How many of you always stay at home resort?

[Sir William]

In our 5 years as DVC members, we usually stay at our home resorts: SSR 4 times and Aulani 2 times. I once stayed at BWV because I was attending a conference at the Swan and Dolphin, and we once stayed at VWL the night before a cruise.

 

[Antonius215]

We own at AKL but we have only stayed there twice. We like trying as many different resorts as possible (OKW, BWV, SSR, BLT, AKL, VWL as well as many of the resorts before we were DVC members) and we love certain things about each of them. Our youngest is six years old, so we mostly try to stay near the Magic Kingdom - VWL or BLT (man, I always think of bacon, lettuce and tomato when I type that) but we have yet to try at the VGF. My personal favorite is the Boardwalk and next we are going to try to get in at the BCV- kiddos (and I) are so ready for that pool!

 

[Dean Marino]

Sandy and I ALWAYS stay at our Home Resort - the Villas at Wilderness Lodge. Booked for 11-2015 and 4-2016, and not letting any construction stop us .

 

[bobbiwoz]

Sandy and I ALWAYS stay at our Home Resort - the Villas at Wilderness Lodge. Booked for 11-2015 and 4-2016, and not letting any construction stop us .

Now you're a real VWL groupie!

We're staying there this December, but we are disappointed to learn of the construction. I especially love the villa pool, which will be closed. We have already decided to use our VWL points anywhere we can at 7 months in 2016! I've already begun borrowing them.

 

[tb1972]

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.

Beautiful photos, Missyrose! We added on a BW last year after staying there twice. Love the area at night.

 

[TinkFan74]

I bought into DVC in 2011 and have not yet spent even one night at my home resort. After our upcoming trip we will have visited every WDW destination but our home resort, Aulani, and VGC. I bought into SSR because the points were a lot less expensive than anywhere else, not because I was drawn to the resort. Maybe someday we will stay there, but so far we have enjoyed splitting our time between many different resorts.

 

[jimmytammy]

We own most pts at VWL, and for the 1st few years we always stayed there, no where else. Then as time went on, for various reasons, started branching out a bit, staying at OKW 1st for saving pts, then gave BCV a try during marathon week for close proximity to Epcot, SSR, AKV, BLT and finally got into BWV by buying pts for F&W fest. I think for us, VWL will always be number one in our hearts, and though its been a few trips since staying there, we always know we have that 11 mos mark to hit at the right time, say Dec for the decorations.

So with that being said, I would say buy where you feel like you would be willing to stay more often than not. 11 mos is important certain times of the year, mostly during F&W fest and holidays, and low pt seasons for the smaller resorts.

 

[MomtoBJSF]

Our first purchase was VWL, and we absolutely love , love love it there, we stay there 95% of the time, we purchased AKV and have stayed there once, as much as we like it, it's so far from everything, I wonder if that was the right move purchasing there, we just like being closer to MK, our kids are still little, but know that will change. we are now starting to look into staying at other resorts, hoping to use our points and stay at Grand Floridian this summer, we will see, but won't mind going to VWL or AKV if we cant get in elsewhere.

 

[DMKEDM]

I rarely am able to book at trip at 11 months out, so my home resort advantage is rarely operational (I own at SSR and at BCV). I usually book between 7 and 5 months out. Occasionally there's a real reason (e.g., food and wine at one of the Epcot resorts) to stay at a particular resort, but normally I just mix it up if I have choices (usually I do, but sometimes only SSR is open)...I've stayed everywhere on WDW property (if you count my upcoming May 1 trip to the Poly--it will be my first stay there)...some times reservations are easy to make; sometimes not so much. But I've never been completely shut out. I love all the resorts (except Wilderness Lodge--had bad cast member experiences there that left me unwilling to go back there and that feeling has not faded in the almost two years since it happened. But this is not a problem as Wildneress Lodge as both a small and a popular resort is not one of those regularly available when I can make plans)...

There has been a lot of chatter on the boards recently about how it's growing ever harder to make 7-month (or later) reservations...and I'm sure it's true...but it hasn't impacted us yet.

 

[tlh]

We stay at our home mostly. Mainly because the value points room though but I really love AKV though. We have stayed at BWV and I like how close it was to everything but not the quick service and mug situation. We did a split stay that trip. We have went to aulani too this past March. It's hard to spend the points at more costly villas when I can stretch points at some places.

 

[SaraSpringsIsHome]

We've owned at SSR for 10 years, and have probably stayed there 3 or 4 times, visiting WDW 1-2 times a year. We have used points for VWL, BCV, BWV, BLT, OKW, and AKV. We love staying at BWV, and have definitely stayed there the most! Our second most stayed at resort would be AKV, since we can usually get a studio there fairly easily.

 

[mom2rb]

We own at SSR, AKL, & BLT. I love all of them, but I wish that DH loved AKL more, he just feels that it is too far from everything. We stay based on the trip. This June, I am taking my 13 year old nephew and my 17 year old boys. I plan on letting them go off on their own and I figure that they will want to swim and rest in the middle of the day. I booked BCV. When I bring family, I stay at AKV for the wow factor, always with a Savanna View. When it is just the 4 of us, I either get a one bedroom at BLT or a two Bedroom at SSR, depending on the season. If it is a time that the parks are closing early then I book at SSR.

The one resort that DH would love to buy is BWV. If they ever extended the contract length, he would buy in a heart beat. We are staying there for our 20 anniversary in Oct. We have stayed everywhere on property except GFV and PPV. We have never been able to get a room at GFV and we don't stay in studios, so we don't plan on trying PPV.

The only one that we wouldn't go back to is VWL. It just wasn't our thing. We love that there are so many choices, but if we could only stay at our home resorts, we would be fine with that too.

 

[WDWLODGE]

We bought at VWL in 2013 at have yet to stay there. So far we have stayed at AKV-Kidani, BLT & BCV. This year we are going west and staying at GCV. We always have traveled at slower times and have had good luck changing resorts at the 7 month mark. December 2017 we finally plan on staying at VWL.

 

[Paula Sedley-Burke]

If you like both why not buy smaller contracts in each? Try to get the same UY. We own at SSR and VGF and stay at our home resorts I would say 70% of the time as we love them. But we have also enjoyed AKV, VWL, VB and BC. We hope to try them all. But I do believe in the rule own where you want to stay.

 

[bwang123]

We are about 50% staying/planning on staying at our home resort. We own at AKV and like being able to book the value rooms. When we haven't stayed at our home resort it is because we want to try out other locations. At this point, we have had no trouble changing to another resort at the 7 month mark utilizing the waitlist.

 

[disneynutz]

We have contracts at our favorite resorts so we can book at 11 months.

Bill

 

[Dean]

I know this might be an old thread and I suspect there are polls addressing the subject as well. However for those looking to buy in it's important to know that it's unlikely you'll be locked into the home resort if you plan well, that getting the highest demand options are possible but unlikely and that essentially no one new to DVC will know enough to know what their preferences truly are. SSR will be the cheapest on property option long term with BLT next and for those that are concerned about certain options, BLT might be the best. Getting AKV isn't that difficult in general but the value and concierge options will be to reference the OP's question.