Disney with Large Families

I've done 6 in a room at Port Orleans Riverside before. And as much as I love the resort, I would never ever do it again, unless it was the only way I could go to WDW. The room was beyond tight with that many people.

I know it is not on your short list, but a suite at the All Star Music will give you much more room. You will also gain a second bathroom, a second tv, a kitchenette, and a bedroom with a door. The bedroom would come in handy for putting the little one down for a nap and not having to make everyone else try and be quiet. And the 10, 8, and 7 year olds can all have their own "beds".
 
I do not want to cook or clean on this vacation, so the idea of having a kitchen depresses me. LOL I'm a homeschooling mom and basically spend my days teaching, cooking, and cleaning. I'd like to knock 2 of those three daily tasks off my list.

Who says you have to cook and clean? Not at all trying to be harsh, but that's a huge misconception about renting a condo or townhouse. Just because it has a kitchen doesn't mean you have to spend hours cooking and cleaning. Far from it. We do a little cooking, but I can assure you it's not a lot of time. You can ignore the kitchen if you really wanted...or just have snacks and things. Same with cleaning. You're not required to clean the house, they hire a service to do that. You're expected to leave the house like you'd leave a hotel room...just don't damage it and you're fine.

If you want to stay on property, great. But don't equate having a condo with cooking and cleaning...it's not written into your rental agreement that you must cook/clean. :D
 
At AoA, don't forget that they have Finding Nemo and Cars theming as well. Not just Lion King and Little Mermaid.

There are 3 pools at AoA. The main one is the Big Blue Pool. It's the biggest pool at Disney World and has the gimmick of having speakers under the water. Other than that it's just a basic pool. No slide or anything, but there is a splash pad area. There are also 2 quiet pools, 1 in Little Mermaid and 1 in Cars section. The Cars section has little traffic cone "cabanas" that are cute.

My kids love the idea of the Nemo suite. But don't like the idea of no slide. We stay at Aulani every year for Mother's Day (thank you Kama'aina rates) and my girls love the pool area. I had to remind them that there aren't four different theme parks near Aulani and the pool is WHY we stay there every year.

One other thing to consider is...what are you planning on doing with the kids if you and your husband do the race? Hire a sitter? You'll need to factor childcare into your budget if you're both going to run.

Also...I think it would be awfully tight to have 6 people in 1 moderate room (and all sharing 1 bathroom to boot). Personally, I'd pick an AoA suite if you can afford it. I think you'd appreciate the space and extra bathroom. If you're not into Lion King, you could choose the Nemo or Cars suites instead.

My sister lives in Orlando and is going to watch my girls. <3

I've done 6 in a room at Port Orleans Riverside before. And as much as I love the resort, I would never ever do it again, unless it was the only way I could go to WDW. The room was beyond tight with that many people.

I know it is not on your short list, but a suite at the All Star Music will give you much more room. You will also gain a second bathroom, a second tv, a kitchenette, and a bedroom with a door. The bedroom would come in handy for putting the little one down for a nap and not having to make everyone else try and be quiet. And the 10, 8, and 7 year olds can all have their own "beds".

Are basically all the All Star resorts and AOA the same? Just different decor?
 
Who says you have to cook and clean? Not at all trying to be harsh, but that's a huge misconception about renting a condo or townhouse. Just because it has a kitchen doesn't mean you have to spend hours cooking and cleaning. Far from it. We do a little cooking, but I can assure you it's not a lot of time. You can ignore the kitchen if you really wanted...or just have snacks and things. Same with cleaning. You're not required to clean the house, they hire a service to do that. You're expected to leave the house like you'd leave a hotel room...just don't damage it and you're fine.

If you want to stay on property, great. But don't equate having a condo with cooking and cleaning...it's not written into your rental agreement that you must cook/clean. :D

Yes, I know what's expected in a vacation rental or the villas. BUUUUUUT in real life I'm also pretty frugal and having a kitchen available will actually tempt me to "pinch" and I'll end up just making something "fast" more often than not. LOL I can just picture it in my head. I'll be making breakfast and lunch every day. And if you have a Mary cook, she'll want to clean up her mess after. And if she cleans up her mess after. . .

