Which non-Home Resort have you stayed at the most at WDW?

[Rochester Disney Fan]

Own at AK
Most Non Owner stays is 5 at BLT ( tied with my home resort)
BC and SSR come in second with 4

 

[keishashadow]

We bought where we (mostly) want to stay…pre Poly & BLT tho

Those are the two we most often will try to book for short stays.

Do try to book The MK view rooms @blt when we have guests along for the “wow” factor of the view

 

[Dobermanns]

We bought points at all my favorites (VGC, AUL, RIV, PVB, VGF, BLT and BCV, plus SSR for SAP). It’s a tie between AKV and BWV. Chose not to own at AKV because I love savanna view which is generally available at 7-months. Chose not to own at BWV because I love BCV’s pool more.

Edited to add I usually stay at my home resorts (3-4 trips to WDW annually), and have only stayed at AKV twice and BWV 3x, which are less than my home resort stays.

 

[bumbershoot]

If you have a lot of stays at a non-Home Resort, how does it compare to your Home Resort(s)? Any reason why you haven't bought at your top non-Home Resort?

Since I've owned since 2009 and have taken as many trips as my 160 points allows, the vast majority of my trips have been away.

I've stayed at OKW the most. It's big, light, airy, and really pleasant. A reason I got DVC was to host family, and OKW is good for that.

Oddly, I think AKV is the second most. Odd because I dislike it. But it's fairly easy to get into. I intended to host family at CC this time but we could get another day if we switched to AKV, so I did that.

I own at Bay Lake. Pretty big differences between there and OKW/AKV, mostly involving the points for a stay. But even if I had more points I'd avoid Bay Lake. Turns out...their air freshener is bad bad bad for my nose. Not as bad as Tide, but it's up there.

Why haven't I bought anywhere else? Money. If I had a bunch I'd buy Grand Floridian and maybe never stay anywhere else.

Also generally curious about AKV taking a fairly sizable lead in the poll. Seems like people like visiting there but don't own...what's keeping people from committing to AKV?

I don't like it. Dark corridors (though not as dark as Grand Californian, which I also don't like), I feel bad for the animals (though I also enjoy looking at them), really big...

But it's pretty easy to get into. Even for the upcoming Princess rundisney weekend.

What do you like most about OKW? Any recommendations on building?

It's big, bright, airy. you can get a nice walk in, or take the bus, or park really close to your unit if you have a car. The main pool is a good combo of simple (I like simple pools) but also interesting. Best time at a pool was at the Turtle Pond quiet pool; second best was our first big family trip December 2010 before it got really cold, with all the kids (second cousins to each other) in the hot tub at the main pool, feeling like and acting like big kids for the huge privilege.

The further away buildings with the two entrances into the bathroom.
******

Psyched because in a few scant days I check into a Poly studio for the first time!

 

[DL1WDW2]

I voted Poly and Riviera . My home is BLT love.
I have a ? For the PP that has points at almost all resorts since I have been thinking about buying minimum 50 point contracts at more resorts to just book the holiday night at 11 months and hope to fill in day before and after with 7 month availability . Do you own more than 50 points at all those locations ?
Trying to figure out a good game plan to beat the 11/7 month popularity / availabilty and not have to walk at 12 month ! I just did not have the stomach this year to walk walk walk for 11 month BLT NYE holidays standard studio …
I think 50 points is the minimum now .

 

[ehh]

So when I created this thread I expected Saratoga and, to a lesser extent, OKW to be the runaway winners, mostly due to <7m availability.

Clearly not the case though. Looks like BWV and AKV have a paradoxical mix of popularity and availability. Or maybe just enough availability to be the most popular by enthusiasts but not the majority of non-Home Resort stays.

Coincidentally, if you count planned-but-not-yet-booked stays then BWV and AKV move up to #1 and #2 for us as well.

We're approaching the end of our 'gotta try 'em all' phase and settling into our favorites (pending any refurbs that could change the order). I also don't expect to buy at our non-Home favorites as they're 2042 resorts (BCV/BWV) or always available at 7m (CCV Cabins).

And while AKV will be #2 in terms of stays, our verdict is still very much out on that resort. Our first stay was a bad stay and when we tried to give it another chance we were bumped to a non-DVC 2BR Suite, which was much nicer but not representative. We plan to give it another chance in 2024. And then yet another chance to try Kidani (all past/planned stays will have had been at Jambo).

 

[StevieB81]

We don't have as many trips as a lot of you, because we always stay in a 2 bdrm and our shortest trip to date has been 9 nights. We own at BLT and stayed there exclusively for the first 6 years , always in a TPV 2 bdrm because we kept bringing friends/family with us that had never been to WDW and that view is pretty spectacular. Then we tried Kidani for a trip with another family because it was cheaper points wise and still had 3 bathrooms. Booked standard view and ended up with what I would consider a pretty decent view of the Pembe savanna. I liked the resort way more than BLT. So much so that we added resale at Kidani a couple years later. I struggled between AKV and BWV for that resale purchase because in the interim, we stayed at BWV and I thought it was great. The Belle Vue Lounge, Jellyrolls, the whole BW experience, and walking to 2 parks (and I LOVE EPCOT). Then a split between AKL and BWV after reopening. I fell into a great price (like WAY below anything else I had seen at the time) at AKL with the same use year, and 15 more years on a contract was something to consider. Good thing I pulled the trigger because the prices started going up pretty quickly right after that.

So I went through all of that to say BWV has been our most visited non-home resort and we have another 10 nights booked this summer. But AKL is a very close second, only because we own there now or it would be in the lead. I want to try RIV and one of the WL resorts. Maybe Poly when the new tower opens (2 bdrm thing). We stayed at SSR on cash (the trip we bought BLT) and, though it was nice, it doesn't really work for us.

 

[Simba's Mom]

I wonder how much of the "# of stays" at a non-home resort is due to desire to stay at THAT resort, and how much is just about availability. I've tried several times to get into the VGF at 7 months, but was only able to get it once. Unfortunately a few of my stays are just due to what's available at that time.

 

[KAT4DISNEY]

I wonder how much of the "# of stays" at a non-home resort is due to desire to stay at THAT resort, and how much is just about availability. I've tried several times to get into the VGF at 7 months, but was only able to get it once. Unfortunately a few of my stays are just due to what's available at that time.

That is the reason for our SSR stays. The resort is fine but we just prefer to be able to walk or boat to at least one park and do not visit DTD much. That said - I've also done many "home resort" stays booked within the 7 month window.
Aulani is our 2nd most booked non-home resort.

 

[brazzledazzler]

We own at VBR and RIV. We try to make 4-5 DVC trips yearly (2-4 nights). We always stay at RIV and VBR at least 1x a year (that's why we bought at RIV & Vero especially). The other times are usually a mix of different resorts to try out, but we love the Poly! I even call Poly the "home we don't own." We've stayed there the most (3x) since we bought in mid-2021.

I want to try all the resorts but don't prioritize "completionism" over the resorts we already love.

We still need to stay at HHI, AUL, VGC (not sure if we'll ever get this one), AKL, BRV, OKW, and VGF (booked in May!).

This was a cool poll. Thanks for sharing!

 

[gmi3804]

OKW for me. We own at BLT, PVB, and VGC, and love those and stay there also. But we keep going back to OKW for its huge villas, low point requirements, good availability for "last-minute" (i.e., less than 7 months) trips, location, and easy parking. Though RR is gaining, as it's our new favorite, despite its high point requirements.