AKV vs. BLT vs. PVB vs. SSR - Advice needed

[LiamLogan2510]

Currently debating buying resale DVC. Have two young kids and maybe have a third coming one day. Trying to determine of these resorts which people would recommend. Seem to be able to get a good amount of SSR or AKV for $90-$95 a point, with PVB ($150's) and BLT ($130's) being a bit higher in price. I know the distance from the parks is the biggest issue with AKV, but curious if others don't think it's a big deal.

 

[Bmramaut]

Have you stayed at SSR? Did you love it? I would not recommend buying anywhere you wouldn’t want to have an 11 month jump on. We love SSR but ended up selling our contract because availability is great at the 7 month window so I can easily get those rooms with another contract.
if price is your major factor, SSR and AKL are great bang for your buck.
Buy where you want to stay. If you don’t mind Disney buses the entire spread of resorts is fine. Do your research with pools, restaurants, and look at point charts.

BLT resale is a great idea. The standard views are impossible to get without owning there. Walk to MK, monorail to other resorts/restaurants, and newly refurbished rooms.

This is a personal decision. Really depends on what matters most to you.

 

[LiamLogan2510]

Have you stayed at SSR? Did you love it? I would not recommend buying anywhere you wouldn’t want to have an 11 month jump on. We love SSR but ended up selling our contract because availability is great at the 7 month window so I can easily get those rooms with another contract.
if price is your major factor, SSR and AKL are great bang for your buck.
Buy where you want to stay. If you don’t mind Disney buses the entire spread of resorts is fine. Do your research with pools, restaurants, and look at point charts.

BLT resale is a great idea. The standard views are impossible to get without owning there. Walk to MK, monorail to other resorts/restaurants, and newly refurbished rooms.

This is a personal decision. Really depends on what matters most to you.

We have done all of these minus PVB, but all without kids. We have stayed with kids at S&D, which we found convenient with being able to walk/boat to multiple parks. AKV is tough because it's far from parks but the kids would also love the animals I think.

 

[Electron_si]

We currently own 200 pts Resale at PVB and 150 points direct at RIV so that is where my input is coming from.

To me the single most important factor other than how much you are comfortable spending is can you utilize 11 month home booking priority to its max extent either now or in the future. Right now my job doesn’t allow me to confidently take advantage of the 11 month window so my poly points are more expensive than they need to be (We could have bought AKV as we book anywhere between 5-7 months out) but I can retire from my job in 10 years and then I will have maximum flexibility at which point booking at PVB/PIT and RIV will be extremely useful.

If I was buying right now and knew the 11 month booking priority wouldn’t get utilized heavily I would buy AKV. For the price the resort amenities far outweigh SSR and it has a refresh coming soon.

 

[sndral]

There are a couple of things to research IMO.
The first is buy in costs. SSR will be cheapest, Poly likely will be the most expensive.
Second is point charts. How many points will you need to book the villa you want in the season you want to visit.
Third is annual MFs, SSR’s MFs, are lower than AKVs, for example.
Fourth is how you plan to use the points you buy. Will you travel during high demand times, will you want to book very popular villa sizes & views like point saving standard view studios? Check out availability charts - if you go at a low demand time, then using cheap SSR points to book BLT or the Poly could work. However, if you go during high demand times, then you may find yourself staying at your home resort more often, thus where you own will matter more.
Finally, DVC is a long term commitment. While a studio may comfortably accommodate your family ATM, as your kids grow you may find yourself wanting to book larger & more point costly 1 or 2 br.s. Folks love the large Poly studios, BLT studios, OTH, are small & you may outgrow them earlier.
AKV & SSR are both bus to parks only, however, if you drive to WDW &/or rent a car, that may be less of a concern.
I own at AKV & love staying at the resort, however, I tend to go during high demand DVC times & like staying at Jambo, so, even though AKV is an easier resort to book than many, the villas I want at the time of year I visit are not, thus I need home resort booking to stay there when I visit. I also own at VGF which has fairly reasonable MF’s & a great location, however it takes a lot of points to stay there.

