Best resort to fit 5 that won't break the bank?

[anabelle]

I have two boys in college and a 16 year old girl. I am kind of at a loss as to where is the best place to stay. In years past we stayed at POR, but they are too big to stay in one room with us. My hubby is an onsite snob but will consider it if that is the only option we can afford.

I looked at a Family suite, but they are at the Values. We haven't gone in a couple of years, so aren't there more benefits now for staying at a Moderates?

Any advice?

Ana

 

[Mousemommy1]

I have two boys in college and a 16 year old girl. I am kind of at a loss as to where is the best place to stay. In years past we stayed at POR, but they are too big to stay in one room with us. My hubby is an onsite snob but will consider it if that is the only option we can afford.

I looked at a Family suite, but they are at the Values. We haven't gone in a couple of years, so aren't there more benefits now for staying at a Moderates?

Any advice?

Ana

Not sure what you mean by "benefits" but aside from the obvious amenity differences, all resorts have the same benefits.

The only difference is if you are looking to book Free Dining, the values only come with free quick service dining (but you can pay to upgrade that), whole moderates and deluxes come with regular dining.

Hope that helps!

 

[mickeynut1]

I have two boys in college and a 16 year old girl. I am kind of at a loss as to where is the best place to stay. In years past we stayed at POR, but they are too big to stay in one room with us. My hubby is an onsite snob but will consider it if that is the only option we can afford.

I looked at a Family suite, but they are at the Values. We haven't gone in a couple of years, so aren't there more benefits now for staying at a Moderates?

Any advice?

Ana

All of the deluxe resorts (with the exception of WL and AKL) accommodate 5 people in a standard room. With that said, a CR garden wing room would be the cheapest of the deluxe resorts. The CR rooms are among the largest of the deluxe resorts and all rooms come with a daybed. It's also on the monorail so it's convenient to MK, as well as to the Poly and GF for a variety of dining options. Your other options would be 2 rooms at any resort, a value family suite, or FW Cabins.

As far as benefits, all of the resorts have the same benefits (i.e., DME, EMH, etc), with some having more amenities (i.e., TS restaurants, additional transportation options, etc) than others. Good luck.

 

[lmhall2000]

Consider Old Key West villas, our family of five stayed there, if it matters...we have 6'3 son, 5'10 daughter and 5'7 daughter..we are at POR...never in the room so we do not care about tight fit, but you may consider wilderness cabins that fit 6 we liked Poly and Cont but they will run $1000-$1500 more for a week stay at their standard rates.

 

[kwdw]

I'd either do two rooms at a value or a family suite. With those ages, cheapest route is probably be two rooms at a value. And that would give those college boys some freedom to be, well, college age boys........

 

[anabelle]

It's been a while since I have been on the forum. But I had thought that WDW was going to add Fastpasses that you could get in advance. But the number varied with the level of resort. Did that never happen?

 

[maxiesmom]

It's been a while since I have been on the forum. But I had thought that WDW was going to add Fastpasses that you could get in advance. But the number varied with the level of resort. Did that never happen?

They are still testing Fast Pass +. But the whole thing about the level of resort determining how many FPs you would get has never happened.

OP--If you don't want to be all in one room, and don't like the value family suites, the next cheapest on site option would be a Fort Wilderness Cabin. There is a pull down in the living room area, and a regular bed and bunk beds in the bedroom. If you are willing you and your hubby could take the pull down and let the kids fight over who gets the regular bed and who gets a bunk bed. Or look into renting points for a DVC unit.

If you are thinking about going off site, will you have a car? I would never do off site without having a car along. We have stayed at Staybridge Suites LBV a few times, and there you would get all of the space you need. Plus a free continental breakfast.

 

[LibertyTree]

If you want the cheapest way, get 2 rooms at a Value. Its cheaper then the Value suites.

The Values are good hotels. The rooms are a bit smaller and they don't have queen beds like POR does now. But you're getting 2 rooms so that doesn't matter as much.

The Values still have good themeing and nice pools and good counter service restaurants.

 

[1000HappyWishes]

Coronado Springs has a family suite as well, and CSR is a mod.

 

[Eeyore's Wife]

One nice thing about the family suites is that they do not charge you an extra fee for more than two adults in the room. With two college boys for a week that adds up and I hate to spend money without a good return of value.

While the Art of Animation is a Value resort we find the menu offerings rather sophisticated and the grounds lovely. The two bathrooms and a bedroom for the adults is a great addition as well. The Master room offers a queen bed.

