How many of you always stay at home resort?

DisneyRegulars · Jul 4, 2015

We own at SSR and AKV since 2012. In those short years we have stayed at AKV at least 3 times, SSR at least 3 times, BWV twice, VGF and have an upcoming studio hopping trip including OKW, AKV, BLT, poly and BWV. For the times we travel we haven't yet been able to get Beach Club at seven months, BLT lake view has always been an option though.

wdwlver · Jul 4, 2015

We own at BCV and most of our trips are there. Last year we tried VGF and it was beautiful but for us the park hopping to Epcot in the evening can't be beat.

crazywig · Jul 4, 2015

Last time we were we WDW, the elder did not make if past 9pm for the Xmas party. They were in the hotel by 9:30pm.

Well that's the beauty of Boardwalk view room. Kids in bed, me and my husband on the balcony watching the Epcot fireworks.

GrumpyBelle · Jul 4, 2015

We do not always stay at our home resort. We do like to try the other resorts. However AKV (our home resort) has lower point costs so we most frequently stay there. Plus it does still remain our favorite.

Hopefully · Jul 4, 2015

We own at BCV and since buying we have always stayed there. I simply can not get my DH to agree to stay anywhere else. We love the Epcot resorts area.

lilwitch646 · Jul 4, 2015

It depends on when I book. My home resort is OKW, but I've used by points at Vero, HHI, BWV, Grand Californian and at SSR. Trading to BWV is really hard at the 7 month mark - especially if you're using the points to go during any of the festivals. I usually have to waitlist a pool and garden or a boardwalk view if you want to trade to BWV. I can almost NEVER get a standard view at BWV. Beach Club is next to impossible to get into. HHI is also next to impossible if you can't book at the 11 month mark. I've had luck during off seasons - like February.

I happen to love OWK because it's so calm and it's just like my home away from home. SSR is usually easy to get into at the last minute though, so I probably wouldn't buy there as my home resort.

It really depends on what you want - but if you're banking on trading to BWV all the time and buying cheap, it's not a good bet. (Also... Vero and HHI points are less expensive per point, but have extremely high maintenance costs, which are calculated on a per point basis. So that's worth looking into as well).

Simba's Mom · Jul 4, 2015

I'm interested in hearing the answers to this. We actually changed our home resort (through sell/buy)after staying at OKW and DH announced he always wanted to stay there when he goes to WDW (and he almost always does). Our theory was that what's as important as the initial purchase is the annual dues; and he likes that when he goes to OKW, he sees what they're doing with "his" dues money (or at least that's how he looks at it). Has the pool been cleaned? Painting going on? Parking lots rehabbed and painted? He finds it a lot less painful to pay annual dues to a resort he can see and "check up on".

suebeelin · Jul 4, 2015

lilwitch646 said:
It depends on when I book. My home resort is OKW, but I've used by points at Vero, HHI, BWV, Grand Californian and at SSR. Trading to BWV is really hard at the 7 month mark - especially if you're using the points to go during any of the festivals. I usually have to waitlist a pool and garden or a boardwalk view if you want to trade to BWV. I can almost NEVER get a standard view at BWV. Beach Club is next to impossible to get into. HHI is also next to impossible if you can't book at the 11 month mark. I've had luck during off seasons - like February.

I happen to love OWK because it's so calm and it's just like my home away from home. SSR is usually easy to get into at the last minute though, so I probably wouldn't buy there as my home resort.

It really depends on what you want - but if you're banking on trading to BWV all the time and buying cheap, it's not a good bet. (Also... Vero and HHI points are less expensive per point, but have extremely high maintenance costs, which are calculated on a per point basis. So that's worth looking into as well).

I'm a BWV std person, and stayed in the pool/garden view a handful of times due to circumstances (being snowed in, etc). But I'm vastly curious about BCV. Why all the love? Same area as BWV- is it that much better of a resort?

So my next trip is end of January. We have already booked poly BUT BCV is currently wide open.

