Questions about HA Availability

[Maxwell42]

Hello, everyone,

We are seriously considering taking the plunge and becoming DVC owners, and we are looking to purchase enough points to do a week in a 2BR every other year or so. We often travel with DMIL (and a companion for her), and she requires a room with a roll-in shower.

We are looking for resale contracts for 160-200 points at the following resorts (in order of preference): BLT, PVB, BWV, or BCV. I'm a little put off of the Epcot resorts because of the shorter contract, plus my 14 y.o. daughter is terrified of the creepy clown slide at BWV - she's convinced she'd have nightmares if we wound up with a pool view there. Also, if we book at PVB, we understand that we'd need two studios rather than a 2BR. So all things considered, I think we'd prefer BLT, but that's not set in stone yet.

My main question has to do with availability of 2BR villas with roll-in showers. I've seen some great info on here and elsewhere about availability in general at 11 months and 7 months, but do the HA rooms follow the same pattern? Or do they tend to book more quickly, or have less demand than normal villas?

Also, what can you tell me about 2BR lockoffs with roll-in showers? Will they have roll-in showers in both the 1BR side and the studio side, or only in one bathroom?

Any specifics will be greatly appreciated!

 

[KAT4DISNEY]

They are limited and in a manner follow similar availability as the rest of the resort in that during times that categories book up quickly the HA rooms will too if for no other reason than they eventually fall in to the total general availability. I.e., they are not held back until someone books an accessible room if someone is otherwise looking to book a room at the resort and no other rooms are left. So generally speaking if you book at 11 months you usually should be fine but the busiest of times could be an issue just like any other room.

I will be referencing only HA rooms with a roll in shower since that is what you need but in some cases there are HA with tubs. A few things about BWV is all 2 bedrooms there are lockoffs so if it's a time when studios are booking up right at 11 months it could be an issue to get the 2 bedroom. I'm of the belief that the 2 bedroom lockoffs there will have the roll in shower in both the 1 bedroom section and the studio section. There is only one 2 bedroom lockoffs in the Boardwalk view category and the others are in the lakeview and standard. I'm not positive how many of each of those have the roll in shower.

At BLT it's only lakeview category that has the 2 bedroom with roll in shower either as a dedicated or a lockoffs. However they all have partial MK views. I also think that the lockoffs have roll in showers on both sides. We have yet to stay in an HA room there but from pictures the studios appear unique in that they have both the roll in shower and a tub.

 

[disneynutz]

If you have to have a roll in shower, I fear that you will be disappointed with availability. That might be a deal breaker. Picking your favorite resort, buying there and booking at 11 months is your only hope for consistent results, also you have a better chance at dedicated two bedrooms, not lock-offs. One positive is that accessible rooms are a booking category so at the time of booking, you will know which room is available.

Bill

 

[Maxwell42]

Thank you for your responses! That solidifies my "buy where you want to stay" thinking - or rather, "buy where MIL wants to stay." We can sleep around on trips where we don't bring her.

I've been looking at the room locator on Touring Plans for quantity/location of rooms with roll-in showers - do you have any idea how accurate their data is? Assuming it's correct, it seems to correspond to what's been said here. I like the location of the HA rooms at BLT, and I think we'd be very happy with those. MIL also really like Poly, but it appears (according to TP) that they only have on studio with a roll-in shower, so that might be very difficult to reserve - again, we'd pretty much need to book at 11 months or get lucky.

Incidentally, it also looks like the majority of villas with roll-in showers at BWV have a view of the main pool and the creepy clown slide. As much as I like that resort, that's an absolute deal-breaker for my daughter!

 

[disneynutz]

How often does she vacation with you, what's her health like, age, will she be able to vacation with you for the next several years, does she really love going on vacation with you, does she love Disney, does she love the parks or like staying in the room more? Will she be with you or want to go out on her own, can she transfer to an ECV or motorized chair?

Bill

 

[Maxwell42]

Good questions - she's in her early seventies and has Parkinson's, so her mobility is very limited, but she loves Disney as much as we do and will want to go as often as she's in condition to do so. Furthermore, she is helping to fund this DVC investment, so we expect that she will travel with us quite a bit over the next ten years or so, assuming she is able, as she has for most of our 20+ year marriage (and my father-in-law before he passed).

She loves going to the parks with us, although her stamina is limited, so we typically stay in the parks for a half day and rest in the afternoons. She's in a motorized chair, and she requires assistance with transfers as well as bathing/dressing - for the latter, she brings a companion when we travel.

She (and her companion) could very well go out on their own, but the reality is they don't - I've always been the trip planner, and the rest of the family is perfectly content to fall in line behind me. (Even on our last trip, without MIL, I gave my teenage kids permission to strike out on their own whenever they wanted to. I think they spent about an hour and a half apart from us over nine days!) But we will sometimes go out without her when she's resting. All things considered, proximity to a park will be important to us!

 

[Maxwell42]

I should add that we've always had a rental van when we travel with her, so we've always loaded up the chair and driven to the parks. That works great when you get handicap parking! I love the freedom of doing WDW without a car, but we will probably have one when she's with us, as she can't stand the buses. We're really leaning toward BLT and Poly, so we can walk/monorail to MK and monorail to EP, and then drive to the other parks. If we stay elsewhere, we will take a bus to MK to avoid the TTC, but that's a bit of a pain with a motorized chair or scooter.

 

[disneynutz]

Based on your answers, I agree, park proximity is important and since they don't venture out the resort grounds aren't that important. I would plan for the worse and hope for the best. Worse thing that can happen is that she doesn't vacation as much in the future, will you keep BLT or sell it for another resort? Other resorts have more to offer if they want to stay at the resort and just hang out. BWV is great for people with mobility challenges, the area is beautiful, easy access to Epcot/DHS, YC, BC, boardwalk. Clown issues can be re-trained especially if G-MA needs to stay at BWV, plus the clown scare is out of control IMO thanks to scary clown movies, (good thing that they didn't use puppies instead of clowns for the movies).

Bill

 

[Maxwell42]

It's hard to say what will happen if/when she doesn't vacation with us anymore. Without her, I think we can be flexible at the 7 month window, at least right now, and my family wants to experience most or all of the resorts at some point. And my wife and I will certainly take trips alone once the nest is empty, which less than four years away.

Also, I hesitate to predict what my family will settle on. My favorite WDW resort is AKL (Jambo House), based on the whole package - architecture, grandeur, dining, animals, cultural interactions, etc. But for the rest of my family, it was one-and-done, at least for now - they liked it fine, but they don't want to stay there again in the near future. But I would guess that if we could pick any resort (i.e. money is no object), we'd probably settle on Poly as our default resort, but we'd probably be pretty content with BLT too. Right now, BLT looks like a better value to buy into, assuming we can find a resale contract with the right use year that's priced reasonably.

I also don't think we'd necessarily ever get the point where we want to stay at the same place every trip. It'll be interesting to see what happens with 7 month availability over the next 10 years or so. I see some people on here saying that it's getting more difficult to book what you want at 7 months, or predicting that it will get more difficult, which also plays into our "buy where you want to stay" mindset, or at least "buy where you won't mind staying."

I agree about the clown scare thing, but I think it's always been there to some extent. I can remember some creepy clowns in movies 30 years ago too. Unlike the zombie thing, which is way out of control. Good thing they don't have a zombie-themed entertainment area, I guess. And I understand her feelings about the BWV clown - I find it creepy too and wonder how it got approved in the first place, but I find it easy to laugh at and enjoy. My daughter hasn't gotten there yet.

 

[roadtripper]

Hi-- you didn't mention OKW as an option, but it's our favorite for HA rooms-- not just because we own there, but because of the space in the units in general. The main room is so big, the balcony is big, etc. When we get an HA 2 BR lock off, both bathrooms have HA showers. They're great for our son.

 

[Maxwell42]

We're not considering purchasing OKW - though I do look forward to staying there at some point - because (a) we really do want proximity to one or more parks, i.e. the ability to get to 1-2 parks without a bus or car, and (b) I believe we could probably book there at the 7 month window. I know the villas there are quite large and currently being remodeled, so it'll definitely be on our radar for booking if it fits our priorities for a particular trip. If this were more of a purely economic decision, then we would look at owning there and trying to book elsewhere if possible, but I don't think it's necessarily a good fit for our particular priorities.

 

[Maxwell42]

One more question about dedicated 2BR villas with roll-in showers at BLT (and elsewhere, I guess) - do those have roll-in showers in both bathrooms, or just one?

 

[disneynutz]

Pretty sure, just one.

Bill

 

[KAT4DISNEY]

Thank you for your responses! That solidifies my "buy where you want to stay" thinking - or rather, "buy where MIL wants to stay." We can sleep around on trips where we don't bring her.

I've been looking at the room locator on Touring Plans for quantity/location of rooms with roll-in showers - do you have any idea how accurate their data is? Assuming it's correct, it seems to correspond to what's been said here. I like the location of the HA rooms at BLT, and I think we'd be very happy with those. MIL also really like Poly, but it appears (according to TP) that they only have on studio with a roll-in shower, so that might be very difficult to reserve - again, we'd pretty much need to book at 11 months or get lucky.

Incidentally, it also looks like the majority of villas with roll-in showers at BWV have a view of the main pool and the creepy clown slide. As much as I like that resort, that's an absolute deal-breaker for my daughter!

