Advice on AKV or SSR?

[RamblinWreck]

I have a couple of friends who are considering buying in.

I'm less well versed in the resorts that they are considering buying resale than I am in the ones I have actually purchased.


They currently go to Disney World every single year, at some point during the months of June/July/August (their dates are flexible, but they need to be during the school summer break), usually a 6-8 night stay, and their current go-to is the family suites at the Art of Animation resort. They feel that long term, owning a resale DVC contract is going to do better for them than spending $3,000+ per year at the AoA, but they've been asking me a lot of questions because they know I'm a member already.

They're not attached to staying at any particular resort when they go, but they are trying to maximize their bang for their buck and they also would be looking at 1-bedroom accommodations mostly. They also like to plan their trips as far in advance as possible. So no issue with the 11 month or 7 month windows.


They're really intrigued by the Animal Kingdom Value villas. I definitely pointed out immediately that there are only 10 of these 1 bedroom value suites so you absolutely won't get them if you don't book the full 11 months in advance, and even then it can sometimes be challenging. My understanding is that during the Summer, though, they would have a pretty good chance of grabbing one of these as long as they are flexible about their dates and are diligent about logging in first thing in the morning at the 11 month window. Did I oversell the feasibility of booking these? I know the studios can be nearly impossible, but I rented a 1 bedroom value villa last year and the person I rented from didn't have any issue grabbing it for me at the 11 month window. But that's the limit of my experience with this, aside from checking out some of those DVC availability charts you can find online.


What would you recommend to them? SSR for the lower maintenance fees, or AKV where they could get away with a slightly smaller contract, especially if they are able to snag a 1 bedroom value every so often? Or something completely different altogether?

 

[wnielsen1]

While snagging a 1 BR value at Jambo is easier than a studio, it seems a bit much to be planning their entire DVC ownership around it. I don't think you oversold it for summer stays booking at 11 months, but they should really have a backup plan in mind (and the points to book that backup plan). Perhaps the backup plan is a shorter stay in a 1BR standard at AKV. I prefer AKV over SSR but both are great, underrated resorts IMO.

 

[Sandisw]

Of the two, I prefer SSR. I like the ease to DS which opens up a lot of opens for food and shopping when doing a resort only stay. I like that there are a lot of pools to choose from besides just the two.

Both rely on bus transportation as the sole way to get to the parks, so that aspect is a wash. Since they really don't have a big resort preference, I would go with the one that is less expensive and go from there. Now, the point charts do favor AKV but I have a feeling that MF's are more likely to go up faster there than at a place like SSR.

Both are good options for what they want....but SSR is newly renovated and does have the murphy pull down beds instead of the pull out sofa, as well as the under the TV small bed. That is nice for a family.

 

[wnielsen1]

It does remain that if they want the 1BR value rooms at Jambo, they'll need to be AKV owners. Those generally need to be booked 10.5 - 11 months out depending on the time of year.

 

[RamblinWreck]

It does remain that if they want the 1BR value rooms at Jambo, they'll need to be AKV owners. Those generally need to be booked 10.5 - 11 months out depending on the time of year.

That much is definitely true!

My advice to them was that since they aren't attached to anything in particular, they should probably go with SSR unless they are planning on hunting for value villa availability every year. They can maximize the value of their points if they can pull off the value villas, but otherwise owning at AKV over SSR is just throwing money away on extra dues.

Unless you care about the 3 year difference in the expiration of the contracts, anyway.

 

[RoseGold]

Off peak Art of Animation suite is actually what I did my 1BR DVC math against. It was in the 300s when I booked in 2017-2018. Now, it's in the 500s off peak and a room at Swolphin is in the 300s. I'd still say Swolphin, or staying off site, is going to be cheaper, if that is the primary goal.

Standard view AKL 1BR is almost 200 points for a week in the summer. That's a lot of points. But it could be booked with SSR or any DVC points.

But I actually like their value plan, if they are willing to put the legwork in to do it. 153 points for a week is a great deal, for a fantastic room. It isn't impossible to book the 1BR value. Heck, it's available right now in the middle of spring break 2023. I'd even say that big of a point difference is worth buying AKL for. If it doesn't work out, you sell.

