Booking for large party Please help me

[PartyofSix]

We have me & Dh,10 yo dd, 2,2,2 yo girls and the nanny and sil in our party. It use to be so easy finding a room for just the three of us. This has created quite a headache for me trying to find accomodations for 4 adults 4 kids. We are either going to have to find a two rooms or book a suite. My dh really wants to stay on property and really wants a monorail resort. With the triplets he wants convience overall. I had book a home with 5 bedrooms 2miles off property but now he's leaning toward this. I know that the CR has rooms for 134.00 a night through expedia.com but it would take three to make sure the girls have a room to themselves (they are on a strict schedule and go to bed at 7:30 till 8:30 with naps at 1 til 3 in the evenings) My question is has any one had exp. with large suites at the deluxes and know of a decent or doable rate or make a onsite with connecting rooms that will allow three rooms connecting? Please help I have to cancel the house in a few days if I find something or loose my deposit. Our dates are June 29th-July 6th. We are flexible with the dates as we have our own business. I'd really like to stay home till July 3rd myself. So any tips advise? Thanks so much.

 

[Janet2k]

If you want a monorail resort, then a suite is definitely an option for you. You'll need at least a two-bedroom suite: master bedroom for you & spouse, second bedroom for your children, and parlor room for your sister-in-law and nanny (there is a sofa sleeper in the parlor). At least that is one option for sleeping arrangements. If you want an Epcot resort, then I would point you at the BWV and at least a two-bedroom villa (master bedroom for you & spouse), second bedroom for your children, living room for your sister-in-law and nanny (sofa sleeper). If your sister-in-law and nanny don't want to share a sofa sleeper, then request a rollaway bed at the monorail resort (I don't know if that is possible at a DVC resort, however).

I have photos of some of the WDW suites that I have stayed in here in Janet2k's On-Line Photo Album. If you have any questions, ask away or PM me.

 

[Janet2k]

Here's the link to the Disney's BWV Guest Rooms.

 

[Janet2k]

I am going to point you at two places that should be able to help you with your quandry -- Dreams Unlimited Travel (the owner of this website) and their new discount travel service, DISavers. If you want a full-service travel agency, Dreams is a good one (in my humble opinion). If you want to save some money, their new service called DISavers is another good one (again, in my humble opinion). Dreams handled my last WDW vacation and DISavers is handling my upcoming Grand Floridian Grand Plan vacation. They are very experienced with all types of Disney vacations, and thus I think the Dreams arm would probably give you the most help since you seem to be a WDW newbie (forgive me if my assumption is incorrect). If you are a WDW pro like I am and know exactly what you want and know how to get it, then DISavers is a service for you. Here are the links to both Dreams Unlimited Travel's website and DISavers' website.

By the way, I work in the high-tech field and have nothing to do with the travel industry. I'm just pointing you towards those two services since I have used them myself and have been very happy with them. Again, this is all my humble opinion and others' opinions, as it should be, might vary.

 

[susy]

I wouldn't count on the kids being on a strict schedule when away from home (especially at WDW). Our DS hasn't napped in over a year, but did both days of our weekend trip. The suite is a good idea (is there 2 bathrooms?) or you could have two rooms (request connecting) with DH, you, older daughter and one younger in your room and SIL , nanny and two other little ones in another room. You will have to be flexible with the kids bedtimes. I would just do early dinners or do sit-down lunches (a nice break) and then have an early counter service dinner at your resort. You can always get the little ones to sleep (I don't know how many of you this will take) and then everyone- except for one person -can go out again. You can rotate each night, so that each adult takes a turn staying with the sleeping kids.

We thought it would be hard to get our DS to sleep in the room (since he was so excited), but we just turned out the lights and all got in bed and he was asleep in minutes!

I would try to stay on the monorail with all the stollers,etc. and try not to get bogged down taking so many things to the parks. Take just what you need for that morning or evening and restock your diaper bag as needed.

Please relax and enjoy yourself. Have fun!!!!! Maybe each adult can be responsible for one child (give each other breaks, too!) as far as dressing, feeding,etc.

