BCV/BWV Quandry

[erikthewise]

Hello everyone!

Tomorrow is the 7-month window for our Dec 7-11 stay after the 4-day cruise. We have stayed at BCV four times, and one night at VWL. We have reservations at BCV for this trip, but are considering trying to switch, probably to BWV. (DW says she likes a central location.)

At first I was all for this, now I have cold feet. I/We really like BCV! I know what many of the pros and cons are. I want to try the others but hate giving up BCV. Any advice/suggestions?

One issue for us is that we will arrive from the cruise between 9:00 and 9:30. Which resort is most like to get us into a room by 2:00-3:00? We are thinking about going to MVMCP that evening, and an afternoon nap might be crucial if we do.

[Blue&Gold]

Not sure if I can help, but I understand your quandry... We're getting ready to leave for a 9-night BCV 2 BR stay that I picked up at the 7 month window by cancelling the equivalent BWV BW view room! Every day I was on with MS I felt like a traitor, leaving my home resort! Of course heading over to BCV isn't exactly all that adventurous, I realize!

Trying the other resorts is part of the beauty of the DVC, I say take the plunge.

I think your question on getting into the room is a real crap-shoot. Might as well get out your Ouija board. That said, our experience at BWV is that in 5 check-ins, we were able to get into our rooms before 10:00 AM 3 times, before 3:00 once, and only once had to wait until 4:00 (and we were at the parks, anyway). All depends on how early your departing guest leaves, how "clean" they leave the room, how close to the end of the hall you are, how happy Mousekeeping is, etc,...

Good luck, but I'd say take a shot and try out BWV. If you get homesick, wander over and get some ice cream.

[mousehouse]

BCV is so perfect why risk it with BW? what would they have there, you don't already have? Now I can see if you want to be adventuresome and try OKW or SSR.
Plus, some folks have been reporting bad housekeeping at bw..could be they had luck

[TW1]

I'm in the same boat Erikthewise. DW loves BCV, while I'm willing to try something new.

Let me how how this works out.

BTW I thought I recognized your name from other boards, if so WELCOME!

[jnrrt]

Hi erikthewise! I recognize you as well - welcome!

Personally, I would go for it. Of course, we love to try new places, and we're working on staying at all the DVCs. BWV is my home resort, and we love it. Ironically, for our upcoming trip, we traded our BWV for BCV, and I had the same experience. I was all excited to do it, and then when I did, I got a twinge of the cold feet factor, and wondered why I was doing it when we like BWV so much?

In my opinion, they have a lot in common. They're obviously very close together, so I think the experience of that area is very similar. I think BCV has a huge advantage in the pool (and why we switched since we're never there in swimming weather, but will be this time) and I think your wife has hit on the greatest advantage of BWV - the location. While it's a bit further from Epcot, it splits the difference between Epcot and the Studios, so you really can walk to either. If you're missing BCV, you can always take a walk, and we kind of experience that whole area as one, rather than seperate resorts, but that may be just us.

BTW, if you do switch and are walking to DS, go out by the pool and pick up the path, or out the far end of the DVC wing and pick up the path and you'll cut your walk in half. The way they send you "officially" makes no sense at all. They have you walk all the way down the Boardwalk, pick up the path, and walk all the way back (or at the cms I asked sent us that way).

Good luck with you decision, and the good part is that you can't lose. Those are both wonderful resorts, and either way, you'll have a great trip.

[Lisa]

I'm no help to you Erik! I'm in the same exact situation. We have BCV reserved for our Feb. trip and I'm trying to convince DH to give BWV or VWL a try. He thinks we should just stay at BCV and I want to try something new ....but then again BCV is great!

[erikthewise]

Thanks for all the sympathy! Of course I was hoping you would all make my decision for me. :D Since I'm a little ambivalent anyway, I'm going to wait until the 11th (our checkout date) before doing anything.

Yes I've spent a lot of time at that "other" discussion site under this username. It's kind of a dumb name but I'm stuck with it now. It took me awhile to found Mouseowners. I knew that people went somewhere else but didn't know where.

