Purchase Resale at BLT or VGF

[starsaber25]

Hello all. I have been stalking these boards for the last 8 months or so. It appears that my wife and I are finally at the stage where we are very serious about buying into DVC for our first time. We have narrowed down our list of home resorts to Bay Lake Tower and the Villas at Grand Floridian. At this point we are thinking about purchasing 200 points resale. However, we are stuck here right before the finish line of choosing which resort. So I am looking for opinions.

Is it hard to ever book at VGF at the 11 month window? I can understand Christmas time but what about the other times of the year. But it would certainly suck if you pay the premium for points at VGF and then not be able to use them there.

Does BLT have a "resort" feel at all?

Can you walk from BLT to the TTC? Or do you need to get on the Monorail and do the loop?

Of course feel free to share any other opinions you may have. Thanks!

 

[Chili327]

Hello all. I have been stalking these boards for the last 8 months or so. It appears that my wife and I are finally at the stage where we are very serious about buying into DVC for our first time. We have narrowed down our list of home resorts to Bay Lake Tower and the Villas at Grand Floridian. At this point we are thinking about purchasing 200 points resale. However, we are stuck here right before the finish line of choosing which resort. So I am looking for opinions.

Is it hard to ever book at VGF at the 11 month window? I can understand Christmas time but what about the other times of the year. But it would certainly suck if you pay the premium for points at VGF and then not be able to use them there.

Does BLT have a "resort" feel at all?

Can you walk from BLT to the TTC? Or do you need to get on the Monorail and do the loop?

Of course feel free to share any other opinions you may have. Thanks!

Depends what that means... it has a pool and other amenities, as well as boat docks to get around. And a pretty short walk to Magic Kingdom.

 

[🍀TwinsMom]

Stylistically, the resorts can’t be more different.

What interests you about either one? What’s the expected makeup of your traveling party and time to visit?

How important is it to travel to non MK resorts? IDK about BLT, but I was NOT impressed with buses at VGF at all. It really stunk for transportation that wasn’t on the monorail, and we’re not that impressed with the monorail —definitely prefer the Skyliner.

BLT is about to get a refurbishment in 2025, so don’t stress too much about what it looks like in videos right now. Their pool is not a thrill, but the location and fireworks views are amazing. Being able to walk out of MK after a party or fireworks is wonderful. I feel like the rooms at BLT feel small, and there’s no real vibe to the resort.

VGF is gorgeous and has so many great dining options on site. The pool is really nice. I’m going to be contrarian here though and say I do NOT like it at Christmas, only because it’s a freaking zoo 24/7 and it was annoying everywhere to get around. If you’re NOT staying there November-December, no big deal.

I think you can score BLT deals right now since it’s overdue for a glow-up, VGF was just zhuzhed and is pricier, and Poly 2.0 is coming online for sale later this year. 200 points will go farther than VGF, too, but what’s your booking priority? Fireworks views and extra bathroom at BLT and walking distance? Or luxury, tons of amenities on site, and amazing theming?

 

[TinkAgainU]

Lots of good info from TwinsMom above - I'll add some points:

You mention the TTC by monorail - the monorail goes in one direction (clockwise) so it is quicker to get "to" the TTC from Bay Tower than Grand Floridian. Most people enjoy the monorail rides even if going all the way around

As mentioned, those resorts have entirely different styles, to the extent I would Really recommend you see both in person if possible. Maybe book an inexpensive trip (stay in a hotel) and see both before deciding? You can see the rooms online, but walking into and around the hotels may be a 30 second yes or no.

If you buy 200 points, I'd suggest two 100 point contracts as they are much easier to resell or make changes (or leave to two kids, for example). Be sure to take time to calculate how many points you'd need (it's easier to book a Lake view than a Standard view at VGF for example, since there are more of them), and you only need half the points if coming every other year... You can use the Point Charts for a pretend trip or download an App (for Android, I like "DVC Calculator").

Addonitis is real, but some people prefer to get one contract, make a trip or two, then add a second "favorite" resort to assure that 11 month priority at a couple resorts. It seems unless you want a unicorn room (Grand Villa New Years Eve), the 11 month priority works fine for most travel. It's harder if you are in the 7 month group, so Do pick where you want to stay.

 

[Sandisw]

We prefer VGF and outside of the early December time, getting VGF at 11 months has not been a problem.

