Advice for a family of 5 - first DL trip

[mickeysgal]

We are a family of 5 - DS(16), DD(14), and DS(11). We have gone to WDW since they were babies. We've tried to go to DL several times over the past years, but due to other circumstances, it always got put on the back burner. We are now determined to go before the kids get any older and have a few planning questions. Since our kids are older, we need a hotel room that gives us plenty of space and can sleep all of us comfortably. Any suggestions? We also want to go when Pirates is back up and running. We wouldn't think of missing it. So, is summer crowds as bad as WDW can be? Will we be miserable fighting the crowds and getting on rides? We have a fall break in October that we would consider as our travel dates, but would we miss the celebration?

 

[Judy from Boise]

October is a nice time to travel, but yes the celebration ends in September. If you need to come in the summer, later is better so you do not bump into "grad nights"

 

[Rivergallery]

As for hotel rooms Others may have some ideas, but
Embassy Suites Anahiem South can do it all in one room, with the pull out couch, we ended up with niece 7 on the couch, Grandpa 50something on the matteress on the floor, Me and DS 3 on one bed, my sister who is used to her california king on the other bed.
You and Dh might want to share.. or split up depending on how you sleep the beds are a bit small not sure if they were queens or doubles. but if you sleep with dd and the boys take the front room dad can have the bed to himself... for example.
Has all you can eat complimentary breakfast that starts at 6am, continental breakfast like cereal and muffins and fruit is set out at 4am. We ate there every morning and I took a bagel and jam with some fruit to go.. plus DS took his fruit loops .. I would suggest a place that serves a big breakfast.. I know Candy Cane Inn does also. ... because feeding those older boys will be hard on your wallet .
We used the ART and it ran every 20min and the stop was right out the front door about 15ft.

Others we thought of
Residence Inn and Suites .. you can get a kitchen
Park Inn and Suites
Tropicana with a suite upgrade (this was our original choice with a kitchen but our reservation for the suite wasn't confirmed which I found out at the last minute.. we booked via a travel agent so not sure where the fault lies)

 

[ZeusNike]

We stayed in a very reasonable suite at the Park Inn Anaheim (make sure that is the one...there are lots with similar names) on Harbour Boulevard. The suite only had one bathroom but it had a kitchenette, living room with a queen bed and a double pull out couch and a bedroom with 2 queen size beds. There were 3 adults and 2 teenagers with us and there was plenty of room. The place was clean, the staff was pleasant, the pool is up on the deck and you can see the fireworks from it, they include a continental breakfast and it is an easy walk to the front gates. We would definitely stay there again if we needed the space. Usually there are 3 of us so we go with the Candy Cane Inn (they only have regular rooms).

 

[Dale-n-Chip]

I've seen mixed reviews of the Anaheim Desert Inn & Suites, but our stay in mid-December was just fine. Not the Ritz, mind you, but a lot of space for a very reasonable amount of money. Clean and comfortable. The C-2 suite had only one door, but it was much like two connected rooms, each with two queen beds and a full bath (total: 4 beds and 2 baths). One of the rooms had an "eating area" (translated: two chairs and a very small eating table) and the other had a "sitting area" (translated: tv, coffee table and not very comfortable sofa that probably folded out). That type of suite also had a mini-fridge and microwave. Standard dorm fare. Check out: http:www.anaheimdesertinn.com.

We stayed in mid-Dec for $129/weeknight. I think Friday would have been $189.

We didn't try the continental breakfast since DH and DFather are "hot breakfast" kind of guys and we had Denny's and IHOP on either side of us. DMom, DS and I ate powdered sugar donuts in the room and were happy.

Location was excellent, almost directly across from walkway on Harbor. Couldn't have gotten much closer.

We would definitely consider staying there again with five (4 adults and a five year-old this time).

Happy planning!

 

[carinv]

We went in November 2005 and stayed in a 'home office' room in building 2 at Howard Johnson's.
It was a corner room and therefore an unusual shape, but that made it bigger than normal. It also had a microwave and trailmix and bottled water were left by housekeeping every day.
We are a family of 5 amd our kids are nearly the same ages as yours (DS15, DD 13, DD11) and were really comfortable in this room.
It had 2 queen beds and a roll away (DS slept on that!) and we only paid $80 per night.

It was the cheapest and most comfortable hotel during our 3 weeks in the US!

We also didn't find feeding the family as expensive as we anticipated, even though we did have 1 character meal and BBY for lunch once.
We had breaky in the room McDonalds on Harbor sells some really yummy salads for only about $4 something, cheap and healthy.
we found that we were so tired that we weren't that hungry most of the time.

 

[manchurianbrownbear]

We stayed at the Best Western Park Place Inn this past summer and our family was very comfortable in their suites. And, the hotel is right across the street from the park entrance! You can’t beat the convenience.

We were at DLR on August 1,2,3 and didn’t think the crowds were bad. Our last couple trips to WDW have been during the first week of November and DLR was a little more crowded than the WDW crowds we encountered, but not significantly so.