Choosing a home resort

[Welcome_Home]

Hello all! First time poster, long time lurker. We have been seriously kicking around the idea of purchasing a DVC for the past few months. We are thinking of going the resale route and understand the restrictions that Disney has placed on resales. We strictly want this for the hotel savings, so resale fits our needs. Now, we are struggling a bit with choosing our home resort. We have narrowed it down to Wilderness Lodge, Boardwalk, or Animal Kingdom Lodge. Maintenance fees and expiration of contract are not that big of and factor. I guess my question is, does anyone own at these resorts and are you happy with your "home" resort? Each resort offers so much and it's hard for us to narrow it down to one. We go back and forth almost daily on which resort to choose. Which led me here. Hopefully hearing from actual owners may help in our decision.

Thanks for taking the time to read!

 

[pinklotusflower]

Have you visited/stayed at each of your three choices? We visited our shortlist and looked at the pros and cons for each and how many points we needed for our usually stay. We bought BWVs as we loved the boardwalk and being able to walk to two parks, which of the three would you want to stay at the most?

 

[suebeelin]

where would you stay most?

Here are the pros and cons of each as I see it:

AKL:
Pros:
-lower buy in cost with more years left on contract
-need 11mo home resort priority to book concierge and value rooms
Cons:
- higher maint fees (I know you said it didn't matter but still a factor)
- easy to get in for other rooms most times of the year
- rely on bus system to go anywhere unless you have a car

WLV:
Pros:
-need 11mo HR priority to go during Xmas season
- quiet and remote but close to MK
Cons:
- construction for the next few years for WLV2
- similar price as bwv without walking distance to two parks and no cheap std rooms or view rooms
-no grand villas

Bwv:
Pros:
-cheap std rooms and BW view rooms. Std rooms stretches your points quite a bit
- requires HR priority for food and wine, Xmas season and marathon wknds (end of sept through beginning of/mud January)
- often need HR Piority for grand villa
-walk to two parks
Cons-
- ppl dislike the clown pool
- ppl dislike the lack of indoor QS
- currently not too competitive get pool/garden room from mid January through September at the 7mo mark.

Hope this helps!

 

[supersnoop]

Wilderness Lodge is difficult to book around Christmas.
Boardwalk is difficult during Food & Wine.
Standard and Savanna view rooms at Animal Kingdom are very easy to book.

You'll pay 3x-4x the purchase price in maintenance fees over the life of the contract, so a $1 saved is less is $30-$50 less per point up front. It's a pretty big factor.

 

[kniquy]

We have narrowed it down to Wilderness Lodge, Boardwalk, or Animal Kingdom Lodge. Maintenance fees and expiration of contract are not that big of and factor. I

Just with this comment alone i would say choose AKL -- it has a much longer expiration 2057 vs 2042 and its price per point is a bit less than BW and WL. The maintenance fees are a little more at AKL, but when you really break it down it isn't a huge difference. Besides Oct - Dec at 7 months you should be able to book at most all resorts -- VGF and VGC are different stories and are a little more difficult to book year round. I don't think you can really go wrong w/ any DVC resort. If you are unsure then purchase a smallish 100 point AKL contract to get into the system, try it out and then if you really like another resort at a high demand time of year then purchase another small contract there. There is so much information on this site from ROFR to all the ins and outs of DVC. I think the best way to learn is narrow down where you want to buy and buy a small contract -- some people say visit a few and then decide, but my thought is that if you do that think of all the money you spent on those stays that could have gone towards purchasing a contract. You are not locked in to only one resort and you can always add on down the road. It actually makes sense to purchase smaller contracts because they will be easier to sell/downsize down the road.

Read, read and read some more even after you buy.

 

[_auroraborealis_]

They're three very different resorts in terms of theme and access, although I would say "old" VWL is closer in theme to AKV. Hard to say what the long-term feel of the new Boulder Ridge blah blah is going to be right now.

 

[CarolynFH]

where would you stay most?