 

[RamblinWreck]

Off peak Art of Animation suite is actually what I did my 1BR DVC math against. It was in the 300s when I booked in 2017-2018. Now, it's in the 500s off peak and a room at Swolphin is in the 300s. I'd still say Swolphin, or staying off site, is going to be cheaper, if that is the primary goal.

Standard view AKL 1BR is almost 200 points for a week in the summer. That's a lot of points. But it could be booked with SSR or any DVC points.

But I actually like their value plan, if they are willing to put the legwork in to do it. 153 points for a week is a great deal, for a fantastic room. It isn't impossible to book the 1BR value. Heck, it's available right now in the middle of spring break 2023. I'd even say that big of a point difference is worth buying AKL for. If it doesn't work out, you sell.

Which room category at the Swan and Dolphin are you looking at, just out of curiosity?

 

[RoseGold]

Which room category at the Swan and Dolphin are you looking at, just out of curiosity?

Normal Swolphin rooms are reliably in the 300s. Often much cheaper than that. I never really priced out the suites, because I wasn't interested.

 

[RamblinWreck]

Normal Swolphin rooms are reliably in the 300s. Often much cheaper than that. I never really priced out the suites, because I wasn't interested.

Got it, thanks!

I know these people definitely want to be able to have some space from their kids during a weeklong stay.

I think those AKV value rooms are probably their best bet. They could get by with a 160 point contract, which also happens to be the most common size AKV contract to see on the resale market. Easy peasy. And if they can't get the value villa one year, they just either take a slightly shorter trip or snag a few one time use points.

If I didn't hate the location of AKV so much, I'd probably try doing the same thing!

 

[RoseGold]

They could buy less points, 100-ish, and do a split stay elsewhere, like Swolphin or something like a regular room at Pop. Maybe not ideal for a week, but good for a few days to cut down costs. This would also allow some flexibility if they wanted to skip a year, or if they wanted to stay in whatever the hot new thing is in a couple years, for a night or two.

 

[gharter]

We owned AKL (just sold it) and loved the savannah views and the restaurants.
Did not like the atmosphere at SS.
Kidani has some of the largest 1 BRs.
Both suffer from needing to take buses to everything and not being very close.

 

[cbyrne1174]

I have a couple of friends who are considering buying in.

I'm less well versed in the resorts that they are considering buying resale than I am in the ones I have actually purchased.


They currently go to Disney World every single year, at some point during the months of June/July/August (their dates are flexible, but they need to be during the school summer break), usually a 6-8 night stay, and their current go-to is the family suites at the Art of Animation resort. They feel that long term, owning a resale DVC contract is going to do better for them than spending $3,000+ per year at the AoA, but they've been asking me a lot of questions because they know I'm a member already.

They're not attached to staying at any particular resort when they go, but they are trying to maximize their bang for their buck and they also would be looking at 1-bedroom accommodations mostly. They also like to plan their trips as far in advance as possible. So no issue with the 11 month or 7 month windows.


They're really intrigued by the Animal Kingdom Value villas. I definitely pointed out immediately that there are only 10 of these 1 bedroom value suites so you absolutely won't get them if you don't book the full 11 months in advance, and even then it can sometimes be challenging. My understanding is that during the Summer, though, they would have a pretty good chance of grabbing one of these as long as they are flexible about their dates and are diligent about logging in first thing in the morning at the 11 month window. Did I oversell the feasibility of booking these? I know the studios can be nearly impossible, but I rented a 1 bedroom value villa last year and the person I rented from didn't have any issue grabbing it for me at the 11 month window. But that's the limit of my experience with this, aside from checking out some of those DVC availability charts you can find online.


What would you recommend to them? SSR for the lower maintenance fees, or AKV where they could get away with a slightly smaller contract, especially if they are able to snag a 1 bedroom value every so often? Or something completely different altogether?

It depends on the family's annual income. I personally find owning Wyndham and Marriott a much better deal than owning DVC. That's why I only have 50 DVC points. I only use my DVC points for what I can't get through Marriott and Wyndham.

