Boardwalk Villas vs other DVC options

[billysmommy]

We stayed at the Boardwalk Villas in January and absolutely loved everything about it. We're thinking about going back again in January and are trying to decide whether to stay at the Boardwalk again or try one of the other DVC properties.

We would love to stay at Animal Kingdom Lodge and be able to watch the animals and Wilderness Lodge looks really cool. We walked around the Beach Club a bit and while the pool looked really fun, we really liked right at the Boardwalk with the bakery, pedal bikes, shops and restaurants. Billy loved the pool and slide at the Boardwalk. The biggest draw is being able to walk to Epcot and take the boats to DHS ~ which we could do from the Beach Club also.

Have any of you stayed at both the Boardwalk Villas and Beach Club Villas and which did you like better? Or one of the other DVC properties?

Thanks :)

[egoldber]

We have stayed at BWV (our home property) and also Old Key West. I have stayed at Yacht Club, but not Beach Club, and visited Saratoga Springs.

I like OKW because the rooms are larger (it was the first DVC resort), but other than that we REALLY prefer the Epcot resort location. So when we were looking to buy, we only considered BCV and BWV. BWV is generally a little cheaper and became available first with the number of points we wanted.

I would like to stay at the new Contemporary villas and be able to walk to the MK, but other than that I don't know that any of the other properties really appeal to me.

[billysmommy]

I'm trying to talk DH into buying DVC. We have a timeshare in St Thomas that we exchange for our Disney stays but I would love to have DVC instead!!!

We love the Epcot resort area too!!! We would spend the mornings and early afternoons in a part, come back, rest/nap and then head into Epcot every evening for dinner and rides/Illuminations. DH and I loved the variety of restaurants we were able to go to.

[clc053103]

We absolutely love staying at BWV! Lots of fun at the pool, always entertainment on the BW, and we love Epcot. My fam stayed at BC in regular rooms once and weren't that impressed. the feedback from some people at AK have been that it's too far out of the way, but WLV is such great theming. We are staying at BLT (that's the new Contemporary villas) in Sept, the theming doesn't seem as nice at BWV but we want to try being on the monorail. I do find it's been more difficult to arrange our meals- some of our favorite places are on BW, at BC and in Epcot.

[Momof3Labs]

Haven't stayed DVC before, but we absolutely love the theming of AKL. When I think of my "home" at Disney, it is AKL (we've stayed there twice but visit every time we go down). I love having the big balcony with the animals, and it is so quiet and peaceful out there at any time of day or night. Boma and Mara are two of our favorite places to eat. The zero depth entry pool is great for the kids, and it is open 24hrs (or used to be). Yes, it is farther to most of the parks, but at least it isn't a shared bus, so the commute time isn't that different than a bus ride from an Epcot resort to MK, for example.

We stayed at BC once and the theming was kind of blah to us, though the rooms are much larger than AKL (the hotel part, at least). We tried to go to Stormalong Bay one night and were told it was closing (it was 8pm or earlier); they sent us to the 24hr pool, which was a boring little rectangular pool. None of the restaurants at BC/YC are favorites of ours. BUT, the location is fabulous. So hard to beat the ability to walk to two parks, and hit Epcot almost every evening (all those great dinner restaurant options - even for counter service - and my kids just adore Epcot, moreso than MK). We stayed at the Swan last time and were just as happy there as BC.

If we were to buy DVC (we've looked seriously at it but the room capacity is stopping us for now), we'd probably try for BCV or BWV, but I suspect that we'd sneak in a visit every few years to AKL.

[egoldber]

You should also look at points. Stays at BCV generally "cost more" points than stays at BWV. Mainly this is because there are no "standard" or non-preferred rooms at BCV like there are at BWV.

Also, BCV does not have any Grand Villas if that is of any importance to you (it was to us).