family suite or connecting rooms

[momma_mouse]

We are currently booked at ASM in a family suite but I was crunching some numbers and realized I can save almost $200 getting 2 connecting rooms instead. There will be 6 of us, 3 adults and 3 children. We're on the dining plan, so the kitchenette won't be of much use to us in the suite if that matters any.

What would you do? If you chose 2 connecting rooms, would you choose ASMo or Pop?

 

[TheRustyScupper]

1) Do connecting.
2) You get two bathrooms.

 

[Disfan20]

We always do two connecting. You get more square footage and it is cheaper than the suite. Win Win. If it was me I would go to Pop.

 

[bluezy]

I'd choose Pop because I've read that Pop has the most number of connecting rooms so there's a higher probability that you will get them. We've always gotten connecting rooms when we've requested them at Pop even when traveling with 4 adults and 2 children (though 2 of the adults were our "kids" -- but they were 20 and 22 on the last trip).

 

[momma_mouse]

Ok, another question... Does anyone know if when getting connecting rooms, can you get one room a king and one for 2 doubles?

 

[maxiesmom]

A Family Suite ,no question. My family has done both, and that is something we all agree on. Only with the Family Suite are you guaranteed to all be together. You can request connecting rooms, but you have no way of knowing until you get into your rooms if you have them or not. Kind of a bummer when you don't get them, we have had that happen!

Also, the Family Suites are exactly the size of 2 value rooms. I just looked that up a couple of days ago. Plus it seems bigger as you don't have 2 beds hogging most of the available space. Housekeeping puts the fold out beds back together so during the day you have a couch, a chair, and an ottoman. Real furniture! And there are 2 bathrooms, so I'm not sure, but I think Rusty was confused on that point.

Don't forget when running the numbers that the Family Suites are all in the preferred buildings. So that will be another $30 a night added to the cost of the standard rooms at any Value resort.

Fwiw, we did our 2 Value connecting room stay after we did a stay in the Family Suites. And hands down, we all said we would much rather do another trip in a Family Suite than in 2 rooms.

 

[ccgirl]

A Family Suite, to question. My family has done both, and that is something we all agree on. Only with the Family Suite are you guaranteed to all be together. You can request connecting rooms, but you have no way of knowing until you get into your rooms if you have them or not. Kind of a bummer when you don't get them, we have had that happen!

Also, the Family Suites are exactly the size of 2 value rooms. I just looked that up a couple of days ago. Plus it seems bigger as you don't have 2 beds hogging most of the available space. Housekeeping puts the fold out beds back together so during the day you have a couch, a chair, and an ottoman. Real furniture! And there are 2 bathrooms, so I'm not sure, but I think Rusty was confused on that point.

Don't forget when running the numbers that the Family Suites are all in the preferred buildings. So that will be another $30 a night added to the cost of the standard rooms at any Value resort.

Fwiw, we did our 2 Value connecting room stay after we did a stay in the Family Suites. And hands down, we all said we would much rather do another trip in a Family Suite than in 2 rooms.

Well said.
And, you think you may not want to use the kitchenette but my DS is big on his juice and my DD is big on her water so we use it a lot for drinks and snacks.

 

[realhousewife]

I would say get the Suite. It only has one exit door to worry about (if your kids are small) and even w/ the dining plan, you can have a fridge for leftovers or bring your own juice bags from home. Even leftover fruit will do better in a fridge that just being left out on a counter. Also, you can bring microwave popcorn to snack on in the evenings.

And, yes, you def. get 2 bathrooms.

Here is a link about the suites....
http://www.wdwinfo.com/Photos/All-Star-Music_Family-Suite/index.htm

 

[Orleanslady]

A Family Suite, to question. My family has done both, and that is something we all agree on. Only with the Family Suite are you guaranteed to all be together. You can request connecting rooms, but you have no way of knowing until you get into your rooms if you have them or not. Kind of a bummer when you don't get them, we have had that happen!

Also, the Family Suites are exactly the size of 2 value rooms. I just looked that up a couple of days ago. Plus it seems bigger as you don't have 2 beds hogging most of the available space. Housekeeping puts the fold out beds back together so during the day you have a couch, a chair, and an ottoman. Real furniture! And there are 2 bathrooms, so I'm not sure, but I think Rusty was confused on that point.

