Animal Kingdom vs Bay Lake

[whitfamily]

The wife and I are havign a debate right now on buying BLT or AKV. Seems BLT is good on the cost side, but AKV seems more family friendly.

Anyone else made that call recently? If so, why did you pick the one you did?

 

[kimberh]

For us, it was the Savanna plus the decor of AKV's. I really don't like the decor at all of BLT. I have read that it is nicer in person than in the pictures. When I bought AKV's, BLT wasn't available, but I have no plans to buy it now. I own at VWL, BCV, BWV and AKV's. One thing with AKV's too, is the Value rooms, if you really need to conserve points one year, then the Concierge. I am having my second Concierge stay starting Sunday. Concierge is hard to book, I do not want to mislead you. Very limited on rooms. You also have standard view. I understand that their are several different room Cat at BLT also. I really have not sat down and compared them per night. I really have no plans to stay there. I guess it comes down to your taste. The monrail would be nice, but I will hold out to see if another Monorail resort happens to come along at a later date.

Good luck with your decision.

 

[WilsonFlyer]

I just sucked it up and bought both.

 

[disneynutz]

The wife and I are havign a debate right now on buying BLT or AKV. Seems BLT is good on the cost side, but AKV seems more family friendly.

Anyone else made that call recently? If so, why did you pick the one you did?

Buy where you love to stay. I don't understand your "cost side" comment. If cost is a factor, by resale and really save some money.

 

[logan115]

Will most likely be easier to book AKV at 7 months than BLT (unless you need/want concierge or value categories at AKV). BLT will also be "cheaper" to own on an all-in basis (upfront cost + MFs) within a few years as the AKV fees are over $1+ higher than BLT currently.

I don't own at either so I have no bias (just passed ROFR on a SSR contract - our first ), just passing along some of the things that others pointed out to me when I was deciding where to call home.

 

[kenny]

For us we chose BLT as our add on. We saw both rooms in person and have to admit that the AKV are VERY nice rooms. The most THEMED of the DVC rooms IMO. However the only draw to the AKV for us at least was the animals. If I was not going to get a savana view, I would chose elsewhere to stay. AKV to us at least is remote. While others will say so is SSR (our other home), SSR at least offers DTD in walking distance which opens a lot of options. AKV felt isolated to me. But again, some love that some don't.

BLT, while the decor is not what I would put in my house, is still tasteful. Seeing them in person they do look a lot nicer than on the internet. Then you have the view. Nothing beats sitting on your balcony with a view of the castle. There is just something about watching the fireworks from your room or having a glass of wine after a long day at the park and watching the castle change colors. To us, the MK IS disney.

Then you have the monorail. MK and Epcot are out favorite resorts and nothing beats being right on the monorail. Our other home is SSR and while we love it, it would be great to cut down the commute from the room to the parks.

Lastly, BLT is part of the Comtemporary and there is no more classic Disney resort than that. Ok the Poly is it's equal but they don't have a DVC yet.

That is the great thing about the DVC though. There is something for everyone. While AKV may not be our cup of tea, SSR isn't either for lots of people and we love it.

I don't think you can go wrong either way but chose where you would most want to stay.

Good Luck

 

[disneynutz]

Will most likely be easier to book AKV at 7 months than BLT (unless you need/want concierge or value categories at AKV). BLT will also be "cheaper" to own on an all-in basis (upfront cost + MFs) within a few years as the AKV fees are over $1+ higher than BLT currently.

I don't own at either so I have no bias (just passed ROFR on a SSR contract - our first ), just passing along some of the things that others pointed out to me when I was deciding where to call home.

I was told by Disney that the BLT MFs are currently being subsidized by the developer and that the MFs will be "adjusted" later. If that's true, it changes BLT's value.

 

[hakepb]

If you multiply the BLT MF's x the number of points to stay in a BLT 1BR room for a week (BLT uses a lot of points) vs what AKV charges for a 1BR room per week, the paid member fees for that weeks stay are fairly close.
You really only get a dollars and cents value out of a BLT contract when you stay anywhere other than BLT...

 

[YourEveryDayAdam]

I was told by Disney that the BLT MFs are currently being subsidized by the developer and that the MFs will be "adjusted" later. If that's true, it changes BLT's value.

They are only being subsidized by a SMALL amount... I think it is something like $0.09 per point.

 

[wdwnut]

BLT should be every bit as "family friendly" as the Contemporary Resort. We stayed there many times prior to buying into DVC. All resorts have their advantages/disadvantages. Make sure you buy where you want to stay.

 

[Sandisw]

We chose BLT because we love the MK and the ability to walk to/from it each night. We almost always stay at the Contemporary so we are biased as far as the resort.

