Help picking a DVC

[disland7]

Its time to choose DVC resorts again. EEK!! We are so excited. We stayed at Bay Lake and Grand Floridian last time. We didn't love Floridian (I was really surprised by this). But we totally loved Bay Lake and want to stay there for half of our trip again (MK proximity can't be beat). So now the other choices are Beach Club, Riviera or Animal Kingdom. We always get 2 bedrooms. I am somewhat underwhelmed by Beach Club's 2 bedrooms and they only sleep 8 instead of 9 but we can make that work if everyone feels the location trumps those things. I was really excited to try Riviera because of the Skyliner and the fact that I can just roll my stroller on (yay). But I think I can only get preferred view which is quite a bit of points per night. I like the idea of Animal kingdom too and it's cheaper on points but it's so far from everything. I think we will try to rent a car though; our experience with the bus system was not super pleasant. I know everyone has different preferences but I love to hear everyone's 2 cents.

 

[lovin'fl]

Well RR will be a nice stay if you can swing the points. New and fresh. The skyliner. Close to Epcot and HS.

BCV is one of our faves. Love the 2BR there becuase of 2 real beds in the 2nd bedroom. How many people will you have though? We stayed there with 5 of us....3 teens at time. And probably could have also been fine with the 2 grandparents joining. Would have just slept our twin girls and DH and I in 2nd bedroom, DS on sleeper sofa and in laws in master. We did that at other resorts.

AKV, while it is one of my faves, would be last pick. But we are an Epcot family so we always have to have, at least, 1/2 our stay at Epcot area resort. We own BWV so that tends to be our Epcot pick. And we sometimes add AKV as other half or SSR. In May we have RR and SSR.

AkV is lovely. Great dining (but staying in Epcot resort gets you great dining choices too....hear great things about Topolinos and you have BW stuff and Epcot has a ton). Love the theme and tranquility at AKV too. The rooms are spacious and if Kidani you get extra bathroom (so if 4 or more adults in your group that extra bath might be nice). But it is far out. Sometimes the busing is a pain. You can drive but parking at the parks is a pain too.

 

[ClemTig]

Beach Club hands down. Better pool, better location, much better eating and bar options in short walking distance. Boat access to Disney Hollywood Studios and short walk to Epcot. No brainer.

 

[Sandisw]

I would go with either BCV or RIV as both offer very convenient options to the two parks,

If you go with the lock off option at BCV, I think you will get the trundle bed to sleep 9.

Pool wise,,..SAB is amazing for those that want that type of experience...it wasn’t for our family, but other than me, my kids weren’t big pool people anyway.

In terms of transportation, unless you are going to walk, I’d take the Skyliner to HS from BCV,,,it is actually closer to do that than walk from the villas to the boat dock.

One thing about RIV is everything is in one building vs, BCV which requires you to go out and in to get to the marketplace.,.but, it is all covered so protected from the rain so not a huge deal.

I am not a bus fan either so I just use Lyft to get to the parks, at least in the morning, if I’m not staying where I have choices,

I was just at Poly and did the bus to AK for MM...never again..,for MK...I just have them drop me at one the resorts and then go from there as only the Minnie Vans take you to the main part...which is way more expensive, unless you have a larger group.

Good luck!

 

[disland7]

Well RR will be a nice stay if you can swing the points. New and fresh. The skyliner. Close to Epcot and HS.

BCV is one of our faves. Love the 2BR there becuase of 2 real beds in the 2nd bedroom. How many people will you have though? We stayed there with 5 of us....3 teens at time. And probably could have also been fine with the 2 grandparents joining. Would have just slept our twin girls and DH and I in 2nd bedroom, DS on sleeper sofa and in laws in master. We did that at other resorts.

AKV, while it is one of my faves, would be last pick. But we are an Epcot family so we always have to have 1/2 our stay at Epcot area resort. We own BWV so that tends to be our Epcot pick. And we sometimes add AKV as other half or SSR. In May we have RR and SSR.

AkV is lovely. Great dining (but staying in Epcot resort gets you great dining choices too....hear great things about Topolinos and you have BW stuff and Epcot has a ton). Love the theme and tranquility at AKV too. The rooms are spacious and if Kidani you get extra bathroom (so if 4 or more adults in your group that extra bath might be nice). But it is far out. Sometimes the busing is a pain. You can drive but parking at the parks is a pain too.

We have 8 people - 3 adults and 5 kids.

 

[disland7]

I would go with either BCV or RIV as both offer very convenient options to the two parks,

If you go with the lock off option at BCV, I think you will get the trundle bed to sleep 9.

Pool wise,,..SAB is amazing for those that want that type of experience...it wasn’t for our family, but other than me, my kids weren’t big pool people anyway.

In terms of transportation, unless you are going to walk, I’d take the Skyliner to HS from BCV,,,it is actually closer to do that than walk from the villas to the boat dock.

One thing about RIV is everything is in one building vs, BCV which requires you to go out and in to get to the marketplace.,.but, it is all covered so protected from the rain so not a huge deal.

I am not a bus fan either so I just use Lyft to get to the parks, at least in the morning, if I’m not staying where I have choices,

I was just at Poly and did the bus to AK for MM...never again..,for MK...I just have them drop me at one the resorts and then go from there as only the Minnie Vans take you to the main part...which is way more expensive, unless you have a larger group.

Good luck!

I know we stayed at all monorail resorts last time and the buses we absolutely terrible all week and even the monorail broke down twice and we had to be on it for over an hour.

 

[Jperiod]

We love the extra bathroom, which would be 3 at Kidani in a 2 bedroom. We also had a fabulous view on the Pembe savannah in a standard points room (on the edge of the pool, but there were animals there all day!). But if you're depending on QS at the resort, it would be annoying to go to Jambo all the time. We only did DHS and AK while we stayed there and buses were fine, but it really depends which parks you plan to spend your time at.

 

[moericus]

I like the idea of Animal kingdom too and it's cheaper on points but it's so far from everything. I think we will try to rent a car though; our experience with the bus system was not super pleasant. I know everyone has different preferences but I love to hear everyone's 2 cents.

If you have younger kids than do AKV before it is too late! We stayed there for the first time just a few weeks ago. Watching for the animals was one of the highlights of our trip. It's the perfect place for some downtime after dealing with the Galaxy's Edge crowds.

We checked in at night after staying at BLT. We immediately went through the downstairs lobby and grabbed a pair a night-vision goggles. "Daddy, It's a giraffe! There's a zebra!". My 9 and 11 year old loved it. I wish we tried AKV sooner.

Our 1 bedroom villa was humongous. It must be the biggest bathroom in all of DVC.

It is the "far" resort with nothing walk-able. And the walk to the room can be trip in itself. However, they did the bus stops correctly and that helps more than you think. Each park's bus has it's own little waiting area with a bench. It is not a mass stampede for the bus like at Contemporary and BWV.

 

[lovin'fl]

Welp...above I posted our next split was SSR and RR. I, for fun, wait listed the RR part at AKV in club level studio. NEVER thinking we would get it. Just not got the email that it came through. So....no Epcot resort this trip. And it is for F&G. But still so very excited as we have been trying and trying for club level. SIL owns at AKV and she could never get us a room.