Lets talk $$ and options - family of 5

[MinnieLove]

Here is the castH, me, DD15, DS5, DS5
WDW 3/6 - 3/13
Booked 2 bedroom villa at SSR
7 day (non-hop, non-waterparks)
DDP

DH is adamant that the 5 of us will make each other crazy in one room for a week. Twins make older sister crazy, etc... Teenager makes husband nuts. Everyone comes to mom to fix.... DH has a point!

As you might know a family of 5 is limited as far as accomodations at WDW. And I do not feel comfortable with two hotel rooms, even when attached. We have too many ppl for a one bedroom villa.

The problem, I feel we are spending too much. Did I miss something, I used the buy 4/get 3 special. We are spending A LOT!!

What does the avg family spend. Does anyone have any suggestions that would help bring down cost without eliminating DDP. I love the idea of having our food taken care of.

Ideas...... My conscience is not at ease in this economy.

Thanks Sandy

 

[RobinFabulous]

Have you looked at the Family suites? I think they run $184 per night, you get a "bedroom" and a "living room" the couch & chairs let out into beds, your boys would probably think those were cool, you have a queen in the bedroom plus a microwave/fridge and two bathrooms, two tvs, etc. I think they're probably pretty close to what your getting and might be cheaper. I honestly didn't spend much time in our room and it wasn't a big deal. It was me, a 17 year old, a tall 10 year old, a big 7 year old and an almost 3 year old..... We had a regular room at Pop

 

[Minnie]

We stayed in a 2bed villa at OKW for a long weekend when renting points from a DVC owner and it was wonderful

However, you are staying at one of the pricier options on WDW property

You might consider the cabins at the FW resort - usually cheaper than your current option.

Other options would be to rent points from a DVC owner or to consider staying off-site in a pool home. We stayed in a 3bed townhouse in WL with a splash pool and enjoyed our stay. Just be careful who you rent from

You might also try posting your question on the resort board and also on the Orlando board for the family of 5 experts to take a look

 

[G's mommy]

A 2 BR at SSR in March costs 36 points a night for Sun-Thurs, and 68 points for Fri and Sat. You can probably rent for $10 a point. Add this up and see how it compares to what you are paying booking through Disney. Go to the DVC boards and read up on renting though. You do have to be comfortable working with an owner and not having daily maid service. When staying on points, daily maid service is not included, they come in on day 4 and leave fresh towels and get the trash, they come in on day 7 and do full cleaning. I normally rent points for Sun - Thurs and then move to another resort on the weekend nights and use my AP rate. You can add the DDP when renting points, just let the owner know to add it to your reservation, you pay for it when you check in. You can order your tickets ahead of time from a discounter, I've used Undercovertourist. Anyway, price it out and see if it comes up any better. Those 2 BR villas are soooo expensive.

 

[momofrrr]

WE are also a family of 5 and have stayed in the cabins when the kids were much younger (twice). Having the kitchen was a real convenience when we got back at night. Also, not being right next to someone else we did not worry about the noise level. It worked out really well for us. Now that our kids are older we stay at a moderate resort and get connecting rooms. We put the kids in one of them and us in the other. It is nice to have the four beds so that no one really has to share (even though the girls always do). Having the two bathrooms is realy nice as well. We have not ever had any issues with the two room option. Good luck in making your decision, I am sure that whatever you do you will be happy.

95 off property
99 Ft Wilderness
01 Ft Wilderness
03 All Star Movies
05 POR French Quarter
07 POR Riverside:
09 not sure yet!

 

[BarbWB]

w/o eliminating DDP, no brilliant ideas. A 2bdr villa is probably best for you (you really need 3 sleeping areas, right?)

Have you considered off-site? You could spend MUCH less money if you got a townhouse or pool-home in Windsor Hills.

 

[nin8jc]

We are also a family of 5 (DS13, DS9 & DD7)- we have stayed at POR in a room w/ a trundle - that was a bit too close for comfort. We now will stay in a 1 bdrm and it works out fine for us. Last time we brought a twin air matress and none of the kids wanted to sleep on it - they really like the pull-out sofa! Having the kitchen and laundry right in you room is really a plus. You really don't need a 2 bdrm.

 

[DawnM]

We have been staying off-site now for a few years. I really prefer the added space, full kitchen, washer/dryer in the unit, and 2 bedrooms. We pay $28/night including tax for a 2 bedroom unit through skyauction.

It allows us to go multiple times per year and even thought I know it isn't for everyone, I am there for the parks, staying on-site isn't worth the extra $$ for me because it would mean far fewer visits to the World.

Dawn

 

[XYSRUS]

Why don't you like 2 connecting rooms? There's 6 of us and I must say it's the cheapest and roomiest. The door is always open and therefor like 1 big room. I'm just saying. Villas on site are pricey-even renting points. No two ways about it. 2 rooms are cheaper than the cabins even. I don't like the cabins b/c there no alone room for mom and dad! WDW can get expensive.

 

[disneynuts777]

We are also a family of 5 (DS13, DS9 & DD7)- we have stayed at POR in a room w/ a trundle - that was a bit too close for comfort. We now will stay in a 1 bdrm and it works out fine for us. Last time we brought a twin air matress and none of the kids wanted to sleep on it - they really like the pull-out sofa! Having the kitchen and laundry right in you room is really a plus. You really don't need a 2 bdrm.

