Please Rate the "Atmosphere" of the DVC resorts

[wtpclc]

All I can think of is pulling up with dh to BWI on our honeymoon. He kept saying "Are you sure we paid for this?" He'd only stayed at teh campground. I was not raised rich by any means, but my parents were frugal and treated us to nice things. Therfore I never felt I didn't fit in. That is, until I married gopherit's dh (or a very close facsimile thereof)! My dh's family was actually better off than mine, but does not believe they belong in hoity-toity places. That being said, teh bellmen in short (who my dh of course refused) and teh wonderful welcome at 2 am, when we must have had that deer-in-the-headlights look about 36 hours after we were married, was amazing. Now I don;'t have to worry about young children picking up stuff and breaking it, but I never quite know what dh may need to "see how it works".

DH will agree, however, after he got over the initial shock and I assured him that we had paid for a stay at BW, we felt completely at home!

 

[Muushka]

You know what?? This is a great thread!

Some comments:

Gopherit: I love your sense of humor. I could read your posts all day long! My husband just got home from work and he had to finally tell me that no, he didn't want me to read any more out loud!


Kathleena: I love that snopes website. Whenever I get a WARNING email, I go to snopes and 99.9% of the time the WARNING is bogus. I then reply to the one who felt it was their civic duty to warn everyone in their email address book about this terrible (fill in the blank) that they were, in fact, forwarding garbage (worded a little nicer than that though).

I didn't realize that you could look up sayings on it also. Thanks!


Lllovell: Thank you for this:

I am trying to teach my children that there are times when you put yourself first, but that you should not let your behaviors effect those around you MOST times. Do your own thing, but please don't step on my toes and understand that we are trying hard not to step on yours too.

If all parents were like you….

Oh, about the hoity toity factor. I agree, OKW seems the most laid back, followed by VWL, then BCV then BWV. We have not hung around SSR to have an opinion......

 

[gopherit]

gopherit, your verbal skills are outmatched only by your infectious humor. I love it and can relate with your husband 100%. I think the OP mispelled Hoity Toityness. I don't know for sure, but isn't it Hoity Toitiness?

Gopherit: I love your sense of humor. I could read your posts all day long! My husband just got home from work and he had to finally tell me that no, he didn't want me to read any more out loud!

JABEAR and Muushka -- Aw shucks, you guys, you're making this countryfied gopher blush. (Ooops -- I just looked at what I typed and realized I had put "countryFRIED" instead of "countryFIED"! Fixed that before I sizzled! Hmmm -- or should it really be "Countr-I-fied", JABEAR? )

Kathleena: I'm a huge snopester too. Everyone is forever sending me web fiction; you would think, as many times as I have forwarded back to them the correct info, they would look up snopes themselves BEFORE they hit the "SEND" button! My son once came home with one of those chain-letter things (get into Guinness records, etc - pure hogwash) and I gave him the info to take back to school to nicely tell his friend so his class could focus on something productive. The student's parent's response? That it wasn't nice of us to "squash the fun" and very unfriendly to "not at least give it a try." Uh, ok, sure, and while your kid is on the computer emailing all her friends asking them to join in the "fun", be sure to tell 'em to remind their folks to never shop at Target, avoid Starbucks, drop the Sweet N Low, and by all means, do NOT open the bogus "card" in your inbox that contains the virus that will cripple the free world!!! I don't know what her idea of "fun" is, but having my kids write a bunch of letters and get his cute little hopes up only to see the effort go unrecognized day after day doesn't cut the mustard for me! But hey... maybe I'M being Hoity-Toity now! (Or wait -- maybe THEY are? Or we all are? Kathleena's many definitions have me confused! )

ANYHOOOO....

Therefore I never felt I didn't fit in. That is, until I married gopherit's dh (or a very close facsimile thereof)! My dh's family was actually better off than mine, but does not believe they belong in hoity-toity places.

I think maybe you DID marry my DH! (Want him back? Maybe we could work out a schedule... )

Seriously, his family also has a complex about the ritzy life. They never went anywhere for vacation except their place at the beach...whereas I've been all over the US and a fair bit of Australia. Oh well -- we married 'em, right? And I guess I'd rather see someone be a little too self-depricating than not enough, haha! I think it's those latter folks -- the MEMEMEME that lllovell referred to, that people like me are afraid we will be mistaken for! (Hence, I probably go overboard with my kids, making them feel like they can't inhale too deeply or they will disturb the air current , lol!) I am probably just too darn worried that others will think we're rude tightwads... why I even care what the perceptions are, oh, I don't know. But confound it, I do... go figure. I love my hubby, but when he dodges the bellman and valet in a race to get our luggage and self-park before they "notice him", I'm not thinking, "Oh, that thrifty man of mine! Look at him hauling that luggage around like a Samsonite gorilla! Kids, go give your daddy this tube of Ben Gay and a great big HUG! "

