Just back from BWV's...Wow!...any questions???

hygienejean

Diser since 2002!
Joined
Jul 27, 2002
We just returned back from our fabulous trip to WDW and the BWV's. What a great resort. We are so excited to go back next year!

When we arrived the first thing we noticed was the grounds. Beautifully landscaped and well taken care of. The lobby is huge and grand. Old fashioned and comfortable. Huge front porch that overlooked the Boardwalk.

We rented points from a DVC member. We got all of our requests, the biggest being a Boardwalk view. Our 2 bedroom was gorgeous. We kept saying,"Wow look at this, look at this!" The colors and the decorating style were so pretty. Beadboard cabinets, a breakfast bar, our own washer and dryer....unbelievable. We took the master bedroom with the kingsized bed. Our little ones stayed in the portacribs that were provided. (We had a walk in closet and a super huge bathroom with a jacuzzi and separate shower.) My parents stayed in the studio part. They had their own bathroom. They enjoyed having their own little kitchenette. Our balcony was large and we watched the Illuminations fireworks almost every night. It was great!

The pool was my 3 year old's favorite. The kiddie pool was just his size. We never found either pool to be too crowded. The pool bar had pretty good (and affordable) food too. The slide was fun!

The Boardwalk itself was a very exciting place to be. There was a ton of places to have meals or snacks. Ice cream was a big staple of ours. (Just be sure to go before the Illuminations crowd comes!)

The only negatives are the LONG walk to the elevators....but it's not that bad! And we could hear noise from the Boardwalk. It didn't bother anyone else who was with me, I guess I'm just a light sleeper.

Both of those negatives are so small compared to all of the positives. We can't wait to go back again! Now that I've stayed in a 2 bedroom I am spoiled. I can't see myself in a hotel room again. Renting points is very reasonable too. Disney wanted $705 for the same room. We got it for less than half. No taxes. And there is valet parking which we used every day.

If anyone has any questions I'd be more than happy to answer what I can. Have a great day!

Jean:cool:
 
Glad you enjoyed BWV! We recently purchased DVC at BWV, and have never stayed there. You're making me excited to try it! :)
 
That is great! I am working on my husband to buy a resale soon. You will LOVE it ...try to get a Boardwalk veiw if you can!

Jean
 
Glad you had such a wonderful time at my favourite resort. I too love the lobby, especially the furniture.
 
Glad you enjoyed it. I rented points for a 1bdrm at BWV for Dec.(there weren't any 2 bdrms left). It's good to hear a nice review of the place. We are also hoping for a boardwalk view but will be happy with whatever we get. When did you put in a request for the view? Anything a 1st timer should know about?
 
Hi.. did you have maid service at the 2bdrm?

Sounds wonderful - thanx for the report.

>>^..^<<
 
wdwnutze, We reserved it about 10 months out...maybe 10 1/2. I think that is why we got our Boardwalk veiw but you never know. Actually the pool veiw would be very nice as well. I wouldn't be upset at that veiw at all.

If you could request a room nearer to the elevators I would do that. It is an unbelievably long hike from the far end to the elevators. We got used to it. Good excercise!

One thing I will remember to do is bring my own condiments in small packages. They only provide you with a little coffee and some sugar. There is no salt and pepper, mustard or ketchup packs etc. We had to buy them and then leave them behind because our suitcases were so full! We shopped at Goodings because it was very close and convenient. I don't think I would do that again because it was ridiculously expensive! I would recommend finding another place to shop for food.

You will love it, have a nice trip!

>>^..^<<,

We did not have a daily maid service. Just a trash and tidy day on the 4th day. We actually really liked not having a maid come in! We were taking naps with the kids in the early afternoon and that would have disturbed the kids. You never know when the maid will come in and clean anyway. It made it feel even more like "home"

Jean:cool:
 
Originally posted by hygienejean
Both of those negatives are so small compared to all of the positives. We can't wait to go back again! Now that I've stayed in a 2 bedroom I am spoiled. I can't see myself in a hotel room again. Renting points is very reasonable too. Disney wanted $705 for the same room. We got it for less than half. No taxes.

Do I see a future DVC'er here?!!:p We rented points from a friend and stayed at the BWV last Nov. On like the 2nd day of our trip, we had already decided to buy into DVC via resale. We got home and found our 200 pt. BWV resale w/in a couple of weeks. We closed in Jan.:D I LOVE the BWV! DH wanted to try the BCV too so we stayed there in Feb. and again last week. For a lot of reasons, our vacations there were not very relaxing. We can't wait to stay at our "home" of the BWV again in Oct. I just love the BWV and I highly recommend buying there if you can find a resale that will work for your point needs!!
 
chrissyk,
How did you know? I have been pestering my DH about buying a resale ever since we returned home! Cross your fingers for me!
 
