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I would put Aulani at the top of of this list instead of the bottom, and my #2 and #3 choices didn't even make the list. As a DVC member for 22 years, I can say with confidence that my favorite resort is Aulani with Old Key West and Animal Kingdom Villas, Kidani Village close behind. The original DVC is truly the best at Walt Disney World with all it's space and the "home away from home" feel. Kidani is still more of a hotel, but the presence of the animals right outside your door makes it beyond special. I would not have rated any of your top 6 other than Aulani.
There is only one Bay Lake Tower. Adding an "s" is a surprisingly rookie mistake.
Aulani is a very cool place. It's not Disneyfied. It's just a top world class resort. The beaches of Waikiki are ugly dirty and crowded. I hate Honolulu. Of course you need a car in any part of Hawaii. Otherwise you're stuck paying top dollar for food and tours around whichever Island you're visiting. Imagine paying $1000 for a plane ticket and then never seeing anything other than your resort. If you do that I reflects on you not the resort.
DVC Aulani is a beautiful resort but a major waste of a very large airfare. Unless you rent a car, you cannot get to Pearl Harbor or anywhere else in Honolulu or on Oahu. The location is isolated and on the far side of both Pearl Harbor and the airport from the city. It can take up to an hour or even more to get to downtown Honolulu or Waikiki from Aulani. The DVC resort, and the other three resorts with it at Ko'olina are artificial paradises created on the desert side of Oahu, just past the oil production fields on the far outskirts of Honolulu. If you want to spend a vacation in a Disneyfied version of Hawaii, you will enjoy the trip. If you want to see Waikiki, Diamond Head, and all that Oahu offers, plan on many long commutes in heavy traffic to get to where the Hawaiian sites are.
It is not completely true that you must rent a car, but that being said, it IS the easiest way to see the attractions you mentioned. There are shuttles that run also at a cost, and there are tours to those places from the resort via the shuttles.
There is only one tower at Bay Lake Tower. It's not plural. Now should they decide to tear down the old south wing building and build another tower, they could name the two of them Bay Lake Towers.
Yea the article sounds like it was written by a poorly informed travel agent trying to sell dvc membership by stretching the truth. Stormalong bay is not exclusive to dvc. Also the standard contemporary is just as walkable to magic kingdom and is not dvc specific.
A few things bug me about this article. First, Stormalong Bay is not exclusive to the Villas. Anyone staying at the Yacht or Beach Club has access.
Second, the Grand Floridian crowd and lobby are not as uppity as you portray, especially with the crowds of people waiting on ADRs. Yes, it is beautiful, but I don't think that people are looking down on DVC owners in their "$20 swimsuits from Target".
Animal Kingdom Lodge should be on the list over Boardwalk.
AGREED! I was rather stunned in fact, that Animal Kingdom didn't make this list at all.
I agree. I own at AKV, and it is my favorite Disney resort, and I have stayed at many, including Boardwalk villas. We stayed in a 1 BR boardwalk view room at the very end of the hallway on the ground floor. The view had nothing on a 1BR standard view (no animals outside the window) at Kidani. It was kind of nice to be able to walk to Epcot. Hollywood Studios is our least favorite park, so it wasn't a big draw. I much prefer the 2 bathrooms that there are in a 1BR at Kidani, and the kitchen area is much nicer. Boardwalk villa is an older resort, and there weren't enough convenient electrical outlets for our computers and other electronic gadgets. Specifically, the bar in the kitchen area wasn't deep enough for my laptop, and there weren't any outlets to plug in the computer at the desk. At Kidani, it is nice to let my son use the second bathroom, and not have to deal with his mess on a daily basis. So, definitely, I would rate AKV as my favorite because of room design and view outside the room.