Help me think! AoA: Two rooms vs Family Suite

[saraheliz]

Please help me think through any considerations I'm not thinking of in trying to make this decision.
Here are the background details- Family of 5 (myself, DH, DD16, DD14, DS7). We did an 11 night trip last August and stayed in a 1 bedroom at Kidani and had an amazing trip. That was supposed to be my *big trip* and this upcoming summer we had plans for San Diego and then 2 days at DL at the end (because why not?) but some pieces of the San Diego part fell through so we're changing direction and heading back to Disney World but on a lower budget, not trip-of-a-lifetime trip.
We have narrowed it down to AoA so that we can use the skyliner. I stayed there with the two girls in 2018 in a LM room, we loved it. My middle has wanted to go back to stay in a LK suite every since then (she was actually disappointed about going Deluxe last year, lol).
We are debating getting a family suite vs two rooms in the LM section. Here are my thoughts but I wanted to see if anyone else had pros/cons:

Little Mermaid Room-
Pros:
-More sleeping spaces (teen girls would not have to share a bed, which they do not enjoy doing but obviously will if they have to)- this is a pretty big pro. **I'd probably put a fake 2 year old on the reservation so that we'd have three in each room/not get a king bed
-Close to quiet pool
-Slightly cheaper
Cons:
-Risk of not getting connecting rooms
-Distance to food/skyliner (although, while it's farther we had no issues with the distance at all in 2018)

LK Family Suite-
Pros:
-Guaranteed to share one space
-Microwave (I doubt we'd use) and a little counter space/kitchen sink for washing water bottles etc
-My middle (who is the most flexible and laid back but as a result often bends to whatever the other two want) would love to stay here
Cons:
-Sleeping surfaces- Either the girls would have to share a full sized bed, or DH and I would give them the queen but then we'd be sleeping on a sofa or table bed in the room with the 7 year old
-Slightly more expensive

The indoor vs outdoor corridors don't really matter to us. If we knew 100% we would have connecting rooms, I think we would lean pretty heavily towards LM for sleeping surfaces but it's pretty much a draw at the moment. Anything we aren't considering? Do the little fridges in the LM room hold a gallon jug of water?

Thanks so much for any input or thoughts! Prior to last year's trip DH made me promise that I wouldn't go home and start planning another. Well, even he had so dang much fun (vacations with the big age gap can be tricky but not at Disney!) that when our other vacation fell through I jokingly said something about Disney and Tron...then last night he said "I want you to know that I'm 100% ok with going back to Disney, I'm sure you've already looked, where are we staying? Talk to me."

 

[maxiesmom]

I'm trying to figure something out. In an AoA suite you get 3 sleeping surfaces. You and hubby on one, then younger 2 can share, and the oldest gets her own space. Why would you and your husband end up sharing? Or why not bring along an air mattress and have one of your girls sleep on that if they won't share? They can make that choice then, either share or use the air mattress. No way would I give the girls the larger bed in the actual bedroom with a door and its own bathroom.

 

[RoseGold]

The problem with the Little Mermaid plan is the size of this hotel. You might not be adjacent, you might not even be close. Your girls could be FAR from you. You know your girls and whether that's a good idea or not. Without a guarantee on the connection, which Disney is horrible at, I would go suite.

I'd look into Swolphin. They have actual connecting options and some suites too, that could be in the same price range, they swing wildly. The plus of this is that Swolphin qualifies for the late hours, lots of fun for teens.

 

[saraheliz]

I'm trying to figure something out. In an AoA suite you get 3 sleeping surfaces. You and hubby on one, then younger 2 can share, and the oldest gets her own space. Why would you and your husband end up sharing? Or why not bring along an air mattress and have one of your girls sleep on that if they won't share? They can make that choice then, either share or use the air mattress. No way would I give the girls the larger bed in the actual bedroom with a door and its own bathroom.

