2016 trip grand villa vs 2 bed abd studio

[ain0004]

Hello again. I had a dream that I could get OKW grandvilla at 7 months. But after seeing reviews I am doubtful. Which put me at SSR grandvilla. Love the resort the points it would take don't love me. New plans involve arriving the Wensday before thanksgiving and heading home on thanksgiving day. Airfare looks more favorable like this anyway. So my next thought is where to go with a party of 12. 6 adults 6 kids by then aging 14 to 7. I am leaning towards BLT, AkL and OKW a thought did come to mind a treehouse and a furious at SSR. But you never know the "Location of your rooms. I will have 525 points so give me some ideas!

 

[drmrchk]

I"m not good with points yet since we are new DVC owners....but from my stays at WDW I love SSR. We haven't stayed in a grand but in a 2BR, which was awesome. Next we go we will need the grand since there are more of us now. We looked at a treehouse last time we went but with the kids being little didn't want to deal with the longer bus times and such since you are out quite a bit. As we go more often we become less concerned with efficient transportation to the parks and appreciate our resort more. If I was going with people other than my family I would stay at SSR over a treehouse....but then again I would stay most anyplace over anything at AK....it seems soooo far out and busing there annoys me. But now that we can/will go more often I want to one time...people love it! You may have better availability booking the 2br+room over the grand....simply because there are more of them. Plus I don't know but I would venture to guess 7mo out for the grand is tough at Thankgiving, I think they go quickly, but I don't really know for sure. You can even get a 2BR villa hear a regular room. I'm not sure points-wise if that works out to be better or worse in an effective-use way.

 

[Mousewerks]

David's has a really nice point calculator that can help you with the point requirements for the various resorts:

http://www.dvcrequest.com/cost-calculator.asp

Simply put in your dates and change the calculator to point cost and it will tell you how much everything will cost for those dates in terms of points.

For instance, November 19 - 27 will run you 614 points for a SSR GV. The treehouse would be 345 and the 2-bed will be 305.

It's fun to play around with the calculator and ask 'what if'

 

[agie65]

With a party of 12 grand villa makes more sense if you want to stay together. With your post it seems you do not own at OKW. If you do not own at OKW you can get OKW points transferred in and rent out your points to recover the expenses.

 

[hakepb]

Other than the near Hospitality House booking category, OKW GV availability at 7 months may be OK. For safety sake, you may want a plan B choice.

From Drusba's excellent research using the online booking tool:

http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=3281173

F. OKW: Hospitality House GV usually gone before 7 months out and should be reserved exactly 11 months out. Other GVs are usually open at 7 months out except for the extremely high demand times and Marathon weekend in Jan, and first half of June there appears to be some risk for GVs being gone by 7 months out. Otherwise, rooms near Hospitality House can often disappear before 7 months out at least at times during that high demand quarter. Also, a risk of OKW being gone entirely for some days at 7 months out during those extremely high demand times but otherwise OKW studios, 1BRs and 2BRs are usually open at 7 months out.

Oops I just noticed OP said Thanksgiving, so that will be a challenge. You have a slight advantage because you are mostly pre-Thanksgiving so you might get your reservation before most normal 7-monthers.