110 GF Or 140 AKL

[ahward]

Good call. I don't know of too many people who dislike AKV due to the resort. I love the vibe, the animals, and their restaurant offering is arguably the best.

Thank you no suppose my next question is to look properly at the difference between Kidani and Jambo house.

 

[ldo]

for AKV, it doesn't matter where you own points. K/J are interchangeable, either bookable at 11 months at the other. There are lots of posts on pros/cons for when you choose a room. We prefer J, but lots prefer K.
AKV is beautiful at Christmas.

 

[Cfrone]

Thank you no suppose my next question is to look properly at the difference between Kidani and Jambo house.

Just some general feedback for you on AKV. We (family of 5, three kids under 9 at the time) stayed at Kidani in Nov. 2019. We really liked the 1BR (plenty of space for our 5) and the general vibe of the resort. Also, I believe the busses picked up and dropped off at Kidani first so that was nice for finding a seat in the morning and getting home sooner at night. Also, I personally don't recall the bus rides being significantly longer than other resorts (certainly not as bad as going from BLT to Springs).

That being said, one of the main reasons we probably won't go back to Kidani any time soon is the distance between Kidani and Jambo (where most of the food is located). To their credit, they do provide a shuttle between the two buildings but if your timing isnt right, you could be waiting 10+ minutes. The walk is FAR, especially if you're on the wrong side of the resort. This was especially difficult if we wanted something to eat in the AM before leaving the resort or in the PM if we were hungry after returning from the parks. Granted, you do have a kitchen in your room (and that certainly helps) but not having a quick service option in Kidani is a significant drawback (at least for us). Keep in mind, this is the case at many DVC resorts but we didnt find the walk at BLT to the main Contemporary building to be nearly as long.

Hope this helps a bit.

 

[ldo]

one of the reasons we tend to pick Jambo--easy quick service food.

 

[DVC Doctor]

I agree in your situation, AKV is better than VGF, and I would also consider SSR too

 

[BWV Dreamin]

Just some general feedback for you on AKV. We (family of 5, three kids under 9 at the time) stayed at Kidani in Nov. 2019. We really liked the 1BR (plenty of space for our 5) and the general vibe of the resort. Also, I believe the busses picked up and dropped off at Kidani first so that was nice for finding a seat in the morning and getting home sooner at night. Also, I personally don't recall the bus rides being significantly longer than other resorts (certainly not as bad as going from BLT to Springs).

That being said, one of the main reasons we probably won't go back to Kidani any time soon is the distance between Kidani and Jambo (where most of the food is located). To their credit, they do provide a shuttle between the two buildings but if your timing isnt right, you could be waiting 10+ minutes. The walk is FAR, especially if you're on the wrong side of the resort. This was especially difficult if we wanted something to eat in the AM before leaving the resort or in the PM if we were hungry after returning from the parks. Granted, you do have a kitchen in your room (and that certainly helps) but not having a quick service option in Kidani is a significant drawback (at least for us). Keep in mind, this is the case at many DVC resorts but we didnt find the walk at BLT to the main Contemporary building to be nearly as long.

Hope this helps a bit.

That’s why we only stay at Jambo when we do stay at AKV.

 

[kboo]

I'll play, even though it looks like OP has already made their decision...

Also kids I am sure would prefer animal kingdom over GF.

Ha. My kids like Animal Kingdom (we have not stayed there with them, but used to go often to Sanaa and Boma. Their favorite resort (now 8 and 4) is Grand Floridian! I asked my 8yo and she likes the water slide and pool play area, and the restaurants (specifically, 1900 Park Fare).

We plan to go May 2022 on our first trip and then every 3 years afterwards. Mostly during August and Christmas. We are a family of 5 which makes things slightly more difficult in terms of needing a AKL 1 bed room.

As others have said, every 3 years is difficult with points. Every other year is doable. And in the short term, you can stay in studios in VGF for a few trips. August you should have a fairly easy time switching resorts, but Christmas is very hard (and very points hungry). A week in a studio at VGF at Christmas is around 200 points.

(I will add, for your age kids, if you keep the twins in cribs for a while, and your oldest sleeps in the single murphy, a studio can feel pretty spacious because you don't have the couch / queen murphy pulled down. We did this for several trips until our youngest needed to sleep in a bed.)

