DCV for family of 5?

[robinsegg]

Hi!
While we were at WDW for our first trip, we went to the DVC tour. Since we *do* plan to go back and we *do* go on vacations every year, it looked like it made sense. However, now that we're looking at it a bit more, it seems our options for 5 people (me, dh, 3 kids) aren't all that great there. We don't like CR or BLT for theming and GF is *way* too posh for us. Are there any other families of 5 who are in DVC and it works for them? If so, can you give me any tips before we buy?
Thanks!

 

[vaughan100]

We are a family of five. We have gone to Disney the past 10 yrs in a row & as the family has grown and the kids have grown we came to the realization that either we need 2 hotel rooms or we need DVC. When the kids were very little it was OK for us to squish into one 5 person rm at Port Orleans or a deluxe room with a little more space at the Contemporary or polynesian. When we went in 2009 and stayed at Port Orleans we realized that the kids are just getting too big to comfortably fit in one room with us. We bought into DVC that summer at BLT. We are so glad that we did! We stayed at BLT last summer and loved, loved, loved it!

BLT and AKV will sleep 5 people in a one bedroom. We had tons of space in BLT and we got to have a separate room away from the kids. There is a sleeper chair that will accomodate a 5th person in these rooms. I have read rumors that other DVC's might get this sleeper chair added, but I'm not holding my breath on that. We are staying in BCV this summer and getting a 2 bedroom since a 1 bedroom only sleeps 4. It works out OK with us!

 

[Sandisw]

The resorts that have sleeping for 5 in a 1 bedroom are AKV, BLT, and OKW since they have the sleeper chair.

Of course, you have the option at all the resorts to sleep 5 if you book a 2 bedroom.

We are a family of 5 but since two out of the three are now college age, we won't always have everyone with us.

We booked a 1 bedroom last summer with 3 of us and it was nice. If we ever went with 5, I would book a 2 bedroom without question.

If you investigate the resale market, you can get some great prices for OKW and SSR that would give a nice size contract to stay in the 2 bedrooms. Those prices are averaging around $60 - $65/ppt, much less than what they are charing direct from Disney.

Since BLT is not your cup of tea (the only one I think that may be worth getting direct due to limited resale contracts), resale may be a great choice!

Good luck!

 

[DVCtinkerbell]

We are a family of 5 (3 girls) that often stayed in a 1br when the kids were small. Now that the youngest is 10 and the the others are in high school and college, we find that a 2br is most comfortable. Having 2 bathrooms makes a huge difference not to mention the extra space. Yet with DVC we have the flexability to stay in a studio if it just my husband and I. The girls much appreciate a stay in a DVC room than a non-DVC room. Works for us!

 

[jakespop]

We are a family of 5 and have our home resort at the VWL. It works out great for us because we can use the 1 BR as needed but also allows us to be flexible. We can book a studio for a quick getaway weekend with just the wife. As the kids grow we may need to go 2 BR or 2 studio but we'll see.

There is no substitute for being on property. Good Luck

 

[vaughan100]

I wanted to add that you can buy into any of the other DVC resorts and get enough points for a 2 bedroom. We loved the BLT decor, layout, room views and also it's proximity to MK. We bought because they finally offered a DVC on the monorail. The fact that a 1 bedroom slept 5 was a bonus. There are so many other options out there, you would just need to get a 2 bedroom at most of them.

I just realized that you mentioned CR and GF. Those are not DVC, they will be regular hotel rooms. You can use DVC points to stay there but you need to pay a booking fee and the points per night are high for what you get (1 room) compared to what you would get for similar points at a DVC resort. People do it though to try out different hotels.

Look into the DVC resorts and see what appeals to you in decor, location and price. Also consider whether you want to stay at just any of them or at a particular one. If there is a specific one you want to stay in every time, buy into that one so you can book 11 months out. If you don't care, buy into one that is selling at a lower point price/maintenance fee and book at whatever is available at 7 months out.

http://disneyvacationclub.disney.go.com/

 

[Mtnman44]

For a family of 5 that wants to stay in Disney Resorts, I think it is the best option. One bedrooms will work, but 2 Br villas are really great. Cramming all five of us into a hotel room for a week is not very relaxing to me. The "Villa Vacation Style" is much preferable. Otherwise, you must get two hotel rooms or pay big bucks for disney hotel suites.

 

[CarolAnnC]

We are moving this over to our DVC Mousellaneous Board which is more suitable for this type of DIScussion.

We have the Occupancy Thread where we limit Occupancy discussion per se due to the inevitable hot nature of the topic. You may find the thread interesting reading, though.

Non room occupancy discusion is fine here. You will find actually thousands of families much larger than yours enjoy DVC ownership, so do not let family size deter you from purchasing DVC for sure!

Good luck!

