Hey everyone, it's Jacqueline -and Adam -for Pixie Dust PhD. -Today we'll be ranking the DVC resorts
based on the subjective fact of whether or not we want these resorts to be our home resort.
-So we're talking about buying a home resort contract, not just where we would want to stay.
I do think those are pretty different topics. -Yeah, absolutely. We all have our dream vacation
where we spend a ton of money on something, but we're trying to be realistic here and say what's
the biggest bang for our buck given that we're not kabajillionaires--it's a technical term. -It's
terrible. As Adam mentioned, this is completely subjective. So obviously you will have your list,
we will have ours. Everyone's opinion is right for them. -Of course, ours is better. -That--No.
Let us know your rankings in the comments down below; we would absolutely love to hear from you.
-Yes, please let us know what you think. You know, we love the engagement and the community. -So if
you're interested in hearing our ranking stay tuned!
If you are new to Disney Vacation Club
there is just a ton of concepts and jargon for you to understand what should be a simple timeshare,
but really, it's quite complex. If you want to learn all these topics I have a playlist
of a lot of videos on this channel; you can go ahead and check that out by clicking the
card in the corner now, or I will leave a link in the description below. Furthermore, if you
want to learn everything you need to know about the Disney Vacation Club home resorts located
at Walt Disney World I also have a playlist for that--it's called my fast facts series,
and in these we go over everything you need to know about each individual resort. So things like
cost, dining, transportation, parking, rooms, room quirks, everything. To view that you can click the
card in the corner now, and I will also leave the link to that playlist in the description below.
Without further ado, let's go ahead and get to our rankings. Again, this is totally subjective.
Again, this will only be for Disney Vacation Club resorts located at Walt Disney World,
so we won't be counting the Grand Californian, Aulani, Hilton Head, or Vero Beach. For me
important factors in this ranking were location, theming, and cost. -I feel the same way;
however, our taste may be a little bit different. -Adam and I have not
discussed our list prior to filming this video, so it'll be interesting to see where we end up.
-So, starting with my bottom three; the bottom of the list for me is Old Key West,
then Riviera the new resort, and then next is Saratoga Springs. -And the bottom of my
list starts with Riviera, and then Old Key West, and then Saratoga Springs. So the same resorts,
just in a slightly different order. For me, Riviera is at the very bottom only because
of those resale restrictions. You can learn more about this by viewing my Riviera fast facts video.
But a brief explanation of these resale restrictions is essentially if you buy a resale
contract for Riviera you can ever only stay at the Riviera Resort. You won't be able to access any of
the other resorts with your vacation points. In my opinion this devalues that resort quite a lot.
-If it wasn't for that I feel like it would definitely be higher on my list.
-So we both had Saratoga Springs over Old Key West, and that probably has to do with the location,
right? -Yeah. -So Saratoga Springs is slightly closer to Disney Springs. You can still walk
to Disney Springs from Old Key West, and it is a very short drive, but the walk from Saratoga
Springs is pretty minimal. -But otherwise they're pretty similar in terms of things like cost, and
overall layout--like a bunch of apartments. -Yeah, and I don't…the themes are different,
but it doesn't really matter to me that much. I think the differences are slight in terms
of they're both enjoyable, but neither one of them isn’t a home run for me personally.
And last about Old Key West: something that really grinds my gears is most of the buildings
don't have elevators. So if you don't want to be climbing those stairs, maybe up to the third floor
even, you're gonna need to get a ground floor room. Finally wrapping up considerations for both
Saratoga and Old Key West is that availability is pretty high because the inventory is also really
large. So that home resort priority booking window for those points doesn't particularly mean much.
-Yeah, definitely not as valuable. -Right. That being said, if you snag a resale contract at
Saratoga Springs or Old Key West for a really great price and you manage to make it through
Disney's right of first refusal process, and you're okay with that chaos of the seven month
booking window and potentially jumping around resorts a lot, you can get really high value out of
your Old Key West or Saratoga points--potentially staying at a place even like the Grand Floridian.
-But remember, we're going off where do we want our home resort. -And I don't really like that
chaos and stress of the seven month booking window. I feel like if I’m going to pay more than 10 grand for
something I may as well pay a few extra thousand dollars to get the resort that I want most.
Moving along in our list: in eighth for me is Boulder Ridge, seventh is the Grand Floridian,
and sixth is Copper Creek. -My next three are BoardWalk, Boulder Ridge, and Copper Creek.
