Why are Boardwalk villas so popular?

[Donna M]

There is a poll on the other thread asking about most favorite resorts and BWV is winning. We stayed there a couple of times, but found nothing special about it, and haven't been there in years now. What are we missing?

 

[aokeefe]

For us- we love the location and size.

 

[Geomom]

You're not necessarily missing anything. We all have different tastes. BWV is our favorite resort, but we do like staying at other resorts as well. For us it feels like 'home'. We love being able to walk to both Epcot and Hollywood studios. We love the atmosphere of the boardwalk. We love having the community hall there as well and we like the theming.

 

[RAD]

As they say in real estate, location, location, location. Being able to walk to EPCOT or the Studios plus the evening on the Boardwalk.

 

[Marionnette]

There is a poll on the other thread asking about most favorite resorts and BWV is winning. We stayed there a couple of times, but found nothing special about it, and haven't been there in years now. What are we missing?

I think you will find that certain resorts just inspire loyalty in their owners. BWV is one of those resorts, even with its demented clown pool, lack of convenient quick service and REDRUM hallways. I would dare to say that OKW is another resort that is just loved by its owners but doesn’t get the same level of appreciation from other DVCers.

I like the Boardwalk views, the easy access to Epcot and HS, and the memorabilia in the lobby. I love popping over to Jellyrolls without worrying where I’m going to park, or driving back to my hotel afterward. It’s great to be so close to the S/D to eat there, or to easily walk to the YC/BC to have a meal at one of their restaurants. And who would complain about its very generous point chart? Those standard view villas are a steal!

 

[YeOswaldianSociety]

I like that they play old radio programs and Jazz music along with the overall atmosphere. I know liking the place because they play old time radio programs that are mostly free to download on Archive is pretty lame but I love it! ha, My family just made it our DVC home resort so that's one expensive listen if I do say so.

 

[chicagoshannon]

Location and low amount of points per room. It's also a lively resort.

 

[JenniferYoung44]

Easy, studios are cheap. We can stay for a week in a studio with a family of 5 for 76 points. Most other resorts would take 100-150 points. The rooms are big and despite being the second cheapest point resort (only AKL value studios are cheaper) you are in the heart of crescent lake. Walking distance to 2 parks, 2 other resorts, and everything on the boardwalk. The location is amazing. We also own beach club. Same location perks and of course the pool, but the same night that is 10pts at boardwalk is 15 and beach club. We pay it for the pool. But most of our time is booked at boardwalk.

 

[SleeplessInTO]

Location to two parks, atmosphere, points chart. Decent dining options both there and nearby.

It was also where I stayed for my first trip so it’s got a nostalgia factor for me.

 

[ScubaCat]

BCV is always booked so it's a good second choice.

 

[YeOswaldianSociety]

BCV is always booked so it's a good second choice.

Get out! Just kidding..

 

[drusba]

BWV has significant advantages: (a) ideal location from which you can walk to two parks, Epcot and Studios (or take a nice boat ride to either); b) Its boardwalk view rooms have, arguably, the best view on sight, overlooking a large lake, seeing the Spaceship Earth in the distance, and the ability to see fireworks at night both at Epcot and in the distance at MK; (c) the boardwalk provides a nighttime destination for activities, restaurants, a, night club, and a dance hall; (d) you have easy access to many restaurants at the combination of Epcot resorts

Other DVC resorts also have positive attributes but it is not quite the same. BCV has similar location but lacks any ideal views, and though BC’s pool is perhaps the best, it is a significant walk to get to it from the BCV rooms. The monorail resorts have a number of plusses but VGF lacks rooms with direct MK views and you need to walk to the main GF building for restaurants, Poly lacks 1BR and 2BR units [except for the ridiculously expensive bungalows). And BLT, though one can walk to MK from it, has too many "point rip-off" lower floor, high cost theme park view rooms that mainly look at a parking lot, too small studios, and most activities and restaurants are in the Contemporary, a hotel with an extremely bland interior. CCV and BRV have a nice hotel area but not quick or walking access to a park, and rooms generally do not have great views. AKV is a great resort for many but many dislike its distance from everything, excessively long walks from room to lobby (up to three times longer than the longest room to lobby walk at BWV), and reliance on buses to get everywhere.

And BWV has two other major advantages in comparison to other near park DVC resorts. All of its rooms cost less per night for like rooms than any of the MK resorts and Riviera, and it has standard view rooms at a cost comparable to low cost OKW.

 

[murphy7573]

BWV owner since 2012 -- Finally stayed there Dec. 2019. IKR??? I have a kid ... she likes that dang pool on the other side of the lake so we normally switch at 7 months. Plus BCV has that kid pizza meal at their counter service for like 6 or 7 bucks. You can't beat a kid's pizza, 2 sides (which are 99% of the time chocolate chip cookies) and and drink, plus I didn't mind kickin' down 7 bucks on food she'll eat as opposed to kickin' down $20+ bucks on food she'd barely eat. This time though told her to suck it up (loaded up on hot dogs and chips at the commissary for her in the room) and I booked our room at 11 months (got lucky that ROR later on in the year was scheduled to open the week I booked). Have to agree with what everyone previous to my post stated ! Unfortunately a lot of the night time activities didn't happen due to the unusually cold weather that week. Crazy tho I know, that it took us this long to stay at one of our Home Resorts. My wife loved it. It seemed a bit dated in the hallways to the rooms to me, but other than that. Pretty good. Little bit more time when my wife and I can actually use it for Food and Wine when the kid is off on her own.

