Looking to buy DVC - some questions, though

[ember1205]

I will respectfully disagree on the king bed as I had an accessible studio in January in Jambo House with a king bed. There are a few non-accessible studios with king beds there as well, but we booked the accessible one to be guaranteed it.

I do agree that AKL with more points via resale is likely my best option overall.

Are those contracts all 2057 expiration?

 

[Deb & Bill]

I will respectfully disagree on the king bed as I had an accessible studio in January in Jambo House with a king bed. There are a few non-accessible studios with king beds there as well, but we booked the accessible one to be guaranteed it.

I do agree that AKL with more points via resale is likely my best option overall.

Are those contracts all 2057 expiration?

No, there are no studios with king sized beds with DVC. You must have been in an AKL hotel room, not a DVC studio.

 

[KAT4DISNEY]

I will respectfully disagree on the king bed as I had an accessible studio in January in Jambo House with a king bed. There are a few non-accessible studios with king beds there as well, but we booked the accessible one to be guaranteed it.

I do agree that AKL with more points via resale is likely my best option overall.

Are those contracts all 2057 expiration?

Do you recall the room number? That will clarify if they might have moved you into a regular hotel room. I'd also tend to think you were not in a villas room as all DVC studios are designed for queen beds. We have had many accessible studios with DVC and never a king bed. Our accessible rooms at AKV - Jambo have been 1br's though.

All AKV contracts have the 2057 end date. OKW is the only resort that has a mix of 2042 and 2057 end dates. All other resorts have just one end date.

 

[igrsod]

Thanks for the additional info.

While I agree that I didn't get completely accurate information in my conversations with a Guide, I do not believe they outright lied. At least, not intentionally. It's useful for me to point out that A) my discussions with them were short and hurried and B) resulted in a LOT of information to take in at once and I'm sure that I got some details wrong. With that said, they did pointedly make a comment about the BLT property and TOTWL in regards to access... Not necessarily something I'm really worried about per se, but I've read that it could be a nice place to watch the fireworks from and potentially take pictures.

Given that I may well want to be able to book more than "infrequently" at AKL (I'll want to stay there, and not just when there "happens" to be a room) combined with 100 points likely offering me better overall flexibility anyhow, I may just buy resale at AKL and use the lower price point to make it more feasible. I understand and agree that spending $5000 to save $150/year doesn't make sense in the grand scheme - I always evaluate based on total cost and overall value as opposed to specific costs. So, I'm glad of having been reminded that I need to keep that piece in mind.

I couldn't care less about member-only cruises as using points to book a cruise seems like a poor choice of a way to use points (seems to be not economical).

When we did the math on direct vs resale and earning back the price difference in discounts on annual passes, it made far more sense to buy resale. We bought last year, and have loved our 3 trips we have done so far. We bought at AKL and have stayed at AKL, BCV, OKW, BLT. We have loved our stay at all of them.

 

[ember1205]

Do you recall the room number? That will clarify if they might have moved you into a regular hotel room. I'd also tend to think you were not in a villas room as all DVC studios are designed for queen beds. We have had many accessible studios with DVC and never a king bed. Our accessible rooms at AKV - Jambo have been 1br's though.

All AKV contracts have the 2057 end date. OKW is the only resort that has a mix of 2042 and 2057 end dates. All other resorts have just one end date.

Thank you for confirming that the AKL contracts are 2057. I thought that this was what I had heard, but lots of information coming at me in a short period of time left me quite uncertain.

As far as "what room", I do not recall the number. Enter the Jambo House building, proceed past the registration desk and turn left down the hall to the rooms. At the first elevator, go down one floor and then return back in the direction toward the main lobby (sort of like making a U-turn after going down one floor) and the room was back toward the middle area of that hallway with a Savannah View. In looking at the site as if I were to be trying to making a new reservation, I do not see the room type that we had booked being shown.

From the confirmation email for the booking, they stated: "Savanna View. Wheelchair accessible with tub and option for hearing accessibility. 1 king bed, 1 daybed.
2 Guests". Five nights was about $2200 for the room and they were running a promo with the "Gift of Magic" theme but I don't believe it was a significant reduction in cost.

 

[JETSDAD]

Thank you for confirming that the AKL contracts are 2057. I thought that this was what I had heard, but lots of information coming at me in a short period of time left me quite uncertain.

