Please Help Me Choose DVC Rental!

lynnebla

Mouseketeer
Joined
Feb 20, 2006
I'm driving myself crazy trying to decide the best resort to rent at for our family. This is our first foray into DVC rental. We are a family of 7 and have always stayed in 2 rooms at values due to cost. But, I'm now looking at renting and it's only about $1,000 more at some resorts to have room for our big family to spread out. Problem is, I can't decide where! We're considering a 2 bedroom at AKV, SSR, and OKW and we will have 2 adults, 20 yo, 16 yo, 13 yo, 11 yo & 9 yo. Any advice would be welcome!
 
OKW has biggest rooms since they are the oldest and closest to DS... I am not crazy about AK since it is so far from everything else. Never been to SSR. Kinda cramped anywhere you go with 7 people considering 3 are adult and 2 teens. The 2 Br at any DVC are not all that big compared to other vacation clubs you might have stayed at. I guess my choice would be OKW
 
AKV - Kidani 2-bedroom villas have three full bathrooms. That alone would make it my choice with your group. And it’s not any more “isolated” than OKW or SSR - they all rely on bus transport to the parks, although OKW and SSR have the attraction of boat transportation and walking paths to DS. And in contrast to OKW and SSR, there’s only one bus stop at Kidani and one at Jambo, then you’re on your way. OKW and SSR both have multiple stops within the resort grounds.

BTW when estimating cost at AKV, be sure to budget for standard or savanna view, not a value villa. There are very, very few value villas at AKV, and even owners there have difficulty reserving them.
 
AKV - Kidani 2-bedroom villas have three full bathrooms. That alone would make it my choice with your group. And it’s not any more “isolated” than OKW or SSR - they all rely on bus transport to the parks, although OKW and SSR have the attraction of boat transportation and walking paths to DS. And in contrast to OKW and SSR, there’s only one bus stop at Kidani and one at Jambo, then you’re on your way. OKW and SSR both have multiple stops within the resort grounds.

BTW when estimating cost at AKV, be sure to budget for standard or savanna view, not a value villa. There are very, very few value villas at AKV, and even owners there have difficulty reserving them.


Also - Kidani 2br have 3 baths, but Jambo 2br (both AKV) only have 2 baths. And I believe the value villas are only at Jambo.

But ... 100% agree that of the 3 resorts you listed, AKV-KIDANI would be my top choice both for resort overall and for the 3 full baths.
 


If you have people who take long showers or take quite awhile with hair and makeup I’d say AKL for the three bathrooms. But if you guys are pretty efficient with getting ready I’d go with OKW because it is more than 200 sq ft bigger than AKL. The OKW room is larger than my first house!
 
If you go with Kidani, make sure to get a “dedicated” 2 bedroom. Dedicated gives you 2 queen beds in the 2nd bedroom. A lock-off gives you one queen bed and a pull out sofa.
 
I'm driving myself crazy trying to decide the best resort to rent at for our family. This is our first foray into DVC rental. We are a family of 7 and have always stayed in 2 rooms at values due to cost. But, I'm now looking at renting and it's only about $1,000 more at some resorts to have room for our big family to spread out. Problem is, I can't decide where! We're considering a 2 bedroom at AKV, SSR, and OKW and we will have 2 adults, 20 yo, 16 yo, 13 yo, 11 yo & 9 yo. Any advice would be welcome!


Another option could be to get 2 studio rooms? If you dont cook then you might as well save the ekstra money, and since most kids are not super young it might work. One thing to have in mind is that even if you can request rooms close to each other, then there is no guarantee that the rooms you get is close.

Studios at AKV, SSR and OKW all sleep 4. if you get two studios at OKW there will be two queens in each studio.

