Animal Kingdom 1 bedroom

[TChrist05]

Hello fellow DVC members...question for you. My DW and I have been members since 2003 and have always stayed in a studio each time. We are coming down in December and have booked a 1 bedroom for the 4 nights we will be there. My question is will I need more points after we do the 1 bedroom. Will we not want to stay in a studio again after staying in the larger accomodations. It is only her and I but I thought it might be nice to try the extra space. What do you think? Thanks.

 

[drusba]

If this is your first foray into a 1BR while previously only staying in studios, then you will likely never want to stay in a studio again. Not everyone reacts that way, some just have tremendous fortitude, but probability is high.

 

[shortypots]

Once we stayed in a 1bd we have a hard time going back to studios. We will do studios for shorter trips, but otherwise 1bd's all the way. Love the kitchen and laundry. We save money on breakfasts in the rooms and save our backs with less luggage since we do laundry while we are there. And having a living room and separate bedroom is great as well. So to answer your question... depends on how long your stays are. if your stays are typically only 2-3 days, studios will be fine, more than that and I imagine you are going to need more points! haha

 

[joelp]

Do you have any kids?

If yes - the battle is lost ...

If not, there's a chance (small - but still there ...) that you will consider a studio for future trips ...

 

[Minniesgal]

I think it is a big risk , i'm not sure I can see us in a studio ever unless it is just a couple of nights between 1 bedrooms on a split stay.

Personally I don't really see the point of DVC for studios for us. We bought DVC so we could have a more home away from home experience so we want the full kitchen and the laundry facilities that come with the 1 bedroom. We breakfast and snack in the room and I do two loads of laundry a day. If we were willing to stay in studios we would have stayed with a Hotel room at a moderate. I have always struggled to see the point of DVC for studios for us. This may be because coming from the UK we don't do 2 or 4 night trips we tend to do 15-18 night trips every three years so we need to settle in more.

We made an even bigger mistake, we started with 2 bedrooms. We are going from a family of 5 travelling to 4 and I don't see us going down to a 1 bedroom for 4. Maybe when we are just three.

 

[cwdefouw]

For us it depends on the trip and what we are planning on for activities while on the trip. We are also just two adults although we occasionally travel with parents and siblings and their families.

If it is just us and we are just going for the weekend, or a couple of days, we don't mind a studio at all, especially if we are going to the parks and will enjoy the restaurants and/or the dining plan, or we are trying to minimize the point spend.

If we are going for a longer period or are not planning on going to the parks as much, spending more time in the room, then we will get a one bedroom.

If we are going with family, we will get a one or two bedroom.

So for us, it depends on the trip, the one bedrooms are nice and they are what we planned on staying in every time when we bought the first points contract, but we have found over the years that studios work just as well for us depending the type of visit we have planned.

We just recently stayed in a studio at the VGC at Disneyland, and we were amazed at how big the room was. Seemed huge compared to BLT and some of the other studios at WDW.

 

[dianeschlicht]

WELL...In 16 years of ownership, we have only stayed in a studio twice, and then it was just for one night each time. I didn't buy a timeshare to stay in a hotel room, so I look at it as part of my timeshare investment. Two people NEED a Jacuzzi, laundry facilities and a king sized bed.

 

[Simba's Mom]

If this is your first foray into a 1BR while previously only staying in studios, then you will likely never want to stay in a studio again. Not everyone reacts that way, some just have tremendous fortitude, but probability is high.

I'm afraid I have to agree. We bought DVC with the intention of staying in studios, thinking "Certainly we don't need a 1 BR for just the two of us." Then, we found ourselves in a position once of having "extra" points, so we decided to treat ourselves with a 1 BR "just this once". Sincethen, it's been virtually impossible to go back to a studio. Two years ago, we stayed in a studio (don't remember why) and all I did was whine all week about missing our 1 BR. Yes, I'll admit that I'm one spoiled 1 BR fan now.

 

[SamSam]

We used to stay in studios, then stayed in a 1-bedroom and there's no going back. No kids (empty nesters), so that doesn't figure into it. What does is that we often work till noon (allows us to stay longer) so the two rooms allow more space for leaving computers out, and....this is the MAIN reason, my dh likes to get up by 4am - I like to stay up till midnight or later....yes, a definite problem in a studio.

