Calling families of 5 or more!!!

[MouseFan71]

We are a family of 5, myself 36, DH 34, DD 6, DD 4 and DS 3. We have been to WDW several times with DD's but this year we will bringing our son for the first time!!! We have opted for 2 rooms at POP but also considered the trundle room at POR, we decided not to stay at POR because of Pop Warner week. I'm just wandering how families of 5 or more keep WDW affordable? We would love to stay at a deluxe but it's just not an option unless we get a 40% off code or a great bounceback deal. Has anyone received a great deal on a deluxe or tried the Wildreness cabins? I'm starting to think about DVC but DH doesn't even want to talk about right now .

 

[dixie47]

We had good luck renting DVC points and staying in a 2bdrm at the Boardwalk.

We used the DVC Rental board here.

 

[snowmouse]

We go for a longer stay and use an AP discount on rooms. We also eat breakfast in our room most days and keep snacks and water on hand (we rarely eat snacks from the park). Also, because our kids are older (17,17 and 11), we allow them to order pizza or get fast food at the resort. We then go out to dinner by ourselves, probably saving about $75 per meal (teenage boys are VERY expensive to feed). We usually fly on airline miles, too. These odds and ends allow us to spend a bit more on the resort.

 

[mbcary]

I am not a family of five, but have you considered the All Star Music suites? They are suitable for a family of five. Here is some information about them.

http://www.wdwinfo.com/wdwinfo/Resorts/asm-suite-review.html
http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=1733463

I hope this helps!

 

[disneysnob]

We've been driving down from Boston the last few times we've gone. Our next trip in Aug. we'll also be driving. It's a long ride , but we're used to it. The kids keep themselves entertained with the dvd player, gameboys....Also, we stay offsite in a 2 bedroom villa (Vistana) for a week...really good prices, then we add on 3 or 4 nights at a Disney resort-just to get our "inside disney" fix !This year we lucked out and got a 30% off at the GF!!! Other times, we have rented points, on this site and on ebay, for DVC villas-1 bedroom (They do allow 5 in a one bedroom, but you have to provide your own bedding for the 5th person..i.e. no rollaways) We've used our air mattress and also, when the kids were younger/smaller at OKW 2 slept on the pullout couch and 1 slept on the loveseat. Having the kitchen (and washer/dryer) was also a plus. We would go food shopping (Publix is close by) on the first day, and get tuna, deli meats, cereal, pickies.....so breakfast & lunch were usually back at the room. We've always gone in the summer months, so we'd need the mid-afternoon break to swim/relax then we'd go back to the parks in the late afternoon. Good luck with your decisions.....

 

[Aliceacc]

I drove myself crazy last summer trying to decide among the fairly limited options. I was all set to book the Family Suite at All Star Music.

Then, on a whim, I checked the Contemporary, just to see.

With the AAA discount (15% I think) during Value Season, we really could save quite a bit of money. It was still WAY more than it would have been if we could have stayed at a Value like a family of 4, but it wasn't really as much as I suspected it would be.

Then I kept going back to the image of a tired 5 year old in the Magic Kingdom, desperately needing a nap or a swim, and the image of being able to WALK/carry/stroller her back to the resort, regardless of the crowds. We booked it. Looking at the big picture of all the money we would be spending, it seemed worth the difference.

(Then of course we were lucky enough to get that 40% PIN code, and switched to the Poly )

Run the numbers, just to see.

 

[Jeanine3kids]

We are also a family of 5 and we were having these problems as well and my DH said the only way to keep affording WDW was to buy DVC and it is probably one of the best investments we have made for our family.

 

[Allieloopy]

We were a family of four last year and I thought it was pricey then. So we plan a new trip and surprise! one of my former foster kids came back into the system for adoption and they called us (thank goodness).
So now we are a family of 5 too (if you include our other former foster daughter who we just can't leave out!) So we two adults and three princessess.

Since I had a 30% discount card I tried to get AS Family Suites but they were booked for our time in August. So we got two connecting rooms in AS Sports. If we were going to have the microwave we were going to skip the meal plan and live on ravioli, ramen and sandwiches!

The kids are excited about having their own room and I am excited about not having to watch that Disney promo channel over and over and over. (Why they don't have a channel playing Disney classics I'll never know.) Plus two bathrooms rules.
And really after 8 days last time the two 8 year olds started fighting about sleeping in the same bed and the room became pretty cramped.



With the groceries we had delivered last year we ate breakfast in our room most days so we could get to park opening. We had a stryofoam cooler delivered and we filled it up with ice every morning when we left.
That way our milk and pop stayed cold. (Because
Disney doesn't do Pepsi so I had that delivered too!)

