Resorts that sleep 5?

[maxiesmom]

I do feel Disney is less flexible than many other hotel chains, though. Yes, some do and some do not allow 2 adults and 3 children in a room that sleeps 4, but I've found many that do. Disney does not, under any circumstance. (Unless the 3rd child is a baby.) I know they say it is because of fire code, But CBR and POR did not allow 5 to a room until the pull down beds were added. I don't understand what the pull down bed changes with regard to fire safety? Makes it feel like the policy is more money driven than safety driven IMO. I understand that hotels don't want spring break partiers cramming 6 adults into a standard hotel room and their policies must reflect that, but that is obviously not the case with a family with 3 young kids. (Which is why many hotel chains do allow 3 kids to a standard room.) That is just the point I was trying to make. Our youngest just turned 5, so he no longer qualifies as a baby and this is our first trip since all 3 kids count toward room occupancy. But our next trip is 8 nights and with a trip that long, we aren't interested in a standard hotel room even if we could book a value room for our family of 5.

But yes, everyone chooses what works for them. We take a big family vacation once a year (not always Disney,) and that is important to us. We would rather do that than vacation less often and save up for larger accomodations on site.

The fire code has more to it than room size. The size of the doorway, how many stories high the buildings are, if there are elevators or not, how many people a building holds, those all factor in too.

Btw, Disney does allow 5 to a room, depending on the resort. You say they do not under any circumstance, and that is not true. Only the basic rooms at the value level won't allow 5, and those rooms are tiny.

 

[Kaytie]

I wouldn't say they do an excellent job. A family of 5 cannot stay at a regular room in a value resort, even if they are willing for one child to sleep on a rollaway.

Still, eleven of eighteen non-DVC resorts offer units that accommodate five or more. It is the guest's responsibility to conform to occupancy levels/choose an available unit that holds their entire party.

however, many non-Disney hotel policies will allow 2 adults and 3 children to stay in a room that sleeps 4.

Portofino Bay and Hyatt Regency do not. Marriott World Center, Fairfield Inn, and Econolodge require parties of five+ to book suites, not standard rooms. I opted not to check every single hotel in the Disney area.

 

[Nancyg56]

Still, eleven of eighteen non-DVC resorts offer units that accommodate five or more. It is the guest's responsibility to conform to occupancy levels/choose an available unit that holds their entire party.

Portofino Bay and Hyatt Regency do not. Marriott World Center, Fairfield Inn, and Econolodge require parties of five+ to book suites, not standard rooms. I opted not to check every single hotel in the Disney area.

So it seems that it is not just Disney that has room limits.

 

[sbd78]

Worth noting, here: CBR rooms are typically 314 square feet. POR is similar. The deluxe that sleep 5 natively are larger. Port Orleans FQ could be adapted for 5, as the rooms are highly similar in shape/size to POR.

An All-Star room is 260 square feet. That is not an insignificant difference.

It's important to keep in mind that fire code isn't just square footage, it's also about exit paths and ability to move through a space to those exit paths. A pull-down in the 260 sq. foot rooms could very well impede escape paths.

If it is purely firecode though, why can't port orleans french quarter or coronado springs sleep 5? They have the same square footage as CBR and POR?

 

[sbd78]

So it seems that it is not just Disney that has room limits.

I never said it was only Disney. Just that Disney is more uptight with their policies than many (not all, read my original post) hotel chains, which I stand by.

 

[sbd78]

The fire code has more to it than room size. The size of the doorway, how many stories high the buildings are, if there are elevators or not, how many people a building holds, those all factor in too.

Btw, Disney does allow 5 to a room, depending on the resort. You say they do not under any circumstance, and that is not true. Only the basic rooms at the value level won't allow 5, and those rooms are tiny.

What are those circumstances? Other than one member is under 3 and still considered an infant? Just curious.

 

[sbd78]

The fire code has more to it than room size. The size of the doorway, how many stories high the buildings are, if there are elevators or not, how many people a building holds, those all factor in too.

Btw, Disney does allow 5 to a room, depending on the resort. You say they do not under any circumstance, and that is not true. Only the basic rooms at the value level won't allow 5, and those rooms are tiny.

Also, how does the addition of a pull down bed change how many stories high or the size of the doorway or how many elevators a building has? It doesn't.

 

[Nancyg56]

Also, how does the addition of a pull down bed change how many stories high or the size of the doorway or how many elevators a building has? It doesn't.

I know that folks say that it is the fire codes that determine occupancy levels, and I have no idea if that is so. I do think that any business has the right to determine how they want to set their policy and their rates. Honestly, I have no idea how Disney could allow more than 4 people to safely stay in a value because those rooms are small. I bet any inflatable mattress would block exits. I wonder if that is the case with some of the moderates.