From staying at BLT a couple of times, I'd strongly recommend taking a look there. The walk to MK and access to the monorail is great with little kids - we were able to roll our stroller right on to the monorail. And BLT gives you the flexibility to grow into larger rooms (Poly only has the studios and Bungalows).

I also love BLT *but* studios there only sleep 4 once the littles are out of cribs. Have stayed in a BLT studio once with DH for a long weekend, and there is a big difference between the studio and the 1br there.

I really don't like the idea of having to fold up a stroller which is a double. What are the buses like? why do you have to folder them/? What if kids are asleep? etc?

We used to rent a double Citi Mini stroller and one time we were staying at the Swan and the kids had fallen asleep at MNSSHP (the halloween party). We kept them in the stroller as long as possible, then I carried our younger one, and we woke the older one to get on the bus, where she slept again in the seat. Luckily the bus wasn't took crowded, but it was a fair bit of carrying. When my kids were younger, I used to also bring a boba (baby carrier) because they could sleep on the bus in those. Although post-pandemic, they are probably going to enforce more social distancing, there have been times in the past when DH and I were both standing - I had a toddler/baby in the boba, he was managing a double citi mini, and my older kid was given a seat. It's not easy.

Have you tried the Minnie Van service yet? On our last trip in 2018 we made heavily use of the service, especially after waiting 3 hours with our, at the time, 6 & 3 year old for a bus after the Magic Kingdom fireworks.

As for Minnie Vans - yes - they provide seating only for 2 in car seats/boosters. But again, our last trip Xmas/New Years 2019, it was very hard to get a Minnie Van at busy times (park open, and dinner).

Thanks for all the advice. Having a car with 3 car seats would help with this and is an option. I think best thing to do would be to writhdraw and think about options a bit more. I am considering just renting DVC now as we are only thinking of every 3 years

Renting would also be a good option now, as many owners are putting their points up for rent and you can try many different resorts before buying. I love AKV/AKL the resort, but wasn't a huge fan of the room decor. I thought I would dislike VGF because it seemed sort of stuffy, but ended up loving it there, even before the walkway news. If we had tried a BLT studio before buying, we probably wouldn't have bought BLT, or we'd have started with enough points to stay in 1BR or larger (we also decided to start small, and started adding on only months later). Also, resale prices will probably continue to go down.

 

[ahward]

I'll play, even though it looks like OP has already made their decision...


Ha. My kids like Animal Kingdom (we have not stayed there with them, but used to go often to Sanaa and Boma. Their favorite resort (now 8 and 4) is Grand Floridian! I asked my 8yo and she likes the water slide and pool play area, and the restaurants (specifically, 1900 Park Fare).


As others have said, every 3 years is difficult with points. Every other year is doable. And in the short term, you can stay in studios in VGF for a few trips. August you should have a fairly easy time switching resorts, but Christmas is very hard (and very points hungry). A week in a studio at VGF at Christmas is around 200 points.

(I will add, for your age kids, if you keep the twins in cribs for a while, and your oldest sleeps in the single murphy, a studio can feel pretty spacious because you don't have the couch / queen murphy pulled down. We did this for several trips until our youngest needed to sleep in a bed.)


I also love BLT *but* studios there only sleep 4 once the littles are out of cribs. Have stayed in a BLT studio once with DH for a long weekend, and there is a big difference between the studio and the 1br there.



We used to rent a double Citi Mini stroller and one time we were staying at the Swan and the kids had fallen asleep at MNSSHP (the halloween party). We kept them in the stroller as long as possible, then I carried our younger one, and we woke the older one to get on the bus, where she slept again in the seat. Luckily the bus wasn't took crowded, but it was a fair bit of carrying. When my kids were younger, I used to also bring a boba (baby carrier) because they could sleep on the bus in those. Although post-pandemic, they are probably going to enforce more social distancing, there have been times in the past when DH and I were both standing - I had a toddler/baby in the boba, he was managing a double citi mini, and my older kid was given a seat. It's not easy.


As for Minnie Vans - yes - they provide seating only for 2 in car seats/boosters. But again, our last trip Xmas/New Years 2019, it was very hard to get a Minnie Van at busy times (park open, and dinner).