Good thing it was actually pretty cold that week so my daughter didn't miss her favorite pool on the other side of the lake anyways !

 

[jimmytammy]

We bought there as our 2nd home resort. We love going to the Festivals at Epcot, so being able to walk into the park was our primary reason for buying there. My only downside to BW/BWV is the conventions that they have there and Swan and Dolphin and how they might spill over into the restaurants and nightlife.

 

[Jrobo]

Location.

We’ve stayed at the Poly/BC/Riv

Before our stay at the Riveria My Wife and I decided that Dvc was an option for us.
I wanted okw direct and she wanted the Boardwalk area which led is to BWV resale.

During our stay at Riv I was walking through the boardwalk at night with my Daughter.
With my Schoffenhöpper in hand I took it all in and realized my wife totally made the right decision and I was super happy.

My kids love HS and we love Epcot.
Location/parks/restaurants/points cost
Makes it for me.
Even with the expiration date it is a perfect first contract for us.

My $.02

 

[Brett Wyman]

Everybody has different tastes but BWV is in our bottom three of DVC properties at WDW. This is based on traveling with two young kids. We have stayed in all WDW DVC resorts except OKW.

What we don’t like?
1. Pools. And nothing to do with the clown slide, but they are just underwhelming. The feature pool feels dated with no beach entry and no splash area for young kids. The playground is a plus but still we don’t care for this pool.

2. Quick service. Again young kids with us so we need great QS and BWV has the worst quick service options of any DVC resorts, tied with OKW. (But it has great sit down options). We had to walk to Beach Club for breakfast several times, which is just sad as Beachclub’s QS is nothing to write home about. Add the length of that walk to the walk from your room, see below, and no thank you.

3. THOSE DAMN HALLWAYS. Man the architect should be flogged for those hallways. It’s like living in the Shining trying to get to your room. (But that location is great for walking to Hollywood Studios).

4. Taking stairs or elevator to get to “main level”. Minor complaint but a pain with a stroller.

5. All shops, minus a secondary gift shop, are outside accessible only.

6. Aesthetically it just doesn’t do it for us. I’ve never had the urge to visit a Jersey style boardwalk.

Really these are all minor complaints in the grand scheme. We’d still stay here in a heartbeat over any offsite property, but with so many other great DVC properties BWV villas just doesn’t do it for us.

If we wanted the location benefits we’d choose BCV or now Riviera. We LOVED our stay at the Riviera in February.

 

[cvjw]

BWV is one of our home resorts and is our favorite DVC resort. It just feels like home to us. Always has, always will!

 

[Donna M]

Thanks everybody for the input. I guess location to the parks is a big factor for many people.

 

[kevtlas]

I think you will find that certain resorts just inspire loyalty in their owners. BWV is one of those resorts, even with its demented clown pool, lack of convenient quick service and REDRUM hallways. I would dare to say that OKW is another resort that is just loved by its owners but doesn’t get the same level of appreciation from other DVCers.

I like the Boardwalk views, the easy access to Epcot and HS, and the memorabilia in the lobby. I love popping over to Jellyrolls without worrying where I’m going to park, or driving back to my hotel afterward. It’s great to be so close to the S/D to eat there, or to easily walk to the YC/BC to have a meal at one of their restaurants. And who would complain about its very generous point chart? Those standard view villas are a steal!

OKW is our favorite resort! We don't own there, but my aunt has since 1992 and we stayed there several times before we bought our first contract. Even as non-owners, we've only had an issue getting a room there once at Christmas, and that was because we were booking in late July.

I recently considered adding on there resale but the extended contracts are super hard to come by and I can't convince myself to buy into a 2042 expiration when SSR resale prices are only a couple dollars more for over ten additional years. Still, we've stayed at six other DVC resorts and still consider OKW our favorite.

All that above said, I've always wanted to stay at BWV but circumstances always made a stay impossible for us. I think it is the appeal of being able to walk to two parks plus all the boardwalk has to offer.
We're planning a stay there during our next visit and will likely as friends who own there to book for us at the 11 month mark to make sure we can get something. I'll still try at 7 months and ask her to cancel if I get it, and just transfer points to her if I'm not able to get my own reservation.

 

[bobbiwoz]

I love the location, and I really love the pool in so far that it’s a bit deeper than some of the newer ones.

I don’t like there not being dedicated two bedrooms.

It was my DMom’s favorite place to stay, and we bought it specifically to spend her 85th birthday there in 2004. I remember her especially when we stay there.