Originally posted by hygienejean
chrissyk,
How did you know? I have been pestering my DH about buying a resale ever since we returned home! Cross your fingers for me!

He'll come around:p Maybe give him the task of "researching" resales online to see if he can find a good deal? My DH did all the legwork on finding our resale, and that task really got him excited about it;) He did a good job, too...I would probably have (mistakenly) looked for fewer points than he did. We bought 200 points at BWV, and we are planning on adding a 100-point contract at either VB or HH sometime in the future. Good luck persuading your DH:Pinkbounc
 
ChrissyK,

Just curious about how the BCV and BWV's compared??? What did you like and dislike? We walked over to BC/BCV's a couple of times because we thought we were going to stay there next year. The villa's there seemed so quiet(which is good if that's what you are looking for!) compared to the busseling(SP???) Boardwalk. We decided on BWV's next time. (My dad was so funny....he gets up at the crack of dawn and he enjoyed walking the grounds so early, getting coffee and goodies at the bakery, and chatting with the other early birds! He voted BWV hands down!)
 
BarbaraMB,

I stayed at the Gaylord Palms a few days before the BWV's and they DO have motion sensors. It was really obvious. I am fairly sure that BWV's do not (We programmed the coolness/warmness)but maybe there is some one out there who knows for sure????
 
Originally posted by hygienejean
ChrissyK,

Just curious about how the BCV and BWV's compared??? What did you like and dislike? We walked over to BC/BCV's a couple of times because we thought we were going to stay there next year. The villa's there seemed so quiet(which is good if that's what you are looking for!) compared to the busseling(SP???) Boardwalk. We decided on BWV's next time. (My dad was so funny....he gets up at the crack of dawn and he enjoyed walking the grounds so early, getting coffee and goodies at the bakery, and chatting with the other early birds! He voted BWV hands down!)

It's funny that the BCV seemed quiet to you. Our main dislike of BCV was that we found it to be incredibly noisy:eek: Part of this stems from the fact that our 1st studio was RIGHT next to a noisy elevator, but in general it seemed to be a noisy and very non-relaxing resort to me. Also, the Stormalong Bay pool was PACKED with people the week we were there, and it wasn't even a week that we expected to be that busy. I question the planning that went into putting the YC/BC/BCV all around the same pool! We were seriously disappointed by our inability to use the pool. It was just too crowded to enjoy! The BCV pool was very crowded (and small!) too, so we gave up and went pool-hopping. Compared to the great time we had at the Luna Park pool at the BWV last year, the pools at the BCV were very disappointing!

We've stayed at the BCV twice and the BWV once. We found the BWV to be pretty quiet, even with a studio that directly overlooked the Luna Park pool:D I think that the BCV is still very new and a lot of people are making their first trip "home" there right now, so maybe it will be better in the future. We're sticking with the BWV for now though!

If you're trying to decide where to buy in, think of where you'd like to have your 11-month booking window. I really wanted our 11-month window at BWV.
 
:earsboy:
BWV is our home resort. We bought directly from WDW and then added on
more points when they had a deal going on.
We stayed at BCV over New Year's this last year and loved it. The only negatives
that we found were that there was more "road noise" in the villa we were in
(our villa was on the far east side of the resort, looking DIRECTLY into Epcot).
Stormalong bay was ok -we had no real problem finding room to lie out and
swim. I love the public areas at BCV -the Solarium is really nice, as were a couple
of the others for relaxing with a book, and watching some of the many many
bowl games.
We've had both pool and standard views at BWV, and the standard view is
pretty nice -one year, we looked NE so we could see the high shots from PI
and most of Illuminations from our balcony. the view looked over the entrance,
basically.
I love the proximity to all the restaraunts that BWV gives you -we ate in Spooldles,
and were able to have our DD's head back to the villa and keep in tourch by FRS
radio. The walk from the BCV to EC is less than it is from BWV, but it's not bad
at all.
Remember, if you purchase points, and are the registerd owner of the points,
the interest, if you finance them, is deductible as are your portion of the property
taxes. The DVC resorts are officially considered 'vacation homes' by the IRS.

We've been very happy with the BWV and are very happy overall with the DVC
experience... having a cast member tell us "welcome home" when we check
in is just the start of a great time.
 

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