Animal Kingdom Villas vs Villas at Wilderness Lodge

[SpaceMountain77]

Hi everyone,

Well, on Friday, I officially became a DVC member, signing my documents for Animal Kingdom Villas. Although I was initially excited, I have started to wonder if I should have chosen a different home resort. It seems as though there is no real advantage to having Animal Kingdom Villas, Old Key West or Saratoga Springs as a home resort because these resorts have a larger number of room offerings, making them generally available.

I am starting to wonder if it would have been better to buy into a resort that truly gives an advantage. Beach Club and Wilderness Lodge are both smaller and seem to have very loyal home resort owners. Would the Wilderness Lodge have been a better way to go?

I would sincerely appreciate hearing thoughts on which of these two resorts, AKL or WL, is the better decision.

PS: As a Florida resident, I have 10 days to change my mind.

 

[bobbiwoz]

AKV has the only concierge villas so far. There are only 5 2 bedroom lock offs, so generally they get booked in the home resort period. AKV has grand villas, VWL and BCV do not. AKV also has value and standard villas, for stays at the resort for fewer points.

Both VWL & BCV end in 2042.

Best wishes as you make your decision. I own points at 7 home resorts, because I use the home advantage booking time in each one.

 

[arpasquajr]

In my opinion no. AKV has 15 more years. Also you would have an 11 month window to book 3-bedroom grand villas, value and conierge. None of which they have at WLV, and can be very hard to get at 7 months. Also the 3-bedroom villas at Jambo House have pool tables. I do not believe any other villas have them.

 

[Missyrose]

You have a 10-day cooling off period during which you can back out of the deal. You might want to consider doing that so you can do more research.

As far as AKV vs. VWL, it's really a personal choice. The best advice I was given when I was researching a home resort was to buy where you would be happy staying if you couldn't switch at 7 months.

Another option would be to buy half the number of points at each resort and alternate years at the two resorts:

Year 1 -- Bank AKV points, use current VWL and borrowed VWL points to stay at AKV

Year 2 -- Use banked and current AKV points to stay at AKV

Repeat.

Also, have you looked into the resale market at all?

 

[ELMC]

Where do you want to stay? That should be the biggest influence on what your home resort is.

 

[disneynutz]

You only have a few posts and you just signed up for the DIS. That tells me that you are just now beginning to learn about what you bought.

Cancel, take your time to become a educated consumer, then get the biggest bang for your buck buying the best UY and resort that allows you to have the best vacations possible.

Life is short, you deserve the best.

Bill

 

[Deb & Bill]

AKV- Jambo House GV have pool tables, the only ones that do. No GV at VWL.