I don't want that.

I can say that POR is probably off my list now (even though the pools look amazing). I wish beyond anything that I could have guaranteed connecting rooms. Then the decision wouldn't be so hard. Actually, it probably would be because then I could look at all the rooms that only sleep 4 in all the other resorts. HA!!

Now, I'm thinking about the family suites or a cabin at Fort Wilderness (I think that's the name?).


I'm so very grateful for ALL of your advice, everyone!! Keep it coming!!
 

I know, right?! We're going to the East Coast (from Hawaii) for her wedding the week before. She heard about our run and wouldn't hear about us asking one of our other friends in Orlando to stay with the girls. She won't be leaving for her honeymoon until the Summer.
 
Are basically all the All Star resorts and AOA the same? Just different decor?

Personally I prefer the AOA theming over the all star resorts. It's a bit newer and a bit more refined in my opinion. Plus if any of your little ones love a certain character set, they may want to immerse themselves in that kind of suite. I would've lost my freaking mind in a lion king suite as a kid since I was beyond obsessed.

The bus sitch at any of these resorts can be a bit of a debate. And depending on which building you're assigned to, you may have a hike to the bus depot, food and main buildings. But if I were given the choice, I'd go AOA over all star in a heartbeat.

There are sites where you can check the square footage of the rooms. Also poke around on YouTube for resort and room tours for the properties you're still considering. You may find deal breakers there that can help guide your decision.
 


Based on the types of things you're looking for, I would definitely suggest looking to renting a DVC property! It may make your whole experience a little more streamlined and I've you space at the same time :)
 
Based on the types of things you're looking for, I would definitely suggest looking to renting a DVC property! It may make your whole experience a little more streamlined and I've you space at the same time :)

How do I do that? If you can't post that info here, please message me. I want to look into all options. Thanks!
 
How do I do that? If you can't post that info here, please message me. I want to look into all options. Thanks!

Assuming you're not a Disney vacation Club member, you can rent points to stay at a DVC PRoperty less than the list price. I've never personally done it (though a good friend of mine did to save some mad bucks over at Baylake Tower earlier this year) but it seems pretty straight forward. There are Disboard approved sites you can use (dave's comes to mind) and you can check the DVC forum for super helpful people on this front. The key is your timing ... you can rent the points to make the reservation 11 months out from the start of your stay.

The nice things about DVC rooms is they offer studio, one and two bedrooms. Most come with some kind of kitchenette or full kitchen and some even with in-unit laundry. So not only do you get the disney property experience, you also get additional amenities, pool access and more.

I think it also may require a bit of flexibility within the DVC properties. I know that AKL villas can be tough to secure.

Because I've personally never done it, I can't chime in on all the logistics. But there are a ton of helpful DISers that would be an awesome resource on this subject.
 
If you would consider 2 rooms at POR why not 1 room at the Beach club or Boardwalk Inn or even the CR? 1 room at a deluxe resort can be less than 2 rooms at a moderate - plus the deluxe rooms are bigger than the moderate rooms. We have 4 kids and stayed in 1 room all the time. They are older now and we still stay in 1 room when we can. There is a deluxe room at the BWI and is club level - we stay there all the time because it allows 6 people. Plus you get food throughout the day. We love staying in 1 room. Also the Beach Club pool is by far the best pool on property. What I love about the deluxe resorts is it is less commuting. At the BC or BWI you can walk to EPCOT and take a boat to HS. At the CR you can walk to MK. We love that. It really is a lot to go through. When are you going to Disney World?
 