Don't forget when running the numbers that the Family Suites are all in the preferred buildings. So that will be another $30 a night added to the cost of the standard rooms at any Value resort.

Fwiw, we did our 2 Value connecting room stay after we did a stay in the Family Suites. And hands down, we all said we would much rather do another trip in a Family Suite than in 2 rooms.

Connecting rooms are guaranteed if you have 2 adults with multiple children who are very young, according to WDW.

 

[PurpleTurtle]

Connecting rooms are guaranteed if you have 2 adults with multiple children who are very young, according to WDW.

We always get connecting rooms when we request them b/c our 4 kids are so young. Others on the boards will tell you that this is not always true, but it's worked for us so far. We have not stayed in the Family suite, but we choose connecting rooms b/c we like POP better than All Star, and we like the extra bed. Also don't want to have to make the chairs into beds each night, and the tiny kitchen does not interest us.

 

[momma_mouse]

Connecting rooms are guaranteed if you have 2 adults with multiple children who are very young, according to WDW.

We will have 3 adults so does that mean we might not get connecting rooms?

 

[maxiesmom]

We will have 3 adults so does that mean we might not get connecting rooms?

YES!!! I have had that happen.

And actually if you read all of the fine print on your reservation, Disney only guarantees you a room on property. Period. Not even a room at the resort you have booked!

They will do their best to honor requests, such as connecting rooms, but they 100% guarantee nothing. They don't even guarantee room types that you have to pay more for. I've been downgraded twice. So room types that are just a general request are not guaranteed at all.

We even have a poster who was the only adult with many children who did not get connecting rooms. If they don't have any avaialble, they don't have any. Not much they can do at that point to meet the request. You are always taking a chance going the 2 room route.

Now Disney will do their darndest to meet a request for a connecting room, but there are no guarantees. And no one here can in good faith say anyone will for sure get them.

 

[Joe'sgirl]

I arrive at Pop tomorrow and my reservation says I have 2 guaranteed connecting rooms. We are a family of 6 with the kids ages being 7 and under so they told us with families like mine they would always guarantee the connecting rooms. I don't have a fancy phone that I can log into on vaca but I will confirm when I am back as to what and were the room was located

 

[bluezy]

We will have 3 adults so does that mean we might not get connecting rooms?

As others have said, there's not guarantee. However, in my observations, it seems like the vast majority of people who request connecting rooms do get them. And many of the ones who don't get them at check-in are able to move to connecting rooms the next day. I'm sure some of it has to do with when you're traveling (busy time as compared to a not-so-busy time) and probably the day you're checking in. I would think there is a bigger turn-over of rooms on the weekends and thus more opportunities for connecting rooms to be available.

I do personally know 2 different families who requested connecting rooms that didn't get them. One was a group of 4 adults (and it wasn't a huge deal that they didn't get them -- it was just one of those "it would be nice" things for them) and the other family was a group of 4 adults and one toddler. Both groups ended up with rooms across the hall from each other. In both instances, the front desk offered to move them to connecting rooms within the next day or two, but both decided they were fine with the rooms they were assigned. FWIW, both of these instances were at a deluxe resort and both times the people were checking in on a Tuesday.

 

[ccgirl]

Correct, while most get them there are also those that do not regardless of what the reservation says. There are only so many connecting rooms. With 2 adults they will just tell you to put 1 adult in each room with the children. If your search for threads you can find quite a few with people that were told or had "guaranteed" written on their reservation but still didn't get it. If there are more people requesting connecting rooms than there are connecting rooms, obviously, some people are not going to have that request granted - regardless if it has been "guaranteed" or not. Those requests with 1 adult and multiple children will tried to be accommodated first.

 

[clanmcculloch]

Something else to keep in mind is your preferred sleep configuration. In the family suite you have a queen bed in its own room with 3 pullouts in the other room (1 full, 2 single). In connecting rooms you'll most likely get 2 fulls per room. It is possible to get a room with a king connected to a room with 2 fulls but there's no way to pay for this kind of configuration to ensure it so I wouldn't count on it if that's what you want (with 3 adults I'm doubting that's what you want but I thought I should point it out anyway).