Again, I think there are options available if one has a family of five or six, and not all are villas and suites. WHen I priced our December vacation in ARuba I had to accept the room configurations if the resorts I looked at, and chose the resort hat worked best for our family with regards to the rooms, cost, amenities and food. There were many that were less expensive than the one I chose, but just as my family knows how we like to vacation in DISney and are willing to pay for it, we have the same mindset elsewhere.

 

[Kaytie]

I never said it was only Disney. Just that Disney is more uptight with their policies than many (not all, read my original post) hotel chains, which I stand by.

If you mean Disney adheres to its room occupancy limits while some other properties don't, well, yes. Disney offers more options for parties of greater than four, as well.

You appear to be claiming that many (few? some? close to half? - many being such a general amount) properties exceed or violate their own room occupancy limits. Do you mean that, for example, the properties I researched would actually allow a party of five in a four-person room, instead of placing them in a suite at the suite rate? Or do you mean if the property doesn't offer units that hold more than four? Do you have some examples?

 

[maxiesmom]

Also, how does the addition of a pull down bed change how many stories high or the size of the doorway or how many elevators a building has? It doesn't.

It changes egress. For the room and for the doorways and elevators and walkways.

 

[sbd78]

If you mean Disney adheres to its room occupancy limits while some other properties don't, well, yes. Disney offers more options for parties of greater than four, as well.

You appear to be claiming that many (few? some? close to half? - many being such a general amount) properties exceed or violate their own room occupancy limits. Do you mean that, for example, the properties I researched would actually allow a party of five in a four-person room, instead of placing them in a suite at the suite rate? Or do you mean if the property doesn't offer units that hold more than four? Do you have some examples?

I'm not talking about sneaking an extra kid into a standard hotel or breaking hotel policy. I'm saying many non-Disney hotel policies will allow a family of 5 to book and stay in a standard hotel room. (Meaning, 2 doubles or 2 queen beds. No additional sofa bed.) I just did a search on hotels.com and plugged in 2 adults and 3 children and came up with some. Here are a few at varying price points, and I'm not including suite or villa accomodations. Standard hotel rooms only:
Walt Disney World Dolphin, Wyndham Grand Orlando Resort Bonnet Creek, Park Inn by Raddison, Red Lion Maingate, Knights Inn Maingate, Comfort Inn Maingate, Best Western Disney Springs, Holiday Inn Resort Lake Buena Vista

Personally, I wouldn't bother with an offsite standard hotel room (except maybe the Dolphin since that has most of the benefits of being onsite) because the main benefit to staying offsite for me is gaining more space. All I'm saying is there are hotels that allow it.

 

[maxiesmom]

I'm not talking about sneaking an extra kid into a standard hotel or breaking hotel policy. I'm saying many non-Disney hotel policies will allow a family of 5 to book and stay in a standard hotel room. (Meaning, 2 doubles or 2 queen beds. No additional sofa bed.) I just did a search on hotels.com and plugged in 2 adults and 3 children and came up with some. Here are a few at varying price points, and I'm not including suite or villa accomodations. Standard hotel rooms only:
Walt Disney World Dolphin, Wyndham Grand Orlando Resort Bonnet Creek, Park Inn by Raddison, Red Lion Maingate, Knights Inn Maingate, Comfort Inn Maingate, Best Western Disney Springs, Holiday Inn Resort Lake Buena Vista

Personally, I wouldn't bother with an offsite standard hotel room (except maybe the Dolphin since that has most of the benefits of being onsite) because the main benefit to staying offsite for me is gaining more space. All I'm saying is there are hotels that allow it.

Many do allow it and many do not. I travel a lot as part of a larger family. And you can't book just any hotel even outside of Disney World. Many Disney hotels allow it too. Not every resort needs to. It is not as if there are only 2 resorts to pick from.

 

[_auroraborealis_]

There are. There are also offsite hotels that do not.

Disney offer suites at two Value resorts that sleep 6. They are more costly than the Value rooms that sleep 4, but are significantly larger and on a per-head basis are in line. They offer 2 Moderate resorts that have many rooms that sleep 5. The other two mods do not. I think with POFQ it is either a deliberate choice (it is a popular "adult" moderate") or about amenities and egress at some level. At Coronado, with the current refurb I am quite sure it's deliberate, keeping in mind they handle a LOT of conference business there and have more King rooms than at most other Disney resorts as well.

There are also the FW Cabins, which also offer a better in-room ability to cook, for 6.

Fire code looks at issues of "room escape" but also of hallway width, placement of exit doors, etc. etc. While the moderates have exterior hallways, the pathways to get OFF the exterior hallways and to ground level and away from what may be a burning building are also relevant.

