Home Resort Adv - July/August 1br

[JakeGoof]

TLDR; Is home resort advantage necessary when buying to travel July/August preferring a 1br villa?

Hello, I would love to tap in to the collective wisdom of this board to help me see are a few corners. We are a family of 4 with two daughters ages 6 and 8. We just finished a spring break trip to wdw and started giving DVC a serious look. We have taken a disney trip every other year in the past in the summer. This was our first SB trip and we wont be doing that again, lol. Near future plans would be to travel during summer break (July and August for us).

We have always stayed at the Swan & Dolphin, and prefer the more laid back Swan. Love the Boardwalk area. That said, our favorite park, at least while the girls are young is MK. On the other hand, Epcot is a very close second and will likely surpass MK as the girls grow. We did 3 MK days this last trip and 1 for the other parks. We seriously discussed switching our 3rd MK day to a 2nd Epcot day. Highest priority for us in choosing a resort for a stay is peace and quiet at night. DW is an extremely light sleeper and does not function well without good sleep. We are also early-ish risers (~6am) when at WDW. We have always stayed in studio type rooms but would like to have the option to get a 1br if it is a reasonable option. We usually stay for 1 week.

We're looking to spend around 15k for our first contract, resale. I created a spreadsheet to analyze the value of each of the contracts and would like to maximize value as much as possible. If money were no object and using the buy where you want to stay mantra, we'd probably buy at BLT. My understanding is that inside the rooms it is quiet and it is walking distance to MK. Close second would probably be BCV, walking distance to the Boardwalk and Epcot. With BWV, I fear the noise from the boardwalk revelers.

However, as I mentioned maximizing value is a big driver for me and I'm a planner and a frequent rewards traveler so I prioritize maximizing value over simplicity. Based on that, I'm leaning toward targeting a 140-160 point SSR contract. That would allow me to book a 1br every other year, or a studio every year, or some combination depending on resorts. At 7 months, it seems like there is good availability for 1br at BLT, BWV (though again noise concern), AKL Sav view. Also, studio availability seems strong at AKL Sav View and Poly (also probably not a great option b/c of noise w/in room), and BLT (lake view). It seems like the ~150 SSR points would be much better for us in booking 1br at 7 mo vs a ~100 BLT points.

TLDR; Is home resort advantage necessary when buying to travel July/August preferring a 1br villa?

 

[CarolMN]

TLDR; Is home resort advantage necessary when buying to travel July/August preferring a 1br villa?

Not usually for most WDW DVC resorts.

FWIW, noise levels for the BWV depend heavily on the room assignment. Generally the preferred villas overlooking the quiet pool or the Activity /Croquet Lawn are quiet, especially at night. The rooms overlooking the feature pool can be VERY loud, especially during the afternoons when pool games are happening. We almost always stay in the standard view 1 bedrooms and those have been quiet with a very few exceptions.

As long as you don't book Boardwalk view or get assigned a view of LUNA Park (feature pool), I strongly doubt you will have find noise a problem, especially if you are OK with NOT being close to the elevators. Most of the noise comes from neighbors (can't control that anywhere) and the hallways - children running, adults yelling at them, people talking loudly. That's less of a concern the farther your room is from the elveators. We've never had loud neighbors, but I have read reports of that happening - most everywhere.

 

[Sandisw]

I think that you will have good choices for summer in the 1 bedrooms, and even studios. In that sense, if you do not care, going SSR isn’t a bad decision.

 

[JakeGoof]

Not usually for most WDW DVC resorts.

FWIW, noise levels for the BWV depend heavily on the room assignment. Generally the preferred villas overlooking the quiet pool or the Activity /Croquet Lawn are quiet, especially at night. The rooms overlooking the feature pool can be VERY loud, especially during the afternoons when pool games are happening. We almost always stay in the standard view 1 bedrooms and those have been quiet with a very few exceptions.

As long as you don't book Boardwalk view or get assigned a view of LUNA Park (feature pool), I strongly doubt you will have find noise a problem, especially if you are OK with NOT being close to the elevators. Most of the noise comes from neighbors (can't control that anywhere) and the hallways - children running, adults yelling at them, people talking loudly. That's less of a concern the farther your room is from the elveators. We've never had loud neighbors, but I have read reports of that happening - most everywhere.

What I was seeing was telling me that SAP (via SSR) might be the way to go. Thank you for sharing your experience. As you say, there is only so much control you have over noise at a resort and DW sleeps with a white noise machine inches from her head, lol. I've read on here and elsewhere that the Poly rooms have "paper-thin" walls and that most the "older" resorts were similar. I'm glad to hear there are quieter areas of BWV b/c we've really enjoyed visiting from S&D. BWV and Poly are really tied for us on the alluring mystique scale, but I feared they both were bad choices for in room noise issues.

