DVCSunDevil
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Mar 1, 2020
We just finished up a Sat-Sat stay at BCV. It was our first DVC trip since joining in Feb 2020, so we were SUPER excited for this trip. I will be honest, we were a little worried about crowds and if we would feel overwhelmed due to COVID...especially during a busy time like Easter week. In general, we didn't feel uptight at all during the trip. Disney is doing such a good job with the measures they have put in place. Here is a quick rundown of the things we noticed, both good and bad. Yes, yes, yes...I know the "bad" observations are probably due to COVID constraints, but that doesn't change the fact that they are what we experienced. I am not letting those things have an impact on my overall view of WDW unless we experience them on our next trip(s).
HOTEL: Beach Club Villas was awesome. The entire grounds, including the room, was clean. We requested an EPCOT view and it was accommodated! However, the view came complete with a front and center view of the main road leading into the resort and mossy canal. When sitting on the balcony, we were on display for every car driving on that road (which was a lot of cars/buses) and you could hear the traffic at night when going to bed because our room was very close to that road with nothing in place to block the view or sound. Assigning us this room is not the resorts fault, it is mine and I should have discussed the view with the front desk when checking in. On that note, we utilized the mobile check in and it worked without issue. Every CM we came in contact with at BCV was incredible. I really enjoy chatting with all the CMs and getting their "story" and, like always, they were very nice and outgoing. In terms of hotel dining, we only ate at Beaches and Cream (which was fantastic) and the Marketplace (which was also good). We got cocktails at Martha's Vineyard a few nights and the drinks were done perfectly (although on our last night we got drinks there we met the only Beach Club CM all week who didn't seem interested in talking). We got one round of drinks from Hurricane Hanna's on the first day and the drinks were just ok (my Mule was way too sweet), so we switched to MV. SAB was busy, but the spacing of chairs made it very calming. The water itself wasn't overcrowded during any of the three times we enjoyed the pool. In terms of "negatives", not having all the dining options available was a downer (but, again, that is due to COVID and we knew that going in). There was also a lot of construction at the entrance that leads out to the lake that we didn't know about before the trip, so that was definitely an eye sore. Finally, (and this is nitpicking but another family we were talking with noticed the same thing) the grounds/landscaping was OK but there were a lot of bushes that were overgrown. You could see that the bushes had the general shape from when they were last trimmed, but then they were getting overgrown on top. If this was anyplace other than WDW I wouldn't even have noticed it, but we are so used to every inch of the grounds being immaculate. Again, probably due to COVID but it was something myself and others noticed. I did see grounds keepers planting and doing some things the last day were were there, so maybe they are getting to it.
TRANSPORTATION: We utilized the buses and water taxis all week. Everything was clean and, most important, the wait times were not long at all. The longest we waited was 15 minutes. They have seating spaced out nicely on all transportation options so that there is distance between groups. Once we must have just missed the bus when returning from Disney Springs and were the only ones in line for BCV, but the driver for the Boardwalk bus got out and said he would take us to BCV (the Boardwalk line was right next to BCV). That was the type of stuff that makes Disney, well, Disney. I was VERY happy with the public transportation.
PARKS: We had park hopper passes and did two days each at HS and MK and one day at AK. Since we were staying at BCV, we park hopped to EPCOT four afternoons/evenings. The food at Flower and Garden was really, really good. I highly recommend the shrimp and grits at Sunshine Griddle (next to Test Track)...my wife and I got it on two separate evenings. In general, the parks we at reduced capacity due to COVID and you could feel that reduction in capacity. And that is over Easter week, nonetheless! The longest we waited in a line queue was 60 minutes. I would say that around 75% of the time the actual wait times were shorter (sometimes significantly shorter) than the posted wait times. Only twice were the wait times actually longer than what was posted (Dinosaur and Peter Pan, which were both only 5 minutes longer than the posted wait time). Many times the posted wait time was ~50 minutes and we boarded the ride at around 35 minutes. Once the wait time was 45 minutes and it literally took us 5 minutes. We noticed that the most significant reduction in wait time versus what was posted occurred both earlier and later in the day. In the middle of the day the posted wait times were much more accurate, which makes sense because that is the busiest time of the day. Most people adhered to the spacing in queues, which was really nice. The spontaneous character parades were nice...my wife liked them more than the full on scheduled parades because the crowds and jockeying for position before the full parades gets crazy. However, nothing beats the full lighted parades at night and my family hopes those will be back by the next time we visit. The parks were clean which was nice to see (I was worried that the reduced CM would negatively affect the attention to detail in the parks). From a negative standpoint, there were a lot of attractions closed (including shows and fireworks). You could feel that things weren't firing on all cylinders, but we knew that going in. Still, it is what it is.