Renting would also be a good option now, as many owners are putting their points up for rent and you can try many different resorts before buying. I love AKV/AKL the resort, but wasn't a huge fan of the room decor. I thought I would dislike VGF because it seemed sort of stuffy, but ended up loving it there, even before the walkway news. If we had tried a BLT studio before buying, we probably wouldn't have bought BLT, or we'd have started with enough points to stay in 1BR or larger (we also decided to start small, and started adding on only months later). Also, resale prices will probably continue to go down.

Thank you for you thoughts on this. You are right we have decided in AKL simple because of ability to have a 1BR every stay. Also it gives us the opportunity to go in other resorts during summer (which are not as difficult to get). We weight up the ability to get GF studios at Christmas VS 1BR at AKL as well as the amount of points we were getting for our money.

Walking through our first trip before kids start school we can get 3 weeks in May2022 in AKL studio. Then Christmas 2024 2 weeks in AKL -1BR. GF 110 points didn’t allow Any flexibility with this and we would struggle to get anywhere else with so few points. We would be trying to get studios for BOard walk or beach club we didn’t want the risk.

We have agreed on Renting a car for the first two trips. This may seem wrong due to the buses but with AKL having bus only as well as the resorts size it make sense. Probably our 3rd time we can go with the buses as kids won’t need strollers.

finally I personally thing after our first trip as a DVC owner we will fall in love and be going every other year.

 

[kboo]

Thank you for you thoughts on this. You are right we have decided in AKL simple because of ability to have a 1BR every stay. Also it gives us the opportunity to go in other resorts during summer (which are not as difficult to get). We weight up the ability to get GF studios at Christmas VS 1BR at AKL as well as the amount of points we were getting for our money.

Walking through our first trip before kids start school we can get 3 weeks in May2022 in AKL studio. Then Christmas 2024 2 weeks in AKL -1BR. GF 110 points didn’t allow Any flexibility with this and we would struggle to get anywhere else with so few points. We would be trying to get studios for BOard walk or beach club we didn’t want the risk.

We have agreed on Renting a car for the first two trips. This may seem wrong due to the buses but with AKL having bus only as well as the resorts size it make sense. Probably our 3rd time we can go with the buses as kids won’t need strollers.

finally I personally thing after our first trip as a DVC owner we will fall in love and be going every other year.

Enjoy!!

We are looking at our next trip being completely stroller free, or taking a single umbrella stroller in case our 4yo gets too tired. It is also a good place to hang popcorn buckets so we don't have to carry them everywhere with us...

Also ... good luck with addonitis ... we added a second home resort about 9 months after we bought our first DVC contract...

 

[ahward]

Enjoy!!

We are looking at our next trip being completely stroller free, or taking a single umbrella stroller in case our 4yo gets too tired. It is also a good place to hang popcorn buckets so we don't have to carry them everywhere with us...

Also ... good luck with addonitis ... we added a second home resort about 9 months after we bought our first DVC contract...

Thank you and I was tempted to go and rent for a few years however the way I see it , if I rent 2 times I might as well have purchased!!! My workings out are based on 15 years and although not guaranteed. Points do hold their value. We have worked out that if we were to get Around 50% value back we would break even on cost.

 

[CanadaDisney05]

If your going once every 3 years, there won't be that many years where your kids are young. I wouldn't make the decision based on your families short term needs. Make it based on their long term needs.

As others have said, at once every 3 years, DVC may not even end up being that big of a deal for you. More of an obligation.

 

[ahward]

If your going once every 3 years, there won't be that many years where your kids are young. I wouldn't make the decision based on your families short term needs. Make it based on their long term needs.

As others have said, at once every 3 years, DVC may not even end up being that big of a deal for you. More of an obligation.

I say 3 years...... we are already planning on changing our second trip to be a year earlier!!! We thought with our choice of resort. It’s a good base, as kids get older we may want to buy else where or stay else where and AKL gives us the flexibility. buses won’t be a problem after the first few stays . GF is nice but it would be for filling what want as adults and not thinking of kids.
If it doesn’t work for us we can always resell the contract I am prepared for that although I doubt that will happen!!

 

[ldo]

With your parameters, I think buying resale akv is a good decision. We also thought we’d rather buy than rent. We just bank points on the off years. You can control your reservation and change/cancel/rebook as much as you want.
You’ll likely decide to go eoy esp having more space. The 1br at akv are a good deal. Imho.