Room Selection Priority for Owners?

[crazywig]

This is the bank of BWV rooms that look out onto the Village Green. As you can see, there's only one 1BR per floor, and none of them are lockoffs.

Edit - forgot the link! https://www.disboards.com/media/bwv---view.62897/

And the top floor 1br, 5051, only has one tiny balcony off the living room. No balcony off the bedroom. Not great. These used to be categorized as boardwalk view but I am not sure if they still are.

 

[drusba]

And the top floor 1br, 5051, only has one tiny balcony off the living room. No balcony off the bedroom. Not great. These used to be categorized as boardwalk view but I am not sure if they still are.

The map provided by CarolynFH was created in 2012. Do not know if anything has been changed lately, but a number of years ago, the second floor 1BR was recategorized as pool/garden view since the view was directly at a tree. At that same time, two of the 1BR pool/garden views in the Luna Park pool area were reclassified as standard view -- they were first floor 1BRs whose view was the back wall of the Pool.

 

[CarolynFH]

The map provided by CarolynFH was created in 2012. Do not know if anything has been changed lately, but a number of years ago, the second floor 1BR was recategorized as pool/garden view since the view was directly at a tree. At that same time, two of the 1BR pool/garden views in the Luna Park pool area were reclassified as standard view -- they were first floor 1BRs whose view was the back wall of the Pool.

Note that the map classifies them as Preferred view - I think it was made before Preferred was divided into Boardwalk and Pool/Garden view, at which time those rooms were classified as Boardwalk view. My understanding is that all of those rooms are now classified as Pool/Garden view, due to the persistent complaints that they weren't truly Boardwalk view. And I'll admit that we once booked a 1BR BW view, were placed in one of those, and indeed did complain that it wasn't BW view. I came to like it, though, because of the large balcony (can't remember which floor we were on, I think maybe second). Now they're sought after when booking P/G view, due to that partial BW view!

 

[Sprinkles&Sprints]

For all of you BWV experts, we have two upcoming reservations - P/G studio and 2-Bedroom Standard. For the P/G, I plan to request Village Green - any recs for the Standard View? I understand they don’t have a view per se - but anything to request so I avoid a particularly bad room?

 

[drusba]

Note that the map classifies them as Preferred view - I think it was made before Preferred was divided into Boardwalk and Pool/Garden view, at which time those rooms were classified as Boardwalk view. My understanding is that all of those rooms are now classified as Pool/Garden view, due to the persistent complaints that they weren't truly Boardwalk view. And I'll admit that we once booked a 1BR BW view, were placed in one of those, and indeed did complain that it wasn't BW view. I came to like it, though, because of the large balcony (can't remember which floor we were on, I think maybe second). Now they're sought after when booking P/G view, due to that partial BW view!

The map, though it is entitled Courtyard Preferred View, specifically designates the 1BRs as "Boardwalk View," which all of them were in 2012 when the map first appeared on this site. By then the preferred view category had been changed, divided into boardwalk view and pool/garden view. It was in 2016 that some additional changes were made, including changing two of the pool/gaerden view rooms in the pool area to standard. The second floor 1BR shown in the map was changed to pool/garden, and unclear is that the boardwalk view 1BR on the third floor may also have been changed to pool/garden.

 

[CarolynFH]

For all of you BWV experts, we have two upcoming reservations - P/G studio and 2-Bedroom Standard. For the P/G, I plan to request Village Green - any recs for the Standard View? I understand they don’t have a view per se - but anything to request so I avoid a particularly bad room?

What is your definition of a bad room? The standard views all overlook the entrance driveway and porte cochere. See map here https://www.wdwinfo.com/maps/BoardWalkMap.pdf

The ones closest to the elevators used to be subject to complaints of noise related to morning luggage checkin, but since that program was discontinued complaints of noisy rooms are less.

Many guests will request Close to Elevator, while others like to be Close to Stairway, a quick walk down and across the driveway to the bus stop or car park.

 

[Sprinkles&Sprints]

What is your definition of a bad room? The standard views all overlook the entrance driveway and porte cochere. See map here https://www.wdwinfo.com/maps/BoardWalkMap.pdf

The ones closest to the elevators used to be subject to complaints of noise related to morning luggage checkin, but since that program was discontinued complaints of noisy rooms are less.

Many guests will request Close to Elevator, while others like to be Close to Stairway, a quick walk down and across the driveway to the bus stop or car park.

This is exactly what I needed to know - I have no issues with lack of view but noise does bother me. I had the bad luck of being next to the elevator bank at AKL and it was pretty awful. I’ll request to be closer to the stairwells - thank you!

 

[CarolynFH]

The map, though it is entitled Courtyard Preferred View, specifically designates the 1BRs as "Boardwalk View," which all of them were in 2012 when the map first appeared on this site. By then the preferred view category had been changed, divided into boardwalk view and pool/garden view. It was in 2016 that some additional changes were made, including changing two of the pool/gaerden view rooms in the pool area to standard. The second floor 1BR shown in the map was changed to pool/garden, and unclear is that the boardwalk view 1BR on the third floor may also have been changed to pool/garden.

Thanks. I couldn’t remember when the Preferred to P/G and BW view split occurred.

 

[DebbieB]

When I bought in 1999, my guide said requests were filled by date of reservation. Buying BWV and making the reservation at 11 months, I had an excellent chance at boardwalk view (this was before it was split out). First stay - quiet pool view, very disappointed. After that I started booking standard view rather than gamble points. After they split out boardwalk view, I booked it almost every time. First time got 5051, the semi boardwalk view mentioned above. Since then I’ve been pretty lucky.

 

[drusba]

Thanks. I couldn’t remember when the Preferred to P/G and BW view split occurred.

