GinnyBear's_mom
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Sep 1, 2008
We are a family of 5 and DVC members for the last 7 years (we own at VGF and AKL). We had 6 day tickets (from the promo where we bought 4 and added on 2 free days) plus we are annual passholders to Universal. In August we took a nice long trip which included 4 nights in a BCV studio, 4 in a VGF studio and 7 in a 2 bedroom AKL. My family loves split stays, especially the kids. I think they mainly like it for the pools- they love the different pools and slides. This trip, the split stay was mainly so we could walk to as many parks as possible. We have 2 children who aren't old enough to be vaccinated and wanted to steer clear of being crammed in on busses.
Our studio at BVC was nice. Stormalong Bay was busy as usual but on this trip we found that there just wasn't any slow time at the pool. We stayed here before in August and could always find some point in the day that the pool wasn't a mob scene- not on this trip. Even though the parks were empty the pool was packed. It was really hard to stay even 3 ft from anyone else so after moving from spot to spot we abandoned the idea of swimming. The kids went down the slide a million times instead and they were happy. We love the easy walk to EPCOT. The walk to DHS was a bit more challenging for our 7 year old (who is not a morning person) and it took a bit longer than it should have because of the break or two that he needed but still better than the bus and the walk is very scenic.
I scheduled a fishing excursion at the Yacht Club marina and we really enjoyed it- my kids have never been fishing before and this was a great introduction. We had the 7am timeslot and watching the sunrise was an added bonus.
We caught about 20 fish between the 5 of us on our 2 hour trip. We received a DVC discount which brought the price down to around $225. We went around Crescent Lake, over to the International Gateway then back around to the entrance of Hollywood Studios. You can see TOT in the background of this pic:
One thing we didn't love about BCV was dining. We loved Beach Club Marketplace in the past but we had problems during this visit. Normally, they handle allergies very well (DD is gluten and dairy free) but at the time we were there it was a mess. I ordered the turkey sandwich from the menu (literally just gf bread and turkey lunchmeat) and it took 45 minutes past when our regular off the menu food was done for them to have the sandwich ready. There isn't an actual chef working at the Beach Club Marketplace and the regular CMs aren't allowed to handle allergy orders so they had to go get a chef from some other restaurant to put the order together. It took almost as long to get an allergy breakfast order. We decided they weren't really setup to handle allergies but look forward to trying Beach Club Marketplace when everything (hopefully) opens back up again. Food options are limited at BCV, but we remembered how much we liked Trattoria al Forno from a previous trip and we wound up ordering takeout from there for breakfast and dinner 4 times! We sat at the tables by ESPN which were shaded (a rarity on the Boardwalk) and ate our takeout there. It was nice to get our DVC discount for takeout and it made breakfast just about the same price as breakfast from the Beach Club Marketplace but the food was much better at Trattoria al Forno. DH and I split the fruit and yogurt platter and the poached egg with polenta, gravy and sausage for breakfast 3 times, it was that good!
One of our days at BCV my husband had to meet via Zoom with a client (wifi speed was great) so I had to take the kids out for about 2 hours. We hopped onto the skyliner and went to Riviera. We had a quick yummy snack at Primo Piatto of some babybels, clementines, strawberries and banana bread. We stopped into community hall (aka Eventi room) which is right down the hall from Primo Piatto- the first time I read the name of their quick service about a year or so ago I misread it as 'Primo Patio' and now I say it that way in my head. Every. darn. time.
The kids had a blast in community hall even though it was as cold as a meat locker in there. The kids did some pin trading, DD13 painted a ceramic crab, DD9 decorated a pop socket and DS7 painted a Star Wars bank. They asked if we wanted the projects 'pixie dusted' and all the kids said yes. We left the projects to dry and be pixie dusted- before the CMs put the clear protective Mod Podge coating on the ceramics and pop socket, they add glitter them.
The day we checked out of BCV my sister checked into Riviera. My sister flew down to Disney but we took the auto train. My niece and nephews have food allergies as well so my sister asked us to bring down some hard to find allergy food items for her. She asked the front desk if we could park since we were dropping off the food and picking up crafts from community hall. The CM at the front said we could have day passes instead which was very nice. My sister had a 1 bedroom for her family so it was great to see the room while we were there. My kids were jealous of the murphy bed- they dislike the nightly routine of pulling out the sofabed and finding places for all of the pillows. We had dinner at Primo Piatto (or Patio), drinks at Bar Riva and Le Petit Cafe and a dip in the pool. WE took our niece and nephew on a quick ride on the skyliner then headed off to VGF.
