Deciding on a DVC home...

[msabol01]

I haven't met a DVC resort I didn't like, but each has its own personality. We own at AKL mainly for the animals since we often invite friends or family to join us on vacation and it has the biggest "wow" factor.

That being said we have yet to stay there. October will be our first AKL stay as a stopover prior to our cruise. We will also spend a few days at BLT post-cruise. That will only leave us with OKW, BWV, and VB for resorts not visited.

I've been fortunate to get into every resort I've tried for at the 7 month mark (occasionally the magic of a waistlist helped), so as long as you plan and have reasonable expectations you truly can take advantage of staying at any and all resorts.

As others have said you are best to buy at someplace you don't mind staying should all else fail.

 

[5forDiz]

For us it was DVC that 'spoke' to us & that is OKW

 

[crisi]

I think the thing I would recommend is to buy where you wouldn't mind staying all the time.

This is important. We own at BWV. We like BWV. We like the walk to Epcot. We like standard view points. But if I picked my favorite resort, it would be VWL. We generally stay at BWV - we just make reservations 11 months out and don't fuss with them because we don't mind staying there - and are perfectly happy. But it isn't our favoritest resort - and you don't need to own your favoritest resort to be happy, if you can be content.

Similarly, however, I wouldn't be content at OKW or SSR - lovely resorts and a lot of people adore them - but not our cup of tea at all.

When we purchased, BCV had been announced - but was still under construction, and OKW, BWV and VWL were up and running (we didn't buy VWL then because it was new and resales were really expensive - and Disney wasn't selling it). If I was looking for the "perfect" resort, I might have been disappointed when VALK, SSR or BLT was built. In other words, DVC has been a moving target for ten years, and I think working for "I can be happy here" is probably a better long term move than "I want to pick the RIGHT resort."

 

[VAgal76]

Picking home resort was a no brainer for us. My family's favorite resort is AKL. So when we decided DVC was right for us we knew AKV is where we wanted to own. We love the animals, the peaceful and remote feel of the resort, dedicated bus service and don't get me started on how much we love the staff. It's always been and will always be our "home" away from home. With that said, I've stayed at SSR, BCV, BWV, VWL and have had lovely stays at them all. I'd be perfectly happy with any resort. I'm one of the generalists. I view staying at a new resort as an adventure.

Other than choosing the right resort for you, consider the amount of points in your intial contract. I think my one year anniversary has just rolled around and I put a deposit down on my add-on tonight. Took no time at all for me to "need" to buy more points. We now know studios are fine for long weekend trips but for our week long stays we'd prefer to have a 1 bdrm. They afford more privacy (our son is a teen), full kitchen and w/d in the unit. I thought I'd be fine in studios...until I stayed in a 1 bdrm.

AKV 1 bdrm sleeps 5. I think BLT does as well. You may want to consider owning where you can get the extra person capacity at the 11 month window. We slept 5 in AKV's 1 bdrm very comfortably. That was 4 adults and our teen son. It can save you points in the long run especially if you end up being a family of five. Then you wouldn't have automatically go to the 2 bdrm units.

 

[pinnocchiosdad]

It might sound minor, but do not forget to consider food options when choosing a resort. We prefer a resort with counter service ala AKV and VWL. This is especially handy if you have kids. Not having quick service counter options also gets expensive if you are not on a dining plan. Yes every resort has restraunts, but do you want to pay $60 each morning for breakfast for 4? Check out the food offerings at each property. (and the pool and the parking, and the bus service). Happy home hunting.

 

[bookwormde]

There a so many factors it is hard to give really good advice. Some of the things that have not been mentioned are how busy a season you travel and how long your “chunks” of vacation are (if you take short stays or split your vacation between multiple resorts). IF you do shorter “chunks” that are not in the high demand seasons then I would move from “buy where you want to stay” to “buy where you would not be disappointed staying” and let the financial considerations have more impact (more points for less purchase $ and maintenance fees).