 

[PartyofSix]

I do plan on sticking as close as possible to the schedule the kids demand it. They don't get out much, it's so hard to "do' errands with people constantly stopping you. I hope at WDW we just blend in and are not an attraction like we are at home. My kids have never seen a wal-mart or grocery store in their two short years. I was hoping to get them to the parks in the a.m. and be out till 12 or so then hop back to the resort for a refuel for everybody. And me and dh and sil will take my 10 out for the evenings again. The kiddie's will be in with the Nanny. BTW Janet thank you so much for the pictures and sharing that with me. Those are just wonderful. And thanks for your advice. Are there any deals on suites? I will check on the Dreams idea, but if you can get a deal on suites, well what is a deal?LOL Yes, you were right I'm a newbie. I've been to disney on a day trip offsite once. This is a totally new thing for me. I am excited to plan our first offical vacation. Last year we all went to Daytona and crammed into there penthouse suite (1br) two rollaways and pullout with three cribs in the room. We made it through but never again. Which I remember why we did that, Daddy was paying.LOL Wow this is harder than i thought. Thanks to you both though for advising me so quickly you guys are wonderful here.

 

[TigrLvsPooh]

You need a villa! Either a 2 bedroom villa or a grand villa (3 bedrooms). As a mother of a 2 year old and a 10 month old, I can't see anything else making sense for your family.

If you go over to the main Disney World website you can check out the floor plans for the "Home Away from Home" resorts. Boardwalk Villas, Villas at Wilderness Lodge, Old Key West, and the new Beach Club Villas.

The 2 bedroom at OKW has a master bedroom with a king bed, another bedroom with 2 queens, and a living room with a pull-out sleeper sofa. Are the triplets sleeping in beds or cribs? Our villa at OKW had 2 porta-cribs, which might come in handy if you need them. They will also provide bedrails if you need them.

Good Luck!

 

[PartyofSix]

The two bigger of my triplets are in toddler beds (or on the floor LOL) my smaller girl is in a crib still. She has medical needs and is not sitting yet so she will get a pack and play or such. They all go down at the same time so it's important that they have a private room so the nanny can stay in the living area to watch t.v. and hang out and my 9 yo will sleep anywhere's and my sil has no sleeping pref. a couch or floor will do her. She's just happy to go.

 

[chris1gill]

Okay, given your needs, I'd have to recommend one of the following three resorts: Beach Club Villa's, Boardwalk Villa's or Villa's at Wilderness Lodge. It sounds like you could get a 2 bedroom unit... The second bedroom in the Boardwalk Villa's has a queen with a pullout queen sofa, this might actually be better for you as you could leave the sofa in tact & use that room for the pack & plays... Both Wilderness & Beach club offer second bedrooms with 2 queens or the queen/sofa combination... just make sure you specify which kind you'd like... Beach club actually opens July 1st, so you'd be staying in a totally new resort...

The EPCOT resorts (Beach Club & Boardwalk) are extremely convenient to EPCOT or MGM & bus transportation to MK & AKL is very good.... Wilderness has boat transportation to the MK, and busses elsewhere...

I would definitely stick with one of these villas, they have their own full kitchens AND a washer/dryer IN THE UNIT... I imagine this is important to you! It also has a whirlpool tub in the master bedroom & a bath off the second bedroom...

As for special deals, log right on to Expedia.com & do a DETAILED search for airport: MCO & enter keyword Disney... I know Beach Club is offering special rates... They aren't cheap, but for the convenience & amenities they are worth it! I think I remember the cash price of 450/nt, but I could be definitely wrong on that...

 

[halfway there]

You know the mantra in real estate: location, location, location.
Well, at WDW the monorail resorts are the place to be with small children (and you've got small children times three!!!)
Therefore, I would highly recommend a monorail resort whether you can get a suite or just two connecting rooms. It will be worth it in order to get the most out of the parks and still keep your girls on their schedule which seems important to you. Since you will probably spend most of your time at the MK, you can either walk or take the monorail as well as utilize some of the other resorts restaurants. Even with connecting rooms, when the younger ones need to go to sleep in one room, you can use the other for a living room until you're all ready to go to sleep.
I would explain your situation in the greatest detail and try for the best rate at either the Contemporary(my personal favorite), the Polynesian(mostly everyone else's favorite) or the Grand Floridian(may be the most expensive).
Have fun planning and let us know what you decide!

 

[Janet2k]

PartyofSix, there are never any deals on WDW suites, sad to say. And they are rather expensive. However, once you've joined the new DISavers service, you can save approximately 10% on the cost of the suite, which I think is wonderful (something is better than nothing!). If you go the DVC villa route, via DISavers you can also save approximately 10% on the cost of the villa (and that could be on top of potentially any discount rate that Disney may be offering for your vacation time period, so a discount on a discount is possible for a DVC villa).