As far as "what room", I do not recall the number. Enter the Jambo House building, proceed past the registration desk and turn left down the hall to the rooms. At the first elevator, go down one floor and then return back in the direction toward the main lobby (sort of like making a U-turn after going down one floor) and the room was back toward the middle area of that hallway with a Savannah View. In looking at the site as if I were to be trying to making a new reservation, I do not see the room type that we had booked being shown.

From the confirmation email for the booking, they stated: "Savanna View. Wheelchair accessible with tub and option for hearing accessibility. 1 king bed, 1 daybed.
2 Guests". Five nights was about $2200 for the room and they were running a promo with the "Gift of Magic" theme but I don't believe it was a significant reduction in cost.

That would have been on the hotel side of things, not DVC. DVC rooms are on the 5th floor (club level on the 6th). No DVC studios have king beds.

 

[KAT4DISNEY]

Thank you for confirming that the AKL contracts are 2057. I thought that this was what I had heard, but lots of information coming at me in a short period of time left me quite uncertain.

As far as "what room", I do not recall the number. Enter the Jambo House building, proceed past the registration desk and turn left down the hall to the rooms. At the first elevator, go down one floor and then return back in the direction toward the main lobby (sort of like making a U-turn after going down one floor) and the room was back toward the middle area of that hallway with a Savannah View. In looking at the site as if I were to be trying to making a new reservation, I do not see the room type that we had booked being shown.

From the confirmation email for the booking, they stated: "Savanna View. Wheelchair accessible with tub and option for hearing accessibility. 1 king bed, 1 daybed.
2 Guests". Five nights was about $2200 for the room and they were running a promo with the "Gift of Magic" theme but I don't believe it was a significant reduction in cost.

You're welcome!

On the room that's enough info to know that you were put in one of the hotel rooms, not a villa. At Jambo the DVC villas are all on Floors 5 and 6 so if you were on the first or second floor that was the hotel. Kidani is all DVC but Jambo is mostly hotel rooms with DVC on the upper floors. Just wanted to make certain you know that DVC villas only have queen beds in the studios so that it wasn't an unexpected surprise.

 

[ember1205]

That complicates things a little further then. If the only way to get a king bed is via a 1BR, then that completely changes the viability of DVC membership for me because the points requirement goes up quite a bit. It basically doubles the points requirements for me at both AKL and OKW in order to achieve what I'm after. I'll have to look at this a lot more closely and may even end up postponing the entire purchase until AFTER my November trip for Food & Wine to actually look at both resorts together with a scrutiny specific to buying into DVC.

Maybe we'll end up going the route of the number of points we've been discussing and just live with sleeping in a queen bed for a handful of nights (we were ok doing this on the cruise, so maybe it's not all that big of a deal for a park trip).

I know that buying points direct there's a 100 Point minimum for AKL. What about via resale?

 

[KAT4DISNEY]

That complicates things a little further then. If the only way to get a king bed is via a 1BR, then that completely changes the viability of DVC membership for me because the points requirement goes up quite a bit. It basically doubles the points requirements for me at both AKL and OKW in order to achieve what I'm after. I'll have to look at this a lot more closely and may even end up postponing the entire purchase until AFTER my November trip for Food & Wine to actually look at both resorts together with a scrutiny specific to buying into DVC.

Maybe we'll end up going the route of the number of points we've been discussing and just live with sleeping in a queen bed for a handful of nights (we were ok doing this on the cruise, so maybe it's not all that big of a deal for a park trip).

I know that buying points direct there's a 100 Point minimum for AKL. What about via resale?

With resale it's whatever size contract you find for sale. Contracts under 100 pts tend to get sold very quickly but if you catch one you can buy it. You could potentially find resale contracts as low as 25 points on up.

 

[ember1205]

I was perusing some of the other threads that talk about prices and ROFR, and it SEEMS that AKL/AKV -could- be had for $100-$110/point range. If that's the case, I could potentially buy 100 points now and another 100 in the future if it turns out that either we want to go more regularly or want the extra points for a Villa with a king.

Now I have to figure out what an optimal use year would be to get 2018 points banked in the contract, too. Sigh. There's SO MANY VARIABLES!! lol

 

[Philsfan77]

I was perusing some of the other threads that talk about prices and ROFR, and it SEEMS that AKL/AKV -could- be had for $100-$110/point range. If that's the case, I could potentially buy 100 points now and another 100 in the future if it turns out that either we want to go more regularly or want the extra points for a Villa with a king.

