How do you all decide with all the great resorts?

[LynnTH]

My family and another family are renting points for a 8 night stay in Mid March. (Renting from somone I rented from a few years ago). There is 4 in each family - the kids in each family will be 10(boys) and 7 (girls). We have narrowed it down to 3 Resorts. AKV, BWV and BCV. This is what I have for pros and cons.

1. AKV - Looks very cool and the kids would love the animals. Would like to have a Savannah view but not sure with the construction going on. I am thinking the main construction with the cranes and such would be done by then but I know the animals will not be in the Sunset Savannah and there is always the chance you would get that. Farther away from parks but has their own busses, so would be a wash there. Heard some not so good things about Mara, but good about the other restaurants. Also, fun things for the kids to do and the pool looks fun.

2. BCV - Love the look of this resort. Very beachy. Can walk to Epcot and lots to do over at the Boardwalk. Does share Busses. Has an awesome pool but harder to keep track of the kids in it. The views are in the back of the building.

3. BWV - Stayed here last time. Very fun had a Boardwalk view. Kids loved the pool and easy to keep track of them. Love the bakery. They share busses also. Since we already stayed here - thinking of someplace else (although points are less and other family has not been to any of the DVC resorts)

Any input would be great. Our 7th month window is coming up in August and trying to get a 1st, 2nd and 3rd choice for location and type of room. We will be getting separate Studios - but AKV has 4 different choices. We would love Club Level but pretty sure that won't happen.

I would love any feedback. Why does this have to be so hard. Thanks.

 

[bwvBound]

Sometimes we choose by key features (BCV's pool or AKV's views) -- but often it is by point cost and availability.

 

[Wendy1953]

We choose our location by what park we intend on going to most often during our stay....during Flower and Garden in Apr/May we stay at one of the EPCOT resorts, during our Dec stay we stay at one of the MK resorts for the Not so scary party, during our Oct visit we usually pick an EPCOT resort for the Food & Wine, other times its for the pools(Storm Along Bay is the greatest) or our 11 month window booking ability.

My family and another family are renting points for a 8 night stay in Mid March. (Renting from somone I rented from a few years ago). There is 4 in each family - the kids in each family will be 10(boys) and 7 (girls). We have narrowed it down to 3 Resorts. AKV, BWV and BCV. This is what I have for pros and cons.

1. AKV - Looks very cool and the kids would love the animals. Would like to have a Savannah view but not sure with the construction going on. I am thinking the main construction with the cranes and such would be done by then but I know the animals will not be in the Sunset Savannah and there is always the chance you would get that. Farther away from parks but has their own busses, so would be a wash there. Heard some not so good things about Mara, but good about the other restaurants. Also, fun things for the kids to do and the pool looks fun.

2. BCV - Love the look of this resort. Very beachy. Can walk to Epcot and lots to do over at the Boardwalk. Does share Busses. Has an awesome pool but harder to keep track of the kids in it. The views are in the back of the building.

3. BWV - Stayed here last time. Very fun had a Boardwalk view. Kids loved the pool and easy to keep track of them. Love the bakery. They share busses also. Since we already stayed here - thinking of someplace else (although points are less and other family has not been to any of the DVC resorts)

Any input would be great. Our 7th month window is coming up in August and trying to get a 1st, 2nd and 3rd choice for location and type of room. We will be getting separate Studios - but AKV has 4 different choices. We would love Club Level but pretty sure that won't happen.

I would love any feedback. Why does this have to be so hard. Thanks.

 

[crisi]

We book eleven months out and consistantly stay at our home resort. We like our home resort and the seven month switch is too much of a hassle for my limited patience with such things.

This year we are spending ONE night away from home, which we chose for sentimental reasons.

 

[starbox]

I don't think you can go wrong with any of your choices - but I'd lean towards BCV or AKV since you've experienced BWV. (I know I have a goal of staying in every resort at WDW at least once)

 

[DisDaydreamer]

My family and another family are renting points for a 8 night stay in Mid March. (Renting from somone I rented from a few years ago). There is 4 in each family - the kids in each family will be 10(boys) and 7 (girls).

Your kids are the same gender & age? Did you all co-plan your families?

I agree with starbox and would lean towards BC or AK.

 

[Deb & Bill]

You have no chance for two AKV Concierge studios for March - you needed to reserve that last April. There are only five of them. In March, Kidani Village is not expected to be open yet, so you will only have Jambo House to choose from.

If you are talking about spring break, you really need to get something booked now or you might be staying at OKW or SSR, which are both larger. Why not narrow it down immediately, get something at the home resort of the person you are renting from and then try to change it at 7 months out.

