BWV refurb is in full swing.

[OlieRow]

Are there any BW view rooms that are currently either not refurbished or not currently being worked on?

No, they’re all either finished or under construction. Same for the pool/garden view rooms on opposite side of the hallway from them and the smaller hallway off that stretch.

 

[DVCjj]

Just got back after one (yes, one) night. (we go to Whispering Canyon for Xmas dinner and don't feel like driving back to Snowbirding condo).

I saw the pictures of the renovation and didn't care for it at all. I was shocked how much I liked it in person.
We were in a Pool/Garden studio in an area I honestly didn't know existed (ha...and I've stayed at BWV probably 30 times). First floor out the doors by Exercise room, in the doors across the way. 1036. Actually liked the location as it was quiet. And brand new.

I did find the lighting a little too much. I felt as if I could have 'operated' by the sink and actually had to shut the light off and put a further one on instead.

We didn't eat in the room this time (Whispering Holiday Buffet is VERY food-generous) but we felt we could easily pull up that storage table and eat while sitting on the couch. And we are definitely OLD. And yes, the ottomans were kinda dumb. OK for children though to sit on the sides of the popup table but not adults.

All in all, we loved the room and I could have bet I wouldn't have felt that way and was very surprised.
Even a cute picture when the Murphy bed is brought down and then a different cute picture when it's up. Adorable.

 

[KAT4DISNEY]

The room I was in had the same doors as before, one side opens out on to the balcony. I am not sure why they have removed some of the balcony doors

Do you know that both sides open up? At least they have on the larger villa doors. Can't recall if I've tried with the studios.

 

[snappy]

If it were me I would request for club level offerings to be included or for my points to be partially refunded. If they can't make that happen, or if the reason you wanted a 1 bedroom is for privacy or the washer and dryer, then I would request another 1 bedroom. I find it disappointing that DVC is calling people with one option and saying take it or leave it. At the very least they could be offering two different fair options and then maybe it wouldn't seem like they're trying to back their members into a corner. Seeing your post reminded me to call and link my two standard studios for April 1 check in so that they move my party together. I fully expect to be moved at this point and now seeing that they're already moving March reservations I'm sure April bumps will be coming soon.

For what it is worth, a couple of days before our 12/1-12/11 stay booked in a BWV boardwalk view studio, I asked DVC if we could be moved to 1) a water view room at Boardwalk Inn, Yacht Club or the Beach Club or 2) club level at either an Epcot area resort and even club level at Gran Destino tower at Coronado Springs. The rep asked her supervisor and it was a no go. We did get $75 a night for the inconvenience which we spent along with far more for meals during our stay.

 

[mlittig]

Do you know that both sides open up? At least they have on the larger villa doors. Can't recall if I've tried with the studios.

All the BWV studios that I have been in only had one door that opened.

 

[Princess Merida]

For what it is worth, a couple of days before our 12/1-12/11 stay booked in a BWV boardwalk view studio, I asked DVC if we could be moved to 1) a water view room at Boardwalk Inn, Yacht Club or the Beach Club or 2) club level at either an Epcot area resort and even club level at Gran Destino tower at Coronado Springs. The rep asked her supervisor and it was a no go. We did get $75 a night for the inconvenience which we spent along with far more for meals during our stay.

I wonder how they are deciding what to offer each room they move. There isn't any consistency with these offers. You received $75 a night for the studio boardwalk view change and @CluckFam7 has been offered only $100 a night to switch from a 1 bedroom to a resort view room on the Inn side. I guess anything is better than chocolates lol... what is happening? I am glad I have 5 people on each of my room reservations so they can't move me to an OKW studio and say tough because it's the same points. Did DVC call you or was it the resort staff?

 

[LoveToDisney]

When we were at BWV in October, they used a large cherry picker to raise the Murphy couch/bed parts to each floor thru the removed doors for the entire “wave” building they were working on. It was quite the process.

 

[sixcats]

We were booked in a standard view 1 BR the week of March 9. Just got a call today that construction is behind so our room won’t be available.

They offered to move us to a Boardwalk Inn resort view regular room and a $100/night credit. I find this an offensive offer. I am paying points for a 1 BR and they are essentially downgrading to a studio and only offering $100 (not even the cash price different between a studio and 1BR). I politely said that doesn’t seem like a fair offer and the cast member said “it actually was pretty nice of the resort to do that, they legally could just cancel”.

Haven’t told them what I’ll do yet. Any insights?

I would want a one bedroom at a different resort, not OKW Saratoga. If they could not find me a one bedroom, I would ask to be moved to a Boardwalk room with concierge( to make up for loss of kitchen) and a credit to make up for inconvenience of losing in room laundry.

