kcmunchkin
Earning My Ears
- Joined
- Jul 26, 2002
- Messages
- 4
Hi, I wanted to post my experiences here because this forum has been so helpful to me in my trip planning. I've mostly been a lurker but have gotten great info from everyone here!
What a great place!! Weather was great, too, which helped. It was my DH's first trip to Disney and only my second (last time 18 yrs ago) and we just fell in love with BCV. We (myself, DH, DD age 3) were at the BCV in a 2-bedroom with friends and their 4yr old daughter. They were also Disney newbies. We checked in Sat 11/2 and left 11/6 to spend one night at AKL. We were in a dedicated 2BR the first night (I think 466, right next to the ice machine, overlooking the back walkway) and then moved to a 2BR lockoff the next 3 nights (room 310 and 312, awesome location, great view of the quiet pool!). My DD loved sitting on the balcony by herself just watching what was going on below at the pool. The 2-bedroom was perfect for our needs, and we cooked all but 2 meals there. I do have to say that my DD was very confused by all the bathroom doors--we stayed in the MBR and while I understand why they set it up that way, she couldn't figure out how to get to the toilet half the time! Also, we had no problem with the water pressure in either room, although our friends in the studio half of our second room said they had no pressure at all.
The only little disappointment (which was soon overcome!) was due to my split reservation and inexperience on the part of the WDTC CM who made my ressie. We split the first night from the following 3 because the season changed on 11/3, and the difference in cash price for the 2BR was more than $250/night with codes. We were warned that by doing this we risked having to move after the first night, but were told that the request would be placed on our ressie to keep us in the same room. Unfortunately, even though I am paranoid and checked the reservation multiple times before we arrived, the room requests I made were only attached to the first night's reservation and not on the continuation...so when I requested a dedicated 2BR it was only put in for the first night and for the subsequent nights the request read for a lockoff
Since the printout you receive from WDTC is in code there is no way I would have known that, even though I asked them. It was just too confusing. SO, of course we weren't assigned the same room, since the room type preferences were different. It all worked out for the best, though, because the second room was much nicer. Just a little bit of a pain to move twice in one trip.
The strangest thing, though, was that when I checked in, the CM said, "Oh, they have an offer for you here, you can have a 2BR villa at OKW where the rooms are bigger, or take a 2BR suite at the YC." I said that since our friends were meeting us later, and my parents were staying at the YC we would keep our original, prepaid, arrangements. The CM then said, "Hmm, this doesn't seem to be an offer you can refuse. We have no rooms here tonight." You can imagine I was none too happy to hear that they were not honoring my prepaid reservation, and I pointed out that we had a continuing reservation for the next three nights. She then had to call around to find out what had happened, and went in the back to talk to the head room assigner, and after almost a half hour we had our first room (which surprisingly was ready for us). They were completely booked (which I knew, so I was a little worried) and couldn't find two of the same room types across the split. So, it still worked out for the best.
We also had a little problem with only one half of our lockoff being cleaned the first day, two different housekeepers had been assigned and our friends had left the security lock on their studio door since we all used the main entry. When we called they sent someone up right away to do the room and then the housekeeping manager stopped by the next day and apologized to my friends, which was a nice gesture.
All in all, it was a spectacular trip. The vast majority of CMs were very friendly, even greeting us on their way to the parking lot at the end of the day when we were on our way in with groceries! I really, really want to buy at BCV and think I may have convinced my DH it is a good idea. As someone who was a little skeptical of the whole Disney packaging, he was immediately impressed at the accomodations, pool, etc and said he really wants to go back, and soon. We didn't have time to do the DVC presentation while we were there, but I'm calling for the video and packet now!
I did get a "welcome home" when I checked in at the guard gate--hopefully that will really be the case soon!
Sorry this is long--if anyone has any questions feel free to ask, and thanks again for all the great information.
What a great place!! Weather was great, too, which helped. It was my DH's first trip to Disney and only my second (last time 18 yrs ago) and we just fell in love with BCV. We (myself, DH, DD age 3) were at the BCV in a 2-bedroom with friends and their 4yr old daughter. They were also Disney newbies. We checked in Sat 11/2 and left 11/6 to spend one night at AKL. We were in a dedicated 2BR the first night (I think 466, right next to the ice machine, overlooking the back walkway) and then moved to a 2BR lockoff the next 3 nights (room 310 and 312, awesome location, great view of the quiet pool!). My DD loved sitting on the balcony by herself just watching what was going on below at the pool. The 2-bedroom was perfect for our needs, and we cooked all but 2 meals there. I do have to say that my DD was very confused by all the bathroom doors--we stayed in the MBR and while I understand why they set it up that way, she couldn't figure out how to get to the toilet half the time! Also, we had no problem with the water pressure in either room, although our friends in the studio half of our second room said they had no pressure at all.
The only little disappointment (which was soon overcome!) was due to my split reservation and inexperience on the part of the WDTC CM who made my ressie. We split the first night from the following 3 because the season changed on 11/3, and the difference in cash price for the 2BR was more than $250/night with codes. We were warned that by doing this we risked having to move after the first night, but were told that the request would be placed on our ressie to keep us in the same room. Unfortunately, even though I am paranoid and checked the reservation multiple times before we arrived, the room requests I made were only attached to the first night's reservation and not on the continuation...so when I requested a dedicated 2BR it was only put in for the first night and for the subsequent nights the request read for a lockoff
Since the printout you receive from WDTC is in code there is no way I would have known that, even though I asked them. It was just too confusing. SO, of course we weren't assigned the same room, since the room type preferences were different. It all worked out for the best, though, because the second room was much nicer. Just a little bit of a pain to move twice in one trip.The strangest thing, though, was that when I checked in, the CM said, "Oh, they have an offer for you here, you can have a 2BR villa at OKW where the rooms are bigger, or take a 2BR suite at the YC." I said that since our friends were meeting us later, and my parents were staying at the YC we would keep our original, prepaid, arrangements. The CM then said, "Hmm, this doesn't seem to be an offer you can refuse. We have no rooms here tonight." You can imagine I was none too happy to hear that they were not honoring my prepaid reservation, and I pointed out that we had a continuing reservation for the next three nights. She then had to call around to find out what had happened, and went in the back to talk to the head room assigner, and after almost a half hour we had our first room (which surprisingly was ready for us). They were completely booked (which I knew, so I was a little worried) and couldn't find two of the same room types across the split. So, it still worked out for the best.
We also had a little problem with only one half of our lockoff being cleaned the first day, two different housekeepers had been assigned and our friends had left the security lock on their studio door since we all used the main entry. When we called they sent someone up right away to do the room and then the housekeeping manager stopped by the next day and apologized to my friends, which was a nice gesture.
All in all, it was a spectacular trip. The vast majority of CMs were very friendly, even greeting us on their way to the parking lot at the end of the day when we were on our way in with groceries! I really, really want to buy at BCV and think I may have convinced my DH it is a good idea. As someone who was a little skeptical of the whole Disney packaging, he was immediately impressed at the accomodations, pool, etc and said he really wants to go back, and soon. We didn't have time to do the DVC presentation while we were there, but I'm calling for the video and packet now!
I did get a "welcome home" when I checked in at the guard gate--hopefully that will really be the case soon!
Sorry this is long--if anyone has any questions feel free to ask, and thanks again for all the great information.
