Value vs. Moderate for a family of 5

[allybabba98]

Hi everyone, I am in the process of planning a trip to WDW from Nov. 14-20. We have stayed at AofA twice and loved it. The reason we started to stay here was because there were very few places on property that fit all of us. Now that they have upgraded a majority of rooms with a small pull down bed, it is actually cheaper for us to do a moderate then the value.
I am considering staying at Port Orleans Riverside, with three boys (10, 7 and 5) I thought this would have some good options and the pool looks great.
How do other families of five or more save money?
Thanks for your help.

 

[Pembo]

We are a family of 5 and stayed at POR many times. I love it there and my kids love the pools. Our other option is offsite at Windsor Hills in a condo. It is a different vacation than onsite but we found it a bit more relaxing and being able to spread out was a dream. Check out the Orlando Hotels and Accommodations boards to learn more. We stayed in the condo for $100/nt. less than half over POR.

 

[kymom99]

Would you be interested in the cabins at Ft. Wilderness?

We love CBR for a moderate, but not sure if they have any that accommodate 5. Stay away from the pirate rooms if you decide to try it out. They are so far from the pool and food court, you will want to drive your car just to get something to eat.

 

[4under4]

I think for the ages of your kids, POR is a perfect choice. I have looked at the cabins a few times, but the need for an internal bus, and the fact that the largest bed is a "double" always put me off. DH & I have a king at home and always struggle bumping into each other on even a queen. A double is a non-starter. Just keep in mind that unlike the AoA suites, the POR room will only have one bathroom. Even as a family of 6 we can make that work when we have to (last year we did the Junior Suite at WL which has a separate living area, but only 1 bath).

 

[PatMcDuck]

With 5 of you, can you all sleep comfortably inside one bedroom? I found this nearly impossible. I cannot usually go to sleep by 10 pm. And some of my kids needed a reasonable amount of quiet and darkness. Can the 5 of you be happy with one bathroom? This also became an issue for us; we laugh now about one time when the older boys would use a bathroom in the hotel lobby when we did 5 in a room one trip(at Cedar Point, not Disney, I thought 5 in a club level room would give us room to spread out in the lounge, but, not so much). You also would lose some of those nice Art of A kitchen facilities, like the larger refrigerator and the microwave.

I have 4 kids, and it was one of the reasons we bought into DVC, and we would get a 2 BR villa for our DVC trips. (it was more affordable back in 1995). Without it, we had to book 2 connecting hotel rooms (but 6 people REALLY pushes you into needing more space).

I now book Art of A with just me and my adult son, on cash trips. He goes to sleep early in the bedroom, I like to stay up and putter around the living room area..... and I have access to that 2nd bathroom, which is fantastic.

Good luck! It IS fun to try new resorts. You could book a couple of nights in a moderate, then move over to Art of A after a few nights. See how it works for you that way.

 

[friend2Figment]

My kids like CBR's pool and playground and it now has the small fold down bed but they really liked the boat ride from POR to DTD. You can walk to POFQ from POR to eat at the food court or swim. If you don't need two bathrooms either would be fun.

 

[Marionnette]

Hi everyone, I am in the process of planning a trip to WDW from Nov. 14-20. We have stayed at AofA twice and loved it. The reason we started to stay here was because there were very few places on property that fit all of us. Now that they have upgraded a majority of rooms with a small pull down bed, it is actually cheaper for us to do a moderate then the value.
I am considering staying at Port Orleans Riverside, with three boys (10, 7 and 5) I thought this would have some good options and the pool looks great.
How do other families of five or more save money?
Thanks for your help.

Another thing to consider is that there is a possibility that *free* dining will be offered in mid-November. If that happens, it will be an even better deal for a family of 5 to stay in a Moderate (*free* DDP) vs. a Value (*free* QSDP). The down side is that pretty much every family of 5 is going to jump on the opportunity to upgrade to a Moderate Resort for the same reason and you will be competing with them to score one of those rooms.

At some point, you're just not going to be able to squeeze all five of you into one resort room. I know that once the kids hit their teenage years, it wasn't pleasant for us. That's when we began renting DVC points from family and friends. Eventually we bought DVC. IMO, go for the Moderate Resort (with a pool that has a slide!) on your upcoming trip. You're going to have to upgrade to a villa or suite (or an offsite condo) in a few years. You might as well enjoy the savings now.