Now I have to figure out what an optimal use year would be to get 2018 points banked in the contract, too. Sigh. There's SO MANY VARIABLES!! lol

If you are buying resale, it won't necessarily matter what UY you pick for the purposes of getting 2018 points and banking them...it will all come down to whether the owner that is selling them used them or not. Just doing a quick glance of 4 different resale sites, and there is only 1 contract currently available for 100 points, but it doesn't have any points until 2020 (you could theoretically borrow them into 2019), but that doesn't really help you. There are however several 160 point contracts (for about $16-18K) that have points for days - one actually has points going back to 2017. Buying direct is quicker because you can get exactly what you want, and don't have to worry about ROFR. With resale you might have to be flexible on the number of points you want, and really stalk the websites to find one with 2018 points still available.

 

[ember1205]

Good info - thanks for posting.

What are the recommended sites to find contracts from users here? I've read that Fidelity is sometimes problematic (they are too "mechanical" with how they handle things? And, working through a purchase/offer online instead of via phone apparently can throw things into limbo if you make a mistake) while The Timeshare Store seems to be liked.

 

[CarolMN]

That complicates things a little further then. If the only way to get a king bed is via a 1BR, then that completely changes the viability of DVC membership for me because the points requirement goes up quite a bit. It basically doubles the points requirements for me at both AKL and OKW in order to achieve what I'm after. I'll have to look at this a lot more closely and may even end up postponing the entire purchase until AFTER my November trip for Food & Wine to actually look at both resorts together with a scrutiny specific to buying into DVC.

Maybe we'll end up going the route of the number of points we've been discussing and just live with sleeping in a queen bed for a handful of nights (we were ok doing this on the cruise, so maybe it's not all that big of a deal for a park trip).

I know that buying points direct there's a 100 Point minimum for AKL. What about via resale?

The OKW studios have two actual beds - both are queens. That's the only DVC WDW resort where that is true. Perhaps two beds would work for your park trips.

The minimum for resale is 25 points, because that is the smallest contract DVD sold. You can purchase any contract that comes up for sale, but you cannot alter the number of points in a contract.

 

[ember1205]

The OKW studios have two actual beds - both are queens. That's the only DVC WDW resort where that is true. Perhaps two beds would work for your park trips.

The minimum for resale is 25 points, because that is the smallest contract DVD sold. You can purchase any contract that comes up for sale, but you cannot alter the number of points in a contract.

What does "that" refer to? The two beds being queen beds? Does that mean that the two beds at AKL are Double beds? If so, that isn't going to fly, period.

 

[CarolMN]

What does "that" refer to? The two beds being queen beds? Does that mean that the two beds at AKL are Double beds? If so, that isn't going to fly, period.

You seem to be confusing the hotel rooms, known as the Animal Kingdom Lodge with the DVC villas, known as Animal Kingdom Village - Jambo & AKV-Kidani.

Jambo & Kidani are the DVC parts of the resort complex. The complex includes both hotel rooms and DVC villas. The hotel guests and the DVC villa guests share common amenities).

Kidani is the name of the separate building in the complex and all of the rooms in the Kidani building are DVC villas. The other building contains both hotel rooms (referred to as the Animal Kingdom Lodge by Disney) and DVC Villas (called AKV-Jambo).

The DVC Jambo studios and also the Kidani studios have 1 queen bed and 1 double sized sleep sofa. I do not know what configuration the hotel rooms have. I suspect it varies. SOe of those may have a king bed. As already posted, the DVC Jambo villas in the main building (one with both hotel and DVC rooms) are only on the 5th and 6th floors. All the other rooms in the main building are hotel rooms and not part of DVC.

All WDW DVC studios (except OKW) have 1 queen bed and 1 sleep sofa. Most of the sleep sofas are doubles, but a few have a queen sleep sofa, instead of the double. No WDW DVC studios have a king bed.

OKW studios have two queen beds, no sleep sofa.

HTH.

 

[ember1205]

You seem to be confusing the hotel rooms, known as the Animal Kingdom Lodge with the DVC villas, known as Animal Kingdom Village - Jambo & AKV-Kidani.

