Which Disney Hotel do you recommend?

[Moomoo1983]

Hi everyone!
We are planning a fortnight trip to Disney World Florida in 2 years time. We are a family of 4 and our children will be 12 and 9. Which hotel would be best for these ages? We were originally looking at the animal kingdom but have found out now they only do rooms with queen beds and there is no way our children will share a bed and we can't afford a suite. So ideally we need a room that has a Queen or King for hubby and I and then separate beds for the children. A pool with slides is a must as the children love to swim and we want to stay in the Disney park itself close to all amenities.

Advice greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance....

 

[OurLaughingPlace]

Hi everyone!
We are planning a fortnight trip to Disney World Florida in 2 years time. We are a family of 4 and our children will be 12 and 9. Which hotel would be best for these ages? We were originally looking at the animal kingdom but have found out now they only do rooms with queen beds and there is no way our children will share a bed and we can't afford a suite. So ideally we need a room that has a Queen or King for hubby and I and then separate beds for the children. A pool with slides is a must as the children love to swim and we want to stay in the Disney park itself close to all amenities.

Advice greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance....

We like to stay at Port Orleans Riverside - we book the preferred section (Alligator Bayou) and it gives you a 5th sleeper bed. So, two beds plus a sleeper bed. Our daughter who is 20 likes the sleeper bed (she's about 5'3" and seems comfortable enough). We've also stayed at Beach Club and received a day bed as an extra bed (but never a guarantee). I believe that there are extra beds in Fort Wilderness Cabins (sleeps 6 I think?) and a bunk bed room at Wilderness Lodge (but we've not stayed at either of these before).
Beach Club does - great pool!

 

[MarkS2112]

WL has bunk beds. Nice pool with slide.
BC has a day bed and two queens. Best pool on property.
CBR has rooms that sleep 5 but just queen beds and a Murphy bed. Nice pool with slide.
AoA are suites that sleep 5..

I don’t believe any without suites have two kings.
My kids are 23 and 20 and share a queen. Believe me if they want to go bad enough they will sleep in the same bed. We also don’t do two rooms.

 

[saraheliz]

Look for deluxe rooms that sleep 5, they will have three separate beds.
Or, Art of Animation has family suites with 3 separate sleeping spaces (and two separate rooms). My kids LOVED AoA when they went at just shy of 9 and 11. It's a value resort so louder theming, no pool slide, no sit down restaurant but I quite enjoyed it.

 

[ClapYourHands]

We like to stay at Port Orleans Riverside - we book the preferred section (Alligator Bayou) and it gives you a 5th sleeper bed. So, two beds plus a sleeper bed...
Port Orleans does not have a slide, but Beach Club does - great pool!

POR has a slide. It’s in the Ol Man Island pool.

Additionally, POR and POFQ allow pool hopping between the two, so you’re free to use the POFQ pool, which also has a slide in the doubloon lagoon slide.

 

[SarahC97]

You might want to rule out resort with bunk beds. AKL used to have them, but with their remodel they've been phased out. I've heard the same will happen at WL and since your trip isn't for two years, I would just assume they'll be gone by then.

Personally, I think a moderate with a fifth sleeper is a good choice for needs. Caribbean Beach and Port Orleans Riverside both offer these rooms as a booking category and they both have pools with slides. The value resorts do not have slides, so I'd rule those out too. If you're going to spend a lot of time at the pool, you might want to spring for a deluxe like BC/YC, but as someone else mentioned a third sleeping surface isn't always a guarantee at those resorts. Though I will say we needed an extra sleeping surface at BC in January and they were able to bring us a twin inflatable mattress that we put in the room -- it worked out great. Good luck!

 

[mialeighs]

I was going to suggest the bunk beds at WL but if they're phasing them out, then I agree that a 5-person room with a sleeper is best. Our twin daughters also don't like sharing a bed, which makes traveling in hotels very challenging and expensive! When not traveling to Disney, we use VRBO or AirBnb for this very reason.

 

[OurLaughingPlace]

POR has a slide. It’s in the Ol Man Island pool.

Additionally, POR and POFQ allow pool hopping between the two, so you’re free to use the POFQ pool, which also has a slide in the doubloon lagoon slide.

Yes to the slide, you're right - I guess I was thinking about the preferred AB section that we stay at (quiet pool does not have slide and that's the vision I had in my head rather than main pool for some reason). For OP, I will say that the slides at Port Orlean resorts are smaller than deluxe pool slides as far as I know (definitely smaller than BC pool slide).
I would add Contemporary resort as a contender. The garden rooms that we've stayed in have a 5th sleeper bed and the walk to MK / access to monorail is so handy. Pool is fine and it does have a big slide.

