am now leery after browsing threads after threads...

[crisi]

How are the BCV and BWV any more in the middle of things that SSR and OKW. I agree the actual resorts of OKW and SSR are more peaceful and quiet, but SSR and OKW are right there at Downtown Disney with more shops, entertainment and eateries than any location at Disney.

I think it depends on where the "middle" of WDW is to you.

We aren't DTD people - in twenty years I've been there twice and - except for seeing Cirque every few years - have very little desire to go back. I don't "get" DTD.

But we are in Epcot almost every day of our trip.

We don't rent a car, we are dependant on our feet, Disney transportation and cabs. BW/BC is walking distance to the place we go most often. SSR is close to nothing we are really interested in - we'd be completely dependant on buses or cabs.

So, for us, BW is "in the middle of everything." If we were big MK folks, the closest we could get to the middle would be VWL. If we were big DTD people, SSR would make sense.

Now, we do golf - so that part of SSR and OKW do appeal to us. But currently our kids are too little for golf vacations to WDW. When we are going with just the two of us to play a lot of golf, SSR or OKW may have a lot more appeal than they do currently.

 

[Deb & Bill]

Well, I for one, am glad not to be in the middle of it all. I love VWL and BCV because they are set back and not as noisy as BWV. We stayed at BWV one time and I didn't really care for it. So that makes more room at BWV for all the other DVC owners. I especially like OKW and SSR for they way they are laid out - community style.

And it's good that DVC has different choices for different members. It would be pretty bad if they kept building the same resort over and over again.

 

[Sammie]

I think it depends on where the "middle" of WDW is to you.

We aren't DTD people - in twenty years I've been there twice and - except for seeing Cirque every few years - have very little desire to go back. I don't "get" DTD.

But we are in Epcot almost every day of our trip.

We don't rent a car, we are dependant on our feet, Disney transportation and cabs. BW/BC is walking distance to the place we go most often. SSR is close to nothing we are really interested in - we'd be completely dependant on buses or cabs.

So, for us, BW is "in the middle of everything." If we were big MK folks, the closest we could get to the middle would be VWL. If we were big DTD people, SSR would make sense.

Now, we do golf - so that part of SSR and OKW do appeal to us. But currently our kids are too little for golf vacations to WDW. When we are going with just the two of us to play a lot of golf, SSR or OKW may have a lot more appeal than they do currently.

I guess to me, middle of everything is literally centrally located to all that there is to offer at WDW. Therefore I find SSR and OKW as much in the middle of everything as BWV and BCV and VWL.

I completely understand if one is going to spend most of their time at Epcot and MGM, then BWV and BCV is the place to be.

We are just more mobile than that and like to be more centrally located to the resort of WDW.

 

[crisi]

I guess to me, middle of everything is literally centrally located to all that there is to offer at WDW. Therefore I find SSR and OKW as much in the middle of everything as BWV and BCV and VWL.

I completely understand if one is going to spend most of their time at Epcot and MGM, then BWV and BCV is the place to be.

We are just more mobile than that and like to be more centrally located to the resort of WDW.

Well, if you go for that definition of middle....

MK and the MK resorts are at the North End of the property.

AK is at the West End.

The Sports Complex is at the South End.

DTD is at the East End.

There isn't much in the middle of the property, but Epcot and the Epcot area resorts are as close as it gets to the geographic middle.

 

[MiaSRN62]

Sammie, I agree with all your posts...well-stated.

Veenstra56 says : I will say, though, that I truly believe that the new AKV resort will end up surpassing SSR and OKW in terms of popularity.

Perhaps.....having animals outside your room is a tough thing for any resort to top. As far as SSR and OKW being popular----because they are the largest resorts, they are usually the last to fill up. So I think "size" of the resorts plays a part in the perception of popularity.

But, AKV will be larger than BWV, VWL and BCV. I believe it will top off at 458 villas, making it less "competitive" to get ressies for I suspect. I'm not sure I plan to buy here.....I'll really have to see it. But I don't think there will be too much difficulty getting a ressie here once the final phase is complete. I really do think the smallest resort (BCV & VWL) are the most difficult to get ressies for. I've had pretty good luck getting BWV availability when calling at 7 months out (not standard rooms, but there is usually availability). Heck, I even got VWL this Oct at 45 days out.

 

[MiaSRN62]

Crisi says : We aren't DTD people - in twenty years I've been there twice and - except for seeing Cirque every few years - have very little desire to go back. I don't "get" DTD.

Now that we have teens....DTD is very popular. My girls love to shop there.....son just takes off and is gone for hours.....my kids enjoy Disney Quest and there are so many choice for dining. DTD is very popular with us. As far as the parks go, we may hit Epcot twice during our week+ vacation. MK is still our favorite park and my ds likes MGM.
We don't rent a car when we stay at OKW either---we may have one if we drove from PA----but rarely use it except for resort dining and the water parks (and offsite shopping). We find the busses at OKW to be just fine and the boat to DD is great. We don't find we do any more or less walking when we stay at OKW vs BWV/BCV for instance.
So I think the definition of "being in the middle of everything" means different things to different people

 

[TDC Nala]

It's pretty much only because OKW and SSR are not close to theme parks.

I'm at the Adventurers Club at night so it's okay with me to have a short ride home on the bus.

Someone mentioned the advantage to those staying at SSR of watching the fireworks at DTD. DTD no longer does nightly fireworks. Most likely they will only occur at the 4th of July and maybe New Years Eve.

 

[disneygrandma]

We own at SSR and BCV to enjoy 2 different resorts in 2 different ways. We love the community feel of SSR, and the room decor. However, being able to park in front of our room ranks pretty high up there. Our newest grandchild is only 1 mo old, and will be 11 months when we stay at SSR next Sept. You can't put a price on that convenience when you're carrying bags, pushing strollers, and have tired little ones. We always have a car, so parking is important to us.

On the other hand, if we're planning a mostly Epcot & MGM trip, then BCV is where we'll stay....close to those 2 parks and the Boardwalk. The parking isn't bad, but depending where your room is, it can be a long walk both outside and inside. If we were only going for these parks, we would consider skipping our rental car, because everything is in walking distance.

BWV is in this same area, but we have no desire to stay there, because of the parking and potential noise. However, BWV is our neice's favorite DVC resort. Getting advice as to which DVC Resort you should buy at, is like getting someone's advice on which movie to see. Everyone's opinion and tastes are different. We've gone to movies that others have loved, and have been disappointed. We've gone to some movies with low expectations, based on other's opinions, and have walked away happy that we took the chance and saw a movie we ended up enjoying.

A DVC purchase is much more expensive, and with a longer commitment, than a movie ticket. I would suggest you stay at a resort first, or atleast visit it, before you buy a contract. Or maybe buy 2 smaller contracts, and if you're not happy with one, you should have no problem selling a small contract for a resort you won't want to stay at. Because as I said, you might not like it, but plenty of others will.

 

[bpmorley]

Someone mentioned the advantage to those staying at SSR of watching the fireworks at DTD. DTD no longer does nightly fireworks. Most likely they will only occur at the 4th of July and maybe New Years Eve.

I believe they will go back to nightly fireworks after they're done with all the renovations in PI.