While at VGF we were at MK for 2 days. MK had incredibly low crowds while we were there. We were able to ride everything multiple times with little to no wait. Our room was in good shape although the coffee table had some serious wear. The kids were very excited to hear that the rooms will be refurbished soon to include the murphy beds. I hope they will add more storage as well. Although the room sleeps 5, it surely does not allow room for clothes for 5 people to be stored in the drawers! We are light packers compared to everyone else I know who travels and we still have difficulty fitting our clothes in the drawers at VGF. We had groceries delivered from Instacart for this portion of our trip so we didn't eat much at the restaurants at VGF with the exception of 1 late night run to Gasparilla's. I used to love their mac and cheese- not anymore. Someone made the mistake of either not following the old recipe correctly or changing it completely. It tasted like the pasta was mixed with mayo. It was such a weird consistency and had an awful taste. We had grand plans of grilling hot dogs on the gas grills at VGF and we checked out the bbq grill set from the front desk but did not get a chance to use it because it started to rain right after we checked it out and the rain didn't let up for awhile so we cooked the hotdogs in our room. Here's what the DVC bbq set looks like if you ever need it:
We moved over to AKL into a 2 bedroom standard view at Jambo. We always book the Jambo standard view and have been lucky enough to get the partial savannah view instead of a pool view. We don't mind the view of the people pen and it is a great way to save points.
The pool was practically empty during our stay since it was a few days before Jambo fully opened. The CMs always do a great job with the games at the pool.
We spent some time at community hall over at Kidani and the kids made their favorite craft- Perler beads. We have a ton of Disney Perler bead characters from previous trips and it has now turned i- they think the best selection of Perler bead characters are at BLT and AKL. It is a great way for the kids to relax and get engrossed in something on their own and it usually takes an hour from the time they start searching through the binders for the perfect character until they CM irons the beads and we walk out the door. They give you the option to turn them into keychains.
Even though it was 95 degrees the kids asked to roast marshmallows at Kidani.
We had a great triple split stay and can't wait to come back. We have plans to have a resort only stay at Boulder Ridge over spring break where we hope to go fishing, horseback riding and kayaking at Fort Wilderness and then we will move on to Universal for a few nights. We also have a week at VGF booked for August of 2022. We love our DVC membership but have noticed we are spending more time away from Disney parks. This is mainly a financial decision as we feel we are being priced out. Previously, our vacations involved maybe 1 resort/pool day during the whole trip, sometimes annual passes to WDW but the expense is just too high so we are spending more time at the resorts and more time at Universal.
Our studio at BVC was nice. Stormalong Bay was busy as usual but on this trip we found that there just wasn't any slow time at the pool. We stayed here before in August and could always find some point in the day that the pool wasn't a mob scene- not on this trip. Even though the parks were empty the pool was packed. It was really hard to stay even 3 ft from anyone else so after moving from spot to spot we abandoned the idea of swimming. The kids went down the slide a million times instead and they were happy. We love the easy walk to EPCOT. The walk to DHS was a bit more challenging for our 7 year old (who is not a morning person) and it took a bit longer than it should have because of the break or two that he needed but still better than the bus and the walk is very scenic.
I scheduled a fishing excursion at the Yacht Club marina and we really enjoyed it- my kids have never been fishing before and this was a great introduction. We had the 7am timeslot and watching the sunrise was an added bonus.
We caught about 20 fish between the 5 of us on our 2 hour trip. We received a DVC discount which brought the price down to around $225. We went around Crescent Lake, over to the International Gateway then back around to the entrance of Hollywood Studios. You can see TOT in the background of this pic:
One thing we didn't love about BCV was dining. We loved Beach Club Marketplace in the past but we had problems during this visit. Normally, they handle allergies very well (DD is gluten and dairy free) but at the time we were there it was a mess. I ordered the turkey sandwich from the menu (literally just gf bread and turkey lunchmeat) and it took 45 minutes past when our regular off the menu food was done for them to have the sandwich ready. There isn't an actual chef working at the Beach Club Marketplace and the regular CMs aren't allowed to handle allergy orders so they had to go get a chef from some other restaurant to put the order together. It took almost as long to get an allergy breakfast order. We decided they weren't really setup to handle allergies but look forward to trying Beach Club Marketplace when everything (hopefully) opens back up again. Food options are limited at BCV, but we remembered how much we liked Trattoria al Forno from a previous trip and we wound up ordering takeout from there for breakfast and dinner 4 times! We sat at the tables by ESPN which were shaded (a rarity on the Boardwalk) and ate our takeout there. It was nice to get our DVC discount for takeout and it made breakfast just about the same price as breakfast from the Beach Club Marketplace but the food was much better at Trattoria al Forno. DH and I split the fruit and yogurt platter and the poached egg with polenta, gravy and sausage for breakfast 3 times, it was that good!
