DVC for bringing along family???

[jaredkari]

My wife and I are not members of DVC, but we are possibly looking to join??? One of our dreams is to be able to bring other members of our family with us on WDW trips. We would like to say bring along my brother, his wife, and their child or maybe my wife's sister, her husband and their children. So we would have a group of 6-8. Would DVC aid us in accomplishing this, or would it be better just to try saving up and doing this???:mickey:

[peemagg]

We just did that last month. We are Dvc members and we rented a 2 bedroom at Saratoga Springs. There was myself, my mother, my sister, her husband and their 3 babies. It was a nice room with enough space for all. My brother-in-laws brother also stayed a night or two with us. I do need to add that only one of the kids slept in the beds, the other two each had their own crib. Even with the extra beds it was not crowded. We had fun.

It was not a problem setting this up. We just called member services and requested the room. No problems. If you are looking to do the same thing and not join yet, I would look into renting points from someone else. This would be cheaper than renting at rack rates ($350-$1000+ per night)

[Horizon93]

It is actually a great way to go, We are planning a summer 2009 vacation with SIL (DW's sister), BIL, their 2 kids and DW and I. We will be in a AKV standard 2 BR in Kidani. (we hope) SIL and BIL have offered to pick up our airfare. It should be fun!

Bringing family is not viewed as the most economical use of points by many. I say that the point of being a member is to pre pay at today's rates tomorrow's vacations. And if some of them can include a larger group of family or friends, how great is that!

Being a DVC member will allow you to easily, (based on your available points) book from a studio to a grand villa for a group vacation. In my opinion, that would be much more fun and a higher quality vacation than booking a group of individual hotel rooms. Remember that in a DVD villa (1 BR or larger) you will have a full kitchen and a washer and dryer. And in Kidani Village, a 1 BR will have 2 baths and a 2 BR will have three.

[sillyolbear]

DVC is a great way to be able to take extended family along. We've taken the family and friends and it is a great way to share the magic.

[Donald A]

The short answer to if DVC will allow you to more easily bring your family is, ABSOLUTELY. I always had that "dream" of taking my parents to Disney because of all they did for me. My wife and I sat down in November of 2006 at the DVC preview center while on a Disney Trip. I had the idea of taking the family trip in the back of my head but also realized that I was on my 3rd trip to Disney in 4 years. Needless to say I enjoy Disney.

Let me get to the point, last month I took 8 people for a five night stay at the Beach Club Villas. Myself, my wife, both my wife's and my parents, and my two brothers stayed in two 2-bedroom villas for 5 nights. The cost of each villa for that time of year would be $3500. So a total cost of $7000 for just lodging. I could not afford this, of course, if I paid cash. I just used my points carefully. It was 300 points for both villas for 5 nights when I get 150 points a year (2 years of points). I used my points well and made sure 1) I went Sunday through Thursday and 2) went during the value season. This gave me the most "bang for my points" so to speak.

Now, next trip I am going to use more points in a little less conservative manner. In December, I am going to take my parents and stay Sunday and Monday at a studio for each of us at Saratoga Springs then spend 3 nights with a room for each of us at Grand Floridian. I will still be following my rules of value season and Sunday through Thursday but just be using points for a room at a Grand Floridian which is a lot of points. However, my wife and I might be thinking about staring a family soon and wanted a nice trip before we start to vacation in a different way, with kids.

My wife and I bought an annual pass for like $350 each with the DVC discount last month. Since we are going down to WDW twice in a twelve month period we will esentially get 12 uses for those tickets. A 10 day pass with no expiration is $450 so you can see the savings there.

You can use DVC in a variety of ways. Whatever, works for you based on what you can afford and when you can go. You just have to see what makes sense but I think you can see from my example it gives us a variety of trips of taking other family members not just once but every couple years. If I paid cash I could afford for my wife and I to go (and probably still pay more than with DVC) but with DVC I can include my extended family.

[ThanxForNoticin]

This question is the primary reason we ended up purchasing at DVC. Every several years we have been able to bring extended family to Disney for some terrific memories. The flexibility of the points allows us to 'splurge' on trips like this occasionally, and it makes for a very special trip.

[xipetotec]

My wife and I are not members of DVC, but we are possibly looking to join??? One of our dreams is to be able to bring other members of our family with us on WDW trips. We would like to say bring along my brother, his wife, and their child or maybe my wife's sister, her husband and their children. So we would have a group of 6-8. Would DVC aid us in accomplishing this, or would it be better just to try saving up and doing this???:mickey:


This is our specialty.
My mother always promised my daughter that she wanted to take her when "she was old enough" ( though i don't agree with what she considers that to be, but that's another story ) to Disney World. And we went in 2000. By then we had a third child, but she decided she was taking us even if HE was only 3.

When we were there, the DVC stands caught her eye. She asked what it was and they invited her to the presentation. Already she was impressed at how they didn't harass her like other timeshare people do. They were just there if you were interested. Before going to the presentation, my father worked out some numbers from the initial conversation they had. He swore that if they pulled any pressure tactics or if the numbers wildly mismatched, he was outta there. They came back members.

Why did they come back members? They have 3 grand kids, 4 adoptive grand kids ( my cousins kids ) and her sister has young kids too. And WE ALL GO every couple of years. She loves to get the whole family together, and she saves up 3 years worth of points ( bank one year into the next, and borrow some points from the following year after that ). We tend to go, 12-16 people every 2 years since then, all thanks for The Disney Vacation Club.

If that isn't a family testimonial, I don't know what is :) ...

The other great thing is that unlike if you were to pay for a package for someone to come along with you, you can set what you want to pay for. You can say "I'm giving you accomodations, but you'll need to buy park tickets and meals." for example... or you can go all the way and give your loved ones the magic. It's up to you and your means obviously. :) ...

But DVC has been just a great thing for our family! :number1:

[mouse-logic]

The other posts above are typical of those of us in the DVC "cult".

We love the magic....and the only thing better is to share the magic with our family and friends.

The list below my signature is a testimonial to how DVC has enabled my family and friends to create life-long memories.

I can't imagine anything more fun than going to Disney with a large group of my family and friends.

We are seriously considering banking and borrowing points (for 3 use years--750 points total) and trying to get over 32 of us there at one time. How cool would that be.

[princessjojo]

It was actually one of the biggest reasons for our buying into DVC. I agree that it isn't the best use of points, but my family who goes with us also realizes this and pick up the cost for some of our cost, usually not much, but they always paying the gratuities or any tipping. They also paid for our Cirque tickets for this year. So we work it out.

The thread why/why not may be of a lot of assistance to you as well.