5 People in a hotel room

[auntie]

I believe that the OP mentioned already that the suites at the value resort were more expensive than the room with the trundle(she already has booked) at the POR. I think she is looking for a less expensive option.

 

[Deb & Bill]

Ya know, I've never understood why they don't count infants as people in a room count . IMO a 5 year old can get out easier then an infant KWIM?

It's the number of feet getting out of a room and the infant would be carried by an adult. Occupancy is based on corridor widths, number and width of stairwells. If you can't get out during a fire because there are too many feet trying to walk/run out, that is a big problem.

When I become CEO of Disney, it's one of the first points I'll add to the agenda. The Family Suites were a good step in the right direction, as are the trundles at POR. But Disney needs to acknowledge that some-- in fact, a LOT of-- families come with more than two children. There needs to be a better variety of rooms and room types that can accomodate larger familes. Those larger families are also typically on a budget. (those kids are not cheap to clothe or feed!)

But Disney is a money making company and they follow the industry standard. Four persons to a room. If you need a bigger room, you need to pay for a bigger room. Going to WDW isn't a right, it's a privilege. A privilege that you have to pay for.

 

[kaytieeldr]

POR = $149 per night
ASMuFS = $184 per night

The OP could cut back on vacation time a little - five nights in a Family Suite is only slightly more expensive than six nights at POR; ditto for six nights Family Suite vs. seven nights POR.

A response somewhere above pointed out that three people, even if one of them is four years old, will not fit in one bed comfortably. The mattresses are 54" wide. A twin mattress - for one person - is 39", so already your not actually getting enough room for two people in what's jokingly called a double bed. Throw in a child and forget it!

At ANY rate, even if the OP were to purchase separate tickets - Canadian Guy is right. One person will NOT have ANY resort identification. They will not be able to attend Extra Magic Hours. And if the OP is using Magical Express, ONLY Guests named on the reservation are allowed on the bus.

 

[Aliceacc]

But Disney is a money making company and they follow the industry standard. Four persons to a room. If you need a bigger room, you need to pay for a bigger room. Going to WDW isn't a right, it's a privilege. A privilege that you have to pay for.

Oh, I agree, 100%. (And, if you notice my signature, we're not cutting corners on this trip-- we're paying big time for a once-in-a childhood vacation.) And I personally am a big believer in playing by the rules-- if it says the maximum occupancy is 4, then we don't book that room. If it says 10 year olds are adults on the meal plan, my then-10 year old pays the adult price. That's the way my family does things.

But I still think there need to be more options. A family of 4 has something like 26 different choices of resorts, and a variety of room types within each of those resorts. Add in a 3 year old, and you have many many fewer options. Since Disney won't guarantee adjoining rooms, you have the Family Suites, POR, a Fort Wilderness Cabin, or most-- not all-- of the luxuries.

I think they need to open up more options (at varying price points-- not all would have to be a bargain) for a variety of family types. I would love to see more Mods with the trundle bed option, for example, in case POR is full or just not in your ideal location. (And, yes, I would be OK with the idea of them costing a bit more than a non-trundle room, just not double the cost of a room without one.)

 

[G8r4evr]

Just out of curiousity, what makes POR able to hold 5 in case of a fire, as opposed to the other mods. Are the corridors at POR wider than at POFQ and the other mods, or is it just that the other mods dont have the trundle?

 

[MomNeedsVacay]

Along these same lines...I'm going with my parents and my two DD's ages 4 and 2.... we can all stay in one room right, b/c little DD is two????

 

[Lucky'sMom]

I also agree that I don't think it's worth the "stress" of trying to fit in one value room. Besides not being comfortable, I would always be worried that I would get "caught" and it's just not worth it IMO. POR is a lovely resort, we just stayed there before our Disney Cruise in Jan of '07 and we really enjoyed our stay there.

I absolutely agree that WDW is severely lacking AFFORDABLE accommodations for larger families. I had 3 kids before, and it was tough. We just adopted 2 older children from Russia, and now I definitely can't afford to stay on-site. I know we could stay in 2 value rooms, and I might consider that for a very short stay, but we are going for a full-week to WDW this trip, and are staying in a 3 bedroom Marriott Vacation Club property that is literally right outside the Disney gates. I even looked into renting DVC points, as I have done before, but the 2 bedrooms in June are too expensive as well.

