Family of 4 in a studio???

[kristenrice]

I think really the question is what is more important to you, longer or more frequent stays or staying in a larger room for shorter or less frequent stays. It's a question all of us have to decide when we book rooms and there are people on both sides of the issue.

I've found a "compromise" that works well for our family. We bought in with the intent of going EOY in a 1BR using banking/borrowing of our 100 points. Since our girls are still young (5 & 7 now), we are able to go 2 out of 3 years by splitting our stays between studios and 1BR's. We start out in a studio for 1-2 nights and then move to a 1BR for the next 3-4 nights. It helps us keep everything organized since we don't unpack too much. We're also ready to do a little laundry by day 3 and we're also ready to spread out and relax a little more. Moving within the same resort is easy-peasy! I go to the desk the morning of "move day" and check in to our new room. Then, before we leave for the day's destination, we drop off our luggage at bell services. When we return, our room is ready and we pick up our luggage on the way up. Simple! It really helps us spread out our points. For example, our trips in June would only be 117 points....arrival night in a value studio followed by 4 nights in a value 1BR. Yes, the rooms are smaller than most, but for our family, they are perfect! So far, we've lucked out with the savanna view each time too! That leaves us with 183 to use the following April for our spring break trip, which often falls around Easter in premiere season. We can do 2 nights in a standard studio followed by 3 nights in a savanna view 1BR for 178 points...5 to spare! (As you can tell, we LOVE AKV!!) We just added on 50 points at HHI to use on our "off" year from WDW.

 

[DVC Jen]

We have been staying primarily in studios since we purchased back in 2001. We are also a family of 4. Our daughters will be 22 and 18 when we are there in June - and we are once again staying in studios.

They are fine for us - never had any problems at all.

Sure we are "closer" than we are at home - but who cares? We are on vacation and 10 or more days of family togetherness at Disney is better than being spread out at home.

Your vacation will be what you make it regardless - staying in a studio, a grand villa or a budget hotel.

 

[szymcl]

I am also of the opinion that you will be fine. I have 3 kids, all in their 20's now, but when they were younger and before DVC, we would often do one hotel room with a roll a way. We live in a big 5 bedroom, 3.5 bath house, so at home we were always spread out, so if was fun to be close for a vacation week! The kids have fond memories of all their vacations and they still come with us whenever they can!

 

[Greyhound22]

We are a family of 4 also. We've stayed in both and LOVE the one-bedroom. However, we LOVE Disney more. So, for us it is no contest - 11 days in a studio or 6 in a one-bedroom. Or two 6 day vacations (Spring Break & Summer) instead of a week in the Summer. NO CONTEST for the frugal, budget conscious, alright call me cheap. I don't care - twice a much Disney and I'm still in a fantastic Disney Resort.

 

[JoRo]

Hi agree with Greyhound22 - we are "frugal" and Love the 1 bedroom but when we go to VGC we stay in a studio for about 6 nights a couple of times a year. We havent folded up the couch yet and breakfast is cozy!
DD4 DS2.5 it all works out plus in the summer or fall DH and I go out on balcony and watch world of color with a cheese plate and glass of wine while the kids snooze

So yes we would rather do a studio and more trips .......for now

 

[tkillini99]

We have done a studio for 6 nights, and I definitely prefer a 1 BR. That being said, I would take the studio every year if it means getting to go more often! We have 2 DDs (7 & 4) and it wasn't as bad as I thought it might be staying in a studio for that amount of time!

 

[perfectyears]

we have stayed in a studio 4 times now and find it just fine but we only go back there to sleep so i guess it depends if you like spending a lot of time in your room. we have been in a 1 bedroom once which was great but as someone wrote earlier you do tend to spread out a bit and it takes longer to pack up. hope you have a great holiday

 

[DVCJones]

Last year my family of four stayed at BLT in a studio (Smallest of all studios) and we were fine. My kids were 5 and 7 at the time of that trip.We have also stayed in studios at BWV and OKW. they were fine too.

You will probably be fine.

BUT, with that being said, our stay in a 2BR at OKW and 1BR at SSR were REALLY nice too and I loved the extra space and in room laundry machines.

 

[MiaSRN62]

The studio ranks way above mods for me, because of the balcony. I enjoy having a balcony!

Bobbi

I am in total agreement on this point. The kitchenette and the BALCONY blow the mods away as far as I'm concerned.

 

[lundve]

We much prefer the space of a 1 Bedroom because then you can shut off a door and let the kiddos sleep. MY DH and I are night people so we like to stay up a bit longer. If I did not have enough points for a 1 BR I would stay a studio it is just not my first choice.

We have yet to stay in a MOD with kids but did once in a value and will never again.

 

[Ella's Mom]

My family of 4 (DH, DD6, DS3) just got back today...spent 3 nights in a studio at BCV and 6 nights in a studio at VWL. We had no problems at all. We'd definitely stay in a studio again. After reading some posts on here, I was nervous about spending 9 nights in a studio. I'm glad we did the studio, because now I know we can.

 

[starbox]

We are a family of 4 and have been owners for 5 years and have done almost exclusively studio visits. We do not go on vacation to spend time in a room, I don't like to cook, and we don't watch TV (don't even have cable at home).

A separate bedroom would be nice, but the kids are old enough to go off on their own now and so DH have plenty of opportunity for "alone time". We've done 1 and 2 bedrooms twice and each time, I ended up feeling like we wasted points for space we did not use. I'd rather have longer/more frequent trips than a 1 bedroom.

 

[kathleenj]

A studio is merely a hotel room in theory... with a mini fridge and a microwave. There is nothing more to it. If you'd go on vacation to a hotel room at the Marriott with your family of four and stay a week, then this will be the same.

 

[deerislemaine]

A studio is merely a hotel room in theory... with a mini fridge and a microwave. There is nothing more to it. If you'd go on vacation to a hotel room at the Marriott with your family of four and stay a week, then this will be the same.

I agree with this analogy, but the space is still tight. We have a family of 5, so we've only stayed in a studio once when there were only 4 of us for a couple nights. The studios at OKW are rather large, but not as large as a jr. suite at most hotels. It worked fine for a couple nights, but we prefer the full kitchen and fridge in a 1BR.

My son and I are planning a trip with just the two of us in March for SWW, and we're staying in a studio. We'll just have to eat out more.

In short, we can make it work in a studio, and the points are much better. However, think about food expenses as well. If you do a grocery run and fix meals in the kitchen of a 1BR, you may save $ to counterbalance the increased points.

 

[bookwormde]

you will be OK "roughing" it in a studio, although we usually try to limit our studio stays to 3 nights (this time we are doing 6, 3 in blt lv and 3 in bwv bv) before moving to CL akv then a 2br.

With the new ability to do DDP a day at a time it is a lot more "tollerable"

bookwormde

 

[ACDSNY]

I've been trying to decide if I should give up our 1 bdrm and just go for a studio for our 3 nights before our Nov cruise with our young nieces. They'll be four of us so it was interesting to read all the comments. We typically stay in a 2 bdrm unit.

 

[dmoore22]

Last Christmas we stayed 13 nights in an OKW studio with our two young adult daughters. It was easy. The only issue was those darn roman shades that chew up your knuckles when you use the pull string.