A WDW two-bedroom suite is three rooms: two bedrooms and one parlor room. At the GF, in both of the two-bedroom suites that I have stayed in, all three of those rooms had full bathrooms. At the AKL, each of the bedrooms had a full bathroom (with the master bedroom having a huge master bathroom), and the parlor had a half-bathroom (toilet & sink). At the YC, each of the bedrooms had a full bathroom (with the master bedroom having a huge master bathroom), and the parlor had a half-bathroom (toilet & sink).

If you went to the link to the BWV that I gave above, you would have noticed that a two-bedroom villa is also three rooms: two bedrooms and a living room/kitchen area. There are only two bathrooms, however, since the living room/kitchen area share a bathroom with the master bedroom. A Grand Villa would be perfect for your party, however, they are almost impossible to book for any length of time for a non-DVC member since they are very limited in number and the members snatch them up at the 11-month mark (at 11 months in advance, a DVC member may reserve one in their home resort).

If you will be spending a lot of time in the Magic Kingdom and if you want a monorail resort, look into a two-bedroom or three-bedroom suite at the GF, Poly, or CR. If you will be spending a lot of time at Epcot and Disney-MGM Studios, look into a two-bedroom villa or a Grand Villa at the BoardWalk Villas or Beach Club Villas (they don't open until July). You could also look into a two-bedroom or three-bedroom suite at the Yacht Club, Beach Club, BoardWalk Inn, Swan or Dolphin. The Captains Deck Suite that I stayed in at the Yacht Club was approximately 2,400 square feet in size (it even had a limited kitchen area). There is an option to add a third bedroom to that suite, too (it comes with two bedrooms as a standard).

 

[Janet2k]

By the way, all WDW resorts (DVC included) now come standard with Graco Pack-n-Play portable cribs in their bedroom closets. Here is a photo of what I found in my AKL suite's closet: portable crib. If you need more than one of them, just let the resort know ahead of time (it shouldn't be a problem).

I don't know if the GF still offers a full-size crib upon request (we had one in our suite for my sister's baby a few years ago).

 

[RobinLyn]

I think staying at a Resort on the monorail is a must with the 2 year olds if you can afford it, and well worth the convenience. You could get two connecting or adjoining rooms at one of the 3 Resorts. This would give you 2 bathooms, (something most suites don't have) 4 Queen beds and possibilty daybeds. We did this for our up coming trip at YC. With all the specials out right now (check mousesavers.com) we paid $195 a night including all tax's per room. All 3 monorail Resorts are nice, Contemporary has Chef Mickeys the girls would love. Polynesian is one of my favorite places to stay and GF is so beautiful I plan to stay there one of our visits in the future. We have had dinner and breakfast there many times and just loved the place. I have to say July 4th will be a very crowded time to be at WDW. Good luck but most of all have a great time.

RobinLyn

 

[PartyofSix]

I called Disney Club and talked with a very nice lady there. She said there was a special on at AK Lodge for 124 sd rm per night, then she told me those were all gone so she could do 30% off any room I wanted and a Deluxe would be 171 garden view and 187 savannah view. No Suites were avail. Then she checked the grand FL No suites avail. could do gardenview for 255 a night each room. Don't know if that's with a code or what she checked. Then she told me the CR was sold out because I had seen the 134 a room rate there. The Poly garden view was 232.00 per night. I'm so confused! None of them had suites avail. As for the Beach Villas I have'nt found info on them yet. I checked Hard Rock as an alt. for July 4th and 5th and the run 199 per night, but then I see everyone say it's not small kid friendly so here I am stuck pondering again. I'm running out of time. I am gonna be stuck with the house the whole trip I wanted valet parking and someone to fuss at for more pillows dang it. LOL

 

[halfway there]

I feel for you PartyofSix!
My advice would be to keep trying. Call every number you have for WDW. I'm not sure what Disney Club is but I'm assuming some kind of discount thing. There are some great rates for this summer with a bunch of special codes. There were a lot of posts about them a few days back so if you have time to do a little research...? Also, check mousesavers.com and Deb's site for codes. There are links to some sites in other posts but I can't lay my fingers on them at the moment.
It is difficult to work your way through this maze of info esp if it's your first time. Just don't give up and keep thinking about what you really want and you will make it happen!!

