How do you book for large family?

[Disneyfanfour]

Hi,

We're a family of four who have been foster caring for three small kiddos for almost a year and we'll probably end up adopting them. I'm just starting to wonder how to afford and book rooms for this many people (7; 2A,2Teens,2 pre-k and one infant). We'd love to treat the little ones to a trip to Disney once they're ours. Of course, we're a buget-minded household, so staying anywhere regardless of cost is not in the picture. Should we rent a house and minivan for the week? Does Disney have a resort that can room this many guests? Is it cost-effective to book two rooms, connecting or side-by-side?

I'm looking for input from families in similar situations and any tips you may have.

Thanks!

 

[NU2WDW]

For us, renting a house off-site was the only way to go. The space and amenities you gain more than makes up for any advantage of being on-site IMO. We paid hundreds less than any park accommodations would have cost, and even the most spacious ones there wouldn't have come close to what we got. We had a full kitchen, private pool, 6 BRs, 4 BAs, multiple TVs, video game system, game room, washer & dryer, etc. We never had more than a 15-20 min. drive to the parks any day (stayed in Clermont). Being able to fix our own meals and just have the space to spread out was fantastic. Spending a vacation crammed into hotel rooms and having to spend all the extra money on meals wouldn't have been enjoyable for us at all. Everyone has their own opinion, of course, but for our family renting off-site was the way to go.

Good luck!

 

[candyfloss]

we just priced this up

we have 6 in our family, 2 AD, 3 kids and an infant (#7 will join us in January)

We decided to go with POR (with a room with a trundle)

BUT for a family your size it wouldn't work. The cheapest option would be 2 rooms at an All Star resort (this worked out the same price for us as booking 1 room at POR, but I wasn't comftable with the kids in another room, even if it was ajoining)

-rebecca-

 

[XYSRUS]

For us-2 adults and 4 children-we book 2 rooms at POP. That way everyone could have a bed and mom and dad have a lock on the door. Anymore than what we have, I would consider renting a house offsite. But, we like Disney transportation. You have to prioritize when you have a big family. Good luck!

 

[Disneyfanfour]

What about renting DVC points? Would that be cost effective? I'm worried about staying off-site because of the need to return for naps and all. The little ones would be 6, 5 and 2. I hate to compromise, but maybe a DisneyLAND trip would suffice for this trip. I'm prejudiced to the World, of course. But we live in Oregon so the drive down wouldn't be all that bad. But we LOVE the World and can't imagine not vacationing there because of the expense and size of our family now. Still looking for suggestions, though!

Thanks again!

 

[rrobin3051]

we went down with a party of 8. We rented a 5 bed/4bath house with a pool.. Really the drive was around 10 mins to get to disney. We loved staying in the house. I love the resorts too but with that many it really wasnt doable. Plus we saved tons of money cooking our own food. We got to eat breakfast at the house and sometimes ate lunch at the parks or packed lunch and came home later and relaxed or swam. Then made dinner and headed back to the parks. It was so nice, not to spend money on food. We rented 2 cars it ended up being cheaper for us even with paying for parking for both cars. But keep watching for minivan deals and book through the airlines sometimes they give you great discounts. We ended up getting 2 taurus for 15 bucks a day. I couldnt pass that one up. Our house was in indian creek( i think) . WE paid 1400 for 10 nights. It was a great home with lots of extras. Very well worth it.

 

[hipporina]

We are a family of 10, so I know the challenge you are facing. Last year was our first time as 10 and next month will be our second. On both trips, we traveled with our extended family, so we had more options. Anyway, we book 2 connecting rooms at the value resorts. We have been able to book 2 of our kids in other family members' rooms on both trips so that leaves 8 in our 2 rooms.

The cheapest option on site is 2 connecting value rooms. As much as I would love to stay DVC, it is way more expensive. Both of our trips have been with free dining, so that has helped tremendously. If you are considering letting your teens go to parks alone, then I would definitely stay on site so that you can go back to the room with the little ones for a nap if needed, and let the teens stay on their own. Whatever you decide, have a great trip and congratulations on the three additions.

 

[mamaloya]

We bought a camper and stay at Fort Wilderness. You can also tent there if you don't mind sleeping in a tent. We tented our first trip to FW. We liked it so much that we bought a popup so we would be more comfortable there in the future. We have now moved up to a travel trailer. I miss the popup because those sites are less expensive and easier to get. If you keep your eye out, you can find popups fairly inexpensive. Ours had a king bed, queen bed and full bed. Some have 2 kings and 2 full. Some have bathrooms, some don't.

