What Villa for large family-kids first time

jeeperwy

Mouseketeer
Joined
May 13, 2005
We are getting married next year and want to take all the kids on a "Family-moon" next summer. We are thinking of August because the thought of free dining being a possibility. We have 2 adults, and 5 kids (15, 12, 10, 9, 6). I have stayed at WDW many times, but never in a villa. Four of the kids have never been before (the 15 year old has been several times).
What resort would you choose for this group? Pool time is definitely important !
all.
Also, I'm having difficulty finding anything on the website. Is it too early to book?

TIA!
Kari
 
Oops, I now realize you are talking about a party of 7, so you would need at least a 2BR unit (or I guess connecting studios at Poly)

Kidani and BLT would give you 3 full bathrooms. The others would have 2 bathrooms.

Beach Club has what most call the best pool complex, but SAB is very large and can be hard keeping track of multiple younger kids (and concerning things like the 8' deep lazy river, yes up to eight!)

Kidani, SSR, Poly and VGF have kids splash area, and a decent slide, too.
 
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OKW will be the least costly of the 2 bed villas, and the largest square footage wise. It's also just a boat ride to Disney Springs. Pool is ok.

That mix of kids, I'd consider Beach Club Villas for Stormalong Bay, or AKV Jambo or Kidani Savannah view. Having the animals outside the balcony is pretty awesome, and as PP mentioned, Kidani has 3 bathrooms. They are very nice 2 beds.
 
Whenever you are considering staying in a DVC room, make sure you understand the sleeping configuration. Villas may include sleeper sofas, sleep chairs and pull-down bunks (which are smaller than a twin bed). When you read that a villa sleeps a certain number of people, it assumes that the beds and sleeper sofas are shared.

Some families want real beds.

Some families want a separate sleeping surface for certain people.

Since you mention free dining, that means you will be booking through Disney, not "renting points" from an owner or an agency, because booking on points never gets free dining.

Some villas are seldom available when booking through Disney because the DVC members booked them. I would think the three-bedroom "Grand villas" would be hard to book through Disney, but I've never tried.
 


Booking a package through Disney to get free dining will still be very expensive. I'd compare the cost of that with renting DVC points.
 
Also, I'm having difficulty finding anything on the website. Is it too early to book?

TIA!
Kari
98% DVC villas are owned by DVC members. The remaining 2% are held for inventory (in case a villa is taken out of commission due to maintenance issues, etc.). When a DVC owner uses their points for something other than a DVC villa (Disney cruise, regular resort room, or allows them to expire), then Disney (not DVC) can use the points equivalent to make villas available for a cash reservation. Also, anything that is not reserved by members 60 days or less prior to the beginning of a reservation can be placed into Disney's cash inventory. That's probably why you cannot see anything on Disney's website for next August. Owners are currently able to only book their home resorts for next August for stays beginning no later than Aug. 19, 2018. Nothing is going to be moved into Disney's cash inventory for months.

If staying in a 2-BR DVC villa is important to you and you have very specific resorts in mind, you may want to forget *free* dining and explore renting DVC instead.
 
With the timeshare option you might know within a few weeks if you can secure a place if you apply now. Otherwise you might be worrying for months if free dinning will be available. I tried to give you some rough numbers.

The cost at renting at BC for a 2BR for 6 nights in mid-August is about $5700 tax in. This is with a 3rd party seller. A website I saw reviewing the 2BR at BC in 2017 says the cost is roughly 2.5 times over the garden view standard room. If true that is $8,877 for 6 nights. Difference between renting and rack rate is about $3,100.

I didn't look back on the kids ages but for four adults and 3 kids (2 under 10) it is $3,000 for the regular dinning plan at 6 nights in 2018.

If it was me I would rather do without the uncertainty of 'free' dinning. In the unlikely event discount tickets come up you can buy those if renting but cannot with free dinning.

If cost is an issue there would be significant savings staying off site.
 


DVC resorts for booking on Disney's page do not open up until 11 months out, minimum. You will also see inventory fluctuate again at 7 months out. If you want to book for August, I'd wait until the end of this month/beginning of October to start looking. Free dining for Fall will not come out until early summer next year, and that is only if Disney decides they need it because rooms aren't booked. Availability for free dining will not be the same as rack rate availability. Also be aware, a 2 bed villas, depending on where you stay, will run from $750-1500 a night through Disney, at rack rate. If you get a good discount, usually 20-30%, you are looking at $550-1000 a night. Those discounts, though, do not combine with free dining. Just be aware of the cost. Sometimes free dining is not worth it when there are other discounts available. Also look at renting points. Sometimes it's cheaper than Disney's discounts, but sometime it isn't.
Another item to consider is length of stay and an Annual Pass. AP holders often can get room discounts that are sometimes cheaper than the public discounts, plus they get 10-20% off food.
 