 

[anabelle]

One nice thing about the family suites is that they do not charge you an extra fee for more than two adults in the room. With two college boys for a week that adds up and I hate to spend money without a good return of value.

While the Art of Animation is a Value resort we find the menu offerings rather sophisticated and the grounds lovely. The two bathrooms and a bedroom for the adults is a great addition as well. The Master room offers a queen bed.

We stayed at a Value one time. It was one of the All Stars. We added a day and couldn't get the same resort. It seemed like to me that the bus stop was absolutely crazy. I was so glad we had a car that time. AoA looks beautiful from the road. We have never strolled the grounds.
How are the buses at AoA?

TIA
Ana

 

[anabelle]

Consider Old Key West villas, our family of five stayed there, if it matters...we have 6'3 son, 5'10 daughter and 5'7 daughter..we are at POR...never in the room so we do not care about tight fit, but you may consider wilderness cabins that fit 6 we liked Poly and Cont but they will run $1000-$1500 more for a week stay at their standard rates.

Are any of your kids over 18? Will Disney let 4 adults and a teen in a POR room?

 

[maxiesmom]

We stayed at a Value one time. It was one of the All Stars. We added a day and couldn't get the same resort. It seemed like to me that the bus stop was absolutely crazy. I was so glad we had a car that time. AoA looks beautiful from the road. We have never strolled the grounds.
How are the buses at AoA?

TIA
Ana

Can I ask what seemed crazy? Typically the value resort bus stops are the most organized, and they have actual queues. The moderate and deluxe resorts don't have them at the resorts, only at the parks.

The Pop is bigger than any All Star resort, so if one of the All Star's queues seemed crazy, then the Pop won't be any better, and may seem a little worse. However, when I have stayed at value resorts, the line moved fairly quickly.

 

[dpswift]

We stayed at a Value one time. It was one of the All Stars. We added a day and couldn't get the same resort. It seemed like to me that the bus stop was absolutely crazy. I was so glad we had a car that time. AoA looks beautiful from the road. We have never strolled the grounds.
How are the buses at AoA?

TIA
Ana

AoA is great! It is slightly more upscale than the other values but it is still a value. The buses are crazy busy at prime times, other than that they are not bad. The bus stops at the parks are a long walk however.

We spend very little time in our room so for us it works out well.

Paula

 

[Eeyore's Wife]

OP,

We have found the bus system at AoA to be on par with POP Century but better than All Stars. The worst bus situation we experienced was at Deluxe resorts where we picked up multiple resorts each and every time and it took far longer to get to Downtown Disney and Animal Kingdom than we experienced with the values.

That was a big surprise for us.

As to fast passes, those are not linked to the kind of resort you book. Everyone is still on a level playing field in that area.

While it is Legal to put four adults and a teen in the POR rooms, I would NOT do it. I love family togetherness, but that would be very difficult with small adults and impossible with tall adults.

Some people really love the cabins, but we were not that happy with them. It has only one bathroom and with five adults that was difficult. In addition, the "big" beds were full size, not queen.

 

[anabelle]

Hmm, two rooms at POR are about the same price as the Family suite at AoA. I might do that

 

[maxiesmom]

Hmm, two rooms at POR are about the same price as the Family suite at AoA. I might do that

Are you sure? I know it depends on when you are going, but just taking a quick peak at the cheapest rate shows one AoA suite at $252 a night. Two rooms at POR would be $324, and an suite at the All Star Music would be only $202 a night.

 

[anabelle]

Are you sure? I know it depends on when you are going, but just taking a quick peak at the cheapest rate shows one AoA suite at $252 a night. Two rooms at POR would be $324, and an suite at the All Star Music would be only $202 a night.

The family suite was showing $430 per night for my date and POR was $220 per night. It would be great to get it at $252 per night. Maybe I am too far out to get a deal.

 

[CampbellScot]

We prefer beach club and stay there whenever possible. But the kiddos have gotten much too big for us all to be in one room. Last summer we made a last minute trip, beach club was booked after doing some math and comparing and contrasting...we ended up at All Star Sports with two adjoining rooms. It actually worked out quite nicely. The kids had their own bathroom and own beds and TV. At the end of the day it was nice for grown ups to have some space and the 13 and 10 year old to have their own space. I couldn't believe myself when I said "I am not so much missing Beach Club at the moment..." (I had to eat those words a bit unfortunately when I got very ill and was sick in bed for three days! THEN I was missing Beach Club a bit...)

Don't count out the values. If you are out in the parks all day anyway, they really are just a place to lay your head. And you save some cash. Win Win!!

(super thrilled to be heading back to Beach Club in November though!)