Large families only please.....

[houseful of boys]

I want real advice on how you travel with a large family. We are a family of 6 and it is challenging to travel affordably specifically with lodging especially now that our kids are getting older. We have tried many strategies. Sometimes we will rent a condo, stay in a suites hotel, take the grandparents with us so we can get 2 rooms and they can take 2 kids while we take 2, and sometimes we cram into a normal double hotel room with a pack and play. I'm interested in hearing what works for others in the same boat. Not just in Orlando but whenever you go anywhere??

 

[Belle5]

We get two rooms--if not going to Disney we carefully use Hotwire and Priceline to help with the cost of two rooms.

 

[webcreatrix]

We did two value rooms last August at Disney during their free dining period. I doubt we'll do that again unless they're offering free dining and we want to go during that time. Otherwise, I'm not sure it's worth it.

This year, we're staying at a WH townhouse and I expect we'll continue to do that in the future. We will have plenty of room, kids will sleep in their own room which is the only way to get them to sleep on vacation, and we'll have a kitchen which will save us a ton on food, I think.

Prior to our Disney trips, we always vacationed in a two bedroom timeshare. Our Disney trip was the second time we did a hotel room with our family of five and was an experience we won't likely repeat unless we can afford a Deluxe resort and it's a short trip! First time we did a hotel room with five was for a short 4 day trip to the beach. My youngest was in a Pack 'N' Play. We were all ready to get out of there on the last day!

FWIW, my kids are now 4, 7 and 19. 19 year old is not going with us this summer, but we're still doing the townhouse!

 

[sympatico]

When we take the whole family we rent a large pool home. Lots of them have game rooms in the garage and theme bedrooms. Everyone has their own room. Having your own pool on the patio is great for when some want to go swimming and others want to play games or whatever. Very easy for one adult to watch those in the pool and the other to be doing something in the house. And there's no pool hours to work around. You also get to park in your own driveway. Lots of room and privacy for everyone.Love it.

 

[Shammett29]

For Disney, Wyndham Bonnet Creek, hands down. We are avid deluxe Disney property fans, but once we stayed here, we will probably never go back. We rented a 3BR with huge LR and kitchen for $140/nt thru vacationupgrades.com. Price and quality can't be beat.

 

[Lucky'sMom]

For Disney, Wyndham Bonnet Creek, hands down. We are avid deluxe Disney property fans, but once we stayed here, we will probably never go back. We rented a 3BR with huge LR and kitchen for $140/nt thru vacationupgrades.com. Price and quality can't be beat.

We are also huge Wyndham Bonnet Creek fans, and always rent from Ken Price (vacationupgrades.com). The villas are spacious, clean, beautiful and the resort has everything you could want (except maybe a sit-down restaurant). It is as on-site as you can get w/o legally being on-site, right next to the Caribbean Beach Resort. We love it! The 2 bed/2 bath is always pretty easy to get a reservation for (sleeps 8), but they also offer a 3 bed (as PP mentioned) and a 4 bed/4bath which we stayed in last Thanksgiving. You won't be sorry if you stay here!

 

[Chelley00]

We are a family of 6, and we basically stay 2 ways....if we are going to a hotel only type location, we stay at Residence Inns. They have 2 bedroom suites with full kitchens and usually have pools, tennis/basketball courts etc. They also have a grocery area, which, while expensive, has come in very handy to have things available in a pinch.

The other way we travel is we use VRBO or homeaway.com a lot to rent vacation homes, not just at Disney, but beach houses, Michigan shores etc. With 2 teenagers, it's just nicer to have the room to spread out, and find a place with a game room or basement with foosball etc to keep them occupied in the evenings.

 

[pacrosby]

Obviously we are in the minority here. 90% of the time we cram

The truth is that we spend sooooooo little time in our room no matter where we go. It's only used for sleeping. We are up and out in the morning and generally don't return until it's time for bed. We just don't have any interest in 'hanging around', sitting by a pool or reading on a lanai. As a result to spend money for extra bedrooms and unnecessary space would be a monumental waste for us.

Right now we'd rather spend the money on adventures

 

[Brian Noble]

We aren't a "large" family, but we refuse to stay in a single hotel room for more than a night, maybe two. It's just not vacation. We used to rent Residence Inn-type places. Now we get a condo, minimum and sometimes something larger. Our kids are too young for two rooms to work (unless they are *guaranteed* connecting).

In fact, our desire to stay in condos rather than hotel rooms was a big factor that convinced me that buying some timeshares (resale!) was a good idea. We've stayed in 2BR units in Orlando (many times, onsite and off), the Wisconsin Dells, the Smoky Mountains (twice), and Northern Michigan so far. This summer we have a stay in a 4BR with friends at Williamsburg, and are going to back to Orlando, this time at VWL.

 

[kpgriswold]

At Disney, we do 2 value rooms because we find that the perks of being on property outweigh the size of an offsite rental home.

Other places, however, we go the suite route -- it saves money on breakfast, among other things! -- or we rent a home. We have used www.vrbo.com and www.homeaway.com to find great places to stay all over the country.

 

[shannon006]

Obviously we are in the minority here. 90% of the time we cram

The truth is that we spend sooooooo little time in our room no matter where we go. It's only used for sleeping. We are up and out in the morning and generally don't return until it's time for bed. We just don't have any interest in 'hanging around', sitting by a pool or reading on a lanai. As a result to spend money for extra bedrooms and unnecessary space would be a monumental waste for us.

Right now we'd rather spend the money on adventures

We always crammed when we were a family of 6 rather then 8, and the 4 kids were 10 and under. When we have had all 8 of us, and the oldest 4 are much bigger now, we rent a house.

