Poll: Size of Room

[CanadaDisney05]

As a followup to my previous post, I thought I would provide a little bit more context on the situation. Trying to gauge the opinion of Disboards as I'm working through the process of deciding whether or not to DVC. The poll question is a "What would you do" given the situation.

Situation: Young family of 4 (currently, although through the duration of the contract obviously the kids will get older), travelling from far enough that you either need to fly or drive for two days. Only have enough money to justify one of the following 3 options

1) Stay in a DVC studio for approx 8 night vacations
2) Stay in a 1 BR DVC villa for approx 4 night vacations
3) Stay offsite for approx 8 to 10 night vacations.

Edit: Thanks for the responses so far. Keep them coming. Just a response to those who suggested going every other year and staying in a 1 BR. We would actually only buy enough to stay in a studio every other year. It would have to be a 1 out of 4 years to stay in the 1 BR.

 

[Madame]

Honestly, after staying in 1 and 2 bds, I intensly dislike studios and would rather stay offsite and have more room than stay in a studio with all of us. Even when we travel without DH I prefer a 1bd. We bought DVC for larger rooms. We could have continued to squeeze into POR or CBR as a family of 5, but having a master bedroom to ourselves is just so much more relaxing on vacation. If we were going to do just studios we wouldn't have purchased DVC as most don't even have two real beds. YMMV.

 

[chalee94]

Tough call. I like staying onsite in a studio for the onsite perks. The FP advantage is probably going to be essential for Star Wars and FOP for a while. It's nice to park at the resort and leave the driving to Disney.

But I also like trading my non-DVC timeshare for 2BRs offsite. More room to spread out and several options are still very close to WDW property (some are closer to Universal when I want to visit Harry Potter World.)

I do think studios are not ideal for a family of four. Down the road you will be wanting more space.

 

[bwvBound]

Given the logistics of travel, going to WDW for 4 nights just doesn't make sense. (Sure, we'll fly in from San Diego for just two nights but we aren't traveling with young children.) You'll want, need and deserve a l-o-n-g-e-r stay just to unwind, relax and break your normal "work day" patterns. In an 8 to 10 night stay, you might also need a quiet place to "plug in" (the opposite of my prior sentence) to check email, attend a virtual meeting, polish off a training module, etc.

I voted offsite, longer stay, larger unit.

Do that for awhile to see if your family establishes a pattern of regular WDW travel. Then add a DVC contract to supplement and give you the on-site benefits.

 

[Memorymakerfor4]

We are the same family demographic, same travel dilemma. Our compromise was to space out trips to every year and a half so we could have a longer stay in a one bedroom. It's a less desirable option, but works for us. I also know that I could book another trip with a pass holder discount if I really get the travel bug.

 

[LSchrow]

My vote would be the studio. If 4 nights were the only option, we would just skip it until we had the means to go longer. If we had the option of off=site or no trip, our choice would be to either not go at all, or go elsewhere for a different vacation (but we really, REALLY dislike offsite - the time wasted (no matter how "close to WDW", travel to/fro parks is just too annoyingly time consuming & frustrating, no Magical Express, no spur of the moment WDW fun. it's like staying in Queens to visit Manhattan )

 

[lovin'fl]

We prefer 1BR. It's why we bought DVC. I like doing laundry on vacay (less to pack) and DH has to work a lot and needs the privacy. I also enjoy the jetted tubs (well, I did until last trip when all this black gunk came out when I turned on the jets...at SSR). ANd being in the bedroom adds a buffer to the hallway noise. Plus we prefer shorter trips anyway as it's tough for DH to take off work for full week.

 

[msjprincess]

I wouldn't go for just 4 nights. I would go for 8 nights in a studio. Since we started booking one bedrooms we started going less often for longer stays. Instead of going every year for a week we now go every other year for 10 or 11 nights.

 

[Buzzw0rthy]

I came up with an easy solution to this issue... Talk DW into more points for longer stays in a 1 BR.

