Trying to get a bit of an idea about the DVC resorts

[jberry5]

I have never been to any of the DVC properties and am wondering how the resorts stack up against other WDW resorts. Is it safe to assume the Wilderness Lodge Villas are similar to the Wilderness Lodge and Old Key West similar to Port Orleans Riverside? We have stayed at the following:

All-Star Sports
Port Orleans Riverside
Grand Floridian
Pop Century

And we've checked out:

Wilderness Lodge
Polynesian
Contemporary

 

[crisi]

I wouldn't say it is.

I'd look at photos of the resorts and rooms. VWL/BWV and BCV share their public space with their associated hotels, but the rooms themselves are quite different - and the Villas are seperated from the "main" hotel."

I think OKW is most like CBR in flavor - but its a superficial comparision

Here is a studio at VWL:
http://www.allearsnet.com/acc/wlv52.jpg

Here is a room at WL:
http://www.allearsnet.com/acc/wl35.jpg

Boardwalk Villas Studio:

http://www.allearsnet.com/acc/bwstudio16.jpg

Room at Boardwalk:
http://www.allearsnet.com/acc/bwi2.jpg

The couches in the Villas a full (?) pullouts.

 

[chalee94]

depends on what exactly you mean.

staying at the wilderness lodge villas means you're roughly the same distance from artist point as someone staying at the wilderness lodge...and have the same access to the pool and boat rides to MK. but a studio at WLV has one queen bed and one pullout sofa bed, instead of the WL setup of 2 queens or 1 king. room sizes and in-room amenities may also be different - WLV studios are a hair (15 sq ft) larger than a standard WL room and all WLV rooms come with at least a small fridge and coffeemaker...staying at a 1BR at the WLV includes a washer/dryer and jacuzzi tub.

if you're mostly asking about theming, i'd recommend scanning through the following links:

DIS resort pic of the day

DIS resort ROOM pic of the day

wdwinfo resort info and pics

official disney site links

 

[jberry5]

Thank you both. Really going back and forth on this potential decision. I greatly appreciate the links, especially to the picture of the Boardwalk studio, as that's the property that always "jumps" out at me when I see the point schedules.

 

[JimMIA]

Thank you both. Really going back and forth on this potential decision. I greatly appreciate the links, especially to the picture of the Boardwalk studio, as that's the property that always "jumps" out at me when I see the point schedules.

If BWV jumps out at you because of points, you are probably looking at the "standard" accommodations. Understand that you probably will not get those low points unless you are an BWV owner and book early in the 11-month window. There are only a few of those and they are the first to go.

OKW and some of the AKV accommodations have similar points pricing to the standard accommodations at BWV. Of the three, you are much more likely to get lower points costs at OKW, just because of the size of the resort.

 

[crisi]

There are a lot of really good photos out on the net. Suite Disney I think has some of the best, in my opinion (they aren't linkable from here). Also, pay attention to the resort maps - I think understanding the layout of the resort can be important when you are talking a long term decision.

 

[szymcl]

I think the resorts are similar. For example, Port Orleans Riverside, which was our absolute favorite resort before DVC, is set up a lot like Old Key West and Saratoga, where you park close to your unit and have bus stops all over the resort. When we have a car, I love staying at one of those.
We always loved the refillable mugs, which Saratoga has, just like Port Orlean, and I understand Old Key West finally put one in by the main pool?
Boardwalk, Beach Club and Villas of Wilderness Lodge are more fun for us when we are flying in and taking the Magical Express. Remote parking lots make it harder to access your car, although they do have valet parking.
That said, we went to Port Orleans for a visit on our last trip, (it was Dixie Landings the last time we stayed there,) and it was still amazing. I own at BWV and Vero Beach, btw. Of course we waited to join until our kids were in their late teens, I wish we had done it sooner!

 

[Mickey'sApprentice]

Thank you both. Really going back and forth on this potential decision. I greatly appreciate the links, especially to the picture of the Boardwalk studio, as that's the property that always "jumps" out at me when I see the point schedules.

We love that the standard points for the beautiful BWV are "on par" with OKW. Very sensible.

We are staying 4 nights in January (Friday-Monday). With few points, we had to either reserve OKW or BWV Standard, or not go at all.

We were thrilled to get 3 nights standard studio and 1 night boardwalk studio. Even though we reserved 4 months out, I am glad to have the flexibility to do this 11 months in advance.


In my biased opinion, I really can't figure out why anyone would purchase anywhere else.

 

[nuts]

In my biased opinion, I really can't figure out why anyone would purchase anywhere else.

Dems fightin words son

 

[CarolMN]

Dems fightin words son

Yes, but let's give him a break. After all, apprentices are usually young and inexperienced (even when they happen to be correct )

 

[DisDaydreamer]

I think perhaps comparing theming to theming or even public amenities won't answer the what's different question. I think crisi is right to direct you to the rooms. Especially when you consider a 1bdrm or more. Maybe you are not aware there are 1, 2, and 3 bedroom units in DVC. Once you move up to a 1 bdrm you have your own laundry, a full kitchen, jet tub & seperate shower and the toilet and a sink separated from the larger part of the bath area. You have 2 or more TVs. I can't remember at this point whether the disney rooms typically have a balcony. Port Orleans Riverside aka.. Dixie Landings was our favorite resort before DVC also. One thing we do miss with the DVC resorts is the food court type of arrangements.

Be careful... once you experience the 1bdrm+ of DVC it is hard to turn back... even to a DVC studio, which still has bar sink, refridgerator and microwave (can't remember if the Disney rooms have that either).

At some point you should at least experience a DVC stay. So you can know for yourself what is best for you.

