VGF vs SSR for family of 5

[disney_mood]

First time I've ever heard someone say they were lucky to have Frontier and Spirit and their choices. We just flew Frontier last week to MCO, it might be our last.

I can deal with a crappy direct flight for two hours to save close to a thousand dollars. Flying is pretty miserable with two small children as is. Honestly, all airlines have been terrible lately in my opinion and I’ve had my worst experience with Delta who charges triple and usually has 3 hour layovers.

 

[Hubalorian]

I have only flown once with my three year old and was so very fortunate he slept for the most of a two hour flight

 

[disney_mood]

I have only flown once with my three year old and was so very fortunate he slept for the most of a two hour flight

Consider yourself lucky!! They are already ticking time bombs from getting to the airport early for security etc. I’ve never lucked out with either of them sleeping! But it beats a 13+ hour drive with tons of stops and potty breaks. I have to tell myself that while I’m sitting there trying to regain my patience

 

[MarkNC2Disney]

Consider yourself lucky!! They are already ticking time bombs from getting to the airport early for security etc. I’ve never lucked out with either of them sleeping! But it beats a 13+ hour drive with tons of stops and potty breaks. I have to tell myself that while I’m sitting there trying to regain my patience

We have three kiddos under 6. Used to drive from NC but (hopefully) never again. Southwest has been our friend

We just stayed at VGF1 in a deluxe studio with just my wife and youngest (1yo) and it was superb. We also own at Poly and RR.

 

[disney_mood]

We have three kiddos under 6. Used to drive from NC but (hopefully) never again. Southwest has been our friend

We just stayed at VGF1 in a deluxe studio with just my wife and youngest (1yo) and it was superb. We also own at Poly and RR.

 

[disney_mood]

Good to hear you guys had fun since we have a similar family dynamic! I used to fly southwest a lot when I had the cc. I don’t think they fly to MCO from Cleveland Hopkins. Ugh!

 

[MartyParty]

Hi everyone! We are a soon to be family of 5 (I’m expecting our third this December) and we have a 7 and 4 year old. Last year was our first year at WDW and we are going again in September. Needless to say, I’m likely purchasing a DVC contract since I imagine we will be vacationing yearly here. I’m thinking in the near future when the kids are all getting older, that studios and even some 1 bedrooms will be out of the question. I’ve considered Direct VGF due to the incentives currently but the points for a 2 bedroom are high. SSR’s 2 bedroom are much more affordable on the point scale. I’ve been to neither and don’t want to waste paying for cash vacations when I could invest now in DVC. Any insight would be helpful, also I imagine we will sleep around especially while they are young and we can get away with smaller rooms.

Not counting incentives, direct pricing for VGF is $217 and Saratoga is $205. Of course resale is cheaper. No judgement either way direct versus resale. All about preferences. We're direct.

As others have said for that price difference I'd buy VGF. Gives you 11 month booking option at VGF but if you're wanting to maximize stays or larger room sizes for less points then Saratoga is easier to book at the 7 month window. You'd get the best of both worlds, and once including direct incentives you'd be getting VGF at or cheaper than Saratoga direct.

Good luck.

 

[disney_mood]

Not counting incentives, direct pricing for VGF is $217 and Saratoga is $205. Of course resale is cheaper. No judgement either way direct versus resale. All about preferences. We're direct.

As others have said for that price difference I'd buy VGF. Gives you 11 month booking option at VGF but if you're wanting to maximize stays or larger room sizes for less points then Saratoga is easier to book at the 7 month window. You'd get the best of both worlds, and once including direct incentives you'd be getting VGF at or cheaper than Saratoga direct.

Good luck.

Not counting incentives, direct pricing for VGF is $217 and Saratoga is $205. Of course resale is cheaper. No judgement either way direct versus resale. All about preferences. We're direct.

As others have said for that price difference I'd buy VGF. Gives you 11 month booking option at VGF but if you're wanting to maximize stays or larger room sizes for less points then Saratoga is easier to book at the 7 month window. You'd get the best of both worlds, and once including direct incentives you'd be getting VGF at or cheaper than Saratoga direct.

Good luck.

I think this makes sense. If I use the referral reward, welcome back, and MB I can get it down to around 25K for 150 points with the incentives they are offering. Someone mentioned that renting is easier with VGF which I didn’t even consider until now. So this is probably what I’ll end up doing and then just finance over 15 months at 0% and likely pay it off way sooner. Like you said I can always get SSR at the 7 month mark if I want more space.

 

[MarkNC2Disney]

Good to hear you guys had fun since we have a similar family dynamic! I used to fly southwest a lot when I had the cc. I don’t think they fly to MCO from Cleveland Hopkins. Ugh!

Will you rent a car at MCO? Stroller?

