Suggestions on where to stay?

[AliceandAriel]

I'm (finally) planning out the first steps towards a full-family 2016 trip to FL. Looking at 2-4 days for WDW, 1-2 for Universal, and maybe a day or so outside of that (maybe the Kennedy Space Center?)

It would be seven adults, with the following ages:
Dad; 52. Mom; 47. DD; 25. DS; 22. DD; 20. DS; 20. DS; 16.

My first thought when I started putting together the trip was, where do we stay? On-property, or off? Dad and Mom can share a bed (King or Queen), but the rest all need their own, essentially, and I don't want to resort to pull-out couches for a vacation.

It's looking like a house rental is going to be the best bet, but if there are any families similar to mine that could offer some pointers/discussion, I'd love to hear about it!

(This trip will be the first for the whole family. I'm the only one that's seen WDW or Universal. Park days are rough estimates, since I'm not sure what the siblings and parents would be okay with or not okay with. The only thing I'd know for certain is that we'd need to stay at a place with a full kitchen, as half of the family is not big on eating out even on vacation.)

 

[jnbishop]

Hi there - Just read your posting… Our last trip to WDW world we took our family of seven - plus another couple - and rented a 4 BR townhouse in Encantada. It even had it's own private pool and hot tub. AWESOME. It wasn't over the top lavish, but it was clean and had plenty of space. A fully stocked kitchen. And was probably less than a ten minute drive to any of the WDW theme parks. I'd hands-down recommend it to anyone. Best part - the price. I'm thinking we paid around $600 for a full week - seven nights. Can't beat it. Hope this helps… There are LOTS of rental options if you look at VRBO. We almost stayed in Windsor Hills - they have some awesome houses that are really cute with Disney themes - but your gang may be too old for that - plus it's more expensive - almost twice the cost. We went for the # of bedrooms, the private pool (I should add we went to the resort's pool too - very nice), the location/proximity to the parks and the price. It was a great package finding this place!!! Hope that helps!

 

[happymommy]

I agree, that it sounds like renting a house for such a large group will work out best.

Even without wanting to eat out, though, most of you at the parks will want to have time for at least counter service meals. It would take too much time to go back for lunch, so I'd prepare them for that.

I'd definitely plan on more than one rental car probably. That way you can split up as you feel. Maybe some will want to do more Disney days (it's cheaper per day the more days you spend) and some may want to go to Universal.

That may be hard, though, as most rental car companies (unless you book through somewhere like USAA) either don't allow under 25 year olds to rent or charge more, so I'd keep that in mind.

For flexibility at Disney, though, it may work out well to look also at hotels that provide regular park shuttles. Downtown Disney hotels do (so two rooms at the Doubletree Guest Suites may work, as they each have a sofa sleeper plus 2 queen beds) or Bonnet Creek timeshare rentals (I think they have 3 bedroom units, but don't know if that would be big enough). Even doing Bonnet Creek, if the shuttle doesn't work you could take taxis to supplement.

 

[boogiebeaglemom]

My family use to rent 2 or 3 bedroom condos at the marriott world center. We could get them next To each other and it was in one of the building on the property, but each building had own pool and we rented a car, short drive to parks