THV - anyone stay recently?

[mrsr2ro]

We are non DVC members who stayed in a THV in December 2010, fairly soon after they opened. At the time it was my parents, my husband and I (pregnant), and our three kids who were 5, 3, and 13mo. We rented a minivan that we all fit in. Overall we were very satisfied with our THV. My husband and I shared the master, my parents in the other room, the two boys in the bunks, and we rented a crib for the baby - it fit in the room with the bunks.

We are looking to go to WDW again in October. We now have four kids so it will be a party of 8. The THV are a good choice - adults in the same place - we'll put two kids in the bunks and two in the family room pull out.

My main concern is parking. I don't think we'll find an affordable rental car that will fit all 8 of us so we'll probably have to rent 2 cars. I know that when we were there last time they only allowed 1 car per Treehouse. Is that still the case? What are our options? The whole point of renting the cars is to avoid having to wait for the internal bus and then the resort buses. The few times our group split up last time - when some of us used the buses it was painful.

Would love to hear from someone who stayed there recently.

 

[mrsr2ro]

Oops - have my dates mixed up!! It was December 2009!! My how time flies

 

[Inkmahm]

We were just there last month. It seems to be that there are 4 parking places for 3 THVs. Not sure if you are allowed to have two cars or not. I'd call to ask.

 

[DVCBrian]

There is only one parking space per THV villa, and Disney is (understandably) pretty strict about THV parking. An extra vehicle for your party is fine, but must be parked in the main SSR parking which is unrestricted - the closest is area is Grandstand.

 

[double r]

Maake sure you factor the cost of 2 rental cars against one, remember to double all car expenses, fuel & tolls, it might end up costing more then say a Suburban or a larger window van. Just my opinion.

 

[dbs1228]

Maake sure you factor the cost of 2 rental cars against one, remember to double all car expenses, fuel & tolls, it might end up costing more then say a Suburban or a larger window van. Just my opinion.

I agree with this 100% I would look at rental prices and compare. One year we actually rented a 10 passenger van with 2 families pitching in it was affordable.

You are only allowed 1 parking space at the THV but if you request to stay near the path to SSR you ca park at the Grand Stand and it is less then a 5 minute walk which worst case someone can walk over pick the car up and drive over to THV. My parents were staying at SSR GS and would drive over for our pot luck dinners and park in the pool spaces for an hour or 2 (they were always empty the entire week presidents week) and the pool was about 3 villa's away. It is very doable. Enjoy!

 

[bobbiwoz]

Maake sure you factor the cost of 2 rental cars against one, remember to double all car expenses, fuel & tolls, it might end up costing more then say a Suburban or a larger window van. Just my opinion.

I agree, our DS has a van that holds 8 of us! I hope you can rent something like that!

 

[princesscinderella]

The Toyota siennas have an extra jump seat that is removable and we have rented one before, I don't remember the company though. They will seat 8.

 

[DebbieB]

Be careful where you park your car. Someone recently posted that their windshield got broken by a golf ball in the parking space at their THV. Disney denied reimbursement.