1 Bedroom Villa OR 2 Standard Rooms

[kemmerlinj2]

I am planning a 14 day trip over Christmas either next year or 2018. I am going along with my mom and her fiance. Due to it being three adults I was thinking of doing either 2 standard rooms at a deluxe or a 1 bedroom villa. I don't know which resort to focus on due to not really being familiar with the DVC side of the resorts. Also, I don't know if I want to try to do a Christmas meal at a restaurant on the actual day because of the craziness that I'm sure takes place. Has anyone tried cooking a Christmas meals at a resort?

 

[SharonZ]

Although a 1-BR Villa is nice, and you have the kitchen, for privacy reasons and the length of stay - I would do two rooms. Personally, I don't cook meals at a resort, but a lot of people do. You would need the 1-BR villa, though.

 

[Hopefully]

In a 1 BR Villa you will only have 1 real bed. The bedroom will have a King size bed and the living room will have a pull out Queen sofa bed. You would have a fully equipped kitchen and you could cook a meal if you chose. We are DVC owners and I never cook a full meal. We have breakfast, snacks, drinks and adult beverages in.
I think 2 rooms might be more comfortable given your party makeup. The person in the Living room in a 1 bedroom will have minimal privacy and 2 weeks is a long time
I personally would focus on the Epcot Area Resorts. You have the ability to walk or boat to 2 parks which is great. There are great dining opportunities in that area as well.
Have Fun Planning!!!

 

[Lynne M]

Another, though more expensive option would be a 2 bedroom villa, or a 1 bedroom for your mom and her fiance and a studio for you. That still gives you the kitchen plus the common living/dining room to hang out in, plus privacy when you want it.

As for a Christmas meal in the villa...I don't think I'd do it unless it's a really important part of your family traditions. There are so many restaurants in WDW offering so many interesting Christmas meals that I'd much rather venture out and get a meal I couldn't have at home.

 

[jcanary]

if you are a person who would be up before your mom, I would recommend the one bedroom. But I would recommend it at Bay Lake Towers, which is DVC next to contemporary, or the Animal Kingdom resort. I would try to get one that has two bathrooms. I personally would cook in my room, or another great option would be to order one of the pre baked meals from one of the local restaurants or food stores. I love having a kitchen as I get tired of eating out all of the time and for 14 days that is alot of eating out. We have been DVC owners since 93 and I have been through the stages of having young kids, teenagers and now grown adults with us. Whatever you decide you will love it.

 

[DisneyWishes14]

I am planning a 14 day trip over Christmas either next year or 2018. I am going along with my mom and her fiance. Due to it being three adults I was thinking of doing either 2 standard rooms at a deluxe or a 1 bedroom villa. I don't know which resort to focus on due to not really being familiar with the DVC side of the resorts. Also, I don't know if I want to try to do a Christmas meal at a restaurant on the actual day because of the craziness that I'm sure takes place. Has anyone tried cooking a Christmas meals at a resort?

There are pro's and con's to both.

We are a family of 3 and love the 1-bedroom villas. It gives us more room to spread out, more privacy and I love having a washer/dryer in the room as it seriously cuts down on packing. If you don't mind sleeping on a sofa bed, it could work for you, but I don't know if you want to do that for a 14 day trip. They aren't very comfortable (my DS is young and thinks the pull-out is cool). For your family configuration, I agree with jcanary that you may want to look at Kidani and BLT as at least you will have two bathrooms in those rooms. BLT would be super convenient to MK.

2 standard rooms in a deluxe will give you privacy and a ton more space than a 1-bedroom villa. You lose the kitchen and washer/dryer (they do have great laundry facilities at the resorts). If you don't care about the kitchen, I would probably go with this option.

As far as Christmas dinner, I would suggest making an ADR at a resort restaurant (preferably in the resort you are staying in or one that is easily accessible on Disney transport - such as the monorail, a boat or simply walking in the case of the EP resorts). We stayed at BWI during Christmas last year and had Christmas dinner at Trattoria al Forno on the Boardwalk. It was great and the resort was a ghost town because, I guess, everyone was in the parks! We had such a lovely evening eating and then enjoying the entertainment on the Boardwalk. Personally, I'm on vacation and wouldn't want to cook, especially a Christmas dinner!

 

[sndral]

...
2 standard rooms in a deluxe will give you privacy and a ton more space than a 1-bedroom villa. You lose the kitchen and washer/dryer (they do have great laundry facilities at the resorts). If you don't care about the kitchen, I would probably go with this option.
...

