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Anyone trade into Animal Kingdom recently?

Carol C

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If so how many TPUs did you pay and for what size and what season? How often do they refurb the units there? Thx in advance for any intel!
 

Janann

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It has been a long time since anyone reported trading into Animal Kingdom. The most likely trade these days is a one bedroom at Saratoga Springs.
 
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sb2313

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We traded into a 1 bedroom in August 2016 for a March 2017 check in. After that, I know there were some last minute units in January 2018 but I’m not sure if anyone has reported any since.
 

qwerty

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It has been a long time since anyone reported trading into Animal Kingdom. The most likely trade these days is a one bedroom at Saratoga Springs.
Except for Saratoga and an OKW twice, I have seen nothing else since 2016. From my experience, I believe that Disney is somehow able to keep anything else and rent them.
 

Jan M.

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Grandview Las Vegas and Discovery Beach Resort - Both in RCI Points
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With our RCI points we exchanged into Animal Kingdom Kidani Village in a one bedroom savanna view unit in April of 2017. And I saw these same units available in late August of last year too. Haven't been looking since then so can't say anything more recent.
 

mj2vacation

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RCI would kill to get more inventory. I have to imagine that the robust rental market cuts into Members using RCI.

We rented a few hundred points through David’s. Easy, and they wired a good chunk of money the next day. Well PayPal, but paypaled sounds odd.
 

Carol C

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Thanks for all the replies. It has been years since i exchanged into a studio there...back when it was an II exchange. I dont really like Orlando except for this one resort. I had such fun meeting up with other TUGgers and despite bitter cold temps that January. Oh well...i still have the memories. Thx for the update confirming difficulty with this trade.
 

famy27

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Thanks for all the replies. It has been years since i exchanged into a studio there...back when it was an II exchange. I dont really like Orlando except for this one resort. I had such fun meeting up with other TUGgers and despite bitter cold temps that January. Oh well...i still have the memories. Thx for the update confirming difficulty with this trade.

I've traded in twice in January (2016 and 2017), both during MLK weekend. This was in the time period when AKV exchanges were pretty rare, so if there is any chance of getting it, I feel like January is probably the best bet.
 

sb2313

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I've traded in twice in January (2016 and 2017), both during MLK weekend. This was in the time period when AKV exchanges were pretty rare, so if there is any chance of getting it, I feel like January is probably the best bet.
Previously, there would be loads of two bedroom akl weeks for Around 50,000 rci points or less in January. So I do agree if we were to see akl in rci, January would be a decent bet.
 

Jan M.

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Previously, there would be loads of two bedroom akl weeks for Around 50,000 rci points or less in January. So I do agree if we were to see akl in rci, January would be a decent bet.

I haven't seen any two bedroom units at any of the Disney resorts in several years available in RCI points. Other people have reported the same thing. Some of us have speculated that they are all taken by ongoing searches so we never see them. But I can't remember anyone posting in quite a while that they booked a two bedroom unit at a Disney World resort either.
 

paxsarah

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I've traded in twice in January (2016 and 2017), both during MLK weekend. This was in the time period when AKV exchanges were pretty rare, so if there is any chance of getting it, I feel like January is probably the best bet.

I also matched AKV for check-in the first Friday in March 2017, which is just prior to the usual spring break rush. Unfortunately, by that point we had a commitment on Saturday elsewhere so we just stuck with our Sunday check-in at SSR.
 
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As a DVC owner, it really is not worth trading into RCI. The deals are better moving from RCI to DVC than the opposite. In 2016, I traded 50 BCV points into DVC due to the fact that I could not use them, then I researched what I could get through RCI with the points. Not much. Will never do that again, will rent points out next time instead of trading them into RCI
 

TravelTime

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I think what could be happening is that AKL is getting more popular and attractive to DVC members and for hotel rentals. AK is the best park now, IMO. It is my favorite park at WDW. I wish I would have purchased all my WDW points there.

We are at Aulani this week and it is sold out. It is so crowded. I imagine at some point, the prices to buy into Aulani will be going up. I was told that Aulani was large and had many DVC rooms but it seems small to me. I can’t believe how busy it is during off season. I love Ko Olina and Oahu. Glad I bought almost half our points at Aulani. I think we will keep this contract.
 
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frank808

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I think what could be happening is that AKL is getting more popular and attractive to DVC members and for hotel rentals. AK is the best park now, IMO. It is my favorite park at WDW. I wish I would have purchased all my WDW points there.

