I think AKV proves....

[Hunclemarco]

I don't think i'd mind AKV, i do think it's a bit dark though; and that's why we chose SSR first. We then bought AKV because of incentives and price. BCV is our personal favorite, mainly due to location of epcot. All resorts do have their own unique beauty though.

 

[DVC Mike]

While AKV provides a feeling of remoteness, it really isn't that far from everything.

Passporters publishes an approximate time to get from each resort. It says it takes about 20 minutes to get to the MK from AKV, while it takes 25 minutes to get to MK from SSR.

Same thing for DHS: 10 minutes from AKV, and 15 minutes from SSR.

 

[rutgers1]

DVCMike,,,,,I guess "that far" depends on who you ask. Being at the Contemporary or Polynesian gives many the impression that they can roll out of bed and fall into their "It's a Small World" boat, which is why I think that a good chunk of DVC people would take a lesser hotel at that location than a nicer hotel that requires a 15-20 minute bus ride (I don't mean to say that Poly or Contemp aren't nice)......If you don't mind looking it up, how far is POR from MK? I ask because I have stayed there several times and I never felt like I was in a bus for more than 10 minutes. For whatever reason, once I get on a bus in Disney, time flies.

For me, I am just happy to be down in Disney. I admit, I get a bit defensive when I see a thread bashing SSR or AKV simply because those were the two being sold when I bought into DVC, and we thought both were great choices. I went with SSR because points were cheaper, my wife thought the decor of AKV was too dark, and we love Downtown Disney, but I would have been very happy with either. I actually would have been very happy with any DVC hotel. Oddly enough, the one that would be at the bottom of my wish list was one that seems to be very popular on this message board, the VWL. I can see why many would love it, but our stay at the hotel part last year was just ok for us.

We'll be staying at SSR and Boardwalk this summer. We are looking forward to both.

 

[Golden Rose]

DVCMike,,,,,I guess "that far" depends on who you ask. Being at the Contemporary or Polynesian gives many the impression that they can roll out of bed and fall into their "It's a Small World" boat, which is why I think that a good chunk of DVC people would take a lesser hotel at that location than a nicer hotel that requires a 15-20 minute bus ride (I don't mean to say that Poly or Contemp aren't nice)......

Before we joined DVC, we were definitely of the stay at the nicest resorts possible in the locations we liked best. We're Epcot people, or were before DS, so we almost always stayed at the Epcot resorts. (Over the years, we have tried all of them. BC was my favorite, BW was DH's favorite.) We're also big fans of the GF.

Before DVC, we always chose where to stay by choosing location first, and resort second. Now we're going more often, and we know we have the regular vacations planned, so we're definitely focusing a little more on resort experience.

Since DS turned out to be an animal nut, we were planning on trying AKL this year. Instead we bought AKV. I'm also something of an animal nut, so he comes by it naturally, but I was always put off by the fact that buses were the only transportation option if you didn't want to drive. And let me say, the only thing I dislike more than waiting for buses is being forced to stand on a crowded bus.

I do think AKL would have enjoyed much more popularity from the start if it had a decent walking path or boat ride to AK. I think it was a very poor decision on someone's part not to build that in as part of the experience. (I agree with the thought that such park access would transform AKL from a slightly second tier deluxe to one of the premier choices at WDW.)

 

[BostonDisneyKid]

We usually stay at a particular resort for the resort itself, not so much for its location. The only resort we ever consider to be a locational benefit is BW (BC too but we chose BW). We always have a car/van (with AAA parking pass) so the location is almost irrelevant. Everywhere on-site is within a 10 min drive whether going to a park or another resort for an ADR or whatever. Also, we always head back to our resport mid-day and take time to enjoy the resort themselves, its ammenities and/or activities.

Annie - I am curious to compare the SSR buses to the OKW buses which we thought were dreadfully slow.

I havent seen any reports on the bus situation at SSR lately but it was notrious for its long wait previously. Hopefully for your sake that has changed...

 

[BEASLYBOO]

DVC is designed to please all sorts of people, thank goodness. I, for one prefer to be away from the parks, it's more of a vacation for me if I can escape the theme parks after I/m done for the day. Also, at 12 the monorail no longer has the appeal it had when my son was much younger, so for us a park w/ monorail is not a plus.

OKW is still our favorite resort but sometimes we take new friends or family to AKV for that special experience. AKV has always been easy to get into even after the 7 month mark, so owning points just to get in is not necessary.

This summer, though not my favorite, the kids wanted to do a week at the Boardwalk, and since we love Epcot and are participating in the Star War's Week-end, the Boardwalk made a lot more sense than staying anywhere else. I got BWV at the 7 month mark and even wailisted in April just 2 weeks for an add'l studio for friends joining us the last two days. I haven't had any issues getting into any resort, other than HH, and only because for that kind of trip I have absolutely no flexibility.

Frankly, IMO, "The Action" is not which resort or where the resort is, it's where we are! We create the action and OKW is still our home and our favorite resort!