We’ve started renting both. I place a high premium on good logistics (and tend to save $ on meals) to give us the best chance at having fun … PVB for MK/Epcot, RR for HS/Epcot, van for AK.

SSR as a base of operations wouldn’t be appealing to me with my kids at their ages. Don’t write off Riv the compact footprint and Skyliner are terrific.

 

[disney_mood]

Will you rent a car at MCO? Stroller?

We’ve started renting both. I place a high premium on good logistics (and tend to save $ on meals) to give us the best chance at having fun … PVB for MK/Epcot, RR for HS/Epcot, van for AK.

SSR as a base of operations wouldn’t be appealing to me with my kids at their ages. Don’t write off Riv the compact footprint and Skyliner are terrific.

We won’t rent a car, personally we end up eating at the parks throughout the day. The mornings and evenings we will either eat at the hotel/resort, and this year for dinner we plan on going to Disney springs. We are big foodies so I would rather invest in food than a car, although I’m sure it’s convenient! The kids last year both wanted to sit in a double stroller so we just rent it for a week. When the baby is here we will just check their own stroller and bring it. We used the sky liner last year which was fun! I think I like the convenience of being on a monorail resort while they’re so young since we usually spend the most amount of park time at MK. Most likely will for some time given the ages of our kids! We are definitely more MK>Epcot fans.

 

[Cfabar1]

We won’t rent a car, personally we end up eating at the parks throughout the day. The mornings and evenings we will either eat at the hotel/resort, and this year for dinner we plan on going to Disney springs. We are big foodies so I would rather invest in food than a car, although I’m sure it’s convenient! The kids last year both wanted to sit in a double stroller so we just rent it for a week. When the baby is here we will just check their own stroller and bring it. We used the sky liner last year which was fun! I think I like the convenience of being on a monorail resort while they’re so young since we usually spend the most amount of park time at MK. Most likely will for some time given the ages of our kids! We are definitely more MK>Epcot fans.

You had me thinking VGF was perfect until you mentioned Disney Springs...

If that's the long term play, I would maybe want to stay at SSR...
Eat at the hotel for breakfast
Take the bus to MK, enjoy the day
come back to the hotel room, rest up/prepare for dinner
Walk to DS for dinner.
Come back to hotel room.

I would still recommend owning VGF points and not SSR points, because SSR is very easy to book into. It is even bookable via interval regularly which is quite unusual for DVC properties.

If you're not tied to eating at DS for dinner, there are many wonderful restaurants you could walk to or take the monorail to in the MK resort area, then you wouldn't have to deal with the bus. Just throwing that out there.

 

[intamin]

We won’t rent a car, personally we end up eating at the parks throughout the day. The mornings and evenings we will either eat at the hotel/resort, and this year for dinner we plan on going to Disney springs. We are big foodies so I would rather invest in food than a car, although I’m sure it’s convenient! The kids last year both wanted to sit in a double stroller so we just rent it for a week. When the baby is here we will just check their own stroller and bring it. We used the sky liner last year which was fun! I think I like the convenience of being on a monorail resort while they’re so young since we usually spend the most amount of park time at MK. Most likely will for some time given the ages of our kids! We are definitely more MK>Epcot fans.

This is why you buy both areas we like our hotels to be all in one building like RIV.. or Jambo house or the soon to be Poly tower. We don't have kids yet but once we do I'm sure we'll want an MK area resort even though we're Epcot people for the convenience as you said before. Fortunately Poly prob won't start selling for another year or so so it gives me a little more time to save :X

 

[sndral]

Hi everyone! We are a soon to be family of 5 (I’m expecting our third this December) and we have a 7 and 4 year old. Last year was our first year at WDW and we are going again in September. Needless to say, I’m likely purchasing a DVC contract since I imagine we will be vacationing yearly here. I’m thinking in the near future when the kids are all getting older, that studios and even some 1 bedrooms will be out of the question. I’ve considered Direct VGF due to the incentives currently but the points for a 2 bedroom are high. SSR’s 2 bedroom are much more affordable on the point scale. I’ve been to neither and don’t want to waste paying for cash vacations when I could invest now in DVC. Any insight would be helpful, also I imagine we will sleep around especially while they are young and we can get away with smaller rooms.

