Where to buy and how many points?

[Frederic Civish]

We have spent a couple of weeks there at a time and certainly did not feel like we were missing anything like that. We have tended to feel like it is a real destination in and of itself and we like that it is a little removed. Really though I think the bus distance comments are sometimes a little overblown. I don't find them too bad. Your really close to AK and pretty close to HS and Epcot. Even the ride to MK is not too bad. I guess it's just preferences and priorities. I would take the bus over park walk access to have a resort on an actual Savannah but I know others love being able to walk back to their resort after a long park day

If you go look at the websites that track ACTUAL TRAVEL TIMES to and from each resort and the parks, you will find that the reality is that AKV has one of the best travel times overall. The bus generally comes to Kidani first, and then to Jambo House, but after that the buses are almost all 'dedicated' buses and they don't go through other resorts on the way to your location. This is different from many other resorts, which share buses. For instance the Epcot/Crescent Lake resorts usually share buses, giving more stops, and not quick stops, either. Add to that the fact that walking to Epcot or Hollywood Studios isn't so fun in the rain, and you can see that those resorts aren't always so great. And there are also many other resorts where the bus has to travel through multiple stops WITHIN the resort. Each stop adds up to a few minutes, on an average. Add to that the fact that the Monorail is actually one of the slowest ways to get to Epcot, and often not so great to the Magic Kingdom, because of crowding, and you will see that Animal Kingdom Lodges are actually superior, most of the time, in travel convenience and travel times.

 

[MamaBear12]

If you go look at the websites that track ACTUAL TRAVEL TIMES to and from each resort and the parks, you will find that the reality is that AKV has one of the best travel times overall. The bus generally comes to Kidani first, and then to Jambo House, but after that the buses are almost all 'dedicated' buses and they don't go through other resorts on the way to your location. This is different from many other resorts, which share buses. For instance the Epcot/Crescent Lake resorts usually share buses, giving more stops, and not quick stops, either. Add to that the fact that walking to Epcot or Hollywood Studios isn't so fun in the rain, and you can see that those resorts aren't always so great. And there are also many other resorts where the bus has to travel through multiple stops WITHIN the resort. Each stop adds up to a few minutes, on an average. Add to that the fact that the Monorail is actually one of the slowest ways to get to Epcot, and often not so great to the Magic Kingdom, because of crowding, and you will see that Animal Kingdom Lodges are actually superior, most of the time, in travel convenience and travel times.

Thanks for putting this into perspective!

 

[gharter]

Nobody can tell you where to buy.
There are 2 camps. One says buy where you don't mind staying and may be able to trade out of at 7 months. The other says buy where you want to stay. Depending on the time of year you are traveling, trading at 7 months can be easy or nearly impossible.

 

[Matty B13]

With the way that DVC is restricting resale contracts, I think the "buy where you want to stay" is the safest bet right now, the priority booking at your home resort is something they can't take away from the owners of the resort.

 

[Frederic Civish]

Nobody can tell you where to buy.
There are 2 camps. One says buy where you don't mind staying and may be able to trade out of at 7 months. The other says buy where you want to stay. Depending on the time of year you are traveling, trading at 7 months can be easy or nearly impossible.

Luckily, AKV is one of the best places to buy, because it has a good combination of desirable quality resort, long contract duration, and low price. On the resale market, it usually isn't priced much higher per point than OKW or SSR, but I think if you asked most people, it is a more popular resort than those (though EVERY resort is great quality and each has its own points). It also is listed by some of the Rental Brokers as a 'Premium' resort, which means that they pay an additional $1 per point for rental points, in comparison to SSR, OKV, HHI, VB and Aulani. I own at AKV, BLT and Poly, and of all of them, AKV is my favorite, by far. IF I ever decide to purchase any additional points (to add to the 8 contracts I have) it will almost certainly be at AKV.

So, AKV is a good place to 'Buy where you want to stay.'

 

[igrsod]

You sound pretty much like us when we bought last year this time. We purchased at AKL Dec use year and have LOVED every minute of it. Since purchasing, we have done a weekend at Beach Club, a week at OKW, a long weekend at OKW and coming up a long weekend at AKL. We don't regret it at all. We've had no trouble getting rooms that we are very happy with at the 7 or 11 month point. Actually the week at OKW was booked less than 7 months as our contract purchase didn't go through until the spring and we went the first week of September. Anyways, my advice is to buy 200 points at AKL. That's plenty to do what you want with and staying at AKL if that's all you can book as your home resort is no punishment, and if you want to see what else is available at 7 months out, you can switch. You will have a longer contract, and the price at AKL resale is quite reasonable.
I'm excited for you.... you're going to love it.

 

[MamaBear12]

Nobody can tell you where to buy.
There are 2 camps. One says buy where you don't mind staying and may be able to trade out of at 7 months. The other says buy where you want to stay. Depending on the time of year you are traveling, trading at 7 months can be easy or nearly impossible.

I think we fall more into the first camp. We like staying at different resorts, so I’d rather go with one of the less expensive resorts that we would enjoy staying at and then trade out when possible. Realistically, I know a Dec or early January trip will have to be at our home resort and booked at 11 months, but summer we’ll likely have more flexibility to trade out. If we find at some point we want/need the 11-month advantage at a certain resort, we’ll buy a contract there.

 

[rg35]

Thanks for the recommendation! You don’t feel too “remote” staying there, not having quick access to the BW or DS? I know there are buses and restaurants and all that, so of course you’re not really that far away. Just curious what a longer stay there feels like.

We always have a car - either a rental or because we drive down from NYC so that's not a huge issue for us simply because we can jump in the car and get wherever pretty quickly.

That said, AKV is extremely close to AK, and pretty close to DHS and Epcot. Obviously it's not walkable like BWV or BCV, and it's not a monorail resort, but I don't really feel like it's too far from much. In terms of being "far" from things, it's really only far from MK and Disney Springs, in terms of legitimate travel time. But we have taken the bus from AKV to MK and it wasn't bad.

It's never been a big deal for our group to stay somewhere where we can see the castle all the time, etc., so I guess that's another consideration.

We do stay at OKW fairly regularly as well and we do like it there. I'd just say that given their internal bus system, depending on where you are staying and what stop you get on there, you could spend the same amount of time (or more) on a bus than you would simply traveling directly from AKV to somewhere.

 

[MamaBear12]

We always have a car - either a rental or because we drive down from NYC so that's not a huge issue for us simply because we can jump in the car and get wherever pretty quickly.

That said, AKV is extremely close to AK, and pretty close to DHS and Epcot. Obviously it's not walkable like BWV or BCV, and it's not a monorail resort, but I don't really feel like it's too far from much. In terms of being "far" from things, it's really only far from MK and Disney Springs, in terms of legitimate travel time. But we have taken the bus from AKV to MK and it wasn't bad.

It's never been a big deal for our group to stay somewhere where we can see the castle all the time, etc., so I guess that's another consideration.

We do stay at OKW fairly regularly as well and we do like it there. I'd just say that given their internal bus system, depending on where you are staying and what stop you get on there, you could spend the same amount of time (or more) on a bus than you would simply traveling directly from AKV to somewhere.

Thanks! While we would love to stay at Monorail and Epcot area resorts at some point, it's not a must for every trip, so I don't want to pay the premium to stay there. We typically have a rental as well, so you've eased my mind regarding location/transportation concerns of AKV.