This was one proposed solution by DH, since we don't mind sleeping close to each other we would take the smaller bed. To be fair, one of my girls is a wild and crazy sleeper. The youngest is a boy so he'd get his own bed. The girls would deal with it if they had to...they shared a super uncomfortable sofa at AKV last year (a queen, though) and other than jokingly complaining beforehand and mentioning once or twice that the bed itself was uncomfortable, they were fine. We were just trying to throw them something a little nicer this time.

 

[saraheliz]

The problem with the Little Mermaid plan is the size of this hotel. You might not be adjacent, you might not even be close. Your girls could be FAR from you. You know your girls and whether that's a good idea or not. Without a guarantee on the connection, which Disney is horrible at, I would go suite.

I'd look into Swolphin. They have actual connecting options and some suites too, that could be in the same price range, they swing wildly. The plus of this is that Swolphin qualifies for the late hours, lots of fun for teens.

Thanks for the Swolphin suggestion, I will look into that. And yes, that is the concern with the connecting rooms. If they were super far apart, DH and I would just split up (but then they'd still have to share, so that would defeat the purpose of two rooms). The girls would be fine alone though if they were close (although probably not technically allowable). The oldest did a music trip to Disney last year at 14 so she was in a room for 4 nights with other freshmen, they're very trustworthy.
It really does seem like a "worth the risk" question...I was also just trying to sort out if I was missing anything!

 

[Grace&Carolinesmom]

Disclaimer.....I have never stayed at either.

I would choose AOA and bring an air mattress for the DS7. The DDs would each have their own bed and you would have no worries about being separated with 2 rooms. I also would not like the distance of LM rooms from food and skyliner. In addition, I always like to consider "what if someone gets sick" scenarios. With the ages of children, that would be dicey if the 2 LM rooms were not connecting. I think the kitchenette area in LK suite could also serve as a storage area for extra stuff you want to keep out of the room proper.

With that being said.....IF you choose to go 2 rooms in LM section, make sure you put "connecting" as your only room request. When you get the room assignment notification in MDE, check the rooms numbers against a room map to make sure they are connecting. If they are not, do NOT open the room doors. Go directly to the front desk or call the front desk (the # will be listed on the app after room assignment ) and politely ask for connecting rooms. It's very important that you never enter your rooms. I received this advice from another DISer and it was golden. We were assigned adjoining rooms but not connecting rooms at POFQ back in January. While still in the airport, I called the front desk and the lady who answered (didn't know there was a difference between adjoining and connecting...lol) double checked that we had not entered the rooms. She then said a room assigner would call me back. About 30 minutes later, the room assigner called me back, again double checked we had not entered the rooms, and then happily changed our rooms to another area of the resort and they were connecting. They can't always accommodate but I think they genuinely try to if circumstances allow.

It's also important to make sure that you put your arrival time earlier in the day even if you aren't arriving until late so that you will be assigned rooms before EOD. It's much harder to get your room reassigned if all of the rooms have already been "claimed" by other guests who are already occupying the rooms late in the day.

Best of luck!!

 

[bluezy]

I would do the suite at AoA (assuming it's in your budget) just to be sure you're all in one space. We've stayed at AoA 5 times with 3 or 4 "kids" (they're all adults now but we started staying there when our youngest was about 7 and the oldest was early 20s). None of our kids do well when having to sleep with a sibling. They would share beds on short stays (1 or 2 nights), but anything longer than that required everyone to have their own space or *no one* would get any sleep. And that makes for a miserable vacation for all of us. We always took 1 or 2 air mattresses to use in the suite. Our youngest child preferred taking the seat cushions from the couch and making a bed out of those on the floor. We'd wrap the cushions in a sheet and request an extra blanket (or she'd bring her own -- we drive so she usually has a blanket to use in the car) and that's what she used as a bed. She liked it better than an air mattress. She still did that last year (when she was 17!!) and could have slept on the actual sofa bed for 2 of the nights since our son left DW a few days earlier than us. She also could have slept on the air mattress we brought along. She's a little too tall to completely fit on the sofa cushion version of a bed (her feet hung off the end last year) but a 7 year old would have no trouble fitting. Just an option if you're not able to bring an air mattress or have one delivered before your arrival.