 

[We’reAllMadHere]

Have you looked at the dues charts and compiled how much your points would cost over the life of the contract? You might be surprised at how that shakes out. And also how many nights per room type you can get at each resort.

A lot of people get great value out of SSR points because of the cheap initial buy-in but personally we knew we’d dislike staying there and we tend to travel at times that are more busy so getting other resorts at 7 months out might be difficult. If you like relaxation and quiet, it might be nice, but it’s not for us. (We do not drive at Disney so that may influence your decision.)

We absolutely love AKL but it tends to have a lot more availability at 7 months or later, and we prefer to not stay at AKL for trips longer than a weekend.

I agree that BLT, for a good price, is a good value but they have the weakest pool of any deluxe, in my opinion. Also the room sizes are small for studios.

I haven’t been tracking how the new tower addition has influenced PVB prices. Remember that before the tower, all PVB rooms were studios or dumb bungalows. It seems to me with three children you might prefer a resort with more 1 or even 2 bedroom availability.

There are no wrong answers in my mind, just preferences.

 

[lorie13]

BLT is the best location to MK, but keep in mind the Studios only sleep 4, plus 1 infant. If you are planning a 3rd, eventually you will not be able to fit into a studio. If you are planning on just doing 1 or 2 bedrooms, then it may be a great choice.

 

[AstroBlasters]

Currently debating buying resale DVC. Have two young kids and maybe have a third coming one day. Trying to determine of these resorts which people would recommend. Seem to be able to get a good amount of SSR or AKV for $90-$95 a point, with PVB ($150's) and BLT ($130's) being a bit higher in price. I know the distance from the parks is the biggest issue with AKV, but curious if others don't think it's a big deal.

No CCV?

 

[Matty B13]

Distance to parks from AKV really isn't a factor IF you are renting a car. Since Disney stopped the free transportation from MCO to WDW, we have been renting a van for our family of 5. While it is roughly $500 to $800 more a trip, our family probably wouldn't turn back to dealing with the bus transportation to MCO or the Parks. We own AKV points and love staying at Jambo for the resort amenities, not so much at Kidani. Don't count on getting value rooms at Jambo, because the rooms are walked year round and are almost impossible to get.

Our family of 5 always does a 2 bedroom unit, because we like the space and having the kids sleep in a separate room. So we have a lot of points, which makes owning AKV points expensive because of the hight dues, but gives us 11 month reservations there. So if you must stay at AKV all the time I would just buy there and be happy with your purchase, but if you only want to stay there sometimes I would go with SAP points (Sleep Around Points) at either BLT or SSR. And if I didn't care which one I would go with BLT right now, even with the higher up front cost, because the dues are lower and the expiration date is 6 years later.

 

[matt_in_nh]

Interesting mix of resorts, pretty much what I was considering. I did not have PBV but I get why you would. I ended up bidding on SSR and BLT and got a larger BLT contract for what I thought was a decent price. I have a bunch of thoughts.

1. From a financial perspective AKV has high dues and that will result in you paying more over time than the other resorts. You have to pay for the animals. This is our favorite resort yet we opted for another resort but plan AKV trips. Getting rooms at AKV is good at 7 months. There are websites that show you that. You will not get club or value but even if you own these are highly competitive. We like Savannah views and you can get those at 7 months almost always.
2. SSR has been coming up in cost and BLT has come down. BLT has a 2060 expiration date vs SSR 2054. Dues are less at BLT and you can get a better deal than you listed. I h ad been eying SSR probably for the same reason you did, best overall value with dues, entry cost and expiration date but the pendulum has swung a little.
3. Look at the ROFR thread for what people actually pay, not listings.
4. BLT and PVB are monorail resorts which will always make them more valuable than say SSR. You can walk from either resort but BLT is basically at MK, premium location even though the tower has a different feel.
5. I think PVB resale is high right now with the new tower and it is on sale. If you are willing to pay for PVB resale, you might consider direct. This might be the last time to get a resort that does not have resale restrictions and you would get direct benefits.
6. I would add CCV to your list depending on your criteria. Someone recently got a deal at $123 per point. They have a longer expiration date and you get the original 14 while they are still available.
7. I considered overall value vs "this is what I want". At the end of the day, DVC is nothing but a splurge to do fun stuff. So you have to weigh cost/value with what you want. Everyone is different and in different financial positions. We wanted to try a lot of resorts so I would not pay PVB prices for that.
8. In the end I considered potential resale as a factor and I though having the resort at the front door of MK with a long time before expiration at what seemed like a good price was the right move.