 

[circhead]

Once we stayed in a 1bd we have a hard time going back to studios. We will do studios for shorter trips, but otherwise 1bd's all the way. Love the kitchen and laundry. We save money on breakfasts in the rooms and save our backs with less luggage since we do laundry while we are there. And having a living room and separate bedroom is great as well. So to answer your question... depends on how long your stays are. if your stays are typically only 2-3 days, studios will be fine, more than that and I imagine you are going to need more points! haha

Agreed. We stay in studios for short trips but it really annoys me. We have enough points for a 2 bedroom at high season (President's week in February)and now its usually just us but I miss my space when we're not in at least a 1 bedroom. Since we let our children use the points also, we scrimp and get a studio for short trips but I must say an add-on is definitely in my future. Just waiting for the Poly.

 

[disneynutz]

Depends on how you vacation. If you are not spending much time in your room, then save the money to put towards what you like to do.

If you tend to enjoy your resort time and spend time in your room then a 1 bedroom makes sense.

For us our WDW vacations are a true extension of how we live at home. We eat most of our meals in our villa, we do laundry, we watch TV and movies, play board games, go for walks around the resort. We even go into the parks once in awhile when we feel like it.

Bill

 

[kda]

I'm afraid I have to agree. We bought DVC with the intention of staying in studios, thinking "Certainly we don't need a 1 BR for just the two of us." Then, we found ourselves in a position once of having "extra" points, so we decided to treat ourselves with a 1 BR "just this once". Sincethen, it's been virtually impossible to go back to a studio.

This is exactly what happened to us! When we bought in 2001 we had 'extra points' and decided to splurge on a 1 BR for our first 8-night trip. That's when we found that, for us, real luxury is SPACE. DH can stay up late and watch TV in the living room and I can get up earlier than him and make coffee and eat fruit and an English muffin on the deck without disturbing him. We don't have to pack much because we can do laundry while relaxing in the evening. The fridge and freezer hold simple breakfast food, snacks, fresh squeezed lemonade, leftovers from dinners out, and delicious Blue Bell ice cream (that we can't get in CT). We don't spend much time at the parks any more, but we truly enjoy the entire WDW resort and our home away from home. I think we stayed in a studio once in the past 12 years, and that was for 3 nights. All other trips have been 1 BR, with the exception of our trip to HH that was a 2 BR because there were no one BR's available!
So, yes, you may have a difficult time 'going back', once you've experienced a 1 BR. Hope you have a fantastic trip!

 

[twinsouvenirs]

we are just buying in and my husband has made it clear that he is only interested in 1 brs!

 

[lucyem]

My DH is still complaining loudly about our next April trip. 3rd week of April every year. Only in 2014 it's the week after Easter. So double the points and we don't have enough. Thus we get a studio and not our normal 1 bedroom.

 

[Simba's Mom]

My DH is still complaining loudly about our next April trip. 3rd week of April every year. Only in 2014 it's the week after Easter. So double the points and we don't have enough. Thus we get a studio and not our normal 1 bedroom.

The 3rd week in April is our traditional time also-it's our anniversary and we always spend it at OKW. I'm thinking that in 2014, we might go to HHI instead because I see that they don't have the premium points then/there. Or maybe we'll (gasp!) go somewhere else for our anniversary.

 

[Vodo]

For years my wife and I used to be perfectly happy with a cheap room at Pop Century or the occaisional stay at AK if there was a good AP deal.We could get a king bed and the food court had a great selection, but now that we have 2 young boys I can't see us going below a 1 bedroom for a long time. The 'seperated' extra space is just so much more convenient for naps and sleep schedules.

We don't do a great deal of cooking in the room, but for breakfast and snacks it comes in very handy. Not having to run back and forth to a laundry room is also a major plus for us now (used to just relax at the pool while doing laundry before...).

I ran the math once and based on our usual time of year we could stay for 6 weeks in a studio. Escaping winter for a month and a half does sound tempting but we'd rather relax in a 1-bedroom for 3 weeks!

Of course our stays always tend to be of the longer kind (1-3 weeks) given the expense of flights from up here.

 

[TChrist05]

Yup...this is what I was afraid of....and we only booked the 1 bedroom cause we had extra points. We are spending 5 nights in September in a studio and then the bedroom in December. Gonna have to buy more points....thank you for all the insight....it was much appreciated.

 

[jerseygirl82]

As a PP mentioned, we bought into DVC for the one bedroom accommodations, however, I would gladly stay in a studio if it meant we could go twice a year As it stands we go every other year, which is more than enough points to stay in a 1 bedroom when we utilize the banking points option. It really depends on your situation and how often you plan to go. I've also never seen an AKL studio, but the one bedroom is ginormous! Way more than we needed for our family of 3 but nice to be able to spread out