 

[DisDaydreamer]

Yes, but let's give him a break. After all, apprentices are usually young and inexperienced (even when they happen to be correct )

I think the temps just went up a couple degrees.

 

[jberry5]

Thank you all. Another issue I thought about today is our upcoming trip in the Fall of 2008. Let's say that we did purchase DVC, and got a room at the Villas at Wilderness Lodge. My in-laws, and possibly my parents will also be going on this trip. If they book at Wilderness Lodge, are their rooms and ours going to be close at all? I have no idea if DVC rooms and regular rooms are located in the same building or not? DW's & my only experience there, was we ate at Whispering Canyon earlier this month, and really loved the lobby, pool area, etc.

 

[salmoneous]

My in-laws, and possibly my parents will also be going on this trip. If they book at Wilderness Lodge, are their rooms and ours going to be close at all?

If they were close, would that be a good thing, or bad?

The Villas are in a separate building next door to the main lodge - a short covered walkway connects them. A room at the VWL will never be super close to a room in the WL. But it could end up being closer to a room at the WL than some rooms at the WL are to each other.

Here's an satellite view - green room = WL; red roof = VWL.

http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=...81.572371&spn=0.005002,0.007296&t=k&z=17&om=0

 

[DisDaydreamer]

Thank you all. Another issue I thought about today is our upcoming trip in the Fall of 2008. Let's say that we did purchase DVC, and got a room at the Villas at Wilderness Lodge. My in-laws, and possibly my parents will also be going on this trip. If they book at Wilderness Lodge, are their rooms and ours going to be close at all? I have no idea if DVC rooms and regular rooms are located in the same building or not? DW's & my only experience there, was we ate at Whispering Canyon earlier this month, and really loved the lobby, pool area, etc.

Ok... first.... your inlaws... and your parents... Frankly, I don't want them all together... It is best to be a bit removed... What I see now is your desire to include all the parents... don't do it... please yourself and your wife (and children) You will never be able to please all the parents....


Ok... I've gone on a rant again and gone over the edge again.., but I do this from time to time.

Sorry if I upset anyone.

 

[dianeschlicht]

Thank you all. Another issue I thought about today is our upcoming trip in the Fall of 2008. Let's say that we did purchase DVC, and got a room at the Villas at Wilderness Lodge. My in-laws, and possibly my parents will also be going on this trip. If they book at Wilderness Lodge, are their rooms and ours going to be close at all? I have no idea if DVC rooms and regular rooms are located in the same building or not? DW's & my only experience there, was we ate at Whispering Canyon earlier this month, and really loved the lobby, pool area, etc.

If you WANT everyone to be together, get a 3 bedroom GV at OKW and enjoy the amenities of all that space. Each group will then have their own bedroom and bathroom, but the group as a whole will have a full size kitchen, dining room, living room, laundry room plus extra bathroom and a huge porch all to share. Each bedroom (except the master) will have two real beds, and there will be a pull out queen sized sofa bed in the living room. You and your family could have the master suite (with it's Jacuzzi tub, full seperate shower and two pedestal sinks) plus the 3/4 bath with shower in the hall. Your "guests" would each have one of two upstairs bedrooms. Each with its own bath and either 2 queen or 2 full sized beds.

 

[Mickey'sApprentice]

I let my DW post on this topic and I get sent to Mickey's boardroom. Yes, there are different resorts for different tastes. We decided BWV was best for us. We intend on going to the other DVC resorts before long. Our first DVC trip was to HHI during thanksgiving weeekend 2006. We loved it there and plan on going back at some point.

 

[crisi]

If they were close, would that be a good thing, or bad?

The Villas are in a separate building next door to the main lodge - a short covered walkway connects them. A room at the VWL will never be super close to a room in the WL. But it could end up being closer to a room at the WL than some rooms at the WL are to each other.

Here's an satellite view - green room = WL; red roof = VWL.

http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=...81.572371&spn=0.005002,0.007296&t=k&z=17&om=0

There are two kinds of DVC resorts

Standalone DVC resorts - OKW and SSR have no "regular" rooms - you can usually book rooms through CRO however for cash. These have exterior hallways, several buildings. The OKW buildings feel a little like CBR (but I think its a fairly superficial comparison - the SSR buildings are larger.

"Hotel" DVC resorts - BCV, BWV and VWL share public space with their respective resorts - however the Villas are seperated from the hotel, not interspersed. At BCV they are tucked towards Epcot off the side of the BC. At Boardwalk they are one half of the resort (but I can't remember which way the resort points - the half away from Epcot and closer to MGM) And salmoneous has provided the VWL location. Once again, you can generally book DVC rooms for cash.

With the size of Disney resorts in general, Disney doesn't guarantee you'll end up "close" - my parents stayed at WL years ago with us and Disney said they put us close - one floor apart and a long hike down the hallway. Even two DVC rooms can be quite distant. They'll try if they can - but a WL room will not be very close to a VWL room no matter what.

 

[jberry5]

Thank you for the responses. I figured that might be the case with proximity. When we went in '05 and stayed at GF, my inlaws also went and we had adjoining rooms and loved it. Really worked out nice for everyone, sometimes they were ready to head back and would take DS with them, to give DW and I some time by ourselves, and it also gave us time to relax in the evenings together with them.

 

[crisi]

Thank you for the responses. I figured that might be the case with proximity. When we went in '05 and stayed at GF, my inlaws also went and we had adjoining rooms and loved it. Really worked out nice for everyone, sometimes they were ready to head back and would take DS with them, to give DW and I some time by ourselves, and it also gave us time to relax in the evenings together with them.

We've travelled with Grandma on occation - we get a two bedroom - put the grandparents in the second bedroom, take the master for ourselves, and put our two kids on the hideabed. Takes points, but we don't treat that often.

There are no connecting studios with DVC.