 

[Janet2k]

PartyOf6, I needed a two-bedroom suite at the GF for my entire stay, but could only get it for all but two nights. For those last two nights, I booked a one-bedroom suite and a concierge room (I figured it was as close as I could get to what I needed). Then, a few days before my vacation was to begin, I called WDW to see what other two-bedroom suites were available anywhere on property. They only had one two-bedroom suite available for the nights that I needed, and it was at the Yacht Club (the Captains Deck Suite). I took it. I figured that if I had to change rooms within the GF, I might as well change resorts, too. That resort hopping would give my family & guests the best of both worlds -- the Magic Kingdom for the beginning portion of our trip, and Epcot & Disney Studios for the tail portion of our trip.

I don't know if you would consider resort hopping, but you could either try to get some kind of room combination within your resort of choice, or see about getting what you want at one resort, and then switching over to another resort for the rest of your stay. There were seven people in my party (supposed to have been nine but my parents had to cancel at the last minute). Three of those people were little kids. Everyone looked at it as an adventure. Me, too, since I had never stayed at the Yacht Club before and had always wanted to try Stormalong Bay. Just thought I'd mention all this so that you wouldn't feel too terribly alone in not finding exactly what you need! Please consider contacting Dreams Unlimited Travel to see what they can find for your group's vacation dates and price range. You're in need of some expert travel agent help since your deadline is looming. I'll keep my fingers crossed that you can pull off an on-site stay as it seems to be what you really want and need.

 

[chris1gill]

I'd still get the info on the Boardwalk & Beach Club Villa's, I checked expedia this morning & they had availability at the Beach Club 2 bedroom villa for 435/night (if you check in on 7/4 - prior to that check in date it's 590/night), that's far below what most suites would cost & you'd have a washer/dryer.... You can go to http://dvc.disney.go.com/disneyvacationclub/resorts/resortshomeindex & do a video tour of the resorts. Good luck!

 

[PartyofSix]

okay chris you have got me hooked now. I'm gonna check into this further. I know your just helping me but how does a villa work at Disney. Can you get your rooms cleaned? Can you order room service from them? And how in the world do you find the darn thing?LOL Looks like it is near Epcot like by the Boardwalk it says they share pools is that what you saw? Looks like it butts in between the YC and the BW. Do you know how Expedia works? I've been thinking of booking with them. Any suggestions on that. Thanks for the help.

 

[chris1gill]

Hi Tammy,

We're hooked on the villa's too LOL... You will get full housekeeping & room service is available at both BCV & BWV... although I would suspect you won't need room service as there are plenty of restaurants at the BC & BW... But, many people rent the villa's on cash, it's nothing unusual & you will be treated just like any other cash paying guest at any other resort... The BCV's actually sit to the side of the existing BC/YC resort... All the facilities of the existing BC will be available to you at the BCV's...

Too book on Expedia, go to www.expedia.com & click the top heading for "HOTELS", then, under where you enter your dates, there is a link for "more search options", click that. Then, right next to "TOP DESTINATIONS" click the link for "NEAR A PLACE", then click the button for "Near an airport" & enter "MCO" in the space... then enter your dates & where it says "Lodging name contains" enter "DISNEY", you'll bring up all Disney resorts.... look for the Beach Club Villa's... If you check in before 7/4 the price is 590, but if you check in on 7/4 it's only 435.00...

I'd definitely go with a unit with a washer/dryer & kitchen considering your needs... the 2 bedroom unit will get you that... plus the luxury of the washer dryer...

I almost forgot, you can book these right through Central Reservations, just like any other resort... Go to www.mousesavers.com & see what codes are available... maybe CRO can give you that 435.00 rate...

 

[kityrussell]

Hopefully you will have better luck than we did with booking the BCV on Expedia. We went through the entire process (entering in billing info, etc) and when we hit the "Process reservation", they said no availability. So we ended up just calling the CRO and got a 2brdm at OKW because they also said "no availability" at BCV. Disappointed because we really like the Epcot proximity but we have to have a 2bdrm for 5 adults.

Course this was for August but be aware that although Expedia sometimes says there's availability, sometimes there is not. You have to go through the booking process to find out for sure.

However, I will say I have booked with Expedia before and they are fine to deal with if you can get the room you want.