Jambo & Kidani are the DVC parts of the resort complex. The complex includes both hotel rooms and DVC villas. The hotel guests and the DVC villa guests share common amenities).

Kidani is the name of the separate building in the complex and all of the rooms in the Kidani building are DVC villas. The other building contains both hotel rooms (referred to as the Animal Kingdom Lodge by Disney) and DVC Villas (called AKV-Jambo).

The DVC Jambo studios and also the Kidani studios have 1 queen bed and 1 double sized sleep sofa. I do not know what configuration the hotel rooms have. I suspect it varies. SOe of those may have a king bed. As already posted, the DVC Jambo villas in the main building (one with both hotel and DVC rooms) are only on the 5th and 6th floors. All the other rooms in the main building are hotel rooms and not part of DVC.

All WDW DVC studios (except OKW) have 1 queen bed and 1 sleep sofa. Most of the sleep sofas are doubles, but a few have a queen sleep sofa, instead of the double. No WDW DVC studios have a king bed.

OKW studios have two queen beds, no sleep sofa.

HTH.

Thanks for clarifying details on the various Studio rooms in the different resorts. If booking via DVC, a Studio will have one queen bed with the exception of OKW where it will have two queen beds. Got it.

What's confusing in general is Disney's half-baked way of using terminology. Kidani and Jambo House refer to the BUILDINGS. The entire property is generically known as Animal Kingdom Lodge by MANY and the distinction of Kidani actually being Kidani Village and DVC-only is lost on most as they don't know much if anything about DVC. The fact that Jambo House contains "regular" hotel rooms that are available to anyone as well as DVC member rooms that may, or may not, be called a "Villa" (the Studio rooms appear to make no such distinction) while Disney / DVC only refers to the DVC only rooms as Villas leads to confusion for those that have some familiarity with DVC.

While I believe that I am following the bouncing ball quite well, I can totally understand where my use of more general terminology would make it seem that I'm a bit lost.

 

[CraigInPA]

I'm an NFL linebacker sized guy, with a normal sized wife. We sleep in a king bed every night (sharing it with an old English sheepdog). We went through the same dilemma as you did regarding king beds versus queen beds. We just weren't sure that we could ever stay in a studio, and the points requirements for a 1 bedroom (to get the king bed) were so much more that we just didn't see DVC as being viable for us. But, we decided to "try before we buy" by renting points and staying at BCV and BLT. Even with a 10 night stay, we were ok in the queen bed (probably because the dog wasn't there with us). So, we ended up buying a 160 point resale at BLT. Since then we've done multiple add-ons, enough to stay in 1 bedroom units, but have yet to do it. We're using those extra points to extend our nights in studios instead.

 

[ember1205]

Thanks for your thoughts, @CraigInPA

I just spent 7 nights in a queen on a ship - absolutely manageable. Full size is not. But, since all have at least one queen, it definitely will work.

Picking the right contact is going to be the tougher part for me right now.


Related question: if I buy an initial contact at Animal Kingdom of 100 points, and then but a contract there for 50 points later on, do those contracts become one or remain separate? I'm wondering mostly as it would pertain to selling off the points. Assume same use year for both contracts.

 

[Philsfan77]

better to keep them separate seems to be what people recommend...I don't think they could be combined anyways, but someone else would have to speak to that...smaller contracts tend to get more money on the resale market as they are more sought after by people trying to add on points to resorts.

 

[KAT4DISNEY]

Thanks for your thoughts, @CraigInPA

I just spent 7 nights in a queen on a ship - absolutely manageable. Full size is not. But, since all have at least one queen, it definitely will work.

Picking the right contact is going to be the tougher part for me right now.


Related question: if I buy an initial contact at Animal Kingdom of 100 points, and then but a contract there for 50 points later on, do those contracts become one or remain separate? I'm wondering mostly as it would pertain to selling off the points. Assume same use year for both contracts.

Only DVC themselves can change contracts and combine them. If you bought a 100 point contract and later a 50 points contract they would remain that way for your ownership or when you sold. It's impossible for you to get them combined - not that you'd want to. It's also impossible for you to split them further. If they were the same UY then they would be placed under a single membership and could easily be used together. When you went to book you would have the option of which contract you used points from or if you wanted/need to use from both you'd select both. If they were different UY's then they would not be under the same membership master and it gets a little more complicated to use them together. Not impossible but it adds a step or two.