Family of five on a buget

[dianed358]

Something to think about. I am a preschool teacher. We are looking into the dining plan so not sure if that would work, but I will check it out.... thanks!

 

[Incredimom3]

We're a family of 5. We've stayed at FW - nice and fun, but there is no food court and it takes forever to get around. You take a bus from your cabin area to either the boat or to the front of the resort. Then you switch buses to go anywhere else. Pop Century (shared two rooms with another family) - awesome food court with lots of options, cute icons throughout the property, but it took a long time to get anywhere due to the location. Port Orleans Riverside most recently - my 13 year old (petite - size 12) slept on the trundle. It wasn't big, but it was doable. She managed to sleep 8 nights on the trundle despite the fact that she had a stomache bug for 4 days. Due to my daily requests for fresh pillowcases, no one else got sick. We were tight, but the room was bigger than a value. It had two sinks and a privacy curtain (nice with daughters 14, 13 and 10). Our mousekeepers were attentive and helpful when our daughter got sick. The food court was charming and had some great options, though not as many as Pop Century. Our room in Bldg 15 was very close to a quiet pool and laundry. The main pool was fabulous. The kids loved it. I loved having a hot tub at the end of the day (not available at a value). The landscaping was beautiful. We enjoyed the boat ride to Downtown Disney (although I wouldn't recommend it on Friday or Saturday night). We've stayed at off-property hotels which provided free breakfasts and more space, but we loved the fact that parking is free for WDW Resort guests and there's something very special about staying at their resorts. Our family is definitely sold on POR. There is a fan-based website, I think it's:

portorleans.org

If you are driving, I'd consider bringing an air mattress for an older child, but a smaller child would be fine on the trundle. Oh, and one other thing that I really liked about POR - We were on the first floor facing a quiet pool which was very busy in the evenings. I was amazed at how quiet it was in our room compared to POP.

Happy planning.

 

[Aristocath]

We are a family of five and our last trip we stayed at POR. We loved it! The food court was great, it was beautiful and mousekeeping was wonderful.

I don't remember being cramped but we burn the candle at both ends when we are at Disney. We are hardly in our room except to sleep and shower.

 

[Tara922c]

I vote family suite at ASMU. Your kids wont care what level of resort your staying at because they are at disney! I vote for space.

 

[Shmily1]

We love AS Music so staying there in a family suite would not be a down for us! Also, when we were at AS Music in December, we had adjoining rooms, but there is no door inbetween for you to open up, so with small children, that option would not be so good unless the adults wanted to split up. We also love POR and really don't think the rooms were that small, but I do see that you would have more room at AS Music. Either resort is awesome!! You will have a blast at either place so pick the ones that appeals to you most or to your budget most and have a magical time.

 

[disneyfan55]

We love AS Music so staying there in a family suite would not be a down for us! Also, when we were at AS Music in December, we had adjoining rooms, but there is no door inbetween for you to open up, so with small children, that option would not be so good unless the adults wanted to split up. We also love POR and really don't think the rooms were that small, but I do see that you would have more room at AS Music. Either resort is awesome!! You will have a blast at either place so pick the ones that appeals to you most or to your budget most and have a magical time.

YOu have to request connecting rooms. They will have a door between them. We have done so and have gotten them at ASMu and ASsports. (as well as CBR and WL)

 

[taximomfor4]

We have always been guranteed connecting rooms because we are a family with children under 17. HTH

Problems arise when they "guarantee connecting rooms for families" for more reservations than they can accomodate. I would imagine it is very uncommon, but it DOES happen. Believe me. We had 4 children under 11 plus me (dh was going to be there for just under half the time). We arrived at 5am!!!!!! Did pre-checkin, and got our room assignments at 3pm. Not only did they NOT connect, there were no connecting ones available. They couldn't/wouldn't find us rooms anywhere else either. Long story, which did taint our family's first WDW vacation ever.

I started a thread about the whole experience here.

I strongly feel that they should NOT use the word "guarantee" if that's not what they are doing!!

 

[glasslipper]

My vote would be for the cabins at Fort Wilderness! We are actually staying there for 3 nights this June before moving over to the Beach Club! Our first for both resorts!

Your kids would probably love all the different activities Ft, Wilderness offers, bike riding, pedal boats, kayaking, canoing, hayrides, horse-back riding, fishing, the campfire-program, etc.., plus you are so close to MK, just a quick ferry boat ride!

You wouldn't need to cook, but the option of having a full-size refrigerator and being able to throw together quick cheap breakfasts is a plus!

 

[disneyfan55]

My vote would be for the cabins at Fort Wilderness! We are actually staying there for 3 nights this June before moving over to the Beach Club! Our first for both resorts!

Your kids would probably love all the different activities Ft, Wilderness offers, bike riding, pedal boats, kayaking, canoing, hayrides, horse-back riding, fishing, the campfire-program, etc.., plus you are so close to MK, just a quick ferry boat ride!

You wouldn't need to cook, but the option of having a full-size refrigerator and being able to throw together quick cheap breakfasts is a plus!

Yes, I don't think anyone was suggesting to cook full meals, but just the convience of a refrigerator and microwave for quick breakfasts saves both money and time!

