The reality is that the choice to have a larger family does have certain consequences including vacation options, homes and transportation. Timeshare are no exception. While it happens everywhere, Disney seems to be a particularly common place for people to stuff the rooms and/or complain that Disney's options don't fit the family or their financial abilities. They do offer options for groups up to 13 as a single room but they are expensive just like a Suburban costs more than a Corolla. In reality DVC has been very flexible for family situations IMO. Disney is certainly expensive weather it's meals, parks, hotels or DVC and the price does increase with numbers. DVC does give the opportunity to control some of those costs by locking in the price hopefully at a small savings. My personal view is they are often too flexible, esp where they allow families to go over the actual occupancy of the rooms. The proper accommodations for 5-9 are a 1 BR that actually accommodates 5 or a 2 BR that is designed for their party size. I would add it also costs money to be honest, think room stuffing.
We planned an AK trip for 4 when the kids were younger and the cost caused us to delay it until we didn't have them to take on the trip. It would have been $21-25K for the cruise tour we were planning because there are little discounts for the kids for AK and even fewer once you get over 3 due to the usual room setups here. By the time we were where we could go with just the 2 of us we had FF miles for the air and rewards points for the 2 days needed before/after for hotels which cut the cost significantly.
(I want to be clear that I’m not being hostile or defensive, just engaging in a spirited discussion!)
Of course having more kids means spending more money. But the cost isn’t always commensurate with the size of the family. If you have two or *maybe* three children, you are within Disney’s bounds, but three or four and the cost of your accommodations just doubled when the size of your family is only 50% bigger. You make the comparison between a Corolla and a Suburban - a huge price difference. But I think the more appropriate comparison would be between a cross-over (because that’s what most Americans seem to want to drive these days) and a minivan, and there isn’t a huge price difference there. They add some space and configure things differently, and now a family of six up to even eight is accommodated for around the same price as a family of up to four. (Though I will admit, eight would be pushing it!)
Similarly, I believe that there could be better ways to accommodate larger families in a little more affordable and practical fashion than the current choices. In my opinion, Great Wolf Lodge does an amazing job with this, and other hotels are similarly appointed. (I certainly don’t *love* GWL, but they definitely get hotel rooms right.) I wish that Disney would take a look around, ask some larger families what they want or like, and design from there. I think they tried with AoA, and it probably is great when you have littles, as I said before.
Even the DVC rooms are a little crazy to me. You can sleep 5 in some studios, but most 1BRs only sleep 4? So, a family of five (or six) is either crammed together or has to get a 2BR. There is no in-between.
There is always going to be a “tipping point” in terms of numbers. But I don’t think having three or four kids or grandkids in tow is out of the norm. Disney should make it *easier* for such families precisely because they will be spending more - more on tickets, food, experiences, etc. I fully believe they are losing these families to off-site locations, and thus potentially losing their food and other dollars that could be spent in their parks and resorts. They did us until now, and that’s only because we have recently been abundantly blessed financially. And they could very well be losing these vacation dollars altogether - you admitted that was the case with your family.
On another note - You speak of people cramming into rooms AND Disney being aware of it and doing nothing?!)l? I thought this really didn’t/couldn’t happen anymore? I guess I am naive.