There are club level rooms at Wilderness lodge that have 2 queens and a sleeper sofa. Pricey but you get access to the Club lounge and if that does not say vacation to a home school momma of 4 :)
 
We have five kids, and typically go about once a year. We have stayed off-site many times and on-site many times (All Star, AoA in a suite, 2 rooms at GF) and our preference is off-site. But totally understand the appeal of on-site, for first time. The one off-site option I was going to through out there to you is Wynham Bonnet Creek-we were just there last month (one week at WBC and another at a Marriott) and had a two bedroom for $706 for the week. It has many pools, two lazy rivers, etc. You don't have to cook by any means, but if you choose to keep food for snacks and such there is ample room for that. With a big family a challenge I find is that not everyone is hungry at the same time, and with Disney prices I go a little crazy with throwing food out, lol. Having kitchen space doesn't mean having to cook, but sure can save you $$ in terms of food costs and snacking and such. There is a lot of info on WBC on disboards, but wanted throw it out there as another option (it is as close to the action as the Disney properties in many cases).
 
We've only stayed at two properties onsite, but we stayed offsite before we had kids.

My recommendation to you, if you can afford, is to stay onsite for your first visit, especially with two smaller kids. For us, the convenience of hopping on a bus and heading back to the resort at night, can't be beat. No rental (which, by the way, for parking would be $15+ day), no car seats, no gridlock....

Personally, I also couldn't imagine staying in a moderate resort with 6 people. We stayed in the Royal Room at POR for our first onsite visit. We had a 2 and 5 year old (we also took my parents, but, we did get connecting rooms). Although those rooms are bigger than value, I found them smaller than an 'average' sized hotel room, and by the time we had our double stroller parked inside, along with our 4 suitcases....space was at a premium.

It doesn't sound like having only one bathroom is an issue, and if that's the case, I would definitely recommend Fort Wilderness Cabins. We stayed there our last visit, with 3 kids now; 2, 5, 7. It was great having the bedroom where the kids could sleep, and my husband and I could relax in the living room. Plus, we had a deck, where we had breakfast each morning (and kept the stroller). The resort was beautiful, and the kids loved exploring. We saw deer, lots of small mammals, birds and lizards too. We didn't rent a cart to get around, but you could do that (it added maybe another $500 or so on, and we're Cdn, so the exchange just made me draw the line somewhere)

We ordered groceries in, because there was a full kitchen, so had breakfast in our room each day. We also packed snacks. We were on the dining plan, so didn't do any 'major' cooking.

Our next visit coming up this fall, we're trying a deluxe, and are very excited! However, we did originally start out with the AOA booked. Because we wanted the dining plan, it was only a few $100 difference to go deluxe.
 
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We've only stayed at two properties onsite, but we stayed offsite before we had kids.

My recommendation to you, if you can afford, is to stay onsite for your first visit, especially with two smaller kids. For us, the convenience of hopping on a bus and heading back to the resort at night, can't be beat. No rental (which, by the way, for parking would be $15+ day), no car seats, no gridlock....

Personally, I also couldn't imagine staying in a moderate resort with 6 people. We stayed in the Royal Room at POR for our first onsite visit. We had a 2 and 5 year old (we also took my parents, but, we did get connecting rooms). Although those rooms are bigger than value, I found them smaller than an 'average' sized hotel room, and by the time we had our double stroller parked inside, along with our 4 suitcases....space was at a premium.

It doesn't sound like having only one bathroom is an issue, and if that's the case, I would definitely recommend Fort Wilderness Cabins. We stayed there our last visit, with 3 kids now; 2, 5, 7. It was great having the bedroom where the kids could sleep, and my husband and I could relax in the living room. Plus, we had a deck, where we had breakfast each morning (and kept the stroller). The resort was beautiful, and the kids loved exploring. We saw deer, lots of small mammals, birds and lizards too. We didn't not rent a goof cart to get around, but you could do that (it added maybe another $500 or so on, and we're Cdn, so the exchange just made me draw the line somewhere)

We ordered groceries in, because there was a full kitchen, so had breakfast in our room each day. We also packed snacks. We were on the dining plan, so didn't do any 'major' cooking.

