Choosing the best Studio for 5.

[Hawkeyegirls]

I know everyone says choose where you want to stay, BUT the options that I have to choose from I think we could love them all. So I am wondering which one would be the most valuable.
First I want to buy at one of the resorts that the studio holds 5 (were only a family of 4 currently, but may not be done & want to plan ahead) and if we could only do our home resort during certain dates I would want to make sure we could still use it.

-From those resorts which one is the best value, as far as IF we would EVER need to sell or rent points, does one seam to be more popular than the others? (again its a big IF, as we don't plan on doing this, but you never know what the future holds either)

-From my math, it appears Poly is the lowest price per year/point due to the contract length? And that GF is lower than BCV and BWV per night, even with it being higher points, due to the year end. Am I doing my math correct? lol. Would Poly or Grand be my best bets?

Thanks for you help!

 

[UrsulaWantsYourSoul]

In case it's helpful for your consideration:

 

[UrsulaWantsYourSoul]

Though for consideration... Bay Lake Tower and Animal Kingdom: Kidani 1 Bedrooms have two bathrooms... Processing 4-5 bodies through the shower that sure can be nice. Well and Poly Studios are kinda 2-bathroom-ish.

 

[RoseGold]

VGF and Poly are both good picks if you want a contract that holds value and a studio sleeping 5. Both have eye-watering cash rates and at the best properties in the system (excl California).

I also bought Poly planning to sell in 10-15 years, and I've been happy with that choice, but would probably choose VGF right now. It's taken a bigger hit in the recession in resale value, and it has more potential to just keep going up in value long term. VGF is also more flexible, and you could grow into a 1BR, which isn't an option at Poly.

BUT studios are VGF are scarce. Your VGF plan will not work if you travel at peak times.

 

[sarahrdh]

Chiming in as a family of 5- I am looking to buy resale at Boardwalk. That resort appeals the most to our family. The rooms are gorgeous. My kids are 14/11/8. My kids are also the kind of kids that have zero issue sleeping on the floor and actually choose to. which drives me nuts!
But- for my family I think it works great not only bc of resale pricing and being more budget friendly, but we also love epcot and HS, so the location just doesn’t get better for us.
We only have 4 years until the oldest graduates and will have his own life and schedule, so I really don’t know if he will attend all vacations with us at that point. By then, I’m hoping to add on enough points to upgrade to larger Room options anyway.
Sounds like your family is younger, so your considerations on that may be different. And as your kids grow, you’ll figure out your family’s travel habits.

 

[Hawkeyegirls]

In case it's helpful for your consideration:
View attachment 510057

Thank you this is good to know!

 

[Hawkeyegirls]

Chiming in as a family of 5- I am looking to buy resale at Boardwalk. That resort appeals the most to our family. The rooms are gorgeous. My kids are 14/11/8. My kids are also the kind of kids that have zero issue sleeping on the floor and actually choose to. which drives me nuts!
But- for my family I think it works great not only bc of resale pricing and being more budget friendly, but we also love epcot and HS, so the location just doesn’t get better for us.
We only have 4 years until the oldest graduates and will have his own life and schedule, so I really don’t know if he will attend all vacations with us at that point. By then, I’m hoping to add on enough points to upgrade to larger Room options anyway.
Sounds like your family is younger, so your considerations on that may be different. And as your kids grow, you’ll figure out your family’s travel habits.

I like the boardwalk and beach club resorts as well, but when doing the math, the poly and grand are cheaper per night, unless I am doing the math wrong haha. We are usually at the magic kingdom the most anyways so that may workout well. BUT I would like to be able to stay at the other places, I hope its not impossible at 7 months.

 

[Hawkeyegirls]

VGF and Poly are both good picks if you want a contract that holds value and a studio sleeping 5. Both have eye-watering cash rates and at the best properties in the system (excl California).

I also bought Poly planning to sell in 10-15 years, and I've been happy with that choice, but would probably choose VGF right now. It's taken a bigger hit in the recession in resale value, and it has more potential to just keep going up in value long term. VGF is also more flexible, and you could grow into a 1BR, which isn't an option at Poly.

BUT studios are VGF are scarce. Your VGF plan will not work if you travel at peak times.

