Family of 5

[Phillyfan]

Please help me decide what might be the best purchase for a family of 5. I am looking for space, value, and economical stays. Thanks!

 

[sethschroeder]

You do not care about how far or close to the parks you are?

Then you are looking at OKW likely as its the largest rooms for not terrible point charts with lower upfront purchases but its a hike. The other option might be SSR with lower annual dues than OKW.

Personally I care about being closer to the parks though avoiding the bus whenever possible especially if I had kids (with possibly a stroller still???). Then I start looking at RIV for Epcot OR VGF/CCV/BLT for MK. I don't like POLY myself because it only has studios and until the Poly Tower is for sure part of POLY I wouldn't buy as we want 1BR/2BR when going with kids so we have separation.

 

[Ruttangel]

if it’s studios then AKV/CCV/OKW/SSR/BLT are no good as they only sleep 4.

Sleeping 5 has lowest point charts at BWV/BCV and BRV but they are all 2042 resorts
VGF/RIV/PVB are 3 highest point charts but have longer contracts

 

[hglenn]

I'd second the BWV/BCV comment for points, however, depending on the size of your kids, that will be tight... until the refurbs are finished, BWV (don't know about BCV) studios have one queen bed, one queen pull-out sofa and a pull-down twin. Do-able but not a place you'd get any privacy....and only one bathroom. It felt super tight for us with only 4 but we have teenagers.

 

[thanxfornoticin]

With a family of 5, you'd probably be wise to base your point purchase on 2BR villas. Your kids are going to grow older - probably need their own bed. Might bring a friend at some point. 2BR villas will offer space, options, and beds. From a space and economical value, you can't beat OKW. It has the largest rooms, is a beautiful resort, has lower points requirements for stays.... You'd have an option (if you buy resale) to purchase either a 2042 expiration (which will be cheaper) or a 2057 expiration - it's the only DVC resort with multiple expirations. OKW does require using bus transportation or driving - has rarely been a problem for us when staying there. There's a convenient boat ride to and from Disney Springs for times you want to visit. You obviously have many options - this is just a recommendation based on your 'space and value' requirements. Good luck with your decision!

 

[vetter2k]

We are 4 but 1 of our kids is not a good "sharer of the bed space" and so we look at 5s. We tried to curate a nice mix of locations for 5s in 1BRs and studios. We have the poly for the studios and are in the process of getting BLT for the 1BR aspect at MK. We also have BWV for the studios on the EPCOt/HS side. We also like the idea of VGF or RIV as they both sleep 5 in the 1BR and Studios (non-tower in RIV's case). Certainly contract length plays a role as do the point charts, and the point chart at BWV is great.

Additionally, we recently stayed in a BCV refurbed studio and it was great with the murphy bed and the pulldown for our needs in a studio!

 

[mz-s]

I agree try to get enough points for 2 bedroom stays if at all possible.

 

[thanxfornoticin]

Additionally, we recently stayed in a BCV refurbed studio and it was great with the murphy bed and the pulldown for our needs in a studio!

We stayed in a refurbed BCV room last month, too - cannot agree more that the new Murphy beds are so much better!! It will be a tremendous upgrade to any and all DVC resorts that get them in!

 

[RoseGold]

The studios that sleep 5 are mostly bad values (BC, BW, BR). I would go with Poly. But you don't need Poly points to book Poly, so I'd buy SSR.

There are hundreds of standard view Poly rooms. It's not the cheapest unit in the system, but it is bookable with SSR, and maybe you get lucky with BW/BC some years. I even got a Poly waitlist to fill for marathon weekend.

I am optimizing for value, which is the opposite of space. To get space, you will have to book at least 1BRs, which are going to be a massive jump in points required and total cost.

 

[Brian Noble]

I am looking for space, [...] and economical stays. Thanks!

I think your first step is choosing between these two. Which is more important? Is it more important to have a "reasonable" amount of space for five people? Or is it more important to be as inexpensive as possible?