STORES: BCV had some new merchandise that apparently was just released before our trip, so we able to get some of those items (my wife's favorite was the BCV Tervis). All the stores we visited were clean and CMs enforced capacity limits by not letting people enter the store until others left (they only do that when the store capacity is at its limit, which only occurred twice for us during our stay). It was very well organized. CMs we encountered in the stores were very helpful and outgoing. The biggest negative that we saw (overall for the entire trip, actually) was that there was A LOT of merchandise either completely sold out or only having 1-2 size options (like S and XXL). We asked a CM in World of Disney about this and they confirmed it was due to COVID (I am guessing from both trying to scale back inventory and manufacturers having issues with raw materials). This was a bummer because my daughters found a shirt on day one that they both really wanted, but they both needed a medium. Every day we checked every store we passed and no inventory was every restocked. There was a t-shirt I also really wanted but couldn't find in my size, so on the last day I settled for another (cheaper) option. You can feel the reduced options for t-shirts, sweatshirts, etc. Usually there are tons of options for every taste.
DINING: We ate at a couple restaurants that we hadn't eaten at before (Boathouse, Sanaa) and both exceeded our expectations. Actually, Boathouse is now our top rated restaurant at WDW and is firmly placed into the "starting rotation" for future trips. Unfortunately, Raglan Road was knocked out of our "starting rotation". RR was a tradition for our WDW trips and we ate there on the first night of every trip, but they changed the recipe for our favorite dish (Shephards Pie) and it just isn't the same. And the vibe at RR just isn't the same, but hopefully that will change when COVID constraints lift. Our other "starting rotation" restaurants were great as always: Biergarten, Sci-Fi (my daughter said it was the best salad she has ever had), and Liberty Tree. Mobile check in worked really well and we were always seated fairly quickly after checking in. The biggest negative we encountered all week from a CM interaction standpoint was at the counter service restaurants. There were several instances where the CMs acted like they did not want to be there, and this was reflected in the way they acted and what they said (or didn't say by flat out ignoring all guests). This happened twice, so hopefully it was just a bad coincidence.
That's pretty much it. All in all, we had a great trip. The trip was MUCH needed. Even with the "negatives" I mentioned, just being in WDW was a huge shot in the arm from a mental standpoint. The positives greatly outnumber the negatives, so if you are on the fence about visiting WDW I would say...DO IT!! But just go in knowing that it isn't the same WDW that you have visited in the past. We knew that going in, which made it much easier to deal with the unexpected "negatives" we encountered on this trip. IMO, I am willing to cut Disney a lot of slack during this time of (hopefully) COVID recovery. I will be much more "judgy" on future visits when COVID is lifting and constraints should, accordingly, be lifted as well. Just be flexible. Now...back to the real world
HOTEL: Beach Club Villas was awesome. The entire grounds, including the room, was clean. We requested an EPCOT view and it was accommodated! However, the view came complete with a front and center view of the main road leading into the resort and mossy canal. When sitting on the balcony, we were on display for every car driving on that road (which was a lot of cars/buses) and you could hear the traffic at night when going to bed because our room was very close to that road with nothing in place to block the view or sound. Assigning us this room is not the resorts fault, it is mine and I should have discussed the view with the front desk when checking in. On that note, we utilized the mobile check in and it worked without issue. Every CM we came in contact with at BCV was incredible. I really enjoy chatting with all the CMs and getting their "story" and, like always, they were very nice and outgoing. In terms of hotel dining, we only ate at Beaches and Cream (which was fantastic) and the Marketplace (which was also good). We got cocktails at Martha's Vineyard a few nights and the drinks were done perfectly (although on our last night we got drinks there we met the only Beach Club CM all week who didn't seem interested in talking). We got one round of drinks from Hurricane Hanna's on the first day and the drinks were just ok (my Mule was way too sweet), so we switched to MV. SAB was busy, but the spacing of chairs made it very calming. The water itself wasn't overcrowded during any of the three times we enjoyed the pool. In terms of "negatives", not having all the dining options available was a downer (but, again, that is due to COVID and we knew that going in). There was also a lot of construction at the entrance that leads out to the lake that we didn't know about before the trip, so that was definitely an eye sore. Finally, (and this is nitpicking but another family we were talking with noticed the same thing) the grounds/landscaping was OK but there were a lot of bushes that were overgrown. You could see that the bushes had the general shape from when they were last trimmed, but then they were getting overgrown on top. If this was anyplace other than WDW I wouldn't even have noticed it, but we are so used to every inch of the grounds being immaculate. Again, probably due to COVID but it was something myself and others noticed. I did see grounds keepers planting and doing some things the last day were were there, so maybe they are getting to it.