-So we both had both of the DVC locations at the Wilderness Lodge in the section of our list,
so let's talk about that. First, Boulder Ridge and Copper Creek aren't that different; they are both
located at the Wilderness Lodge so you're sharing a vast majority of the same amenities. Copper
Creek is much newer I suppose is the primary difference. And there are slight differences in
theming of course. -Yeah I think the newness kind of like edged one over the other for me. -Yeah,
same. -Yeah. -I think also because it's newer it also means the expiration date is quite further into
the future. Boulder Ridge expires relatively soon, in about 20 years. So in terms of your worth over
time I think Copper Creek probably wins out. And especially we--I certainly am sort of concerned
about potentially maintaining resale value. And so having that longer expiration date means even
20 years from now it would still have more years left on the contract potentially to have a higher
resale value. -Yeah I agree. Certainly it's all the small factors put it over the top in terms
of of these three on our list, specifically the Wilderness Lodge ones. But I’m really not the
biggest fan of Wilderness Lodge overall. So if I was kind of picking a home resort—again, wanting
that booking window advantage--it kind of puts it in middle tier for me. -I actually really like the
theming. I grew up in the pacific northwest so that kind of just speaks to home for me,
personally. And I think the food is pretty good around there. What is the issue for me is the cost
for Copper Creek is quite high; cost for Boulder Ridge is pretty low, but again it's expiring in
about 20 years. But the location is good, but not great. So you are in the Magic Kingdom area,
but you're not on a monorail resort. So you can take a boat over to Magic Kingdom, or a bus, or you can drive,
but you can't sort of just jaunt over there very easily. So you are sort of isolated; and that's a
pro and con, right. You are away from the hustle and bustle of the parks; it also means you're
further away from getting to the parks. -Yeah, I mean you have a lot of decent food there, but if
you want to go anywhere it's definitely a little bit of a hike--no pun intended. -It's a little
trek. -Yeah. So for me BoardWalk is more towards the bottom of my list just because I wasn't a
huge fan of the kind of the kitschy theming. And it's really close to EPCOT, so I do like that, and
it's got its own little area where you can kind of go to enjoy after the park… -The BoardWalk.
-Yes, of course. But for me it just really wasn't, you know, as good as some of these other options.
-Fair. -Yeah. -So my other spot in this was the Grand Floridian. I think the Grand Floridian is
beautiful, obviously, but for again I think it's like a cost for location thing sort
of like Copper Creek. You are closer to the Magic Kingdom; you're on the monorail loop,
but you--you could walk to it, there is a walkway now, but it's not a short walk like Bay Lake
Tower. And then you could hop on the monorail, but you're not right at Transportation and Ticket
Center like the Polynesian. So sort of of that area of the monorail loop I just think it's not
the best. And especially it is the most expensive initial purchase price at Walt Disney World, so
coughing up that kind of money I’m like “what am I really getting for that?” And also you need a
lot of points because the points per night to stay in a room at the Grand Floridian are quite high.
So I just think I’m not rich enough to let the Grand Floridian high enough in my list. -Yeah
that definitely makes a lot of sense, and I think you'll see that Grand Floridian is
coming up soon for me as well. -All right. -So the next three on my list gonna be Beach Club, Grand
Floridian, and then the Polynesian. -So the next three on my list: at number five is Beach Club,
so the same as Adam, but then we move differently into the Animal Kingdom,
and then I have number three as the BoardWalk. -Well we already talked about the Grand Floridian,
and, you know, it's kind of the same tier for me as well. And we also had Beach Club the same,
so you know again I think for for me the Beach Club was really very similar to BoardWalk,
but I did like it more. I like kind of the beach laid back theme, and its locations pretty good.
I know it may share some things with Yacht Club, but it is kind of its own thing right.
-Yeah. For me Beach Club is in fifth place, which is the same as Adam. I also have BoardWalk in this
segment--so it's actually at number three, which is significantly higher than Adam,
and it's higher than Beach Club unlike what Adam had. Both of these rankings for me really fall in
location. So you can walk to EPCOT very easily, and you can also walk to Hollywood Studios. It's
a little bit of a trek, but you can do it. If you don't want to walk to Hollywood Studios you
can take a boat or you can take the skyliner. The reason why BoardWalk is higher on my list
than Beach Club just for me and my taste: I actually like the kitschy theming of the
BoardWalk a lot. I think it's really fun. The Beach Club is beautiful, don't get me wrong,
and I know the pool--Stormalong Bay--is a huge factor for a lot of people. For me the pool
actually really isn't a big factor. I’m not much of a pool person; so I do think you're paying that
up charge for the pool. Additionally these both expire the same year, in 2042, so that wasn't much
of a consideration. And given that, Beach Club actually costs a ton more than the BoardWalk,
both in your initial purchase price and then also the number of points you need--for example,
in the cheapest DVC season at the BoardWalk there are 9 point nights as opposed to I think those are
13 or 14 points at the Beach Club. Obviously one night being four or five points difference isn't
a big deal, but if you're adding that up over 5 to 10 nights that starts to be quite a lot of
points. Therefore, value really came into play with BoardWalk beating out Beach Club for me.