[jnrrt]

Actually, I always liked your username - kind of Viking-ish (and we have those here too) and Lord of the Rings-ish at the same time.

I'm glad you found us. We were so quickly ****'ed out over there, it was hard to tell anyone where we went. Hope you enjoy it here.

BTW, where are in you in OH? We're in Columbus.

[jaysue]

Try out BWV - you will like it and always good to have a change from time to time

Our experience has been that BCV is better for our kids and BWV is better for us adults - guess who wins and where we stay :scratchch

Both have good central locations - slight nod to BCV if you love Epcot and slight nod to BWV if you love MGM Studios

Our experience with room availability is that BWV tends to be earlier than BCV albeit this was during non-peak times of the year

cheers
jaysue

[Muushka]

I am a firm believer that it is always good to try other DVC resorts. That being said, BWV really does have loooooooooooooong hallways! Richyams was right!!

Question for those who have stayed at both BCV and BWV:
When we stayed at BCV we were right by the elevators. When we stayed at BWV we were at the far end closest to MGM. Are the hallways just as long at BCV?

[TW1]

Richyams, now there's a blast from the past...

Anyway, we have yet to stay at BWV. DW is hooked on BCV with OKW her second fav.

BCV can have some fairly long hallways, with twists and turns so you never really feel like its a 1/2 mile from the elevator since you can never see it. Lately we tended to use the stairwells at the far ends since we seem to get stuck there anyway. Makes the trip to Epcot that much faster anyway. And for us Commando visitors, seconds count!

[PoohsPal]

I'm very partial to BW. Unless you spend a lot of time at SAB, I say go fro BWV!

FYI - ericthewise is better than the unrponounceable letters I used to use - wtpclc!

Welcome!

[granny]

Thanks for all the sympathy! Of course I was hoping you would all make my decision for me. :D Since I'm a little ambivalent anyway, I'm going to wait until the 11th (our checkout date) before doing anything.

I'm voting with the group that say to go ahead and give BWV a try! Even though it is so close to BCV, it has a very different feeling to it. Staying at other resorts is a great way to keep the WDW trip experience fresh.

By the way, you might want to put this smilie in your signature....I'm sure KNWVIKING wouldn't mind!:viking:

[jaysue]

:dazzled: Hallways at BWV are longer without a doubt having roamed both the hallways at BCV and BWV to the last room at the end of the hall furthest from the lobby in both cases

At BWV, checked in by myself on solo portion of a trip - CM - my you look very healthy do you mind having a trek to your room?

BCV - we are going to put you at the end of the hall so you can be in a quieter area

:ROTFL:

The above two incidents happened during our DVC rookie year - we had no clue!

Cheers
jaysue

[Muushka]

Thanks jaysue. I kind of suspected that. We did walk from the elevator to the parking lot at BCV and it was a piece of cake. Well, I am sure all the BWV owners are tired of hearing the moaning about the loooong hallways.

Shutting up!:zipit:

[erikthewise]

This morning I called to switch to BWV. They had three nights out of the four, so I reserved those three and went on waitlist for the fourth. I didn't have to borrow points to do so, and still have the BCV reservation.

It's just as well. If it had all gone through cleanly, I would have gone home tonight and someone would have changed their mind!

I guess I should mention that I was looking for a 1BR and it was not available on Dec 7 (but Dec 8, 9, 10 were OK). Since 1BRs tend to be the least in demand, there's a good chance the resort is booked solid for that night.

[mushu]

Go for it BWV have better views. You will not be disappointed.

[erikthewise]

Update: Got the call from MS yesterday saying the waitlist had come through!
But.... no one else in our family wanted to switch anymore. And I had to admit I wasn't sure about it myself, especially after reading in the recent Vacation Magic that BCV was getting mattress upgrades on beds and sofabeds.

So I declined, and cancelled our Dec 8-11 dates at BWV.

Looks like we're stuck at BCV forever!