Your question really boils down to resale v. direct. SSR is & has always been the cheapest WDW resort to buy on the resale market due to supply - it’s the largest DVC resort by a large margin w/ approx. 14 million points compared to VGF which has 4.3 million points. The resale market reflects this, for ex. there are currently 309 SSR resale listings v. 42 VGF resale listings.
The strategy of buying SSR resale as the cheapest way to get into DVC isn’t a bad one, especially if you enjoy the hunt at 7 months to try & upgrade to another resort. Three things about buying resale, first, the points are barred from booking new resorts - currently Riviera & VDH, perhaps Poly2, likely Fort Wilderness cabins. As a young family the list of resorts you cannot book will grow. Second, resale takes 60-90 days to complete v. buying direct which is instantaneous. Third, most, if not all resale title companies will take your down payment on a credit card, but the bulk of the purchase must be cash - either from funds you have on hand or via a loan/mortgage w/ one of the companies that finance DVC resale purchases whereas DVC direct lets you put the full purchase price on a credit card.
In regards to the two resorts, to me it’s comparing apples to oranges. SSR is a sprawling resort w/ walking/boat access to Disney Springs & buses to all 4 parks - something to think about as a family juggling loading strollers onto buses for several years. As noted, it’s almost always available to book. It’s not a resort I’d personally want to stay at w/out a car.
VGF, while spacious, is more compact than SSR. I fly to WDW & never have a car. I own & stay at VGF & appreciate the walking/boating/monorail access to the MK & the monorail access to Epcot.

If you want to buy direct, I’d go with VGF due to the incentives. I am almost positive booking any variation of SSR rooms would be relatively easy to book at 7 months. Plus you’d have access to all resorts at 7 months if you fall in love with a new one in the future. VGF will almost maintain their low dues compared to other resorts. However SSR also has lower dues. I think this will likely come down to if you want to buy direct or resale. Either way is completely justifiable

Currently SSR’s MFs are $7.68 per point. VGF’s are $7.33 per point. But, as OP notes, you need a lot more points to get a same size villa at VGF v. SSR.

 

[disney_mood]

You had me thinking VGF was perfect until you mentioned Disney Springs...

If that's the long term play, I would maybe want to stay at SSR...
Eat at the hotel for breakfast
Take the bus to MK, enjoy the day
come back to the hotel room, rest up/prepare for dinner
Walk to DS for dinner.
Come back to hotel room.

I would still recommend owning VGF points and not SSR points, because SSR is very easy to book into. It is even bookable via interval regularly which is quite unusual for DVC properties.

If you're not tied to eating at DS for dinner, there are many wonderful restaurants you could walk to or take the monorail to in the MK resort area, then you wouldn't have to deal with the bus. Just throwing that out there.

Im not tied down to anything particularly I like trying different places and would think resort hopping is fun. Doesn’t the monorail take you to Disney springs as well?

 

[Cfabar1]

Im not tied down to anything particularly I like trying different places and would think resort hopping is fun. Doesn’t the monorail take you to Disney springs as well?

The monorail will take you around a loop of MK -
Magic Kingdom
Grand Floridian
Polynesian
Ticket and Transportation Center
Contemporary

and it keeps looping. On the way into the magic kingdom, it starts at the ticket and transportation center and goes to the contemporary, etc. On the way out of the magic kingdom the first stop is grand Floridian.

You can transfer at the Ticket and Transportation Center to another monorail that would take you to EPCOT.

I do not believe there is a monorail to Disney Springs.

 

[disney_mood]

Your question really boils down to resale v. direct. SSR is & has always been the cheapest WDW resort to buy on the resale market due to supply - it’s the largest DVC resort by a large margin w/ approx. 14 million points compared to VGF which has 4.3 million points. The resale market reflects this, for ex. there are currently 309 SSR resale listings v. 42 VGF resale listings.
The strategy of buying SSR resale as the cheapest way to get into DVC isn’t a bad one, especially if you enjoy the hunt at 7 months to try & upgrade to another resort. Three things about buying resale, first, the points are barred from booking new resorts - currently Riviera & VDH, perhaps Poly2, likely Fort Wilderness cabins. As a young family the list of resorts you cannot book will grow. Second, resale takes 60-90 days to complete v. buying direct which is instantaneous. Third, most, if not all resale title companies will take your down payment on a credit card, but the bulk of the purchase must be cash - either from funds you have on hand or via a loan/mortgage w/ one of the companies that finance DVC resale purchases whereas DVC direct lets you put the full purchase price on a credit card.
In regards to the two resorts, to me it’s comparing apples to oranges. SSR is a sprawling resort w/ walking/boat access to Disney Springs & buses to all 4 parks - something to think about as a family juggling loading strollers onto buses for several years. As noted, it’s almost always available to book. It’s not a resort I’d personally want to stay at w/out a car.
VGF, while spacious, is more compact than SSR. I fly to WDW & never have a car. I own & stay at VGF & appreciate the walking/boating/monorail access to the MK & the monorail access to Epcot.

Currently SSR’s MFs are $7.68 per point. VGF’s are $7.33 per point. But, as OP notes, you need a lot more points to get a same size villa at VGF v. SSR.

Thanks for the insight! All of the busses and 3 small kids is enough of a headache to just imagine, let alone live! By the time they are tweens/teens and we need more space the busses (although not ideal) won’t be pure hell at least. Definitely would be sad if they opened a really cool resort and I just had to pay for more direct points anyways. I think getting in at a good price point and then adding on later is right for me! The convenience of VGF is worth paying a few grand extra. Thank you to everyone for the insight it really helped me make up my mind!!