Should I split stay BCV/poly just because BCV is available, just so I can try BCV? We are only staying 5 nights and with two little ones who don't sleep well (ages 2 and 5), so not sure if it's worth it.

In other words, is BCV *THAT* much better than BWV? Enough to split a stay with poly with two difficult sleepers for a shortish trip?

gdrj · Jul 5, 2015

BWV owner here since 1999. At first we always stayed there (less resorts). We started doing split stays more and last few trips have not stayed at BWV although we still love it. Our last few trips have been decided within 7 months and we wait listed and pieced together stays. We were able to get AKL in Oct after initially having a partial and split and waitlist. Looking forward to 1st Poly visit next week! Since we have gone so many times, its nice to explore various resorts and enjoy the resort, pool and restaurants etc. at the various DVC locations. Not that you asked but here are my personal rankings subject to change like the wind

BWV- Love being able to walk or boat to parks
BLT- Walking to MK can't be beat
POLY (might become favorite! after our first trip)
AKL- Love the Lobby and the Savanna and the restaurants, just wish it was closer to rest of parks.
GF- Only visit there, I was under the weather
WL- Have not stayed there but love the Lobby and location. My wife will pick BLT over this if we are staying at a MK resort
BCV- While the pool is great (kids are now grown), If I am going to be in EPCOT area I pick BWV
OKW- Stayed there many years ago, not a fan of condo feel and not near any parks
SSR- Stayed here a few times. I know others love it but for us we have had poor guest service there, and bus service was extremely poor (ironic since everyone complains about BWV busses, but when you can boat to 2 parks, it offsets a lot of the issues)

jerseygal · Jul 5, 2015

Own at AKV. .Have stayed at Kidani once and Jambo once...Successful bookings and stays exactly at 7 mos..Aulani, HHI, Vero, VGF(from waitlist), VWL. At 3 mos advance stayed at SSR.. CAN'T WAIT for our first Poly stay and BCV(from waitlist..moved from BWV) this October! :cheer2:

BEASLYBOO · Jul 5, 2015

My home resort and my first love is OKW. Were the tides of change to decide that we can no longer book other resorts I would be ok with OKW. Also since the point equalization OKW isn't the attractive red headed step child it once was. I book at 11 months for special occasions like family reunions, graduation trips etc and I love the space at OKW (GV-2BD) for those. Otherwise I book at 6-7 months, never had problems getting AKV, BLT, BWV etc. to mix it up a bit. I do long week-ends, I book for early Feb, Jun, Jul, Oct/Nov f/ F&W (2x's) and pre Thanksgiving. Now prior to this year, it's been 2BD's, which I think is easier to book but the brood (3 18 year olds) are all heading to college, so now it will be studios, perhaps more of a challenge, ?. For me, it's the time I want, I don't care which resort because in the end I enjoy them all. I'm easy, I don't care about food courts, monorail, buses, near or far from the parks, it's all good. I have 3 F&W stays coming that I booked 1 at BWV 2 at SSR because I couldn't get OKW. So as my usage changes in the next few years we'll see... But for the last 15 booking any of the resorts has been easy.

DisneyStarWisher · Jul 5, 2015

I own at AKV and HHI. I have stayed at every DVC resort except BCV, GVF, GVC, Aulani, and Poly. I'm at the point now that I just want to stay at my home resorts, especially if I can nab a value room at AKV. I will probably try the others at some point, but not in the near future. I like my home resorts more than the others I've stayed at. If I needed a break at AKV, I'd probably stay at OKW, my 2nd favorite at WDW.

crisi · Jul 5, 2015

suebeelin said:
I'm a BWV std person, and stayed in the pool/garden view a handful of times due to circumstances (being snowed in, etc). But I'm vastly curious about BCV. Why all the love? Same area as BWV- is it that much better of a resort?

So my next trip is end of January. We have already booked poly BUT BCV is currently wide open.

Should I split stay BCV/poly just because BCV is available, just so I can try BCV? We are only staying 5 nights and with two little ones who don't sleep well (ages 2 and 5), so not sure if it's worth it.