One of our days at BCV my husband had to meet via Zoom with a client (wifi speed was great) so I had to take the kids out for about 2 hours. We hopped onto the skyliner and went to Riviera. We had a quick yummy snack at Primo Piatto of some babybels, clementines, strawberries and banana bread. We stopped into community hall (aka Eventi room) which is right down the hall from Primo Piatto- the first time I read the name of their quick service about a year or so ago I misread it as 'Primo Patio' and now I say it that way in my head. Every. darn. time.
The kids had a blast in community hall even though it was as cold as a meat locker in there. The kids did some pin trading, DD13 painted a ceramic crab, DD9 decorated a pop socket and DS7 painted a Star Wars bank. They asked if we wanted the projects 'pixie dusted' and all the kids said yes. We left the projects to dry and be pixie dusted- before the CMs put the clear protective Mod Podge coating on the ceramics and pop socket, they add glitter them.
The day we checked out of BCV my sister checked into Riviera. My sister flew down to Disney but we took the auto train. My niece and nephews have food allergies as well so my sister asked us to bring down some hard to find allergy food items for her. She asked the front desk if we could park since we were dropping off the food and picking up crafts from community hall. The CM at the front said we could have day passes instead which was very nice. My sister had a 1 bedroom for her family so it was great to see the room while we were there. My kids were jealous of the murphy bed- they dislike the nightly routine of pulling out the sofabed and finding places for all of the pillows. We had dinner at Primo Piatto (or Patio), drinks at Bar Riva and Le Petit Cafe and a dip in the pool. WE took our niece and nephew on a quick ride on the skyliner then headed off to VGF.
While at VGF we were at MK for 2 days. MK had incredibly low crowds while we were there. We were able to ride everything multiple times with little to no wait. Our room was in good shape although the coffee table had some serious wear. The kids were very excited to hear that the rooms will be refurbished soon to include the murphy beds. I hope they will add more storage as well. Although the room sleeps 5, it surely does not allow room for clothes for 5 people to be stored in the drawers! We are light packers compared to everyone else I know who travels and we still have difficulty fitting our clothes in the drawers at VGF. We had groceries delivered from Instacart for this portion of our trip so we didn't eat much at the restaurants at VGF with the exception of 1 late night run to Gasparilla's. I used to love their mac and cheese- not anymore. Someone made the mistake of either not following the old recipe correctly or changing it completely. It tasted like the pasta was mixed with mayo. It was such a weird consistency and had an awful taste. We had grand plans of grilling hot dogs on the gas grills at VGF and we checked out the bbq grill set from the front desk but did not get a chance to use it because it started to rain right after we checked it out and the rain didn't let up for awhile so we cooked the hotdogs in our room. Here's what the DVC bbq set looks like if you ever need it:
We moved over to AKL into a 2 bedroom standard view at Jambo. We always book the Jambo standard view and have been lucky enough to get the partial savannah view instead of a pool view. We don't mind the view of the people pen and it is a great way to save points.
The pool was practically empty during our stay since it was a few days before Jambo fully opened. The CMs always do a great job with the games at the pool.
We spent some time at community hall over at Kidani and the kids made their favorite craft- Perler beads. We have a ton of Disney Perler bead characters from previous trips and it has now turned i- they think the best selection of Perler bead characters are at BLT and AKL. It is a great way for the kids to relax and get engrossed in something on their own and it usually takes an hour from the time they start searching through the binders for the perfect character until they CM irons the beads and we walk out the door. They give you the option to turn them into keychains.
Even though it was 95 degrees the kids asked to roast marshmallows at Kidani.
We had a great triple split stay and can't wait to come back. We have plans to have a resort only stay at Boulder Ridge over spring break where we hope to go fishing, horseback riding and kayaking at Fort Wilderness and then we will move on to Universal for a few nights. We also have a week at VGF booked for August of 2022. We love our DVC membership but have noticed we are spending more time away from Disney parks. This is mainly a financial decision as we feel we are being priced out. Previously, our vacations involved maybe 1 resort/pool day during the whole trip, sometimes annual passes to WDW but the expense is just too high so we are spending more time at the resorts and more time at Universal.
so much so that we just decided to buy into DVC. Reading about your split stay inspires me to plan trips like that in our future (my adult kids can visit when they are up for it 
