AKV or BLT: Decisons, decisions!

[Deb & Bill]

Wingnut. A lot of people have given you excellent opinions on the pros and cons of either resort, but I think the financial portion of your decision is just as important. Buying direct will give you the points quicker and allow you to trade into DCL or the Disney collection, but these "perks" come at a premium that some would argue is not financially prudent. ....

For now. There is no guarantee that you'd be able to do this forever. All you are guaranteed is that you can stay at your home resort.

 

[Wingnut330]

If you can be patient and shop around this is currently a buyers market (As long as the buyer can keep their job.).

So true! But now you have me worried. Something I need to know??? LOL

 

[wendyt_ca]

We just purchased at BLT on our trip earlier this month and couldn't be happier! We chose BLT over AKL for a few reasons. Much lower maintenance fees which over such a long period is cheaper. I do not see them rising above AKL fees since the grounds are small and AKL has animals. BLT also has a later end date on it. BLT is selling out and does not have as many rooms therefore is harder to get into but owning there gives you a higher priority and you can book sooner. AKL has a lot more rooms and is easier to get availability. We bought direct from Disney just for convenience and we honestly were not really concerned about the savings in money. We also like getting all perks this way. The interest rate for us was only 12% which is lower then most of our credit cards. We will prob next year get a loan back home and pay it off on that cause we work for TD Insurance which is owned by TD bank so we get 5% loans. But for now we will just keep it with Disney.

 

[kcount]

We just returned from a trip to MK last week, staying at All Star Resort. The buses were not much of a hassle (with a 9month old and a 2 1/2 year old), but I can see how the monorails are preferred over the busses. I wouldn't chose a resort based upon the train vs. bus idea, especially when spending thou$and$. I'd be more concerned about availability and maintenance fees, since one is allowed to book at any resort 7 months out.

 

[DisneyRegulars]

We just returned from a trip to MK last week, staying at All Star Resort. The buses were not much of a hassle (with a 9month old and a 2 1/2 year old), but I can see how the monorails are preferred over the busses. I wouldn't chose a resort based upon the train vs. bus idea, especially when spending thou$and$. I'd be more concerned about availability and maintenance fees, since one is allowed to book at any resort 7 months out.

Also, once you are spoiled by renting a car, you will always want one...

 

[Kidanifan08]

I just got back a few weeks ago from a split stay at AKV and BLT. We really liked BLT, and the location was great for getting to MK. We love walking, and being able to walk to MK in the AM and back to the resort after a long day was great. Aside from that, I found the transportation from BLT to the other parks to be no different than the transportation from AKV to the parks. In fact, I was particularly bothered by having to use the monorail to get to and from Epcot. One of our trips back from Epcot took 45 minutes! I have never had a 45 minute bus ride from any of the parks back to AKV.

With that said, we do plan to spend time at BLT in the future because it really is cool to see Cinderella's Royal Castle from the different parts of the resort. I still don't regret our decision to buy AKV 3 years ago and if I was given a do-over I wouldn't change anything. The 4 nights at AKV on this recent trip re-affirmed our decision to own at AKV.

 

[PineappleFloat]

Whenever someone asks me about buying into DVC I always ask them this...

1.) Are you Local
2.) How far in advance do you plan your trips

If you're like me and are local and go spur of the moment, then I'd buy into the cheapest resort....

THE ONLY discernable advantage that I know of for purchasing one resort over the other, is the reservation windows... Even if you buy into AKV you can still stay at BLT. The downfall of this is you can make a 12 month ahead of time reservation at your home resort, compared to a 7mo reservation at any other resort. Resorts each have their own costs for points, BLT will pay more AKV will pay less, but If you're at AKV you'll still pay the same amount of points at BLT as BLT members, you just won't get the 5 month advantage on reservations.

I'll admit BLT is pretty awesome, It's definitely my favorite, I almost never even get to see animals when I stay at AKV. However for me it's not worth the extra 6k because I never plan more than 1-2 months ahead lol, so I'd buy into whatever is cheaper and gets you more points! Unless you just absolutely love BLT and want the extra 5 mo dibs on reservations over everyone else. Both BLT and AKV have substantially nicer rooms/bathrooms than the other resorts (not that the others are bad). BLT has like dual shower heads one being a rainfall head on the ceiling, and modern italian sliding doors (which don't lock if thats a problem). I believe BLT has an extra bathroom as well? 2 bedrooms have 3 baths.. AKV might as well, I can't remember off the top of my head, but don't think so?

Hope this helps!