We just got back from WDW and thought I would post a mini-review.
It was our first stay at BCV since I sold our points in 2020 mistakenly anticipating I would buy into Riviera (I sold BCV after DRR was announced and before the 'resale can only stay at the resort you own' restriction announcement). I had the money in hand waiting to buy direct from Disney...and bought resale elsewhere instead.
Unfortunately, BCV has fallen victim to the Murphy bed transformation with comfy seating for 4 adults replaced by a uncomfortable 'sofa' that seats 2 and a good looking but nasty to sit in chair. The least they could have done is add a storage/seating area alongside the Murphy sofa (as they did at BWV) so it would seat 3. I kind of get the Murphy bed for the lockoff-2BRs since I can sort of imagine two adults wanting to sleep in the LR of a 1BR (though not really since there is only one bathroom at BCV). But in a dedicated 2BR where you can expect 6-8 people to gather every morning and some subset every night the new living room is a definite downgrade.
We liked the refurb'd master bathroom with the jetted tub replaced by a nice soaker. But the 2nd bedroom shower/tub combo was replaced with a walk in shower! Where/how do people wash young children? I guess you can use the master bathtub...but it's deep and sits on a pedestal making leaning in/over to wash your kids awkward. And I have to wonder...did they do this in the lock-offs as well leaving those in a studio without any bath for kids?
BLT was mostly the same as it was last year (you can see last year's BLT/BWV/Riviera thread for comments and a pic of the 3 person BWV Murphy sofa). Except that we were given an ADA room...which I now know to unrequest when I call to give my usual BLT preferences.
As for other things...
GEO-82 is spectacular. Amazing drinks, food, service, decor, and view. We felt horribly underdressed...except that all the other customers were too. I can only hope that it doesn't suffer the same fate as other WDW bars/restaurants (I'm looking at you Jungle Nav!) and be dumbed down after the initial reviews are in.
Beak and Barrel was fun and somewhere between good and great...but annoying. The drinks were excellent, the food (aside from the octopus) good, and the atmosphere a blast. But check-in was a nightmare and the constant reminders that 'guests' are limited to two drinks and 45 minutes quite annoying. I was a little worried about the warnings that you may be seated or standing but the ratio is the opposite of Oga's...there are maybe a dozen standing spots (which seemed to be exclusively couples) with the vast majority of the patrons seated. I wonder if the original intention was to have stools and someone (the fire marshal?...a time efficiency expert?) came along and said, "No".
Lastly, we returned to the California Grill restaurant for the first time since it went pre-fixe. We didn't want to...but our kids changing travel plans meant that we couldn't queue up for the 5PM Lounge open and I wanted to have a nice dinner with my wife on our last night at WDW. And it was wonderful...though as expected an absurd amount of food. We could have quite happily split one pre-fixe and probably had leftovers for later.
It was our first stay at BCV since I sold our points in 2020 mistakenly anticipating I would buy into Riviera (I sold BCV after DRR was announced and before the 'resale can only stay at the resort you own' restriction announcement). I had the money in hand waiting to buy direct from Disney...and bought resale elsewhere instead.
Unfortunately, BCV has fallen victim to the Murphy bed transformation with comfy seating for 4 adults replaced by a uncomfortable 'sofa' that seats 2 and a good looking but nasty to sit in chair. The least they could have done is add a storage/seating area alongside the Murphy sofa (as they did at BWV) so it would seat 3. I kind of get the Murphy bed for the lockoff-2BRs since I can sort of imagine two adults wanting to sleep in the LR of a 1BR (though not really since there is only one bathroom at BCV). But in a dedicated 2BR where you can expect 6-8 people to gather every morning and some subset every night the new living room is a definite downgrade.
We liked the refurb'd master bathroom with the jetted tub replaced by a nice soaker. But the 2nd bedroom shower/tub combo was replaced with a walk in shower! Where/how do people wash young children? I guess you can use the master bathtub...but it's deep and sits on a pedestal making leaning in/over to wash your kids awkward. And I have to wonder...did they do this in the lock-offs as well leaving those in a studio without any bath for kids?
BLT was mostly the same as it was last year (you can see last year's BLT/BWV/Riviera thread for comments and a pic of the 3 person BWV Murphy sofa). Except that we were given an ADA room...which I now know to unrequest when I call to give my usual BLT preferences.
As for other things...
GEO-82 is spectacular. Amazing drinks, food, service, decor, and view. We felt horribly underdressed...except that all the other customers were too. I can only hope that it doesn't suffer the same fate as other WDW bars/restaurants (I'm looking at you Jungle Nav!) and be dumbed down after the initial reviews are in.
Beak and Barrel was fun and somewhere between good and great...but annoying. The drinks were excellent, the food (aside from the octopus) good, and the atmosphere a blast. But check-in was a nightmare and the constant reminders that 'guests' are limited to two drinks and 45 minutes quite annoying. I was a little worried about the warnings that you may be seated or standing but the ratio is the opposite of Oga's...there are maybe a dozen standing spots (which seemed to be exclusively couples) with the vast majority of the patrons seated. I wonder if the original intention was to have stools and someone (the fire marshal?...a time efficiency expert?) came along and said, "No".
Lastly, we returned to the California Grill restaurant for the first time since it went pre-fixe. We didn't want to...but our kids changing travel plans meant that we couldn't queue up for the 5PM Lounge open and I wanted to have a nice dinner with my wife on our last night at WDW. And it was wonderful...though as expected an absurd amount of food. We could have quite happily split one pre-fixe and probably had leftovers for later.