Here are the pros and cons of each as I see it:

AKL:
Pros:
-lower buy in cost with more years left on contract
-need 11mo home resort priority to book concierge and value rooms
Cons:
- higher maint fees (I know you said it didn't matter but still a factor)
- easy to get in for other rooms most times of the year
- rely on bus system to go anywhere unless you have a car

WLV:
Pros:
-need 11mo HR priority to go during Xmas season
- quiet and remote but close to MK
Cons:
- construction for the next few years for WLV2
- similar price as bwv without walking distance to two parks and no cheap std rooms or view rooms
-no grand villas

Bwv:
Pros:
-cheap std rooms and BW view rooms. Std rooms stretches your points quite a bit
- requires HR priority for food and wine, Xmas season and marathon wknds (end of sept through beginning of/mud January)
- often need HR Piority for grand villa
-walk to two parks
Cons-
- ppl dislike the clown pool
- ppl dislike the lack of indoor QS
- currently not too competitive get pool/garden room from mid January through September at the 7mo mark.

Hope this helps!

This is a very good comparison of the three!

We love our HR BWV but have stayed at both of the others and like them too - love riding the boat to MK, and there's nothing like drinking coffee on your balcony while watching the animals graze. We'll undoubtedly stay at both again. That said, we always miss being able to walk/boat to two parks, as well as the number of dining possibilities in the Epcot area resorts (including Swolphin) and Epcot itself. So as PP said, which one do you like better?

 

[Welcome_Home]

Great information, thanks everyone! It helps being able to talk this out with different opinions. Plus I think my wife needs a break at times from all my Disney talk. So again, thank you!

To answer some questions...we have stayed at each resort. We've stayed at BWV in 2008, AKL 2009, and VWL this past Christmas. And I don't want to come across as money is no issue. It certainly is, hence that is why we are going the resale route. I've noticed on the resale market you can get anywhere from 230-240 AKL points for what you would get 200-210 at VWL or BWV. VWL is kinda my lead resort currently, but getting more points at AKL is definitely an attractive option.

Thanks again for the responses, much appreciated!

 

[viper17d]

I'll repeat the old "where you want to stay" adage. All three of the resorts you are considering are great, but they're very different.

If you love the theming of AKL and like being near that park, go with that - upfront costs are lower, maintenance fees are higher.

If you don't care a ton about theme and want to be next to Epcot for Food and Wine, go with the BWV - you'll probably be paying $20 more per point up front, but the maintenance fees will kind of cancel that out.

If you want to be near the Magic Kingdom (a boat ride away) and like the wilderness, go with VWL.

I just passed ROFR on VWL with a 150 point $83 contract - I'm biased, but being near MK and still somewhat secluded was priority #1 for us. At the end of the day we were okay with the VWL negatives: construction, not walking distance to a park, shorter expiration, and potential for VWL2 to make us jealous. It also helped that we got a good deal.

Point being - decide what's most important to you in terms of where you want to stay. Location and theming are two things that will never really change.

 

[Missyrose]

Buy where you wouldn't mind staying on every trip. That way, you start somewhere you'd like, and can move if there's availability.

 

[_auroraborealis_]

And if you really, truly and honestly see VWL, AKV and BWV as equivalent, buy the contract that has the lowest long-term cost of ownership. Even figuring a 10-year ownership, I believe that's AKV

 

[Friendlyadvice2]

And if you really, truly and honestly see VWL, AKV and BWV as equivalent, buy the contract that has the lowest long-term cost of ownership. Even figuring a 10-year ownership, I believe that's AKV

Maybe; maybe not. Way too many variables in each contract/resort to make that assumption. Cost of ownership from member to member can vary significantly between even arguably similar contracts.

 

[JPDtheJD]

We bought VWL in 2014 without ever having stayed there. We have since stayed there, BCV, and AKL Jambo. We LOVE our VWL. I wish we weren't out of points right now. The closeness to MK is a really big deal. We love taking the boat (but it is a bit of a walk from the villas). But the bus stop is right outside the villas building and it takes no kidding 5 minutes to get to MK on the bus. It is just hands down our favorite.

 

[disneynutz]

Doesn't matter what we think, only what you think. If you can't decide, buy a cheaper contract like SSR and use the points to learn the DVC and to stay at all of the resorts. Latter you can sell or rent out your SSR points and buy where you love to stay and have difficulty booking at 7 months.