 

[podsnel]

We are a family of 5 and also purchased DVC (at AKV) due to the oldest son not being able to sleep on the daybed at the BC (where all of our trips had been) for upcoming trips. We bought in 2007, and I truly consider it one of the best things we have ever done! We purchased at AKV because of the sleeper chair and our ability to all stay in a 1 bdrm that way, rather than always having to splurge for a 2 bdrm. However, we ended up adding on at BCV (because we just love it there) and are currently waiting to hear about a BWV add-on (resale). Our sons are currently 16, 13 & 11 and we are going to attempt a BCV 1 bdrm stay this fall by bringing an inflatable mattress. Having an extra bathroom at BLT & AKV is nice, but not really necessary for our family because I am the only one who needs more than 5 minutes in the bathroom in the morning. So I think this will be ok for us, but might not be for others. And when the boys are all adults, who knows if we will be able to do this- so then we'll be going for the 2bdrm, I guess.

Anyway, it has made a BIG difference in our vacations at WDW- the space in a villa (even just a 1 bdrm) when you have all been squishing into a hotel room for years- well, it makes a big difference at the end of the day. SOOOOO much more relaxing! Good luck!

 

[Deb & Bill]

You can't use points to stay at CR, BWI, BC, WL because there is a DVC component at that resort.

Both OKW and AKV have one bedroom villas that sleep five with the addition of the twin sized sleeper chair in the living room. Or you can go with a two bedroom villa.

 

[Lynne M]

How old are your kids? If they're young, you can get by nicely with a 1-bedroom villa at BLT, OKW or AKV. But if they're tweens or older, I think you'll want to think in terms of two-bedroom villas. Having two teenagers sharing that sofa bed is going to wear thin pretty quickly, and you (and they) will really appreciate the extra room to spread out.

Just as a side note.....GF is not a DVC resort. When you're looking at DVC, focus on the DVC resorts. While it's possible to exchange out of the DVC system and use points at GF, YC, Poly, and the moderates, the point costs are outrageous and frequently go up.

 

[mrsR123]

Another family of five here; we own at OKW and love it. We have stayed in 1BDs for short trips, but for anything more than 3-4 days I prefer the 2BD.

When I first started researching in 2003, I thought membership wasn't for us with 3 kids, too. I know now that villas were the only way we could have kept going as the kids got older. I wouldn't go back-- in fact we look for suites or houses to rent when we travel other places.

 

[staceymay00]

We are a family of five who just completed our first DVC stay at OKW. We bought a resale contract there earlier this year. I decided our best bet was to buy at a resort that could sleep five in a 1BR, which meant BLT, AKV or OKW (OKW is undergoing a renovation that puts a sleeper chair in the villas in addition to the sofa sleeper). OKW 1BRs only have one bathroom; BLT and AKV Kidani have two, but we decided we could live with one bathroom. Currently you can book five in any 1BR through MS, but you will not be given towels and bedding for the 5th person, you may need an air mattress and that policy could change at any time. I was very interested in BCV (my DH was not, though), but I worried about being forced into a 2BR if the five in a 1BR policy changed.

We ended up choosing OKW for several reasons. We really liked the resort based on the pictures we looked at, the villas are the most spacious of the DVC villas, we like being able to park right at our building, the points required to stay there are a bit lower than other resorts and resale prices were lower than several other resorts. We can stay in a 2BR at OKW for not many more points than a 1BR LV at BLT. BLT is not our cup of tea either, and I was not sure we'd want to stay at AKV year after year. Nothing against owners at those resorts - everyone's taste is different and some have no interest in the resort we chose.

Now I'm not even sure we will ever stay in a 1BR except for a very short trip. Last week we stayed in a 2BR because we had the extra points, and it was great. I figured once my kids became teens we would switch to a 2BR, but even with ages 5, 8 and 10 it was so nice having two bathrooms and a separate living space that no one was using for sleeping. We will probably either add on some points or only use our DVC points every two out of three years in order to stay in 2BRs. All of us in a 1BR would still be nicer than all of us in one standard room, of course. A lot of people stay in 1BRs with 3 kids and it works well for them.

Good luck with your research and decision. So far we are very happy we bought into DVC. The rack rate for our 2BR last week over $900 a night . Even with a good discount we would never have paid OOP to stay there, but DVC allowed us to stay there for a more reasonable cost.

 

[crisi]

One thing to be aware of - you say you "do" go on vacations every year - the implication is that it isn't going to be Disney every year.

As part of the sales process, Disney will tell you how easy and economical it is to use your DVC points to take non-Disney vacations - or use it for other Disney options (like the cruise).

The best value for your Disney points is at DVC resorts - DisneyWorld, Disneyland, Hilton Head, Vero Beach and soon Hawaii.

