Does transportation (or lack thereof) affect your purchase decision?

[tidefan]

So, I was discussing DVC topics (many of which I saw on this thread) with some others that are local DVC owners about which resorts were preferred, what we liked to stay at and where we would add-on, etc. What surprised me was that it was in a great part, contradictory to what you see a lot on these boards. After talking about it a bunch, we sort of hit on just how much being able to drive to WDW and have your own vehicle affects your visit and where you want to stay.

An example, we all started talking about enjoying AKV and almost all of us said we always stay in Kidani. No one preferred to stay in Jambo. When we talked about it, it was because of just how much easier the parking under the building was and how it was convenient to your room. Same with SSR, OKW, and to a lesser extent Poly and VGF1. Most of us tended to avoid RIV, CCV, BRV, and especially AKV-Jambo and BWV because of how far the walk is from the car to the room and vice-versa.

Does this factor into anyone else's considerations, or is it just us?

 

[BamaGuy44]

We live a drivable distance, and we drive for about half our trips and fly the other half. We'll fly if we can get an airfare we can stomach. But even when we drive resort location is a big factor for us. Because we don't like driving to the parks and dealing with the traffic and the parking lots at the hotels and the parks and DS. On a few trips we have driven to Orlando and literally not seen our car again until a week later to head home.

I get that a lot of people love to have their own car and be in control of their transport, and for them I'm sure it makes resorts like OKW and SSR and AKL much more appealing. It takes away one of the big downsides of those resorts. There have been many discussions about it here on the boards.

 

[E2ME2]

We switch it up alot. We have driven, flown, and taken AutoTrain.
Now that our typical length-of-stay is much longer, in retirement, we prefer having our car.
However, it's mainly used for when we want to venture out, off-property.
We still like the convenience of resorts that are walk-able to the parks.
BCV & BWV are, hands-down, our favorite resorts and EPCOT & DHS are our favorite parks.
AKV-Jambo is our next favorite, even with the parking at Jambo, because we love the lobby and the amenities.
SSR is last on our list, but above many other resorts not mentioned, as we like walking to Disney Springs.
We usually split our stays between these resorts, and make our park reservations based on where we're staying.
When at AKV, we prioritize Animal Kingdom(such a short bus ride that the wait time for said bus becomes negligible)
When at BCV & BWV we stack up the EPCOT & DHS reservations.
When at SSR, we just go with the flow, and only book parks that we really want based on particular rides, dining, fireworks, etc. We spend several SSR days Shopping and Golfing, and hitting the nearby Outlets.
Magic Kingdom is probably our least favorite park, so we don't go there too often, and we will suffer the bus ride when we do, or sometimes trek through the monorail transfers after we've walked into EPCOT

 

[grahf1234]

We drive down to orlando every time. Once we check-in to wdw, I pretty much do not touch the car until after checkout a week or little more later. For me personally, part of the vacation is not having to interact with that car for just a few days. Traffic where I live is not that great!
We tried driving to the parks in one early trip and didn't really like it. Disney transportation can be pretty awful and overcrowded specially at peak times, but to me that's still more tolerable than driving. We usually stay at a resort that has a walking path to one or more parks, so at least on some park days we can avoid all types of transportation.
Planning on buying at VGF right before this round of incentives expire. One of the main reasons is having that walking path to MK, and the boat is not that bad most of the time as well. Car accessibility never crossed my mind since we never use it during our stays.

 

[Sandisw]

We don’t drive so parking lot distance wouldn’t be a concern. We base our stay on the other factors..so even if we did have a car, it’d be the same. Resort location and amenities first.

 

[Brian Noble]

Does this factor into anyone else's considerations, or is it just us?

We fly, but almost always rent. I'm not sure parking would motivate a resort decision (I love BRV, for example, despite the parking situation) but it certainly does make e.g. OKW and SSR a lot more appealing than they might otherwise be.

 

[tidefan]

Well, it took one almost hour wait for a bus to AKV and we were converts to just driving to the parks, with the exception of MK…

I really like the convenience of having a car, and to be close when unloading groceries, etc, for the unit.

Then again, maybe most people don’t go get groceries for their stay???

 

[tidefan]

We fly, but almost always rent. I'm not sure parking would motivate a resort decision (I love BRV, for example, despite the parking situation) but it certainly does make e.g. OKW and SSR a lot more appealing than they might otherwise be.

Brian. I think that you expressed my point much better than I did

 

[Epcot Forever Forever]

So, I was discussing DVC topics (many of which I saw on this thread) with some others that are local DVC owners about which resorts were preferred, what we liked to stay at and where we would add-on, etc. What surprised me was that it was in a great part, contradictory to what you see a lot on these boards. After talking about it a bunch, we sort of hit on just how much being able to drive to WDW and have your own vehicle affects your visit and where you want to stay.

An example, we all started talking about enjoying AKV and almost all of us said we always stay in Kidani. No one preferred to stay in Jambo. When we talked about it, it was because of just how much easier the parking under the building was and how it was convenient to your room. Same with SSR, OKW, and to a lesser extent Poly and VGF1. Most of us tended to avoid RIV, CCV, BRV, and especially AKV-Jambo and BWV because of how far the walk is from the car to the room and vice-versa.

Does this factor into anyone else's considerations, or is it just us?

100% yes…on the trips where I’m renting a car. If we’re not, it’s irrelevant.

But a car is great at WDW.

