Luna Park vs. Stormalong Bay

[peterpan321]

I have only really seen pictures of both of these places and was wondering which one people prefer and why. I am hoping that this may help with my decision to buy at either BWV or BCV. Is one a better area for kids? Right now my children are 4 and 7. Thanks for any input.

 

[DeeP]

Luna park is nice but Stormalong Bay is incredible!! It has several hot tubs, a sand bottom, whirlpool areas, a winding river type of layout that is great for floating, rental tubes & noodles available, a sandy beach area with zero entrance depth that is great for little ones and a very nice pool bar/snack bar complete with chair side wait service.

 

[CarolMN]

I'm sure that most people will say that they and their children prefer SAB to Luna Park. I like Luna Park better because SAB is ALWAYS more crowded.

 

[DeeP]

Not all kids prefer Stormalong Bay, I love it but my children actually prefer Luna Park! I have to practically bribe them to get them to go to Stormalong Bay. Go figure!

 

[slp87]

We were staying at BWV and pool hopped to SAB. As we were leaving I asked my daughter (7) which one she liked the most, and she said they were both so different that she liked them the same. I prefer SAB and it was great when she was younger and could play on the sand bar.

 

[Terry S]

I have a 4 year old daughter and a 6 year old son. We have a pool in the backyard with a slide and they feel that Luna Park is bascially just like the pool in the back yard except the Luna Park slide has a clown face. My kids love SAB. SAB is the only pool at WDW that is actually considered in mini-water park. There are several different areas of SAB like the previous poster, Dee P, talked about, personally, I don't care for the sand at the bottom, buy my kids love it, so this is one of the reasons we purchased at BCV.

 

[LauraS]

Stormalong definitely rules over Luna Park in design, theming and size, no question there. The major problem with Stormalong is that it is *always* crowded. It's crowded in November when the air temp is 60 degrees and also in May when the temps are in the 80s....and those are both off-season. I don't know if I've ever visited Stormalong in the afternoon where I haven't had at least some difficulty snagging two lounge chairs for me and my husband. There are times when it's been so crowded that I've given up and hit the quiet pool instead. Don't get me wrong, I *love* that pool, but also love staying at BWV and visiting Luna Park where I know I'll never have a problem finding a lounge chair. It takes all the stress out of the "relaxing at the pool" thing.

Even though pool hopping was allowed by DVCers before BCV came along, I always wondered how many people actually used that benefit. We used it once when traveling with friends who were staying at the Yacht. It was nice, but it was also sort of a pain to have to make the hike all the way over there. In other words, I don't think that pool hoppers were in any way making the pool feel extra crowded. It always seemed crowded to me, way before the BWV were even built. And so now with the addition of the BCV I wonder if Stormalong Bay can handle the capacity of the additional guests. I know that there's an another quiet pool being built over by the BCV, but you know that almost everyone will be attmepting to use Stormalong.

If I was buying for the first time, I'd buy a resale at the BWV, wait for the buzz to die down at the BCV and then try and get a room at the BCV when I had a real desire to hit Stormalong. BCV will probably be tough to get initially at the seven month mark, but so was BWV in the beginning and it's become easier for the most part. BWV will be cheaper, has far better views than BCV and also affords you the luxury of saving points by snagging a standard room every now and again. BCV also has no Grand Villas, and after staying in one in 2001, trust me, they're worth it!!

 

[BuzzLightYear3]

SAB is definitely awesome, and we couldn't wait to Pool-hop over to it, but after we tried it once, we concluded for routine usage, we're much happier with Luna Park. We have 3 young kids (8, 4, and 2), and SAB is very spread out. The kids have us outnumbered, and it's very difficult to give them much freedom at SAB because we can't see them. Also, even if we know exactly where they are, it can be difficult to get to them quickly as the pool is very windy. The oldest liked the SAB water slide, but the steps were so far away and across a major walkway, so either my husband or felt like we needed to accompany him--at least we felt like we had to be at one end or the other to make sure he ended up being where he was supposed to be in a reasonable amount of time. It was a really nice pool with a lot of great features, but it was exhuasting to be there with young children. There seemed to be no place where my husband and I could sit and relax together and still be able to keep an eye on all 3 kids. For that reason, I like Luna Park much better.....I can sit with the youngest in the baby pool and still see the 8 year old going up the steps and down the slide. It was much more relaxing but still had enough features with the slide and the elephant spray to be interesting to the kids. When they're older, they'll probably like SAB better, and I'll be able to give them more freedom, but for now, for every day usage it's Luna Park for us!

 

[maepartner]

Im just back from BWV and while checking out the SAB, I found it to be uncrowded.....I was really surprised, this was Wednesday the 10th....Sis and I stopped at the bar there, and bought virgin strawberry coladas (strawberry on the bottom, pina colada on the top) and were they yummy! they cost 3.75 each so we saved 6 bux (ones with booze were 6.75) by having our little half pint nips we added to the drinks, and which we refilled at our hotel each day LOL. Was very impressed with SAB and will definitely recommend it ....but i DO realize it does get crowded during peak times. Mae

 

[peterpan321]

Thank you all for your input. I think that I am leaning toward BWV at this time.