Been away from the boards for a while & need help

[Minnie's Mate]

I have been away from the boards for a while and a co-worker asked me for help. He wants to take his family of 5 (youngest child is 5) to WDW in mid-June for 5 days. He wants to stay on property if he can and would probably (?) like the MYW package. What would be his best bet? I know the AP rates aren't out and traditionally haven't covered this time of the summer and probably wouldn't pay for itself for a 4-5 night stay. I also know there are few options for a family of five unless one of the children is under three and can sleep in a pack-n-play. Staying off property may be the cheapest, but I think he wants this once in a life-time trip to be on property.

Would a AAA rate for a family suite at the All Stars be his best bet (mousesavers.com shows $270/night without tickets) or will there be a better price on a deluxe or DVC for a 1 bedroom villa during that time. AAA would save him, what, $40.50/night or yield $229.50/night. He doesn't want to take his kids out of school and doesn't want to go in July or August because of the heat. Schools start here in mid-August so later in the summer is out, too.

Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

 

[helenk]

With a family of 5 he can also stay at the POR as there is a trundle bed for the 5th person.
An AP would not be cost effective, his best bet would be to book with a AAA discount. Usually the AAA discount is pretty good, for my 5 night stay at the CSR I only saved $25 for the entire stay when I changed from AAA to the AP rate. Now with the getting the AAA discount for a package you must go through a AAA agency. You can book a room only discount by going through WDW but not a package.
You can also tell him to watch these boards because if WDW does offer a discount for their timeframe he will know and then call his TA and see if he can get any codes or discounts applied to his existing reservation.

 

[Gracesmom]

We traveled as a family of 5, 3 adults and 2 kids and stayed at the fort wilderness cabins. They were wonderful. Mousesavers.com has a pretty good list of discount codes that may be available for use during your stay. The cabin has a bedroom with a double bed and 2 bunk beds, the main area has a bed that pulls down from the wall. Everything was very comfortable and the extra fun things at the campground were great. They have camp fires and roast marshmellows with characters, watch movies, plus you can take the boat to magic kingdom instead of the bus. The electric water parade goes past the campground too. I would recommend watching for a deal to stay in the cabins!