Magic June 2005: what category for family of 5?

[jmatias]

Okay...I want to be prepared if the Magic does come to the West Coast. I've been dying to take my kids on a Disney cruise and this would be perfect for us, especially since we live in Hawaii.

Anyway, it would be DH, Me, DS9, DS7 and DD1 1/2. What category do I need? Also, any recommendations on specific cabins?

Thanks for any help....just the thought of a West Coast cruise is sooooo exciting

 

[yamahaboy]

hey my family got 2 rooms lats year. This year we have 2 cat 5 rooms.

 

[kcashner]

For a family of 5, you can choose between one cabin in category 4 or above, or you can go with 2 cabins of a lower category.

If you choose 2 cabins, you will pay adult fare for the first 2 people in the cabin. Technically, you will book one adult in each cabin, but they really don't care who sleeps where. Adjoining cabins are available, so you can be "right there" with the kids, even though they are in the next room. You can even prop the door open between the rooms.

You really need to price it out both ways. It frequently is cheaper in 2 cabins, and it will give you twice the bathroom space as well as significantly more room.

 

[KennyK]

jmatias

Welcome to the DIS boards,

A cat 4 or higher is all that will accept a family of 5 unless you want to get two adjoinning staterooms. Many of the staterooms have connecting doors, so you could put the two older kids in there and you, DH and baby in the other.

Good luck on your choices.

I suggest you visit www.castawayclub.com or www.dcltribute.com. These are private info sites by DIS members and have alot of info on them.

I hope your cruise wish comes true. There is nothing like the "MAGIC" experienced of a Disney cruise.

kennyk

 

[Werner Weiss]

For a family of five in the same stateroom, you need to book catagory 4, 3, 2 or 1. No other categories hold 5 passengers in the same room.

The other option, which is less expensive, is to book two connecting staterooms in a value-priced category such as 11. Officially, they'll book one adult in each room, but you plan the sleeping arrangements as you wish. The first two passengers in each room pay the full rate, regardless of age, so you'll pay 4 full rates &#151 but the full rate in category 11 is much, much lower than the full rate in category 4. DD1 1/2 will pay the very low "under age 3."

 

[BibbidyBobbidyBoo]

Our family of five with children's ages (at time of cruise) of 4yrs, 7yrs, and 11yrs... it was cheaper to go with 2 adjoining cat 9 staterooms than 1 cat 4 stateroom... as others said- the cat 4 is the cheapest you can go in one room with 5 people. Other than that is cat 3,2,1 which are suites and more expensive and concierge/etc.
Even with taking into consideration that in a cat 4 room we would pay for 2 adult rates, 3 childrens rates- it still came out cheaper paying for 4 adult rates, 1 child rate for 2 cat 9 staterooms. Much cheaper! (like $3000 cheaper- seriously)

Also, keep in mind that cat 4 is not only usually more expensive than two rooms in a lower category.... but it's also not much more room at all. In comparison with other verandah category rooms it's only a few feet bigger AND... also consider that the murphy bed that is in there to allow 5 to sleep there instead of 4 -blocks the verandah doors! So basically you may have a hard time making use of your verandah while the children are sleeping- something to consider if you planned on doing that.
It was a consideration for us. At first we thought about going cat 4 to get the verandah- but when we realized the murphy bed comes down right in front of the verandah doors- we realized that being all in the same room wasn't worth being crowded (not much more room in cat 4) and the verandah being blocked!

(we were going to go with a lower cat room with verandah- and get two of them- but for other reasons decided the verandah wasn't necessary for us- so we are going with cat 9 this time)

 

[CheapMom]

I think cat 10 is the first category with adjoining rooms

 

[jmatias]

Thank you all for the helpful information. Looks like I need to do a little research as to what type of room we want.

My first thought was that we had to get a category 4. Now, the idea of 2 connecting rooms sounds good for the extra bathroom.


Thanks again!