The suggestions you get will be very different for one answer vs. the other.

 

[pinkxray]

I need more info. Do you plan on staying in studios or larger? We are a family of 5 and bought dvc to get out of studio size rooms. We mostly do 1 bedrooms, but 2 kids are still pretty small. Once they get older we will move to 2 bedrooms.

We own at SSR which was purchased purely for the low cost, low maintenance fees and decent point charts for 1-2 bedrooms. While the resort is fine it is not my first choice to stay. I have learned I much prefer to be closer to the parks. We recently added on at VGF and will add on at the new Poly tower. These arent really very economical though unless you get a great resale cost(which Poly has had some great prices recently)

I would learn towards BLT if I was starting now assuming you don’t want to do studios. The one bedroom is great and you will hopefully be able to get standard view by owning at BLT. If I was really looking for studios with 5, I’d pick Poly. BLT is also supposed to be getting a refurb next year which should be great.

I don’t really think much about the 2042, unless you love one in particular.
SSR and OKW are great values if you don’t care about being right next to the parks.

Copper Creek is one of my favorite resorts but we need a 2 bedroom as a family of 5. But honestly the point cost for resorts like VGF and Riviera for a 1 bedroom are more than 2 bedroom at Copper Creek certain times of the year.

When we initially bought SSR it was to use at other resorts until we knew what was important to use. I’ve learned I really prefer the MK resort so we have been adding on there. However, our SSR points we got for a good price have allowed use to stay at all the places we have wanted to try and we have been lucky to stay where we wanted by waitlisting and stalking so I’ve decided to hold onto them in addition to our MK resorts. I love using them at Aulani and 1 bedrooms in WDW.

Poly has many studios and now with the new VGF resort studios, it isn’t as hard to book a studio using something like SSR points.

 

[Wendysofftoneverland]

Are you buying direct or resale? If you don't mind where you stay, resale SSR is a good value. 1 bedrooms sleep 5 now, and if you ever bring extended family, there's the treehouses that sleep several. Buying direct, I'd buy VGF. Studios that sleep 5 with easy access to the parks, low maintenance fees, and the direct pricing isn't that much more than SSR per point. And there is usually 7 month availability for SSR and OKW 1 bedrooms. Now if you are looking for 2 bedrooms, I'm not sure what strategy to use (we stay offsite if we want 2 bedroom... Disney 2 bedrooms are too point heavy for us).

 

[lilsonicfan]

"space, value and economical stays" do not necessarily all go together.

For example (this is what I wrote down since we are also a family of 5)

Studio at Poly/VGF (deluxe) have split bathrooms, so that adds value when getting ready in the morning or at night, and is more economical points-wise than a 1BR (which Poly doesn't have anyway) - but a studio is generally not very much space. (Riv also has this but as we are resale, we won't be staying there)

A 1BR that sleeps 5 is available at AKL, AUL, BLT, VGC, VGF, OKW, SSR. (HH and VB too but not interested) Of these, BLT, AKL Kidani, and VGC have two full bathrooms so ostensibly again that adds value, and 1BR are certainly more spacious than studios. But 1BR are not economical compared to studios, and in terms of point cost, BLT and VGC are certainly higher priced. Another consideration I have is that not all of these have murphy beds, in fact, of this list of 1BR, I think so far only SSR and VGF have the murphy beds in place of sofa beds.

Then, there's the consideration of how much space you really need. I'm pretty happy with a 1BR and would absolutely book 1BR at Aulani where it uses more points, but might consider at 2BR at SSR for example.

Economical - again, differs for everyone. Some people want to look at the total cost per year over the length of the contract which is of course a valid consideration, but I'm not in my 30's, I don't really think that in 40+ years I will be hitting Orlando every year. So in some ways, looking at it from that perspective gives a false sense of the true cost since I won't be using it then and am not sure I want to saddle my kids with a timeshare they may not even want.