No, I'm pretty much turning 28 shades of red, my head bowed and whispering to our wide-eyed wondering progeny, "No, your Daddy does NOT have to go potty, hon... he is running in and out the door so that the guy in the funny suit won't catch up with him and ask him if he can be of service...."
<a href='http://www.smileycentral.com/?partner=ZSzeb008_ZNxdm801YYUS' target='_blank'><img src='http://smileys.smileycentral.com/cat/18/18_3_110.gif' alt='Running' border=0></a><a href='http://www.smileycentral.com/?partner=ZSzeb008_ZNxdm801YYUS' target='_blank'><img src='http://smileys.smileycentral.com/cat/4/4_6_5.gif' alt='Blushy' border=0></a>

So if you have never had a HT experience in a resort, here's a plan -- you can borrow my DH for a trip! ( But you better ask WTCPLC first -- she has him on Tuesdays, Thursdays, and every other weekend... )

<a href='http://www.smileycentral.com/?partner=ZSzeb008_ZNxdm801YYUS' target='_blank'><img src='http://smileys.smileycentral.com/cat/11/11_5_13.gif' alt='Ladies Man' border=0></a>

 

[wtpclc]

No, I'm pretty much turning 28 shades of red, my head bowed and whispering to our wide-eyed wondering progeny, "No, your Daddy does NOT have to go potty, hon... he is running in and out the door so that the guy in the funny suit won't catch up with him and ask him if he can be of service...."
<a href='http://www.smileycentral.com/?partner=ZSzeb008_ZNxdm801YYUS' target='_blank'><img src='http://smileys.smileycentral.com/cat/18/18_3_110.gif' alt='Running' border=0></a><a href='http://www.smileycentral.com/?partner=ZSzeb008_ZNxdm801YYUS' target='_blank'><img src='http://smileys.smileycentral.com/cat/4/4_6_5.gif' alt='Blushy' border=0></a>

So if you have never had a HT experience in a resort, here's a plan -- you can borrow my DH for a trip! ( But you better ask WTCPLC first -- she has him on Tuesdays, Thursdays, and every other weekend... )

<a href='http://www.smileycentral.com/?partner=ZSzeb008_ZNxdm801YYUS' target='_blank'><img src='http://smileys.smileycentral.com/cat/11/11_5_13.gif' alt='Ladies Man' border=0></a>

I just hope he doesn't leave me permanently for your better smilies! You crack me up!

 

[SueOKW]

we ain't The Donald (Trump or Duck) but we aren't eating canned corn on a curb either.

Do you remember that?? It was on the community board years ago about the family eating corn by town hall.... one of these things doesn't belong here.... ha ha!

ps - i can visualize your grand entrance - well said!

 

[kathleena]

Muushka and Gopherit - you are after my own heart! Snopes is one of my favorite places and I never get anymore warning emails as I have turned all of my family and friends on to it. Or either that or they never send me anything because they know I will look! I have had some send me an email asking me to check if it's real or not too.

And let's not forget the Febreeze and pets urban legend! I always loved that one. I don't use it because I have fragrance as an asthma trigger (plus I think it stinks) but I doubt my cats really care one way or the other! (I do use a product called X-O that has no oder and works like a charm on everything!)

 

[lllovell]

And let's not forget the Febreeze and pets urban legend! I always loved that one. I don't use it because I have fragrance as an asthma trigger (plus I think it stinks) but I doubt my cats really care one way or the other! (I do use a product called X-O that has no oder and works like a charm on everything!)

Where do you get this X-O? My son has allergies and seems to not be crazy about Febreeze and I have been looking for something else to try.

Thanks,

Laura

 

[Muushka]

Oooh, I haven't heard of the Febreeze and pets urban legend. Thankfully.

Want to know what is sad? My mother in law (a very nice woman by the way) would send us those warinings. I would write back explaining why it was not true with the link to the truth (Snopes). She finally stopped sending them to us.

Well, we were visiting my brother in law last week (they have 3 babies in that house) and he and his wife were talking about the awful effects of microwaving plastic and how their lives have changed so much since learning this awful information about the evilness of it. He said Mom sent it, didn't she send it to you also? Well, you know the punchline to that one. These poor people totally changed the way they heat baby bottles and food-FOR A HOAX!!! Oye. It is one thing to send that junk of innocently. But when you are given the tools to verify something and you choose not to, well, that is just not a nice thing to do. Mean actually.

 

[Divamomto3]

Actually, Lovey, I find most of the Disney Resorts to not be hoity-toity enough!

Look for me in August, I'll be in the lobby of SSR saying:

"Thurston, Dear, be a love and put my medium steamtrunk on top of my large steamtrunk and see to it that my personal staff have a studio near my villa so they can properly attend to me in the morning! Oh and be a love and fetch me a High Ball from the Turf Club."

