colleen costello
DVC Fan
- Joined
- Jul 23, 2002
- Messages
- 3,229
Hi everyone! We are in Georgia, spending the night on the way home from a wonderful trip to WDW. What can I say? It was hot and crowded and crazy but we had a BALL... Stayed 11 nights and that was great. I ALMOST got to do everything I wanted to!
We first stayed 5 nights at PO-FQ. This was paid for largely with Disney Visa reward dollars, so I was pleased from the get-go. We had a room that was on the one end, practically in Old Key West. The room was new and nice, nicely furnished and very clean. We had a great housekeeper. We were very comfortable and enjoyed the grounds and pool. The kids and I agreed that the "scary faces" in the food court are horrible and give the scary clown at Boardwalk pool some serious competition. Other than the faces, the resort was really great.
One night we abandoned our room at PO and went to Vero. It was a great "extra" for us, as we live nowhere near any ocean. Walking into the lobby is great as you can see right thru the glass doors to the beautiful blue water. The resort is airy and sunny and very bright, and the grounds are lush and green. I can't imagine how it looked before the hurricane because it is sure pretty now. We had lunch at Shutters and after that our room was ready. We had a 4th floor right in the Inn, near the elevators -- very convenient. We went to the beach for a while and then hit the pool, which was as warm as a bath. The kids enjoyed the slide. We just hung out and enjoyed the views that evening. The next morning the kids hit the beach early for "Turtle Troop," and helped get baby sea turtles into the ocean with a biologist from Animal Kingdom. This was a huge hit... The kids could not stop talking about all the cute little baby turtles. After this we took some photos and headed back to WDW. We took the Turnpike route down and 95 going back; both were fine and it took less than 2 hours each way.
When we got back from Vero my parents arrived on Magical Express and the next morning we moved over to Beach Club Villas. We had two studios. We asked them to put my parents close to the lobby and they got room 222. I was assigned to 263, with that gorgeous view of the service road. This room is about a mile from the lobby so every time I did that walk I kept thinking of all the great cardio benefits (necessary after many Mickey head bars). The rooms were both in perfectly good shape, very comfortable. Our room was close to parking so we could get our van and then pick my Mom up in the front, which made life easier for her. The lobby and grounds are gorgeous and we enjoyed SAB every afternoon. While the pool was busy,we always got a chair or two and everyone seemed pleasant enough -- I saw no battles over chairs or anything. We had a great dinner at Cape May, a few lunches at Beaches & Cream, and some quick meals at Hurricane Hannah's. The Marketplace had a great supply of snacks and goodies, and the gelato (lemon!) was to die for... Like the Italian Ice of my childhood. Overall we thought the resort was top-notch. My family LOVES Old Key West, but we agreed that BCV, while very different, is quite wonderful. I am now glad that we own our points there.
I met a DIS-er in a Poly gift shop. I recognized her from her signature, which includes her photo. It was Fantasia, and I ran up to her and accosted her with "Aren't you on the DIS?" She and her children were lovely and we took some pics, which she has threatened to post upon her return. It was fun to see someone from the Boards.
We encountered no problems with rudeness or anything like that. The CM's at all 3 resorts were very polite and nice and went out of their way to accommodate my parents. At BCV they actually came and put in a new thermostat for Mom. She has asthma and needs her room frigid and they had no problem replacing the original thermostat. After that her room was freezing! My family was very comfortable and never found our room to be hot. I think this might be because we get up in the night to go to the bathroom, and the A/c kicks on. I did think of the "hamster on a balloon" thread from way back, when we all discussed how to keep the thermostats running!
On a sad note, my little son lost his bag at BC -- we think he put it on a chair to feed the ducks, and then failed to pick it back up. In all the excitement, I did not notice. Someone turned in the bag, which contained his older Gameboy, but the little ziploc bag - with ALL his Gameboy games -- was gone. It breaks my heart to think that someone kept a bag that obviously belonged to a little kid... Oh, well. He learned a very expensive lesson about keeping an eye on his stuff. We plan to hit Ebay to try to replace some of the games.