 

[chicagoshannon]

4 nights is just not long enough from Canada. If I lived in FL 4 nights would be ok. lol

Could you plan on staying in studios now while your kids are young and a few years down the road buy more points to stay in 1 or 2 bedrooms?

We often stay off property (more than on property) and love being out of the bubble and seeing more things in Orlando. We will now have enough points to stay on property every other year in a 1 bedroom for over a week and that will suit us just fine. So another idea is to do every other trip on site and off site for the rest.

 

[robinb]

Are you talking about your next trip, or are you talking about your vacation future and possibly buying DVC? I'm going to assume the latter.

1) Stay in a DVC studio for approx 8 night vacations

This could work for your family of 4. If your kids are both the same gender it will work better, but even if you have 1 boy and 1 girl you can book one of the studios that sleeps 5 and each one will get a bed. The main advantage of staying onsite is the ease in which families can split up and make it back to the room on their own. For instance, the melt down of a young child doesn't punish the other one and one parent can take the one having problems "home" while the other one remains in the parks. Also, once your kids get older they can come and go as they please. You can still cook in a studio. We usually stay in studios and we "make do" with the microwave and toaster for breakfast and sometimes we will use the BBQ grills for dinner. Laundry can be a PITB compared to a 1BR but it's not that bad and still free . Transportation to the DVC resorts is also (currently) free from the airport so you don't have to rent a car unless you want to. If you do, parking is free at the resort and at the parks. The disadvantage is that your family will eventually outgrow studios. We are at that point now with our daughter (only child). I don't mind sharing a studio with her, but I don't want to share with her boyfriend and bringing the boyfriend is the only way to get her to go with us. We now have to look at 1BRs which are twice as expensive, renting 2 All Star rooms (which is why we own DVC) or staying offsite to accommodate him.

2) Stay in a 1 BR DVC villa for approx 4 night vacations

4 nights is not enough at WDW, so option (2) is out for me.

3) Stay offsite for approx 8 to 10 night vacations.

This is also a good option. The main advantage to this that the adults get their privacy. At the very least, they get their own bedroom but I would probably look into a 2BR unit if I were to buy another timeshare. Most off-site timeshare villas have kitchens and laundry in the unit (like a DVC 1BR) which is an advantage over a DVC studio. Some timeshares have pools that rival the ones at WDW. You are also off Disney property so you have the ability to eat offsite and save some money over WDW restaurants. Since you're driving to the parks you can scope out possibilities throughout your trip and make plans to eat at places rather than settle for another boring Disney counter service meal for twice the price. The disadvantages are that you have to rent a car and drive to the parks (I don't mind myself, but some do) and then pay to park (or buy Annual Passes). That adds at least $40-$50 per day in expenses. You are also joined at the hip in the parks because everyone came in the same car.

One thing to also consider when deciding between DVC and another timeshare is the way that DVC has held it's value. My DH got roped into going to some weird presentation to get us "out" of our timeshare. I had no interest in getting out of our timeshare so I have no clue why he even signed us up for it. The "gift" was complete scammy garbage so it was sooo not worth our time. They were selling shares into some hybrid system. I think you sell your timeshare to them and then they give you shares in their system which is easier to use than Interval International. I don't know, I didn't really follow it since he stopped trying to sell it to us when we corrected him that he could buy DVC for $1 per point. He took our information and was supposed to come back with a price of what our DVC timeshare was worth (200 points BWV, 100 points AKV) but didn't show us the numbers and admitted that he couldn't sell us anything while every other salesperson was actively working their customers from other timeshares. In reality, we can sell our AVK points for more than we bought them for and our BWV points for more than twice what we bought them for. Now granted, there is inflation involved but we are still WAY ahead on BWV and we'd break even on AKV. YYMV of course, but in general DVC holds its value better than other timeshares.

 

[katandmouse]

We are a family of 5, and 8 nights in a studio would not be relaxing for us; I’m not sure it would be much better for a family of 4. (Ironically, we could make do for a couple days in a studio, but for a week or more we want space to spread out. Of course, the prices don’t correlate.)

But with as far as you have to travel, I would not recommend just doing 4 nights either.