As you can see I decided on OKW since I could get 25-40% more points which allowed for longer and more frequent vacations. I have not had problems (although there are sometimes when I have had my doubts) in getting short 3-5 day reservations at the other resorts after the 7-month mark. OF course I travel during the summer when DVC is only moderately crowded and I like to spit my vacation into multiple resort trips. AKV savanna view and BC are my children’s favorites and I have always been able to make them part of our trip (although I love the less points and large rooms and Florida theme of OKW)

This is not to say that I would have bought anywhere, as SSR would have been a disappointment for me, not because it is not a nice resort but it did not seem “special” to me since where I live has tons of golf course condominiums not all that different looking form SSR.

bookwormde

 

[Shleedogg]

DH and I just bought in on our trip in July. We were not planning on buying at the time so we hadn't really discussed it much; something I would highly recommend doing before the tour if there is any possibility that you might buy in

The factors we considered:

Price per point
Maintenance fees
Hotel location
Number of points/night
Amenities for little ones (our DD is 9 mos)
Ease of point rental or resale

Initially we were thinking solely about price and ability to rent. We ended up buying in GCV. My husband's office is located in San Diego (he works from home in NY) so we thought it would be great to have a place to stay out there until we realized his trips are booked 1 month in advance, max. So the 11 month advantage of booking there didn't matter.

We ended up buying BLT over AKV. We fell in love with the room at AKV. However, there are a lot more rooms at AKV and so far have had no trouble booking a room there (even value) at 7 mos or less. We know that it's going to be much harder to get a room at BLT at 7 mos, especially if we want MK view.

The monorail is huge for us and the proximity of MK. I was worried that it would be a 15 min walk to the monorail, but our guide assured us that it was less than 10 min to get there, plus it's inside away from the heat! The top of the world (I think that's the name) lounge is a great selling point too. Taking DD up in her pjs to watch then being able to just walk downstairs and go to bed w/in 10 min instead of having to fight crowds and wait in long lines for buses.

If we do need to rent, we also feel that it will be easier to rent out BLT points than AKV. I think our guide said (correct me if I'm wrong!) that there are less than 300 BLT rooms and over 700 AKV.

The rooms feel like you're in a posh NYC hotel. It's very nice. It's not the same feel as AKV, which we did like more and found more relaxing, but we wouldn't regret staying there ever! That would not be the case for us at OKW or SSR. They are beautiful resorts, we almost bought at SSR till we realized how big it was. We stayed at POR in July and I hated it. It was beautiful, but HUGE. I prefer a smaller resort. I'm so glad we did stay there though so we knew that we didn't like that kind of resort layout. We don't ever want to have to rent a car. For us, we love the ME and being able to rely on Disney transportation. Staying at a big resort makes transportation a pitb imho.

The incentives currently were great, which in the end, is why we bought when we did. We got 170 points with a financed amount of $15k. We knew DH was getting a profit check in Sept that would be enough to pay it off and we wouldn't end up having to pay any interest since our payments don't start till Oct.

Also think about how many times per year you'd like to travel if you absolutely want to stay at your home resort. If we wanted to take 3 trips a year at BLT, we couldn't do it on 170 points. We could however do it easily at AKV in a value room. Something else to think about

So let's see, bullet points in case you skipped over my long-winded-ness.

~anticipated ease of renting out points at BLT
~MONORAIL access to MK and restaurants at GF, Poly
~Fireworks lounge viewing area
~Pool (Kidani pool I'm told is awesome for kiddies!)
~room comfort
~where you want 11 month booking window
~size of resort. Hotel vs large condo style
~How many trips per year you want and can get out of your points at your home resort.

Sorry this is so long! Good luck in your research and decision! If you have any more questions, feel free to PM me!

 

[lark]

We just bought at BLT. Part of the reason was that we're planning for summer 2010 trip, and so wanted to purchase direct from disney to have access right away during the 11 month period, and the current incentives were pretty good.

There are actually resorts that I think I would be happy to stay at just as much, if not more even, for one trip. Like, we would love to stay at the AKVs once, and would love to stay in BWV with a boardwalk view. Or stay at BCV and try storm along bay. In fact, I think we might enjoy a savannah view at AKV most of all. But once. I don't think we'll need to do any of these more than once or want to. So, when I think of the resort that we would be ok with getting every single time, it was BLT. I think there are at least 3 other DVC resorts where we like the theming better, but the location is what breaks the tie. In other words, we picked not the resort we like most, but the one we would mind the least on repeated trips. So, we'll do reservations at BLT during our 11 month window and then try for others we want to sample at the 7 month period, or waitlist, and if we end up at BLT that's just fine.

