Need help! BW vs AKL vs OKW

[CaptainAmerica]

...with the direct changes happening this week...

What did I miss?

 

[RoseGold]

I don't see how the math works for buying direct for three people for 2042. Even if they bring back the AP discount (big if!) you have to lock all of you into APs for 20 years and even then I don't think it works. It didn't for my family when I crunched it over the years. And I don't expect my teenager to have any interest in getting 9 WDW park days in 13 years from now.

I guess I can make this argument better for OKW, assuming your kid and their kids will be grandfathered into Blue Card (also a huge IF). But if that is what you are going for, I'd pay a little more for BLT or newer. Even Riviera, and I'm a never-RIV.

If Poly is what you love, and what you plan to keep, I might even consider Poly direct. The contract length matters when you are talking about passing your contract and your Blue Card down. If this is based on FOMO, keep in mind there is no new resort and there won't be for many years at this rate. I'm sure DVC will be happy to take your money then if that resort ever happens. If this is based on AP discounts, then you need to do the math and really consider the risk you are taking with a lot of money.

It's worth noting that they could completely get rid of Blue Card or change the rules on gratuitous transfers and all that. RIV has made it very clear who it benefits when they start changing the rules.

 

[CaptainAmerica]

I don't see how the math works for buying direct for three people for 2042. Even if they bring back the AP discount (big if!) you have to lock all of you into APs for 20 years and even then I don't think it works. It didn't for my family when I crunched it over the years. And I don't expect my teenager to have any interest in getting 9 WDW park days in 13 years from now.

I guess I can make this argument better for OKW, assuming your kid and their kids will be grandfathered into Blue Card (also a huge IF). But if that is what you are going for, I'd pay a little more for BLT or newer. Even Riviera, and I'm a never-RIV.

If Poly is what you love, and what you plan to keep, I might even consider Poly direct. The contract length matters when you are talking about passing your contract and your Blue Card down. If this is based on FOMO, keep in mind there is no new resort and there won't be for many years at this rate. I'm sure DVC will be happy to take your money then if that resort ever happens. If this is based on AP discounts, then you need to do the math and really consider the risk you are taking with a lot of money.

It's worth noting that they could completely get rid of Blue Card or change the rules on gratuitous transfers and all that. RIV has made it very clear who it benefits when they start changing the rules.

Completely agree with this. If you're happy with the portfolio of the original 14 resorts, there's no way to make the "direct math" work.

 

[Benchedguy]

What did I miss?

Just the minimum buying, currently 125pts direct but going up to 150 pts direct on June 3rd

 

[sethschroeder]

20 'ish years being the approximate age when we meet our expiration dates.

In that case buy BWV honestly and get the better resort for really all in the same total cost. You can still pass down the POLY contracts.

 

[Lorana]

Its a family of 3 with no expansion plans But who knows, in the future could invite extended family. 1 BR would be nice, we plan on doing that with banked points down the road.

Owning at AKV gives you the chance at those 1BR Values (which are a little easier to get than the value Studios) which are the best point values out there. If purchasing direct, and the choice for me was between BWV, AKV, or OKW, I would go AKV hands down.

 

[DebLovesPooh]

I'm voting for AKV also. It's my home and I would be happy to be stuck there at 7 months. For me, the food and the animals more than make up for the distance from the parks. I don't have a desire to stay at OKW and BWV direct doesn't make any financial sense even to me and all of my points are direct.

 

[KCMA]

We bought direct OKW ... we liked the bigger rooms and two beds in the studios and being more point friendly for the bigger rooms when our kids get older..and being from Canada , when we come down I want to be surrounded by palm trees and tropical settings haha... there was something about AKL that just didn’t do it for us and BWV was just to expensive at the time ... we are also currently looking to add on to our original contract

 

[sugliac]

I'd suggest BW after staying at all. I bought BC and regret it... I am now going to wait to see if the prices return to (relative) where they were about 8-10 months ago. It is currently a bit overpriced imo.

 

[Benchedguy]

Thanks all for the input. We just dove in and bought OKW for the savings. At the end of day, BWV expiry just kept being constantly an issue....thanks again!

 

[Leight19]

I think I have something to offer here as I own akv, just bought okw direct, and am thinking about buying small contract at boardwalk.

For akv, I love the resort and dining options and while I don’t recommend buying for value rooms or conceirge, having these options available makes akv a great benefit for 11 month booking window. If your not flexible with dates or willing to stalk (I enjoy the hunt) there’s not much benefit here but I enjoy it.

For okw, my opinion is this is best option for purchase of direct compared to resale. There’s not a huge difference in cost direct vs resale compared to some other resorts and you get the 2057 end date vs 2042 most resale offer. We also consider these sleep around points so not being locked out of future resorts have added inherent value.

For boardwalk, history shows if you want to stay here it’s good to own here. While the 2042 end date hurts some of the value a lot of this is made up for in the point charts. By my math, booking standard view room with bw points is cheaper then using sleep around points from okw or ssr to book the garden view rooms which tend to be only ones available at 7 mons. The price difference here makes bw direct unattractive unless you are going very small contract and view the convenience and gurantee you get exactly what you want worth the cost (we would only add on 40 pts).

 

[shonnons]

Hi all, first time posting but long time reader. We are re-sale owners at Poly already and are wanting to add direct before tomorrow. We are torn between the cost difference between BW, AKL and OKW but are trying to weigh out the other tangibles.

BW is 2042 expiry which is a concern without knowing will they extend. But we have Poly to 2066. BW maybe worth next to nothing on resale as the expiry gets closer. I know its harder to get BW at the 7 month mark as well if its not your home resort.

AKL is terrible for location but offers so much more. But we dont know if we would do a week a AKL or just do split stays. We dont mind a 2 resort split stay in a week. This would be the middle ground between price direct and what it has to offer.

OKW is the cheapest but doesnt have the same appeal for us as the other 2 options. And as people say, buy where you want to stay.

So we know that is it a financial decision or stay where you want to be decision but the problem is that we are torn with it being a 50/50 decision and are looking for other peoples opinions.....thoughts?

Before someone says resale is better and your are paying 30K for coca cola going direct.....yes I know but we want direct before the increase.

BWV - It is expensive for 2042 end date but it gets harder and hard to book BWV if you don't own there and it is great access to the parks.

AKV - this was our first contract and love it. It is our favorite resort. There is nowhere else you can see animals like that. Dinking a cup off coffee in the morning with that view is unbeatable. The rooms are bigger and we like the 3rd bathroom in the 2brs. We always have a car and parking is easy at Kandi. When we added more point we did not add at AKV because it is easer to book at 7 months so we took the cheaper option of SSR. In 10 years we have never stayed at SSR.

OKW - If you had OKW and you did not want to stay here you could most likely use your point somewhere else at 7 months.