Vgf or poly or blt

[rymahoney]

1st post in a long time. looking to take my family between Thanksgiving and Christmas next year. Which studio do you recommend from a point perspective and room perspective. It will be my wife and I. Daughter 6 and daughter 3. Want to stay on monorail. Thanks glad to be back on the dis.

 

[BillPA]

With 4 people, Poly will give you more space

 

[Minniesgal]

I wouldn't stay at BLT in a studio with 4 but either of the other 2 would be fine

 

[wdrl]

Assuming you will be trying to book when the seven month window opens for your trip, I very much doubt that VGF will have any studios available during your travel dates. If you want to travel during late November and Christmas and stay at VGF, then you need to book as close to the 11 month window as possible.

The same is true with BLT Standard View, which would be your cheapest option, points-wise, at the three monorail resorts. Even BLT's Theme Park View could be very iffy at the seven month mark.

That will leave you with only two options at the seven month window: BLT Lake View or PVB studios. With PVB being so new, its hard to predict whether its Lake View category will have strong demand before the seven month window opens. However, I doubt it because there are 72 Lake View studios at PVB and, at least through 2016, much more of PVB will be declared and available for DVC bookings than what has been actually sold to PVB owners (Note: right now 40.7% of PVB has been declared but only 18.2% has been sold).

PVB Standard View is just a little bit cheaper than what BLT Lake View will cost you during the Adventure Season, but PVB Lake View is much higher. PVB will offer you more space. Plus, PVB has the pull down Murphy bed, so you actually have three beds in the PVB studio to accommodate your family of four. At BLT, you only have the queen bed and the sleeper sofa, so it will have to be two in the bed, two in the sofa.

 

[rymahoney]

I will ever attempting to book at 11 month window. So everything will hopefully be an option.

 

[rymahoney]

My plan may not work to book right at 11 month window because I need 9 nights so I have to Waite a couple days. I'm assuming poly and vgf standard studios won't be available a couple days after 11 month window.

 

[_auroraborealis_]

Are you trying to rent points at the 11-month window? Not a lot of VGF owners are renting their points, so you'd have to get very lucky to find someone with an 11-month booking window and VGF home resort for the busiest season of the year.

Booking Poly via a rental agency is also uncommon at 11-months, simply because there aren't as many Poly owners yet, most are brand new and still high on DVC and using their own points instead of brokering them. Most DVC rentals to the Poly are booked at 7 months on non-Poly points.

 

[Minniesgal]

My plan may not work to book right at 11 month window because I need 9 nights so I have to Waite a couple days. I'm assuming poly and vgf standard studios won't be available a couple days after 11 month window.

Why wait two days, book 7 nights as soon as the 11 month window opens and then add the tow days when they open.

Where is your home resort?

 

[rymahoney]

We are renting pts to see if we like dvc prior to buying.

 

[Minniesgal]

We are renting pts to see if we like dvc prior to buying.

In that case it will most likely be BLT you should go for. Highly unlikely that VGF owners will rent there points at 11 months and most Poly owners have just bought theirs so not too likely either. I'd plan on BLT but consider a 1 bedroom for 4 the BLT studio is tiny

 

[rymahoney]

Studio is all that is in the budget. Our girls are 6 and 3 so it should be okay. I think I will try vgf and then go to blt. Or I could take a chance and try poly at 7 month window not sure I should risk it. If I Waite and 7 months is full we will have to book moderate thru Disney which would defeat the trial purpose.

 

[_auroraborealis_]

It might be 7 months even to try to rent BLT. The most common points in the rental market are for the older resorts. You're talking the three newest resorts, here, in high season.

 

[Minniesgal]

Honestly I wouldn't waste time trying VGF at thanksgiving. Even owners can't all get studios at that time as there are not enough for all that want. For renters it honestly isn't going to happen. I'd go straight to BLT if possible.

You'd have more luck at AKV, SSR or OKW. You current plan it to rent the most popular resorts at the peak time of year which is gonna be difficult

 

[_auroraborealis_]

We are renting pts to see if we like dvc prior to buying.

I see a lot of things to consider in this statement.

• You want to rent one of the three newest resorts during the most popular season of the year.
• In general, if you're trying-before-buying, you should try the resort you intend as home resort.
  • BLT and VGF are no longer being sold (or waitlisted, seemingly) direct
  • Neither are especially common on the resale market.
  • Poly is the easiest of these three to buy right now.

The points most easily purchased either direct or resale would not guarantee you high season bookings at VGF or BLT. VGF only has 47 studios, so if the goal is to eventually buy enough DVC points for a studio (assuming that studio purchase is what you mean when you say "Studio is all that is in the budget"), you likely would be in the 7 month pool for other resorts even with VGF points.

I suggest doing a lot of research, because right now it simply isn't easy to end up with home resort at either BLT or VGF, and even with home resort at VGF studios are a tough booking most of the year and if you get VGF resale points, you might still be mostly looking at waitlists and eventually booking another resort at 7 months for most of your ownership.

 

[rymahoney]

We are not concerned with staying where we would have to buy. We really just want to see if studio size is good for us as kids get older. Dealing with lack of room cleaning service throughout the stay. Just the experience overall. I have done research that say rooms get worn down and tons of positives to dvc. So we just want to experience it for ourselves. As far as what we will buy? Resale or from Disney all cards are on the table and that decision could be a year away if we decide to do it.

 

[KAT4DISNEY]

We are not concerned with staying where we would have to buy. We really just want to see if studio size is good for us as kids get older. Dealing with lack of room cleaning service throughout the stay. Just the experience overall. I have done research that say rooms get worn down and tons of positives to dvc. So we just want to experience it for ourselves. As far as what we will buy? Resale or from Disney all cards are on the table and that decision could be a year away if we decide to do it.

The studios at those 3 resorts are all a bit different than studios at the other DVC resorts so something to keep in mind.

BLT has the smallest living area but one good sized bathroom and a large galley kitchenette. VGF has a split bathroom in the studios and will have a twin murphy bed plus the pull out sofa bed and queen sized bed. PVB is somewhat similar to VGF but has the largest living area, the twin murphy bed, queen sleeper sofa and queen bed plus a shower room with sink and a regular bathroom. IMO none give a great representation for what the other resorts will be like. But if you are happy all staying in a regular hotel room then the studios will likely be fine.

Personally, if part of this is to consider buying DVC I'd look at staying at whichever of those 3 resorts you think you might be most likely to want to own at. You'll get the general DVC experience and also to try out one you might want to own at. If it's a toss up I'd select PVB or BLT to give a slightly better idea of what DVC in general is like. VGF has things like bathrobes and more upscale toiletries because of it's association with GF but no other WDW DVC resorts have that.

 

[_auroraborealis_]

The monorail resorts are the 3 newest DVC, so they have their own quirks versus some of the other DVC studios.

They also may not be readily available when you want to book depending on the points you buy to book with.

A good look at the existing resorts studio availability in the recent past is here: http://www.disboards.com/threads/pr...-some-1-bedrooms-vgc-update-10-21-15.3419112/

Depending on when you typically travel, it may be informative.

 

[rymahoney]

That is helpful. Thank you