"VWL Granny" gives BWV two thumbs up!

[Granny]

We've returned from our second DVC stay this year...this time for five nights at BWV. We had a great time!

Okay, the basics: We had room 4091, which is on the wing between the quiet pool and the Scary Clown pool....we overlooked the quiet pool. The room was a dedicated 1BR.

Nice room surprise: Not too far from elevators (booked at 7 months) and had an awesome view of the canal and Tower of Terror at MGM.

Little room disappointment: No balcony for the master bedroom. I looked at the room from the outside and we were over some sort of awning that got in the way of a balcony. Looked like only a couple of rooms were affected this way. No big deal, but we like to sit on balcony early with coffee before the kids wake up...it was hard to go on the living room balcony without disturbing them.

We really enjoyed walking to Epcot and MGM and the Boardwalk area itself. The guy pedaling around with the bicycle/piano was great for setting the night time ambience. And it was weird to see kiosks that were closed during the day opening up at 9:00 pm in anticipation of the post-Illuminations rush!

We were disappointed that we sat one time for over a half-hour for a bus to AK. But other than that, the buses were fine.

Parks had good crowds but not overcrowded at all. Most high-demand attractions had 45-60 minute waits, but FastPass worked great.

All in all we are very glad we decided to stay at BWV this time. We stayed at our home of VWL a couple of months ago and wanted a change of scenery. My DW commented that it was almost like a completely different vacation since the Boardwalk area is so different and active.

Funny, the first couple of days she said "This is nice, but it's not VWL". By the end of five days, she was saying "I could see staying here from time to time".

I love the choices DVC offers. And since we will be going to WDW so often in the coming years, we look forward to exploring other resorts. In fact, we're planning on OKW next summer.

Gotta love it!

 

[donmil723]

Glad you had a great time!

Donna

 

[PamOKW]

Granny -- That's great that you're "trying all of them". I think that's the real beauty of DVC -- we aren't even locked into the same resort at WDW. I'm glad to hear you had a good trip and thanks for taking the time to give a review.

 

[yasuern]

Granny,
I love your trip reports - You get right to the point - yet still fun to read! I am sooo jealous you had a view of my favorite ride TOT. We are off to VWL our home resort too in Dec - you need to stay a OKW we did in July and loved it.

 

[nezy]

thus far we always stay at OKW, even though Boardwalk is our home resort. We recently added on at VWL and will be there in Dec. I am looking forward to being so close to Magic Kingdom. When the kids are older I am sure they will prefer to be at BW. It is true--with every resort it is a different vacation! If Disney keeps building new locations, we will never run out of "different" vacations!

 

[Laurabearz]

Thanks for the report Granny! We are taking our first trip to BWV in September....

 

[Doctor P]

Thanks for your report!

 

[nisiemouse]

Looks like we were there at the same time. We were at BCV for our first trip "home." I agree with what you said about the crowds. Thanks for the great trip report.

 

[AnnaS]

Thanks for sharing Granny. Right to the point, I like that. I spoke to my friend twice this week, she said the samething, crowds not too bad and heat not too bad. How can heat not that bad be possible in July? Glad to hear you enjoyed BW and were not disappointed.

 

[POOH&PIGLET]

Great report Granny!
One day we will venture away from our VWL home. Maybe next year. Eventually, we will try all the WDW resorts.

 

[ralphd]

Nice report Granny! Glad you had a good time at BWV.

ralphd

 

[Credit Man]

Great report, Granny. Glad you liked BWV.

 

[Rock'n Robin]

Nice report Granny! We started at BWV and added at VWL, and right now I think I like VWL better, but we'll be alternating years after our cruise.
Anna, we were there July 7-16 and the heat wasn't bad until July 14, actually it was pretty decent but with one really rainy day (which happened to be my BDay--what do you do on a rainy birthday except shop at DD??? )
Robin M.

 

[Mouse Ears]

Thanks for the great report! I'm glad you had a great time. I am looking forward to trying all the options too. I'm even torn about whether to start out with BCV to try our new home or try WLV and have the close access to MK. Options are a good thing.

M.E.

 

[Granny]

Thanks for everyone's kind replies. But I'm not surprised because the people on this board are a genuinely helpful, supportive and friendly group!

My "right to the point" style probably comes from writing so many e-mails. After a while, you have to just quickly summarize or people won't read them.

yasuern...the Tower of Terror is DW's favorite ride too. So she really loved the view. And on the last day, it was drizzly raining in the morning and we saw a really cool sight. Standing by the quiet pool we could see a rainbow starting right about the ToT and making a complete arc all the way to the Swan hotel. I tried to take pictures but I'm not sure how they came out. It was too wide to get the whole thing in one picture.

AnnaS...your friend was right about the heat. It was low 90's which was much nicer than the weather back home in St. Louis. I've joked to several people here that it was nice to head to Florida in July to escape the summer heat!

I think as long as you are prepared for the heat, it's really not that bad. And there are a lot of places to duck into that are air conditioned (except for AK....the hottest theme park on earth!). We did take advantage of the AP lounge in Epcot....very nice little perk!

Can you tell how much fun we had? We did so much, yet never rushed anywhere or pushed ourselves.

Can't wait for our OKW trip next year!

 

[Granny]

Oh, how could I forget one of the nicest surprises of all! When we checked in at 10:45 am, our room was ready! Even the CM at the check-in desk was surprised.

We were all set to check our luggage at the bell stand and head to the parks. But getting up to the room and unpacking sure made it a lot nicer.

We know we won't get that lucky very often in the future, but it sure was a great way to start off our week at BWV!

 

[dizneeluvr]

Granny,

did you fly this trip? If so, do you rent a car or get a service to pick you up? If you did the latter, who did you use??

Thanks,
Laura

 

[Granny]

Laura....other than our first trip, we always drive. It is normally a 14.5 hour trip but we like to have a car and it lets us overpack a little!

Our first trip (1998) we flew and used the Mears shuttle service. We were at a resort so no need to stop off for groceries on the way.

Then, after a few days we rented a car for some off-site trips. National has a car rental place right on-site and they picked me up in a shuttle from my resort at no charge. I returned the car to the airport National location and no drop-off charge for returning at a different place than I picked up from.

The Disney Club card has some nice National discounts that come with it. It's the official car rental agency of WDW.

Hope that helps a little.

 

[MickeyBabe]

Laura, You should check out Cartier Town Cars and Tiffany Town cars. Cartier offers acomplimentary food stop on the way to your resort and the driver meets you at you luggage pick up. I am going to check it out on our next trip. I heard Tiffany might also have similar extras.

http://www.cartiertowncar.com/rates.htm

http://www.tiffanytowncar.com/

Valerie

 

[dizneeluvr]

Thanks Valerie and Granny!

And Granny...ahem...14.5 hours from St. Louis?????? What are you driving? Michael J. Fox's Delorian (sp?) from back to the future????? It took us 16 hours to HH in March!!!!!!!!!


You must be in a real hurry to get there (though I can't blame you there)




Laura