Suites & Cabin Questions

[Sugar Jones]

We are heading back to Disney this September. This time around we are going with my brother and his family and we are bringing my mother and my mother in law.

We have a couple of options.

3 Value rooms
3 Moderate Rooms
2 Cabins
2 Value suites


I have the room discount pin for September.

The cabins offer the best option for us and has the best discount. However I am not "feeling" them if you kwim? It just seems to big and not Disney enough for me. I don't want to have to take an internal bus to get everywhere. If you stayed there give your opions and experiences please!


The Suites are more to my liking, however I'm not sure the second bed option would be comfortable for adults. My MIL would be staying with us and I don't want her to sleep on an uncomfortable pull out sofa for a week. I would be willing to sleep on it with Dh because I can sleep anywhere lol However will it be big enough for two adults???

3 Values would provide the best bed situation, but we would be so seperated and one of my kids would have to sleep in another room Same with 3 moderates which are at the top end of our budget anyway.


What would you do?

 

[Disneyaddictz]

I have been to disney approximaly 10 times in the last 5 years and we have mainly stayed at fort wilderness. IMO the property is beautiful and so cozy, if you don't spend time at the property I would recommend elsewhere... However if you enjoy your down days FT. Wilderness is awesome! They also rent out golf carts which make getting around super easy and so much fun it feels like your secluded so its nice for the older ones to get to wonder around the property. Fishing, paddle boat, archery, pool parties, horse riding, pony rides, carriage rides, beach, several pools, dance parties, singalongs by the campfire with chip and dale, evening movies and so much more! The amount of $$ you save from being able to cook always made it worth it for us too! I Never understood why you would want to camp while at disney until we did and now it's our #1 choice.. The disney experience doesn't end when we get back from the parks it keeps going all night too! Oh and the BEST decorated during Christmas by far... Enjoy!

 

[KelseyLaPerle]

We stayed in a cabin a couple of years ago and loved it. BUT, I would NEVER stay there without renting a golf cart. It was great to walk outside, hop in our cart and drive to the marina or bus stop. It took much less time than waiting at multiple bus stops.

I would recommend the cabins to someone who will be spending a lot of time at their resort. We were park-goers 100% and spent no time at all at the resort (maybe one visit to the pool and grocery store). The resort is beautiful and we did enjoy the scenery during our golf cart commutes, but it definitely takes some extra time to get anywhere.

Enjoy your trip, whatever you decide!

 

[jayhawk74]

My DW only wants to stay at the Cabins. One of the reasons is that we don't get the hustle, bustle, and congestion that you get at the other Resorts. Also when we stay we always get the golf carts as to us it is easier. Disney rents mostly 4 seat golf carts but they do have 6 seaters.

 

[disykat]

Personally I would try to get FOUR value rooms. Surely you could do that for the same money? I'd try for two sets of connecting rooms. You could have your family and MIL in one set and your brother's family and your mother could be in the other set.

 

[Sugar Jones]

Personally I would try to get FOUR value rooms. Surely you could do that for the same money? I'd try for two sets of connecting rooms. You could have your family and MIL in one set and your brother's family and your mother could be in the other set.

4 rooms is not in the budget at all, even in the values. My Mil & Mother have no problem sharing a room, they are friends. My brother & I will split the cost of their room.

 

[pooh4evr]

First how many people are going? 1 cabin would not cut it for just the adults in your party (I may have misread) especially sharing 1 bathroom. We have stayed in the suites at ASMu a few times, and they were great for us, but I would offer the "bedroom" to Mil and the other in brothers room to mom, so they can have some space. I think the best option would be either 2 suites, or 3 value rooms.

 

[amylevan]

We love the Fort (as witnessed by my signature....) so I may be a bit biased...but in my mind the busses are really not that big of a deal. You take a bus to the front of the campground and then wait for a bus for whichever park you are going to. And if you are going to be spending significant time at the MK, the boat is way better than the busses at a value or a moderate. And as someone mentioned, if you are really against the internal busses you can rent a golf cart, or if you are driving down, bring bikes. (You can park the golf cart and bikes at the bus station.)

I would give some thought to the bathroom situation tho. You'll only have 2 bathrooms in the 2 cabins, but you will also have access to the immaculate comfort stations for extra showers/toilets if some in your party are willing to walk. There will be 3 bathrooms available in the values and mods and 4 in the suites.

Do you intend to spend time at the pools? The campground and moderates have a slide which the values do not. Something that my interest your kids (or not).

The values only have a food court. The moderates have food court and table service options. The campground has a buffet but no real food court. Something else to consider.

 

[Sugar Jones]

In our Cabin or Suite there would be 3 adults and 3 kids, in my brothers there would be 3 adults and 2 kids.

I am actually leaning towards 3 values now. That would give each adult a real bed to sleep in. We could bring an air mattress for dd to sleep on.


