak2127]

We also just returned from a fabulous 10 day trip (June 1-10) to BCV. June 1-4 were in Studio 531 (Epcot view). Originally I had booked NS, upper floor, Epcot View. Of course, when the whole thing about not being able to request Epcot view came about, I just hoped for the best. It was wonderful!! We looked straight out of the balcony at The American Pavillion. Awesome place to see Illuminations! We arrived at 11 am and our studio was ready! The kids and I went to the room, which, also by the way, was just a short walk from the main elevator.

We headed straight for SAB!!! The kids swam just about an hour then we headed back to the room to change and go to boardwalk to walk around and our luggage had been placed directly in our room! Had great experience with DME. I had heard warning posts about luggage taking up to 6 hours to get to your room. This was not the case for us.

We switched to a 1 bedroom on Sunday, June 5 for the rest of our stay. Boy, I sure do love the extra room in a 1 bedroom. On this day I called the front desk to see if our room would happen to be ready before we left the studio at around 9:30 am. Guess what?! It was and it could not have been any easier to switch rooms since we were moving down the hall ONE ROOM AWESOME!! This was great! We then went to Typhoon Lagoon for the rest of the day. That is, until I so gracefully broke my toe on a beach chair. This is a whole other story. The folks at TL were great and took us back to BCV by van and then BCV let me use a wheelchair free of charge for the remainder of our stay. Celebration hospital made the experience as pain free as possible. Let's just say my husband got a great workout pushing not only me, but our 4 year old the rest of the week.

Even with the broken toe, I still loved every minute of this trip! As usual, cried on the last night during Wishes! My kids just expect it now.

Ready to go home again!

 

[Deb & Bill]

We were in a BCV one bedroom from 6/10 thru 6/13. The room was in very good condition. The dining room table had a few scratches on it and was scratched to the bare wood. The finish is very thin and the wood is much lighter than the finish.

We also noted that the elevator floors (especially the ones closer to the pool) need to be refinished with a more durable varathane. The drippy, wet bathing suits have caused the floor finish to wear badly.

Otherwise it was a very nice stay in a beautiful resort.

 

[Deb & Bill]

I've noticed that some posters have written that you can step off of the patio and go where you need to go. Can you exit from all of the 1st floor BCV patios? As I stated earlier, I've never stayed (or been) at the BCV before.

You really aren't supposed to exit your villa via the patio. You can't lock the patio from the outside. Plus you have to walk over and through the bushes, flowers and shrubs.

Some of the first floor villas closer to the BC have a screen around the patios since they are right along the sidewalk between the villas and the BC.