VGF vs AKL - what would you do

[varns529]

With these incentives really debating buying direct points to get the AP discounts.

Debating between AKL and VGF. Would you go with the cheapest option (ALK) and call it a day or not that you plan on ever selling but go with the resort that holds is value better, lower dues etc?

Not tied down to either, family of with 5 with young kids (soon 6).

Waiting on ROFR for a boardwalk contract and 100 point BLT contract.

Thanks

 

[Lorana]

AKL, hands down. Not just because the incentives make it a steal of a deal, but I absolutely love the AKL resorts.

With a family of 5, however, you'd need to stay at least in a 1BR, whereas VGF has studios that sleep 5. That said, as you're about to be 6, you'd need 2BRs. This makes AKV even better, because the 2BRs are significantly less points at AKV than they are at VGF.

 

[pinkxray]

I love VGF and would usually pick it when these questions come up. However, if I needed to get 2 bedrooms to fit a family of 6, I would pick AKV. There is a big difference of points cost of 2 bedrooms at these 2 resorts.
It looks like you will also own at Blt, so you have the MK area covered.

 

[Wedgeout]

I’d go AKV. Price and Point Chart. You made great resale home resort selections to add to this decision. Plus easier to pool points for mega-vacations at AKV.

 

[Her Dotness]

It looks like you will also own at Blt, so you have the MK area covered.

'Fraid not quite, because this family is already needing a 1br at BLT; adding another child soon will push them into that 2br faster than may be desirable.

Trying to use those 100 points at 7 mos at AKV is likely to be more hassle than it's worth, making a BLT/AKV split more practical unless the OP's spouse isn't gung-ho about split stays. Unless that BLT contract is intended for splits, I'd either back out, putting that money to another AKV, or hope it's ROFRed

With that size family, I wouldn't want to pack and transport things mid-stay, not to mention keeping kids occupied during that "lost day" changing resorts. Mileage in that respect can differ, though. Might be an adventure for the OP's family.

Both financially and practically, I'd put the money into AKV. You could always add enough points elsewhere later for a weekend-then-AKV stay if split stays appeal.

 

[Straulin]

We just had a similar debate for the annual pass discount purchase. There are only 4 of us and we are not having any more kids. We went VGF with 175 points with the Disney Visa discount. We compared it to the 200 at AKV. It was a bit more for the VGF.

The AKV points will go a lot farther, but for our purposes we wanted the priority at VGF to be able to book there.

Studios book up faster than 1 or 2 bedrooms. AKV is one of the later resorts to fill up. So at 7 months they generally should be able to find the two bedroom there. For us, we would generally be able to find a 1 br or studio. So we went with VGF as we expected to be able to get AKV when we wanted but not VGF which was our ‘buy where you want to stay resort.’

For OP, I think if they plan to keep the contract for the long term (I.e. long enough that the parents would routinely travel alone or without all the kids then VGF.

If they plan to keep it while the kids are little, then VGF will get better resale and still go with VGF.

If it will always be all 6 folks going, AKV is much better point chart and those extra 25 + points will be nice.

 

[Jetku]

This was our exact situation and we went with AKV. First 80 points direct, 25 more, then 160 resale and now just closed 100 resale. 365 points all to AKV since starting in 2019 (this should be it - no more need to add on).

That said, we’ve stayed AKV for one weekend. We’ve stayed Grand Floridian 2 full weeks plus 2 weekend trips (and a week at Poly, and an upcoming week at Beach Club). It’s not that hard to book VGF at 7 months if you’re flexible on the room type.

AKL is where we want to be long-term, but while the kids still have strollers and minimal patience, we stay at the more convenient option. If money was no option, we would have purchased at VGF direct across the board. The points (especially compared to AKV resale) are just too pricey to justify, especially with the luck we’ve had in staying there anyway.

 

[gardenrooms]

A couple of comments on some points made by earlier posters - AKL has never been a problem for us to book 7 months out even though we can only go in the summer (we don't own points there, but we love staying there - the little ones, 4 and 7 last trip, LOVE seeing what animals are outside the windows - lol I never want to stay near the lobby, because the walk - or dash - down the hallway is the highlight of each morning).

And we have never lost a day for spit stay. We throw all the dirty clothes in a bag, keep the clean clothes we don't plan to wear on the first leg in the suitcase, put everything by the door, and head for the parks. It maybe takes us an extra 5 to 10 minutes to get everything together before we leave (2 grandparents, but we aren't much help packing things up for the rest of the family, 2 parents, and 2 little ones). At the end of the day, we return to our new villa. Disney makes the process so easy.

