Finally stayed at all DVC resorts at WDW..

[jmatias]

........(except AKV) and there truly is something for everyone. Just got back home last night from 12 days at WDW. First 5 days at BCV and last 7 days at SSR. Been to WDW many times but this trip had a lot of firsts.

BCV
- had room 203 with nice view of the BCV front courtyard.
- first time using Garden Grocer and we really liked the convenience. Ordered items 2 weeks prior and just had to call bell service to deliver items to our room.
- first time on property at WDW without a rental car and it was fine. Used ME to get to the resort and the WDW buses, boats, etc. to get to the parks and various resorts for dinner. Just took a bit more planning.
- DH and I really like the location of BCV and the pool area is great...but....the pool water is way to warm. It just wasn't refreshing at all. Like swimming in bath water. Not what you want after a long hot day at the parks. This is our only "negative"
- we did have the DDP while at BCV and ate for the first time at Concourse Steakhouse and Chef Mickeys. For both those dinners we caught the bus to the MK and then walked over to the Contemporary. We decided that we prefer Coral Reef to Concourse and that Chef Mickey's food was okay but no need to do that one again.
-we moved to SSR on 7/22 and used the bags transfer service...first time for that and it went smoothly.

While I waited for bell service to pick up our bags to transfer to SSR, DH went over to the Dolphin Hotel to pick up our rental car. AFter bell services got our bags we waited in the lobby for DH. Worked out well. Before hitting the outlets we went to SSR to check in. This was about 10:30 am


SSR ( First stay at SSR )
- Really found everyone to be friendly and helpful. BCV was nice but really got that "Welcome Home" feeling at SSR.
- of course our room wasn't ready yet but we expected that. Asked if they knew where our room would be and was told we can't give you the exact room number yet but we can show you which building. Our building looked to be far from the pools so we asked if we could get something else. CM was very friendly and said she did have a room in the Grandstand area and we said that sounds good. We then spent the afternoon at the outlets, picking up more groceries since we didn't have the DDP for this part of the trip, and our room was ready about 4:00 pm.
-SSR is a beautiful resort and very big. It has a very relaxing feel to it. After finding the Grandstand area and then figuring out how to find our room we were very happy to get a room at GrandStand. We had room # 8721 which is a dedicated 2 bedroom. Our lanai view was of the golf course. And if you stepped out the front door you looked straight at the pool. Perfect location!
-We spent several days at the pools, community hall, arcade, and really enjoyed the resort. DH went to the exercise room 3x and said its the best one of all the DVCs. Kids said they enjoyed the SSR pools better because the water temperature was cooler. Again, found all the CMs we encountered to be very friendly. Everyone we passed from the bartender, mousekeeping staff, lifeguards, etc. would smile and greet you.
-Our flight home was at 12:00 pm so this was the first time we could use the resort airline check in and it was great!!!!! Called bell services the night before and arranged a 8:00 am bag pick up. Checked in at the airline counter and all was done by 8:20. Time for a quick breakfast at Artist Point before our 9:00 am ME bus. Not having to carry all our check in bags througout the airport was fantastic!
-We really enjoyed our stay at SSR. We think a big reason was our room location in Grandstand. Some of the buildings looked quite a bit away from the activities.

Other firsts:

-Breakfast at Ohanas. We really liked the atmosphere, characters ( Mickey, Pluto, Lilo, and Stitch) and the food was good.

-Our boys 11 & 9 really enjoy pin trading and we found out about the montly pin trading event at the Contemporary. We all went and the kids had a great time visiting will all the pin collectors and seeing their pin collections. You do have to watch the kids though because some of the collectors will not hesitate to take advantage of the kids. But majority were nice and taught our kids a lot about pin collecting.

This was another great Disney vacation. We asked our kids now that we stayed at all the DVC resorts which was their favorite. For the kids, it was Wilderness Lodge hands down. Since we live in Hawaii they said the BCV beachy theme didn't do anything for them. Wilderness Lodge was way different from their normals experiences so that is their favorite resort. We are AKV owners too so I'm hoping they'll love AKV when we finally stay there.

Aloha,
Jen

 

[littlestar]

Nice trip report.

 

[mello]

We have a goal to stay at all the onsite resorts too, so I enjoyed your perspective. Funny how it works, we live in an area that looks just like the Wilderness Lodge, so while we really appreciate how well the themeing was done, it doesn't "do" as much for us, while the beachy themes do!

On a side note, we'll be visiting your home state for the first time this fall, and we're pretty excited about it!

 

[bobbiwoz]

That sounds like a great vacation! And you certainly came from a long way, I'm glad it was so good.

Bobbi

 

[alldiz]

Glad you had a great trip....

I am heading to BCV in a few weeks.....I'm really hoping they pump
some cold water in the pools....
I was planning on swimming a lot....I would hate for it to be
like a jacuzzi
Kerri

 

[Longhairbear]

We have only to stay at Beach Club Villas and the new AKV. Our last new place to stay was BWV. We can't wait to try BCV as it has facilities that are are far better than BWV. The difference is embarrassing, what were they thinking for grocery,gift shop, refill mugs, and food court at BWV? We'll never stay there again.

 

[TAKitty]

Our kids like Wilderness Lodge best too, except we do live in the country etc. I really like BC, but the kids found the pool too busy. At SSR they liked being the only ones at the pool (Grandstand Section).

 

[shovan]

Thanks for the report, love to hear about all of the DVC resorts!

 

[westjones]

We just used the airport luggage checkin for the first time at Pop Century last week (we are saving points up for a big family trip next year). We thought about staying at OKW because of the larger rooms, but I was concerned about not having a car and how we would get luggage around. So do they actually come to your room and pick up the luggage? At PC we took it up to the check in area (but it wasn't a far walk there like at SSR or OKW).

Thanks,
DJ

 

[LocustPoint]

It sounds like a great trip. I read nothing but good things about the Grandstand section of SSR, maybe one of these days my husband will be able to drag me away from BWV to stay at SSR again.

Mary

 

[Chuck S]

We just used the airport luggage checkin for the first time at Pop Century last week (we are saving points up for a big family trip next year). We thought about staying at OKW because of the larger rooms, but I was concerned about not having a car and how we would get luggage around. So do they actually come to your room and pick up the luggage? At PC we took it up to the check in area (but it wasn't a far walk there like at SSR or OKW).

Thanks,
DJ

OKW has bell services that will deliver/pick-up to your room. But for the airport check-in, I think you have to go up front and be physically present for ID, etc....but Bell Services can tote the luggage up there for you.

 

[RLRDA]

Thanks for the trip report! We will be at SSR in less than 2 weeks and it's great to hear that people have a wonderful stay there! We are also splitting our stay but to AKV (not BCV) so it's a relief to hear that the transfer went smoothly.

It's our goal to try all the DVC resorts, also. After our upcoming trip we need to try BCV and OKW. From what I read on these board they are much loved DVC homes!