We love AoA. The Skyliner is a huge perk at that resort. I thought I would hate it, but by day 3 I was dreading having to take a bus anywhere. For several trips, we got connecting rooms at Pop Century or ASMo, but I always worried that we *wouldn't* get them. Once AoA opened, we only stayed there because we knew we were guaranteed to be in one space. That eliminated a lot of stress for me. I'm a little sad that our days of *needing* a suite are about over. We're planning a trip for next June and we will probably only have the 18 yo staying in our room on that trip so a suite almost seems like overkill for the 3 of us....but DH did say he prefers to continue staying in a suite as long as we have any kids (again, all adults) staying with us (and I'm ok with that). We'll see if that happens.

 

[TexasJedi]

I would also recommend the AOA family suite for the guaranteed togetherness.

If you really want the extra space and two rooms, I'd strongly recommend looking into POP! vs. AOA. Same Skyliner access, but better chance of not being so far away from everything.

 

[PollyannaMom]

I haven't stayed at AoA. Does the suite have two bathrooms, or will you only have two if you go for two full rooms? It takes a lot longer to get five people ready if you only have one bathroom.

 

[michyi]

We are also a family of 5. We did both. We had a Nemo suite and 2 rooms (connecting) at Pop. I agree with all of your pros and cons. I think if we did it again, we'd do the suite. There was more room. Even for the little bit that you are in the room, it was nice to have the extra space. The kids didn't complain about the beds at all. My boys had to share, but it was fine. Either way, you are going to be happy. Enjoy your trip!

 

[TexasJedi]

I haven't stayed at AoA. Does the suite have two bathrooms, or will you only have two if you go for two full rooms? It takes a lot longer to get five people ready if you only have one bathroom.

Family suites at AoA have two full bathrooms.

 

[unrequited23]

Team air mattress.

 

[bluezy]

I would also recommend the AOA family suite for the guaranteed togetherness.

If you really want the extra space and two rooms, I'd strongly recommend looking into POP! vs. AOA. Same Skyliner access, but better chance of not being so far away from everything.

I agree. If you're going to go the "two room" route, I'd switch to Pop Century. Still on the Skyliner and a lot more connecting rooms there than at AoA so your chances of actually getting connecting rooms will increase dramatically.

 

[saraheliz]

Disclaimer.....I have never stayed at either.

I would choose AOA and bring an air mattress for the DS7. The DDs would each have their own bed and you would have no worries about being separated with 2 rooms. I also would not like the distance of LM rooms from food and skyliner. In addition, I always like to consider "what if someone gets sick" scenarios. With the ages of children, that would be dicey if the 2 LM rooms were not connecting. I think the kitchenette area in LK suite could also serve as a storage area for extra stuff you want to keep out of the room proper.

With that being said.....IF you choose to go 2 rooms in LM section, make sure you put "connecting" as your only room request. When you get the room assignment notification in MDE, check the rooms numbers against a room map to make sure they are connecting. If they are not, do NOT open the room doors. Go directly to the front desk or call the front desk (the # will be listed on the app after room assignment ) and politely ask for connecting rooms. It's very important that you never enter your rooms. I received this advice from another DISer and it was golden. We were assigned adjoining rooms but not connecting rooms at POFQ back in January. While still in the airport, I called the front desk and the lady who answered (didn't know there was a difference between adjoining and connecting...lol) double checked that we had not entered the rooms. She then said a room assigner would call me back. About 30 minutes later, the room assigner called me back, again double checked we had not entered the rooms, and then happily changed our rooms to another area of the resort and they were connecting. They can't always accommodate but I think they genuinely try to if circumstances allow.

It's also important to make sure that you put your arrival time earlier in the day even if you aren't arriving until late so that you will be assigned rooms before EOD. It's much harder to get your room reassigned if all of the rooms have already been "claimed" by other guests who are already occupying the rooms late in the day.