AKV does nothing for me, but that is because I am not an animal person at all. However, my DH and one of my DD's love them so we are staying at Kidani for 4 nights during our August trip.


I am a big believer in buying where you want to stay. I bought VWL, through resale, so that I could become a DVC member, and then add on at BLT with less points. But after only 2 months, I realized that I didn't want to own anywhere but BLT, and put VWL up for sale. Now, I will have all my points as BLT and can book the whole trip at 11 months and then just trade out a few nights at 7 months, if available, if I want to try other resorts.

 

[christa112]

From the moment we stepped into ADV in 2005 I knew it was my dream resort, we could not afford to stay there and didn't even know the DVC existed at that time.

Our 2nd trip down in 2006 we booked an appnt to get a tour of the DVC and my DD (2 at the time) fell asleep at Planet Hollywood and we called and cancelled.

We went back in 2008 and finally broke down and actually booked an appnt and went for the tour. We knew we wanted to join the DVC, but wanted to get rid of some debt before we created more.

When we toured the SSR and saw the mock rooms of AKV & BLT we were just blown away by AKV. We just love the rustic look and feel of every thing. BLT was nice and very classy, just not our style. I hope some day to stay there maybe just DH & I.

I do not have a second thought of purchasing AKV and with the current incentives it was a no brainer for us. We saved $18.00 per point off

Have you seen either resort in person or are just going by pictures at this point? Are you planning a trip down? If you are maybe you should wait and see them in person or if you are purchasing a larger contract split between the two resorts then you have the best of both world.

 

[La2kw]

The wife and I are havign a debate right now on buying BLT or AKV. Seems BLT is good on the cost side, but AKV seems more family friendly.

Anyone else made that call recently? If so, why did you pick the one you did?

IMO, you can't get more family friendly than being within walking distance to the Magic Kingdom, with Epcot being just a monorail ride away. Add the beautiful beach and lakeside setting, Chef Mickey's, Contempo Cafe, two different pools with slides and other water features, watching fireworks and the Electrical Water Pageant from the beach, and easy access by monorail to O'Hana, and that seals the deal for us.

By contrast, AKV is far from the majority of parks and the only transportation option is a bus (no monorails or boats). You can see the outside US 192 area from the resort, so that kind of diminishes the illusion for me. The restaurants do not appeal to us in the slightest, and I really have no interest in seeing hoof stock and birds outside my window. I would much rather look out my window and see the MK or the largest lake on WDW property. I know it's silly, but I also dislike straws being banned from my resort. I don't want to take a bus to get to a CS restaurant either. I live in the desert, so the arid style of AKV does not appeal to us,

I would rather be on the shores of Bay Lake, strolling to the MK or zipping around on a monorail.

 

[M-I-C-K-E-Y]

While watching the animals is OK, I'd rather watch the Magic Kingdom.

 

[TIGGERmetoo]

It was a hard decision for us too. We went with BLT thinking it will be easier to book AKV at 7 mos than BLT and we will probably have grandchildren within the next few years and I love being on the monorail line with young children. Good luck with your decision.

 

[whitfamily]

Well....after much back and forth discussion we have decided to go with AKV!!! AKV offers our boys so much more than BLT will. We are so excited and cannot wait to visit our new home away from home in the near future!!

 

[Tara]

I was told by Disney that the BLT MFs are currently being subsidized by the developer and that the MFs will be "adjusted" later. If that's true, it changes BLT's value.

They are currently being subsidized by 5 cents, I believe. Even when that subsidy goes away, it's still very low in terms of total fees. It's not the subsidy that makes the fee rate low, it's the higher points per night that makes it so.

 

[disneynutz]

They are currently being subsidized by 5 cents, I believe. Even when that subsidy goes away, it's still very low in terms of total fees. It's not the subsidy that makes the fee rate low, it's the higher points per night that makes it so.

Why would the developer waist their time and money subsidizing 5 cents per point? Usually they subsidize to make the deal more attractive to increase sales.

 

[Tara]

Why would the developer waist their time and money subsidizing 5 cents per point? Usually they subsidize to make the deal more attractive to increase sales.

Are you saying this is wrong? I'm just going by what DVC News reported. The subsidy is meant to offset some fees burden early in the resort's life when a smaller % of overall points have been sold. I'm not sure why you would consider this a waste.

 

[whitfamily]

They are currently being subsidized by 5 cents, I believe. Even when that subsidy goes away, it's still very low in terms of total fees. It's not the subsidy that makes the fee rate low, it's the higher points per night that makes it so.

Our guide told us today that it is so low compared to other resorts because there are significantly fewer options for entertainment at the resort itself.