Family of 5?

[SnoWhiteRabbit]

I got the brochure and the ABD trips sound great! Prices were listed for quads -- anyone know about families of 5? Will we be able to do this?

I hope so! :)

Thanks.

[Stepht5]

I got the brochure and the ABD trips sound great! Prices were listed for quads -- anyone know about families of 5? Will we be able to do this?

I hope so! :)

Thanks.

A family of 5 would have to do 2 rooms -- we are also a family of 5. So, it would be a Triple price & a Double price .

[DisneyKevin]

Unfortunately, familes of five are going to need to book a double and a triple.

[SnoWhiteRabbit]

A family of 5 would have to do 2 rooms -- we are also a family of 5. So, it would be a Triple price & a Double price (2 adult prices in both rooms no matter what the age).

I'm not surprised by the 2 rooms, but we would have to pay for 4 adults as a family of 5, even though all three are children. Wow. That's disappointing.

The trips sound great, though...

[DisneyKevin]

Hi SnoWhiteRabbit,

We gave you some information that was incorrect.

When booking a party of five, you must book a double and a triple but there is a discount in the price for children under the age of 14.

Children (under 14), while being counted as the second person in the room, are not required to pay the full "second adult" price.

The discount is not large, but there is a discount.

If I can anwer any questions, let me know.

Kevin

[isyt]

I called ABD and asked them this also, I was told that some trips did allow for 5 in a room. I don't remember which trip it was but I would call and ask them again. I am 5 also and that 3rd kid just throws you off!! We get screwed on cruises and tours! Its a good thing the 3rd kid was really cute :rotfl: !

[Whosemom]

This just killed any interest I had. Drats. Come on, Disney, give me a roll-away. My kids are 11, 8, and 6. I want us all together for the yakking about the day's events as one-by-one the kids drop off to sleep.

[Goof-abulous]

We are a family of 4 but I do sympathise with you. That is a bummer.

[learnhome]

This just killed any interest I had. Drats. Come on, Disney, give me a roll-away. My kids are 11, 8, and 6. I want us all together for the yakking about the day's events as one-by-one the kids drop off to sleep.


I REALLy understand how you feel. My children are the same exact age 11,8 and 6 and we had to book two rooms.... :confused3 .But, I try to look at the positives, it gives us an "extra" bathroom and a room to stick things in.... :cool1:
Also, some resorts have family suites (I think all starts music???) and you can fit more than four in a room......

Chris

[Stepht5]

This just killed any interest I had. Drats. Come on, Disney, give me a roll-away. My kids are 11, 8, and 6. I want us all together for the yakking about the day's events as one-by-one the kids drop off to sleep.

I don'tthink it is Disney. Most of the hotels overseas just flat out don't have the space for 5 people. There are alot of hotels in the US that don't allow more the 4 in a room, either.

I do agree with you about how nice it is to talk while drifting off to sleep, etc... But, Disney isn't makig those rules.

[bicker]

The industry really needed to stick a stake in the ground and stick with it. It could have been three or four or five, but it ended up being four. So once you go over that number, you end up having another room, and the costs thereof. One of the "incremental costs" of that third child...

[Disney Planner Mama]

This seems to be a Europe thing, rather than a disney thing...We just booked a hotel in London for a vacation (not disney) next summer. While pricing things on orbitz and travelocity I had a very hard time even finding hotels that would even quote you a price for a quad. I also was trying Virgin Atlantic vacation packages, and again would have had to call for prices on a quad (which seemed to only be available if your children are under a certain age).

[onelugnut]

your on dangerous ground, there are people out there beating on anyone that want an answer to the family of 5 thing.
my family of 5 includes an 8 yr old a 5 and a 3 next year.
and flat out prices me out.
suprising Disney doesnt fix that
and as far as industry standards, Disney does not usually follow standards
they usually surpass expectations.
come on, lend the families of 5 and imagineer or 2.
or just get a few soccer moms on the room designing board.
i am sure they or I could get an affordable rooming answer for young families of 5, and it would satisfy everyone.
i want a full bed with 3 little beds. I already got beat up on another board for this, but i cant believe a family with 2 adults and 3 small children is such a crazy thing to think of at Disney.
I stay at the beach in a room smaller than a value room and it is better set up for a family than the allstar movie resort.
(except the family suites, which are nice, but expensive too)
yes they are not much more than 2 rooms but thats not what i want either.

[Mo-Yo]

I'm with you, onelugnut.

It may be a 'europe-thing' in some instances, but for a 'family-oriented' company Disney does a really poor job of accommadating larger families.

I realize a line needs to be drawn somewhere, but why not draw it somewhere that makes sense.
Is a parent going to want to leave three kids ranging in age from 3 to 10 in a room by themselves? Maybe not.
Are parents expected to take 'separate vacations' in separate rooms? I don't think so.
Can a family with three small children be easily accomadated with a trundle or a fold away bed? Yes, Disney proved it at POR, and it was quite comfortable.
Can a family of six or seven realistically be accomadated in they same room? Probably not. So maybe that's where you draw the line.

For whatever reason (probably money), larger families are squeezed out.

So, we'll probably plan our own family adventures and wait on a cruise until the kiddos are older.

And as for staying on Disney property, we probably did it for the last time last year. We stayed at the Cabins and POR, but now we are opting for more space at a fair price in a vacation home.