 

[LoveToDisney]

We love the standard view 1 BR at BLT but you need 11 mo advantage for those. I have not found them noisy. At night we use a fan for white noise since I’m a light sleeper. You can’t beat being able to walk to MK. Buy where you want to stay. If you can plan ahead and use the standard view it is great for budgeting. We also like the standard view 1 BR at BWV but it also takes 11 mo advantage to get those. While prices are low in resale I would go for the resort you plan to stay at as so many say on these boards. If you decide to chance it and buy at SSR to trade, be sure you like SSR in case you cannot trade out at 7 mo. You may find your travel dates will shift as your kids age and you may travel at other times than what you plan now.

 

[cdirazonian]

As for the noise at BWV, IDK maybe we’ve been really lucky as we’ve never had a problem with noise. We‘ve owned since 2008 and stay BW view and even when there’s a lot going on down below I find that once you shut the patio door we don’t hear anything really inside. But we were never really in the room during the day trying to get the kids down for a nap, so IDK about daytime noise. The halls..sometimes..running, etc but again that can be everywhere.

 

[RoseGold]

I just booked 1BR for August a couple weeks ago -- last minute by DVC standards -- and I had anything I wanted available except BC and BLT. BC is just so small and BLT has the extra bathroom, so those can be tough. Even those you could get lucky on or waitlist. I've booked BC 1BR plenty.

1BRs are the most point heavy. Traveling off peak, this won't be a problem.

If noise is a dealbreaker for you, Disney hotels in general might not be a good fit for you. I'm not even worried about Boardwalk revelers, I'm talking normal TV and neighbor noise. Swolphin are much newer and better at sound. https://www.disboards.com/threads/most-quiet-and-most-loud.3914888/
DVC is particular is older and not great at this, with a couple exceptions, like BLT and VGF1. Or, if you're willing to do SSR/OKW can't argue with that value and they are better at sound.

Adding all of this up, I'd consider BLT and booking the value view. BLT pool rules it out for me, but sounds like it ticks all your boxes, though obv SSR is cheaper.

 

[JakeGoof]

That is a great thread and I also read the ratings you linked in there. It looks like BLT and OKW are the only DVC resorts that have comparable sound proofing to S&D, with BCV, BWV, and SSR as a notch below. BLT would be our ideal. I just can't justify the increase in cost or reduction in points we'd purchase. If we went SSR, we'd be able to buy 1br every other year points. Whereas, if we buy BLT we'd be closer to studio every other year. I got to think having the br where we could run a couple white noise machines would be better than the studio for sleep quality alone not to mention the many other benefits of a 1br. I would be happy if I were able to book a 1br at BLT 7 months out more often than not and then on the occasions its not available, I'd be happy with AKL and probably BWV so long as it is not bw view or pool view and if we couldn't get anything bot OKW or SSR one year that wouldn't be the worst thing in the world as those seem to be on the quieter side. Also, we can be fairly flexible with when in July and August we book as well as the days of the week.

Of course, our booking times and room preferences will undoubtedly change over the years but I'm not sure how predictable that is other than needing more points. If things go as I suspect with Epcot surpassing MK as our favorite park, the monorail properties are really the worst for travel time to Epcot. So, having the home field advantage at BLT would be less desirable then.

 

[lilsonicfan]

Thanks for posting this thread, we are 1BR peeps also, but due to being a family of 5, not every 1BR will fit us. We are buying at SSR. I have a whole list of places I'm willing to stay for different reasons... SSR because there is a queen murphy bed, not a pullout sofa, BLT or AKL Kidani b/c of the extra bathroom, VGF for the murphy bed, BRV for the POSSIBLE murphy bed... OKW in 2BR because it's huge and cheap on points, etc. Super nice to hear it may not be insanely difficult to book these for summer, which is probably when we'd be travelling.

 

[RoseGold]

If you're this limited on the DVC you are willing to stay in, and only doing this every other year, maybe it's better to stick with Swolphin. DVC is a rigid product without wiggle room.

Heck, the Swan is $300 for Thanksgiving right now. DVC won't beat that.

There a ton of newer, nicer physical hotel buildings in Orlando. The Waldorf is $250 for my dates, which I think is cheaper than what I booked with DVC for a far superior facility. DVC has perks, but soundproofed building is not one.

 

[JakeGoof]

If you're this limited on the DVC you are willing to stay in, and only doing this every other year, maybe it's better to stick with Swolphin. DVC is a rigid product without wiggle room.

Heck, the Swan is $300 for Thanksgiving right now. DVC won't beat that.

There a ton of newer, nicer physical hotel buildings in Orlando. The Waldorf is $250 for my dates, which I think is cheaper than what I booked with DVC for a far superior facility. DVC has perks, but soundproofed building is not one.

We do like the S&D, but the 1br option there is financially infeasible for us. I think we'd avoid Jambo, VGF, Poly, and BRV. Our order of preference would be:

1. BLT
2. BCV (difficult to book)
3. BWV (standard, maybe preferred)
4. AKL (Kidani)
.
.
.
5. CCV (?)
6. OKW
7. SSR
--------
Avoid: Poly, VGF, AKL (Jambo), BRV, BWV (bw view?)

If we could 7 consecutive days in a 1br at any time in July or August at any of the top 4, that would be great. However, I'd prefer not to stay at AKL every time. If occasionally we could only get something at 5-7, that's fine. My only real complaint about OKW and SSR is travel time, and CCV I just dont know much about.