 

[mickeynut1]

Hi everyone!
We are planning a fortnight trip to Disney World Florida in 2 years time. We are a family of 4 and our children will be 12 and 9. Which hotel would be best for these ages? We were originally looking at the animal kingdom but have found out now they only do rooms with queen beds and there is no way our children will share a bed and we can't afford a suite. So ideally we need a room that has a Queen or King for hubby and I and then separate beds for the children. A pool with slides is a must as the children love to swim and we want to stay in the Disney park itself close to all amenities.

Advice greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance....

CR, Poly & GF have 2 queens and a daybed, as does BWI (with the exception of maybe 1 or 2 rooms). As mentioned above, some rooms at BC/YC have them, but not all do. You can request a room with a daybed, but it's not guaranteed.

 

[westie55]

While searching, put in for 5 guests. This will show you all the resorts that sleep 5, which will allow for a separate sleeping surface for each of your kids. Mine are the same way. They could not sleep together; my youngest's movement would wake my older son up all night. We stayed at Contemporary last year which worked out great sleeping wise because of the daybed in the room in addition to 2 queen beds. Many of the resort rooms sleep 5.

 

[Sarahslay]

My girls are horrible bed companions (DH and I have both tried sharing beds with them over the years, and we end up getting beat up as they sleep with all their kicking and punching), so we always look for a room with a 5th sleeper option. We have done the rooms with the pull down murphy bed at POR, but it is on the smaller size for those types of beds and I know my then 9 year old already filled up most of the bed. I have heard that some of the newer ones in the new DVC rooms are a better fit, and I also do enjoy renting DVC points, although the prices have gone up recently for the coming year(s) so it's almost the same as just paying cash through Disney for the same room. We are currently looking at a 1 bedroom at Riviera since it has a king, pull down queen, and a pull down single, and have rented a 2 bedroom at BLT which is nice with 1 king, 2 queens, plus a fold out sofa and 3 bathrooms; both have a full kitchen. They are getting rid of the bunks at WL, which used to be our favorite option, and we are trying out Contemporary next Christmas to try out their sleeper sofa and larger rooms.

 

[looking4themouse2]

Have you thought about FWC? They have a queen a bunk and a sleeper sofa so that would definitely fit all of you.

 

[makeitpinkorblue]

I recently stayed in a cabin at Fort Wilderness in August 2019. It has a Queen bed and bunk beds, and plenty of room in the cabin. I personally would stay there again.

 

[Minnie1222]

I usually travel with my 2 kids and the three of us do not like to share. BWI Deluxe room has 2 queen beds plus a queen sofabed. Poly and GF have 2 queen beds and a twin pull out.

 

[2kidsForMe]

My kids can’t share a bed and at that age were too big to sleep comfortably on pull downs at POR:CBR. If you can swing a deluxe that sleeps 5, the sofa beds are a good size. If not, check out the AoA suites. A more affordable option would be the family suites at All Star Music.

 

[sethschroeder]

Dvc is what you should be looking at.

You can get 3 sleep surfaces and still save some money over booking direct with Disney.

Downside is that you need to find a member to rent for you and typically have to pay most if not all up front.

Many of us do it or have done it in the past though.

You possibly could even get a 1br for not to bad of money.

 

[TheOneWithTheTriplets]

Dvc is what you should be looking at.

You can get 3 sleep surfaces and still save some money over booking direct with Disney.

Downside is that you need to find a member to rent for you and typically have to pay most if not all up front.

Many of us do it or have done it in the past though.

You possibly could even get a 1br for not to bad of money.

Since you're looking at two years out, my first thought was also renting DVC. If you put in for Beach Club Villas, they all have a queen, a sofa bed, and a murphy style bed: always 3 sleeping surfaces there. Renting points to stay there will likely be comparable, maybe a little more, than a moderate but will allow you access to the best pool on property while being able to walk into Epcot and Hollywood Studios.

If you don't want to deal with renting points, I think your chances of getting a Beach Club or Yacht Club room with the pull out bed are very good. While not all rooms have them, most do. I'd make it my one and only room request so that the room assigner knows it's a priority.

 

[Mainsail Minnie]

Hi everyone!
We are planning a fortnight trip to Disney World Florida in 2 years time. We are a family of 4 and our children will be 12 and 9. Which hotel would be best for these ages? We were originally looking at the animal kingdom but have found out now they only do rooms with queen beds and there is no way our children will share a bed and we can't afford a suite. So ideally we need a room that has a Queen or King for hubby and I and then separate beds for the children. A pool with slides is a must as the children love to swim and we want to stay in the Disney park itself close to all amenities.

Advice greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance....

Check out a cabin at Fort Wilderness.

 

[Someone28624]

My first thought it also cabin at fort wilderness. Two weeks is a long time to all be on top of each other. A cabin will get you more space at a moderate or cheaper price and FW has two pools, one with a waterslide.

Renting DVC is also a good idea.