We will see. We are having a meeting this weekend to see what everyone's choice is. I'm good with whatever I'm just happy to be heading back!

 

[pumpkinmomma]

This is an older thread but there is a pretty good, detailed comparison in the OP.

http://wwww.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=2272883

We've done the cabins but not the suites so I can't compare the 2. The cabins have a bunkbed plus a double bed in the bedroom, then a murphy bed in the LR. The murphy bed was fairly comfortable- dh and I slept on it for the week and it was fine. There is only on bathroom, and storage space in the cabins is very limited. There is almost no drawer space. We ended up sticking our suitcases back out in the car trunk because there was no place for them. Having a full kitchen is nice (we used to fix breakfast every day, saved a ton of money). Cabins also have a big porch with a grill and picnic table.

Ft wilderness is definitely big and more quiet than a resort. There aren't a lot of dining options there, so if you have no plans to cook and would prefer access to a food court instead, I would rethink the cabins. We didn't rent a golf cart, the internal busses were just fine. The boat to MK is nice (and very peaceful). The main pool is very nice and there is a quiet pool that is close to some of the cabin loops (it was a short walk from our cabin).

Plusses for us were- bed layout (we could put the kids in the bedroom and watch a movie), quiet, full kitchen, having car right outside the cabin, boat to MK. Minuses were- limited storage, distance to restaurants and main pool, lots of walking to get to bus stops, etc, depending on where your cabin is, not much quick service dining available.

 

[disykat]

4 rooms is not in the budget at all, even in the values. My Mil & Mother have no problem sharing a room, they are friends. My brother & I will split the cost of their room.

Cool. You must have gotten a great discount on the cabins to have it be less than two value rooms.

 

[Sugar Jones]

Cool. You must have gotten a great discount on the cabins to have it be less than two value rooms.

No you are right the cost of the value rooms would be cheaper than the cabins. I don't know what kind of math I was doing before lol

 

[maxiesmom]

The Suites are more to my liking, however I'm not sure the second bed option would be comfortable for adults. My MIL would be staying with us and I don't want her to sleep on an uncomfortable pull out sofa for a week. I would be willing to sleep on it with Dh because I can sleep anywhere lol However will it be big enough for two adults???

I shared the fold out sofa at ASMu with my teenage niece, and we both slept just fine. She is a bit on the petite side, but I'm 5'8 so not tiny. It was very comfortable. The only bad thing was that you have to kind of roll out of it in the morning, because of the frame around the edge.

 

[clanmcculloch]

4 rooms is not in the budget at all, even in the values. My Mil & Mother have no problem sharing a room, they are friends. My brother & I will split the cost of their room.

4 value rooms should be slightly cheaper than 2 family suites at a value resort.

If you get 3 rooms at a value, no more than 2 of the rooms will be connecting.

Have you priced renting points for a 2 bedroom DVC suite?

 

[princesspwrhr]

The cabins are our absolute favorite place to stay. (7 family trips) My husband has been to the values and refuses to stay there. My oldest daughter and I have stayed there a few times sharing a room with a friend and parent for gymnastics meets - we hate it (3 stays). It's so small and noisy and the buses seemed to take forever to get anywhere. We've also stayed at Port Orleans French Quarter (1 stay), but it doesn't fit our family now and we'd need connecting rooms. Our family does spend time at the resort, it's not just a place to sleep, so we'd like to *like* it at least. lol Are any of you military? We've stayed at Shades of Green and the rooms are bigger, the resort is really nice and the location is great.

Unfortunately we're at a point for this next vacation that the cabins won't quite fit and are out of budget - so we're staying at Wyndham Bonnet Creek on a timeshare exchange. The dining plan has never worked for our family and we enjoy having food in our room, so that's no big. The only thing I think I'm going to really miss is EMH. My girls are early risers and morning EMH has always been great. There have been times that my oldest and I have gone back for a late late EMH and closed the park and that was great fun too. This time we'll be limited to regular park hours.

OP - you may want to look into renting DVC points for a 3 bedroom at Old Key West or Saratoga Springs. It may work out well financially. If you're driving and don't need the onsite "perks" Bonnet Creek or another timeshare might work for you - or Downtown Disney, there's one hotel there that has EMH perks, I don't recall if it also has dining plan privileges or not. With large groups the choice seems to come down to "budget versus onsite". If it's in the budget though - I would definitely do the cabins over values for the space and proximity.

 

[maxiesmom]

4 value rooms should be slightly cheaper than 2 family suites at a value resort.

That is not always true. Depending on time of year, and on if you want standard or preferred rooms, a family suite may be cheaper than 2 rooms.

 

[tzolkin]

That is not always true. Depending on time of year, and on if you want standard or preferred rooms, a family suite may be cheaper than 2 rooms.

The price of the family suites at ASMovies is about the same price as two regular value rooms, so you are right that could vary.

However, the price of the new family suites at AoA is $70-90/night more than two rooms at one of the other value resorts.