The 1 br.s feel bigger to me than 2 regular deluxe rooms w/ connecting door - maybe it's the layout & that the hotel rooms have so little usable space because the 2 queen beds take up so much of the room.
In terms of actual square footage most 1 br.s are pretty much equivalent to 2 rooms, but instead of 2 rooms which would not be guarenteed to be connecting each with it's own typical smallish hotel bathroom w/ a 1 br. you get the king bed in the master (which has it's own TV) a hidabed sofa & usually murphy single bed or sleeper chair in the livingroom area w/ the TV there. The 1 br.s have a nice size kitchen area open to the livingroom w/ a table & a washer/dryer & at least one large bathroom w/ a spa or bubble tub (some 1 br. villas have 2 bathrooms.)
Some size comparisons:
WL room 344 x 2 = 688 v. 1 br. 727
AKL room 344 x 2 = 688 v. 1 br. 629 (Jambo) 807 (Kidani)
BW room 371 x 2 = 742 v. 1 br. 814
BC room 382 x 2 = 762 v. 1 br. 726
CR room 394 x 2 = 788 v. 1 br. 802 (BLT)
GF room 440 x 2 = 880 v. 1 br. 844.
If privacy is very important then the 2 rooms may be a better option. But we often travel as 3 adults (a couple and a single) and there's enough space to spread out in the 1 br.s that privacy hasn't been an issue for us on 10-11 day trips.

 

[mi*vida*loca]

I would do two rooms. 14 days is a long time. I would need my own space.

 

[cutigerlady]

We traveled with my inlaws in September and we had two 1 BR villas for the week with the 4 adults and 2 children. I'm very glad we had distinctly separate spaces. Some evenings it was nice to have time without them. We sometimes split up the kids, sometimes had them in one or the other rooms. I felt the need to put away the fold out bed every day to have space in the living area. I'm not sure you want to do that for 2 weeks though! For us, having a kitchen is a huge benefit. We would get tired of eating out for so long. So I can definitely see the advantage of the kitchen.

 

[wmanimal]

1 BR villa!

 

[happymommy]

I would normally say that I'd prefer my own space, so would opt for two separate rooms. That being said, it would possibly cost more to do that, and having a kitchen and your own washer/dryer for two weeks would be more enticing to me. I can only eat out for so long after I just want a little sandwich or something small and plain. I enjoy having wine & cheese or something in the evenings, so it is nice to have the larger refrigerator for that.

I find the sofa sleepers at DVC rooms really not too bad! They're much nicer than at the Marriott timeshares (I'm a Marriott owner). So you could use the sofa sleeper and give your mom & her love the master bedroom.

It's nice to have the washer/dryer at your disposal. We use them daily when we have them!

For Christmas dinner, to me it would be nice to order from Publix or another local grocery store something like one of those fully cooked turkey dinners that you just reheat. It takes a couple hours, but may be fun to do so! If you don't have a rental car, you can just use taxis or an Uber or Lyft to go to the store. Likely if you do the villa, you'll want to stock up on essentials anyway!

I don't mind cooking on vacation, although on Disney trips it's more often easy things like sandwiches, breakfasts (biscuits, eggs, etc.), or things like Stouffers meatloaf (yes I did that once, when the kids were young). I also grill, but that's at Marriott timeshares where they always have gas grills available. It seems like the Disney ones have charcoal, and that's just too much work!

 

[Minniesgal]

I would do a 2 bedroom villa to have privacy for all the adults and the kitchen to do Christmas dinner. A 1 bedroom is too close to share with a couple

 

[kemmerlinj2]

Right now I'm thinking either two king bed rooms at Port Orleans Riverside or Wilderness Lodge versus a 1 bedroom villa at Grand Floridian DVC....

 

[sndral]

We had a 1 br. villa at GF Dec. 2015. It was beautiful - I loved it. Ours was standard view and I enjoyed watching the monorail glide by from the balcony. I was a bit concerned before going about the walk to the main building, but found that it wasn't an issue. There's a VGF thread in the DVC section of DIS w/ lots of photos.
However, unless you own points at VGF it will be a challenge to get a reservation for even a 1 br. in Dec.. If your plan is to rent DVC points you need to find some one w/ VGF points by Jan, 11 months before your planned stay. We used our own points from elsewhere after 7 months - but it was a lot of daily searching, waitlisting & calling to string our days together for our stay. Good luck if you go that route.

 

[westie55]

In your case I do not recommend a 1 BR villa. Someone will be sleeping on the sofa bed in the living room which isn't particularly private and IS rather uncomfortable. I say this from experience. I'm just back from a stay where I gave up the bed to my parents and slept on the sofa bed with my son in a pack n play nearby. I was very tired so I managed to sleep, but the sofa bed was pretty rough and I can't imagine sleeping on one for two weeks. If two rooms is in the same price vicinity, I think it's definitely the better choice for everyone's privacy and comfort. However, if the 1 BR is significantly cheaper, it may be worth it depending on your comfort level with the situation I described... and keep in mind that most have 1 toilet.