[Stepht5]

Once again... it is NOT Disney. Hotels overseas do NOT have space for trundles. These are not Disney owned hotels.

You are lucky to get 4 in a room! LOL! ;)

It is the price of choosing to have more then 2 children -- I have 5. :teeth: And if money is tight then you do forgo some trips because you choose to have more then one or two children. That's life. :)

Disney can NOT force these hotels to let more the 4 stay in a room. Talk about being a *pushy American*. :crazy2:

[bicker]

I just checked the three hotels we're staying at on our Southwest United States trip with Adventures by Disney. Two of the three hotels limit room occupancy to 4. The other has rooms for six, but they're suites and look a lot more expensive. So the tour necessarily has to comply with the lowest common denominator, i.e., a room occupancy limit of 4.

[Mo-Yo]

Just for the record...not all hotels "overseas" limit occupancy to a quad. In London, for example there are numerous places that do not consider a child toward room occupancy until they are 11, and in some cases 16 years old.

As I said, since Disney makes an insufficient effort to make room for larger families by choosing (or building) hotels that suit larger families, I will find suitable housing at a fair rate and plan my own family adventures. These may include hotels that suit our needs, a villa rental or even boarding house and hostel-type accommodations.

I would argue that the truly "ugly" Americans are those who feel that those who do not have big budgets should not be taking vacations.

[onelugnut]

I would argue that the truly "ugly" Americans are those who feel that those who do not have big budgets should not be taking vacations.[/QUOTE]


ditto,

can you say "know it all, self hating American?"

[DisneyKevin]

Hi All,

This topic has started to stray from the topic at hand and seems to be headed in a "less that friendly" direction.

Any chance we can bring this back on track?

Thanks,
Kevin

[Mumph39]

My family of five has done 2 ABD. (Quest for the West and Viva Italia). My children are 17, 16 and 9. On both trips there were several families of 6. Disney does a wonderful job of keeping your family together. Most of the hotels we stayed in had connecting rooms. In a few spots, we were all in a room together. (i.e. Borgo de Fontebussi in Tuscany and at the ranch in Wyoming). I wasn't as worried as some of the posters, due to the fact that my 17 year old was in the room and we were right next door. The extra bathroom is wonderful too. With the schedule you are on, having that additional shower available is great.

In most rooms too, the rooms have two double beds. I can't speak for anyone else, but trying to fit two people (especially two teenage boys over 6' tall) in one bed is not going to be comfortable for a week. Most hotels had a rollaway for my youngest.

Hope this helps.

[Deesknee]

I feel your pain.

DH and I never really noticed room capacity until the triplets came along. Talk about a shock! We are thankful for dvc 2 bdrms!!! I have been researching the Adventure pkgs and the cruises and have been a bit disheartened. Especially since we added another when the triplets were 12. :crazy:

[disney fiend]

I agree. Families of five are just priced out of the market and I think Disney should address this. They did at the theme parks w/ Port Orleans which is where we stay. Otherwise we would almost certainly stay off property. Of course Disney is in business to make money--so what makes more sense to them bottom line wise--to find a solution or to lose the business of larger families. I don't pretend to know the answer to this, but the tours are relatively new and perhaps changes will be made down the line. :confused3

[bicker]

Well, Disney has a lot less leverage in that regard with respect to the tours than they have with regard to their own resort vacations at WDW, since they're relying very substantially on partners and other providers for the accommodations and amenities. So we can expect that support for familes of five and more with Adventures by Disney to be less than such support at WDW itself. However, even with the introduction of the new family suites at the value resorts, you're still looking at double the price for a family of five as compared to a family of four. This is just one of those unfortunately facts-of-life -- a step-function where perhaps folks would prefer something more sliding-scale.

[DisneyMama27]

Once again... it is NOT Disney. Hotels overseas do NOT have space for trundles. These are not Disney owned hotels.

I think that the "criticisms" were relating to Disney resorts in general, not just ABD. There are few resorts at WDW that accomodate families of 5. Since Disney is above the standards everywhere else, many of us would like to see some changes there. (Most other hotels in the U.S. do not limit to 4.) A little OT, but a natural tangent considering the original post.

We LOVE Disney resorts regardless, have stayed POR 3 times, and bought DVC so this is not as much an issue anymore (except that we still have to get a 2BR). We would LOVE to do ABD, but I doubt we will because of the rooms. BTW, through DVC's World Passport Collection, we have access to HUNDREDS of international resorts and nearly all of them have accommodations for more than 4, so this situation can't entirely be blamed on Europe! I just got the impression that ABD was not trying to target young families - and that's ok. We will have to experience Europe through DVC until the program expands!pixiedust:

[Fawn]

This is not simply a Disney, a European or a hotel issue. Look into doing Amtrak travel...cabins are never for 5...they are for 2 or 4. Same for many European train systems.

The fact is that the larger your family, the more expensive the trip will be. Just a fact of life. Don't blame Disney for just being part of the "norm".

[BrainwashedByMickey]

__________________
Jo and Ernie
"The Bouboulis House"
Ashleigh, Samantha, Matt, Becca, Freddie, Denise, Bill, Jess, Brian and Our Angel Paul



WOW!
I was feeling really sorry for myself about the difficulties of being a family of 5 until I counted the number of names in the Bouboulis House!!!! Did I count that correctly? 10 children....?

I am sooooo not worthy!:grouphug: