SO Confused please read and comment

[Hazzard101]

The points per stay are higher at BLT than at AKV. The money you save on dues you make up for in the points it takes to stay.

The pool and play area is also going to be a great attribute along with the savanna. You mentioned children I think the Animals and water fun center are a plus. I would also tell you about the story time around the fire pit where the CMs tell the children real African folk tales. There are morning safaris that are exclusive to AKV.

All in all these were the selling points for us. The Rooms are also bigger than At BLT. Our guide tried to sell us on BLT to the very end.

When we saw him the first time about 6 months before we bought. His sales pitch was you should buy where you want to stay. That was before BLT was up for sale. Six months later it was a different story.

We were set on AKV and called to buy and he tried to change our order to BLT telling us that we don't have to stay there we can stay anywhere. He also tried to feed us the line of bull that BLT was a better buy for the money, the dues are cheeper, blah, blah, blah.

When it all comes down to it. Sit down with both the point charts side by side and plan your first 2 trips as a DVC member. Do your homework That will tell you point wise what you will need. There is a great 360% room view of all the resort rooms to give you another angle. http://dvc.disney.go.com/dvc/guest/resorts/resortOverview?id=ProspectsResortsOverviewPage click on the resort yo want to view and go to the 360 room view link
Whatever you decide, you will not be disappointed.

 

[alice99]

I'm still not getting how the same size unit would be 458 points at AKV and only 281 at BLT?

I looked at the point charts and I just don't see it. If this is correct, could somebody please enlighten me?

You are misunderstanding the meaning of the sentence.

There are 458 UNITS (ROOMS) that are designated as DVC units, other villas are cash rentals @ AKV.

There are 281 UNITS (ROOMS) that are designated as DVC units, other villas are cash rentals @ BLT.

Therefore it is easier to get a unit @ AKV 7 months out.
SO, you NEED the benefit of home resort @ BLT, more than AKV, because there are not so many units available.

 

[alice99]

It is not the points it is the number of rooms that are dvc rooms.

thanks.

You are misunderstanding the meaning of the sentence.

There are 458 UNITS (ROOMS) that are designated as DVC units, other villas are cash rentals @ AKV.

There are 281 UNITS (ROOMS) that are designated as DVC units, other villas are cash rentals @ BLT.

Therefore it is easier to get a unit @ AKV 7 months out.
SO, you NEED the benefit of home resort @ BLT, more than AKV, because there are not so many units available.

SORRY, I totally OVEREXPLAINED!

 

[Debrn]

We have chosen BLT. My kids really wanted BLT. We spend most of our time at MK and Epcot so it will be great. We will try AKL for a few days next trip and my purchase AKL add on in the future. Yeah!!!!!!!!

:dancerdhirate:ds 6,dd 9

 

[maburke]

The points per stay are higher at BLT than at AKV. The money you save on dues you make up for in the points it takes to stay.

Right. The fees are lower at BLT because there are more total points owned by members to spread the costs over. There are more total points owned by members because it takes more points to stay there.

 

[going/again]

Right. The fees are lower at BLT because there are more total points owned by members to spread the costs over. There are more total points owned by members because it takes more points to stay there.

If that were right wouldnt the bigger resorts have even lower fees, I think its the footprint of BLT is smaller, less to look after and maintain.

 

[Deb & Bill]

You are misunderstanding the meaning of the sentence.

There are 458 UNITS (ROOMS) that are designated as DVC units, other villas are cash rentals @ AKV.

There are 281 UNITS (ROOMS) that are designated as DVC units, other villas are cash rentals @ BLT.

Therefore it is easier to get a unit @ AKV 7 months out.
SO, you NEED the benefit of home resort @ BLT, more than AKV, because there are not so many units available.

Only about 2% of the villas are kept by DVC for breakage, etc. So ultimately all the villas except for that small percentage will be available for points stays.

The number of units available doesn't matter. For example VWL is one of the smallest resorts. Sometimes it's easy to get a villa; other times, like Christmas time, it's hard.

At 7 months or less out, it's going to harder and harder to get any villa (or change your reservation to another resort) because, while the number of villas has increased, so have the number of members.

So before, you had 100 villas available for 100 members. Now you have 500 villas available for 500 members.

To the OP, buy where, if you made a reservation during home resort time (7-11 months out) and you couldn't change it, you would be happy staying.

We own at OKW and VWL. If I couldn't get anywhere else to stay but OKW and VWL, I would still be happy. If I really want to stay at BLT, I'll have to try during a less busy time. But if I think I can get Spring Break at a non-home resort, I'd better think again. It might happen, but I wouldn't count on it all the time.

 

[Deb & Bill]

If that were right wouldnt the bigger resorts have even lower fees, I think its the footprint of BLT is smaller, less to look after and maintain.

It's not just the building and the grounds, it's what is connected to the resort. Like a marina, restaurants, monorail and other transportation.

 

[Tara]

A reason dues at BLT are lower is because the points per night is much higher. A week at AKV during dream season in a savannah view studio for 2010 is 119, a BLT bay lake studio is 137, MK view is 167. So bay lake view is 15% more, MK view is 40% more.

Exactly. And the subsidy is very small - 0.05 per point.

 

[maburke]

If that were right wouldnt the bigger resorts have even lower fees, I think its the footprint of BLT is smaller, less to look after and maintain.

No, because what I mean is that if you take a particular villa, say, lake view studio at BLT compared to savannah view studio at AKV-Kidani, the number of points to reserve that room for a year is about 20% higher at BLT. So 20% more points are sold that are responsible for maintaining that room (if you will), so it costs less per point. The footprint thing is true, too, but I think the point difference is a major contributor to lower fees at BLT and VGC.

 

[SCDizneyDawn]

Debrn,

Congrats on your decision! WELCOME HOME

 

[kimberh]

We have chosen BLT. My kids really wanted BLT. We spend most of our time at MK and Epcot so it will be great. We will try AKL for a few days next trip and my purchase AKL add on in the future. Yeah!!!!!!!!

:dancerdhirate:ds 6,dd 9

Congratulation!!!!

 

[Tara]

We have chosen BLT. My kids really wanted BLT. We spend most of our time at MK and Epcot so it will be great. We will try AKL for a few days next trip and my purchase AKL add on in the future. Yeah!!!!!!!!

:dancerdhirate:ds 6,dd 9

Excellent choice! Welcome home, neighbor!

 

[SunnieRN]

Congratulations and welcome home!! If you look at my signature you will know I understand your delimna!

 

[Dean]

I'd like to correct one misperception. The size of the resort really isn't very important to availability other than at day 1 11 months out. After that it's simply the demand of a given resort and unit type compared to the others. I don't think BLT will generally be hard to get at 7 months out once the new is off but certain options and view likely will hard to get, but that remains to be seen for certain.

 

[puntagordabob]

We have chosen BLT. My kids really wanted BLT. We spend most of our time at MK and Epcot so it will be great. We will try AKL for a few days next trip and my purchase AKL add on in the future. Yeah!!!!!!!!

:dancerdhirate:ds 6,dd 9

Gratz! I think BLT is an excellent choice!!! Welcome Home!

 

[tjkraz]

If that were right wouldnt the bigger resorts have even lower fees, I think its the footprint of BLT is smaller, less to look after and maintain.

The smaller footprint of BLT may play some role, but the biggest factor in the lower dues is the higher point charts.

If you have a resort with an operating budget + taxes + reserves of $5 mil per year and there are 1 mil points in circulation, each point pays $5 per year in dues.

But if you have 1.25 million points and that same $5 mil budget, each owner only pays $4 per point in dues.

Comparatively speaking, the point charts at BLT are noticeably higher than all other resorts. Those higher charts means DVC has more points to sell. More points sold means each point pays a smaller portion of the dues.

The number of units available doesn't matter. For example VWL is one of the smallest resorts. Sometimes it's easy to get a villa; other times, like Christmas time, it's hard.

At 7 months or less out, it's going to harder and harder to get any villa (or change your reservation to another resort) because, while the number of villas has increased, so have the number of members.

So before, you had 100 villas available for 100 members. Now you have 500 villas available for 500 members.

The number of rooms available definitely will have an impact on 7-month availability.

If you have a resort with 200 rooms and its owners typically book it to 75% capacity before the 7-month window, there will be 50 rooms available to non-owners.

But if you have a resort with 500 rooms booked to 75% capacity, there will be 125 rooms available at 7 months.

All things being equal, larger resorts should be easier to get into at 7 months than smaller resorts. Of course, smaller room categories like AKV Value and Concierge or BLT MK and Standard View will probably be favored by owners and difficult to get at 7 months.

 

[maburke]

The smaller footprint of BLT may play some role, but the biggest factor in the lower dues is the higher point charts.

If you have a resort with an operating budget + taxes + reserves of $5 mil per year and there are 1 mil points in circulation, each point pays $5 per year in dues.

But if you have 1.25 million points and that same $5 mil budget, each owner only pays $4 per point in dues.

Thank you for explaining that clearly; I completely failed to do so.

Comparatively speaking, the point charts at BLT are noticeably higher than all other resorts.

On this part I have to disagree. I think VGC is similar in point values.

 

[Debrn]

Thanks can't wait for our first trip home.

 

[tjkraz]

On this part I have to disagree. I think VGC is similar in point values.

You're right--I should have said that BLT was noticeably higher than every resort which preceded it. VGC came after BLT and followed a similar pattern. That's why VGC has the same low dues basis when compared with resorts like AKV and BWV which are about 25% higher per point, per year than BLT or VGC.