Since there are not many studios at GF that they would be hard to get even at 11mo mark?

 

[RoseGold]

Since there are not many studios at GF that they would be hard to get even at 11mo mark?

So so. They are pretty open at 10-11 month right now, and that's with a TON of points floating around. But I would not expect that for Spring Break/Christmas/Thanksgiving.

 

[Mrskmid]

We are a family of 5 and love Poly, I'm looking for a resale contract now. We came back from a stay with rented points in Jan/Feb and it sealed the deal for us. The 2-ish bathroom was great to have, the room is large and could fit all of us and a huge double stroller comfortably. We are getting enough points so that when its time for a 1-bdr we can get into one at the 7-month mark (which from what I've read is not hard to do at most resorts at the time of year we travel), but if we can't, we wont be upset to stay at the Poly. Also, the MF's are pretty low.

 

[CaliAdventurer]

The only studio I’ll stay in with only 3 of us is Poly. Love thé bathroom situation, under bed storage and adore the property. I’d never buy there however due to the lack of 1 and 2 beds. VGF is hard to beat but don’t underestimate those points charts or studio availability. Standard studios go immediately all year. A lake view is avail most of the time at 11 mos.

 

[sarahrdh]

I like the boardwalk and beach club resorts as well, but when doing the math, the poly and grand are cheaper per night, unless I am doing the math wrong haha. We are usually at the magic kingdom the most anyways so that may workout well. BUT I would like to be able to stay at the other places, I hope its not impossible at 7 months.

yeah I could see that being true; BWV have a shorter contract length and I offhand I believe Poly dues are less, so that is probably true. Is there a chart or formula somewhere for this??!!!! Willing to accept direction of these facts

 

[MonkeyKnifeFight]

Poly would be my pick. Although grand Floridian is a good option too. If you were only ever going to stay in a studio I’d go poly 100%. The lake view rooms are incredible. But 5 people can get a little tight.

 

[glamdring269]

Poly would be my choice. Added bonus is you will be able to walk to MK soon depending on your fitness level (VGF will of course be closer). I'd have to map it out but imagine it would similar to Beach Club to DHS and potentially even some parts of Boardwalk to DHS.

 

[3 DD love princesses]

we did BLT bc we like being able to walk to a park. Bcv and bwv are great but not worth the price. We are currently waiting to pass ROFR on a poly contract. Figure we can walk to the transportation and then get on the monorail to Epcot. Poly seems to be the cheapest per point right now. Downside to poly is that it is only studios. The 1 bedroom are nice since you can do laundry in your room vs the laundry room.

 

[chicagoshannon]

Poly would have the largest sleeps 5 studios. BWV and BCV would be tight with 5 people. I'd honestly buy into what your family fits now because you will probably end up wanting to add points if you do add another family member so you can get into 1 bedrooms. Because of that I might go with BLT so you can upgrade into a 1 bed with 2 bath situation in the future.

 

[DduzDis]

I just came from a trip at the Poly, Being a BLT and BWV owner, I would still say the Poly would be my choice for a studio. I love the layout (and the resort). I have not stayed at VGF, but if studios are hard to come by at 11 mos that would be a breaker for me anyway.

 

[Deb & Bill]

Little kids grow into bigger kids. Bigger kids take up a lot more space in a studio. I can't imagine a family of five with any teens in the group staying in a studio for more than a day or two without getting on everyone's nerves. Just having a separate room for mom and dad to sleep in makes the one bedroom villa so much more enjoyable.

 

[_auroraborealis_]

Just having a separate room for mom and dad to sleep in makes the one bedroom villa so much more enjoyable.

The Boom Boom Room!

 

[MonkeyKnifeFight]

Little kids grow into bigger kids. Bigger kids take up a lot more space in a studio. I can't imagine a family of five with any teens in the group staying in a studio for more than a day or two without getting on everyone's nerves. Just having a separate room for mom and dad to sleep in makes the one bedroom villa so much more enjoyable.

This is a good point. We stayed in the poly on rented points and loved it. I think it’s the best location of any of the resorts since lake view has a straight on view of the magic kingdom and castle.

But we thought about the space long term which is why we ended up buying at BLT since we wanted to book 1 bedrooms for most of our future trips.