 

[winnieforme]

The room I was in had the same doors as before, one side opens out on to the balcony. I am not sure why they have removed some of the balcony doors

thank you! so strange...i wonder what they're doing

 

[winnieforme]

Could just be that it is easier for them to take the slider doors off the track and bring in the Murphy couch bed system through them than the hallway door?

i bet that's what they are doing

 

[snappy]

I wonder how they are deciding what to offer each room they move. There isn't any consistency with these offers. You received $75 a night for the studio boardwalk view change and @CluckFam7 has been offered only $100 a night to switch from a 1 bedroom to a resort view room on the Inn side. I guess anything is better than chocolates lol... what is happening? I am glad I have 5 people on each of my room reservations so they can't move me to an OKW studio and say tough because it's the same points. Did DVC call you or was it the resort staff?

DVC called me as they said “on behalf of our partner-the hotel” 3 days before our arrival. I think the hotel was assigning rooms and had trouble with the length of our stay but that is my guess. I asked the DVC rep and she said ‘maybe.” There was a boardwalk themed burlap bag with a small box of chocolates and 2 waters in our room when we got access to the room. We encountered a snafu with charging on our magic bands and letting us into the room, so a hotel manager called me. I politely asked him about moving us during the stay to a finished BW view (the DVC rep suggested I ask at the resort about that when I inquired about this possibility.) He was extremely kind and said he would check with ”his proprietor and engineering teams to see if we are able to change the room for you.” He also said “we will need to receive approval from safety before we could rent them to you.” Sadly when I inquired again he said moving to a BWV studio was not possible. Clearly there were a few BW view studios occupied, but in my opinion, some guests had to be bumped and we were on that list. With so many units still being renovated, something had to give. Way more units were still under construction that were complete. And the whole section with units XX30 and above were completely blocked off with nothing finished, the halls, the rooms, etc. They were way behind schedule. I am hoping they catch up soon. It was my observation that there was work going on but since I had no access to behind the scenes my observation was limited to seeing tradesmen walking to and from the parking lot each morning and afternoon. Having recently built a new house and seeing how early and late and all weekend some tradesmen were at work, my thought is at the powers that be at BWV thought the work was not ”hair on fire” worthy. I think they purposely reserved unrenovated pool and garden view rooms to cover the delay and called it a day. I could be wrong.

 

[hawkfin101]

I got the phone call to move my boardwalk-standard view studio for march. The intitial offer was to be moved to the cash side, with a $50 per night credit.
I was agreeable until she told me that my points would then be converted to Reservation points instead of vacation points.

I refused that offer because dealing with reservation points if I cancel? ick.

 

[Princess Merida]

I got the phone call to move my boardwalk-standard view studio for march. The intitial offer was to be moved to the cash side, with a $50 per night credit.
I was agreeable until she told me that my points would then be converted to Reservation points instead of vacation points.

I refused that offer because dealing with reservation points if I cancel? ick.

Hmmmm... so question. Are you a direct benefits member? Is the conversion to reservation points basically trading into RCI (or whatever it's called now)? I am resale and I would assume they can't do that on my account if this is the case. I'm certain they can move me another way, but this makes me wonder if they'd move others first. I'd be happy with inn rooms and $50 credit per night as long as they move both of my rooms, but I understand why you don't want converted points.

 

[snappy]

I got the phone call to move my boardwalk-standard view studio for march. The intitial offer was to be moved to the cash side, with a $50 per night credit.
I was agreeable until she told me that my points would then be converted to Reservation points instead of vacation points.

I refused that offer because dealing with reservation points if I cancel? ick.

I talked to more than one DVC rep in the 3 days before check in . Not one of them mentioned converting the points to reservation points. It could be that that would have happened and they just would not have mentioned it, but I would hope they would be more transparent than that. I would have refused too. So what are you options, to just cancel? I was told (when I questioned them) whether if I cancelled the reservation by the end of the day before check in would those points go into holding and they said no, they would make a one time exception. The least they could do since they informed me that there was no boardwalk view studio for me 3 days before checkin. The lateness of the notice was what I was the most angry about. I did express that multiple times. Little good did it do. I heard this response, “we had to inform members with a grand villa reservation over Thanksgiving”. Not my monkey. Poor planning/poor execution of handling this renovation. Was also told how hard it is with all the construction in the Orlando area to finish a project on time due to labor shortages. Again, they should have thought ahead, in my opinion, with informing members, arranging alternatives, holding back inventory, whatever it takes.

 

[paults]

Listen, I liked the ceiling fan but my wife didn't at night. We used it during the day if in the room. If you don't like the ceiling fan there was no reason to remove them, just don't use them. They don't come on automatically you actually have to use the wall switch. JMO

 

[KAT4DISNEY]

Listen, I liked the ceiling fan but my wife didn't at night. We used it during the day if in the room. If you don't like the ceiling fan there was no reason to remove them, just don't use them. They don't come on automatically you actually have to use the wall switch. JMO

Agreed. It's a design choice and rather silly to remove it. I thought the same thing when they actually spent time ($$$'s) going into every room and removing the clocks. I personally don't like ceiling fans at all but have a couple of family members who feel like they're suffocating if they don't have them on at night. Or day. It's much better to have them than not. I thought when SSR kept them they would end up doing so at all the next renovations but no.

