Which WDW Villas?

[kristenk]

A friend recommended that I look into renting points for our WDW trip next year and staying at one of the DVC properties. We rented points before for a trip with DH's family, but a lot of properties have been added since then, I think. And I'm sure many have been updated and the ones that were great 8 years ago might not be the best next year. Right?

Anyway, does anyone have any info on any of the DVC properties? Are there any that you'd love to stay at or any that you're hoping to avoid (especially for a stay during April or May 2015)?

ETA: DD is 10yo. It will just be DH, DD and me on the trip. :)

Here's the list that I found:
Saratoga Springs
Old Key West
Bay Lake Tower - Contemporary
Grand Floridian Villas
Kidani Village - Animal Kingdom
Jambo House - Animal Kingdom
Boardwalk Villas
Beach Club Villas
Villas at Wilderness Lodge

[keh602]

I love Bay Lake Tower for its monorail access and proximity to Magic Kingdom. The walk between BLT and MK is an easy one for us, even after a long day at the park, and it's just a really nice option when we're dealing with a stroller. The view of the fireworks from a theme park view room is awesome too.

We've also stayed in both buildings at Animal Kingdom Lodge. I don't even know if I have a preference between Kidani and Jambo. I love them both!! Sitting out on the balcony and watching the animals is just amazing. Dealing solely with the buses for transportation is the reason we will probably avoid AKL until we're done with strollers (or at least the double), but I really couldn't complain about our bus experiences either.

We are staying at Bay Lake again in December, but we seriously considered Boardwalk or Beach Club. We had to walk back that way from Epcot to catch a boat last year, and I was blown away. The whole area was just magical. It was dusk, and the lights were just so beautiful. The ability to walk to both Epcot and Hollywood Studios is a huge bonus. Both of those resorts are definitely on my list to try out eventually!

[hillview]

we loved BLT with younger kids.

[MMMommy]

We stayed at BLT a couple of years ago and really liked the convenience and the location.

[DualvansMommy]

If your DD was younger or stroller age, I would say BLT, contemporary, or grand Floridian. It is so nice to have other options besides the bus when dealing with small kiddos!

Also, it boils down to which parks you're spending most of time at? Beach club is really awesome as we just returned from there a month ago , our boys are lot smaller than your DD. The pool there alone makes it worthwhile to have stayed there, despite having to deal with buses daily to MK.

It's walkable to Epcot and downtown, which is really nice at dusk and nighttime. With any of resorts you get to pick out, can't go wrong with any of them! It just boils down to your personality, time spend in hotel vs being at the parks all day long, etc

[erosenst]

We've stayed at Bay Lake Tower (rented points) a few times and really liked it.

Having said that, DH, DD10 and I were there in early June for a week and rented a townhouse at Windsor Hills. SIGNIFICANTLY less expensive, shorter drives to Animal Kingdom and Hollywood Studios than from Bay Lake (although obviously longer to Magic Kingdom and Epcot - but still less than 20 minutes) and we all appreciated the extra space. Just something to think about. Feel free to PM me for more details.

[egoldber]

We are DVC owners (Boardwalk Villas) and have stayed at almost all the DVC properties except GF and WL.

By FAR we prefer Boardwalk or Beach Club. We walk into Epcot for dinner almost every night. With a 10 year old, I think BWV or BCV would be a great choice.

Most recently we stayed at BLT. It is very convenient to the MK, so if you plan to spend a lot of time there, I think it's the best choice. Personally, I find the monorail extremely slow and inconvenient. The theming at BLT is meh IMO.

Animal Kingdom Villas, especially Jambo House, are really, really beautiful. Kidani is very inconvenient IMO.

[saleenl]

We have stayed at BLT and Boardwalk, and would definitely recommend Boardwalk or Beach Club. I would love to stay at the Beach Club next time, or Animal Kingdom Villas.

[brittone2]

I have not stayed there, but would also recommend Boardwalk or Beach Club. We did POR during our last trip. We had originally debated staying at a monorail resort, but ended up not doing so. A few weeks or months before our trip the schedule came out saying the Monorail hrs were being pretty drastically reduced. We drove everywhere from POR vs. taking the bus, and that worked well for us for our Feb. trip. We were usually able to park pretty close to the entrance, and then we hopped on the boat. They had more ferries running due to the monorail hrs being reduced, so we only waited a matter of minutes or directly boarded. In any case, I would have been annoyed had we booked a monorail resort for our stay, because with early mornings, etc. we would really have almost never been able to use it. I know some people were very irritated about it when I was reading the disboards regularly. I'm not sure if that reduced schedule happens annually or not in the off season, but it was going on when we were there this past Feb.

We spent some time riding a surrey bike, visiting Beaches and Cream, etc over in the area of Boardwalk and Beach Club, and really enjoyed it. I can totally see the appeal now, and would definitely consider those resorts in the future. I love the idea of being able to walk around there in the evening, to jet over to epcot for meals, etc. We found ourselves getting tired of the parks at times, and I thought those areas were a nice change of scenery.