VGF vs AKL 1BR availability

[mjmjbelle1023]

For those with AK as your home- what has been your experience booking a 1Br at VGF at 7 months? Has it been difficult?
And vice versa- if VGF is home how was your experience booking AKl 1Br at 7 mon. I am assuming AK at 7 mon. has WAY more availability
Background:
We prefer 1BRs. We choose to travel either end of Aug, Nov, or Dec. We’d most likely bank as we tend to go every other year 7-8 nights with maybe 1-2 nights sprinkled in between those longer trips.
We are looking at 200 pts direct at VGF, with the incentives it’s close to resale. We may also have the opportunity to buy 260 AKL resale off of friends- haven’t talked #s yet with them so that factor is pending.
Thanks.

 

[crvetter]

Your expectation is correct. AKV is much easier to book at 7 months for all room types over VGF.

I will add November and December are extremely popular DVC times so probably find switching into VGF pretty hard (and even other resorts during the time). So if being able to stay VGF ever you would need the home resort priority there more than AKV

https://www.dvcfieldguide.com/availability-tables

 

[intamin]

1BRs at either resort should be pretty easy to book at 7 months except for MAYBE VGF during December but in general as stated above the home booking priority means more at VGF than it does at AKL. I own AKL because we like Jambo House and the decorations during December which can be a little more difficult to get.

 

[mjmjbelle1023]

Your expectation is correct. AKV is much easier to book at 7 months for all room types over VGF.

I will add November and December are extremely popular DVC times so probably find switching into VGF pretty hard (and even other resorts during the time). So if being able to stay VGF ever you would need the home resort priority there more than AKV

https://www.dvcfieldguide.com/availability-tables

The only times we’d travel in Nov is first week and for Dec nothing past the 15th. We definitely wouldn’t over the holidays!

 

[Sandisw]

I bought VGF last year because we always trading in for a night or two to VGF at 7 months with our SSR ppoints.

Because of all the new studios and points that went with them, we didn’t want to risk it. We are glad we did because so far, there have been a few trips where those were indeed gone by 7 months. Including Dec this year.

So, getting AKV will be much easier than VGF on a regular basis, especially for that many nights.

 

[intamin]

The only times we’d travel in Nov is first week and for Dec nothing past the 15th. We definitely wouldn’t over the holidays!

Prime DVC travel time is the first 2 weeks of December not during Christmas just a heads up. The decorations are up and the point charts are cheaper that time.

 

[Traveling on cc points]

As others have said, it is much easier to book AKV at 7 months vs GFV.

For me, a lot would depend on how much your friend is willing to take per point for their contract. Don’t over pay with them vs what you can get from a broker. We just closed on a 100 point contract for $95 per point. I probably would offer them around $90 per point for 260 (assuming the contract has 2023 points)

Don’t forget to factor in the dues. Currently AKV is more than $1 more per point, per year than GFV
AKV $8.82
GFV $7.33

 

[mjmjbelle1023]

As others have said, it is much easier to book AKV at 7 months vs GFV.

For me, a lot would depend on how much your friend is willing to take per point for their contract. Don’t over pay with them vs what you can get from a broker. We just closed on a 100 point contract for $95 per point. I probably would offer them around $90 per point for 260 (assuming the contract has 2023 points)

Don’t forget to factor in the dues. Currently AKV is more than $1 more per point, per year than GFV
AKV $8.82
GFV $7.33

yeah AK dues would be much more per year - well i’d pay them monthly but using Target disney gift cards will get me 5% in the end!
We have to see - the GF incentives are so good it’s basically almost resale … but it’s also 60 pts less…

 

[sndral]

I own both, and usually book at 11 months for early Dec. because availability disappears fast for that first week of Dec.. I book a 1 br. at VGF & 1 or 2 br. at AKV Jambo. While it’s true that AKV is a larger resort, Jambo is not. There are 67 standard/savanna view 1 br.s + 5 club & 10 value 1 br.s at Jambo. There are 47 1 br.s at VGF.
If you are planning on 1 br.s at the larger Kidani your chances at 7 months are better.

 

[WxKristin]

I own VGF and was able to get a week of a value 1 bd in October. It did involve waitlisting one night to complete the week, but that hit around the 5 mo mark.

 

[mjmjbelle1023]

I own both, and usually book at 11 months for early Dec. because availability disappears fast for that first week of Dec.. I book a 1 br. at VGF & 1 or 2 br. at AKV Jambo. While it’s true that AKV is a larger resort, Jambo is not. There are 67 standard/savanna view 1 br.s + 5 club & 10 value 1 br.s at Jambo. There are 47 1 br.s at VGF.
If you are planning on 1 br.s at the larger Kidani your chances at 7 months are better.

I can deal with Kidani at 7 months! I don’t LOVE that it’s a shuttle away from Boma/Mara, but that pool is better IMO. And If i recall correctly their 1 BRs have 2 baths? Also, aren’t those Sav views lower floors whereas Jambo is only 5th?

 

[Her Dotness]

Given that I saw a number of members posting that they were adding VGF at the current members early onsale, I'd guess VGF would be more difficult to get anytime in November or December. One reason for that would be a desire to upgrade from a studio to a 1br--what we were eager to do. And with small VGF1 being the building with 1brs, that too.

I own both, and usually book at 11 months for early Dec. because availability disappears fast for that first week of Dec..

I suspect it may not be quite as difficult to get a 1br the first 2 weeks in December as it has been. That those pointswise cheapest weeks were shifted to the first two weeks in May this year may reduce some of the demand in early December. Probably negligibly as popular as the holiday season is for DVCers.

However, if seeing GF/VGF1 holiday decorations is of interest, OP, you won't see any to speak of at either the GF itself or VGF1 that early in November. We generally go the week before Thanksgiving. I've often left disappointed because the GF was last on the decorations schedule that year. I'm sad enough having to leave our Disney home, but getting to see only the crew moving GF lobby furniture to put up the tree is insult atop injury.

 

[sndral]

I can deal with Kidani at 7 months! I don’t LOVE that it’s a shuttle away from Boma/Mara, but that pool is better IMO. And If i recall correctly their 1 BRs have 2 baths? Also, aren’t those Sav views lower floors whereas Jambo is only 5th?

Yes, the Jambo villas are on the 5th floor (club on 6th) and are smaller than Kidani’s 1 br.s & Kidani’s 1 br.s have 2 bathrooms whereas Jambo 1 br.s only have 1 bathroom. Lots of reasons to opt for Kidani & as you noted they aren’t that far apart especially if you are on the end of Kidani that’s closest to Jambo & the small shuttle bus runs nonstop between the 2 buildings.

 

[mjmjbelle1023]

Given that I saw a number of members posting that they were adding VGF at the current members early onsale, I'd guess VGF would be more difficult to get anytime in November or December. One reason for that would be a desire to upgrade from a studio to a 1br--what we were eager to do. And with small VGF1 being the building with 1brs, that too.



I suspect it may not be quite as difficult to get a 1br the first 2 weeks in December as it has been. That those pointswise cheapest weeks were shifted to the first two weeks in May this year may reduce some of the demand in early December. Probably negligibly as popular as the holiday season is for DVCers.

However, if seeing GF/VGF1 holiday decorations is of interest, OP, you won't see any to speak of at either the GF itself or VGF1 that early in November. We generally go the week before Thanksgiving. I've often left disappointed because the GF was last on the decorations schedule that year. I'm sad enough having to leave our Disney home, but getting to see only the crew moving GF lobby furniture to put up the tree is insult atop injury.

Thanks! I don’t go in Nov with the expectation of resort decor.