 

[KAT4DISNEY]

Hmmmm... so question. Are you a direct benefits member? Is the conversion to reservation points basically trading into RCI (or whatever it's called now)? I am resale and I would assume they can't do that on my account if this is the case. I'm certain they can move me another way, but this makes me wonder if they'd move others first. I'd be happy with inn rooms and $50 credit per night as long as they move both of my rooms, but I understand why you don't want converted points.

It's trading into the Disney Collection which a newer resale member isn't supposed to be able to do but that's just DVC's "rule" and one they likely could work their way thru in these type of circumstances. True though that they might skip over those that it would take extra steps to do that. I'd have expected them to work out some other way to handle this though than to use the "trade" system in the normal way since these are not guest specific booking requests. It explains why they are answering the way they are but it's an unfriendly guest solution.

 

[hockeydad21]

I wonder how they are deciding what to offer each room they move. There isn't any consistency with these offers. You received $75 a night for the studio boardwalk view change and @CluckFam7 has been offered only $100 a night to switch from a 1 bedroom to a resort view room on the Inn side. I guess anything is better than chocolates lol... what is happening? I am glad I have 5 people on each of my room reservations so they can't move me to an OKW studio and say tough because it's the same points. Did DVC call you or was it the resort staff?

The offers Disney/DVC are offering for their goof-up are insulting and unacceptable. Keep in mind Disney/DVC should have built in contingency allowing for delays with the renovation, but they didn’t because they were too greedy in hoping to book as many renovated DVC rooms as soon as possible for the holiday season. These full refurb timelines were unrealistic, and they know better.

Reasonable offers you should accept based on room you booked:

• Studio - transfer to an Inn room & $75-$100 credit per night.
• 1 bedroom:
  • Option 1: transfer to 2 connecting inn rooms, $200-$300 credit per night or club level, and free laundry service.
  • Option 2: transfer to your choice of magic kingdom area, beach club, or riviera 1 bedroom.
• 2 bedroom:
  • Option 1: transfer to 3 inn rooms, 2 of which are connecting, $300-$400 credit per night or club level, and free laundry
  • Option 2: transfer to your choice of magic kingdom area, beach club, or riviera 2 bedroom.
• Grand villa: Disney, I wish you good luck in finding anything that makes up for that family’s vacation you ruined. I can’t even begin to wonder how you make up for this, but it sounds like a really expensive goof-up if you ask me.

Another question though - is that how the most loyal Disney fans (DVC owners) are typically treated? What happened to Disney’s customer service? I feel like it used to be best in class, and now it seems like they’re dishing out ultimatums if you don’t accept their pathetic offer. That’s something I’d expect out of a bad internet provider, not Disney.

 

[Crescent_Lake]

The offers Disney/DVC are offering for their goof-up are insulting and unacceptable. Keep in mind Disney/DVC should have built in contingency allowing for delays with the renovation, but they didn’t because they were too greedy in hoping to book as many renovated DVC rooms as soon as possible for the holiday season. These full refurb timelines were unrealistic, and they know better.

Reasonable offers you should accept based on room you booked:

• Studio - transfer to an Inn room & $75-$100 credit per night.
• 1 bedroom:
  • Option 1: transfer to 2 connecting inn rooms, $200-$300 credit per night or club level, and free laundry service.
  • Option 2: transfer to your choice of magic kingdom area, beach club, or riviera 1 bedroom.
• 2 bedroom:
  • Option 1: transfer to 3 inn rooms, 2 of which are connecting, $300-$400 credit per night or club level, and free laundry
  • Option 2: transfer to your choice of magic kingdom area, beach club, or riviera 2 bedroom.
• Grand villa: Disney, I wish you good luck in finding anything that makes up for that family’s vacation you ruined. I can’t even begin to wonder how you make up for this, but it sounds like a really expensive goof-up if you ask me.

Another question though - is that how the most loyal Disney fans (DVC owners) are typically treated? What happened to Disney’s customer service? I feel like it used to be best in class, and now it seems like they’re dishing out ultimatums if you don’t accept their pathetic offer. That’s something I’d expect out of a bad internet provider, not Disney.

I agree with everything you've said here concerning the lack of planning, the lack of good customer service, and the lack of fair compensation. However, I don't see how it's possible to move people to the rooms or resorts you've suggested. They are all likely at or near capacity as well.

 

[hockeydad21]

I agree with everything you've said here concerning the lack of planning, the lack of good customer service, and the lack of fair compensation. However, I don't see how it's possible to move people to the rooms or resorts you've suggested. They are all likely at or near capacity as well.

Agreed. It would take a miracle of available cash rooms/villas.