So, overall a great trip. Lots of fun, great meals, nice people. Beautiful resorts, a peek at the ocean, Mickey head bars. Lots of sun, little rain. A big thumbs up!Next week the 11-month window opens at BCV for July 2006, an I will be on the phone to Member Services!
We first stayed 5 nights at PO-FQ. This was paid for largely with Disney Visa reward dollars, so I was pleased from the get-go. We had a room that was on the one end, practically in Old Key West. The room was new and nice, nicely furnished and very clean. We had a great housekeeper. We were very comfortable and enjoyed the grounds and pool. The kids and I agreed that the "scary faces" in the food court are horrible and give the scary clown at Boardwalk pool some serious competition. Other than the faces, the resort was really great.
One night we abandoned our room at PO and went to Vero. It was a great "extra" for us, as we live nowhere near any ocean. Walking into the lobby is great as you can see right thru the glass doors to the beautiful blue water. The resort is airy and sunny and very bright, and the grounds are lush and green. I can't imagine how it looked before the hurricane because it is sure pretty now. We had lunch at Shutters and after that our room was ready. We had a 4th floor right in the Inn, near the elevators -- very convenient. We went to the beach for a while and then hit the pool, which was as warm as a bath. The kids enjoyed the slide. We just hung out and enjoyed the views that evening. The next morning the kids hit the beach early for "Turtle Troop," and helped get baby sea turtles into the ocean with a biologist from Animal Kingdom. This was a huge hit... The kids could not stop talking about all the cute little baby turtles. After this we took some photos and headed back to WDW. We took the Turnpike route down and 95 going back; both were fine and it took less than 2 hours each way.
When we got back from Vero my parents arrived on Magical Express and the next morning we moved over to Beach Club Villas. We had two studios. We asked them to put my parents close to the lobby and they got room 222. I was assigned to 263, with that gorgeous view of the service road. This room is about a mile from the lobby so every time I did that walk I kept thinking of all the great cardio benefits (necessary after many Mickey head bars). The rooms were both in perfectly good shape, very comfortable. Our room was close to parking so we could get our van and then pick my Mom up in the front, which made life easier for her. The lobby and grounds are gorgeous and we enjoyed SAB every afternoon. While the pool was busy,we always got a chair or two and everyone seemed pleasant enough -- I saw no battles over chairs or anything. We had a great dinner at Cape May, a few lunches at Beaches & Cream, and some quick meals at Hurricane Hannah's. The Marketplace had a great supply of snacks and goodies, and the gelato (lemon!) was to die for... Like the Italian Ice of my childhood. Overall we thought the resort was top-notch. My family LOVES Old Key West, but we agreed that BCV, while very different, is quite wonderful. I am now glad that we own our points there.
I met a DIS-er in a Poly gift shop. I recognized her from her signature, which includes her photo. It was Fantasia, and I ran up to her and accosted her with "Aren't you on the DIS?" She and her children were lovely and we took some pics, which she has threatened to post upon her return. It was fun to see someone from the Boards.
We encountered no problems with rudeness or anything like that. The CM's at all 3 resorts were very polite and nice and went out of their way to accommodate my parents. At BCV they actually came and put in a new thermostat for Mom. She has asthma and needs her room frigid and they had no problem replacing the original thermostat. After that her room was freezing! My family was very comfortable and never found our room to be hot. I think this might be because we get up in the night to go to the bathroom, and the A/c kicks on. I did think of the "hamster on a balloon" thread from way back, when we all discussed how to keep the thermostats running!
On a sad note, my little son lost his bag at BC -- we think he put it on a chair to feed the ducks, and then failed to pick it back up. In all the excitement, I did not notice. Someone turned in the bag, which contained his older Gameboy, but the little ziploc bag - with ALL his Gameboy games -- was gone. It breaks my heart to think that someone kept a bag that obviously belonged to a little kid... Oh, well. He learned a very expensive lesson about keeping an eye on his stuff. We plan to hit Ebay to try to replace some of the games.
So, overall a great trip. Lots of fun, great meals, nice people. Beautiful resorts, a peek at the ocean, Mickey head bars. Lots of sun, little rain. A big thumbs up!Next week the 11-month window opens at BCV for July 2006, an I will be on the phone to Member Services!
aw: 
