Hotel Room vs. Villa

[mrsr2ro]

We are starting to plan a late October trip with our whole family and my parents -- so four adults, and at the time the kids will be 8, 6.5, turning 4 on the trip, and 2.5.

Since we started having kids, we try not to vacation in standard hotel rooms - Disney or non-Disney. We've always liked having a kitchen/kitchenette, laundry, and separate bedroom/family rooms.

I'm pricing out this trip and it would save us SO much money if we got 2 standard hotel rooms (at a Mod) instead of a 2BR villa or a Treehouse Villa. We stayed in a THV on our '09 trip when it was my parents, us, and three kids at the time. That's what we were leaning towards this time... but oh the $$.

I'm wondering if we are ready to try doing hotel rooms this time. We'd put our two older kids in with Grandma and Grandpa (my parents would be more than fine with this) and keep the two little ones with us. Ideally connecting rooms, but I know there is no gurantee. I'm thinking we will skip the DDP this time and just do cereal/milk for breakfast, and get extra snacks/drinks to bring to the park and focus on QS meals. Maybe do one or two character meals.

Thoughts? This would be a 7 night trip. The things I'm worried I'll miss are the laundry right in the room and chairs/couches to sit on. But do I really want to spend thousands more for those luxuries?

 

[CoachBagFanatic]

We are starting to plan a late October trip with our whole family and my parents -- so four adults, and at the time the kids will be 8, 6.5, turning 4 on the trip, and 2.5.

Since we started having kids, we try not to vacation in standard hotel rooms - Disney or non-Disney. We've always liked having a kitchen/kitchenette, laundry, and separate bedroom/family rooms.

I'm pricing out this trip and it would save us SO much money if we got 2 standard hotel rooms (at a Mod) instead of a 2BR villa or a Treehouse Villa. We stayed in a THV on our '09 trip when it was my parents, us, and three kids at the time. That's what we were leaning towards this time... but oh the $$.

I'm wondering if we are ready to try doing hotel rooms this time. We'd put our two older kids in with Grandma and Grandpa (my parents would be more than fine with this) and keep the two little ones with us. Ideally connecting rooms, but I know there is no gurantee. I'm thinking we will skip the DDP this time and just do cereal/milk for breakfast, and get extra snacks/drinks to bring to the park and focus on QS meals. Maybe do one or two character meals.

Thoughts? This would be a 7 night trip. The things I'm worried I'll miss are the laundry right in the room and chairs/couches to sit on. But do I really want to spend thousands more for those luxuries?

Ok we are only a family of three compared to your family of 6 so you are double our size.

This is just for us and only us. The first time we stayed in a 1 bdrm villa LV at BLT was in June 2010 and we have not been back to a standard room since. Even though we we lean toward saving the money and going with a standard room, we just can't pull ourselves away from the kitchen, W/D, big living room, chairs/couches, the extra bathroom, room to store your luggage and going home with clean clothes.

OP I know you are coming here for advice but only you know what's best for your family. If we had as many people as you do, JMPO, I would go with the villa. I am sure no matter where you stay, you and your family will have a great time.

 

[ccgirl]

We are starting to plan a late October trip with our whole family and my parents -- so four adults, and at the time the kids will be 8, 6.5, turning 4 on the trip, and 2.5.

Since we started having kids, we try not to vacation in standard hotel rooms - Disney or non-Disney. We've always liked having a kitchen/kitchenette, laundry, and separate bedroom/family rooms.

I'm pricing out this trip and it would save us SO much money if we got 2 standard hotel rooms (at a Mod) instead of a 2BR villa or a Treehouse Villa. We stayed in a THV on our '09 trip when it was my parents, us, and three kids at the time. That's what we were leaning towards this time... but oh the $$.

I'm wondering if we are ready to try doing hotel rooms this time. We'd put our two older kids in with Grandma and Grandpa (my parents would be more than fine with this) and keep the two little ones with us. Ideally connecting rooms, but I know there is no gurantee. I'm thinking we will skip the DDP this time and just do cereal/milk for breakfast, and get extra snacks/drinks to bring to the park and focus on QS meals. Maybe do one or two character meals.

Thoughts? This would be a 7 night trip. The things I'm worried I'll miss are the laundry right in the room and chairs/couches to sit on. But do I really want to spend thousands more for those luxuries?

For me personally, we cannot stand hotel rooms. We feel just too squished and I don't like pretending I'm asleep to get the children asleep.

Have you looked into renting DVC points? I did so through this board but some feel more comfortable with David's Rental.

Either way saves you a ton of money.

Good luck with your decision.

 

[mefordis]

We always do connecting rooms. You get 2 baths and four beds and it is so much cheaper. We get guaranteed connecting because we are initially two adults two kids and my husband joins us out there later.

 

[akclayton]

I would look in to renting DVC points and getting a 2 BDR Villa. You can make your own breakfast in the morning, have snacks, have stuff for sandwiches for lunch and just eat at parks at night. when our whole family goes we get a 2BDR Villa and we love it. There weren't any available for our trip in June so we got 2 studio rooms. We check the DVC website daily though looking for openings.