 

[Poohbug]

Last fall our family of 5 stayed at Pop(two rooms) using a PIN. This was a much better deal than AoA and the connecting rooms were perfect. It's great having enough beds for everyone and having two bathrooms is really, really nice. I did not even look into a moderate because having us all smoosh in one room would be a very un-relaxing vacation. My kids are older than yours so you may be okay in a moderate for another couple of years. I would not bump up to a moderate because of the dining plan because we find the whole trip revolves around getting to your ADR and you have added costs to cover tips.

 

[allybabba98]

We are a family of 5 and stayed at POR many times. I love it there and my kids love the pools. Our other option is offsite at Windsor Hills in a condo. It is a different vacation than onsite but we found it a bit more relaxing and being able to spread out was a dream. Check out the Orlando Hotels and Accommodations boards to learn more. We stayed in the condo for $100/nt. less than half over POR.

We weren't going to rent a car but I will for sure look at the off site and price out the difference. Thanks for your suggestion.

 

[allybabba98]

I think for the ages of your kids, POR is a perfect choice. I have looked at the cabins a few times, but the need for an internal bus, and the fact that the largest bed is a "double" always put me off. DH & I have a king at home and always struggle bumping into each other on even a queen. A double is a non-starter. Just keep in mind that unlike the AoA suites, the POR room will only have one bathroom. Even as a family of 6 we can make that work when we have to (last year we did the Junior Suite at WL which has a separate living area, but only 1 bath).

Yeah, I loved the two bathrooms in AofA and the fact you had two separate rooms. I never even considered the double beds, I think my DH is really going to have to help me weight the pros and cons of each resort. Thanks for your help!

 

[allybabba98]

Another thing to consider is that there is a possibility that *free* dining will be offered in mid-November. If that happens, it will be an even better deal for a family of 5 to stay in a Moderate (*free* DDP) vs. a Value (*free* QSDP). The down side is that pretty much every family of 5 is going to jump on the opportunity to upgrade to a Moderate Resort for the same reason and you will be competing with them to score one of those rooms.

At some point, you're just not going to be able to squeeze all five of you into one resort room. I know that once the kids hit their teenage years, it wasn't pleasant for us. That's when we began renting DVC points from family and friends. Eventually we bought DVC. IMO, go for the Moderate Resort (with a pool that has a slide!) on your upcoming trip. You're going to have to upgrade to a villa or suite (or an offsite condo) in a few years. You might as well enjoy the savings now.

We have visited in September and were able to get the dining plan...however, I just realized that when you stay at a moderate your dining plan moves up a notch. This could very well be a deciding factor for us. You are right about squeezing. My boys are already tall and I don't see many years ahead of a one room trip. Thanks for your help.

 

[allybabba98]

With 5 of you, can you all sleep comfortably inside one bedroom? I found this nearly impossible. I cannot usually go to sleep by 10 pm. And some of my kids needed a reasonable amount of quiet and darkness. Can the 5 of you be happy with one bathroom? This also became an issue for us; we laugh now about one time when the older boys would use a bathroom in the hotel lobby when we did 5 in a room one trip(at Cedar Point, not Disney, I thought 5 in a club level room would give us room to spread out in the lounge, but, not so much). You also would lose some of those nice Art of A kitchen facilities, like the larger refrigerator and the microwave.

I have 4 kids, and it was one of the reasons we bought into DVC, and we would get a 2 BR villa for our DVC trips. (it was more affordable back in 1995). Without it, we had to book 2 connecting hotel rooms (but 6 people REALLY pushes you into needing more space).

I now book Art of A with just me and my adult son, on cash trips. He goes to sleep early in the bedroom, I like to stay up and putter around the living room area..... and I have access to that 2nd bathroom, which is fantastic.

Good luck! It IS fun to try new resorts. You could book a couple of nights in a moderate, then move over to Art of A after a few nights. See how it works for you that way.

Thanks for your help. Other great things to consider, we loved the small kitchenette. I would order some items from Garden Grocer and it was great to have. I am the one that would get up at 5:30 and not need to be in bed till midnight...my family...not so much. Great points. I think I need to make a list of the pros and cons of each. Thanks so much.