Best of luck!!

Thank you! All good advice- our flight would be scheduled to arrive around 1:30 (although these days you never know!) and we would probably pack park clothes so if they weren't connecting but we needed to wait for rooms that were to be ready, we could store our stuff with bell services and stay busy at the parks until they were.

 

[saraheliz]

I haven't stayed at AoA. Does the suite have two bathrooms, or will you only have two if you go for two full rooms? It takes a lot longer to get five people ready if you only have one bathroom.

Two bathrooms is a requirement for our family! (I realize that sounds snotty, but we would have to give ourselves an extra hour in the morning to get out the door with one bathroom, so it really is a priority).

 

[saraheliz]

I agree. If you're going to go the "two room" route, I'd switch to Pop Century. Still on the Skyliner and a lot more connecting rooms there than at AoA so your chances of actually getting connecting rooms will increase dramatically.

So funny story. DH's first trip ever to Disney was when I was newly pregnant with our first (like found out the week before) and we stayed at Pop. He said he never wanted to stay there again because he felt like cattle being corralled in the food court (I don't even understand what this means but whatever). I associated it with being very sick the last two days (I was super sick with all my pregnancies). Of course today I said "I know you don't want to stay at Pop" and his response was "I think I could do it now, maybe it would be sort of nostalgic!"but just the thought of Pop though makes me feel like I'm going to throw up! (I'm sure we could get over it...but we do prefer the theming of AoA).

 

[bluezy]

So funny story. DH's first trip ever to Disney was when I was newly pregnant with our first (like found out the week before) and we stayed at Pop. He said he never wanted to stay there again because he felt like cattle being corralled in the food court (I don't even understand what this means but whatever). I associated it with being very sick the last two days (I was super sick with all my pregnancies). Of course today I said "I know you don't want to stay at Pop" and his response was "I think I could do it now, maybe it would be sort of nostalgic!"but just the thought of Pop though makes me feel like I'm going to throw up! (I'm sure we could get over it...but we do prefer the theming of AoA).

Ahhh...so a suite at AoA it is!

 

[bluezy]

Two bathrooms is a requirement for our family! (I realize that sounds snotty, but we would have to give ourselves an extra hour in the morning to get out the door with one bathroom, so it really is a priority).

Absolutely agree. Two bathrooms is a requirement with teenagers in the room. Especially if they're girls! It's one of the main reasons DH says that as long as we have a "kid" staying in our room, he wants to stay in a suite (so we have 2 bathrooms).

 

[tjmw2727]

I am going to repeat the AOA with an air mattress suggestion!

We have been in the same situation with 3 teens who don't want to sleep together on vacation. You can get a lightweight good quality air mattress with built in pump, we pack a fitted sheet and get extra bedding from housekeeping. If you slide the couch over toward the kitchen area the twin airbed will fit against the wall nicely in a Nemo room.

We love the fact that the murphy bed is so easy to convert and having the space to sit and ability to make coffee & light breakfast while everyone is getting ready a big plus.

 

[Little E]

We have stayed in a Cars suite at AoA and I have had multiple experiences of connecting rooms at Pop. I loved the Cars suite at AoA, but I've also loved my experiences at Pop. One thing to consider is that Pop rooms are all refurbished now, and they are really nice. I believe that the LM rooms at AoA are not. (Disfriends, it's been since 2015 when we stayed at AoA, so correct me if this statement is wrong.) At Pop, you have the same access to the Skyliner, and a food court that is equally as nice as the food court at AoA.

One note about Pop working to accommodate requests...I have had three separate trips where I requested connecting rooms, and I've gotten them all three times. Amazingly, the family we traveled with for one of those trips requested two connecting rooms near us, and they got their two connecting rooms RIGHT NEXT TO US! Pop got major kudos for accommodating two families with two sets of connecting rooms side by side that trip.

Both resorts are fantastic, and the bonus is that you can walk back to forth between them, so you can mix it up and try both food courts. Have a magical trip!