Home Resort Choice - any regrets?

[DizGirl20]

OK, so we watched the DVC Webcast this morning. Seriously considering buying into AKV. I think the incentives are pretty good (not great, but still very good all things considered). While it is probably our #2 choice, it is not #1 (which would be BLT). I think we would be very happy at AKV.

What I am wanting to know is: have you ever regretted your "home resort" choice?

Thanks so much for the input. I can't wait to finally post I am a member!!!

 

[LindaBabe]

NO!


. . . Well, actually . . . yes. I regret that I don't have more points at both of them!

 

[browniemtb]

No regrets here....we bought sight unseen. Our major issue is that we wanted to be with in walking or boat/monorail distance to a park. BWV and BCV seemed to fit the bill. Both were sold out but Disney had points for BWV so we bought there. Our family loves the boardwalk area.....

 

[CindeBella]

No ~ we love BWV. You can always stay at othe resorts. We may decide to stay at the Contemporary next. However, we seem to never be able to leave the Boardwalk area.

 

[BoomNLeon]

Bought at BLT and loved the purchase, so we bought more points last week at AKV.

No regrets here!

 

[drusba]

Well we did buy where we wanted to be originally and that was BWV and for years we were not only pleased with the choice but I did not give hoot for any of the others as they came along (we bought pre-VWL, BCV, SSR).. Then AKV came along and I thought "animals" good, but Jiko and Boma even better (I had been to those before and consider them two of the best restaurants on site) so we bought there too, and now it is BWV and AKV and I really don't give a hoot about the others.

 

[Simba's Mom]

Definitely-Yes! When we initially bought it was at VWL. But then after we stayed there, for some reason DH wasn't too impressed (I'd been the only one on the DVC tour and the main decision maker). However, he LOVED OKW after we stayed there one night. I called our guide to see if we could switch home resorts, but that's not possible. So we did the sell-buy thing. We bought OKW on resale, then sold our VWL points. The good thing is that we ended up with 30 more points. It probably wasn't the best move financially, but we love OKW and are now really happy to say we're OKW owners.

 

[AKLFan3]

Nope! Our home resort is Animal Kingdom Villas. Animal Kingdom Lodge has been our favorite resort since it opened in 2001, and the reason why we bought DVC is because they added on AKV. If AKV didn't exist, then we would not be DVC members.

 

[culli]

Hard to say about regret becasue for us it is a give and take. We got great incentives and price at SSR then got a great loaded contract price resale on SSR. SSR has low MF's longer contract and I have yet to have an issue getting a ressie where I want to go. With that said I wish I would have bought at BCV or BWV for the 11 month window. At the time we bought they were harder to come by and price even resale was high - plus the higher MFs and length of contract.

I guess if I had it to do all over again I would buy BCV and BWV resale as that is where we prefer to stay. I don't see a big advantage to AKV as it is going to be a huge resort like SSR and home booking adv probably won't come into play. If you like BLT I would say buy there for the booking adv.

I'm torn on the whole buy where you stay because the deals we got on SSR was pretty hard to beat. SSR is our favorite resort but wish it was next to EPCOT, so BWV and BCV win for LOCATION, LOCATION, LOCATION!!! But in your case I say go for BLT if it your number 1 choice, in the long run the small diff in price won't matter much plus thier MFs are low and should always be lower than AKV.

 

[DebbieB]

Nope! Love my BWV! Bought in 1999 when the only choices at WDW were OKW and BWV and wouldn't change it if I could. Just got back last night from a great trip. Will post some pictures when I get them downloaded. Had a great 1 bedroom boardwalk view - room 4041.

 

[Monorail Purple&Gold]

None. Love AKV, have stayed at SSR, VWL, and would only consider SSR otherwise. Checking out BLT in February. Still, love our home resort choice.

 

[Muhlenberg]

No regrets here, either! We bought at AKV before it was completed. We had always stayed at CR, but when we bought, BLT was still a "Super Walmart". After I saw how much MORE BLT would have cost us, plus the extra points to stay there, I was glad we bought AKV. And THEN....we stayed at AKV. I've stayed at SSR and BWV...and I still love AKV! Next up...BLT. But I think I'll still be glad about AKV.

 

[Sandisw]

I knew when they built BLT, that it would be the resort for us and convinced DH that we should become members.

The price last January was more than I wanted to pay and it was rumored that initial buy in would be 200 points. So we bought VWL resale to start and figured we would just add on slowly at BLT.

Well, within a month, I knew that I really wanted all the points at BLT so I could stay there with the 11 month booking advantage. I sold VWL and now own all my points at BLT.

Having stayed there twice (along with trying out VWL this past summer) I KNOW that we made the right choice. I love BLT and the convenience to MK and even Epcot.

 

[cogero]

we own at BLT and AKV we have only stayed at our home once and I can't wait for our trip home to BLT in August

We have also stayed at SSR and I am staying at BWV in January with the 2 kids but we want to try AKV again when it is only the 4 of us. Our trip home was a bit disappointing but it had to do with the company we were with and not the resort

 

[kent285]

None! We love SSR and walking over to DTD at night or jogging through there in the morning.

 

[twinklebug]

We rented pts from owners and stayed at OKW, BWV & VWL. I determined VWL was the resort for me. Waiting to get into a position to buy we rented one more time at AKV (when Jambo villas were only a week old) and then moved to VWL. The kids loved AKV. I thought it was nice and didn't mind having giraffes for company when I was up at 3am sick with the flu.

But, I still wanted VWL.

6 months later when I was in a position to buy they had a fantastic deal on AKV: in addition to the the longer ownership term that comes with the newer resorts they had $8 off, developers points and no annual dues until Kidani was opened. It was gold compared to resale VWL.

I really like my AKV points... Kidani is a fantastic resort & the kids always have something to do. But my next add-on will be VWL... for me this time

 

[Louiepipbgeeco]

We bought AKV because I was not sure BLT would be for us. Have not stayed yet. However, I have been to Jambo and loved it.
I did get BCV at 7month window. So, as long as I continue to have ease of other wishes.....But, in any event I would still be pleased to be at AKV.
I guess I feel that any home resort would be fine with me. Any DVC property is better than none...

 

[ldo]

We love AKV (and wish our points were there), but realize that your options for booking smaller resorts, esp. at peak times, are limited. As long as you are OK to stay at AKV, then you will be fine. There are many times, summer, etc. that you can easily book into most other resorts, but for Christmas, etc. you might be limited to AKV, SSR and OKW--which are usually still available at 7 months out.
IMHO, (not metioning deocr, animals, etc.), the benefit to owning at AKV is the longer contract, being able to book value and concierge rooms. OTherwise, it is pretty easy to book AKV, even at peak times (we booked Christmas-NYE week, and also Easter week) b/c of it's size, just like SSR and OKW.

 

[jpolak]

Absolutely not! Buying into SSR at the time allowed us to purchase more points then we could have afforded at another resort. We have stayed at almost all the DVC resorts, and whats the worst thing that could happen? We would have to stay at SSR? Not a bad problem to have.

 

[Mickey'sApprentice]

NO! We love Boardwalk Villas!