Okay you two!
I always thought that the "DIS" in Disboards stood for Disney. Now that I'm getting
dissed I think it may mean something else!
Here you go Glenn.
You know we're only kiddin' ya! (BTW, that's a hug from Dan.
)
So Marvin, you think if I talk nice to member services they'll let us put 5 in a 1-bedroom at any resort? (We all know James doesn't mind sleeping in a sleeping bag! Not that we give him any choice.
)
Okay, a couple of clarifications on your statement. First of all, I didn't talk nice or even ask about putting 5 in a 1BR at OKW. We were just getting started with our DVC membership and had a lot of incentive developer points to use the first year. We started planning possible trips to use them up. We were inside the 7-month window and I called about AKL (Kidani was just being built) so we could sleep 5 and it was not available for our whole trip. MS mentioned OKW and SSR did have availability for the whole time we wanted. I told her that we had 5 in our party and she offered that we could put 5 in a 1BR at OKW but there was only bedding for 4. I can't remember if she said the same thing for SSR, or we just never got around to discussing it. We liked the idea of staying at OKW, so we took that option.
Secondly, I don't know about at ANY resort. I have seen a lot of discussion back and forth about this topic in the DVC threads and it seems like you can't do 5 at all of the resorts. Space is definitely a limiting condition, and probably comes into play at a few of them, but the size of the rooms at OKW seems to be some of the largest of the DVC resorts, and space is definitely not a problem there for sure. I don't know if the fact we now have Kidani AND BLT available to sleep 5 in a 1BR affects their willingness to let you sleep 5 at any other resorts or not.
Drew did prefer putting the sleeping bag on top of the cushions instead of directly on the floor, but it worked fine for him. There was still a HUGE amount of floor space left over even with him using up part of the area.
You were comparing the same time period, right? I mean, it wasn't comparing your December Kidani stay vs. a summer OKW stay? I would hope that the points-cost would be similar, but I know that they're vastly different at some resorts. AKV is one of the best values out there.
I know you will find this hard to believe being as how I am so laid-back and non-OCD in the planning area,
but I actually have a spreadsheet that shows different room-types and different DVC resorts for the dates of our trip, by day of the week. It allowed me to see the best options, and which ones would and wouldn't be possible with the number of points we had available (unless we shortened the stay a day or two).
I agree that AKV is one of the best deals out there, and mainly because of the thinking that a family of 5 can stay in a 1BR instead of having to get a 2BR at some other resorts. The points change during our stay but the first few days OKW is 2 pts/day higher on weekends, but 1 pt/day lower for a 1BR over AKV during the weekdays, at least for standard view villas. The transition over to the higher season, and when it occurs, just happens to fall so there is a net 1 point difference less at OKW during our stay next June.
One other thing to keep in mind. Since AKV is home resort for both of us, we can book at 11 months, but those other resorts we can't book until the 7 month window. Since some of the others are more popular, they are a lot more difficult to get at 7 months. SSR and OKW are larger and typically have more availability even at 7 months, which is probably what made them options on our previous trip. Hoping to get 5 in a 1BR at VWL, BCV or BWV, even if they allowed it would probably be much more difficult to pull off. Still, a stay at OKW as a change of pace is a pretty good option IMO. Now that there is a charge for valet parking, it helps that Kidani, OKW, and SSR allow you to park very near your room (or an elevator to take you there).
