marciemi said:
Is this cheating? Why? I realize that theoretically the Fire Marshall or whoever sets the rules could possibly care, but even then my 3 kids don't outweigh my husband, even put together. I don't see how it's a fire hazard since the concern seems to be crowding. Is it cheating Disney? Again, why? Because he sleeps in one room and not another? I realize it would be an entirely different issue if we were just going ourselves and that's why we stayed at (then) Dixie Landings on our last visit - to accommodate 5. But we are putting another person in our room - so he can sleep with us. I guess we could ask for rooms next to each other and he could actually sleep in one of 2 double beds next door if it came down to that! I just hear this mentioned so much that I had to hear why it was wrong!
OK ... here's the thing about rooms. It's fire code to only have four adults per room because of "person per square foot" requirements that are set up by people other than Disney. But as others have stated, you can get around that by simply fessing up to Disney that your son is registered with a friend, but will be sleeping in your room. For a child, they generally won't care, as the rules are really made to keep 15 college kids from sharing a single room on spring break.
So if Disney won't really care, why tell them? Well ...
Say there's a hurricane headed Disney's way, and all guests have been confined to rooms. Disney CMs go room to room, doing a check to make sure everyone is accounted for. They get to your room and you have five people instead of four. You tell them THEN that it's your son, he's registered with your friend who is staying in a different unit, and that it's okay for him to be there. Now, the front desk folks have to confirm his identity, double-check with the people checking the other unit that there is a "missing" child in your friend's room, and that everyone is where they should be. So it takes them a little longer to do a room-check while they verify all that. What's the big deal? If you've ever stood outside in the driving rain with a hurricane approaching, you'd understand.

Plus, you've just caused more work, more radio traffic, and more confusion at a time when those things aren't needed.
Another, more extreme, scenario .... you and your kids are in the room asleep. There's a fire in the room above or adjacent to you, and the rooms in your unit quickly fill with smoke. You've all been overcome by the smoke, and the firefighters need to pull you out. But ... your son had gotten up to go to the bathroom and passed out there. The fire team looks at their list and it says "4 guests -- 2 adults, 2 children" and they figure they have everyone, so they move on. By the time you all become lucid again, your son is still trapped in your hotel room, but no one knew that because according to the list, they had everyone from your room. If your husband's business partner was staying in another part of the resort, he may not even know about the fire until the next day, so it's not like he's going to report the boy missing.
As I said, they're extreme examples, but it's the reason why Disney wants to know how many people are in each room. It's unlikely an emergency will happen, but if one does, wouldn't you rather they knew where you all were?
It's not cheating Disney to have him with you without mentioning it ... it just makes it harder for them to account for everyone if they need to. That's all.
