Which Order?

[Grnl706]

Hi All! I'm planning to do a split betweeen Universal and Disney World June 10th to 20th, 2020. Universal will be June 10th to 14th and then we will move to Disney on the 14th leaving for home the 20th. We are going with family but my husband and I are making our own lodging plans (We're meeting family in the parks). We are planning to rent DVC through David's and I will be putting our request in next Friday. I think I've narrowed down our options by looking at what we like (Most time at Epcot, Hollywood. Excited for Animal too. Magic the least time) and a budget (No more than $350 a night total). We havent been since we were kids and never stayed on property so I just wanted some advice from people who have!!

We can chose four resort/room combos on the request form. I would like to put something in all four slots to maximize our chances. My thinking is;

1. Boardwalk Villa Standard View Studio (I know this is a long shot)
2. Boardwalk Villa Prefered View Studio (Kind of expensive but I feel like Boardwalk may be the resort for us and I'm not hopeful about the standard view. Is Boardwalk worth it like I am thinking?)
3 or 4. Animal Kingdom Villa Standard Studio (A bit far for my liking and I have some food restrictions so alittle worried about food options. We LOVE animals amd the resort looks beautiful.)
3 or 4. Saratoga Springs Standard Studio ( The rooms seem old? But I love having options to food and other activities in Disney Springs. It is also a bit far for my tastes but we're flexible for the opportunity to stay on site.)


I'm not sure about what order to do Saratoga Springs and Animal Kingdom. But how does this look for a plan to rent DVC?

 

[DisneyWishes14]

I would take a Boardwalk studio in any form - standard or preferred. In fact we've only stayed standard view at BWV and absolutely love it. Any reason Beach Club Villas is not on your list?

 

[Grnl706]

I would take a Boardwalk studio in any form - standard or preferred. In fact we've only stayed standard view at BWV and absolutely love it. Any reason Beach Club Villas is not on your list?

To be honest, we had Beach Club on the list and had replaced it with the Preferred view of Boardwalk. I was reading that it shares everything with two other resorts? Does that get really crowded?

 

[Lynne M]

To be honest, we had Beach Club on the list and had replaced it with the Preferred view of Boardwalk. I was reading that it shares everything with two other resorts? Does that get really crowded?

No more so than any other resort. You've got Beach Club/Beach Club Villas and Yacht Club over there. The Beach Club and Yacht Club buildings are connected, but they each have a full complement of restaurants, shops and quiet pools. The connected building just makes it easy for each resort's guests to get to the other's restaurants and other facilities. The Stormalong Bay pool complex is shared among the resorts, and the dock for the boat service that runs on the lake is shared as well.

I don't think sharing facilities is a problem because the facilities are appropriately sized for the number of guests using them. Disney does a pretty good job of managing that at their resorts.

 

[Grnl706]

No more so than any other resort. You've got Beach Club/Beach Club Villas and Yacht Club over there. The Beach Club and Yacht Club buildings are connected, but they each have a full complement of restaurants, shops and quiet pools. The connected building just makes it easy for each resort's guests to get to the other's restaurants and other facilities. The Stormalong Bay pool complex is shared among the resorts, and the dock for the boat service that runs on the lake is shared as well.

I don't think sharing facilities is a problem because the facilities are appropriately sized for the number of guests using them. Disney does a pretty good job of managing that at their resorts.

Thank you!! Thats very good to know. I would probably still keep Beach Club behind Boardwalk but it makes sense to add that back to the list. iIlove how central that area is and we won't have a car. How would you rank Saratoga and Animal? One will be off the list completely.

 

[DisneyWishes14]

To be honest, we had Beach Club on the list and had replaced it with the Preferred view of Boardwalk. I was reading that it shares everything with two other resorts? Does that get really crowded?

I agree with Lynn M's eloquent post regarding how YC/BC and BCV share facilities. The resorts were built to accommodate all of the guests. We've stayed at all three of those resorts multiple times and it has never felt crowded.

I love BWV. It is definitely my favorite villa resort. I would put the two BWV studios first, followed by BCV. AKV and SS are a tough call. AKV is absolutely gorgeous. I could stay at AKL or AKV and never leave. However, you mentioned you liked the idea of the boat to DS from SS which is a solid point. I think I would decide what is more important, resort ambience or the boat to DS and make the decision from there. I'm just speculating, but I imagine if BWV, BCV and AKV fall through, your chances of re-submitting your request and getting SS would be very good.

 

[MainMom]

I would rank AKL over Saratoga Springs resort wise. Food wise I would reverse them. That’s JMO. Lots of people love AKL restaurants. We do like the Mara QS.

 

[Dis Dragon]

I don't know how many resort days your planning, but Beach Club pool is worth the bump over Boardwalk. Haven't been to Saratoga springs but it's hard to imagine bumping AKL for any food options, it's great over there. It does have a unique feeling that you're not in the disney madness when you're at the resort. You didn't really spell out what kind of experience you were looking for at the resort, so there's that.

We stayed at BCV in Feb, it was super easy to get to Epcot and jumping on the boat to HS was amazing. We're staying at Boardwalk this fall.

 

[Grnl706]

I agree with Lynn M's eloquent post regarding how YC/BC and BCV share facilities. The resorts were built to accommodate all of the guests. We've stayed at all three of those resorts multiple times and it has never felt crowded.

I love BWV. It is definitely my favorite villa resort. I would put the two BWV studios first, followed by BCV. AKV and SS are a tough call. AKV is absolutely gorgeous. I could stay at AKL or AKV and never leave. However, you mentioned you liked the idea of the boat to DS from SS which is a solid point. I think I would decide what is more important, resort ambience or the boat to DS and make the decision from there. I'm just speculating, but I imagine if BWV, BCV and AKV fall through, your chances of re-submitting your request and getting SS would be very good.

That actually makes a lot of sense! I did chat with someone at David's and they sort of gave the same impression that SS should be a good chance, if all else fails. I think I'm going to stick to both views of Boardwalk as 1 and 2, Beach Club standard as 3 and AK as 4.

 

[Grnl706]

I would rank AKL over Saratoga Springs resort wise. Food wise I would reverse them. That’s JMO. Lots of people love AKL restaurants. We do like the Mara QS.

I've been looking at menus and resort photos and I just cannot make myself put Saratoga over AK.... I definitely agree with you!

 

[Grnl706]

I don't know how many resort days your planning, but Beach Club pool is worth the bump over Boardwalk. Haven't been to Saratoga springs but it's hard to imagine bumping AKL for any food options, it's great over there. It does have a unique feeling that you're not in the disney madness when you're at the resort. You didn't really spell out what kind of experience you were looking for at the resort, so there's that.

We stayed at BCV in Feb, it was super easy to get to Epcot and jumping on the boat to HS was amazing. We're staying at Boardwalk this fall.

We would probably have a day and a half for resort days. We don't ride many rides (I pretty much don't at all) so I would imagine we may have more time than that depending on how long we are in the parks. It is just the two of us so we're looking for a resort that has a nice balance with 'adult' stuff too. We probably would be happy wherever we went, so I'm more so looking at convenience and theme.