 

[Nancyg56]

I think that there is a lot more in play here with regards to perception. I believe that there are many peopple who believe that Disney is a business that should make allowances for larger families, and should make those options to be at a price point that they are comfortable with. I am not in agreement, and feel strongly that I need to make decisions that work for my crew, and that if there are options available it is my decision to pay for them or stay elsewhere.

My niece got married in July, and for us it was like a destination wedding. The family members from CT had a heck of a drive, so most of us decided to make it a mini reunion/vacation. They resort had many options, but the only one that allowed for more than 4 in a room was to rent a house on property. There were cabins: 2 people per cabin. The main lodge had rooms, but max of 4 people per room: no exceptions. My group wanted to remain together so we rented a 4 bedroom home, as did several other families who stayed. It was expensive, but for us it was the solution that worked. Some folks chose to stay in the lodge one night, others went home. No one complained the resort was not "fair."

I rather doubt there would be the level of irritation if we were discussing a hotel in midtown Manhatten refusing to allow a roll away in the room in order to accomodate a 5th guest.

 

[sbd78]

Disney only allows 5 in a standard room if they've added the extra pull down bed, though. (Or daybed in the deluxes.) Some of the deluxes won't even allow 5 to a room despite having more square footage than the mods that do allow 5. CBR Pirate rooms don't allow 5 despite having the exact same configuration as the CBR rooms that do allow 5. (Only difference being the pirate rooms don't have the pull down bed.) The common denominator seems to be the additional pull down bed, not escaping a fire as to whether a Disney resort will or will not allow 5 in a room.

And yes, the value resorts do have family suites. The reason we aren't staying there is because they aren't value priced IMO, lol.

 

[_auroraborealis_]

CBR Pirate rooms don't allow 5 despite having the exact same configuration as the CBR rooms that do allow 5.

Actually, Pirate Rooms are two doubles. The standard rooms are 2 Queens. They have chosen not to make Pirate Rooms sleep 5 or update the beds.

Disney have provided options. If you do not like the options or their pricing, off-site is an option. Disney have decided what level of options they will provide.

 

[Nancyg56]

Disney only allows 5 in a standard room if they've added the extra pull down bed, though. (Or daybed in the deluxes.) Some of the deluxes won't even allow 5 to a room despite having more square footage than the mods that do allow 5. CBR Pirate rooms don't allow 5 despite having the exact same configuration as the CBR rooms that do allow 5. (Only difference being the pirate rooms don't have the pull down bed.) The common denominator seems to be the additional pull down bed, not escaping a fire as to whether a Disney resort will or will not allow 5 in a room.

And yes, the value resorts do have family suites. The reason we aren't staying there is because they aren't value priced IMO, lol.

SOmeone upthread already discussed why they believe two moderates were left out of the 5 per room, and I agree that it may have been a deliberate decison to contain the number of people, not just children within the resort. Both CSR and POFQ have a high number of adults who choose the property and I think DIsney may want to keep the atmosphere under control.

I also refuse to stay in a value suite, they are wicked expensive IMO. As to the values, I think room size alone is enough for Disney to refuse to allow any additional people, no matter how the guest wants to manage. A rollaway, an inflatable mattress, a sleeping bag on the floor. Yikes! WE had 4 in a room at POFQ, one was a 4 YO but I had an older slob and a 2o YO with a lo of stuff. The thought of one more thing in that room, breathing or not is frightening. I cannot imagine in a value with so much less space available.

 

[DiaryofaDisneyKid]

We are a family of five with kids DS10, DD7 and DS4. We always just stay at either POR or CBR and know these are the best options for our family. I do understand the values would not have the footprint to fit a 5th person as we were crowded with 5 when our youngest was in a pack n' play at CBR and it is larger then a value. I don't understand however why being able to stay at a value with 4 plus a little one in a pack n' play would be aloud but not a rollaway? I guess rollaways might be longer but pack n' plays take up a huge amount of space and I would think they would violate fire codes just like a rollaway. Disney offers the use of a crib or pack n' play and so they are allowing these in values. I would think a crib might be the same as a rollaway?

 

[Disneylover99]

SOmeone upthread already discussed why they believe two moderates were left out of the 5 per room, and I agree that it may have been a deliberate decison to contain the number of people, not just children within the resort. Both CSR and POFQ have a high number of adults who choose the property and I think DIsney may want to keep the atmosphere under control.

I never thought about that. That would make sense to me.

 

[DiaryofaDisneyKid]

I never thought about that. That would make sense to me.

Disneylover99 I love your avatar was that from this year?