Out of curiosity and since in points they're close in same value, what do you think is nicer about LBV South? We've always stayed on points at LBV (not south) and have been happy with it. We've never had an outside room, my kids like the pool and the splash area, great (and entertaining!) breakfast, and on points we aren't paying for parking or resort fees. And it seems easy to get to the parks. But now I'm curious if we're missing something that might make LBV South better?
South is newer, smaller but still the full atrium beautifully done - and no chance of outdoor rooms. Customer service has always been top notch, our first visit (9 days) DH met us there after staying at Ritz Carlton and said the service was much better than Ritz.
We are not big pool people (at Disney) so we enjoy their smaller pool with nice loungers AND not having to pay that hefty resort fee for all that stuff we won't use. But if you have younger kids that will be enjoying the pool, LBV has upgraded their whole area to provide that. And if you are on points you don't have to pay that fee. We are all adults, so we like the quieter upscale feel. We usually select a room facing Disney and enjoyed some great fireworks especially holidays at the Marriott.
We stay at Embassy often all over the place (stayed at 4 of them in Orlando alone) and South has the best breakfast of anywhere we have been. Always seems a few more options, they do a great banana bread pudding and the managers reception has more nibbles than anywhere we have been.
Driving is easy, literally a couple turns out the parking lot and you are on World Drive or Osceola which bypasses all the traffic around Palm Parkway/535/Disney Springs. We can get in our car and in 10 minutes or less be parking our car at a park. We can't do that from the Palm Parkway area.
Are you sure you aren't paying parking??? Years ago that resort had no parking fees, now they do. When I go in to book with points, it tells me parking is an optional service so we pay the fee. In all our years we have never had parking fees waived with points. Maybe that has changed we have been banking a few years now ... we tend to only use at hotels that are huge ticket items (NYE in Times Square, NYE in NOLA, Waldorf in Key West ....).
One thing about South is their rates and points vary greatly. I've seen anywhere from $103 to over $200 for the same room, and the points change as well.