advantage?

[Desiree1972]

Love all the info on this board - have been reading for weeks!

Curious to know if there would be an advantage to us buying at more than one resort. I will list scenario and reasoning behind this question:

We are looking to buy 200 pts - we have decided to buy BLT, and are considering buying some points at AKV as well. Why we are even considering this, I am not sure?! It seems that there would be an advantage to having some points there to sneak in a couple of nights of a savannah concierge room (btw, is concierge all it is cracked up to be?). So maybe 160 at one and 40 or 50 at the other. But then, will it always be a hassle to borrow and alternate stays? Or should I just plan on split staying - is that inconvenient or smooth? Should we just get all 200 pts at blt and attempt a Savannah view at 7 months out every couple of years?

One more ? we like the monorail/proximity to MK at BLT (and will never mind staying there) but honestly we are in love with BCV. We are both teachers and will travel in June or July most years - how hard is it to score a studio or 1 bedroom 7 months out at BCV?

I lied, one more ?
Are the studios (at BCV) smaller or larger than a standard room at the BC?

thanks DVC experts!!!

 

[Sandisw]

Welcome and lots of great questions. First, the BLT studios are smaller than the BCV studios. I am not sure about the other size rooms.

There can be an advantage of owning more than one home resort if you feel there is something that you want to book that will be difficult. Getting savannah view might not be, but getting concierge will most likely be difficult.

If you know that you want to stay at these rooms every few years, I would buy a small number of points to cover it. If you decide to do this, look at how many points you would need and gear your points to that number. For example, if you want to do split stays every year with 3 nights at AKV and 4 at BLT or BCV, then I would see how many points you need for those 3 nights and have your AKV points at that number--you don't want to do 40 points and find out it doesn't give you the # of nights you want.

If you really love BCV, then you might want to consider buying there via resale. The only drawback right now is if you have to finance. The company that was working with many of the resale brokers to offer financing for resale is not right now so if you need that option, buying through Disney may be your only option.

I think if you call right at 7 months, getting a room at BCV is possible. I was able to get a studio room at BWV in May for my August trip--not quite the same, but in the area.

We did a split stay and I liked it. We bought in at BLT but want to be there. We will most likely do 2 nights at a studio (since we arrive at 8:00 pm) and then 4 nights in a 1 bedroom at BLT every summer. Our plan is to try the different resorts for those 2 nights--this year, I did BWV, BLT and VWL. Next year, we might try to get AKV or BCV for those two nights (we are going the first week in August).


We like to use the dining plan and having a split stay allows you to get it for some of the nights and not others. We can do it for the 2 studio nights and then just do the QSDP for the other nights (we don't like to do more than 1 - 2 nights of TS meals while at Disney).

Good luck!

 

[ITGirl50]

We stayed AKV concierge 1-bedroom in July for 5 nights. We liked it for the free breakfast, free dinner/snack, free drinks, and free desserts. It saved us a lot of money on meals. You also get daily mousekeeping (aka clean towels) every day and they make your ADRs for you. You also get the opportunity to go on the sunrise/breakfast safari which was excellent. It's very difficult to get concierge, even for owners at 11-months. I'm sure it's possible to waitlist at 7-months especially if you pay for weekend points, but it's going to be difficult because there are only 5 two-bedroom lock-offs. I would do it again, but not every year because it costs a lot of points.

I also like owning at AKV because there are many point categories. So I can save a lot of points compared to the other resorts by staying in a standard or value room. These are probably available at the 7-month window too, but there is more of a guarantee to get these categories if you own AKV.

IMHO, the problem with splitting 100 points between resorts is that you can't book a large point vacation every year at the 11-month window. We always book 1-bedrooms and go every year (really twice a year) so 100 points at one location isn't enough to do that for us. If you stay at each location every other year, you can bank and have 200 points for each resort every other year.

We usually split our stay. We stay 3 nights at one location and the rest at another (4 or 5 nights). It's very easy to do this. Bell services will move your luggage for you and it gives you two vacation experiences in one vacation.
We are thinking about adding on and are leaning toward BLT because we like the MK area, but if we buy more points at AKV, we would have a large number of points at one resort and have the opportunity to book a Grand Villa at the 11-month window (if we ever needed it).