How did you stay in a one bedroom with five of you? One of you must not have been on the ressie therefore making you unable to all use ME or be on the DDP.

 

[Poohbug]

This is the last year we will be able to stay in one room-the baby will be three next year. I would be looking for extra space anyway.

I plan on trying the All Star suites, maybe POR, otherwise the other options are just not in our budget.

I have heard good things about Bonnet Creek. It sounds like the next best thing to being onsite and offers more space.

The two bedroom sounds great but I would never be able to pay those rates. Look into renting points, many people save a ton of money by renting points VS Disney rates.

 

[justwinnie]

Animal Kingdom Lodge Villas (and Bay Lake Towers when completed) allows 5 in a one bedroom. There's a sleeper chair in addition to the sleeper couch in the living room. I don't know what the rack rate is, but it will probably be cheaper than a 2 br villa.

However, your daughter might not want to sleep on the sleeper chair with her two brothers on the couch.

 

[stm61]

We've done POR several times, with up to 5 kids, depending on ages. We used air mattresses when the boys became to old to share with their sisters. It's tight, but it can be done. We're only in the room to sleep, not for extended times, and we never came back for naps since the kids would nap in their stroller. We've had to move up to deluxe because the teen ds's don't fit on trundles or air mattresses any longer, the daybeds are longer. I've priced options, and the best for us would be 2 rooms at POR, or go at the same time as grandma so 2 kids can stay with her. The grandma option is definately cheaper lol, but we can't always do that. With connecting doors and ds's 16 and 17, I'm comfortable with putting half the kids in the 2nd room, keeping the rest with me.

 

[delmar411]

no brilliant ideas but I'd suggest staying at Old Key West if your teenager wants 'space' from the twins. The 2bedrooms there are just shy of 1300sq ft and your DD could sleep on the pull out sofa if she wanted or in the 2bedroom with the twins.

It's the same cost as SSR but about 400-500 more sq ft.

 

[FoundMyPrince]

I don't have suggestions about making it cheaper, but want to add that the 2 bedroom at SSR is pretty darn nice. Our family of 5 stayed there last summer and loved it. We stayed one night at POP (youngest was 2 and in a playpen) and will not/cannot do that again. It was only one night, but we were walking all over one another in the morning.

If I were you, I'd check into renting DVC points from someone on these boards to see if it's less expensive. Sometimes it can save you money; you can still get the dining plan, etc.

 

[shaunaday]

OP, you are pratically describing our family...DH, Me, DD13, DS5 and DS5.

Although I fully expected that we were going to have a tough time at POR with the 5 of us in such close quarters, it was really not bad at all. We found that we really didn't spend much time in the room. If we had more room, we might have enjoyed that, but I didn't want to go offsite because I love the flexibility that having on-site transportation provides our family. For instance, a couple of times on our trip, DD13 and either Dh or I would go hit a few parks, while the other parent rested with the twins or took them to the pool. Our family thought the POR rooms were well designed and we had enough space for our "stuff" to stay organized. For the most part the kids were too tired to fuss with eachother by the time we returned to our room each day. I would stay at POR again without hesitation. Of course, if we were poor sleepers or if we spent more time in the room, it may have been a problem for us.

Good luck with whatever you decide.

How did you stay in a one bedroom with five of you? One of you must not have been on the ressie therefore making you unable to all use ME or be on the DDP.

POR offers accomodations for 5.

 

[Lucky'sMom]

I suggest either renting DVC points on the DVC rental board for your stay, or...renting from an owner at Bonnet Creek Resort. It is a fabulous (practically on-site) resort and you can stay in a 2-bedroom villa for $100-120/night, depending on the season. We use vacationupgrades.com, but you can also look for rentals from other sites. I would never pay Disney prices for their DVC's, you can do much better cost-wise by renting points for by staying at Bonnet Creek.

 

[Wendy_in_Wonderland]

How did you stay in a one bedroom with five of you? One of you must not have been on the ressie therefore making you unable to all use ME or be on the DDP.

No actually POR offers accomodations for 5.

That's where we are staying b/c it's actually cheaper then the All Star family of 5 option.

I do wish there were more options for groups of 5 at WDW. If they can do a trundle in POR I don't understand why they can't do that at the value resorts or anywhere else honestly. Of course I hope that by the next vacation we can swing something awesome like AKL or something.

 

[tar heel]

When we do connecting rooms, we treat them as one room. We only use one of the outside doors -- just lock the other from the inside -- and keep the door inbetween the rooms open. Sometimes, we even have luggage or something in front of the unused outside door. Two value rooms are under $200 a night -- way cheaper than a villa.

 

[LSUmom4kids]

We stayed at Windsor Hills for 7 nights for much less than we spent the prior year in a room at the Swan. Four kids in a hotel room was so crowded and we didn't have any room for clothes, and one bathroom, one tv and basically one "living/sleeping area" was so tight!

Windsor Hills gave us a 3 bedroom, 3 bathroom townhome with washer & dryer and splash pool. We had so much room to spread out.

We drove to WDW so that wasn't a problem. Sometimes I missed the convenience of being so close to Epcot and Hollywood Studios (bus or walk), but the convenience of being able to spread out and wash our clothes when we wanted to, FAR OUTWEIGHED being on property. Plus, being able to cook when we wanted and have a full kitchen saved us from having to eat out at the hotel/park restaurants.

Off Property is the way to stay!!