 

[DVC Mike]

DVCMike,,,,,I guess "that far" depends on who you ask. Being at the Contemporary or Polynesian gives many the impression that they can roll out of bed and fall into their "It's a Small World" boat, which is why I think that a good chunk of DVC people would take a lesser hotel at that location than a nicer hotel that requires a 15-20 minute bus ride (I don't mean to say that Poly or Contemp aren't nice)......If you don't mind looking it up, how far is POR from MK? I ask because I have stayed there several times and I never felt like I was in a bus for more than 10 minutes. For whatever reason, once I get on a bus in Disney, time flies.

My point was that people believe the transportation times from AKV to the parks is vastly greater than most resorts, when that's not really true. AKV provides a "feeling" of remoteness due to the immersive theming.

Here is what PassPorter's shows as the travel times to MK:

AKV 20 mins
BWV 20 mins
CBR 20 mins
CSR 15 mins
OKW 25 mins
POP 25 mins
POR 10 mins
SSR 25 mins
BCV 20 mins

Of course, if MK is your favorite park, stay at BLT or even VWL.

 

[rutgers1]

Beaslyboo....I remember they were selling OKW when I was on my honeymoon and we thought it was so expensive. Of course, years later, it was a great deal. Oh well, at least we joined DVC at some point!

 

[dairyqueenmom]

I think that AKV proves that the biggest determiner regarding whether a DVC resort gets rave or just "ok" reviews is the distance from the center of the action. If you were to simply show a group of 100 people a slideshow or video of all Disney resorts, I would nearly guarantee you that AKV would get the top marks hands down. Is it possible to pack more theming into a resort than having a giraffe outside of your window? Yet, when you hear people talk about resorts here, it isn't mentioned among the top few as often.

I am under the belief that just about ANYTHING on the monorail line would be more popular than SSR and AKV for no other reason than distance. And if you put AKV and SSR on the monorail line and put the Contemporary and the Polynesian in their place out on the outskirts, you'd hear no complaints about SSR and AKV.

I totally disagree with you, I don't feel out of the center of things at AKV. I think the bus transportation is as good or better then some DVC's. I have stayed at values, moderates and now deluxe resorts with DVC and I think the waits are comparable all over. AKV is my top resort when we travel as a family. It is so peaceful and the theming is out of this world. I feel like I have totally left my normal everyday life and been whisked to a Africa.

 

[Mickey'sApprentice]

I've not been to AKV or even AKL for that matter, but I think Disney did a lot of good things with this resort.

You've got 2057 expiration, 1 bedroom that sleeps 5, value, savannah, and concierge point charts, plus a choice between the main lodge and kidani, plus underground parking. Wow!

Personally, I think I'm going to like the common areas. My only complaint is the decor. Its not bad, it just doesn't turn me on. I've always heard that AK busses were quite good. It will be interesting to see if this continues.

Decor isn't everything though. IMHO, SSR probably has the prettiest interior decor.

Overall, BWV is still #1. It has everything!

 

[MiaSRN62]

We totally agree with you about AKV. We chose to do our add-on recently there based soley on the rich themeing and ambience of this resort. It's just totally unique that not even walking distance to a park could convince us otherwise. We stayed there one time in Aug '08 and knew we wanted to call AKV "home". We were quite torn with VWL and AKV. Both are heavy themeing. We already own at OKW....we considered all the DVC's and AKV just won hand's down for us. Being too close to one of the theme parks would actually detract from the whole African savanna ambience in our opinions. We just think AKV is gorgeous.
But I agree.....alot on these boards decide if a DVC is worth or not based on it's location to the parks (aka walking/boat/monorail). We could care less about that. Or I should say, it's not the deciding factor for us. We take alot more into consideration.

Maria

 

[rutgers1]

I totally disagree with you, I don't feel out of the center of things at AKV. I think the bus transportation is as good or better then some DVC's. I have stayed at values, moderates and now deluxe resorts with DVC and I think the waits are comparable all over. AKV is my top resort when we travel as a family. It is so peaceful and the theming is out of this world. I feel like I have totally left my normal everyday life and been whisked to a Africa.

Dairyqueenmom....I don't think you understood what I was saying. I was complimenting the hotel. I wasn't saying that it was out of the way or that there was anything wrong with the resort. I wasn't criticizing the hotel at all. Rather, I think that there is a vocal group of people who perceive it as far away, and that it would be a much more popular resort - perhaps the most popular at Disney - if it was located where the Poly/Contemporary are located. I think that a lot of people can't look beyond the location when judging a Disney hotel. I started the post because I tend to analyze the negative posts when someone is bashing a particular hotel. The one common thread I see between the hotels that get the best reviews and those that get the worst is distance to a park. The hotels that are REALLY close to a major park get the best reviews for the most part, and those that require bus rides tend to be a notch or two or three down. And in the case of AKV, I find that pretty interesting since, in my opinion, it has the most unique theming in all of Dinsey and, if it was closer to MK or on the monorail line, would most likely be the most celebrated of all Disney hotels.

 

[RAD]

DW and I stayed at AKV last October and the number 1 item we didn't like was how far it was away from just about everything, especially MK and DTD. We don't need to be on the monorail, a bus ride is no problem but MK to AKV is just too long for us.