I know this has nothing to do with the original question, but I wanted to clarify.

 

[intamin]

Why not both? Personally I'm more of a fan of AKV. The downside to owning AKV is in general the resort is pretty easy to book at 7 months; however, owning there does give you at least a chance of booking value/club level rooms. I would just buy whichever you feel like you're more likely to stay regularly. If you want your points to get as much value as possible more frequently, the AKV point chart is significantly cheaper. If you won't be happy unless you're on the monorail loop and prefer the theming of VGF to AKV then buy VGF.

 

[Epcot Forever Forever]

I would say neither; don’t buy direct just for the AP discount (I assume you mean access to a lower tier pass since they don’t offer AP discounts to DVC anymore), because it could disappear any time. Like, literally tomorrow. There’s zero rules about it.

 

[lilsonicfan]

If I were going to buy direct I would probably want to buy at a more desirable resort; it seems to me (and I may be wrong) that in years you don't use it you might have better luck renting out your points at VGF vs AKL. And you could always use your VGF points at AKL, you might have to go with savannah or standard 2BR instead of value, but the points are still lower than VGF 2BR.

 

[njcoach24]

With these incentives really debating buying direct points to get the AP discounts.

What incentives? Is there a deal to buy AKL direct?

 

[intamin]

What incentives? Is there a deal to buy AKL direct?

200 points, 165 dollars per point for current members.

 

[Bucketfoot]

VGF has more years left, lower maintenance fees, it's on the monorail loop and you need the 11-month advantage more here. Also MK is our favorite park. I also suspect it will hold its value better, but other than knowing that current resale prices are higher here, that's not something I've researched.

AKV has the advantage of an extra bathroom in both the 1 & 2 bedrooms (Kidani) and quite frankly is the most magical of all the WDW DVC resorts.

We bought VGF direct and AKV resale, so I'd probably recommend VGF. But frankly you will love either.

 

[varns529]

Thanks for all the advice.

Got off the phone with a guide and purchased the AKL contract and are now blue card members!!

150 points for $196 with magical beginnings of $22 off it’s $174 a point.

VGF was tempting, but I guess my goal was ultimately to get a blue card the cheapest route possible.

 

[dvc lover 1970]

Go with the better deal AKV. Plus as a family of 5 the value two bedrooms go fast and require home points.

 

[njcoach24]

200 points, 165 dollars per point for current members.

That is tempting. 33K vs 19Kish resale though…but a great way to get the blue card/perks.

I do find myself jealous of some of the new ones they’ve brought back. If resale prices go back up and you can still get a $165 pp deal someplace which may be possible with all the new resorts being added in…might be something to think about if I can unload my resale.

 

[intamin]

That is tempting. 33K vs 19Kish resale though…but a great way to get the blue card/perks.

I do find myself jealous of some of the new ones they’ve brought back. If resale prices go back up and you can still get a $165 pp deal someplace which may be possible with all the new resorts being added in…might be something to think about if I can unload my resale.

If they had had this perk going when I was looking to purchase my resale I would've considered it, it's probably one of the best perks we've seen from DVC in awhile. At the same time though I don't really want too many AKV points, I'd rather have some more direct RIV but that's just me.

 

[Her Dotness]

And then, there are the loonies like us who bought in at VGF at the off-sale price.

We knew that's the only resort we really wanted, and buying direct is sooooo much faster and easier.

You know you're getting however many points you want without shopping resales for years, if you can afford direct prices. We saved until we could and have never been sorry despite being told how ridiculously much money we'd have saved via resale,

So, heartiest 'grats, varns529. Welcome

 

[Straulin]

I would say neither; don’t buy direct just for the AP discount (I assume you mean access to a lower tier pass since they don’t offer AP discounts to DVC anymore), because it could disappear any time. Like, literally tomorrow. There’s zero rules about it.

It is a gamble. We just did it though. We are a family of four and we wanted annual passes as we have enough points/trips to save money on the AP’s over tickets. We bought direct at VGF for 175 points. We were already members so the current promo was $204 per point. Buying with our Disney Bisa knocked off another $7.14 per point ($1,250 off total). That put us at $197 per point.

Current resale is around $170 per point and not giving exactly the use year and number of points.

So $27 per point difference roughly. Currently magical beginnings is giving back $22 per point (we took the points rather than doing this) which brings it to roughly a $5 per point difference.

At $22 per point * 175 = $3,850. At a rate of $1,730 savings per year on annual passes, we turn out saving money after 3 years.

If we used magical beginnings $5 x 175 = $875. So a single year of AP discounts would save money.