 

[mommy2taylor]

For me it came down to the allmighty buck......My bed is the same in either place...my 5 year old is plenty small enough to sleep on a trundle (in fact they all fought over it!!)......and......IT's $300 less!! That buys a lot of mickey junk!!

 

[softballmom3]

Are either of you a nurse, teacher (even an assitant or substitute with a school pay stub), goverment employed to get a great discount at the Dolphin ?
You can get an AAA rate at the Dolphin too.

The rooms sleep 5 at the Dolphin.
You can walk to EPCOT and take a boat to both EPCOT and DHS.
Lots to do on the Boardwalk - rent bikes, rent boats, eat pizza and desserts, just hang out and watch the EPCOT fireworks.
The beds are wonderful and the cot is also comfy.

I am a teacher!!!! Can I get the govt rate even though not a school-based trip? Haven't heard of this b4.

 

[Pembo]

I say POR. We're a family of 5, kids were 13, 10 and 6 on the last trip. We had plenty of room. I loved having the fridge in the room. My kids loved being able to swim at either pool (Por or Pfq) with the slides. And we spent a lot of time at the quiet pool...it is very deep and a lot quieter.

We stayed at the Cabins for 3 nights and although I liked the extra space, we felt you needed a car there. (We had one). Also there was not a food court so unless you ate in your cabin, it was a lot of travelling to eat.

And the kids fought over the trundle. We've stayed there before, when they were younger. They each took a turn...only the 13 yo decided he was too big.

Happy planning.

 

[Bethpremier]

Did you ever figure out what you were going to do?

Just as a side note: I just now realized that you mentioned you went ahead and booked a room at Comfort Suites Maingate East. I highly recommend this for an off site hotel. Ive had nothing but a great experience from them the last 3 times we have stayed there. And......they have mickey waffles on their free breakfast buffet!!! A major plus. If I cant stay onsite, at least I can wake up to some magic here.

If you need information on renting points, head over to the DVC boards for more information on this. My experiences with this have also been wonderful. Im happy to help if you need anything.

 

[Ka' eo]

We have kids this age. We love deluxe, but have also paid for points at DVC. Frankly, the resort is nicer at POR, so if I were you on a budget, I'd pick POR. You are in the room to sleep right? The pool and grounds at POR are so nice. It really comes down to what is most important to you.

Good luck.

 

[Ka' eo]

I am a teacher!!!! Can I get the govt rate even though not a school-based trip? Haven't heard of this b4.

You can get the teacher rate when they offer it. It has nothing to do with it being a school related trip. I am a teacher as well and used this last year. You just need a pay stub or letter proving you are an employee of a school. We really liked the dolphin, even with our kids. It was great being by the Epcot resorts, and it was the cheapest on site rate at the time. I love a bargain!

 

[Amy&Dan]

I would go with the Family Suite (or a cabin). The reason being, I think two bathrooms are always nice and the trundle at POR is small, even for kids. I like the idea of mom and dad having a queen bed.

I know some have said get two rooms at a resort. But I want to offer a word of caution to that (and this may have been mentioned, I have only read the first page of replies). Disney does NOT guarantee connecting rooms to families. They may say they do, and you may even get a written guarantee saying you are guaranteed connecting rooms. However if you flip that piece of paper over, its says you are merely guaranteed a room someplace. Too many times I have seen disboard members say they ended up in rooms that were not even close to each other, let alone connected. Which could leave you and your spouse separated. We had friends that had this happen at Sports and the resort did finally get them connected but it took a few days.

At the Family Suite, the kids do have pullouts, however I have read they are very comfortable. And they are kids! I know my kids have slept on pull outs and sleeping bags and airbeds at Disney and they are fine with that. They are at Disney.

I do love POR but think anytime you can get more space and bathrooms, its a great thing.

We love Music, its our favorite value. They do have the pool games and movies, however you also have a quiet pool right there and the pools at All Star Sports and All Star Movies if you want to a more quiet, but nearby pool scene.

 

[williamson_ja]

This is probably an "out there" idea, but something we've done before is invited friends to come with us that also had a family of 5. Then, we got 3 rooms between us and put our kids in one room together because it was cheaper for both of us and the kids all got along great! This way, you only pay for 1 1/2 rooms. We ended up with extra space and cheaper cost. It's just a thought I would throw out there....

 

[Deb & Bill]

OP, have you looked at the South Wing at CR? Often that is less expensive than the tower and it sleeps five - two queen beds and a day bed. And those rooms are pretty large. The pool is rather neat and it is a monorail resort.

 

[eeyorepixie]

for us the absoloute cheapest is POR with free dining. It is our family so I do not feel cramped. Since we only sleep, shower and get dressed in the room not a big deal. The money we save allows to stay longer, because it actually seems to get cheaper the longer you stay...

Hope you have fun! You will know what is best for your family


oh and my DH ends up sleeping on the trundle (his choice) he likes it for his back???

this August will be our 3rd trip to POR

Keep in mind while the mod may be a bit more crowded, there is a trade off the resort is beautiful, we have a slide at the pool, the food court is wonderful...The moderate is just a nicer place in IMHO