Being on the monorail means you can easily get to 1 park.

Crescent lake means you can easily get to 2 parks.

A car means you can easily get to 3 parks. And DS. And the water parks. And several of the other resorts. And the grocery store. And Universal, Sea World, Fun Spot, the other Fun Spot, Margaritaville, Texas Roadhouse, IHOP…but only if it’s easily accessible. We used our car all the time when we stayed at Kidani but hardly ever when we were at WL.

 

[OKW Lover]

Does this factor into anyone else's considerations, or is it just us?

I'm sure that it factors into peoples decisions. Everybody has a different perspective. What matters to one, won't matter to another.

If transportation is important to you, then yes it is important. I'd only suggest that you try to think ahead. Just because it's important to you now, will it still be important over the life of your contract? Would other considerations rise to a higher significance?

 

[tidefan]

I'm sure that it factors into peoples decisions. Everybody has a different perspective. What matters to one, won't matter to another.

If transportation is important to you, then yes it is important. I'd only suggest that you try to think ahead. Just because it's important to you now, will it still be important over the life of your contract? Would other considerations rise to a higher significance?

We've actually become less dependent over the years on Disney transportation. Will we still take it? Sure, but we probably just take the car more often than not. And it's not just to go offsite. For instance, we like to go to POFQ for Shrimp and Grits and Beignets. It's a lot easier to take the car than to take a bus to park then switch and the same in reverse. I suppose Uber serves as a substitute as well...

 

[Robbie Cottam]

i go on vacation to relax….
I don’t want to deal with a car, or parking or trams….
I don’t love buses, but im ok with them….
I really enjoy the sky liner
monorails are cool too….
when all else fails I can lyft

I bought BLT to be on the monorail,
my son sold me on RIV with a sky liner ride …. So maybe
if they had a resort with a steam train I would be all over that ….

 

[tidefan]

i go on vacation to relax….
I don’t want to deal with a car, or parking or trams….
I don’t love buses, but im ok with them….
I really enjoy the sky liner
monorails are cool too….
when all else fails I can lyft

I bought BLT to be on the monorail,
my son sold me on RIV with a sky liner ride …. So maybe
if they had a resort with a steam train I would be all over that ….

I think we are both right. Just depends on where you are with your approach to Disney… That used to be us awhile back as well.

Then we started adding on points
Then we started staying in larger units
Then we started really relaxing by maybe going to the parks a few hours everyday and enjoying the resorts.

Of course, where we stay isn’t as big an issue to us. They are all nice. I do like to switch it up from time to time but that’s about it.

 

[Pens Fan]

Now that my husband has retired, we drive down more often than before. Prior to that we always flew as we live near Pittsburgh. And while we really enjoy having a car for various reasons we rarely, if ever, use it to get around Disney property. We like being in the bubble and letting Disney take us where we need to go. We really don't mind Disney transportation and don't want to deal with having to navigate traffic and drive ourselves back to the resort at the end of a long day. One exception is when we head to another resort for dinner and then we always Uber or Lyft so that we can enjoy a cocktail or two and not worry about driving.

So for us while transportation is definitely a factor, it's because the resorts where we prefer to stay need to have good access to the parks. We couldn't care less about the parking situation. The only time our car moves is if we need to go offsite for something. Everyone's different though.

 

[DVCsloth]

We drive to Disney "about 2.5 hrs.". The Truck mostly stays parked the entire time. The only time it moves is a Publix run or if we do a split stay. We did drive to Typhoon Lagoon our last stay at Riviera since it was about a five-minute drive rather than about an hour with 2 busses. I think Disney transportation is pretty darn good and runs like clockwork most of the time.

 

[Robbie Cottam]

I think we are both right. Just depends on where you are with your approach to Disney… That used to be us awhile back as well.

Then we started adding on points
Then we started staying in larger units
Then we started really relaxing by maybe going to the parks a few hours everyday and enjoying the resorts.

Of course, where we stay isn’t as big an issue to us. They are all nice. I do like to switch it up from time to time but that’s about it.

I have posted in a few places here if im awake for rope drop I did something wrong…
I spend a few hours during the day in the park at most….. I do enjoy the after hour events …

i more than a few points, I do not enjoy studios, but having a car on vacation is just a bad idea to me

 

[tidefan]

I have posted in a few places here if im awake for rope drop I did something wrong…
I spend a few hours during the day in the park at most….. I do enjoy the after hour events …

i more than a few points, I do not enjoy studios, but having a car on vacation is just a bad idea to me

To each their own. We love going offsite to Chuy’s or Portillo’s or something else for dinner. It’s also very nice at SSR or OKW (or BLT or VGF1) to just pull right up to your unit. Just allows us more freedom.

But that’s just us. Completely understand everyone else though! There’s not a “right” or “wrong” way.

 

[pianomanzano]

It didn't affect our purchase decision, but it definitely affects what we (try to) book. With two stroller-aged kids, we avoid buses like the plague and will plan out trips that minimizes using buses.

 

[DVCsloth]

It didn't affect our purchase decision, but it definitely affects what we (try to) book. With two stroller-aged kids, we avoid buses like the plague and will plan out trips that minimizes using buses.

Good point, back in the stroller days, busses were a hassle.

 

[RoseGold]

Eliminating ME has made me rent a car a few times, which I never thought I would. I don't drive that often to the parks, but to me, it's the ME decision that shifted my behavior. It was very helpful at AKL, for sure.