What's available for a large family...

[smithmom]

We are essentially 3 families going to Disney World. We would ideally like something with 4 bedrooms. Do any of the resports offer anything like this?

Maybe we could opt for 2 - 2 Bedroom Suites?

Is this unrealistic if we are renting points from a DVC member?

Thanks for the help!

 

[MrShiny]

The best value will probably be two bedrooms. They sleep 8-9 people. There are grand villas that sleep 12, but these can run more points than a pair of 2 bedrooms.

The resorts with grand villas are SSR, AKV, BWV and OKW. VWL and BCV do not have them. They are hard to get at any resort.

A 2 bedroom has a master bedroom with a king sized bed, a second bedroom with 2 queens or one queen and a queen sleeper sofa and a living rom with a queen sleeper sofa (AKV also has a sleeper recliner in the living room).

 

[crisi]

There are no resorts with four bedrooms - you could try for an offsite home.

I would highly recommend NOT renting points.

DVC rentals are private transactions, and the terms of your transaction will depend on the deal you make with your member. But cancellation policies and payment policies with points are very different than through Central Reservations. Plan on your transactions being final.

Members, who have a lot more flexibility with their own points than renters do, have horror stories about multi-family trips. People cancelling at the last minute leaving them stuck with a room. Families needing to move dates. (I'm in the process of planning a three family trip, we've moved it TWICE) One family suddenly deciding that they need to bring an extra person - moving everyone over the room capacity and creating issues.

The other reason to discourage it is room layout. You get in a two bedroom one room with a king bed, one room with two queens (or a queen and a pullout sofa) and a pullout sofa in the living room. This can leave some really hard feelings when you get the "who gets the master bedroom" discussion.

If you are going to follow through with a DVC rental, be very clear with everyone up front. Get their money when you send money (unless its your treat) and let them know its unlikely to be refunded if they change their minds.

Best wishes in whatever you decide to do.

 

[smithmom]

I've sort of got that feeling - I'm positive that my family is going and my parents - but my brothers family is a bit questionable. So maybe renting rooms that connect would be better? Off-site is a great option, execpt that 2 of the 3 families has small children so we will need to discuss renting an extra car - incase someone needs to head back to the house. Then there's all the car seats. hmmmm....

You said you were planning a multi-family trip... where do you plan to stay (if you don't mind me asking?)

 

[crisi]

DVC does not offer connecting rooms.

We have two two bedroom units booked at the Boardwalk - which is our home resort. The players are myself and my family (DH and kids 9 and 10) in one unit, my sister and her DH and kids (2 and 4) and my parents. My other sister may or may not float in (there are not enough roll eye smilies in the world) and if she does, she will take the second bedroom in our unit and my kids will take the hideabed.

We moved once for "Sister Flakey" and a second time when my other sister got diagnosed with breast cancer. She is now clear, but we postponed the trip an extra year so she'd have more post-chemo energy.

You might want to consider renting a two bedroom (I don't know how many kids you have) - you can put your parents (who you know are going) in the king, you can take the bedroom with two beds for yourself and any kids too young to sleep in the living room - the kids can camp in the living room.

If your parents don't come, a two bedroom for one family is luxurious, but rather nice.

Then tell your brother to make his own reservations through Central Reservations if he wants to join you. If you pick a DVC attached to a resort, he can book BC and you can stay in BCVs (for example).

 

[crisi]

Oh, and another reason to book multiple rooms (and leave your brother's arrangements to himself) - I admire families who get along perfectly well sharing accomodations for an entire week - and I suspect they are in the minority. We purposely put my BIL in a seperate room for us - very nice man, love him dearly - would drive me to tie an anchor to him and dispose of the body in Bay Lake if we shared a room for a week.

 

[ChelleinNC]

My other sister may or may not float in (there are not enough roll eye smilies in the world)
We moved once for "Sister Flakey"

Oh, and another reason to book multiple rooms (and leave your brother's arrangements to himself) - I admire families who get along perfectly well sharing accomodations for an entire week - and I suspect they are in the minority. We purposely put my BIL in a seperate room for us - very nice man, love him dearly - would drive me to tie an anchor to him and dispose of the body in Bay Lake if we shared a room for a week.

Crisi, we either share relatives or every family has a "Sister Flakey" and a BIL that would be disposed of like that

OP, I've twice rescheduled a trip that my inlaws were going to join us for. Cancelled Easter, booked for June (had to use developer points that expire 6/15) and now they won't be coming for that trip. We're going in June but I have no idea when they'll come with us, maybe the Thanksgiving/Christmas trip?

 

[crisi]

Crisi, we either share relatives or every family has a "Sister Flakey" and a BIL that would be disposed of like that

I suspect its a common condition.

There probably are families that are perfectly functional. Mine isn't, and my husband's family isn't any better (they aren't worse, but they aren't better).

 

[felway17]

I took my extended family last summer... We got 3 1 bedroom and 1 studio... the room situation worked out great... the meeting and getting people organized... I add about 5 million more grey hairs.

 

[Starr W.]

I suspect its a common condition.

There probably are families that are perfectly functional. Mine isn't, and my husband's family isn't any better (they aren't worse, but they aren't better).

So glad I'm not the only one with a Sister Flakey.

We could form a support group.