For example, I got a 3 bedroom deluxe (upgraded for free from a 2 bedroom) for 3 nights easter weekend at Bonnet Creek for $115/night in maintenance fees and my Wyndham purchase price was essentially $0 because I'm resale only and their deeds only cost what's already loaded on them when you buy resale. I couldn't even get a DVC studio for that price and both resorts are on Disney property. The only difference is Bonnet Creek doesn't have transportation and extended park access. I will pick 1500sq feet of space over Disney's on property perks in a 300 sq foot room anyday.

I can also exchange into SSR and OKW in a 1 bedroom for $1350 a week using my resale Marriott week that only costed $1800 to purchase on the resale market. I used to use my Wyndham points to do that every year but DVC changed affiliation from RCI to II so now I have to use Marriott to get into DVC. It's still about $1000 cheaper per week doing it that way vs using DVC points and Marriott has ROFR so they are always taking deeds back, so you can never be trapped with a Marriott deed that you can't get rid of.

DVC is the most expensive resale product of the major players. Wyndham, Marriott and DVC are the main contenders for good Orlando properties. I live in FL and DVC isn't even my favorite Orlando timeshare location. Marriott's Lakeshore Reserve holds that title for me because of the pools + dining. No other property in Orlando has matching pools + dining. A lot of the DVC resorts have better food, but none of pools compare to the pools at Grande Lakes (Lakeshore Reserve + the JW + the Ritz-Carleton).

If you are 100% about buying DVC, I would pick SSR over AKV because of maintenance fee differences. You can always get a standard 1 bedroom 7 months out at AKV, so holding a deed at a more expensive location doesn't make financial sense. However, I would strongly suggest looking at other brands before making a purchase.

DVC was what opened my eyes up to resale. I started researching back in 2017 and thought to myself "If DVC has resale, what about the other major companies?" then learned how insanely cheap Wyndham is for what you get. Wyndham has by far the scummiest salesmen I've encountered, but all the dirty work that they do pressuring people into buying something they don't need through lies and deception creates a really cheap resale opportunity. The current retail price for my deeds is about $150,000 but I only paid about $2,000 with points already on them and my maintenance fees are in the bottom 30% of the system (similar to using SSR points to stay at other locations).

 

[bakerworld]

The nice part of AK Value's are they all are in Jambo and the views are the pool or savannah - no parking lot views like the standard rooms. We like Saratoga but that is an easy place to book. We just booked 6N over July 4 at 60 days. OKW is also available. Even Bay Lake as availability in 1Brs. My advice is to buy into one of the smaller DVC venues that are harder to transfer.

 

[sndral]

The nice part of AK Value's are they all are in Jambo and the views are the pool or savannah - no parking lot views like the standard rooms. We like Saratoga but that is an easy place to book. We just booked 6N over July 4 at 60 days. OKW is also available. Even Bay Lake as availability in 1Brs. My advice is to buy into one of the smaller DVC venues that are harder to transfer.

Actually in Jambo all of the standard views & most of the value views are pool or savanna view, there’s two 1 br.s & 2 studios on Ostrich trail that overlook the parking lot.
The standard views overlooking a parking lot/roads are at Kidani, but @ least the 1 br.s in Kidani have 2 bathrooms.

 

[808blessing]

I stayed in a bunch of value and loved A of A the best even when it zoomed up in price. If they enjoy AofA with heavy theming and Lion King bits, I think they will be all in on AK. Encourage them to try! The bus is better and if they like to drive it would be perfect. Buy what you love! If they need more points because value doesn't work then they can add on.

 

[Brian Noble]

What would you recommend to them? SSR for the lower maintenance fees, or AKV where they could get away with a slightly smaller contract, especially if they are able to snag a 1 bedroom value every so often?

Planning one's entire DVC ownership on the assumption of regularly getting Value-category rooms, even for a 1BR, seems like a recipe for disappointment. I'd also strongly consider a 2BR for that family, even though it would require a few more points.

Once you are talking about 1BR or higher, and you've ruled out some of the niche categories (Club/Value AKV) where you own probably isn't as important, so I'd encourage buying SSR for the lower carrying costs.