How many points for a family of 8?

[Quacktatty]

Hi,

I am posting this for a friend of mine who is considering a purchase soon. She and her husband have 4 young children with twins on the way. On their next trip they will range in age from newborn - 6 years old. They would like to buy into DVC and are wondering how many points they would need to get to spend approximately 2-3 weeks a year at DVC resorts during both peak and non peak seasons. They would most likely bring other adults as well, so it could be 10 or more people, but that wouldn't always be the case.

Thanks for your help.

 

[dianeschlicht]

That's a tough thing to answer. There are several ways to accommodate 10 people. If they all must be in the same unit, then the only way is a Grand Villa. The resorts that have GVs are BWV, OKW, and SSR. Each of those resorts has a different point schedule for GVs and of course, each season has a different point schedule.

Example:
January GV for 1 week---558 pts (BWV) is the high end, and 356 pts (OKW) is the low.

Highest season a GV for 1 week is 966 pts (BWV) and 654 pts (OKW)

SSR is somewhere in between that high and low.

Of course, there are many ways to configure that 2-3 weeks if you use different villa sizes on different trips. At the very least, their family alone would need a 2 bedroom. That could be as little as 218 pts a week or as much as 405 pts a week.

 

[BuzznBelle'smom]

I would suggest to your friend that they call DVC and request the literature. While I find the book has more style than substance (they can get substance here, though), it does have layouts of all the different room styles, as well as the point charts for every resort. Mind you, DVC is only "advertising" that they sell SSR right now, but they can buy resale elsewhere or through DVC if they really want a particular resort.

It sounds like they would really need a lot of points. They should probably sit down with the charts in front of them, see when they're most likely to go, and see if they can find the best way to work it out for them. If they want to go Christmas week every year and bring along a few extra people, it's going to be mega-$$.

 

[Deb & Bill]

With their family alone, they would always need a two bedroom - that sleeps 8. If they start adding others on the reservation, they will need either two rooms or a Grand Villa. If they plan on staying in GVs a lot, they will need to purchase at OKW, SSR or BWV (which has the fewest GV). Otherwise, they will never get the GV.

 

[Mtnman44]

For a 2 BR unit, three weeks a year, you'd need over 650 points. This is the bare minimum, staying only at OKW in the cheap seasons.

 

[Dean]

As noted there are many variables. Assuming a 2 BR every year (will need this for 8) they're looking at somewhere between a low of 750 pts and a high of around a 1000. The low assumes OKW for 3 weeks but only 2 weekends and the high assumes other resorts during summer. If they would travel mostly Xmas and Easter, they could even need more. At around $80-100 a point, that's a lot of money. Then the dues would be somewhere in the range of $4-5000 yearly.

I don't know their means or affinity for Disney vs other timeshare options but there are certainly many ways to get a Disney fix and do so much more cheaply. In general they would require some other type of timeshare purchase plus a much smaller DVC contract. Or a smaller DVC contract with less frequent trips or some combo of those options. If I lived away and wanted to go to Disney every year for 3 weeks and needed a 2 BR plus had no intentions of using the options for other vacations by timeshare exchanging, here's the approach I'd take. I'd buy One or two Marriott Orlando weeks, and/or possibly another timeshare that worked on a points system like Bluegreen, Hyatt, Hilton, WorldMark, RCI points or Fairfield. And I'd buy a smaller DVC contract, possibly enough to allow me to do two weeks but one weekend yearly. One could also buy other timeshare and trade in to Orlando yearly, something easier and cheaper to do in many ways. Total cost more in the $40-50,000 price range (still mostly DVC) and yearly fees more in the $3000 per year range. The cheapest option of doing just timeshares and no DVC could be had for as little as $1000-10000 up front and yearly fees/costs as low as around $1000 for the 3 weeks including exchange fees. The variables and possibilities are almost endless.

 

[starbox]

I would definitely tell a family that large to assume they will stay in a GV. It won't be long at all before the oldest of the kids start getting significant others and then children. When you are looking at a 40+ year contract, you've got to assume that a family of 6 kids will be a family of 12 kids (including spouses) in 15-20 years, and proably a family of 24 kids+spouses+grandkids before the contract has reached the halfway point. It's pretty safe to assume that GV (maybe even multiple GV) stays are going to be a part of the future.

I'd also say wait to see what AKV puts out on the table, since there are rumors that the choices there will accomodate larger families and with so many children, the extra contract years will likely be an advantage.

 

[hojolo]

Sounds familiar to me...Have 5 children all tightly spaced ending up with twins. Started with 150 pts and added 310 later. Good for every year with multiple trips some years, especially if you go on nonpeak times. A 2 bedroom at OKW is by far the roomiest and will work fine. In fact, not only are all the rooms at OKW the largest, but OKW points are also cheaper to buy and less pricey to use.

 

[dumbo71]

Many great replies in this thread but to put it in simple terms your friends need about 900 or more points. Lets go low with 900. Buy in would be about $79,000. Annual dues would be about $4000 per year.

A big commitment for sure. Don't let them talk to me if they really want this because I could give them 1,000,000 better ways to go about this for that kind of money. And this is coming from someone who had over 1400 points at one time.