Our next visit coming up this fall, we're trying a deluxe, and are very excited! However, we did originally start out with the AOA booked. Because we wanted the dining plan, it was only a few $100 difference to go deluxe.

Thank you! Which deluxe are you book in this Fall? Which dining plan do you recommend? I saw that character experiences cost 2 meals, so we might need to get the deluxe plan with 3 meals.
 
Update: I keep bouncing between the resorts. I'm so overwhelmed that sometimes I just want to go someplace else altogether and leave Disney for another trip. LOL Right now I'm considering Quidani Lodge 1 bedroom villa with Disney Dining ($9100), AOA nemo suite with deluxe dining ($8500), or Ft Wilderness Cabins with deluxe dining ($8200).

I looked at Coronado last night, and the recent trip advisor reviews weren't good. I'm also looking at Boulder Ridge villas.

If I rent DVC points, can I still get a meal plan?
 
Update: I keep bouncing between the resorts. I'm so overwhelmed that sometimes I just want to go someplace else altogether and leave Disney for another trip. LOL Right now I'm considering Quidani Lodge 1 bedroom villa with Disney Dining ($9100), AOA nemo suite with deluxe dining ($8500), or Ft Wilderness Cabins with deluxe dining ($8200).

I looked at Coronado last night, and the recent trip advisor reviews weren't good. I'm also looking at Boulder Ridge villas.

If I rent DVC points, can I still get a meal plan?


It's definitely overwhelming! Most character dining experiences are only one credit, except Cinderellas Royal Table. There are many signature (2 credit) restaurants, but we haven't been to any yet.
We have done the regular dining, with one quick service and one table service meal each day. We also do lots of character meals so the dining plan is a great deal for us. We did do CRT last time for breakfast, and it was great! I don't know that we'd go again any time soon, but definitely worth it. Other princess meals are 1900 Park Fare with Cinderella and the stepsisters/stepmother (a buffet), Akershus in Epcot, with 4-5 princesses and the new Bob Voyage breakfast where you can meet Ariel, Rapunzel and their princes. We've done the first two I mentioned, and we are booked to do the third on our next trip!

Maybe I'm not that picky, but we haven't had a "bad" meal at DW yet. We went to Garden Grill and waited at least 30 minutes to be seated...it started out rough, especially with two hungry kids...but it was good food and fun characters

This time, we are booked to stay at The Boardwalk. I asked my husband to choose from several locations, and he picked that one :thumbsup2
 
CAMPING!
We all squeezed into Pop Century last time and now that we *could* fit in one of the POR rooms, we would rather not spend the money being cramped...the Art of Music Suites look pretty decent for a good price though.
Our options are to pull our pop-up camper to Disney (obviously you can't), bring a Tent (you could check a tent on the plane) or rent a camper.
We brought lunch items into the park because we like snacks, eat whole foods and are a "eat nowwwwww" family. It was nice to be prepared for the kids to only eat 1/2 a sandwich and then have it for the 2 hour later "I'm hungry" game.
We are looking into camping at Fort Wilderness from now on, but the plan for us will be the same- breakfast and lunches we bring in and dinner we eat in park- giving 1-2 days of wiggle room for turkey legs and fries and such :)

My hubby stayed offsite when they were kids and he flat out refuses now so if we did have the money, we would pick a suite just for fun, but honestly, we spend so much time in the parks and not in the room that we don't care about the pools and extra.
 
Our preference by far is Animal Kingdom Lodge. We rent DVC points to make it affordable. Last year we had to move over to All Stars Music when we were stuck in town a few extra days after the hurricane and we LOVED it there. I would absolutely stay there again. But AKL will always be our fave! The suites do have kitchens but we appreciate the full size fridge for cases of water, fresh fruit, and leftovers. We go grocery shopping at the Target in town and make sandwiches, but I don't do any real cooking. Having the room to spread out a little is really nice. And if you plan some down days, AKL is truly a destination unto itself. It's just fabulous.
 

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