 

[minnie61650]

Ya know, I've never understood why they don't count infants as people in a room count . IMO a 5 year old can get out easier then an infant KWIM?

The infant(only one per room ) is not counted in because the Fire Marshal assumes that in an emergency an adult will carry the small child to safety. That small child
is not counted into the evacuation floor space that needs to be figured in for each person evacuating.

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Some guests think occupancy limits are solely based on room size.
The room size is not as an important issue as are the width of doorways, widths of hallways, number of stair wells, location of stairways, number of fire walls, number of stories in a building and the total number of persons in a building when determining the fire code in regard to fire access and egress.


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Since 9/11 a lot of the fire codes are stricter especially in regards of the disabled and fire access and egress.


See this website about Resources on Emergency Evacuation and Disaster Preparedness for more info:



http://www.access-board.gov/evac.htm

There are real reasons why hotels/motels have room occupancy limits.

Just a little FYI

Have fun at Disney!

 

[minnie61650]

Just out of curiousity, what makes POR able to hold 5 in case of a fire, as opposed to the other mods. Are the corridors at POR wider than at POFQ and the other mods, or is it just that the other mods dont have the trundle?

For one thing POR AB is only 2 stories tall. When they were built they were built to hold 5 persons in each room. Thus they meet the fire codes.

 

[auntie]

I've stayed in both the POR and the Caribbean Beach rooms, and actually prefer the Caribbean Beach because the rooms are larger. Yet they supposedly do not accomodate the 5th person. Funny how the smaller POR room is als a moderate yet, they they put in those "trundle beds"...if you can really call them that...and magically, they meet a fire code to accomodate 5 people. I don't buy it. They are pretty much only for a child and basically on the floor. YUK. What if you have a lovely little roach..or worse a snake slip in under the door. I feel placing the trundles could have been done at any of the moderates..they choose not to. I wouldn't want to use a "trundle" anyway..with the possibility that some lovely creature could slither on into the room. Which is entirely possible being that it is not a hotel..but basically a motel type set up, where your door to the room is exposed to the out door elements. We've stayed at the WL and seen snakes more than once slithering around on the lower level walkways. There are rooms there that have patio's not balconies on the lower level. I always thought they were nice, but thougt twice about requesting one when I saw those lovely slithering critters! So I'm not one for using a trundle bed no matter where it would be located. That being said, I do think the OP with a family of 5 would be more comfortable in a moderate resort. I've never stayed value, but the moderates were as small as this family of 5 would go. Luckily for us, when the kids were younger we often traveled with my mom, and we would book two rooms. That not being an option for many people, I can certainly sympathize with lack of reasonably priced options for a family of 5. Does Disney have accomodations for them in the value or moderate price ranges...yes but they are very limited. If you want to use the trundle option for you child, and even they are limited. The suites at the value's are also available in limited quantities. Making it difficult for a family of 5 to secure a reservation without having to look at Deluxe options, which do tend to get pretty pricey.

 

[minnie61650]

. ...Funny how the smaller POR room is als a moderate yet, they they put in those "trundle beds"...if you can really call them that...and magically, they meet a fire code to accomodate 5 people. ....

CBR was build several years before POR and the rooms at CBR were built to sleep 4 persons.

When Disney built POR they designed the AB rooms to sleep 5 persons because there was a demand for more affordable rooms that would sleep 5 persons.

The Family Suites were just added to All Star Music because Disney saw the demand for more options for Families of 6.

My husband is a commerical builder and I can assure you a building does not "magically" meet fire codes.

Just my 2cents.

 

[auntie]

That is my point..I realize the CBR was built first..we actually stayed in it the first year it was built. The rooms are significantly larger than those in the POR. Yet the only difference I see in the way they were built is that they stuck a trundle bed under one of the full sized beds in the POR. It is my opinion, the Caribbean Beach could also offer that option...because the room is infact larger to accomodate a 5th than the POR. It does not...they choose not to offer that option. It could also easily accomodate a cot for a 5th person..and they do not. Disney offers a limited number of trundle bed rooms at the POR. That's your option, either you are lucky enough to secure a reservation in the limited amount that are available or you are out of luck, and looking at a Deluxe resort. Disney is in business to make money..and I'm not blaming them, it is what it is....I'm just saying that in going to Disney for 17 years with a family of 5..this has been our experience. In that regard, I can't help but sympathize with the OP frustration with the limited number of accomodations on a value level(in the OP's case) or even those available in a moderate level. Again, I don't think that's an accident on Disney's part. They've been at this a while, and I'm fairly certain they know what they're doing, and how to fill those Deluxe room.