 

[TinkAgainU]

BLT is the best location to MK, but keep in mind the Studios only sleep 4, plus 1 infant. If you are planning a 3rd, eventually you will not be able to fit into a studio. If you are planning on just doing 1 or 2 bedrooms, then it may be a great choice.

This is a critical factor - for a 5 person family - some resorts have zero 5 person studios (looking at you BLT and AKL, for example). If you were always factoring a one bedroom when buying points, then it may not matter, and a lot of people prefer DVC only for the one bedrooms (feeling the studios feel too much like a hotel room).

You might want to grab a copy of the Field Guide for under $15 it has a ton of stuff helpful both before and after purchase. It's put out a couple times a year, so often has updated info that is seriously out of date if you are just online Googling for DVC facts. I got it mostly for the helpful maps of the views, and availability charts, but have used it for other info regularly too. https://www.dvcfieldguide.com/

 

[Brian Noble]

Trying to determine of these resorts which people would recommend.

As many others have mentioned, it is worth thinking about what is important to you.

I'd also add: My kids are 24 and 26. Having watched them, I am confident that your kids are going to grow and change much more quickly than you can possibly imagine. What you think is the perfect resort for them today is very unlikely to fit that bill in even five years, let alone ten. And you are going to own this for quite a while. So, I'd think about what kinds of vacations you imagine for yourself and your family.

There are lots of dimensions to this. For example: I like the quieter pace of some of the more spread out resorts. No single resort is close to everything, and I tend to enjoy spending time at all of the WDW venues, so it's not that important that I be walking distance to any one park. On the other hand, I actively resented sharing sleeping spaces with my kids---I hated pretending to be alseep in the dark waiting for them to drift off at night. So, a 1BR was pretty much the minimum size I'd consider, and I strongly preferred 2BRs when they were younger.

Speaking only personally, I did not find the bus situation at any of the "far" resorts to be a problem---and at this point I've stayed at all three of them (AKV, OKW, and SSR). I usually have a car, but not for every single trip. And even for some "car" trips, I'd still take the bus when I didn't feel like driving. I am not bothered by it. And, that's despite the fact that I am not an open-to-close-in-the-park guy. I like my afternoon breaks!

So, let's take the red-headed stepchild of DVC: Saratoga Springs. I really enjoy my time there! I like that the larger villas are point-friendly, especially in the Standard section. (I'm a Paddock guy, through and through.) The pools are lovely. The grounds have a stately manner to them---the resort was awkward at first before the landscaping grew in, but now it's one of my favoriate places in WDW to go for a walk. The vibe is quiet, understated sophistication, and that fits my style.

Conversely, I would probably never have bought PVB while my kids were in the house. I don't care that the studios sleep five, because if I had that many I would insist on a larger villa. There aren't many of them for the Poly ownership base, so I would worry about booking them even with Home Resort priority, and that's before considering the eye-watering point chart.

But that's just me. You might e.g. never want to drive, cringe every time you step on a bus, crave a highly-active vibe, hate exterior hallways, and want a more obvious theme. If so, you really are not going to like staying at SSR. At all. On the other hand, you might enjoy having the cozy conviviality of all of your kids in one space, and so the Poly studios would be a great fit for you.

 

[intamin]

The first thing I'd ask yourself is if you even plan further than 7 months out.