TRANSPORTATION: We utilized the buses and water taxis all week. Everything was clean and, most important, the wait times were not long at all. The longest we waited was 15 minutes. They have seating spaced out nicely on all transportation options so that there is distance between groups. Once we must have just missed the bus when returning from Disney Springs and were the only ones in line for BCV, but the driver for the Boardwalk bus got out and said he would take us to BCV (the Boardwalk line was right next to BCV). That was the type of stuff that makes Disney, well, Disney. I was VERY happy with the public transportation.
PARKS: We had park hopper passes and did two days each at HS and MK and one day at AK. Since we were staying at BCV, we park hopped to EPCOT four afternoons/evenings. The food at Flower and Garden was really, really good. I highly recommend the shrimp and grits at Sunshine Griddle (next to Test Track)...my wife and I got it on two separate evenings. In general, the parks we at reduced capacity due to COVID and you could feel that reduction in capacity. And that is over Easter week, nonetheless! The longest we waited in a line queue was 60 minutes. I would say that around 75% of the time the actual wait times were shorter (sometimes significantly shorter) than the posted wait times. Only twice were the wait times actually longer than what was posted (Dinosaur and Peter Pan, which were both only 5 minutes longer than the posted wait time). Many times the posted wait time was ~50 minutes and we boarded the ride at around 35 minutes. Once the wait time was 45 minutes and it literally took us 5 minutes. We noticed that the most significant reduction in wait time versus what was posted occurred both earlier and later in the day. In the middle of the day the posted wait times were much more accurate, which makes sense because that is the busiest time of the day. Most people adhered to the spacing in queues, which was really nice. The spontaneous character parades were nice...my wife liked them more than the full on scheduled parades because the crowds and jockeying for position before the full parades gets crazy. However, nothing beats the full lighted parades at night and my family hopes those will be back by the next time we visit. The parks were clean which was nice to see (I was worried that the reduced CM would negatively affect the attention to detail in the parks). From a negative standpoint, there were a lot of attractions closed (including shows and fireworks). You could feel that things weren't firing on all cylinders, but we knew that going in. Still, it is what it is.
STORES: BCV had some new merchandise that apparently was just released before our trip, so we able to get some of those items (my wife's favorite was the BCV Tervis). All the stores we visited were clean and CMs enforced capacity limits by not letting people enter the store until others left (they only do that when the store capacity is at its limit, which only occurred twice for us during our stay). It was very well organized. CMs we encountered in the stores were very helpful and outgoing. The biggest negative that we saw (overall for the entire trip, actually) was that there was A LOT of merchandise either completely sold out or only having 1-2 size options (like S and XXL). We asked a CM in World of Disney about this and they confirmed it was due to COVID (I am guessing from both trying to scale back inventory and manufacturers having issues with raw materials). This was a bummer because my daughters found a shirt on day one that they both really wanted, but they both needed a medium. Every day we checked every store we passed and no inventory was every restocked. There was a t-shirt I also really wanted but couldn't find in my size, so on the last day I settled for another (cheaper) option. You can feel the reduced options for t-shirts, sweatshirts, etc. Usually there are tons of options for every taste.
DINING: We ate at a couple restaurants that we hadn't eaten at before (Boathouse, Sanaa) and both exceeded our expectations. Actually, Boathouse is now our top rated restaurant at WDW and is firmly placed into the "starting rotation" for future trips. Unfortunately, Raglan Road was knocked out of our "starting rotation". RR was a tradition for our WDW trips and we ate there on the first night of every trip, but they changed the recipe for our favorite dish (Shephards Pie) and it just isn't the same. And the vibe at RR just isn't the same, but hopefully that will change when COVID constraints lift. Our other "starting rotation" restaurants were great as always: Biergarten, Sci-Fi (my daughter said it was the best salad she has ever had), and Liberty Tree. Mobile check in worked really well and we were always seated fairly quickly after checking in. The biggest negative we encountered all week from a CM interaction standpoint was at the counter service restaurants. There were several instances where the CMs acted like they did not want to be there, and this was reflected in the way they acted and what they said (or didn't say by flat out ignoring all guests). This happened twice, so hopefully it was just a bad coincidence.
That's pretty much it. All in all, we had a great trip. The trip was MUCH needed. Even with the "negatives" I mentioned, just being in WDW was a huge shot in the arm from a mental standpoint. The positives greatly outnumber the negatives, so if you are on the fence about visiting WDW I would say...DO IT!! But just go in knowing that it isn't the same WDW that you have visited in the past. We knew that going in, which made it much easier to deal with the unexpected "negatives" we encountered on this trip. IMO, I am willing to cut Disney a lot of slack during this time of (hopefully) COVID recovery. I will be much more "judgy" on future visits when COVID is lifting and constraints should, accordingly, be lifted as well. Just be flexible. Now...back to the real world
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