Hey guys,
I just returned from an eight day stay in Orlando & WDW. The first three days were spent at the Marriott Grande Vista, one of the Marriott timeshare Resorts on cash. That property is simply gorgeous. Visually it might be at the top of the Resorts I've seen. We had a 2 bedroom villa here. Size wise it is larger than the DVC 2 bedrooms with the exception of OKW. It is a little nicer than DVC also and much better equiped in the kitchen. MGV falls short in other areas, however. The service workers were all friendly but this Resort is simply way understaffed. Lunch is served poolside here at one of the two themed pool areas. Lunch took over an hour because they had one server taking care of twelve or so tables. The guy was running but he simply needed help. We tried to get ice cream one day at the ice cream/Pizza Hut location on site but guess what.... they were out of ALL EIGHT FLAVORS! The only option they had was a frozen yogurt of sorts filled with nuts. These type of things simply do not happen at Disney properties. Lunch served in their store consisted of Panini sandwiches and quick serve stuff. You walk in to order and no one is working the grill. We waited ten minutes or more on several occasions for the guy to show up. He then wasn't prepared and had to run to get product. We called the front desk one day for a request and the phone just rang thirty times or so with no answer. Just one service frustration after another. This proertyis huge, it made me eat my words about SSR being spread out. We had to drive to get to one of the pools it is so big. Not really our style. I will go into more detail of this Resort on www.tripadvisor.com if anyone is interested. This is a DVC board so I don't want to spend too much time with MGV. All in all it was pretty good. The next five days of our trip was spent at BCV. This was our first stay here and we loved it! The room, a one bedroom , looked great. We were on the second floor with a view of the front of the BC ( check in area entrance) which was nice for some people watching from the balcony at night and during my three year old sons naps. Staff was super friendly all over. The only gripe we had is that the room wasn't ready until after 4:00, about 4:30. I had to really push them up front to check out the room. I just knew it was ready all day and just sitting there. Turns out it was and just hadn't been inspected. Very annoying when traveling with a young child. Why they aren't using a room ready system here is beyond me. I asked and was given some run around about all the good rooms being taken by early arriving guests. They also stated room assigning leads to requests being honored. With this statement I proceeded to bet the girl her paycheck for the week that none of my requests had beeen honored. They won't tell you your room number until it is ready. I said that I had requested top floor Epcot view. I said " If I have top floor or Epcot View I'll pay you your weeks salary." Embarassed she admitted that I got neither request. Enough about that, I just wish they would all use room ready. This would eliminate requests and more people, I belive, would be happy to just get into their room after a long day. I was very nice to this girl and she was very friendly in return. Just had a little fun with her as I tried to pry a room out of them. The rest of the stay was magical. Great weather, great day at Magic Kingdom with short lines. Storm Along Bay was everything it is cracked up to be. We just loved everything about it. My three year old loved the big slide. He is a great swimmer and was able to do it without Dad's or a life jacket's assistance. For my tastes I wish it was a little faster or had more turns. I actually like the BWV Slide better. We did pool hop over there for a day and the place was empty. We counted ten other people there. It was a nice change of pace. No service glitches at all at BCV. We ordered room service three of the five nights and it was good and prompt with no mistakes. Even the room service guys were great. We really had a relaxing family trip with only one park day out of eight. We liked experiencing two different Resorts. It seemed like two vacations in one. Marriott is so cheap we would stay there again on cash. They are really devalueing their own product IMHO. We paid $189 a night for a 2 bedroom villa here. Try getting a Disney 2 bedroom any season for that price! How they still sell timeshares at this location is beyond me. It would take a ton of stays in a 2 bedroom unit to warrant the buy in price. All in all this trip really renewed my love of WDW and DVC. We truly have the best program out there IMO. Also BCV might be my favorite place to stay now. Next up we have 2 weeks on the beach in the Isle of Palms, South Carolina (outside Charleston) and then a week in a beach cottage at VB the first week of October. I'd be happy to answer any and all questions.