-I just like Beach Club more than BoardWalk. -It's fine! If you want to pay the upcharge for it,
like you do you. I just don't think I would want to. -Fair enough. So before we talk
about the Polynesian, I’ll go ahead and spoil the surprise that my number two was Animal Kingdom,
why don't we go ahead and talk about that. -Yeah, so the Animal Kingdom Villas I think are just so
beautiful and relaxing and peaceful, and it really just speaks to my personality and that I really
like zoos. So I think having a villa room with a savanna view and anytime you go back to the
room being able to see whatever animals are out on the savanna is just such a special moment.
-And we have stayed there in the past, and you know the amount of food and restaurants, the
fact you can wake up and it's early and you can see a giraffe out your window, is very cool. Very
relaxing. Very much gets you in the feeling that “hey, I am on vacation.” -Yeah, I also think value
comes into play here. So location is probably the biggest downfall of Animal Kingdom Villas.
Even though you're at the Animal Kingdom Lodge you can't even walk to the Animal Kingdom park.
You are going to have to drive or take a bus literally to all the parks, which is a bummer.
But that being said I think you get a lot for that. The value is really good. The purchase price
is pretty low, and like Adam said I think the food options at the Animal Kingdom Lodge are fantastic.
The other thing I really love on the Kidani side specifically is if you have your own car or rental
car the parking situation is A++. -Yeah. You can park right next to your room take an elevator up,
super easy. -It's like mostly covered so you're protected from the rain or the intense sun.
-Yeah, it's really nice. So the Polynesian was number 3 for me. -It's actually number 2 on my
list. -So let's talk about the Polynesian. So I am a big fan of the Polynesian, came in at number 3
for me. And we can dead-edge it out a little bit but, you know, if we're in the Magic Kingdom area
we're definitely hanging out at the Polynesian. -Yeah, I just love that resort: the theming,
the food options, especially the drinking options, are really appealing. You can get dole whip there,
like what is not to like about the Polynesian? -Yeah, love the theming there, you know,
tiki everything. It may be tacky, but I’m a big fan. -I was actually surprised that the Polynesian
ended up being so high on my list at number two, but the more I thought about it compared to the
other resorts it just kept moving up and up. The reason I was surprised is because the cost
is pretty dang high. It's not quite as expensive as Grand Floridian but it is definitely up there.
-Isn't the inventory pretty bad? -The inventory at the Polynesian is really weird. They only have
studios and bungalows, which are two bedrooms but there are specialty types so it's not it's
not a normal two bedroom villa--it's going to cost you a boatload of points. There's no one bedroom,
there's no normal two bedrooms, and then there's no three bedroom grand villas.
-I don't think we would ever do the bungalow. -We--no we're not that rich. -And I mean again
this is what we would want as our home resort, and these are all definitely in the con column. -Right.
So for us we're primarily going to be looking at staying in studios, although one bedrooms are also
an option. So the fact that the Polynesian doesn't even have one bedrooms is a little
concerning. I suppose that being said, one bedrooms tend to be the easiest type of room
to book at the seven month mark. But again I just don't like that chaos. So it's not something I
really even want to think about when considering my home resort. The studios are also really
massive; I think they're around 400 square feet or so, which sounds wonderful. Aside from the fact
that we love the resort itself and could spend a lot of time just hanging out there, you are just
steps away from the Transportation and Ticket Center. This is particularly true for the DVC
villas because they are all located in about three buildings, aside from all the bungalows of course,
that are on that side of the Polynesian resort very close to Transportation and Ticket Center.
