Which DVC resort for park convenience?

[ShanF]

Good Morning!
I am excited to plan our next trip - I am having a hard time deciding which DVC resort would be best for our family. We will be staying in a studio - 2 adults and 2 kids, ages 7 and 9.
I am most interested in travel convenience to the parks. I am leaning towards the Beach Club Villas or Boardwalk villas b/c of the easy access to Epcot and Hollywood Studios.
As far as busing to the parks, which resort has the best travel time? do they stop at other resorts along the way?
Any help or tips are greatly appreciated!!

 

[drusba]

BWV and BCV give you the ability to walk to Epcot and Studios (although particularly for BCV that is a long walk to Studios), from BLT you can walk to MK and it is a fairly quick trip to Epcot (two monorails).

As far as busses are concerned: we have found AKV to actually be better than any since most everything is a direct shot without sharing with other resorts and not having more than two stops at the resort. BWV is one of the worst for MK and AK, sharing with S/D and sometimes with YC/BC/BCV and more than any other I have found it to have problems particularly when departing MK when sometimes there are very long times between busses (have had more waits than I could ever care for in excess of 45 minutes). BCV to and from MK or AK is usually OK when it is just the YC/BC stops but awful when it is also doing the run with S/D and BW. BLT shares busses to Studios and AK with other MK resorts and thus trips can be long.

 

[ShanF]

BWV and BCV give you the ability to walk to Epcot and Studios (although particularly for BCV that is a long walk to Studios), from BLT you can walk to MK and it is a fairly quick trip to Epcot (two monorails).

As far as busses are concerned: we have found AKV to actually be better than any since most everything is a direct shot without sharing with other resorts and not having more than two stops at the resort. BWV is one of the worst for MK and AK, sharing with S/D and sometimes with YC/BC/BCV and more than any other I have found it to have problems particularly when departing MK when sometimes there are very long times between busses (have had more waits than I could ever care for in excess of 45 minutes). BCV to and from MK or AK is usually OK when it is just the YC/BC stops but awful when it is also doing the run with S/D and BW. BLT shares busses to Studios and AK with other MK resorts and thus trips can be long.

thanks so much for your tips. our last trip was last march and we stayed at POFQ and had a great experience with the busing to the parks b/c it didn't share with other resorts. (the entire week we only picked up at Riverside maybe 2 or 3 times) so we were a little spoiled by that, so that is a concern with the resorts sharing buses.
your post was very helpful!!

 

[mouseofdvc]

I don't know much more than u do probably, but I am with you with bc. Other resorts are very nice to. BLT seems very nice, it is not a kid friendly place.
they do have a nice pool with a slide and hot tubs, but the rooms are pretty normal and the lobby and theme is pretty much a everyday hotel. So what if it is right next to Magic Kingdom,its not gonna keep you kids entertained when you are at the resort which will be probably 3 to 4 hours a day. Also Animal Kingdom is promising with their very nice feature and animals off your deck. The tree houses in SS is also a very nice family place,even if you don't get the treehouse it is a good place with an amazing pool. Also OKW is a good time for all ages. I would go with BC

 

[CarolMN]

The studios at the BLT are very small. Several have said that they are OK for 2 adults and maybe one child, but that they found them very tight for 4.

If you plan to spend the majority of your time at EPCOT & DHS, then BWV has the best location.

We stay at BWV often and have not found the buses to the MK & AKV to be all that bad except during the middle of the day. That is when they run lss frequently (a trait shared with all resorts) and share service with the BC/YC & BCV as well as the Swan & Dolphin. Other wise they share only with the Swan & Dolphin. BWV is usually the last stop before going to the park. We get off at the Swan on the way back and walk to to the BWV. It's a relatively short walk and quicker than taking the bus all around.

 

[Anal Annie]

We really enjoyed the closeness of DTD to SSR. This is especially nice on a trip during a time of year where the parks all close by 7:00. We go to DTD for the evening and have late dinners & walk around over there since it's open later. We also really enjoyed the convenience of being able to walk to Epcot from BCV. We didn't feel up to the schlep to HS so we used the water taxi which in the end didn't seem any quicker than waiting on a bus somewhere. But we DID go to Epcot more often than usual just because it was so easy. Both of these resorts have their advantages depending on what you like to do.