DAVE
I just returned from an eight day stay in Orlando & WDW. The first three days were spent at the Marriott Grande Vista, one of the Marriott timeshare Resorts on cash. That property is simply gorgeous. Visually it might be at the top of the Resorts I've seen. We had a 2 bedroom villa here. Size wise it is larger than the DVC 2 bedrooms with the exception of OKW. It is a little nicer than DVC also and much better equiped in the kitchen. MGV falls short in other areas, however. The service workers were all friendly but this Resort is simply way understaffed. Lunch is served poolside here at one of the two themed pool areas. Lunch took over an hour because they had one server taking care of twelve or so tables. The guy was running but he simply needed help. We tried to get ice cream one day at the ice cream/Pizza Hut location on site but guess what.... they were out of ALL EIGHT FLAVORS! The only option they had was a frozen yogurt of sorts filled with nuts. These type of things simply do not happen at Disney properties. Lunch served in their store consisted of Panini sandwiches and quick serve stuff. You walk in to order and no one is working the grill. We waited ten minutes or more on several occasions for the guy to show up. He then wasn't prepared and had to run to get product. We called the front desk one day for a request and the phone just rang thirty times or so with no answer. Just one service frustration after another. This proertyis huge, it made me eat my words about SSR being spread out. We had to drive to get to one of the pools it is so big. Not really our style. I will go into more detail of this Resort on www.tripadvisor.com if anyone is interested. This is a DVC board so I don't want to spend too much time with MGV. All in all it was pretty good. The next five days of our trip was spent at BCV. This was our first stay here and we loved it! The room, a one bedroom , looked great. We were on the second floor with a view of the front of the BC ( check in area entrance) which was nice for some people watching from the balcony at night and during my three year old sons naps. Staff was super friendly all over. The only gripe we had is that the room wasn't ready until after 4:00, about 4:30. I had to really push them up front to check out the room. I just knew it was ready all day and just sitting there. Turns out it was and just hadn't been inspected. Very annoying when traveling with a young child. Why they aren't using a room ready system here is beyond me. I asked and was given some run around about all the good rooms being taken by early arriving guests. They also stated room assigning leads to requests being honored. With this statement I proceeded to bet the girl her paycheck for the week that none of my requests had beeen honored. They won't tell you your room number until it is ready. I said that I had requested top floor Epcot view. I said " If I have top floor or Epcot View I'll pay you your weeks salary." Embarassed she admitted that I got neither request. Enough about that, I just wish they would all use room ready. This would eliminate requests and more people, I belive, would be happy to just get into their room after a long day. I was very nice to this girl and she was very friendly in return. Just had a little fun with her as I tried to pry a room out of them. The rest of the stay was magical. Great weather, great day at Magic Kingdom with short lines. Storm Along Bay was everything it is cracked up to be. We just loved everything about it. My three year old loved the big slide. He is a great swimmer and was able to do it without Dad's or a life jacket's assistance. For my tastes I wish it was a little faster or had more turns. I actually like the BWV Slide better. We did pool hop over there for a day and the place was empty. We counted ten other people there. It was a nice change of pace. No service glitches at all at BCV. We ordered room service three of the five nights and it was good and prompt with no mistakes. Even the room service guys were great. We really had a relaxing family trip with only one park day out of eight. We liked experiencing two different Resorts. It seemed like two vacations in one. Marriott is so cheap we would stay there again on cash. They are really devalueing their own product IMHO. We paid $189 a night for a 2 bedroom villa here. Try getting a Disney 2 bedroom any season for that price! How they still sell timeshares at this location is beyond me. It would take a ton of stays in a 2 bedroom unit to warrant the buy in price. All in all this trip really renewed my love of WDW and DVC. We truly have the best program out there IMO. Also BCV might be my favorite place to stay now. Next up we have 2 weeks on the beach in the Isle of Palms, South Carolina (outside Charleston) and then a week in a beach cottage at VB the first week of October. I'd be happy to answer any and all questions.
DAVE