-So you can definitely easily walk to Transportation and Ticket Center,
go to EPCOT, or just go for a fun ride on the monorail to some of the other hotels. -Right,
so you may encounter some noise unfortunately. Especially those boat horns depending on where
your room is located. But being steps away from direct monorail lines to both Magic Kingdom and
EPCOT is really honestly a huge advantage. So despite the huge cost of the Polynesian and the
fact that there really aren't that many different villa types, it just is a place that I love and
I--I would very highly consider making that my home resort. By process of elimination it is
clear that we have the same number one home resort that is Bay Lake Tower. -All right. -Yeah! I was
actually kind of worried Adam would end up not having Bay Lake Tower as his number one because
although we ended up buying that home resort contract, which if you want to learn more about
I’ll leave some links in the description below or you can click the card in the corner now, that he
said like… I drove that decision wholeheartedly. I said you know if we're doing this I want Bay
Lake Tower. We didn't really talk about it at all. It was kind of an end of story situation.
-Well for me if I’m going to Disney that means going to the Magic Kingdom at least once;
you have to do it. And if I’m staying, you know, a five minute walk away, ten minute walk away,
that just makes it all the more appealing. So you know one plus one equals three for me in
that kind of situation. -Location is obviously the number one factor here when considering
Bay Lake Tower as a home resort. I also just love that style and theming. I love the Contemporary;
I’ve been fascinated with it for as long as I can remember. But ultimately that quick walk over
the Magic Kingdom, and you have your own little security booth that barely ever even has a line,
it's honestly it's so magical in my opinion. Getting to the Magic Kingdom is by far the worst
park to get to. By far. It's not even close. The ease of getting to EPCOT, or Hollywood Studios,
or Animal Kingdom is leagues and leagues out of the water compared to getting to Magic Kingdom.
-Imagine you just watch Happily Ever After and you have to take a 40 minute trek back to your
hotel to sleep at 1 a.m. Or you can take a 5 minute walk. What sounds better to you? -Being
able to pop in and out of Magic Kingdom like that is such an appealing thing for me. For example,
when we stayed at the Animal Kingdom Villas several years ago we did have a rental car
and we ended up driving to Magic Kingdom. This meant driving to Ticket and Transportation Center,
parking, walking up to the monorail or ferry boat--I think there was also a bus,
but we didn't take that--and then taking that form of transportation to Magic Kingdom. So from our
door at Animal Kingdom Villas to the entrance of Magic Kingdom was something like 45 minutes. It
was just so long. Being able to cut that commute time down means a lot to me personally. Especially
because the way I like to do the parks is we wake up pretty early--we tend to rope drop or
close to rope drop if it's later in the vacation we're getting a little tired--spend several hours
there, and then take a break. We go back to the hotel midday, sometime between like 1 and 3 p.m.
or so. -It's hot. Take a break. Take a nap. Drink some water. You know it's really important,
especially with Disney, it's a ton of walking. It's a long day. Proximity is a major key here.
-Then after we're done with our nap, usually we end up napping, we'll go back to the parks for
the evening, and then come back to the hotel at night. So that is four total one-way trips.
If each of those is 30 to 45 minutes you're talking literal hours of transportation time.
-That's just eating your vacation right there. And when you kind of add all these things up,
and what we like to do, what's important to us, Bay Lake Tower was an easy decision
for number one. -The initial purchase price of Bay Lake Tower is pretty high. It's not the highest,
but it's definitely up there. And then the points cost is medium to high depending on what type of
villa you want to stay in and what DVC season it is. So it is one of the more expensive options.
Thankfully the annual dues are pretty low; they've been second lowest for three years in a row now,
which is going to save us a lot of money over time if that trend holds true.
-I hope so. -By “save us money” I mean obviously we're still spending money;
we're--we're paying the annual dues. It is a timeshare. But compared to something like the
Polynesian, for example, or Copper Creek, or Riviera. Woof! What a relief that both Adam
and I picked Bay Lake Towers as our number one considering that is our home resort.
Like we said at the top, let us know your rankings in the comments down below. What factors are the
most important to you? We would absolutely love to hear from you. And if you want to talk outside
of YouTube you can find me over on Twitter and Instagram @PixieDustPhD. Obviously in both of
our lists location played a huge role, and then I think to varying factors value played a role.
And interestingly for both of us the one resort that broke the mold in terms of location was
the Animal Kingdom Villas, which location wise is really pretty bad. -But I did think we had a really
nice experience when we stayed there. -Yes, and we both really love animals. We hope you enjoyed
this peek into our brains about what matters to us for a Disney Vacation Club home resort located at
Walt Disney World! If you have any Disney Vacation Club questions as always please feel free to leave
me a question in the comments down below, and I will do my best to get you a helpful answer.
We hope the rest of your day is super magical, and we'll see you real soon at Pixie Dust PhD. -Bye!
The only downside is that it's too amazing. -That's not true.
If you want to say that go for it. -No, it's too corny. -Okay.