If the answer is no, then the answer is SSR.

If the answer is yes, then I'd opt for any of the other 3 with a preference for a monorail resort like BLT or PVB over AKV. I like AKV obviously since I own there but the dues and easy availability at 7 months make it less desirable to own. I've considered offloading my AKV and the only reason we haven't is because we like having a chance at club level rooms but I wouldn't ever recommend purchasing AKV for that reason.

Between PVB and BLT it really comes down to do you whether you want theming or you want proximity to MK and cheaper point charts. There's no wrong answer between these 2. Personally we're picking PVB just because I'm okay with paying a small premium for lake view at Bay Lake Tower at 7 months which is typically easy to get. Either way both of these are great resorts.

 

[TinkAgainU]

Interesting mix of resorts, pretty much what I was considering. I did not have PBV but I get why you would. I ended up bidding on SSR and BLT and got a larger BLT contract for what I thought was a decent price. I have a bunch of thoughts.


5. I think PVB resale is high right now with the new tower and it is on sale. If you are willing to pay for PVB resale, you might consider direct. This might be the last time to get a resort that does not have resale restrictions and you would get direct benefits.
////

Lots of excellent points but to clarify, you can still buy ALL the resorts (except Grand Floridian currently, and if you buy Grand California there can be a wait) direct from Disney, so Poly would not be your only direct-purchase choice. Although if you buy the newer Resorts (Riviera, Disneyland Hotel, for example) there are resale restrictions that will likely hurt your resale value if/when you resell any direct points. Selling is already expensive (with commissions and costs of the original escrow/title fees) but selling a direct contract that cost around $80-$100 more per point is really brutal. It's one of the reasons many people purchase resale first. Then if you change your choice of resorts or use years, you can usually fix it without quite as much pain lol.

 

[McCrae]

I would visit all of the resorts you are interested in before buying. Everyone has different tastes and likes.

 

[LiamLogan2510]

No CCV?

I was originally also considering CCV but the 4 people to a 1 bedroom combined with the fact people don’t seem to love the transportation and small room sizes kind of had me not considering it anymore. Do you think otherwise?

 

[tom1944]

My opinion is -what time of year will you be going and what type of room will you want to stay in- to me that matters in the buy where you want to stay decision.

We plan to go either mid-August or mid-January and stay in a 1 bedroom. So far it has not required the 11-month window.

We purchased at SSR and our points we purchased have lasted for 3 trips. After this trip we will go every other year with a possibility of using 3 years of points for an Aulani trip in the future.

Year 1 was 7 days at BLT Lakeview 1 BR
Year 2 was 9 days 5 at a BLT standard 1 BR and 4 at BWV P/G 2 BR
Year 3 is going to be 6 days at AKV Savanna view 1 BR followed by a 4-day cruise

Trip 5 in 2027 will be 9 or 10 days hopefully at BCV and BRV 1 BR

 

[AstroBlasters]

I was originally also considering CCV but the 4 people to a 1 bedroom combined with the fact people don’t seem to love the transportation and small room sizes kind of had me not considering it anymore. Do you think otherwise?

Makes sense.

Of the resorts you mentioned, do any of them feel like “home”?

 

[We’reAllMadHere]

I was originally also considering CCV but the 4 people to a 1 bedroom combined with the fact people don’t seem to love the transportation and small room sizes kind of had me not considering it anymore. Do you think otherwise?

We decided against CCV because when we looked at the room and the resort as a whole we felt like we wouldn’t be excited to wake up there. Wilderness Lodge is lovely but it’s not the place we want to be. I think the “feeling” of certain resorts appeals to different people and finding that adds an intangible value.

 

[mamaofsix]

Since dues will be what you spend the most on over time, here is an indication of the different costs per resort per point annually. Of your stated choices, I would go with Poly or Bay Lake Tower based on affordability. I would also choose one of those strictly for transportation. You will love being that close to MK and the TTC for Epcot.