I will say the SV stufios can be tough, but I think that it the same at BLT.

What I can say is the BLT studios smaller so another reason why we own VGF now instead of BLT.

 

[pirate33]

I own at both resorts and love both of them. I frequently do a split stay so I can stay at each.

As for whether BLT feels like a resort, it does to me. I feel relaxed immediately upon entering the gate! But for reasons I do not personally understand, some people think it is not Disney enough or not themed. To me, it’s themed as a sleek, modern building, and I like it. I also love VGF so you can’t go wrong. Be aware that the point chart at VGF is steeper so that is something to consider.

I don’t think anyone specifically answered your question about walking from BLT to the TTC. It is possible but would require walking counter clockwise first to Magic Kingdom, then Grand Floridian, and then past the Polynesian. Not an appealing plan to me! As someone else noted, TTC is one monorail stop from the Contemporary to TTC. From TTC to the Contemporary, one needs to ride almost the whole monorail loop. If it’s late and/or I’m very tired, I will sometimes take an Uber from Epcot to BLT for this reason. (I have even taken an Uber from TTC to BLT late at night after getting off the Epcot monorail, because I wanted to enjoy the monorail ride. I didn’t really save any money by doing that but if you want to nerd out like me, that is an option.)

If you’re thinking about convenient walking options, the short walk from BLT to the Magic Kingdom cannot be beat. That is magical. On the other hand, the boat from Grand Floridian to Magic Kingdom is magical in a different way.

 

[pirate33]

P.S. If possible, you might consider renting points to stay a night or two at each property before buying.

 

[RichVIII]

Apples and oranges. Both great tasting fruit. I feel like they are each unique in their own ways with some of the benefits of each note above. What size rooms are you looking for? The points chart do matter so you get a little more mileage at BLT.

 

[MartyParty]

Two excellent choices. VGF feels more “resort like” while BLT is more contemporary apartment much like its sister resort The Contemporary. But as we own and like BLT we’ll give you our input there.

• Easy 10ish minute walk to Magic Kingdom. Plus security screening station along the walk way that is seldom ever crowded.
• We love the theme park view rooms.
• We also like the contemporary room feel and are looking forward to the upcoming hard goods refurbishment. Realize not all Disney fans will agree.
• But if you’re not wanting to use extra points on theme park the lake view and standard view are reasonable priced for points.
• Resort pool seldom over crowded but if it is you have easy access to the Contemporary pools. We always plan for a pool day and love the lake views.
• Dining choices at the Contemporary: Chef Mickey’s, Contempo Cafe, California Grill with ability to view fireworks, Steakhouse 71, Steakhouse 71 Lounge, Outer Rim Lounge
• BLT Top of the World Lounge and Fireworks viewing area (Villains Lair)
• BLT has a larger quantity of rooms to choose from. But this could push the edge to VGF for booking at the 11 month mark. BLT usually has lots of choice at seven months.
• Walkway from BLT to the Contemporary just inside there is a reasonably stocked food pantry with reasonable prices: milk, eggs, bread, wine, pasta, ice cream etc.

Some of our pics from BLT:

 

[eticketplease]

We like both resorts.

With DS getting bigger he prefers the VGF pools over the BLT or contemporary ones.

On the other hand BLT has a community hall which VGF does not have and DS still enjoys going there.

Points charts and grabbing the extra bathroom at BLT is what my brain says to do.

The elegance and charm of VGF is what my heart says.

Very hard decision but for us we would be happy with either one.

 

[AstroBlasters]

Hello all. I have been stalking these boards for the last 8 months or so. It appears that my wife and I are finally at the stage where we are very serious about buying into DVC for our first time. We have narrowed down our list of home resorts to Bay Lake Tower and the Villas at Grand Floridian. At this point we are thinking about purchasing 200 points resale. However, we are stuck here right before the finish line of choosing which resort. So I am looking for opinions.

Is it hard to ever book at VGF at the 11 month window? I can understand Christmas time but what about the other times of the year. But it would certainly suck if you pay the premium for points at VGF and then not be able to use them there.

Does BLT have a "resort" feel at all?

Can you walk from BLT to the TTC? Or do you need to get on the Monorail and do the loop?

Of course feel free to share any other opinions you may have. Thanks!

BLT has more bathrooms per room if that is important to your family.

 

[MartyParty]

I own at both resorts and love both of them. I frequently do a split stay so I can stay at each.