 

[mefordis]

We have two connecting rooms at POR (royal rooms), eight nights for $3110. Do you think I could rent points in a 2 bedroom anywhere for that amount? I'm also hoping a discount comes out before my trip that I could apply.

 

[JamboJustin]

I'm just a newbie member of DVC, but my understanding is that points can be rented for $10 to $12 per point, and probably closer to the lower end of that range. In that case you just need to go over the point charts. I'm a newbie so I can't post a link to the charts, but google 'DVC point charts and you can browse them all. I'll go with SSR because it is a bit cheaper and you are budget-minded.

If you want an 8 day stay during magic season (the busier times), and your stay includes two saturdays, then you'd need to rent 365 points. That would cost $3650 to $4380.

You can bring that down to about 292 points by going in the choice season. That would probably meet your budget, but perhaps not your schedule.

 

[ElizabethG]

We have two connecting rooms at POR (royal rooms), eight nights for $3110. Do you think I could rent points in a 2 bedroom anywhere for that amount? I'm also hoping a discount comes out before my trip that I could apply.

Using you ticker, it is Oct-Nov. 8 nights in SSR 2 bdrm is 288 points or approx. $2,880. I used SSR as an example because that is a popular time for DVC members and there may not be a lot of availability left. The availability for members is different than checking on the Disney website.

Point charts:
http://www.wdwinfo.com/disney-vacation-club/DVCpoints.shtml

 

[sharadoc]

How about two studios? You have access to a free laundry, either in a hallway or a separate building by the pool depending on your resort.

Or a family suite at ASMu and a regular room next door.

I agree, we would never go in a regular room unless it's absolutely necessary. We did it for 3 nights to stay in the Contemporary theme park view, but then checked out and went to OKW for a week. MUCH better. Nothing's worse than only having the beds to sit on, and the little chairs at the little table.

 

[OldGrizzly57]

Hmmm..... two standards at a moderate $3,110.00
two bedroom SSR $2,880.00.. with full kitchen, living room and in room laundry...

I wouldn't dwell on THAT decision long!

Griz

 

[chalee94]

How about two studios?

just be aware that no studios connect to other studios. that's not an option anywhere.

 

[mefordis]

Well, except

- SSR doesn't appeal to me
- If I receive a pin or free dining comes up, I wouldn't be eligible for these offers renting points, would I?
- Right now I feel safer booking with WDW than renting from an owner. If I need to cancel I want to be able to get part of my money back, at least.
- Also, I don't want to cook OR do laundry. I do those things on a daily basis in real life!

Hmmm..... two standards at a moderate $3,110.00
two bedroom SSR $2,880.00.. with full kitchen, living room and in room laundry...

I wouldn't dwell on THAT decision long!

Griz

 

[Deb & Bill]

October is going to be tough this late. You are already less than seven months out. And with F&W and MNSSHP, lots of resorts are already booked up.

 

[chalee94]

Well, except

- If I receive a pin or free dining comes up, I wouldn't be eligible for these offers renting points, would I?

nope.

 

[Lisha428]

It sounds like you're pretty set on staying on WDW property, but had you ever considered staying offsite to get all the amenities you want at a fraction on the price? I'm only asking because we just returned from a week a WDW and stayed offsite for the first time in a 2BDR condo, only a few minutes from the parks. I spent less than $100/night on it and we loved it. Of course, you do have to rent a car so right there that may be a no-go for you. Just throwing out another option that I'd never considered myself until this last trip, and now I'm not sure we'll be staying onsite again.

 

[CoachBagFanatic]

How about two studios? You have access to a free laundry, either in a hallway or a separate building by the pool depending on your resort.

Or a family suite at ASMu and a regular room next door.

I agree, we would never go in a regular room unless it's absolutely necessary. We did it for 3 nights to stay in the Contemporary theme park view, but then checked out and went to OKW for a week. MUCH better. Nothing's worse than only having the beds to sit on, and the little chairs at the little table.

We feel the same way. We are doing the same as you but we are staying at the CR TPV CL for two nights. This is a surprise for our DS16 in June. He has always wanted to stay in the tower so DH and I figured we could do a regular room for two nights before moving to BLT 1 bdr villa LV. For us and only us, giving up that much space is a very difficult thing to do now.

 

[KSL]

Yep, our experience has been the same as several previous posters: once we started with the villas there was no going back. We absolutely love having the s-p-a-c-e so that when we need to rest/relax we really CAN and it makes the whole trip just so much nicer (we get cranky when we are overtired!). We went last summer for 12 nights (split stay AKV and BLT) as a party of 3 adults and 3 children in a 2-BR and it was absolutely wonderful. We decided we'd actually rather go less often but be able to afford the bigger/nicer accommodations. Of course, now we're in the process of adding on to nearly double our DVC points so we can go more often!