 

[LynnTH]

I think we are leaning towards AKV then BCV for 2nd choice and BWV for 3rd Choice. I'm thinking the major construction at AKV should be done with by that time. The only problem would be if we got the Savannah View where the animals are going to be taken out - that would be a bummer.

The lady I'm renting from owns at BWV and Wilderness Lodge. I was trying to not have to have her book one and then re-book at the 7th month window. Do you all think that is necessary - that all the studios will be gone at the 7th month mark for AKV or BCV??

 

[Disney_Villain]

If you buy BCV or BWV (the smaller resorts), you will be able to book AKV (the 2nd largest DVC resort) on the 7-month window pretty easily.

Buy AKV and you may find that BCV and BWV (on the 7-month windows) are hard to get into at many times of the year.

Go for BCV or BWV, if you want to be able to stay at all the resorts you listed - with the least amount of hassle.

 

[MrDVC]

My family and another family are renting points for a 8 night stay in Mid March. (Renting from somone I rented from a few years ago). There is 4 in each family - the kids in each family will be 10(boys) and 7 (girls). We have narrowed it down to 3 Resorts. AKV, BWV and BCV. This is what I have for pros and cons.

1. AKV - Looks very cool and the kids would love the animals. Would like to have a Savannah view but not sure with the construction going on. I am thinking the main construction with the cranes and such would be done by then but I know the animals will not be in the Sunset Savannah and there is always the chance you would get that. Farther away from parks but has their own busses, so would be a wash there. Heard some not so good things about Mara, but good about the other restaurants. Also, fun things for the kids to do and the pool looks fun. I wouldn't chance not being able to see the animals. Will be an awesome expierence once it is complete.

2. BCV - Love the look of this resort. Very beachy. Can walk to Epcot and lots to do over at the Boardwalk. Does share Busses. Has an awesome pool but harder to keep track of the kids in it. The views are in the back of the building. This is my choice. Don't factor the shared buses too much at BCV. You are only sharing with the YC. It only has 630 rooms which combined with BC and BCV totals around 1400 rooms, which is not that many when compared to other resorts at WDW. SAB is the best pool at WDW.

3. BWV - Stayed here last time. Very fun had a Boardwalk view. Kids loved the pool and easy to keep track of them. Love the bakery. They share busses also. Since we already stayed here - thinking of someplace else (although points are less and other family has not been to any of the DVC resorts) Just me, but since you've stayed here previously, if you would like to consider staying elsewhere, I would.

See answers in quote.

 

[Deb & Bill]

I think we are leaning towards AKV then BCV for 2nd choice and BWV for 3rd Choice. I'm thinking the major construction at AKV should be done with by that time. The only problem would be if we got the Savannah View where the animals are going to be taken out - that would be a bummer.

The lady I'm renting from owns at BWV and Wilderness Lodge. I was trying to not have to have her book one and then re-book at the 7th month window. Do you all think that is necessary - that all the studios will be gone at the 7th month mark for AKV or BCV??

The construction at AKV (Kidani Village) is not expected to be able to be booked until May 2009. You will be limited to Jambo House in March. It may be booked already. When exactly are you going in March. Early March may be okay, later in the month and you are up against spring break just about everywhere.

Studios go first. One bedrooms may be easier to book since they sleep as many as a studio, but take twice as many points.

You need to get your friend with the points to contact MS to see what is available for your dates. They may or may not tell her since she doesn't own at the two resorts you are leaning towards.

 

[LynnTH]

The construction at AKV (Kidani Village) is not expected to be able to be booked until May 2009. You will be limited to Jambo House in March. It may be booked already. When exactly are you going in March. Early March may be okay, later in the month and you are up against spring break just about everywhere.

Studios go first. One bedrooms may be easier to book since they sleep as many as a studio, but take twice as many points.

You need to get your friend with the points to contact MS to see what is available for your dates. They may or may not tell her since she doesn't own at the two resorts you are leaning towards.

We are going Mid-March. Do you think the main construction would be done at AKV - meaning that all the cranes and stuff would be gone and they would be working on mainly inside stuff??

 

[starbox]

The lady I'm renting from owns at BWV and Wilderness Lodge. I was trying to not have to have her book one and then re-book at the 7th month window. Do you all think that is necessary - that all the studios will be gone at the 7th month mark for AKV or BCV??

Mid-march is prime spring break season - we made our AKV reservations for spring break the day the 11 month window opened. IMHO, I would not wait until the 7 month point to try to get a small, high-demand resort. It's very lpossible that SSR and OKW will be the only resorts that have spring break inventory at 7 months - AKV will probably be impossible to get because of all the owners that had developer points that need to be used.

 

[ransom]

We book eleven months out and consistantly stay at our home resort. We like our home resort and the seven month switch is too much of a hassle for my limited patience with such things.

Same here!