As for whether BLT feels like a resort, it does to me. I feel relaxed immediately upon entering the gate! But for reasons I do not personally understand, some people think it is not Disney enough or not themed. To me, it’s themed as a sleek, modern building, and I like it. I also love VGF so you can’t go wrong. Be aware that the point chart at VGF is steeper so that is something to consider.

I don’t think anyone specifically answered your question about walking from BLT to the TTC. It is possible but would require walking counter clockwise first to Magic Kingdom, then Grand Floridian, and then past the Polynesian. Not an appealing plan to me! As someone else noted, TTC is one monorail stop from the Contemporary to TTC. From TTC to the Contemporary, one needs to ride almost the whole monorail loop. If it’s late and/or I’m very tired, I will sometimes take an Uber from Epcot to BLT for this reason. (I have even taken an Uber from TTC to BLT late at night after getting off the Epcot monorail, because I wanted to enjoy the monorail ride. I didn’t really save any money by doing that but if you want to nerd out like me, that is an option.)

If you’re thinking about convenient walking options, the short walk from BLT to the Magic Kingdom cannot be beat. That is magical. On the other hand, the boat from Grand Floridian to Magic Kingdom is magical in a different way.

Yep totally agree with this. Something about walking into and staying at Bay Lake that feels totally relaxing. For us it has that welcome home feeling but recognize not all DVC’ers feel this way about Bay Lake.

 

[MarkNC2Disney]

P.S. If possible, you might consider renting points to stay a night or two at each property before buying.

This.

 

[intamin]

If you're planning to stay predominantly in studios and want larger rooms, VGF is for sure the way to go. In general, between BLT and VGF's importance of home resort priority, VGF's is much more important.

The few times I'd give it to BLT over VGF would be if you plan to go to Magic Kingdom on NYE or July 4th and want a theme park view room. Also if you plan to attend events like Mickey's Very Merry or Not So Scary and want to walk back to your room it may be worth considering BLT over VGF.

Both resorts' 1/2 BRs are somewhat popular. BLT's 1BR has 2 bathrooms in it. VGF has an excess amount of studios relative to 1/2BRs because of the recent expansion so if you're trying to stay in the larger VGF rooms, you should probably own there.

I will say that the point difference between lake view and standard studios at BLT is not that significant and it's pretty easy to get lake view most times of the year at 7 months but that point differential is exaggerated when staying in larger rooms.

If you're like me point charts do matter a lot and personally I'd rather spend 10 days at BLT rather than 7-8 at VGF but that's just our preference. I have had the opportunity to book VGF multiple times but am yet to even try to book there because the point charts deter us which is ironic because we like RIV which is guilty of having heavy point charts as well. That's part of the reason we continue to book Boardwalk over RIV with our points though.

 

[TinkAgainU]

To take this "off" the track a bit. You might note from my "signature" I have both a Grand Floridian and a Boardwalk DVC contract. Before you purchase 200 points at one of the monorail resorts (I love all three), you might want to consider 100 at a monorail resort, and 100 at a Crescent Lake (ie: walk to Epcot and Hollywood Studios) setup. I'm willing to split stay since we like to do all the parks and the walk or boats to/from Boardwalk is really awesome. From Crescent Lake resorts we can also jump on the Skyliner for a meal or drink at Riviera (just as an excuse to ride the Skyliner lol). There are really good reasons to pick ANY of the resorts (animals, golf, peaceful, etc), but thought I'd share one more theory - more along the lines of maybe do 100 somewhere, then 100 after you've checked out more options.

 

[Sandisw]

BLT has more bathrooms per room if that is important to your family.

In the larger units, yes. But the deluxe studios at VGF have the split bath where BLT studios do not…

The studios at VGf also sleep 5 vs BLT that only sleep 4.

 

[TinkAgainU]

The studios at VGf also sleep 5 vs BLT that only sleep 4.

Good point, and this is a deal breaker for some families. Check number of guests (shown on point charts) for each room type, at each resort if that might apply to your family.

 

[starsaber25]

Thank you all so far for your thoughts. I guess I should have given a little more background on my life situation which certainly plays a factor in the decision.

We are a family of 5. Our children are now getting older in age 15, 12 and 9. As a family with our children we have visited Disney World 5 times since our oldest was 18 months old. We currently live full time in New York. Besides one stay at Caribbean Beach with my extended family, we have stayed at our families Marriott timeshare resorts.