The plus of FW over staying offsite (and with the new rate increases, off site can be cheaper) is that you get EMH and the disney transportation. This is especially important when you have teens AND little ones at the same time. I can take the little ones back to the camper while the older ones stay at the park. They can use EMH to ride the rides that the littles ones could not go on. They don't need to worry if they can't ride the thrill rides during the day because they will be free to do what they want when I leave with the littles. I don't need to worry about how they will get back to me. They simply hop a bus, monorail, or boat. They also have a cell phone to keep in touch. It makes them much happier on the trip knowing that they have that freedom at night.

2 rooms at the POP or AS will give you the same benefit for not too much more and you will be in a hotel room if camping is not your thing.

 

[aaronandterri]

hi were a family of 6 and usually travel with grandparents as well so thats 8, weve done the rental house thing, which is good, but its a whole diffrent experience onsite, renting dvc points would be great for you, and if you pick your time of year it can be very affordable, also there suites at one of the value resorts now i believe which hold more people, connecting rooms arent that bad, and evn with little ones can easily be manageable.
good luck, and congrats on the new additions.
make them some wonderful memorys at disney xxxx

 

[PrincessasMommy]

Hi,

We're a family of four who have been foster caring for three small kiddos for almost a year and we'll probably end up adopting them. I'm just starting to wonder how to afford and book rooms for this many people (7; 2A,2Teens,2 pre-k and one infant). We'd love to treat the little ones to a trip to Disney once they're ours. Of course, we're a buget-minded household, so staying anywhere regardless of cost is not in the picture. Should we rent a house and minivan for the week? Does Disney have a resort that can room this many guests? Is it cost-effective to book two rooms, connecting or side-by-side?

I'm looking for input from families in similar situations and any tips you may have.

Thanks!

We are a family of 6 (2A,1 Pre-Teen,2 pre-k and one infant) but we are taking my sister next time so will be a family of 7 too and for us a vacation home is the ONLY way to go!! Especially with those age ranges!

We are staying at Windsor Hills next time which is a gated resort community with homes inside the gates, the amenities are awesome - huge pool with slide for the teens, splash pads for pre-k crowd, pool tables, HUGE playground, etc. The home itself has a private 12x12 splash pool, but most importantly, it has 2 master bedrooms (I think all the towns in WH do) so the 2 adults and infant can share the upper master, the 2 pre-k would have a room and the 2 teens could share the 2nd master on the main floor. Also, the ability to do laundry with that many people is wonderful...I love coming home from vacation without any laundry!!! I know some DIS'ers own homes, I booked with someone else before I realized that, but if you are interested PM me and I will give you more info.

These are my prices....
I booked 7 days with pool heat for $950 taxes in!!!
I rented a minivan for that week for $204 with a code I got off mousesavers.com website!!
I traded airmiles and aeroplan rewards for 2 kids' 5 day MYW passes!!
And I booked with AirTran out of Buffalo 5 fares for $1014 for direct flights and assigned seats!!!

I still have 3 adult MYW tickets to buy but I think I have done amazingly compared to our last trip (we booked through a travel agent and paid close to $7000 for nearly the same trip except we flew from Toronto last time).

Have fun planning!!!

 

[mousehouselover]

We've stayed on and off site with large family group including infants. I really enjoyed staying at FW more than off site. Sure off site we had 3 side by side 3 br condos, with full kitchens and laundry, nice livingrooms, a whirlpool in the two main bedrooms and an outdoor pool but it was missing the Disney touch. I loved staying surrounded by Disney theming the entire time I was on vacation. I loved being able to hop on Disney transportation and be where ever we wanted to go. I also found it was a pain to make meals and pack a cooler (or stuff everything in backpacks, diaper bags ect) for the day. Tired kids; some body made a mess out of their clothes; just want some down time? Being on site makes it really easy to take care of all the things that come up. No hunting for parking spaces, loading everyone into a hot car and dealing with traffic to get back to your room. It's the little extras that make staying on porperty fun. FW has the campfire sing along and movies (seasonally of course.) POP and AS resort have theming in the rooms and mousekeeping will make towel animals and little scenes with your kid's toys. You will increase your meal and money saving options by getting on a swap for appliances. It's not a full kitchen but you can keep milk and things in the room for snacks or out of park meals.