 

[JerJan]

What can add except I have spent the last 20 minutes reading this thread and you "GALS/GUYS" are cracking me up!!!
Oh...and I like the urban legend about the rats on soda cans in Hawaii.

 

[Disney Doll]

We have stayed in most of the WDW resorts except for YC & GF. Those 2 seem to have the largest "stuffiness" factor to me.

I don't feel at all like the BW or the BC (regukar hotel or DVC villas) are at all stuffy.

 

[kathleena]

Where do you get this X-O? My son has allergies and seems to not be crazy about Febreeze and I have been looking for something else to try.

I bought mine from QVC - It's called Don Aslett's X-O and it's wonderful! I am sensitive to tons of fragrances and this clears them all away without leaving an odor. There is a slight whiff of something when you first spray it, but it's gone in seconds, along with the odor.

Living in Maine - we cook lobsters and clams a few times a summer. Used to have the odor for days afterwards - now - it's all gone!

 

[KelNottAt]

Help! You guys got me so worried, I hope someone can set me straight with a little reassurance.

We own BWV and bought there for the location. Alas, we haven't stayed there yet due to hurricanes, etc. Now I'm a little concerned it might be too hoity for us.

So far our only DVC experience has been HH. We loved it. But we're also perfectly comfortable on the Disney Cruise Line, which my in-laws consider waaay to stiff.

So, where would you put BWV? Closer to HH or DCL in atmosphere?

Thanks.

 

[wtpclc]

Kelley - My dh gets very uncomfortable in hoity-toity placces. We LOVED BWI. I don't know about HH, but I think I was much more comfortable at BWI than DCL. HTH!

 

[Danthesand]

We've owned at BWV since 1999. It is not hoity-toity by any means. Gracious but comfortable is the best description. The lobby may seem a wee bit formal, but one glance at the Boardwalk itself or the Luna pool will tell you you're in anything but a stuffy environment.

 

[bcvillastwo]

I've been to all of the Disney on-site properties and staying at about 1/2 of them including the GF and I can't say that I've found any of them hoity-toity.

But, every resort is different and I like them all because they are different. I have to say the GF is my favorite and I hope to stay there again sometime.

Our home DVC resort is BCV.

Some people feel they are better than the rest of us but most just seem to be regular Joes and Jills. I don't have much use for those who think they are better than the rest of us.

We all have worth because we are made in the image of God.

 

[idratherbeinwdw]

Kelnottat:

I think Danthesand put it very well. The lobby at BWV is awesome, and at first glance perhaps you might think it's a bit hoity-toity. But look further and you will see Mickey heads atop the "elegant" lamps in that lobby. And there's a carousel horse with a hidden Mickey on his rump there too, as well as a display with a miniature roller coaster that has that familiar shape. There are really cool (some say scary looking) chairs that look like people. There are mickeys, pluto, donalds and minnie shapes worked into the carpeting throughout the hallways of the resort. The pools, community hall, the Boardwalk area, the staff and the majority guests, are, in my experience, quite laid back. Not Stuffy at all.

As I posted earlier in the thread, I have never gotten any snooty looks when I walk through the BWV lobby in tank top and shorts. I am sensitive to that sort of thing, and if I felt judged in any way as "not good enough" at BWV I never would have bought into it. It's a wonderful resort, with so much to do and easy access to both Epcot and MGM. I don't think you'll regret your choice.

 

[dgaston]

For KelNottAt: I don't think the BWV are hoity toity. I've stayed there three times, now, and while I have to admit the boys (16 and 24) embarrassed me in April with their imitations of Pal Mickey, the other guests were fine.

Now my issue is more about going to Spas. I have to admit I felt silly waiting for my "therapist" at Muscles and Bustles, but he did a great deep tissue massage.

 

[loribell]

Well I finally had time to read through this thread and am very glad I did. I too have always had that hoity toity feeling about the GF. I've always said I wanted to try all of the Disney Resorts except the GF. I was so sure we would be so uncomfortable there. But this summer I made ressies for my DD - 6 to attend the Grand Adventures in Cooking and got to spend the morning there wandering around the resort waiting for her to finish. I have since changed my mind. I no longer feel it is to fancy for my family. I now have no desire to stay there because I was not at all impressed. I truly feel that the DVC resorts are all much nicer. I honestly can't understand why anyone would pay that kind of money to stay there!

Now as for the hoity toity factor of the DVC resorts I guess I would have to say that the lobby of the BWV's is probably the most impressive with the BCV's being a close second, followed by SSR, then VWL & last OKW. However, while I feel that the lobby's of the BWV's & BCV's are very nice I do not in any way feel uncomfortable in them.

By the way, the Grand Adventures in Cooking was a big hit for the girls and boys that did it. And it really cut down on the hoity toity factor when the little ones were walking around handing out their creations to those that were entering the hotel.

Lori