Trading out is fine on a once in a while basis, but if you are looking to use DVC to cruise, or to ski in Colorado, or visit Europe, or go to Mexico - there are better vacation options - from less expensive timeshares to paying cash. Using your DVC points may also be more frustrating than you hoped - unable to get the option you wanted

MOST people on this board use their DVC points for Disney DVC offerings - they book their non-DVC vacations using another timeshare, or paying cash. Some people (me, for one) own enough points to put my family in a two bedroom at Disney about every other year - in non-WDW years we do something else without using our points.

 

[robinsegg]

How old are your kids? If they're young, you can get by nicely with a 1-bedroom villa at BLT, OKW or AKV. But if they're tweens or older, I think you'll want to think in terms of two-bedroom villas. Having two teenagers sharing that sofa bed is going to wear thin pretty quickly, and you (and they) will really appreciate the extra room to spread out.

Just as a side note.....GF is not a DVC resort. When you're looking at DVC, focus on the DVC resorts. While it's possible to exchange out of the DVC system and use points at GF, YC, Poly, and the moderates, the point costs are outrageous and frequently go up.

Currently, our kids are 10, 8 & 1.

I had forgotten that CR & GF didn't have any DVC areas , but was trying to give a bit more info

Also, we found that we *really* appreciate the monorail and boats, rather than the buses, when possible. That means we might not enjoy SS, OKW or AKL as well as BCV, BWV, or VWL?

 

[robinsegg]

One thing to be aware of - you say you "do" go on vacations every year - the implication is that it isn't going to be Disney every year.

As part of the sales process, Disney will tell you how easy and economical it is to use your DVC points to take non-Disney vacations - or use it for other Disney options (like the cruise).

The best value for your Disney points is at DVC resorts - DisneyWorld, Disneyland, Hilton Head, Vero Beach and soon Hawaii.

Trading out is fine on a once in a while basis, but if you are looking to use DVC to cruise, or to ski in Colorado, or visit Europe, or go to Mexico - there are better vacation options - from less expensive timeshares to paying cash. Using your DVC points may also be more frustrating than you hoped - unable to get the option you wanted

MOST people on this board use their DVC points for Disney DVC offerings - they book their non-DVC vacations using another timeshare, or paying cash. Some people (me, for one) own enough points to put my family in a two bedroom at Disney about every other year - in non-WDW years we do something else without using our points.

Thanks for this info! We *had* originally liked the idea of being able to use our points at other locations (we homeschool, which allows us to vacation in off-season). However, we are now considering buying just enough points to be able to bank (or bank & borrow) to be able to go once every 3 years or so. That would mean paying OOP for all other vacations (2-3 night in spring, 5-7 night in fall), but we would be spending that money, anyway . . . and the DVC would be available when we wanted to stay in a villa at WDW or go cross-country to DL. It might even allow us to stay somewhere like DWParis or something, yes?
I *really* appreciate all the info here, as I research things thoroughly (read "to death" ) and like to get opinions of those who've "been there, done that"

 

[robinsegg]

Currently you can book five in any 1BR through MS, but you will not be given towels and bedding for the 5th person, you may need an air mattress and that policy could change at any time.

Sorry for my ignorance, but what is MS?
Thanks!

 

[supersuperwendy]

We were a family of 5 when we joined DVC in 2008! Prior to DVC we were cramming into Port Orleans Riverside which was too tight and I hated having only 1 bathroom. We liked the resort just fine, but I'm really more of a deluxe resort girl to be honest. We had paid cash twice in the past for BWV and loved staying there. There were a lot of things that attracted me to DVC. First..I LOVE the size of the 2 bedroom villas. I love giving the kids their own room and bathroom while we have a king size bed and master bath. Having a washer/dryer also plays a key. Having 3 kids means a lot of laundry...even on vacation. We like having a kitchen and we eat breakfast in our villa on most mornings. I like being able to cook eggs and stuff for the kids. We are now a family of 6 and I have to admit it's because of DVC! If we were still trying to stay in regular hotel rooms we probably wouldn't have had Leah. Since we always stay in a 2 bedroom which sleeps 8 or 9 ..it was no problem to add another child to our family! Our DVC experience has been great so far. We stayed at SSR in 2009 and we fell in love with the resort. It's so pretty and peaceful and we like being close to DTD. In 2010 we split our stay and stayed at BLT and AKV Kidani. Both places were awesome! My kids can't wait to get back to Kidani...our home resort. DVC was definitely the right choice for our family!

 

[staceymay00]

Sorry for my ignorance, but what is MS?
Thanks!

Sorry...MS is member services, the people you call to book DVC rooms. You can book with them using points, or cash if you are short on points or don't want to use points for some reason. You can also sometimes book DVC rooms through regular Disney reservations, and in that case they will only let you book four in a 1BR that only sleeps four, or five if there is one child under three.

 

[Deb & Bill]

Currently, our kids are 10, 8 & 1.

I had forgotten that CR & GF didn't have any DVC areas , but was trying to give a bit more info ...

Contemporary Resort is Bay Lake Tower.