Family of 5... where to stay?

[NJDisneymom]

Just had our 3rd (and final!) child and I was looking at booking a Cancun resort for a vacation and put in 2 children and 1 infant and it came back that NO ROOMS could accomodate us, not even a jr. suite!!! So I got to thinking about Disney. I think for our next trip we will be ok with a standard room since the baby will be in a pack n play, right? I thought the 2 kids could share a bed and the baby would be in the pack n play. Is that allowed?

But for trips after that, when he's over 2... what are our best hotel options?? I do not want to stay offsite.

 

[Ariel8676]

Some of the rooms at the POR have a trundle bad that can accomodate 5..a small person could sleep on the trundle.
You can also look into the All Star family suites, or go to one of the resorts that have 1 and 2 brdm suits(depending on your budget SSR, OKW..etc.)

 

[kimbac3]

I know you don't want to stay offsite, but we as a family of 5 just couldn't afford to stay onsite. Maybe if our kids were younger like yours but with 14,11 and 8 yr olds we need more space then those rooms provide. A room a POR for when we are goin is about $170 per night, We are renting a 4 bedroom, 3 bath pool home complete with a washer and dryer with full kitchen for $80 per night. We just can't beat that! Anyway just a thought for you to ponder! Have fun and enjoy those little ones....It goes so fast doesn't it??
Kimba

 

[3littleHalls]

Congrats on your 3rd and final! We are a family of 5 and no problem staying at the deluxes. There are villas. I think there are suites in one of the values now. We are staying at the CBR(moderate) in the fall with our 2yr old in the pac n play, and the older two will share a bed. I understand your delima, it will be getting harder for us to find a hotel when the kids are older.

 

[laceemouse]

It all depends on your budget. If off-site is NOT acceptable to you, then you will have to get a Family suite or the POR room with the trundle. These are the cheapest ways at WDW. You will not have a problem until your baby is 3. As far as other hotels, we have 4 kids ages 8 to 15 and we have to get two adjoining rooms in a regular hotel. Often, though, we get a suite, like at Residence Inn, or we stay in a condo (we own a T/S which we trade out!) The limit in MOST of those is 6. I honestly don't know how people with more than four do it. I figure most of them don't travel much, or they camp, or they rent a house or get multiple rooms.

 

[poohmomof3]

We have three kids too

When our youngest was able to sleep in a pack'n'play, we stayed at Caribbean Beach Resort. Wonderful!! When she needed a bed, we stayed at Port Orleans with the trundle bed. Great place as well!

Now that they are all getting older, we need space (an extra bathroom helps too). This year we stayed off site at Cypress Resort (less than $100/night on Hotel Kingdom.com for a two bedroom full condo). We had a great time here and I recommend it to anyone looking for more space.

Onsite is the most fun for us, but the deluxe rooms are too expensive IMHO. Enjoy those kids

 

[dtndfamily]

We have two kids right now and plan on a third, one major reason we looked into, and then purchased into the Disney Vacation Club. If you plan on going to Disney at least once every other year it may be worth your while to look into it. Check out the DVC boards on this site for more information. There is a wealth of knowledge to get you started there and then the next time you vist the World you can check it out for yourself firsthand. Just be warned, joining makes you do crazy things...like go to Disney more often than you would have before.

 

[CharmedLife]

I would also recommend Disney Vacation Club resorts for a 1- or 2-bedroom. If you don't want to buy into DVC, you can also rent points from members for a single trip. At the rate that points rent out, you'll probably pay about 1/2 of the "rack rate" if you rented that room from Disney directly.

In the DVC forum section (scroll down) there is page specifically for renting. We have friends who rent all the time, no problems.

 

[sully7]

I have run into the same problem! We have 4 kids (9, 7, 5, 3) and no options except suites or two rooms or Fort Wilderness cabins. We are staying at the Fort in Sept. This worked out great because we get the free dining, a big "home away from home" with a deck and a yard and still stay on site! Even with out the free dining it would be cost effective because we were planning on cooking all our meals (in the full size kitchen!)

The only drawback is only one bathroom! We'll see how it goes and let you know!

The All Star family suites look really nice, too. I am sure you will find something perfect for your family!

 

[Lizzy2]

Check out MouseSavers For the fall there are discounts on suites in Downtown Disney - Its still on the property and the rooms sleep six.
Good luck!!!

 

[mnjg87]

we also have 4 kids. 17,15,14,9. and we are finding it hard (money wise) to find a place big enough for all of us and not go over our limit with the plastic money. so the last 3 out of 4 times we've stayed at FW . we love it there .
we've gone to the water parks the last 4 times. Just to go to the main parks is hard on the pockets... but I will say that the look on my girls faces ,even the 17 yr. old, when we are anywhere near MICKEY is....well.... PRICELESS!

 

[PandaBear & Boo]

I think it all depends on what you want and what you need. We are a family of 5, 3 kids, 16, 14 & 10. The oldest 2 are boys. We stayed at the POP Century in January and we were fine. We had 2 adjoining rooms. The 2 oldest stay in one room and my DD, DH and I stayed in the other. We kept the door between the rooms opened and that seemed to make the space a little bigger. The extra room was just what we needed. That way we had 2 bathrooms as well. We didn't need the other little things like laundry and kitchen. When I'm on vacation I am not cooking! We were in the room basically to sleep. This time around we wanted to get the free dining and we enjoyed staying at the Pop last time that we're doing it again in September. I checked out the POR but I found that for us it was better to get 2 rooms and also it was the cheapest route to go while still being onsite. Because you have a little one that will be in a pack n play. I think you can stay just about anywhere. Call and speak to a CM and find out which hotel might be more suitable to what your needs are. And Congratulations on you 3rd and final one!