We are getting to the point that the “family” vacations to Disney are going to be slowing down after 5 or so years because our children will be older and moving on in life. After that the plan is for my wife and I to enjoy it until hopefully our family starts to grow (marriages/grandkids). We intend on traveling a lot more in the future and would like to make Disney World a regular visit (ok I would like to make it a regular visit way more then my wife does lol).

We have typically stayed in October because we love Halloween and food and wine at Disney. We also have stayed over Thanksgiving break. But when it transitions to just my wife and I then I imagine food and wine along with early December Christmas visits will be the priority for us. Until down the line it transitions back to family visits.

For these reasons the access to Magic Kingdom and the monorail to Epcot is very appealing to us.

 

[pinkxray]

We own 210pts at VGF. I love it. It’s my favorite resort. I love the way the sun hits the beautiful grounds on a sunny day. The view of the castle while sipping my coffee outside Gasparilla Grill is amazing. I love all of the food options.

However, BLT is also amazing. I can’t wait to see how the rooms look after the refurb. I know you said you might buy in a year or two, but the resale prices are amazing on BLT right now. I think a lot more people will be interested in buying BLT resale after the rooms are redone.

I really don’t think you can go wrong with either. The hardest thing about VGF for me is the points chart. We are traveling for spring break this year and a one bedroom was way too much for us. We would have had to split between a studio and one bedroom. Thankfully, we were able to piece together a standard view room at BLT for our entire trip. (The theme park view BLT was around the same as the VGF one bedroom). If you are interested in bringing more than your family of 5 over the coming years, I feel like BLT will allow that easier than VGF.

 

[🍀TwinsMom]

I’m torn for your circumstances. I lean BLT for you because the point chart is easier and you’ll love MK after parties — but a family of five, no studios for you. We, personally, never want a studio with our kids (as adults only it's fine,) and your kids as teens may need/want to bring a friend to convince them to come, so that means a 2B (which you’ll probably want/need anyway.)

Since your early starting point to visit are peak weeks (kids’ school breaks/Thanksgiving,) you’ll need a boatload of points for VGF, even only going once every three years. That pushes back to BLT with the extra bathroom, and their grand villa is outstanding for big generational trips.

However, as empty nesters traveling peak DVC weeks, you may enjoy just BEING at VGF and eating and drinking and shopping and sightseeing, renting a boat, walking over to Poly, and you’ll need that 11-month advantage. VGF now has enough studios, especially resort studios at BPK, but you’ll still need to own there for early December.

Which one does your wife prefer? If you’re truly 50/50, I’d go with her preference since she’s the reluctant one, LOL, and that may help when addd-on-itis hits to convince her to buy more later on.

For us, we always travel peak kid school weeks like you but favor the same other times you listed when we’re empty nesters. We also plan/hope to have generational trips (we’re already doing multi family ones every time and love it!). We also fly from the Northeast, and our kids are approaching tweendom but are freakishly tall at 10 (5’6”) and 11 (5’2”.). We added on at Riviera (per reluctant HUSBAND,) because once we got a hit of privacy, king bed, private bath, and room for the kids to have their own space — game over. We/he became DVC addicts. The resorts and amenities really make a difference to us. If you haven’t had a chance to stay DVC yet, it really improves the whole WDW experience. Your wife and kids may have a new appreciation for going once you’re not all cramped in a room with luggage everywhere.

We are COO. I have groceries and alcohol delivered, do a small load of laundry every night to pack less, and love our Owners Lockers for storing our WDW staples and creature comforts. I know I don’t have to convince you, but the wife and teens may initially roll their eyes at “Disney, again?” LOL. When you enjoy your home resort and can send them off to fetch QS at Gasparilla Grill and bring it back so you can enjoy coffee on the balcony overlooking the water in your robe — chef’s kiss, baby.

We lucked out getting VGF in early December because there was a big flood of rooms/points opened up for BPK that dovetailed with the seven-month booking window, plus one-bedrooms are not as popular. We loved the room/resort but hated the mob of people around.

Just throwing it out there, the Poly tower is opening this year, and if you like Epcot festivals and plan to own for the long haul, any interest in Riviera? You and the wife could do a cheap tower studio for long weekends at F&W, and the contract runs to 2070. Maybe for a second contract once the family is won over.