Interesting you mention about cramming in. We have been discussing a POR room that will accommodate 5 with the trundle. We are considering doing this 2/11 with the 4 youngest of our kiddos Me & DH in one bed, 2 DS in another, and 2 DD on the trundle. Our dd are very small and have shared a twin bed on several occasions. We know it will be a bit cramped, and only one bathroom, as we have 4 bathrooms in our house we live in,lol. But we too only sleep in our room, or come back to change our clothes to go somewhere else. So to spend big bucks on a room that is larger when we would much rather spend money on parks, dining, etc.

 

[kathy884]

Eight of us usually travel to Orlando together. What we do is rent a three bedroom condo with that sized group, usually from an owner to same money. We often find owner rentals on TUG2.net or Redweek.com. Cypress Pointe and Cypress Point Grand Villas, less than a mile from downdown Disney usually have reasonable three bedroom owner rentals available. Retail rentals are available at both of these too. At Cypress Pointe there are two king beds, two twin beds, and one hyda bed in the main area. At Cypress Point Grand Villas there are two king beds, two twin beds, and two hyda beds (one of these is pretty small). In both of these, there are three baths.

Eight of us are traveling to Bryce and Zion this summer too, here we are getting what they call suites at the Desert Pearl and suites at the Best Western Grand. Both are just a big rooms with two queens and a hyda bed. Both also have microwave and mini frig. We have two rooms at each as maximum occupancy in each is six. Desert Peal rooms have balconies. There are no balconies at Best Western Grand, but a free breakfast is included.

Our preference these days is for a house, cabin, or condo (We usually like condos for most places -- the community resort ammnenites and more of a resort feel). In certain wilderness areas, though, having a cabin is sooo cool. And we've stayed in some fabulous houses too. Sometimes for where we want to stay that just doesn't make sense and in that case we look for the larger hotel rooms with a little extra space that will accomodate six per room and get two rooms.

 

[8gr8mouseketeers]

When we travel we either get two connecting rooms or a family suite, whatever is cheapest.

 

[dd50]

When we were traveling as a family of 6 we would get a suite. We use to like staying at Homewood Suites when we went to Disney. Other times we would rent a house, townhouse, condo. At that time we had 3 older kids (teens, preteen) and a toddler.

 

[Jill Schwartz]

We've gone to Disney a few times with my our 5 plus 2 more. Staying on-site is lovely for that "magic experience" but having too many people crammed into one room, or adults/teens sharing double beds when you are used to king is not a vacation to me! So, if we get a fab deal like Free dining (saves us 5 over $1,400) then we splurge and rent two rooms on Disney property.
Otherwise, my preference is one of the nice timeshare/condos, as long as they are close to Disney. While a house was nice the time we did that, it didn't seem "special" enough, even though it was a clean, new-ish home. Seemed a lot like being at home, just with a small pool in the back! We prefer the trade off of slightly less space (but still 2 or 3 bedrooms/bathroom) in order to get that resort vacation feel you get with some of the nice condos.
Depending on when you are going, Dreams Unlimited as some great deals advertised on the disboards/wdwinfo...like $109 per night for a 2 bedroom with two baths, living room, dining area, full kitchen.

 

[A Mickeyfan]

We use to "cram" when the kids were little, but now with the youngest being 17 there is no way possible to do that anymore. So when we travel as a family, we try for timeshare rentals. The last one we stayed in was a 2 bedroom in Bonnet Creek I have to say that was the best place I have ever stayed.. and that includes several of Disney's Deluxe too... Bonnet Creek wins hands down for me.

 

[ksueboo]

We are also a family of 6.
Our last trip to Disney with the 6 of us was in the Family Suite at the ASM. It was perfect because our youngest was just 2 and still slept in a pack and play. The other three kiddos slept in the pull out couch, chair, and ottoman. This time the kids are a couple years older and asking two of them to sleep in the double pullout sofa would have made for a long night. So we opted for WH townhouse for the fall. 3 bedrooms, 3 bathrooms, full kitchen, small heated pool right outside the back door and it was about 80 bucks cheaper a night than the suite. Of course, we now have to rent a minivan which is a not cheap either.
When we stay other places we usually try to just look for a Comfort Suites. It works well for us.

 

[HeatherC]

We are a "spoiled" family of 5. I say spoiled because we never seem to "cram" into one hotel room. It's just not a vacation for us since no one seems to sleep the same.

That being said, we usually rent timeshares whenever we can. I use sites like Skyauction, Govarm, Getravelop and myresortnetwork.com. Through them we are able to rent places very affordably. Usually under $500 a week for at least a 2bedroom unit.

As an example, we are going to Williamsburg for April break and I'm paying $469 for a 2bedroom at a really nice timeshare resort.

In February we stayed at Bonnet Creek for $149 a night for a 2bedroom.

We also use Marriott.com a lot. We like their Residence Inn setups and have usually been able to get great rates with them.

I also check travelzoo.com regularly for deals and have gotten lucky with them in the past as well.

It certainly is expensive to travel with a larger family, but I love to find a bargain and have been lucky that there have been some great deals out there over the years.

Happy travels to you!

 

[Tinkerbella001]

Were in the minority, too! We are very spoiled as well, used to going where/when we want and buying whatever strikes our fancy...but we also get along very well and "cram" in as much as we can. Since we also have no desire to hang around the room, we usually go-go-go, and all are ready to pass out when we return. No problems working around showers, etc. We just work it out and are extremely happy to do so! Once we rented adjoining rooms, but all ended up sleeping in one anyway! I'm glad my children don't bicker and pester each other on vacation...they save that for home, lol!

 

[canadianjovigirl]

We generally do vacation homes, or family suites that have bunks with a trudle and then a sofa bed..........alot of resorts i find now have these. We priced Disney out last year for a family trip and what they wanted for a week, we rented a home and turned it into a 3 week vacation