We are at Aulani this week and it is sold out. It is so crowded. I imagine at some point, the prices to buy into Aulani will be going up. I was told that Aulani was large and had many DVC rooms but it seems small to me. I can’t believe how busy it is during off season. I love Ko Olina and Oahu. Glad I bought almost half our points at Aulani. I think we will keep this contract.
It is also crowded because it is fall break for most oahu public schools. Also, it was Columbus day holiday yesterday making it a 3 day weekend for most people.

Next week, Aulani would be a little less occupied. I have to admit it was crazy at the Aulani pools yesterday and at the lagoon. It was as crazy as the July 4th holidays that I have spent at Aulani. In contrast it was pretty calm at Marriott Koolina yesterday.

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TravelTime

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It is also crowded because it is fall break for most oahu public schools. Also, it was Columbus day holiday yesterday making it a 3 day weekend for most people.

Next week, Aulani would be a little less occupied. I have to admit it was crazy at the Aulani pools yesterday and at the lagoon. It was as crazy as the July 4th holidays that I have spent at Aulani. In contrast it was pretty calm at Marriott Koolina yesterday.

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Yes that is what I am finding. We stayed at MKO first and then moved here. It is night and day in terms of Aulani being super busy compared to MKO. There are not many school age kids here though. Most of the kids look very young.
 
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I'm just trying to get info on an upcoming family Disney centered vacation and wanted to throw this out there. All day today, 4/15/19 on RCI there has been a 1BR unit available at Boulder Springs for Sept of 19, one 2BR at Old key West for Aug of 19, and there are currently 12 available from June to November of 19 in SSR including two, 2BR units. Just any fyi if anyone is checking on the likelihood of trading into Disney via RCI.
 

rhonda

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I'm just trying to get info on an upcoming family Disney centered vacation and wanted to throw this out there. All day today, 4/15/19 on RCI there has been a 1BR unit available at Boulder Springs for Sept of 19, one 2BR at Old key West for Aug of 19, and there are currently 12 available from June to November of 19 in SSR including two, 2BR units. Just any fyi if anyone is checking on the likelihood of trading into Disney via RCI.
Some of these sightings (which should be posted in the Sightings forum, btw) might be limited to your Welk portal or through RCI Points? I'm seeing only 1BR SSR via my RCI Weeks Platinum account.
 
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I've never used or looked at the sightings forum, my bad. And I only have access to RCI through my Welk portal. But that tells me something about Welk's access/privileges that I was curious about. Thanks!
 

Firepath

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It must be the Welk access. I didn't see them and I have weeks and points access. I'd sure grab those if I saw them!
 
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They're off season a little and I'm out of points for this year lol! Plus I can't legally sell them if I can't use em..... Now there are more at OKW and SSR!
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bnoble

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We've seen reports of the Welk portal seeing a 2BR before. Seems a little like the Aulani deposits that only were matching to Wyndham portals a few years ago. (That did not continue, AFAIK.)
 
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What is the "P" that appears below the 1BR and 2BR icons, please? Priority Access?
Yes, the "P" is for priority access. I don't know if Aulani ever pops up. Welk has some kind of agreement with Disney where they have access to some units at SSR, Boardwalk, and Aulani because higher tier members can book those resorts straight through the Welk Owners Lounge, without even accessing RCI. Of course that's based on availability and I can't see those because I only own 240k points, the first tier of ownership with legit benefits and Disney access requires buying 540k points directly from Welk.
Here's the Welk Collections list if anyone is curious: http://thecollection.welkresorts.com/locations/
As of now, Aulani isn't popping up for me but I put in an ongoing search just out of curiosity.
 

frank808

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Yes, the "P" is for priority access. I don't know if Aulani ever pops up. Welk has some kind of agreement with Disney where they have access to some units at SSR, Boardwalk, and Aulani because higher tier members can book those resorts straight through the Welk Owners Lounge, without even accessing RCI. Of course that's based on availability and I can't see those because I only own 240k points, the first tier of ownership with legit benefits and Disney access requires buying 540k points directly from Welk.
Here's the Welk Collections list if anyone is curious: http://thecollection.welkresorts.com/locations/
As of now, Aulani isn't popping up for me but I put in an ongoing search just out of curiosity.
Just wondering what is the maintenance fee on 360,000 welk points?

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360k would be around $1700 prolly. I'm paying $1400ish for 240k and I saw a chart for 2017 MF that had 540k for right around $2000. So somewhere in there. I'll call Owner Services later and see if they can give me the exact equation. I know there is a base rate and then it goes by amount of points owned. One would definitely pay less per night when buying more points if that makes sense. I know that doubling my points would not double my MF. But if you're seriously considering Welk or know someone who is, feel free to message me.
 
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