What would you do?

[BABY_EINSTEIN'S_MOM]

I just figured you would not want a 13 year old boy and a 10 year old girl in the same bed. That is why I asked about her on the trundle.

We have done both on and off and really prefer on. DH and I drive all week long and for us a vacation is to not have to drive.

Try the POR and see how you like it.

Oh, gotcha about the bed thing... I just meant we were okay for trundle age...actually we were going to bring a twin size air mattress and probably let the older kids take turns on it.

 

[Shmily1]

I voted POR. We love that resort!! Its actually my DH's favorite resort, even though my favorite is BC. Five in a room is not as bad as it's made to appear. We took five to BC and DS19 who is 6'2" slept on the daybed. It was his! Do not sit on it!! The trip will be what you make of it and staying at POR is an awesome idea and a great place to be!! I bet your DH will be pleasantly surprised.

 

[Perditamarie]

Actually since our PIN is 20%off values and 40% off deluxes, doing that would cost us over $4300. That is even more than staying at the CR wing with DDP and hoppers(although the wing seems to not be available right now!) We could even stay at CR with a theme park view, QS, and base tickets for around 4200 with our PIN. I know those are great deals, I was just looking for the best deals to show dh our options!

Staying onsite is magical and if you have to suck it up and stay at the Contemporary to prove it, so be it!!

I agree that you already probably have the best value deal in terms of room size, location, amenities, park tix, dining, transportation.....anything you do from here will be less expensive but not an "equal" change. If you have to drop to QS & no hoppers to make the numbers look better, that's okay....unless you would spend $ oop for TS, then just keep the ddp.

Our family of 5 (kids 5,6 & 7 at the time) found the room at POR very, very snug...it seemed only 1 person could walk around and the "stuff" you end up with for 5 people ends up taking over that little room!! The grounds, pool, resort, etc were very nice, however and we love the vacation from driving too.

Forgot to say I voted to stay at CR and reduce tix/dining if necessary.

 

[mom of 3G's]

My vote is to keep your CR ressie and opt out of the park hoppers, but keep your dining plan. Keep checking on wing rooms, they might open up the closer you get to your travel dates. Good Luck!

 

[Jsme]

If he is a worrier about money I would do the condo since he has said what he did about doing what you did in the past. I think the condo has a lot of better options. If you do POR you are going to have a hotel room. The condo is going to be an apartment. With your family this will give you some privacy. For us privacy is now more of a must. Plus with the issues of money that he has I think he would feel better if he is doing something $1000 cheaper. I am a worrier and I do the bills. Even if we had all the money in the world things would bother me. So for his peace of mind about money do the condo.

That is just my 2 cents. Oh and I understand this was suppose to be a birthday gift to him thus the nicer place to stay but honestly if it is going to bug him at all about the extra expense that is not a birthday gift to him. I have gotten upset with presents in the past DH has bought me I knew we could not afford. This ruined the present for me.

 

[BABY_EINSTEIN'S_MOM]

My vote is to keep your CR ressie and opt out of the park hoppers, but keep your dining plan. Keep checking on wing rooms, they might open up the closer you get to your travel dates. Good Luck!

That's the thing..I have read on here that once the rooms for the PIN are gone, that's it. Even if someone cancels, that room is no longer available under the PIN. So, I assume that nothing is available but the MK view since nothing was when I booked, but I haven't called back to check yet.

 

[BABY_EINSTEIN'S_MOM]

If he is a worrier about money I would do the condo since he has said what he did about doing what you did in the past. I think the condo has a lot of better options. If you do POR you are going to have a hotel room. The condo is going to be an apartment. With your family this will give you some privacy. For us privacy is now more of a must. Plus with the issues of money that he has I think he would feel better if he is doing something $1000 cheaper. I am a worrier and I do the bills. Even if we had all the money in the world things would bother me. So for his peace of mind about money do the condo.

That is just my 2 cents. Oh and I understand this was suppose to be a birthday gift to him thus the nicer place to stay but honestly if it is going to bug him at all about the extra expense that is not a birthday gift to him. I have gotten upset with presents in the past DH has bought me I knew we could not afford. This ruined the present for me.

This was my thinking as well as far as the money part, but I have run the numbers until I can get the trip down to 3,500 still staying at CR in a wing(if they become available) with the QS dining and base tickets..which is only about 500 more than the condo trip. Therefore, space, would then become the deciding factor! And that is also the thing..he only looks at space/price and cannot see why anyone would pay more money to stay somewhere smaller no matter the location! Also, forgot to mention..the trip is also for ds5's birthday as well.

 

[lisam427]

my vote is for por. it is our favorite resort. the grounds are beautiful. the staff is very helpful and friendly. we went this past sept. and just love it. the boat to downtown disney is great..easpecially at night. food court is great.although its not a magic kingdom view its beautiful. even the transportation was great..never waited longer than 10 minutes for a bus. its a great resort for the money.. and if you can save some cash and enjoy disney why not.

 

[HunnyPots]

I voted for POR because I agree that $1000 is a lot of money and I can think of so many other things I'd spend it on before I spent it on a hotel room where we only sleep and shower. BUT that's just me. Having said that, I've got to tell you, we've done both off and onsite and after having spent a week in a 4 br home with a private pool and only a ten minute drive to the parks for $76 per night, I have NO desire to stay onsite again!

 

[Indiana Rose Lee]

You all are going to be cramped wherever. That said, I'd switch. You don't get that much more for triple price.

There is no way my husband would go back to a tiny room after condoing it when we have more that one child with us. Good luck.

 

[GinCar]

Having stayed at both, I am one of the few that chose CR. I am not a resort snob, but the two can't be compared. CR is my favorite by a long shot.
If you could maybe drop hoppers and get a different view, you would save quite a bit. I would also try to save up a bit more by doing "budget" things around the house so as not to stress your DH.
My opinion is based on 2 wonderful stays at the CR. I have 3 kids and we enjoy a bit of room and being close to MK and the monorail.

Good luck with your decision. No matter what you will be in Disney.

 

[cindycastle30]

Just to bring up another option, you could try to get into a cabin at fort wilderness. These count as a moderate for the savings. We stayed there in august and they were wonderful. Plenty of room for everyone and your own deck to sit out on in the morning and at night. They also have a full kitchen, we were on the dining plan so didn't use it much, but it was nice to have a full size fridge for water and leftovers. I know that it is not CR but it is still close to MK and you can take the boat there, fireworks are nice to watch from the beach. After staying in these for 9 nights with 4 kids (13,12,11,&7) we will never go back to a regular hotel room at Disney, it is like having your own place. The privacy and space were amazing. My husband loved not being all on top of each other and us having some privacy was great on vacation also. I know that you were not asking about the cabins as an option but I do think that they are often overlooked as a nice place for families to stay.

 

[BABY_EINSTEIN'S_MOM]

Thanks for all of the opinions/ideas! It is funny how I posted my poll on the budget and resort boards and almost knew what the results would be! LOL

Budget boarders say switch...resort boarders say stay!! LOL