The change from preferred to separate pool/garden and boardwalk view was announced at the Dec 2003 annual meeting

 

[808blessing]

I booked within a month of stay and got my preferred location. I didn't really ever get it when I booked one day. I wonder if it had to do with a 2 day stay.

 

[drusba]

For all of you BWV experts, we have two upcoming reservations - P/G studio and 2-Bedroom Standard. For the P/G, I plan to request Village Green - any recs for the Standard View? I understand they don’t have a view per se - but anything to request so I avoid a particularly bad room?

When requesting a Village Green room, you should also request higher floor. That is because the second floor studios above the Wyland galleries essentially have no view. See the photo attached, which shows the village green rooms. Note the arches from Wyland galleries. Those reach up to the second floor, and, buried inside those arches, note the outside decks of the studios on the second floor.

A good lead request for standard view 2BR is high floor, which, even if you are close to the front entrance area, allows you to avoid most of the noise that may occur. As to any other request, it depends on what you would like to accomplish. If you want to be fairly near the Village Green studio, if you get that for the other room, then request close to lobby or near elevator. Beyond that, the decision depends on how far you are willing to be from the lobby and bus station. The better standard view rooms for actual views are those in the end area that overlooks the tennis courts and have views of the channel, and Studios in the distance. You can request near the tennis courts for one of those, but walk to lobby and bus station is far, but, if you plan to walk to studios rather than take the boat, the stairway exit at the end of that area provides the shortest walk from BWV to Studios.

 

[Sprinkles&Sprints]

When requesting a Village Green room, you should also request higher floor. That is because the second floor studios above the Wyland galleries essentially have no view. See the photo attached, which shows the village green rooms. Note the arches from Wyland galleries. Those reach up to the second floor, and, buried inside those arches, note the outside decks of the studios on the second floor.

A good lead request for standard view 2BR is high floor, which, even if you are close to the front entrance area, allows you to avoid most of the noise that may occur. As to any other request, it depends on what you would like to accomplish. If you want to be fairly near the Village Green studio, if you get that for the other room, then request close to lobby or near elevator. Beyond that, the decision depends on how far you are willing to be from the lobby and bus station. The better standard view rooms for actual views are those in the end area that overlooks the tennis courts and have views of the channel, and Studios in the distance. You can request near the tennis courts for one of those, but walk to lobby and bus station is far, but, if you plan to walk to studios rather than take the boat, the stairway exit at the end of that area provides the shortest walk from BWV to Studios.

This is super helpful, thank you - we always walk to HS so this is a great tip!

 

[zackiedawg]

With standard view I actually prefer those far down the end near the tennis courts - they have river, bridge, tennis, or canal views (with parking lot beyond), so they are the nicest 'views' of any standard - yes, they are extremely far from the lobby - but they're actually not far from the bus stop at all if you don't mind stairs. Request 2nd floor and you're just 1 flight down the stairs, then about 250 feet from the bus stop. It's actually about as far to get to the bus stop from the close-to-elevator rooms if you consider walking through the lobby, out the front, then down the long winding path. If you intend to spend lots of time in the lobby and restaurants, then you have to deal with a long walk through the halls - though I found heading down the stairs, up the main entry to the hotel and down the stairs to the Boardwalk to actually be faster than accessing the Boardwalk through the inside hallways. Those end rooms are the closest to DHS too, just down the stairs and out to the path.

For preferred/garden view, I prefer the croquet court rooms. If you get a low floor where there aren't too many stairs to deal with, again they have a staircase right at the end of that hall that walks down to the croquet court, and you can take a short walk right around the corner onto the Boardwalk, can easily walk right over to Swan and Dolphin, even use their boat stop if you want to take the boat to Epcot or DHS, or walk to either park. They're far-ish from the lobby but not too bad in my opinion, and the view is peaceful and lovely, looking at the roquet garden, the river, and the Swan & Dolphin resorts.

 

[Sprinkles&Sprints]

With standard view I actually prefer those far down the end near the tennis courts - they have river, bridge, tennis, or canal views (with parking lot beyond), so they are the nicest 'views' of any standard - yes, they are extremely far from the lobby - but they're actually not far from the bus stop at all if you don't mind stairs. Request 2nd floor and you're just 1 flight down the stairs, then about 250 feet from the bus stop. It's actually about as far to get to the bus stop from the close-to-elevator rooms if you consider walking through the lobby, out the front, then down the long winding path. If you intend to spend lots of time in the lobby and restaurants, then you have to deal with a long walk through the halls - though I found heading down the stairs, up the main entry to the hotel and down the stairs to the Boardwalk to actually be faster than accessing the Boardwalk through the inside hallways. Those end rooms are the closest to DHS too, just down the stairs and out to the path.

For preferred/garden view, I prefer the croquet court rooms. If you get a low floor where there aren't too many stairs to deal with, again they have a staircase right at the end of that hall that walks down to the croquet court, and you can take a short walk right around the corner onto the Boardwalk, can easily walk right over to Swan and Dolphin, even use their boat stop if you want to take the boat to Epcot or DHS, or walk to either park. They're far-ish from the lobby but not too bad in my opinion, and the view is peaceful and lovely, looking at the roquet garden, the river, and the Swan & Dolphin resorts.

Super helpful - prior to becoming DVC owners, we exclusively stayed at the Swan/Dolphin so we are VERY used to/comfortable with that walk!

 

[lawboy2001]

It's not a thing, but it should be!

 

[AnnaS]

Over the years we have invited extended family and friends. I have made this comment to my guests plenty of times, "wow, your room is ready before ours", "they need to impress non-DVC owners". It was said smiling/as a joke. I doubt the room assignors know all the details.......but who knows really.......