Studios for 5? And a Realistic Chance of Booking?

[Cosmic Commando]

I've been doing the DVC math lately, and I think it can work if we buy a small contract resale. We have two adults and three kids. Ideally, I'd like to buy 25 or 50 points and use them every 2-3 years. Buuuuuut, the math only works if we can all get in a studio... the cost in points for a 1BR (and that's not even cut-and-dry for 5 it seems) is double that of a studio. I know the Poly and Grand Flo definitely fit 5, Wilderness Lodge fits 5 depending on who you ask (I've seen at least one site saying 5, but the fifth brings their own bedding... not a problem for us), and the rest seem like a definite "no"? And what are the chances of actually booking at these resorts that fit 5? Anyone have some clarification?

 

[StarWarsGirl]

Honestly, I would not squeeze five into a studio. Four is sometimes pushing it. The only studio where we would consider doing that is Poly or Grand Floridian, which have larger studios. And who knows if you can get the resale at this point. But in most of the studios, you would probably be tripping over each other, not to mention that when your kids get bigger, then you'll have even less space.

Many of the 1 bedrooms now sleep five. I know at AKL they do, as do a few others, and others should be renovating soon to accommodate five. You would be better off spending a little extra and getting a one bedroom. Not worth tripping over each other all of the time.

 

[GoofGoof]

I've been doing the DVC math lately, and I think it can work if we buy a small contract resale. We have two adults and three kids. Ideally, I'd like to buy 25 or 50 points and use them every 2-3 years. Buuuuuut, the math only works if we can all get in a studio... the cost in points for a 1BR (and that's not even cut-and-dry for 5 it seems) is double that of a studio. I know the Poly and Grand Flo definitely fit 5, Wilderness Lodge fits 5 depending on who you ask (I've seen at least one site saying 5, but the fifth brings their own bedding... not a problem for us), and the rest seem like a definite "no"? And what are the chances of actually booking at these resorts that fit 5? Anyone have some clarification?

VWL, VGF and Poly studios sleep 5. This year Beach Club and BWV are getting the 5th fold down bed thing too. They will technically sleep 5 now in the studios as well, but like Poly and VGF the 5th bed is really kinda small. It's probably good for a younger kid. About half of the resorts even the 1 BR only sleeps 4. The newer resorts seem to have the sleeper chair and couch in the living room of the 1BR but the older resorts like BWV and BCV don't have the sleeper chair.

As far as being available that depends on a lot of factors like resort and time of year. You should not have a problem booking your home resort at 11 months. At the 7 month window you may have a harder time trading in if it's a popular time of year like an EPCOT resort during F&W. You can almost always get SSR and OKW at 7 months, but they don't have studios that sleep 5. VWL is usually easy to get at 7 months too. I guess the best advice is to make sure you buy in at one of the resorts with a studio that sleeps 5. Then you can always book your home resort at 11 months and then look to switch out at 7 months. This way you always have somewhere to stay even if your 7 month trade-in doesn't work out.

In the resorts where studios only sleep 4 they will allow a 5th person but you have to bring your own sheets and towels and they have to sleep on the floor (they don't offer rollaway beds or cots).

 

[Cosmic Commando]

How hard is it to book at BWV for a studio? I feel like I've heard they're very popular, but BWV seems to have the most small point contracts up. We'd always be travelling during Adventure or Choice seasons.

 

[GoofGoof]

How hard is it to book at BWV for a studio? I feel like I've heard they're very popular, but BWV seems to have the most small point contracts up. We'd always be travelling during Adventure or Choice seasons.

Don't take it as a definite, but usually you should be able to get a pool/water view room at BWV even at 7 months. The exception may be during EPCOT F&W. BWV has 3 classes of rooms from a point standpoint. The standard view rooms are the least number of points (some of the cheapest at WDW for DVC). Then there are boardwalk view and pool/water view which both are the same number of points. The Boardwalk view rooms are more popular and there are less of them which makes the pool view rooms the easiest to get. If you are an owner at BWV you should have no problem booking any of the room classes at 11 months any time of the year.

 

[slappy magoo]

I'm surprised they haven't added the option of 5-to-a-room to Old Key West yet, they have the biggest studios on property (or used to Pre-Poly).

 

[LAKid53]

I'm surprised they haven't added the option of 5-to-a-room to Old Key West yet, they have the biggest studios on property (or used to Pre-Poly).

They'd have to change the number of beds in the room. With the current configuration, there's no place to put a sofa bed. Or provide a roll away cot for the 5th person.

 

[LAKid53]

I've been doing the DVC math lately, and I think it can work if we buy a small contract resale. We have two adults and three kids. Ideally, I'd like to buy 25 or 50 points and use them every 2-3 years. Buuuuuut, the math only works if we can all get in a studio... the cost in points for a 1BR (and that's not even cut-and-dry for 5 it seems) is double that of a studio. I know the Poly and Grand Flo definitely fit 5, Wilderness Lodge fits 5 depending on who you ask (I've seen at least one site saying 5, but the fifth brings their own bedding... not a problem for us), and the rest seem like a definite "no"? And what are the chances of actually booking at these resorts that fit 5? Anyone have some clarification?

In any of the studios, even the large ones like GF and Poly, 5 people will be a very tight fit. If you can only afford enough points to rent a studio, then I'm not sure DVC is the best option for you. I don't know what the minimum contract for a resale purchase is, but if you go through DVC, the minimum contract is 50 points.
And you need to understand banking your points. If you only go every two years, then you will have double the points available since you will be banking one use year into the next. However, if you don't use those banked points in the next use year, they go bye bye. For example, you purchased 50 points in Use Year 2015 (for simplicity, your use year ends December 31st). You don't go this Use Year and bank those points to Use Year 2016, so now you have 100 points to use in 2016. And once points are banked, you cannot unbank them. So, if you decide you want to take a weekend trip in 2015, you will have to borrow points from 2016 (but not the banked ones. Yes, I know it gets confusing).

And don't forget the annual dues, which will be based on the number of points you own. The annual dues for my 25 points at GF were about $160. Dues cover property taxes and what Disney calls an operating reserve, i.e., cost of operating the resort - maintenance, housekeeping, renovations, etc. And if there are planned renovations in the future, expect your dues to increase.