Family of 5 in one room ?

[tomatos5@shaw.ca]

We are a family of five two adults and three children 11,8 and seven, Will Disney allow us to stay in sleep four room. Do they charge for the extra person or simply not let you. Has anyone done this ?

 

[drag n' fly]

No unless the youngest is in a crib. Stay at POR AB section they sleep five much cheaper than the deluxes and it is a gorgeous resort!

 

[rentayenta]

If you are booking a package, no. If you are not, they wouldn't know. That's the reality of it. Good luck.

 

[tomatos5@shaw.ca]

Will it be a problem with anything else on property ?. Does everyone get a KTTW card or is it per room.

 

[wdwrich]

Everyone listed on the reservation would get a KTTW card. Another option (other than POR with a trundle) would be the family suites at ASM.

 

[wdwrich]

P.S. Everyone would need a KTTW card for EMH.

 

[Aliceacc]

Families of 5 can book a room at:

POR-- some rooms have a trundle bed
Family Suite at ASM
Cabin at Fort Wilderness
Many of the Deluxes have a daybed, enabling a 5th person to stay

 

[Lynne M]

Will it be a problem with anything else on property ?. Does everyone get a KTTW card or is it per room.

Yes, it'll be a problem. Disney is quite strict about room occupancy limits.

Every person over the age of 3 gets a KTTW card, and everyone has to present it to get into EMH. So, you'd either have to leave someone in your group behind for EMH, or skip it altogether. EMH is one of the biggest advantages of staying onsite, especially if you're going during a busy time.

Same goes for Magical Express. Only those on the reservation will receive a voucher, and you can't get on the bus without one.

 

[Allison]

Disney will not allow you to stay in a room that has a limit of 4 people. You will need to stay in a room that has an occupancy of at least 5.

Here is a list of possibilities:
Port Orleans Riverside
All Star Family Suites
Coronado Springs junior suite
Fort Wilderness cabins
Wilderness Lodge deluxe room
Beach Club
Yacht Club
Boardwalk
Grand Floridian
Polynesian
Contemporary
AKL 1 bedroom villa

 

[Diehl2229]

The POLY I know does. We have done it

 

[kate&sarahsdad]

Not many affordable choices for families of 5 other than POR which I don't care for.

 

[Poohbug]

Don't rule out Offsite. I know its great to stay at Disney but not many great choices for families of five or more that don't cost you $$$$. Condos and home rentals are very reasonable-the money you save can go toward a car rental. Also check out Downtown Disney hotels-some have suites and can sleep 6.

 

[maxiesmom]

As others have pointed out, your whole family will not be able to do Extra Magic Hours, or use Magical Express. You will also not be able to be on the dining plan, if that is something you were thinking about.

Or think of it this way: If by some twist of fate there is a hurricane, or fire, which person who you not want Disney to account for?

 

[maxiesmom]

Not many affordable choices for families of 5 other than POR which I don't care for.

Affordable is subjective. What might be affordable for you, may not be for someone else.

Disney sets the rates and the room limits. It is up to us to choose what works for our families within those constraints, it is not for us to decide not to follow them.

 

[toystorymom]

We are a family of five and our children are also 11, 8, and 7.

As another poster stated, what is affordable is subjective. We have never stayed in a deluxe as they are very expensive. Two years ago we stayed at Port Orleans and had the trundle bed (the kids actually argued over who could sleep in it). The resort is beautiful and we really enjoyed our stay there.

We are going back this summer and decided to try the AS Music Suites but they were booked. We finally decided on 2 rooms at a Value Resort instead of POR again. There wasn't much difference in price and we're interested to see how it works out with the extra space and extra bathroom. Just another option for you. We would like to try the FW cabins someday but for this trip they were much more expensive - we decided to use that money for dining plan instead.

Trying to squeeze into a room made for 4 wouldn't work for us because we get the dining plan and like to use EMH, can't do that unless we have 5 keys. I am surprised Disney doesn't have more affordable options for larger families.

 

[Deb & Bill]

...I am surprised Disney doesn't have more affordable options for larger families.

They have lots of affordable options for larger families. Larger families just have to expect to pay more. A family of five just can't expect to stay for the same that a family of four or less has to pay.

