GF villa or two connecting rooms for 6?

[Blessed_wth_Triplets]

Hello! I'm thinking of planning our next trip, and would like to stay at GF. We are a family of six - 3 teens and an 8-year-old. View and location are important to me. I don't particularly love the location of the villas, but wonder if it would be less expensive than two rooms? I also would like club level amenities, but don't love sugar loaf building. I stayed at GF with a great monorail and castle view once in Conch building I believe. It was lovely. Any suggestions? Can you have castle view from the villas?

 

[justme0729]

Connecting rooms aren’t guaranteed so if you want to be guaranteed to all be together, a villa might be a better choice. The GFV has standard and lake view villas but not theme park view. If location and views are the most important, You could get a 2 bedroom theme park view at Bay Lake Tower or risk getting two non-connecting theme park view regular resort rooms at Grand Floridian. I’m not sure which costs more but the villas can be cheaper if you rent DVC points through the DVC rental store or another company pretty easily but then you can’t cancel/ modify so have to decide if it’s right for you.

 

[Marionnette]

Hello! I'm thinking of planning our next trip, and would like to stay at GF. We are a family of six - 3 teens and an 8-year-old. View and location are important to me. I don't particularly love the location of the villas, but wonder if it would be less expensive than two rooms? I also would like club level amenities, but don't love sugar loaf building. I stayed at GF with a great monorail and castle view once in Conch building I believe. It was lovely. Any suggestions? Can you have castle view from the villas?

For six people all older than 3, you would need a 2-bedroom villa. The 1-bedroom DVC villas accommodate 4-5 people. In the case of VGF, it's a maximum of 5. If you were to rent DVC rather than booking through Disney, you would probably save money over the cost of 2 hotel rooms. It would depend on the time of year, availability thru a DVC member, and what kinds of discounts are available for hotel rooms during your stay.

Views from the DVC villas are either "standard" or "lake" views. They are not considered to be "theme park" views. You will either have a view of the Seven Seas Lagoon or a garden view. If you pay the premium for a lake view, you might be able to see the theme park in the distance to your left if there are no trees blocking your view and you are on an upper floor.

 

[Hopefully]

Grand Floridian Villas are a small complex and therefore at a premium to book. There are owners who are unable to secure desired reservations at times. If you hope to rent a Villa you need to be prepared to do so before 11 months so that you can score a reservation at exactly the 11 month time frame.
Demand usually exceeds availability.

 

[Marionnette]

Grand Floridian Villas are a small complex and therefore at a premium to book. There are owners who are unable to secure desired reservations at times. If you hope to rent a Villa you need to be prepared to do so before 11 months so that you can score a reservation at exactly the 11 month time frame.
Demand usually exceeds availability.

There are 37 dedicated 2-bedroom villas which tend to remain available longer (the lock-offs go fast because the studio portions gets booked rapidly). Even so, it's true that VGF is very small when you compare it to other DVC resorts. DVCers who own there tend to use their points for their own reservations because it cost a lot to buy into the resort. And since the rental agencies pay the same amount for an AKV owner (larger resort, lower cost per point to purchase) as they do for a VGF owner at 11-months, the VGF owners tend to rent on their own and at a higher rate when they do rent. JMHO, but I think the OP will have a harder time finding an owner or agency with a VGF owner lined up than they would have booking a dedicated 2-bedroom within the 11-to7-month window. Right now (at 8+ months out), I see all of Christmas week available in a std. view and almost all of December available in a lake view. And December is one of the busier DVC months.

 

[Blessed_wth_Triplets]

thank you! Lots to think about. We are looking at April 2019 right now.

 

[sjrec]

I just wanted to say I think the lake views are lovely. But if a theme park is more important to you maybe the Polynesian or CR/Bay Lake Tower would be better.
And if your April trip falls into spring break and you’re thinking of renting points, you will want to start looking at 11 months-

 

[heidijanesmith]

I agree that the Poly/CR would be a better choice for a theme park view.

We love the Poly and would pick the Poly over GF or CR.