I believe AKL 1br sav view are fairly easy to book 7 mo out. Do you think its unrealistic to hope to book a 1br at 1-3 more often than not?

 

[RoseGold]

For summer, you should be able to book 1BR at any of those. Maybe not 7 consecutive nights, but certainly 3, 4 split or something. Maybe you won't get BLT this year because of the extra bedroom. AK won't be a problem.

Spring break is a different animal, but it still might work. I booked 5 nights BW 1BR for FL spring break. It took some wait lists and stalking, but I got it done.

If you really need 7 consecutive days, you could end up at SSR. The way the bookings line up can easily block a day here and there. And 7 days will make the waitlist impossible. 3-4 split might let something fill later.

 

[lilsonicfan]

Also check at https://www.dvchelp.com/ as they have availability charts that can at least give you an idea of the likelihood of any particular resort being bookable at any point in time. It's not a guarantee, but is useful info. I wouldn't take VGF off the list entirely, but the points chart is certainly higher there than some of your other options.

 

[JakeGoof]

Also check at************* as they have availability charts that can at least give you an idea of the likelihood of any particular resort being bookable at any point in time. It's not a guarantee, but is useful info. I wouldn't take VGF off the list entirely, but the points chart is certainly higher there than some of your other options.

That's super helpful thank you. I also reviewed the dvc field guide availability charts and watched a few youtube videos where someone scrolls through the available books at 7 m/o, but I'm glad this seems to confirm what I was thinking that I seem to have a lot of options for 1br for a 7 mth out booking.

 

[Nursemanit]

SSR fits your criteria - I would try to push it up a slight bit on the points

Small contracts are $$ when you add them on later.

 

[sethschroeder]

With BWV, I fear the noise from the boardwalk revelers.

Unless you are in a boardwalk view room (which even then not so much) you are not really going to have any noise issues. There is a view overlooking the pool though that I know some think might be a tad noisy.

 

[HappyDisneyWife]

Just remember that 7-month availability tends to have more expensive rooms & categories left. If BLT is your first choice, I’d still consider it. A BLT standard view 1-bedroom is one of the hardest 1-beds to book at 7 months, and for the month of Aug costs 35 points less than a lake view. It has lower dues, a longer lifespan, and 11-mo access to the cheapest rooms… no stressing for 4 months if an owner is going to swoop in & book your preferred room, or dates.

It’s just a thought… as I’m currently considering basically the same idea. I’ve got several contracts, and want to “trade” 1 of them for some type of SAP… but if I get a good deal for BLT or CCV, they could be much better SAP over SSR in the long run and would provide 11-month advantage at places I’d actually like to stay

FWIW- I’m a pretty big points & miles person myself, and I totally get it. Value is key, but a LOT of things factor into that value. The upfront cost is just 1 facet.

 

[sethschroeder]

However, as I mentioned maximizing value is a big driver for me and I'm a planner and a frequent rewards traveler so I prioritize maximizing value over simplicity.

Thing is if you have SSR points you possibly are not getting the budget 1BR rooms that BWV, BLT, and AKV have. It doesn't matter as much for a place like BCV that is all one price point but it will for those others.

If you save 10% upfront but spend 20% more annually on points than did you really come out ahead buying at SSR?

 

[lilsonicfan]

That's super helpful thank you. I also reviewed the dvc field guide availability charts and watched a few youtube videos where someone scrolls through the available books at 7 m/o, but I'm glad this seems to confirm what I was thinking that I seem to have a lot of options for 1br for a 7 mth out booking.

Sorry I didn't realize that site was blocked, but yes the charts here are also helpful https://www.dvcfieldguide.com/availability-tables

 

[lilsonicfan]

However, as I mentioned maximizing value is a big driver for me and I'm a planner and a frequent rewards traveler so I prioritize maximizing value over simplicity. Based on that, I'm leaning toward targeting a 140-160 point SSR contract. That would allow me to book a 1br every other year, or a studio every year, or some combination depending on resorts. At 7 months, it seems like there is good availability for 1br at BLT, BWV (though again noise concern), AKL Sav view. Also, studio availability seems strong at AKL Sav View and Poly (also probably not a great option b/c of noise w/in room), and BLT (lake view). It seems like the ~150 SSR points would be much better for us in booking 1br at 7 mo vs a ~100 BLT points.

So reading this in a bit more detail - I think your situation requires a bit more thought because you do have some preferences as to where you want to stay. It's worth examining the point charts together. I have been very grateful for the charts here: https://www.disboards.com/threads/2022-2023-point-chart-spreadsheets.3863993/ by @Grumpy by Birth as it has been super helpful for me to put together a variety of scenarios for a planned summer 2023 or 2024 trip. There is a big difference between BLT theme park 1BR (331 pts per week) and SSR standard 1BR (205 pts per week). and AKL value 1BR (153 pts per week).

For me - I am generally happy to be in the mid range 1BRs so not "value" or even "standard" so I'm fine with a contract at SSR.