In other words, is BCV *THAT* much better than BWV? Enough to split a stay with poly with two difficult sleepers for a shortish trip?

No.

We are BWV owners who love BWV and did a BCV trip. All the BCV lovers don't have me as competition.

I think the biggest draw is the pool. But its on the other end of the resort and you walk through the lobby to get there. I really didn't like that. And my kids weren't all that enamoured of the pool (in fact, we hopped back to BWV). The DVC portion of the resort is tucked away behind the main resort, the view we had was of the road and we heard busses driving by (I though the dinging of the games at BWV was annoying).

I preferred the table layout for dining, but lost the huge closet in the master.

pollymn · Jul 6, 2015

SSR 7 TIMES
BWV 4 TIMES
AKV 3 TIMES
OKW 1 TIME

Own at SSR since 2005

DVC96 · Jul 6, 2015

We've been DVC members for 19 years now and primarily stay at our home resorts (OKW & BCV) because we love them! We did try BLT when it first opened and decided it wasn't for us. Also tried SSR - which we also enjoyed - but only booked there because it was all that was available for a short notice trip. We have used points to stay at Vero twice (also really liked that) but our home resorts are our preference. Love the spaciousness of OKW and the pool and proximity to Epcot at BCV. Only twice have we not taken advantage of the 11 month window.

Golden Rose · Jul 6, 2015

We own at 3 - AKV, BWV, and VGF. When we go to WDW, we usually stay at one of our home resorts, or do a split stay between two of them. We have also used our points at the Grand Californian and Aulani, and and would gladly do so again. We stayed at SSR on initial developers points that had to be used there (from when we bought AKV), and we've done split stays with a couple of nights at BCV and VWL.

Basically, we bought where we want to stay most, but we have found something we like about most resorts. Our kids like AKV best, and are at a stage where they want at least a couple of nights there, or it doesn't feel like Disney to them. We like being at either a MK resort or an Epcot resort, which is why we bought at one of each. We almost always book at 11 months to make sure we have our dates locked in, so by the time 7 months rolls around, we often just don't think about switching.

disneynutz · Jul 24, 2015

Missyrose said:
I love how peaceful (and gorgeous) the lake is during the day, especially with BC/YC in the distance. And at night, there's an energy on the Boardwalk that is so much fun to feel a part of.

Section 123, sub paragraph, 54, of the BWV owners association is very clear that you are not to post pictures or tell others about the boardwalk views. You also failed to post the required info that the halls are very long and the pool has an scary clown. Increasing the interest in the BWV's only makes it more difficult for the owners to obtain a short notice boardwalk view booking.

:earsboy:

Bill

automaticsoap · Jul 24, 2015

I try to stay at my home resorts since I love them, but it's been nice to experience other resorts for trips planned in less than 6 months.

Owner since April 2013
-BWV (home): 1, with 1 upcoming in fall 2015
-VGF (home): 1, with 1 upcoming in 2016
-AKV Jambo: 2
-BLT: 1

theSurlyMermaid · Jul 24, 2015

We are BWV owners. My DVC trips have been as follows:

1. SSR 2 bdrm(was BWV but we had to cancel at the last minute and rebook for the next month due to illness. SSR was the only available one month out, of course).
2. BWV 2 bdrm
3. BWV Grand Villa (booked 11 months out)
4. Beach Club 1 bdrm wait listed at 7 months but came through immediately.
5. Bay Lake Towers 2 bdrm.
6. This August we are at VGF 1 bedroom, booked 4 months out, 1 night wait listed which came through.

Missyrose · Jul 24, 2015

disneynutz said:
Section 123, sub paragraph, 54, of the BWV owners association is very clear that you are not to post pictures or tell others about the boardwalk views. You also failed to post the required info that the halls are very long and the pool has an scary clown. Increasing the interest in the BWV's only makes it more difficult for the owners to obtain a short notice boardwalk view booking.

Bill

You're right, I misspoke. BWV is terrible and the views are absolutely hideous.

How many of you always stay at home resort?

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