Which hotel room to book

[elmoandzoey]

I am in the process of booking our room for the upcoming trip and I am unsure which room to book. I will rent an ECV from an outside vendor so I can have it at the hotel. Right now it will be me, DS12, DS8 and DD3. We may add my mother to the mix if she decides she wants to go. My problem right now is will I be ok booking a regular room or do I need to book a handicapped room because of the ECV? Oh, and we'll also have DD'S stroller but we could fold that outside the room and take it in. I know handicapped rooms are usually a bit larger to accommodate a wheelchair / ECV. I won't be needing a rool-in shower or a handicapped toilet though. So I am not sure if I need to book the room just to fit the ECV in or if a regular room will do. I do not want to take a room from someone who may truly need the extra accommodations in the bathroom.

We're looking to stay at either the Best Western at DTD or All Stars, depending on whether I can get my friend's discount for BW or not (if not, we'll go All Stars for the same price).

 

[lanejudy]

There are various types of H/A rooms at WDW. Basically if you do not require visual or hearing needs, or a roll-in shower or extra rails in the bath, an ECV will fit into pretty much any standard resort room. That's assuming you can park the ECV and manage walking around the room and bathroom without wheels. Moderate and deluxe resorts will have larger rooms than values, but the ECV can fit there as well; you can ask to have the table and chairs removed if that helps.

I will point out that IF you mom may join you, that creates a more challenging situation. The value resorts only allow 4 guests (your 3-yr-old counts), so adding mom makes you a party of 5. POR and CBR have some rooms to sleep 5, or family suites at AoA or ASMu and the Cabins at FW sleep 6. I don't have experience with the DTD resorts so not sure if they have occupancy restrictions for a party of 5.

Enjoy your vacation!

 

[SueM in MN]

Besides what lanejudy wrote -
Handicapped rooms with roll in showers have larger bathroom areas to accommodate the roll in shower, sink access and being able to bring a wheelchair. But, that space comes from the bedroom area.
The moderate WDW resorts were renovated by moving the door to add a tiny bit more space to accommodate the space lost in the bedroom.
The additional space is actually only about a 4 x 4 foot area, so not huge.

 

[elmoandzoey]

Thanks for the info, especially in my DD! At BW she doesn't count as a person so adding my mother to the room after booking wouldn't have been an issue. I didn't even think about WDW having different rules for their resorts.

I also never thought about asking them to take out extra furniture like chairs or table if space if tight. I have looked at the family suites at ASMu but it looks like the extra beds are pullouts. I don't want to confine my boys to pullouts for 2 weeks. AoA is - sadly - out of our budget with current prices. Their family rooms would have been awesome though!

I guess I will put in a reservation for a regular room at BW then and if a deal should come up for AoA, we may upgrade to that then.

 

[lanejudy]

Sounds like you've got a plan. FWIW, Caribbean Beach Resort and Port Orleans Riverside will cost less than either of the family suite options, but I don't know how that compares to what you get at Best Western. If you opt for either of these resorts, I'd suggest initially booking with Mom included to guarantee you have a room for 5, which might not be available if you try to add her later.

Disney counts guests for room occupancy starting at age 3, same with tickets and dining plan. 2 yrs old and under are "free" -- though for room occupancy they will only give 1 free body per room (so someone with 2 yr old twins will need to count 1 of them).

Enjoy your vacation!

 

[elmoandzoey]

Thanks for pointing out the price difference. I mistakenly looked at the standard room rate for AoA instead of the family suite. There is no way we can spend that much extra money for staying at AoA or POR (though I would love to stay there at one time). These extra expenses with the ECV and me not being able to drive is just screwing with our clearly laid out original plan

I think I'll go ahead and put in a reservation at BW for 2 adults and 3 kids. If the room is a bit small, I will ask them to remove the chairs and table which we probably wouldn't need anyways.

 

[ErinTwinmom]

Ok I like to point out in your situation that renting dvc points might be a better option and it certainly opens up a lot of choices for sleeping 5.