 

[5forDiz]

Buy where you would most love to stay or better still buy where you won't mind having to stay if you had to stick with the reservation you make during your Home Resort ( or Resorts ! ) owner's priority booking window which is
11 months through 7months+1day prior to check-in date you'd like.

BCV is one of smallest & it is sought after, walking distance to Epcot & DHS and for Storm Along Bay especially during summer months ( if you are staying at another DVC resort you can't pool hop to Storm Along Bay or any of the other pools at YC/BC Resort, you'd need to be staying on points at BCV to use ).

Concierge villas are AKV are at most 10 in number & that is if the five 2 bedroom lock-off villas on Concierge floor at Jambo House/AKL are reserved separately as five 1 bedroom villas & five studio villas so owning points at AKV would be wise if you are hoping to book Concierge villa. Haven't yet been lucky enough to book concierge villa but hear good reviews about the concierge lounge offerings; breakfast, afternoon snacks & refreshments & light fare, evenings appetizer type offerings & desserts & wine & some appertif type alcoholic beverages...will try to track down thread if I can with more info.

Take a look at points charts, link is at upper right, figure how many points you'll need based upon resort(s)/size villa/dates you're most likely to travel to get better idea of what may be good size contract(s).

The amount of points you may need can vary significantly by resort & day of week ( Sun - Thur nights less pts/Fri & Sat nights more ) & villa size & even booking category (ie view ) - - depending upon if studio,1br or 2br villa during July & August BCV is approx 15 - 65 pts, BLT approx 15 - 88 pts based upon both villa size & view, AKV approx 10 - 79 pts based upon villa size, category either view or concierge. There are 3 bedroom Grand Villas as well which sleep up to 12 but not at BCV ( or VWL ).

OKW
Studio: 390 sq. ft.
1 BR: 942-1005 sq. ft.
2 BR: 1395-1410 sq. ft.
GV: 2375 sq. ft.

BWV
Studio: 359-412 sq. ft.
1 BR: 712-814 sq. ft.
2 BR: 1071-1226 sq. ft.
GV: 2142-2492 sq. ft.

VWL
Studio: 356 sq.ft.
1BR: 727 sq.ft.
2BR: 1080 sq.ft.
GV: None

BCV
Studio: 356 sq.ft.
1BR: 719-726 sq.ft.
2BR: 1075-1080 sq.ft.
GV: None

SSR
Studio: 355 sq.ft.
1BR: 714 sq.ft.
2BR: 1070-1075 sq.ft.
GV: 2113 sq.ft.
THV: 1,074 sq. ft.

AKV Jambo:
Studio: 316-365 sq.ft.
1BR: 629-720 sq.ft.
2BR: 945 - 1075 sq.ft.
GV: 2340 sq.ft.

AKV Kidani:
Studio: 366 sq.ft.
1BR: 807 sq.ft.
2BR: 1,173 sq. ft.
GV: 2,201 sq. ft.

BLT:
Studio: 339 sq.ft.
1BR: 803 sq.ft.
2BR: 1,216 sq.ft.
GV: 2,166 sq.ft.

 

[CarolMN]

.......(snip).....It seems that there would be an advantage to having some points there to sneak in a couple of nights of a savannah concierge room (btw, is concierge all it is cracked up to be?). .......

Not all of the concierge villas have a view of the savanna, some have a pool view. So savanna view for the concierge villa will be a request, not a guarantee.

 

[Desiree1972]

thanks - maybe buying at AKV is not so advantageous. I like the idea of having a savannah view - but it only sounds appealing every so often.
BCV is our fave, but I like the idea of my contract ending in 50 years for my family to get the most use out of it. I will keep my fingers crossed at 7 months out.
as far as the sq ft goes - thanks! I am curious how the studio at BCV compares to a standard cash room there (where we recently stayed for a week).
I also like the idea of split staying feeling like more than one vacay - good point!

thanks again