I voted for the offsite stays. But I really like the idea to go every other year in a 1br, and alternate with offsite stays. Or to stay in studios now and add on later for 1br stays when the kids get bigger. Or do both (without adding on): stay in studios now, then if/when you outgrow them, start banking/borrowing your points for 1brs and alternate offsite stays.

 

[NoTime42]

When are you currently traveling?

We bought DVC planning to use lower point seasons. but school and sports for older kids basically only means summer and Christmas week for vacation time.

So, our DVC purchase that could mostly handle longer 1BR trips only allows us longer summer studio trips. I still prefer the longer trips, but warning that planning on longer low-season studios may not work as kids age.

 

[CanadaDisney05]

When are you currently traveling?

We bought DVC planning to use lower point seasons. but school and sports for older kids basically only means summer and Christmas week for vacation time.

So, our DVC purchase that could mostly handle longer 1BR trips only allows us longer summer studio trips. I still prefer the longer trips, but warning that planning on longer low-season studios may not work as kids age.

Wife's a teacher. Only can really travel during the summer. High point season makes 1 & 2BR options near impossible

 

[_auroraborealis_]

One thing to also consider when deciding between DVC and another timeshare is the way that DVC has held it's value.

I do think one should be careful about viewing DVC purchase as anything but a sunk cost. Management is quite determined to try to damage the value of resale.

 

[Donna M]

I feel that you would need to buy more than you are able to at this point. We bought when our kids were in middle school and now they are out of the house with kids of their own. Studios now will most likely not work in a few years, and it doesn't sound like you are buying a lot of points.

Think about your family in 10 years, and how you want to vacation then. Make plans based on that scenario, are you thinking of buying more points or selling? It's a big investment for a young family.

 

[Deb & Bill]

If you can't buy enough points to book the one bedroom villa, don't buy. There is no guarantee that you will be able to book a studio when you need it. Especially at seven months out.

 

[CarolynFH]

I didn’t vote. As a family of four, we bought DVC because we had outgrown hotel rooms (studios) and wanted to continue visiting WDW every year and staying onsite. But we were fortunate in that we bought in the “golden years” when points were more affordable (BWV for $62.50 pp after incentives, roughly $100 pp in today’s dollars), so we could buy enough points for 7 nights in a 2-bedroom.

If you want to buy a timeshare now, I’d say buy into a system (not DVC) that would allow you to book at least a 2-bedroom in Orlando every year. But really you will probably do better renting an offsite vacation home (with or without saving up until you can buy enough DVC points for at least a 1 BR).

 

[AdamsMum]

Young family of 4

If your kids are little a studio will be fine for you. Plus with the extra days you don't have to exhaust yourself. In a studio you still have a fridge, microwave, toaster and (for me a big plus) a balcony, so you can sit outside while the kiddos fall asleep.
eta: the pp is right about not being able to book studios at 7 months out. Be prepared to book at 11 months. Who knows, you might find just the right resale add on some time down the line. I started out with enough points for a studio, but banked and borrowed a few times to get 1 and 2 bedrooms. Good luck with your decision.

Edit again: With DVC you have a great resort in a great location, that's what attracted me. I really had no knowledge when I purchased back in 2007, but even with all the changes lately, I don't regret it. Don't look at it as an investment that will increase in value, even if the value decreases it won't decrease to pennies on the dollar. That would create stiff competition for disney selling direct. They are walking a fine line here: trying to attract direct buyers and discourage resaled, but still stay competitive with their inflated direct prices.

 

[robinb]

I do think one should be careful about viewing DVC purchase as anything but a sunk cost. Management is quite determined to try to damage the value of resale.

One one hand, I agree with you. One should not buy a timeshare thinking that they will make money. Disney has been removing benefits for resales for a while while jacking up their own prices but resale prices have increased with Disney's increases. Stuff can always happen. Resale prices plummeted during the Great Recession in the late 2000's.

On the other hand, it is still smart to compare the resale values of two timeshares the same way you compare the resale values of two cars.