Hi! We are thinking about renting points for a standard view studio in August. 2 adults, 2 boys(age 8 and 5)
My husband used to go to Disney every other year as a kid back in the days before moderates, values, and DVC. He is used to being on the monorail. I am trying to convince him that we should save money by renting points and staying at AKV. I think I've won the renting points part of the debate but he loves the monorail so he's pushing for spending more to stay at BLT. He just hates the idea of taking a bus everywhere. We will be spending the most time at MK and Epcot since those parks have the most things my kids want to do. I would rather save some money and stay in the beautiful setting of AKV.
So I have a few questions and I'm hoping the answers will convince him.
1. How is the bus service to all the parks? Does AKL/AKV share with any other resorts? How many stops does the bus take within the resort?
We have always found the bus service to be good. MK is the furthest away and the couple of times I've timed it it took slightly over 20 minutes but that was getting onto the bus at Kidani and a stop at Jambo. Most recent reports are that Kidani and Jambo now have their own MK bus. I'm not certain if it's split for the other parks too or not. The bus ride to AK is of course very quick and DHS and Epcot are fairly similar as other resorts.
2. Will a studio be enough room for a family of 4. DH is used to the rooms at the Poly(where his family always stayed) and the Contemporary(where we stayed for our last 2 trips) I can deal with a smaller room or my kids. Boys will happily share a sofa bed. They've done it before...DH's the pain.
Can't really answer that but AKV will be much better as BLT is the smallest of the DVC studios and you'd have a problem there I guarantee. But though the AKV studios are larger than BLT they are smaller than the CR or Poly rooms - those two are fairly supersized for Disney.
3. If we don't book a savannah view room, are there viewing areas in the lobby or elsewhere on the property?
Yes, there are lots of other places to view the animals. If you booked a standard view studio at Jambo you could have a good chance to get a partial savannah view - some of the poorer savannah views were reclassified to standard view there. And if you didn't get that you'd have a room looking towards the pool area. Kidani also has a few standard view that are partial savannah views but they are fewer and the rest of the standard view there look towards the parking areas or front of the resort.
4. Is this all just a pipe dream? Are there typically standard studios available towards the end of August? We won't know until the end of Jan if DH can get the time off.
I would not expect it to be a problem for you to get a standard view at AKV - the end of August is a slower booking time for all of DVC.
Thank you advance for your help!!!!!