 

[minnie61650]

That is my point..I realize the CBR was built first..we actually stayed in it the first year it was built. The rooms are significantly larger than those in the POR. Yet the only difference I see in the way they were built is that they stuck a trundle bed under one of the full sized beds in the POR. It is my opinion, the Caribbean Beach could also offer that option...because the room is infact larger to accomodate a 5th than the POR. It does not...they choose not to offer that option. It could also easily accomodate a cot for a 5th person..and they do not. .....

I think you are equating the size of a room with the number of persons a room should be able to sleep. I agree the rooms at CBR could accommodate a 5th person much better than the room at POR.

But as I said it is NOT room size that is most important in regards to fire safety. It has to do with the number of exits, the width of doorways, hallways, number of firewalls, and number of persons in the building.

Before the building was built it had to meet certain fire codes and the number of persons a building can hold is determined before it was built.

Some of the rooms at the Poly are very large.
They could hold a bunk bed instead of a daybed and then the Poly could have 6 persons in a room instead of 5.

The problem again is that would change the number of persons in that Poly building and since it was built to only hold a certain number of persons it most likely cannot be done without structural changes to meet the fire codes for the additional persons.

I hope that helps you understand a little more about how fire codes work.

 

[minnie61650]

..I'm just saying that in going to Disney for 17 years with a family of 5..this has been our experience. In that regard, I can't help but sympathize with the OP frustration with the limited number of accomodations on a value level(in the OP's case) or even those available in a moderate level. ....

As a mother of 4 (All grown now. My oldest is in her 30's and my youngest is 22) I often wished Disney had more options for larger families.
When the children were younger and we would go to Disney they did not have DVC or the family suites. In fact Disney did not have a Moderate until CBR opened in the late 1980's so if we wanted to stay onsite we either rented 2 rooms at a deluxe or stayed in the cabins.

I wrote to Disney many times (at least 50 letter) over the years asking for more options for families so when I heard they were building the New Family Suites at All Star Music it just made me so happy!

 

[BrerRabbit_fan]

The fire code thing is important but consider this. My friend went with her dh and three kids 4-8. She had to get two rooms and she did because she is honest. She was not letting them sleep alone in a room, nor was she sleeping in one room and her dh in the other. At the end, they all piled into one room (three kids in one bed, adults in the other) and the second room was left empty.

 

[CanadianGuy]

The fire code thing is important but consider this. My friend went with her dh and three kids 4-8. She had to get two rooms and she did because she is honest. She was not letting them sleep alone in a room, nor was she sleeping in one room and her dh in the other. At the end, they all piled into one room (three kids in one bed, adults in the other) and the second room was left empty.

And that means the occupancy of the BUILDING .. stayed at a safe level.

it's not just about the room safety.. it's about the exterior (or interior) hallways, stairwells, doorways and distance to safety...

There are SO many variables here.. It's tough to compute them all

 

[lucigo]

As a family of 6 it was cheaper for us to get two rooms at a value than to get the ASFMu suite. Another issue is that the ASFMu suites fill up fast and aren't available unless you plan WAY in advance.

 

[carmiedog]

But as I said it is NOT room size that is most important in regards to fire safety. It has to do with the number of exits, the width of doorways, hallways, number of firewalls, and number of persons in the building.

Is there a reason that the lower levels of mods couldn't be for 5 people, since their doors exit directly outside without hallways or stairs? Is it just to make things simpler by keeping all room occupancy the same within one building, or is there a valid reason? Just curious. Thanks for the reply (Linda or anyone else)!

 

[CanadianGuy]

Is there a reason that the lower levels of mods couldn't be for 5 people, since their doors exit directly outside without hallways or stairs? Is it just to make things simpler by keeping all room occupancy the same within one building, or is there a valid reason? Just curious. Thanks for the reply (Linda or anyone else)!

Simplicity in booking and again - distance to safety plays a role. Those people on the lower levels would still have to contend with the congestion from the upper levels as they try to exit..

It's a complicated formula.

 

[tnmomof4]

I was wondering if you could tell me what rooms at CR can sleep 5?

I just read a post (#116) were someone got a room that slept 5.
http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=1701117&page=8d

I didn't know this. I have four kids and it would be so much fun for us to have a MK view at CR!!