 

[canwegosoon]

This past Easter we took my parents, and 3 adult sisters, and origionally another sister and 3 older 14-18 children and my 2 children, DH and self. I booked all studios. While I would have loved the extra room of a 2-brdm(2 of them)...just point wise it was less expensive, and if there were cancellations, I could drop one without messing up everything. Which is what ended up happening. And another great thing is that even though we were having "family issues" on this trip...it worked out great because we were all seperate. I had asked that we be all on the same floor, but only 2 of the studios were near each other, but we all were in the same area-just a few floors apart. Another reason why I wanted to do studios-was that I was not going to cook unless I had to.

There are great houses available offsite for a fraction of a rental...and you could afford 2 cars if you check out the transportation board thread on rental cars(national).

Good Luck.
BTW I am a charter member of the "Never Again Club"

 

[Deb & Bill]

We are essentially 3 families going to Disney World. We would ideally like something with 4 bedrooms. Do any of the resports offer anything like this?

Maybe we could opt for 2 - 2 Bedroom Suites?

Is this unrealistic if we are renting points from a DVC member?

Thanks for the help!

When were you planning on going? If anytime soon (like through the end of the year) and you are not going to get two two bedrooom villas.

 

[Disneyaholic]

OMG by all means check out off property rental homes for your group!

Two summers ago my son's baseball team was playing in a tournament in Kissimmee. The team rented a house off 192 that had SEVEN bedrooms! It had a pool and the garage had been turned into a game room! It was heaven for them. (The coach and one of the dads stayed there as well; the dad did all the cooking and was like a "house dad" for them. I wouldn't have traded places with him for a million dollars. But I digress...)

I think expecting a large group to all go to the same place at the same time is commendable, but extremely unrealistic.

 

[msabol01]

We are planning a trip for us and my wife's family in '10 or '11, we are talking 17 people in total. For all the reasons above....mainly our sanity, here's how we are planning to make the reservation.


Two Bedroom Villa
Family1 = Myself, Wife, son and Daughter (room with two beds)
Family2 = MIL and FIL (master bedroom)

Studio 1
Family 3 = BIL1, his wife and two daughters

Studio 2
Family4 = BIL2, his wife and daughter

Studio 3
Family5 = SIL, husband, son and daughter

The two bedroom villa can be the central meet place and also used for meals, but this allows each family some privacy. Point wise it was less than a grand villa and two bedroom combo and doesn't present any awkward sleeping arrangements.

One alternate option was kicking the in-laws into a studio and getting just a 1 bedrooom for our family.

 

[crys5]

we went with 13 people this past Thanksgiving. We rented points from someone and had 4 studios at boardwalk villa, boardwalk view! It was cheaper than getting a 1 or 2 or even 3 bedroom. We saved a lot of money doing this and the studios were very comfortable. My married daughter and her husband were in one, my mother in law and brother in law were in one , my husband, myself and my 4 year old in another, my 14 year old and 19 year old and 2 other teenagers in the other one. we paid 672.00 for each studio, where as if we would have gotten a one bedroom it would have been close to 1400.00 for each.

 

[MrShiny]

Was that renting points or reservations through Disney?

 

[crys5]

Was that renting points or reservations through Disney?

not sure if you are asking me this question or not, but we rented points and it was for the week of thanksgiving 2007, sunday to friday.

 

[mmmcq]

Well we haven't tried the very, large multiple family excursion to Disney yet....but we just booked Thanksgiving on a spur of the moment decision. And in the same breath we asked another family of 7 to join us. We also asked my sister and her child who will be 2 by then. So we have just created a monster headache if they all say yes. I have a 2br for us for 9 nights - with two nights waitlisted at OKW. I got two rooms on cash at WL for those two nights.

We just used 200 points as a wedding gift for a cousin's honeymoon and screwed our own last minute plans. I may have to rent/transfer 100-300 points to complete this vacation planning. But of course no one is making up their minds. I'm moving forward. I have less than three weeks to when it's time to call for ADR's.

We have gone to WDW and to Hilton Head with one friend and we get a studio for him and a 2BR for us and he's thrilled. He can join us or nap. He loves traveling with us because there's activity if he wants it, but real down time if he craves it. He's my DH's golfing buddy and my youngest DD's godfather. He's got a stressful job. So vacationing with us (which is very stressful) is relaxing for us. Of course he's there taking notes that he can use during his sermons for the next couple of years till we invite him back. We don't got to his church. We're afraid what we might hear! He always tells us "I don't know how you do it with three so very different kids, temperments, etc."

But there hasn't been a trip with DH's family - because we don't want them to ruin a trip for us and they don't seem to have any interest. At the family's request 4 years ago I organized an East adventure renting a 14BR, 7BA home with a pool, near the beach, and with an enormous kitchen. There should have been nothing we desired. I was ready to go home after the 3rd day because of the stress. Thankfully there was a 3 year gap before we attempted anything again. All 21 of us went to Ireland last summer for 2 weeks. But my FIL was smart enough to rent 5 homes this time all with 3 bedrooms and 1.5 baths. We had privacy but could be together. Cooking meals together and moving pans and plates from one house to another was annoying, but we survived. It was still a bit too much togetherness.

So 2 lessons......choose your travel partners wisely. If you can't really choose them definitely spent the extra time and $$$ on good rooms and location so that you can have private space, good amenities - yet proximity to each other if you can co-exist peacefully and share meals!