I enjoy reading the Dis boards and have got a lot of valuable hints but we took too much that we didn't really need. Since we want to go with carry ons only this time I won't include glowsticks, ponchos, and large travel books (although I am bringing a laptop this year.)

When we wore our ponchos we got so hot and steamy inside of them we decided to just tough it out. Then it would stop raining and we got dry. So I'm not gonna stress about it this year. The glowsticks and little fairy dust presents are nice but my kids were just overwhelmed with Disney so we are skipping that.

We are also NOT buying park tickets for each day of our stay. We are going for 10 days so 7 or 8 day tickets should be fine. My kids were upset about not using the pool and playing in the resort more. And that's free!

Park hopping was too much confusion last time so this year it's one park on one day. We park hopped so much that we didn't even get to see the Studios except for Fantismic!

No water parks because DH doesn't swim and I can't watch 3 non swimming girls alone. But the pools make up for that and now they have something to look forward too when they are older.

We started collecting pins last year and my husband went gaga over them. We are going to have a 1 pin a day limit now. That way they can plan all day which one to get instead of trying to grab 3 or 4 now if he will stick to it!

No matter what, Disneyworld is expensive but it is worth every penny. And I am cheap!

Our second trip is this August. Either I will be bored of it after then or I will be even more addicted and have to go again next year. Macaroni and cheese for another year for dinner!

 

[Aliceacc]

one of my former foster kids came back into the system for adoption and they called us (thank goodness).

Congrats on your almost-adoption!!!!

Brian's "Gotcha Day" is January 12th!!

 

[Allieloopy]

Congratulations! Our first daughters "Gotcha day is Jan also!
Does Disney do anything special for adoptions at all? I will try to ask that in another thread.

 

[MouseFan71]

Congrats, our DS3 is adopted from Guatemala, he came home in July, 2005 at 5 months. I'll try to start an adoptive parent thread and see if it works.

 

[jerseymom473]

We are are family of five too, going in August, I was going to book at POR with the trundle, but that seemed too cramped. I ended up with the Doubletree in DTD, suites and a lower rate than the moderates. Then!!, I received a 40% off so we decide to stick with Doubletree four the first four days and stay at the Beach Club the last three.

 

[snowmouse]

We're an adopted family, too! Myself and our 3 kids (poor hubby is left out on this one). I love the idea of 'gotcha day'. I think we will have a new family tradition!

 

[SnowWitch]

We purchased DVC in 1999 at the BWV's. We had primarily stayed deluxes and after doing the math it made sense to us. At the time we were a fmaily of four and had no plan of adding to that. Fast forward to present and we are a family of 6, 2 teenage sons and 2 princesses who are 2 and 1. After booking a cash trip at the Poly for next month and then changing it to POR due to lack of discount just last week, I am even happier about our DVC purchase. We ahve trips booked in a 2 bedroom for Oct and Dec and a beacht rip to Vero this summer in a 2 bedroom hence the reason for a cash trip...no points left. That being said this is our last cash trip, its just to expensive. We will stay on points and when their gone we just will say "no".

 

[collcass]

I'm just wandering how families of 5 or more keep WDW affordable?

We are a family of Six. DH and I are constantly joking about how Disney seems to punish you for the 4th child

The only way we could keep it affordable (before I knew about DVC and renting points) was 2 nights and 2 rooms at Pop and the same for ASSR and a 7 br villa for 8 night in the middle. (mtg two other families)

 

[Blanche_Neige]

We are a family of 5 (DS 7, DS 5, DS 5)

On our last trip we stayed at the ASMu family suite, we loved it. It was much bigger than I expected. I loved the 2 bathroom, the kitchen (we had bfest in the room every day, saved us $$$) and having two rooms ws awesome.

The best part was the two rooms, because the kids go to bed earlier, yes we sorta stuck to their regular bed time, and we could just sit and relax in the living room.

I know that 2 rooms at the value resort is cheaper, but I wouldn't give uo the convenience of the kitchen, (what I save in breakfest made up for the difference) or even the floor space for them to play.

I looked at other resorts like CR or POR, but it's only one room. What do you do when the kids go to bed?

 

[NYMomof4]

I found DVC to be the best way to continue to visit Disney, but before that the whole family loved POR (still does). POR has the boat to Downtown Disney and the extra quiet pools to escape to when the main pool is busy. We aren't often in the room, but we spend a lot of resort time, so POR fit the needs of what we wanted.

 

[Family Fun Mom]

We're also a family of five. We stayed at POR on the free dining plan in 2005.