OKW two bedroom villa would have one king bed, two queen beds, one queen sleeper sofa and one twin sized sleeper chair (both sleeper sofa and sleeper chair are in the living room).
 
Thank you all for your replies. I don't know why, but I hadn't thought about renting points. Seems like a better way to go after we set our week in stone.
Thanks again!
 
98% DVC villas are owned by DVC members. The remaining 2% are held for inventory (in case a villa is taken out of commission due to maintenance issues, etc.). When a DVC owner uses their points for something other than a DVC villa (Disney cruise, regular resort room, or allows them to expire), then Disney (not DVC) can use the points equivalent to make villas available for a cash reservation. Also, anything that is not reserved by members 60 days or less prior to the beginning of a reservation can be placed into Disney's cash inventory. That's probably why you cannot see anything on Disney's website for next August. Owners are currently able to only book their home resorts for next August for stays beginning no later than Aug. 19, 2018. Nothing is going to be moved into Disney's cash inventory for months.

If staying in a 2-BR DVC villa is important to you and you have very specific resorts in mind, you may want to forget *free* dining and explore renting DVC instead.

Sorry to piggy back on this thread, but this stood out to me. I am going with my large-ish family (4 kids, two adults) in January and would love a 2 bedroom villa cash reservation, but nothing is available now. Do you think there maybe be a better chance of finding one at the 60 day mark (today I am at the 100 day mark?) I would mostly be looking for either Saratoga Springs or OKW (because they are generally the least expensive.)
 
Sorry to piggy back on this thread, but this stood out to me. I am going with my large-ish family (4 kids, two adults) in January and would love a 2 bedroom villa cash reservation, but nothing is available now. Do you think there maybe be a better chance of finding one at the 60 day mark (today I am at the 100 day mark?) I would mostly be looking for either Saratoga Springs or OKW (because they are generally the least expensive.)
At 60 days out, DVC give remaining points inventory over to Disney Reservation Center to sell. However, for early January (through Marathon Sunday), there is very little inventory left. That time is really popular with owners. So if you don't see anything now, I doubt you will see anything available at 60 days out.
 
Thank you all for your replies. I don't know why, but I hadn't thought about renting points. Seems like a better way to go after we set our week in stone.
Thanks again!
Sounds like a great trip! Not sure how much dining is important to you but I don't think many of the villas are eligible. We had to change our reservation from Beach Club villas to Boardwalk to get free dining even thought I called the day it was announce at 7am. I was very annoyed. You also won't be able to cancel with the same ease you can on the Disney site and housekeeping will be only every 3 days renting points so make sure the savings is worth it.
 
At 60 days out, DVC give remaining points inventory over to Disney Reservation Center to sell. However, for early January (through Marathon Sunday), there is very little inventory left. That time is really popular with owners. So if you don't see anything now, I doubt you will see anything available at 60 days out.
thanks!
 
Sounds like a great trip! Not sure how much dining is important to you but I don't think many of the villas are eligible. We had to change our reservation from Beach Club villas to Boardwalk to get free dining even thought I called the day it was announce at 7am. I was very annoyed. You also won't be able to cancel with the same ease you can on the Disney site and housekeeping will be only every 3 days renting points so make sure the savings is worth it.
Not every three days, it's every four days. And even then it's not a full housekeeping service every four days. For stays of seven nights or fewer, you get your trash removed and towels and amenities replaced on day four (day one is check in day). If you stay eight nights or more, you get a full housekeeping service on day four, followed by trash and towel service on day eight. Then the cycle repeats for longer stays.

If you rent a DVC reservation from a member, you might not be able to cancel at all. Most offer no cancellation, even if you have an emergency pop up.
 
@Deb & Bill is correct that unbooked DVC inventory might be turned over to CRO to use for cash reservations at 60 days. However, not all of that inventory is released for cash. DVC still retains some of those units for members who wish to book inside that period.

Your chances of getting a cash reservation at OKW and SSR when inventory is released at 60 days are the greatest, but just about any resort can be made available, depending on which resorts members have booked leading up to the 60-day mark.
 
FWIW, the nightly cash rate for a 2BR at BCV this August (2017)? $1001/night.

For the more expensive part of August this year, renting during home resort at $18pp, the same unit would be $864 weeknight, $990 weekend night.

In general, in home resort the cost savings at the premium resorts aren't always as great as they are for studios vs. hotel units.
 
Um there are tons of resellers with discount tickets cheaper than Disney site (for tickets >2 days).
Right now a 6 day hopper from Undercover tourist is $456.95 and that same ticket from Disney direct is $495.23


I was not clear. I was thinking of more significant savings given how much the poster may spend. I seem to recall that earlier this year or late last year that Disney itself put a sale on tickets that was greater than the dollars saved buying from a reseller. Point taken about savings at least something from a reseller.
 

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