I'm not certain about how many rooms at PVB with the roll in shower but if it's only one my sister has stayed in it - at least the standard view. In general it was a decent set up although the microwave was placed on a high shelf. Stupid. The nice thing is it's the only HA room we've seen that has an automatic door opener so a person in a chair can actually get in and out on their own.

For the BLT dedicated 2BR's the roll in shower is only in the master. For the lock-off it's on both sides. From what I find there are only 5 total accessible rooms at BLT. That may be just 1 or 2 lock-offs.

It looks like you often go in December and June? Is that the continuing plan? I would be a little concerned about the availability in December. Can it be done? Sure, but it isn't going to be a guarantee.


Just to add - here's a shot of the view from the 3rd floor pool/garden view BWV HA:

 

[Maxwell42]

Nice - the creepy clown is strategically blocked!

Thank you for sharing your experiences! I've tried using the TP room locator to find HA rooms at PVB, and the only one it's showing is a lake (actually, bungalow) view on 1st floor of Moorea (room 1024). If there are standard view studios with roll-in showers, it's not showing them, but I'm not sure I trust its accuracy, at least at PVB. (It appears to be pretty good elsewhere.)

We have historically gone in December and June, and we will likely continue that pattern until my kids are out of college (my youngest is a HS freshman right now). We might mix in some long weekends without kids also, but family vacations will follow school schedules - we might also do some spring break trips, too (second week of March here). I understand December might be hard to book, so that's why I'm concerned with buying into the right home resort and giving ourselves the best possible chance of getting something that works at 11 months.

We're probably going to buy resale, but would it be worth my time to call and take the DVC phone "tour"? Would a salesperson be able to give me specific info about HA villas?

 

[Maxwell42]

FWIW, TP is showing that BLT has one dedicated 2BR with a roll in shower (floor 14), and two 1BR (floors 9 and 10) and three studios (floors 9-11), so two lock-off 2BR villas. All are lake view on the north side near the elevators, so pretty good MK view at lake view rates.

 

[KAT4DISNEY]

Nice - the creepy clown is strategically blocked!

Thank you for sharing your experiences! I've tried using the TP room locator to find HA rooms at PVB, and the only one it's showing is a lake (actually, bungalow) view on 1st floor of Moorea (room 1024). If there are standard view studios with roll-in showers, it's not showing them, but I'm not sure I trust its accuracy, at least at PVB. (It appears to be pretty good elsewhere.)

We have historically gone in December and June, and we will likely continue that pattern until my kids are out of college (my youngest is a HS freshman right now). We might mix in some long weekends without kids also, but family vacations will follow school schedules - we might also do some spring break trips, too (second week of March here). I understand December might be hard to book, so that's why I'm concerned with buying into the right home resort and giving ourselves the best possible chance of getting something that works at 11 months.

We're probably going to buy resale, but would it be worth my time to call and take the DVC phone "tour"? Would a salesperson be able to give me specific info about HA villas?

No, I actually would not expect you to get good info about the HA room configs from a guide.

FYI - according to Tikiman pages there are 2 standard views at PVB with roll in shower. The one in Pago Pago matches to the one we had and the other is in Tokelau. Then the third with roll in shower is a first floor lakeview in Moorea. It would be a poor Lakeview. All of them are first floor.

The BLT info you found matches up pretty well to what I found about the 5 rooms at BLT. So 1 dedicated 2 bedroom, 2 1 bedrooms and they would connect to the 2 studios.

 

[Maxwell42]

That's very helpful - I didn't know about the Tikiman pages, but they're very informative. Thank you!

Correct me if I'm wrong, but aren't the standard studios pretty bookable at 7 months during the DVC moderate season (spring and summer)? I wonder if these few HA villas would also be available at 7 months.

Do you know of any similar sites in-depth looks at BLT, BCV, and/or BWV?

 

[KAT4DISNEY]

That's very helpful - I didn't know about the Tikiman pages, but they're very informative. Thank you!

Correct me if I'm wrong, but aren't the standard studios pretty bookable at 7 months during the DVC moderate season (spring and summer)? I wonder if these few HA villas would also be available at 7 months.

Do you know of any similar sites in-depth looks at BLT, BCV, and/or BWV?

Just hard or even impossible to predict. With only 2 HA studios with roll in showers there all it takes is 2 owners who happen to want the same dates and you have a problem at 7 months. Meanwhile there are 286 other standard studios to give 7 month availability. So, yes, there could be but there just as easily might not be.

I'm unaware of any sites that have done such detailed evaluations of any other resorts.

 

[crisi]

I wonder if Disability Services would have better information on resort room configuration and how many rooms are available with each configuration at each resort? I also wouldn't expect guides to have it.

BLT rooms have the smallest square footage, which might make a wheelchair more problematic. None of the DVC rooms are huge.