Bill

 

[Dean]

Hello all! First time poster, long time lurker. We have been seriously kicking around the idea of purchasing a DVC for the past few months. We are thinking of going the resale route and understand the restrictions that Disney has placed on resales. We strictly want this for the hotel savings, so resale fits our needs. Now, we are struggling a bit with choosing our home resort. We have narrowed it down to Wilderness Lodge, Boardwalk, or Animal Kingdom Lodge. Maintenance fees and expiration of contract are not that big of and factor. I guess my question is, does anyone own at these resorts and are you happy with your "home" resort? Each resort offers so much and it's hard for us to narrow it down to one. We go back and forth almost daily on which resort to choose. Which led me here. Hopefully hearing from actual owners may help in our decision.

Thanks for taking the time to read!

I don't think it matters that much which you prefer but rather how you'll use it. if you'd stay at BWV most of the time in standard or BW view, I'd buy there. If you'd stay at AKV most of the time in value view, I'd buy there. If you'd stay Food & wine at BWV I'd buy there. You get the theme assuming you can reserve at or near 10 months out. Of these 3, if you plan to stay at one the most that's the one I'd buy assuming you don't have a group of 5 where I'd put AKV at the forefront or routinely reserve at 7 months or later where SSR would be the best choice. The up front costs resale and dues aren't enough different to change that issue between the 3. For AKV you will lose part of the up front savings over time with dues but it will be good for a much longer RTU period which may be a good or bad thing for you. Once you get to 150 or so, I'd buy the number of points that give you what it seems you need with a relatively small cushion of 10-20% being flexible for the best contract (preferably loaded at a fair price). VWL is the most variable though with the new resort being built on property. Will the changes be good or bad for you? I tend to think they'll be good overall. That line of thinking likely means it's best to buy now if you want there as prices will likely go up in a year or 2 comparatively speaking. Usually I would agree with Bill and recommend cheapest, learn the system then see where you are. In that case, buying less but at least 150 would be a good choice. However, in your case, it seems you have more knowledge and info of the situation than most looking to buy and if you don't care for SSR (guessing since you didn't list it) and plan to stay mostly at one of those 3 resorts, that may not be the best choice for you.

 

[CarolMN]

Some additional considerations:

If you are considering BWV assuming you will usually stay in standard view villas, know that those are almost always gone by 7 months, no matter what time of year you travel. That is especially true of the studios. Thanksgiving thru Marathon weekend is also difficult for all views at 7 months (some of the other posts only mention Food & Wine).

Both VWL & BWV have (or will shortly have) a Murphy bed in the studios. That means sleeping space for 5 in the studios. Not true for AKV.

AKV has a sleep chair in the 1 bedrooms which gives you sleeping space for 5. The 1 bedrooms at VWL & BWV allow 5, but you are on your own to provide for the 5th person. (Many will bring an aero bed or similar for the 5th person & you can rent extra towels for your stay).

AKV 1 bedrooms in the Kidani building have 2 full bathrooms - the others have only 1. Nice to have the extra bathroom, even if there is only two of you, LOL.

My personal preference is the BWV - my DH & I love the ability to walk to 2 parks & IMO, the standard view villas are the very best bargain on site.

Good luck with your decision.

 

[Dream big]

How many people are in your family/traveling party? For us this was a huge part of the deciding factor. We have 5 people so finding rooms that accommodate 5 at all let alone comfortably are limited and the points vary widely.

 

[Welcome_Home]

Thanks all, great information as always. We are a family of 3...well almost 3. Come August our family will have a new set of ears. So with that said, trips to Disney will not be slowing down anytime soon. Which is a great thing. Like most of you all, Disney is very special to us. I asked my wife to marry me in front of Cinderella's castle and we did our birth announcement with Mickey and pals last December. I keep going back and forth on resorts. I feel confident that AKL and VWL are our top 2 picks. I love the theme and location of VWL, but I also love the theme and animals of AKL. Both are fantastic resorts, but I'm starting to lean more towards AKL. I know we can stay at other resorts at the 7 month mark, but want to choose a good home resort. Thanks for letting me "think" out loud and thank you all for sharing your tips on each resort.