 

[Sandisw]

We just purchased and started out buying in at VWL (small contract) knowing it was our 2nd choice resort. But it would allow us to get points at BLT with less than the 160 minimum.

But, once I started researching, I realized that BLT was the place we really wanted to be so ended up selling the VWL contract and just getting all our points at BLT.

We just completed our 1st DVC stay and we tried BWV, VWL, and BLT. It was a great way to see the different resorts and confirm whether or not we made the right choice with BLT. And we did. I just love the hotel style feel of BLT and the Contemporary has always been my favorite. The location is just wonderful and I know it was the right choice.

Now, BWV was beautiful, but we didn't like the food options and the walk from our room (end of the hallway) to the bakery in the morning to get coffee was not to my liking. But, the walk to HS and Epcot was nice as we are not bus people. I could see possibly doing a night or two here (or BCV) occasionally so we can take advantage of that. And, for those that prefer Ecpot over MK, it is a great choice.

VWL was beautifully themed and just a gorgeous resort. I liked being able to boat to MK and it didn't take that long. I think the fact that this resort has convenience to MK, similar to BLT, but has a more themed atmosphere, makes a good choice for those that want both.

I certainly can see possibly staying a few nights at VWL as well since my DD loved the quiet springs pool. If we want some low key days, this would be a good choice. It was much smaller than BWV and they had CS option that works for my family. We used the valet parking service which was very nice and took the bus back from Epcot one day (after returning our rental car to the Dolphin--which we easily picked up when we were at BWV) and the ride was not that bad.

I think that the biggest thing about DVC is that there really are enough resorts now that all offer different things that most people will find one that "fits just right".

Good luck!!!!

 

[Mickey'sApprentice]

This is off topic, but I just realized that the couches in the studios at BLT and AKV are almost identical!!! Wow!!!!

 

[disneydreamingdebby]

Thank you everyone for taking the time to post. I really enjoyed reading all of your posts.

We decided without taking a weekend tour... and without staying at any of our options. (Maybe silly, but we think it will be okay.)
We were able to rule out the BLT even though we loved the monorail location. It is a bit too modern for us.

That left us choosing among AKV, SSR, BWV, BCV. We love AKV but I was able to rule it out because I didn't like not being able to walk anywhere. Also,
I am concerned about the MF increasing over time.

SSR was enticing due to price, but I figure that it might be where we end up often for the next couple years until my husband can secure vacation time sooner.

BWV or BCV - These were close options, but the food options and SAB (DTD dear twin daughters 7) cinched it.

Really, we are excited to stay anywhere as DVC members! We submitted our contract and are now waiting for Disney- hoping we pass...

I am really happy with BCV b/c I have always wanted a beach condo. Recently, as we were seriously looking at finances to begin that purchase, I realized (using a Disney towel) that I wouldn't be able to visit Disney for regular vacations. Soooo- no beach condo. Hopefully a BCV contract!

 

[KerriL]

Congrats! BCV nice! Good luck with the contract. We are also waiting on a contract as well...BWV. Just waiting on Disney now

 

[GrumpyBelle]

Congratulations and good luck.

 

[wdwfan1]

We bought a resale at VWL because we really love WL. Then I wanted to try an Epcot resort, so we stayed at BWV. We now own at both resorts. We love them both for different reasons. At BWV, we love the proximity to both Epcot and DHS. The Boardwalk itself is a destination for many people and there is always something going on.

We love WL for the quiet seclusion and woodsy atmosphere. The resort is smaller and more homey. The boat ride to MK and Fort Wilderness is very enjoyable and is a real plus.

We also love OKW. The size of the rooms and the landscaping are wonderful. When we bring a larger group, OKW is our choice. The lower points also helps us go more often.

Good luck!

 

[Sandisw]

Congratulations! It is great when you look at things and realize that one of the DVC homes is right for you!

That is what I think it great about being a DVC member. There are so many different wonderful options for everyone!