Here is a list of possibilities:
Port Orleans Riverside
All Star Family Suites
Coronado Springs junior suite
Fort Wilderness cabins
Wilderness Lodge deluxe room
Beach Club
Yacht Club
Boardwalk
Grand Floridian
Polynesian
Contemporary
AKL 1 bedroom villa

And I'll add two value rooms.

 

[tomatos5@shaw.ca]

Thanks everyone for the posts.

 

[Aliceacc]

They have lots of affordable options for larger families. Larger families just have to expect to pay more. A family of five just can't expect to stay for the same that a family of four or less has to pay.



And I'll add two value rooms.

I think the word "affordable" is in the eye of the beholder.The Family Suites are Value, POR is a moderate-- everything else aside from Fort Wilderness is Deluxe. And the Family Suites sell out fast. As to those 2 value rooms: we all know that Disney won't guarantee that they'll adjoin. They'll try, but not guarantee.

Speaking for myself: I'm not looking to pay less than I should. But it would be nice if, for example, there were family suites in more of the Values, or if the moderates offered something besides that trundle bed option, or even trundles in more than that single location. Yes, I realize that it would cost more than a room that sleeps 4. But we can only swing a Deluxe for 2 reasons: 1) we got a 40% PIN and 2) This is a one-time-only trip and we're pullin out all the stops.

Again: quite a list of options, but not a LOT of ones I would call "affordable."

 

[maxiesmom]

Give Disney some credit. The Value Suites at the All-Star Music are what, 3 years old? So obviously someone has realized people wanted more options for their larger families.

Again, affordible is subjective. If you don't like any of the options that have been listed, there are tons of places you can stay off site, and pay quite a bit less. If cost is the most important factor, not location or amenities, that is a choice you can make. Location plays a huge part in the on-site rooms costing what they do.

And the fire code does dictate what they can do as well. Disney can't just decide to make all the rooms at POR, or any other resort, hold 5. And really, why should they? If you add another person to all of the moderate resorts, you would need to add all sort of things to accomodate those extra people. More busses, more mousekeepers, more CMs in the food courts, restaurants, gift shops. The pools would have even more people in them, pool chairs would be that harder to get. The list goes on and on.

People who decide to have larger families pay more for everything. From cars to groceries. I think Disney has done a pretty good job at having many different resorts that will fit those larger families, at different cost levels. You just have to decide what suits your family and your budget.

 

[Aliceacc]

I have no problem with the choices listed... as you can see, we'll be at the Poly in August. But the subject was the lack of affordable options for larger families.

I think one relative easy fix would be for Disney to find a way to guarantee adjoining rooms if you book early enough. It wouldn't be an incredibly difficult linear programming problem for Disney to determine just what that time frame should be-- at which point it becomes difficult to guarantee adjoining rooms.

They could offer an option something like this for larger families:
- You book x months ahead of time. (let's say 6, for the sake of argument.)
- You specify your resort classification: Value, Mod, Deluxe
- You offer your choices in order: choice #1, #2, #3.
- Disney guarantees that you will have adjoining rooms (and, yes, that's paying for 2 rooms), and they'll try to get you your top choice. Either way, you'll know where you'll be staying by, say the 2 month mark.

I most certainly don't mean to equate the two, but as I understand it, Disney does a great job guaranteeing handicapped accessible rooms. I think it would be possible to do the same with adjoining rooms if they're given enough lead time.

People who booked beyond the designated window would find themselves in the same position as large families are in at present. Fire codes wouldn't be an issue, because I'm not suggesting altering the maximum room capacity.

I realize there must be some flaws in there somewhere. But larger families would still be able to find on site rooms (access to EMH and dining plan) within a defineable budget.


Or-- edited to add:
How about working with the fire marshal's office to convert more ground floor rooms into trundle rooms? I understand about fire codes, but surely some rooms in some resorts besides POR have enough room around them to allow the proper exit procedures? Again, let's assume that the 4 end rooms on the ground floor of many resorts probably have enough room to allow a safe exit (and I'm only talking ground floor here, so the issue of interior hallways doesn't enter into it.) Still, add in all those buildings in all those resorts, and at least there are MORE options for larger families. Should those rooms not be needed by the larger families, they would still be available to others, just as the trundle rooms at POR are at present.

I don't think this is an insurmountable problem, given the brain power at Disney. I just think it hasn't yet hit the top of their "to do" list.