Two Bed Room or Two Studios?

[nfouey]

Heading to WDW in April 2018. We are now bringing two close friends (a married couple) with my family of 4 (2 adults 2 kids 5 and 2). We own at PVB and had planned on booking a lake view studio there. Now that we have our friends joining should we just add another studio (std view) or look into two bedrooms elsewhere?

What are the pros of a two bed room vs two studios? We will not be cooking as we are doing the dinning plan.

Thanks in advance!

 

[cmoliver5]

I would highly suggest the 2 Bedroom. Even without cooking it will provide added space for everyone to spread out. Also, if you book at BLT or AKL the 2 Bedrooms have a 3rd bathroom which is also nice. The 2Br will also allow for the adults to hangout after the kids have gone to bed for the night.

 

[jo-jo]

How long are you staying? For a longer stay, having a washer/dryer right in room is great.

 

[nfouey]

6 nights 7 days. I guess I'm concerned with sleeping arrangements. Someone would have to sleep in the living room correct? Just thinking that the couple may not want to sleep on a sofa bed, but also if the kids are on the sofa and the couple comes in late they could wake up the kids?

 

[cmoliver5]

Most of the 2BR villas have a king in one room and 2 queens in the other.

 

[erionm]

6 nights 7 days. I guess I'm concerned with sleeping arrangements. Someone would have to sleep in the living room correct? Just thinking that the couple may not want to sleep on a sofa bed, but also if the kids are on the sofa and the couple comes in late they could wake up the kids?

That's when you book a 2-bedroom lock-off and the other couple takes the 2nd bedroom which is actually a studio with it's own entrance.

 

[KristiMc]

That's when you book a 2-bedroom lock-off and the other couple takes the 2nd bedroom which is actually a studio with it's own entrance.

I was just going to suggest that. So they can come and go as they need without disturbing the kids.

 

[Donna M]

Even if you are on the dining plan, having a kitchen for kids' drinks and leftovers is handy. The living room will be nice when you come back from the parks because you have a place to sit which is not on the edge of the beds.

 

[BillPA]

Do you and your friends plan on the DP? If not, then 2 studios would be better. Also I have seen many posts about the 'friends' dropping out of the trip once they see all the costs. With 2 studios, no big loss, just cancel unit 2 and you have your points back. Or you will have lots of room to roam in the 2 BR with you and the kids.

 

[nfouey]

Do you and your friends plan on the DP? If not, then 2 studios would be better. Also I have seen many posts about the 'friends' dropping out of the trip once they see all the costs. With 2 studios, no big loss, just cancel unit 2 and you have your points back. Or you will have lots of room to roam in the 2 BR with you and the kids.

You are a genius! Never would have thought of that!

 

[DduzDis]

In sort of the same boat for a trip next year. We normally do a 1-bedroom, but with my brothers family joining us (if they follow through) we would do a 2-bedroom lock-off. It would be nice if we could cancel the adjoining studio if they back out. May do the 2 Studios just to have the extra points for another trip if they do back out.

 

[nfouey]

Do the two bedrooms villas at Board walk have the Murphy Beds? Our issue is we have a 2 year old girl and a 5 year old boy. So they don't share a bed. The 2 year old is new to sleeping in a bed as well!

 

[Pirate Granny]

She will love the Murphy bed

 

[ptlohmysoul]

Do the two bedrooms villas at Board walk have the Murphy Beds? Our issue is we have a 2 year old girl and a 5 year old boy. So they don't share a bed. The 2 year old is new to sleeping in a bed as well!

Yes - in the studio part of the 2 bedroom.

 

[nfouey]

Yes - in the studio part of the 2 bedroom.

Ok great! This could work. But tell me about dinning plan. My family plans on using the dinning plan. What if our friends do not and we are all staying in the 2 bedroom villa on the same reservation, is that ok?

 

[DisneyFansInNYC]

Ok great! This could work. But tell me about dinning plan. My family plans on using the dinning plan. What if our friends do not and we are all staying in the 2 bedroom villa on the same reservation, is that ok?

No - everyone in the room has to be on the same plan - unless you add them after you get there - but then you can't book fastpasses when you book yours.

 

[cruisin5]

Would you consider a 1-bedroom for your family and a studio for your friends? Make sure they understand the payment and cancellation terms, it's not like a hotel where you can cancel 24 hours before arrival!

If you're concerned about them bailing - have them book their studio on their own then add "travelling with other party name" to each reservations in hopes of getting room near each other.

In the 2-bedroom, you could also give the master to your friends so you can share the room with your kids, and give each kid a separate bed.

 

[nfouey]

Would you consider a 1-bedroom for your family and a studio for your friends? Make sure they understand the payment and cancellation terms, it's not like a hotel where you can cancel 24 hours before arrival!

If you're concerned about them bailing - have them book their studio on their own then add "travelling with other party name" to each reservations in hopes of getting room near each other.

In the 2-bedroom, you could also give the master to your friends so you can share the room with your kids, and give each kid a separate bed.

Yes if we did the two bed room, out family wild take the lock out. I think the issue is if our friends are interested in the dinning plan. We are 100% going to purchase the dinning plan, so if they do not want it we will have to do separate rooms.

 

[CarolMN]

I'd do two studios at the Poly for this trip. You can ask that they be connecting and will have an excellent chance of the request being granted. That way, each family has its own space and you can keep the connecting doors open or closed as the spirit moves.

A plus is this appears to be your home resort, so no worries about getting something at 7 months. And as a pp said, a second room is relatively easy to cancel without consequences (in most cases).

 

[mustinjourney]

One other thing to consider is that sometimes vacationing with another family at Disney can be stressful -- and having two separate studio rooms can allow everyone to have their own space. Just something else to think about.

Another thought -- I would suggest having one room get the deluxe dining plan and the other room not get a dining plan. It's around $105 per adult per day and gives you 3 TS meals per day -- and those include apps and desserts. You can easily split those among your group during meals, since all of the credits get pooled into one big account. If you have any kids 3-9 years, then it is a steal of deal, since they can order from the adult menu (order adult menu item for guest and pay for kid's meal out of pocket).

• Deluxe dining plan meal credits are not differentiated in Disney’s system between children and adults (as of mid-2017). Technically, you are supposed to order from the children’s menu, even on the Deluxe plan, but in practice many restaurants will let a child order an adult meal with a Deluxe credit. It certainly doesn’t hurt to ask. Note that this will not work with the regular Dining Plan – their table-service credits for children and adults are tracked separately, and children have to use a child credit and order from the children’s menu (or see below; some restaurants will make child portions of other food).
• With the Deluxe plan, one strategy that can work reasonably well is to pay out of pocket for children’s meals (or share food from an adult meal), conserving your credits to use for adults. For example, say you have a party of 4, 3 adults and 1 child, which gives you 12 Deluxe credits per day to use for any kind of meals you want. If you only use your credits for adult meals, you could use 3 credits for breakfast and 3 credits for lunch, leaving you with 6 credits to buy three adult Signature meals. You would either pay out of pocket for the children’s meals or share food from the adult meals.