POR is absolutely beautiful and we loved the resort, but five people crammed into a very small room for an entire week did begin to wear on us. My older son, then 6, son happily slept on the trundle, but the rest of us were struggling to get comfortable in the double beds. Maybe I'm just spoiled, but I need more room than a double bed provides if I'm going to be sharing a bed with someone. DH and I each slept with a child instead of each other to try to ease the space issue but it was still difficult. Bathroom and changing time was no picnic either. Granted, these were fairly minor issues. It did not rob our trip of any magic. We still had an amazing time and adore POR, but we won't stay there again unless we can afford two rooms. The kids are a lot bigger and I think some magic would definitely be robbed if we try such close quarters now. Next time it's ASMu Family Suites or SOG (which we are lucky enough to qualify for).

Free dining obviously saved us a ton of money. We used our snack credits to buy water bottles and ate snacks we brought from home. We brought a cooler filled with drinks and snacks to eat on the road. We had cereal bars, pop tarts, and cereal from home for breakfast in the room. We drove straight through from Michigan. No overnight stops. We gave the kids each a $20 limit on souvenirs and stuck to it.

Strategies for next trip are pretty much the same. Drive, not fly. Bring snacks from home. Bring breakfast foods. We will add bringing quick lunch foods (like ravioli, ramen noodles, ect) if we get the family suites with the kitchenette. Buying cases of water bottles to bring from Costco (that can get pretty spendy on site). We will book room only with a code, instead of a pricey package, or stay at SOG if no code is available. We'll buy our tickets seperately from a discounter. We will only eat at 2 or 3 table service restaurants, the rest will be counter service. The meals tend to be pretty big at Disney so we will split some of them to cut costs and limit waste.

We also have a "savings" going. I have an old Pringles can on the table right inside the doorway. As soon as we walk through the door we empty our purses, wallets, and pockets of all loose change and pop it in there. I just started this and it is nearly full already. We'll keep it up until our next trip and I'll cash that change in for extra spending money.

Visit the Budget Board and the Disney for Families board for more great money saving ideas. Those people are experts! They have awesome suggestions.

 

[chrisw127]

We are a family of five and stayed at Ft. Wilderness cabins in December. The space was great as was not having to worry about how much noise the kids made. I also really liked the environment, from having beautiful trees right outside your door to the slow pace, to all the people who decorated their cabins and campers--it was very friendly. The downside was that it's a cabin, and if you go on vacation thinking "hotel" you might be disappointed. Now, keep in mind, it's a Disney cabin, so it's not really roughing it. But it's not the same as staying in a hotel.

Although we had some issues with our cabin (other members of our party in another cabin did not) I would stay there again. When travelling with kids, it's really a great option.

 

[Disneydreamer5]

THERE ARE 7 OF US IN MY FAMILY. WE HAVE ONLY BEEN TO DISNEY ONCE BUT OUR SEPT 07 TRIP WAS CANCELED DUE TO WORK RELATED INJURY.
THE DEAL WE GOT HOWEVER, HAD WE BEEN ABLE TO GO WAS UNBEATABLE.
WE BOOKED FOR THE LAST WEEK IN SEPTEMEBER, 8 NIGHTS/9 DAYS, CBR,7 DAY HOPPERS WITH WATER PARKS, FREE DINNING, AND THE TOTLE WAS $4,500.00.
NOW WHEN WE WERE THERE IN 05 WE STAYED AT ASMOVIE, 6 NGIHT/7 DAYS, 7 DAY HOPPERS WITH WATER PARKS AND PAID FOR DINNING AND IT COST $4,800.00. SO NOT ONLY WOULD HAVE THIS LAST TRIP BEEN CHEAPER BUTWE WERE GETTING TO STAY MODERATE INSTEAD OF VALUE.
IT STINKS THAT WE COULDN'T GO BUT I THINK IF ITS POSSIABLE FOR YOU, GOING DURING FREE DINNING IS ONE WAY TO SAVE A TON OF MONEY.
ALSO I GETTING 2 ROOMS AT A VALUE IS ALSO A GOOD MONEY SAVER.
WE WERE HARDLY IN OUR ROOMS IN 05 SO ALL WE NEEDED WAS A PLACE TO SLEEP. 2 ROOMS AT VALUE SERVED IT PURPOSE FOR US. IT REALLY DEPENDS ON YOUR CHILDRENS AGES AND YOUR FAMILIES NEEDS BUT OFF SITE IF ALWAYS ANOTHER WAY TO SAVE A TON OF MONEY.
DON'T KNOW IF I HELPED YOU AT ALL BUT GOOD LUCK WITH WHATEVER YOU DECIDE AND HAVE A GREAT TRIP.