 

[Blessed_wth_Triplets]

Thank you. I don't know what it is, but I just love GF. But again, not a fan of the villa location. And GF prices are SO HIGH that renting points for a 2 bedroom villa is less expensive than trying to get two connecting rooms. I don't love how BLT villas overlook the parking lot and the atmosphere there. Just my opinion. I've never looked into the Poly though. Do their villas have nice views? I'll have to check it out! My kids would love Beach Club pools, but I don't love their villa locations, and really like being on the monorail. Although I'm thinking this next trip we'll be using the Minnie vans a lot!

 

[Lynne M]

Thank you. I don't know what it is, but I just love GF. But again, not a fan of the villa location. And GF prices are SO HIGH that renting points for a 2 bedroom villa is less expensive than trying to get two connecting rooms. I don't love how BLT villas overlook the parking lot and the atmosphere there. Just my opinion. I've never looked into the Poly though. Do their villas have nice views? I'll have to check it out! My kids would love Beach Club pools, but I don't love their villa locations, and really like being on the monorail. Although I'm thinking this next trip we'll be using the Minnie vans a lot!

I'll just add that there are only studios and bungalows at Poly's DVC, no 1 or 2 bedroom villas. Unlike other DVC resorts, you can get connecting studios at Poly, but again, no way to guarantee it.

 

[Goosey515]

I understand that you don't love the views at BLT, but keep in mind that the 2BR villa has 3 bathrooms...so that is definitely an advantage when trying to get 6 people ready in the morning! I agree overlooking the parking lot for the theme park view isn't ideal. Lake view can be nice and some also have views of the MK from the balcony. We stayed at BLT on the 16th floor in a 2BR Lake VIew last summer. We loved it (and my son really enjoyed having to scan his MB to get up to the 16th floor!) We are also fans of the GF so I can understand your dilemma! Have fun planning!!

 

[Deb & Bill]

If you are planning on renting points for April 2019 at BLT for theme park view, you probably need to find an owner now so they can book it right at 11 months out. You might not find a broker with enough BLT points at 11 months out. Same for GFV.

 

[Marionnette]

Thank you. I don't know what it is, but I just love GF. But again, not a fan of the villa location. And GF prices are SO HIGH that renting points for a 2 bedroom villa is less expensive than trying to get two connecting rooms. I don't love how BLT villas overlook the parking lot and the atmosphere there. Just my opinion. I've never looked into the Poly though. Do their villas have nice views? I'll have to check it out! My kids would love Beach Club pools, but I don't love their villa locations, and really like being on the monorail. Although I'm thinking this next trip we'll be using the Minnie vans a lot!

The PVB studios (DVC at PVB only has studios and the bungalows) have nice views for the most part. Some lake views on the lower floors only have partial views of water but outstanding views of the bungalows (IOW, not worth the extra points). Getting connecting studios is always by request and never a guarantee but most of the studios connect, so your chances are high. Unlike the hotel rooms at the Poly where there are no balconies on the 2nd floor rooms, all of the DVC villas have either a patio or a balcony.

Another plus is that the PVB studios have a split bathroom with a sink, toilet and tub in one half and a sink and shower in the other half. This can be a real benefit when you have a lot of people to get ready in a short time span.

However, storage is a huge issue. In order to add the fold-down bed for the 5th person in each studio, DVC sacrificed drawer space. And with connecting doors between your two studios, you would not want to block that area with luggage or a makeshift storage space.

Another minus when comparing two studios vs a 2-bedroom villa would be there would not be a full kitchen or laundry in the villas. Having a regular size refrigerator is much nicer than having two smaller fridges. And then there's the lack of dining space that you would have in a 2-bedroom villa. And half of your party would have MBs for one studio and the other half would have MBs for the other studio. So you would not be able to unlock the door to the other studio if you needed to. If you have a 2-bedroom villa, your MBs are all coded the same way. So even if you have a lock-off (1-bedroom + a studio) you can open the door to both halves with your MB.

ETA - I'm not trying to dissuade you from the DVC part of Poly. Just trying to present both the good and the bad.