 

[Sandisw]

Im not tied down to anything particularly I like trying different places and would think resort hopping is fun. Doesn’t the monorail take you to Disney springs as well?

The monorail does not go to DS. Most resorts it’s bus only using Disney transportation

SSR and OKW also have boats. And, SSsr allows the ability to walk!

 

[sndral]

The monorail will take you around a loop of MK -
Magic Kingdom
Grand Floridian
Polynesian
Ticket and Transportation Center
Contemporary

and it keeps looping. On the way into the magic kingdom, it starts at the ticket and transportation center and goes to the contemporary, etc. On the way out of the magic kingdom the first stop is grand Floridian.

You can transfer at the Ticket and Transportation Center to another monorail that would take you to EPCOT.

I do not believe there is a monorail to Disney Springs.

Your monorail route is close, just backwards
When I board the monorail at the GF the next stop is the MK. The route starting at the GF:
Grand Floridian
Magic Kingdom
Contemporary
TTC - get off here to switch to the Epcot monorail
Poly

We won’t rent a car, personally we end up eating at the parks throughout the day. The mornings and evenings we will either eat at the hotel/resort, and this year for dinner we plan on going to Disney springs. We are big foodies so I would rather invest in food than a car, although I’m sure it’s convenient! The kids last year both wanted to sit in a double stroller so we just rent it for a week. When the baby is here we will just check their own stroller and bring it. We used the sky liner last year which was fun! I think I like the convenience of being on a monorail resort while they’re so young since we usually spend the most amount of park time at MK. Most likely will for some time given the ages of our kids! We are definitely more MK>Epcot fans.

In my mind there are clusters of good foodie spots -
The monorail loop w/ Narcoossees, Citricos, & V&A at the GF, CA grill @ the Contemporary, & maybe Ohana at the Poly + MK restaurants.
Epcot Area - many of the Epcot country restaurants, Yachtsman @ the YC, Cape May buffet at the BC, Flying Fish by the BW, & Toppolinos at the Riviera.
AKL - Jiko, Boma, & Sanaa.
DHS - Brown Derby.
DS - lots of great options, we tend to go to DS on light park days due to the hassle w/ bus only from most areas of WDW (exceptions - SSR walk/boat, or boat from Port Orleans & OKW) we seem to have really bad DS bus karma, more often than not if a trip has a bus snafu (and there’s always at least one) it happens at DS .

 

[PolyRob]

If the cost of a 2 bedroom at VGF is intimidating you could always do 2 resort studios since a majority of them connect to another resort studio. No request is guaranteed, but it's highly likely this would be accommodated. You would get 4 dedicated queen beds, 2 single sleeper sofas, and 2 full bathrooms with a walkway to Magic Kingdom. The points for this would still be higher than a 2 bedroom at SSR, but much more manageable than a 2 bedroom at VGF.

I am a VGF owner so I am probably biased, but the size and location of SSR is off putting to me. I would much rather have my fallback reservation be the WDW flagship. MK is the only place on property that is not easily accessible via car or ride share. The walking path, monorail, and boat are invaluable at VGF. You can take a bus, drive your own car, or ride share to DS from anywhere on property. With children that young you have a decade+ of MK in your future. Direct points will also open up numerous membership benefits. While they are not guaranteed, $365 per person annually on an AP renewal, 20% on merchandise, and 10% on table service meals will easily make direct VGF cheaper than SSR in less than 5 years. Not to mention a longer contract length and unrestricted points that can be used at any new resort built.

 

[Cfabar1]

Your monorail route is close, just backwards
When I board the monorail at the GF the next stop is the MK. The route starting at the GF:
Grand Floridian
Magic Kingdom
Contemporary
TTC - get off here to switch to the Epcot monorail
Poly

In my mind there are clusters of good foodie spots -
The monorail loop w/ Narcoossees, Citricos, & V&A at the GF, CA grill @ the Contemporary, & maybe Ohana at the Poly + MK restaurants.
Epcot Area - many of the Epcot country restaurants, Yachtsman @ the YC, Cape May buffet at the BC, Flying Fish by the BW, & Toppolinos at the Riviera.
AKL - Jiko, Boma, & Sanaa.
DHS - Brown Derby.
DS - lots of great options, we tend to go to DS on light park days due to the hassle w/ bus only from most areas of WDW (exceptions - SSR walk/boat, or boat from Port Orleans & OKW) we seem to have really bad DS bus karma, more often than not if a trip has a bus snafu (and there’s always at least one) it happens at DS .

I think I am thinking of the express version which goes from TTC to MK and from MK to TTC. It doesn't stop at the resorts, but does go through them in the order I described above.