 

[goofyintoronto]

I cant help but feel you would feel too cramped at POR. The kids would go to bed early, and you two would do what? Hang out inthe bathroom? At AoA at least you'd be in your own room, you could watch tv or read and stay up as late as you want without disrupting the kids.

 

[bluezy]

We've almost always been a party of 5 or more when traveling to Disney. We used to get connecting rooms at Pop Century but now that we've stayed in a suite at AoA, that's where we'll be until we're down to a party of 4 or less. Like many others have said, our reasons for getting a suite or 2 connecting rooms rather than one room that sleeps 5 are: 2 sleep areas, 2 TV's (the kids would not be happy watching CNN or whatever news program my husband wants to watch), and most importantly -- 2 bathrooms. The AoA suite has the added bonus of the kitchenette and since we eat breakfast in the room each day, this is a big bonus for us. It will be a challenge for us to give up all the "extras" when we can fit in a standard room again. To us, we'd rather save up a little longer to afford 2 rooms/suite than to save money by squishing the 5 of us in one room. I honestly think we'd be miserable after a day or two of that "togetherness". We usually stay in one room that accommodates 5 or 6 people when we travel to places other than Disney but that's usually just a 3 or 4 night stay (and the rooms are much bigger than a standard room at Disney)....and we're ready for it to be over by that point.

 

[mombrontrent]

Honestly I'd really consider an offsite condo. On our first family trip to Disney my kids were 1,5 and 8 and we had two connecting rooms at POP. It was so nice to put the little one down for a nap while one of took the other two swimming and not have tip toe around in the same room. Also nice to be able to put some or all of the kids to bed and the others can stay up later in the other room.

Since then all our vacations whether at Disney or not have been in condo unit's or a hotel with separate bedrooms. This May we are staying in a 2bdrm/2bath condo at Bonnett Creek for $120/night. It is basically on Disney property it's so close and even factoring in a rental car and parking I cannot get a comparable room at a Disney hotel for anywhere near that price. I honestly don't think we would enjoy our vacations nearly a much or at all if we were all crammed together in one room for 10 days. I also like having a full kitchen and balcony as well as a living room. We don't spend a whole lot of time in the room but when we do it's nice to spread out after spending the day together (let's face it teens/tweens and parents both require a little space from each other).

 

[kymom99]

One thing you could do if you decide to go moderate is bring some folding chairs and sit outside your door while the kids sleep. At CBR, there are little courtyard areas between the buildings with chairs to sit on as well. You could possibly hang out there if you get a room facing that way. More than likely, after running around the parks all day with 3 kids, you won't want to be up much later anyway. However, if you can spare the money for the suite, it sure seems it would be more comfortable.

 

[Jenny-momof3]

We've stayed in a moderate with 6 of us no problem. My girls are teenagers, son is 7 and an infant. We usually stay for 10-14 days and have no issues being in just one room. We aren't in the room for much more than sleeping anyways. We hit the parks at rope drop, come back to swim every afternoon, then head bac out to the parks til they close. Sometimes DH will come back with the boys if they're tired around 9. But my girls and I stay out til super late.

We go 3-4 times a year and have stayed at almost every resort on property. Also stayed at Bonnet Creek several times and rented a 5 bedroom house at Windsor Hills. We just MUCH prefer to be onsite and be a little snug in one room then offsite in bigger accomodations. We have a large home and have plenty of room to spread out the rest of the year....a few weeks of family togetherness is kinda fun

 

[abcboys]

We stayed in POR last time with 3 boys with similiar ages (13,9,6) and honestly for the amount of time we were there it was fine. I never felt like I had to hang out in the bathroom. lol. Usually by 10pm we are all tired and ready for bed so we just watch tv for a while or whatever. We didn't spend alot of time in the room anyway. No, I wouldn't want to live like that but for a week it was no big deal and the cheapest way to stay onsite.

 

[verleniahall]

have you considered booking two connecting rooms at a value?

 

[allybabba98]

I cant help but feel you would feel too cramped at POR. The kids would go to bed early, and you two would do what? Hang out inthe bathroom? At AoA at least you'd be in your own room, you could watch tv or read and stay up as late as you want without disrupting the kids.

That is why we loved the AofA just for the space and you don't feel like you are living on top of one another. My oldest two will probably be in bed before the 4 year old, he is a bit of a party animal. I think him and I will be closing the parks down!! Thanks for your input, I appreciate it.