OKW Villa

[CocozMom]

This is my first post!!

We are planning a trip in March of 2007 and hoping to land a 3 bedroom OKW villa. Just waiting to do the DVC points swap, home is Wilderness Lodge.

Here is my hang-up. We will have the following families

Couple #1 - grandparents (they would get the master)
Couple #2 - Me and + (will be almost 4) + (will be 17 months)
Couple #3 - DB and + (will be almost 3) + possibly new baby
22 year old - can sleep on the pull out - he is never there anyway.

Are we going to be stepping all over each other and going nuts ?
Should we get two 2-bedrooms instead. We wanted to have the kids in the same suite so only one parent would have to stay when they are napping (if they ever do).

 

[ccw]

I stayed at a Grand Villa (3 BR) at OKW in November with 5 girlfriends and we had PLENTY of room...the living area is huge and has cathedral ceilings which makes it seem even more spacioous. If we had needed an extra sleeping spot, I think I might have set up an Aero bed in the laundry room...it is a good size laundry room right off the kitchen. The two upstairs bedrooms were very private. With so many little ones, though, you might be happier with two 2 bedrooms (or even a 2 BR and a studio if you want to save points...gives you the same # of beds as the GV but you would have sleeper sofa, 4 queens and a king as opposed to the sleeper sofa, 2 Dbls, 2 Queens, 1 King you would have with the GV)...put the grandparents in the studio)

 

[fkj2]

OKW GVs are HUGE! You'll be fine for space. In fact, when you walk through the door, I imagine your jaw will drop when you see just how large and beautiful the GV is!

 

[robinb]

Welcome to the DIS!!

I think you will be fine! We have stayed in a Grand Villa twice with another family and we had a great time. The villa is bigger than our house.

As the owner of the points I would take the large bedroom above the master bedroom and give the smaller one to your brother.

 

[dianeschlicht]

You will have PLENTY of room in an OKW GV. I agree that you should take the larger upstairs bedroom with the two queen beds and give the room with the two doubles to the youngest couple. The 22 YO will think he died and went to heaven with the whole living room to himself! He will also have his own 3/4 bath off the hallway. The only potential problem I see here is the 22 YO wanting to sleep in while the rest want to get breakfast and get going for the day. Maybe an airmat in the huge laundry room would be better for him, so he can close the door and get away from breakfast noise.

 

[CocozMom]

Thanks for the responses. I feel much more comfortable now. I am so excited to have everyone there at the same time.

 

[dianeschlicht]

You will love it and have a great time! We have done several extended family and friends groups in GVs, and they are GREAT fun! We usually get a 2 bedroom at OKW, and I will say that I do prefer the 2 bedroom kitchen over the one in the GV. The arrangement and placement of the sink in the GV kitchen is no easy to deal with if you have several people in there at one time. We solved that by having every family unit take a turn at preparing a meal a day. It was usually breakfast, but we did have a couple of dinners there as well. With little ones, I am quite sure you will end up doing dinners in more than a bunch of adults would. Grocery shopping was even a fun experience with this group! Each family group did their own shopping for thier appointed meal, and then we did a seperate cart for the general food for the unit like snacks, fruit, bread etc. We had a GREAT time!

 

[skoi]

Anyone want to hazard a predicition on the chance of getting an OKW GV at 7 months in September? We're planning a big trip with family for September '07 and we'll be 9 people- originally we would've been 7, but have added one through adoption and are on the path to adding one more. So no 2 bedroom for us if we want to take guests. And after a brief stay- we love OKW- I find myself wishing we had bought there instead.

Thanks,
Julie

 

[Poorman]

I don't think you will have a problem. Make sure you have all your dates and points ready to commit in October. At 11 months out for a September ressie you should be fine.It would be nice if you could be a little flexible also.

It will be 180 points for a Sunday thru Thursday ressie. And 356 for the one week ressie(not worth the extra points AFAIC).

Good luck.

 

[jaysue]

That will work fine - enjoy the trip!

cheers
jaysue

 

[dianeschlicht]

Anyone want to hazard a predicition on the chance of getting an OKW GV at 7 months in September? We're planning a big trip with family for September '07 and we'll be 9 people- originally we would've been 7, but have added one through adoption and are on the path to adding one more. So no 2 bedroom for us if we want to take guests. And after a brief stay- we love OKW- I find myself wishing we had bought there instead.

Thanks,
Julie

September is one of the times I think it IS possible to get a GV at less than 7 months out.

 

[skoi]

Thanks Diane. I was worried about availability, but we decided to get a 2 br and a studio instead. There's nothing like too much family togetherness to ruin a vacation.

Julie

 

[dianeschlicht]

Anyone want to hazard a predicition on the chance of getting an OKW GV at 7 months in September? We're planning a big trip with family for September '07 and we'll be 9 people- originally we would've been 7, but have added one through adoption and are on the path to adding one more. So no 2 bedroom for us if we want to take guests. And after a brief stay- we love OKW- I find myself wishing we had bought there instead.

Thanks,
Julie

September is the one time I think it WILL be possible at the 7 month window. It's hard to know, but of all the seasons, that one is the most likely to have availability.

 

[skoi]

Diane- thanks for the info. Dh pointed out to me it's definitely better to have 2 rooms rather than 1! Not that we don't love our family members but--

Now when our kids are all big, a grand villa for the six of us will eliminate the "I don't want to sleep on the couch bed" fight and the "I don't want to sleep with my brother/ my sister" fight I know will come up.

Julie

 

[byoung]

Welcome to the DIS!! good luck on getting your villa.