In the end, it's a trade off. What is going to be the difference between on and off site? Are you going to be happy if you have one thing and don't have another? It's hard for any one to tell you which is right because we are not you and aren't your family. What works for us may not work for you. I wish you all the best and hope your dreams come true!

 

[mavslab]

We booked 11 people - 7 adults, 4 kids at the ASSports for 12 nights hotel, and 10 day MYW PH+ for $5300 for November.

There are advantages to both, but staying on site adds so much extra IMO. Also the EMH in the am are good for us since we are an up and go early kinda crowd.

 

[PA Princess]

We always travel as a party of 7...me, dh, ds 12, ds11, dd7, dd2, and my mom. For us we prefer staying on site, and what has worked well is renting two rooms at a mod. It helps that we have been able to travel during free dining times the last few trips, so our costs have been very reasonable at about $4000 for everything for a week.

We have seriously considered renting a home. We usually rent a house at the beach every summer and we love that, but in Disney? The issue is that with a house comes space and amenities, yes, but it also seems to bring more work...make the beds, straighten up all of the space you have to mess, do laundry, make a meal here and there (and all of that work that comes with food prep), taking the trash out, etc, etc.

On vacation we like to leave those mundane chores of home behind. With 4 kids there is lots of work and that work can often distract us from being with them. I love being at Disney where we can just solely concentrate on spending time as a family...I really treasure that!

 

[shermomof5]

We are a family of 8. We decided to book a 3 Bedroom Condo at WorldQuest. It offers free Breakfast and snacks and has a full kitchen. I love the Marriott Residence Inns, but we felt we needed 3 bedrooms this time. It makes for a much more pleasant trip when there are not 4 people in the same room!!!We usually pick up a large Sub Sandwich and fresh fruit and take it to the park for a quick lunch. We always pack our own waters. With 3 of the kids adults now, we don't eat out as much as we would like. DS 12 is in a Wheelchair, so we need more room. We use Airmiles to get to Florida, and Drive to California. This is going to be our first WDW trip and is costing almost TRIPLE the DLR trip,(we are western Canadians) but I know it will be worth it!

 

[NU2WDW]

I'm worried about staying off-site because of the need to return for naps and all. The little ones would be 6, 5 and 2.

We did it and it was no problem. Our girls were 5, 4 and not quite 3 (this past June). We got to the parks at opening and usually left by 1:00 or 2:00. Some days we went back, some days we'd done all we wanted to do and just stayed at the house and swam, etc. Honestly I think those afternoons were as much fun for the kids as park time!

 

[rgribik]

We usually stay at the values with 2 connecting rooms. We have always gotten connecting with no problem, since the 5 kids outnumber the 2 adults. We stay onsite to use the Disney transportation, the express from the airport and the bus system at the hotel, just works better for us. If I needed to go back to the hotel with the babies, I could, and dh and the older kids could stay at the parks and meet me later. Also, if they wanted to get an early start and the babies needed alittle more sleep, I could meet them at the parks later in the day. We like POP the best, and if we could get a good deal our fav is Port Orleans(moderate). We have taken all 5 kids about 5 or 6 times now, the twins are 4 and have been going since they were 1.

tickets and eating will be your big expense with the kids, and you can work around spending too much on the food, breakfast in the room, milk and drinks from the gift shop instead of the food court, counter service, my kids split dinners(they are picky eaters), snacks packed from home(and no I don't mean a whole pic-nic lunch--just pretzels, fish crackers, fruit gummies.....)

 

[bless7ings]

I would definately stay onsite!!!!

I quickly skimmed the posts, I think they mentioned most of the reasons. It sounds like you would like to stay onsite. Right? Well we have done it. We had 6 kids when we went w/my parents.(we now have 7 kids) The big secret for us to get the magic of Disney on site, the EMH, the Disney transportation, less stress for my husband travelling back and forth and going early EMH and coming back for naps and then going back out after naps(good to have park hoppers, but skip if need to save more $$) is going during free dining in September.(or late August) We are hoping they will offer it again in 2008!?! Can you go then? Thats our biggest secret weapon for saving $ and making it an awesome experience!

Good luck, go for your dreams!