Since I dont know when you prefer to go I use dream season in my comparison below:

a 2br at AKV is 255 points for a week and a studio is 95 points (190 for two)
a 2br at OKW is 269 points for a week and a studio is 99 points (198 for two)

regards
 


If you can afford it.... more points... a 2 bedroom at BLT also has 3 bathrooms and puts you on the monorail and within walking distance of MK.

Of the ones you mentioned, Kidani is our preferred 2 bedroom for the three baths.
 
With DVC, always make sure you are aware of the bed situation before you book. You will see that a type of unit sleeps a certain number of people, but that does not mean that everyone gets an actual bed. It includes sleeper sofas and sleeper chairs, and it assumes that almost all sleep surfaces are shared.
 
Another option could be to get 2 studio rooms? If you dont cook then you might as well save the ekstra money, and since most kids are not super young it might work. One thing to have in mind is that even if you can request rooms close to each other, then there is no guarantee that the rooms you get is close.

Studios at AKV, SSR and OKW all sleep 4. if you get two studios at OKW there will be two queens in each studio.

Since I dont know when you prefer to go I use dream season in my comparison below:

a 2br at AKV is 255 points for a week and a studio is 95 points (190 for two)
a 2br at OKW is 269 points for a week and a studio is 99 points (198 for two)

regards
At OKW, the majority of studios are at the ends of the buildings. So in most cases, you may either be at opposite ends, different floors or different buildings. If the two adults wanted to stay together, the 20 yr old would need to be assigned to the other studio since you must have at least one guest who is 18 or older in each room. With two studios you give up the full kitchen and washer and dryer in your room (you need to go to the laundry room; you don't laundry in your villa).

The OKW two bedroom will have one king, two queens, one queen sleeper sofa and one twin sleeper chair. At OKW, most of the buildings do not have elevators. So if you are on the second or third floor, you will need to take the stairs.
 
Agree with AKV (Kidani) or BLT 2 br if you can swing it. I really wish DVC would have continued the extra bathroom trend that those two resorts share. I really like AKV - it's a 'vacation within a vacation' and since the buses only serve AKV (Jambo and Kidani) I did not find them to be an inconvenience.
 
Thanks, everyone! I think we're going to try to for a dedicated 2 BR at AKL. I was looking at Standard view, since I had already read the values were nearly impossible to get. The kids can definitely share beds, since they share rooms at home and are used to sharing beds on vacation. I definitely think the 3 baths will be good for our group and we can always walk around to check out the Savannah from look outs. I'll keep OKW in mind for a backup if I can't get AKL. That extra space would be nice!
 
Thanks, everyone! I think we're going to try to for a dedicated 2 BR at AKL. I was looking at Standard view, since I had already read the values were nearly impossible to get. The kids can definitely share beds, since they share rooms at home and are used to sharing beds on vacation. I definitely think the 3 baths will be good for our group and we can always walk around to check out the Savannah from look outs. I'll keep OKW in mind for a backup if I can't get AKL. That extra space would be nice!

Make sure to tell them KIDANI to get the three bathrooms
 
You do know to rent your points - right? Save you a bundle. You can rent here or through third party rental places.

You can't go wrong at any resort. The only one I don't LOVE is Saratoga but even it is great in its own way. That being said, we do AKL Kidani if we can. Extra bathroom and a chair sleeper for an extra kid. And we dig seeing the animals outside our balcony.
 
We're booked at AKL Kidani!!! Can't wait for our first trip in a DVC resort. This may very well be a trial run to decide if we want to buy DVC. I hope all goes well & now I can't wait until November!!!
Congratulations, we too have a 2 bedroom booked in the spring for AKV. The extra bathroom helps a lot. We will probably be eating breakfast and sometimes lunch in the room, so having the full kitchen is a huge plus.
 
We're booked at AKL Kidani!!! Can't wait for our first trip in a DVC resort. This may very well be a trial run to decide if we want to buy DVC. I hope all goes well & now I can't wait until November!!!
I hope you have a great time! I really enjoy the two bedrooms in Kidani!
 

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