For parents with 3 kids, I think the configuration of the bedroom with the queen plus the 3 separate beds in the other room is far better. Your 3rd adult makes it hard for me to make a recommendation because I don't know the relationship of that person. How will that person feel about sharing a room with the kids? Will that person prefer to be in a room with mom & dad (mom & dad would be sharing a full bed) and the 3 kids in the other room? This scenario would be 2 connecting rooms. Think about the sleeping arrangements and decide what works best for you.

 

[ccgirl]

Something else to keep in mind is your preferred sleep configuration. In the family suite you have a queen bed in its own room with 3 pullouts in the other room (1 full, 2 single). In connecting rooms you'll most likely get 2 fulls per room. It is possible to get a room with a king connected to a room with 2 fulls but there's no way to pay for this kind of configuration to ensure it so I wouldn't count on it if that's what you want (with 3 adults I'm doubting that's what you want but I thought I should point it out anyway).

For parents with 3 kids, I think the configuration of the bedroom with the queen plus the 3 separate beds in the other room is far better. Your 3rd adult makes it hard for me to make a recommendation because I don't know the relationship of that person. How will that person feel about sharing a room with the kids? Will that person prefer to be in a room with mom & dad (mom & dad would be sharing a full bed) and the 3 kids in the other room? This scenario would be 2 connecting rooms. Think about the sleeping arrangements and decide what works best for you.

Great advice!

 

[momma_mouse]

Something else to keep in mind is your preferred sleep configuration. In the family suite you have a queen bed in its own room with 3 pullouts in the other room (1 full, 2 single). In connecting rooms you'll most likely get 2 fulls per room. It is possible to get a room with a king connected to a room with 2 fulls but there's no way to pay for this kind of configuration to ensure it so I wouldn't count on it if that's what you want (with 3 adults I'm doubting that's what you want but I thought I should point it out anyway).

For parents with 3 kids, I think the configuration of the bedroom with the queen plus the 3 separate beds in the other room is far better. Your 3rd adult makes it hard for me to make a recommendation because I don't know the relationship of that person. How will that person feel about sharing a room with the kids? Will that person prefer to be in a room with mom & dad (mom & dad would be sharing a full bed) and the 3 kids in the other room? This scenario would be 2 connecting rooms. Think about the sleeping arrangements and decide what works best for you.

The 3rd adult (for now) is my MIL. I'm not sure how a 66 year old will feel about sleeping on a full size pull out with one of my kids, all who sleep very wild. (Now if my mom went, she wouldn't really care.) I figured if we had 2 connecting rooms MIL could have her own bed and DH and I would get a bed with 1 kid each . Then one kid gets a bed to themselves. DH and I never end up sleeping in the same bed on vacation. With 3 kids it just doesn't happen. So, not having a queen bed would not be a proble.

I don't want our rooms to not be connected though. I'm not sure I want to risk that. Splitting up just would not work.

 

[Princess Vespa]

Most times, if they can accomodate, they will give you connecting rooms. BUT 2 times I have had the issue where I wasn't given connecting rooms. Even though I booked it as connecting rooms, even though there were 2 adults and 4 children ages 8 and under. I still was told, sorry, no availbale connecting rooms. As far as I understand it, as long as there is at least 1 adult to be in each room, its not gaurenteed. In both those instances, I was able to change rooms after 1 or 2 nights to connecting rooms, but it was a pain.

 

[clanmcculloch]

The 3rd adult (for now) is my MIL. I'm not sure how a 66 year old will feel about sleeping on a full size pull out with one of my kids, all who sleep very wild. (Now if my mom went, she wouldn't really care.) I figured if we had 2 connecting rooms MIL could have her own bed and DH and I would get a bed with 1 kid each . Then one kid gets a bed to themselves. DH and I never end up sleeping in the same bed on vacation. With 3 kids it just doesn't happen. So, not having a queen bed would not be a proble.

I don't want our rooms to not be connected though. I'm not sure I want to risk that. Splitting up just would not work.

How would MIL feel about one of the single fold outs while 2 of the kids share the full? I hear they're very comfortable even for adults. You could check out the family suites thread for first hand reviews.

Overall it does sound like the 2 connecting rooms would fit your preferred sleeping arrangements better. Most likely you would get the connecting rooms but I can totally understand the concern over that small chance you wouldn't. I know my own anxieties and I know I'd have knots in my stomache until we actually got our room. That's not how I'd want to start my vacation if I could figure out another way.