Advice on sleeping in the same room...

[tomkatgirl]

Hey everyone,

We are planning a trip for August to POP or ASMu (still undecided) and I am concerned about us all sleeping in one room - We have 3 children who will be 20 mos, almost 4 yr, and 14 yrs - the little ones go to bed so early and we like to stay up. I'm just wondering if you guys think it would be a good investment to get connecting rooms, so they can have their peace and quiet at bedtime.

I'm sure you have all have experience with this - I'd just hate to get there and my little ones not tolerate the TV/lights on in the room when they want to be sleeping.

Any advice is so much appreciated!

BTW - love this forum!

 

[lovesdumbo]

I'm planning my 3rd trip with DH, 3 kids and very good friend. We get one room at the Poly-this will be our last time doing this as the younges will be 3 next January. I find the kids are so tired that they'll sleep through anything. We are pretty tired too and end up going to bed earlier than we do at home. You only need 1 adult in the room when the younger ones go to bed. But there would be other plusses to a 2nd room like a 2nd TV, room for a pack n play and best of all a 2nd bathroom.

 

[cbrfan]

I didn't think they allowed 5 people at the Value resorts. Either way, I think you'd be much better off with 2 connecting rooms. After the little ones go to bed you and your DH can enjoy a little "downtime" before bed.

 

[lovesdumbo]

I didn't think they allowed 5 people at the Value resorts. Either way, I think you'd be much better off with 2 connecting rooms. After the little ones go to bed you and your DH can enjoy a little "downtime" before bed.

As long as one is under 3 your OK. That is how we have 6 in a deluxe.

 

[tomkatgirl]

Lovesdumbo, thanks for the advice. I'm wondering if my kids will also just be so beat they'll go right to sleep? Probably! Is it really worth another $700 for the second room?

Anyone else with experiences to share?

Thanks!

Kathy

 

[MrsPete]

I suggest a pop-up tent and sleeping bags for the little ones. That gives the teenager his own bed, and you "old folks" can keep the lights on for a while after the little ones are huddled down in their tent.

I'd let them practice sleeping in the tent at home.
This might be hard to pull off since you're staying in Disney's smallest hotel rooms.

 

[cbrfan]

As long as one is under 3 your OK. That is how we have 6 in a deluxe.

Good to know!!

 

[Evil Queen]

Last March we did 4 in a room and we all kept different hours.

We were pretty much able to sleep through the lights, TV and noises. We were that tired.

Helps that at home there is always lights on, TV's going or something. I work days and DS works nights.

 

[Nini]

If you are thinking of the "tent" route, might I suggest the "Sun Stopr' Quick Cabana"...I purchased for the beach a couple of years back (from babies r us I think) and it has served us well many many times! We did use it on the beach for more than one baby (at the time) and it would definately fit a minimum of 2 toddlers...my dd3 is tall and she could have plenty of room w/another 4yr old in with her! Right now, we use it as a "tent" in the living room for dd3 to play in (we're crating our puppy and she was upset that he had a tent and she didn't). It has a "floor" (not hard) and pops up with just a pull on two strings!!!! It goes down w/a tap on the button on the top and folds up to be very compact. It is approx. 38" square...not too large, but not too small.

Just had to give the info on my cabana...we ALL love it!!!!!!

 

[Mari annie]

We have two kids now 16 & 11 and have been going since they were infants-
bring a couple night lights, that helps instead of bright lights.

My dd brings her dvd with headphones and my son his Cd w/headphones or vise versa.
This is a great idea.

The kids sleeping bags/tent ideas are great too.

Have fun on your trips!!

pixie dust to all!!

less than 3 weeks to return to see Mickey and gang!!!
YIPEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEee

 

[SqueakyMouse]

I generally fall asleep before my kids!!!

 

[tomkatgirl]

Thanks to everyone! I think we have decided to go for just one room and save our money for the Parks! I am thinking about getting a crib delivered for the room, though. My DS 20 mos loves his crib to sleep in. I saw a thread re: cribs and it looks like that will work great. Maybe when their a year or so older I'll do the tent idea, because I think they would love the idea of that!

Thanks again!
Kathy

 

[crazymomof4]

I'm replying here at the risk of sounding like a kook!

My first 2 trips to WDW with kids were when DS#1 was 7 mo old and then the next one was when DS#2 was 12 mo. So I understand your concern. I thought about it a lot before the trip and this is what I came up with.:

We had a ceramic heater that you could put on "fan" - no heat. It made a nice "white noise" humming sound. We took that along.

In hotel rooms I would put the pack n play (portacrib) inside the closet area and tie or drape a bedspread over the hanger rod to create darkness and a visual block. We'd stick the ceramic heater (on fan) close by and it really helped drown out some of the noise in the room. We would turn off the lights and turn down the TV until the baby was asleep and then slowly turn it up until we could hear it.

Sounds crazy now, the extremes we went to. But it worked! Baby slept and we watched a bit of TV and enjoyed a little dessert and quiet time.

 

[D L and K's Mom]

i know this sounds bad but....we put the crib in the bathroom and DD slept there. It was quiet and she was asleep by the time we all got ready for bed...she slept through us using the bathroom. Now that she is older we rent a crib from A Baby's Best Friend and since there are 5 of us we get 2 rooms.

 

[maxaroni]

My experience is that everyone is really so tired that the lights/tv don't really matter to anyone. My ds goes to sleep very easily in WDW. I think that you are on the go so much and if you go when it is hot, the heat wears you out, too.

 

[disneychrista]

One option would be to have one parent (assuming that there are two) take the older child to the arcade or swimming (don't let the younger ones know where they are going) and have the other parent get the little ones to sleep. That way it is quieter for the little ones.

 

[tomkatgirl]

Thanks for the good advice everyone. I am wondering too if I can get a crib set up in a value resort instead of the pack-n-play. Are the rooms large enough?

Thanks!
Kathy

 

[billelissa]

Have you considered staying off property? Country Inns and Suites in LBV has a Kids Suite room that has a king bed for the parents and a partitioned area with a bunk bed for the kids. You would have room for either a pack n play or crib by the king bed also. All rooms have free high speed internet access. The kids partitioned area has a desk, cd boombox, and tv with a Playstation with games available from the front desk. The room price is generally between $90 to $110 per night with AAA discount. The hotel is about 10 minutes from the parks and less than 5 minutes from Downtown Disney but it would mean renting a vehicle if you're not already driving there. We stayed there this past February and will stay there again this July. We love the fact that the hotel is next Tony Roma's and Steak 'N Shake! The hotel also offers complimentary breakfast which includes coffee, tea, juices, bagels, toast, muffins, cereal, fruit, waffles and more. You can load up every morning at the hotel and save money instead of eating breakfast on property which can be expensive for a family of 4 or more. I know there is Magic staying on property but the Magic is costly! My wife told me that if she couldn't stay at the Wilderness Lodge or better, she'd rather stay at the Country Inns and Suites. Being that we still haven't won the Mega Millions Lottery, we will be staying at the Country Inns and Suites!

 

[lbgraves]

My kids have always been able to fall asleep when they are tired. I could even transfer them from the car seat to the bed without a blink of an eye. We have always used one room when we travel with no problem. They even fell asleep in the smaller space of the stateroom on The Magic without any trouble. I vote to save the money & have more fun.