Help this party of 5 choose where to stay About This Page:

[SOmommy]

We are looking at a WDW stay in November 2015 for 1 week, but as a family of 5 it looks like our options are somewhat limited. This is what we are considering right now: Port Orleans Riverside, Fort Wilderness Cabins, and Art of Animation. Of these 3 POR is the most affordable to us which is a major factor. However, we stayed there the last trip and were hoping to try somewhere new. AoA sounds fun, but is priced higher and I don't like the reviews I've read. FW is my ideal resort, but its the highest price so I'm not confident we can swing it financially.
If you've stayed at any of these resorts (especially with parties of 5), please let me know your thoughts. For instance, at POR, where is the hide-a-bed? Is AoA really terrible? Is the pool still fun without a water slide? Are discounts ever offered for FW?

Thanks for helping me out here!

[Her Dotness]

You might be able to get something much nicer than you think you can afford if you were to look into renting DVC points so you could stay in one of the Villas.

I don't know a thing about doing that, but I've seen others with families the size of yours or larger say they were able to stay nicer and found it far more affordable for the fact that they could get a 2-bdrm which has a full kitchen. Thus, they could do more eating in their villa than in restaurants.

[SOmommy]

Okay, I have had two people now suggest that to me, so I think it might be worthwhile to look into. I would love to find out more information, if someone can point me in the right direction?

Thanks!

[allgiggles]

Originally Posted by SOmommy

We are looking at a WDW stay in November 2015 for 1 week, but as a family of 5 it looks like our options are somewhat limited. This is what we are considering right now: Port Orleans Riverside, Fort Wilderness Cabins, and Art of Animation. Of these 3 POR is the most affordable to us which is a major factor. However, we stayed there the last trip and were hoping to try somewhere new. AoA sounds fun, but is priced higher and I don't like the reviews I've read. FW is my ideal resort, but its the highest price so I'm not confident we can swing it financially.
If you've stayed at any of these resorts (especially with parties of 5), please let me know your thoughts. For instance, at POR, where is the hide-a-bed? Is AoA really terrible? Is the pool still fun without a water slide? Are discounts ever offered for FW?

Thanks for helping me out here!

I think you have to decide what's important for your family in regard to room features and space.

We travel to Disney as a party of 5 or more. We have 5 kids but 2 of them are in their 20's and don't always travel with us anymore. For our trips over the last 10 years we've always booked 2 connecting rooms at Pop Century but last year we stayed in a LK Suite at AoA. We really enjoyed our stay there. I'm curious what you don't like about the reviews at AoA. We were a party of 6 when we stayed there (kids were 24, 14, 13, & 8 at the time). We liked that there was a separate bedroom for DH & I. We made good use of the kitchenette -- we almost always eat breakfast in the room so it was nice to be able to pop things in the microwave and be able to keep plenty of milk on hand. We also used the fridge and microwave for leftovers. The thing we liked most about the room was having 2 bathrooms. That's very important to us. While the suites are more expensive than 2 rooms, we found them to be much more spacious. We had plenty of space even though we had 1 kid using an air mattress. There are lots of little "nooks" to be able to store luggage and other supplies. I think they did a great job of providing storage space in the suites. I hate a cluttered room, so all the shelves and nooks throughout the suite really appealed to me.

A good friend of mine who has made more than 15 trips to Disney stayed in a cabin at FW last summer with her family of 5. Prior to getting there, she thought this would be the perfect room for her family. She planned to use the full kitchen to cook several meals to help save some money. While they had a good time on the trip, she said they won't be staying at a cabin again. They felt it took too much time to go back to the cabin to eat meals and ended up wasting some of the food they bought to prepare there. They also felt it took too much time just to get around the resort because of having to take internal transportation just to get to a bus to go to certain parks. They also realized that they don't want to stay in a room without 2 bathrooms ever again (they had stayed in a family suite at ASMu for their prior trips as a party of 5). They did like the amount of space they had overall, though. She said if she was going to Disney without kids and staying for an extended period of time, she'd consider a cabin -- that it would be great for non-park days. But for the next 15 years or so, they won't be staying at a cabin.

At POR, the extra bed is a murphy bed that measures approximately 30" x 54" -- slightly larger than a crib mattress. It is located next to the TV -- along the same wall. I've read that it's not really appropriate for kids over the age of about 8 or more than about 50" tall. Since you've already stayed there, you know how big/small the room is and that some rooms can be very far from the main building/bus stops. My sister stayed at POR a few years ago with a party of 6 (one was a 2 yo) and they ended up leaving a day early because they felt so cramped in the room and there were constant battles for the bathroom. They lived in a 5,000+ sq. ft. home with 4 bathrooms so I could see before they even left for Disney that it was going to be a disaster, but she didn't want to spend the money for a room that provided more space. Looking back she said she knew it was going to be tight but thought they could tolerate it for the week since they only planned on being in the room for sleeping and showering. What she didn't think about was that the 2 youngest kids were used to going to bed at 8:00 at the time and needed to be in a dark room with no distractions. So that meant that every night at Disney, the entire family had to be sitting in a dark room (no TV on, no lights on for reading, no electronics) at 8:00. That didn't sit well with the 2 tweens in the family....or her husband. Then everyone was awake and "ready to go" at 6:00 a.m. but that was too early to do much of anything so they found themselves tripping over each other while "hanging out" in the room for a few hours before going to a park. Just a reminder to keep sleep habits/schedules in mind when choosing a room type.

[Her Dotness]

Originally Posted by SOmommy

Okay, I have had two people now suggest that to me, so I think it might be worthwhile to look into. I would love to find out more information, if someone can point me in the right direction?

Thanks!

Here's the PPer thread that spells out the details.

http://www.passporterboards.com/foru...vc-member.html

[HollyH]

How old will your children be at the time of the trip?

If you were to look into renting DVC points, I would say that you should focus on the 1 BR units (most of which allow 5 guest over 3 although not all provide a bed/bedding for the 5th guest -sounds a bit silly, I know, but unless you want to bring an air mattress with you be clear on what beds/pull outs are provided). Some of the 1 BR villas also have 2 full bathrooms. One huge benefit of a 1 BR villa over the other options that you have mentioned is the FULL kitchen and the washer and dryer within the villa that you can use for free -no quarters. As you mentioned the pool, many of the DVC resorts have fabulous pool complexes -my favorites being at BC and AKL. Another thing to note, those staying on points do not get daily Mousekeeping -be sure to bring some of your own toiletries to avoid running out. For the most part, I consider this a positive vs a negative as your villa will be available to you all day, every day -no coming back to the resort to change for a swim or to take a nap and having your plans delayed by the presence of a mousekeeper in the middle of cleaning your room.

If a villa isn't in your budget and the AoA suites and cabin stretch your budget too much, I would also suggest pricing 2 connecting rooms at a value resort, maybe even the Little Mermaid rooms at AoA or book at Pop which is walking distance to AoA.

[Teresa]

I'd second the DVC rental idea. I've rarely been to WDW with less than 5 people, and the deluxe rooms or DVCs are the only way to go. Even with the deluxe rooms, we usually get 2 or get a suite for the added bathroom and the privacy allotted.
If you do rent DVC points, it is cheaper. HollyH is correct, you'll not receive daily housekeeping. They do a "trash and towel" run on the 4th day of a 7 or less night stay and a full service cleaning on day 4 with trash and towel on day 8 of an 8 or more night stay. UNLESS you pay for daily service. It's about $35 and you don't have to do it every day. We do pay for the full service every other day (keeping track of who used what washcloth on what body part can get confusing!). Even with that additional fee, it's cheaper than renting a room.
I pack those laundry tabs, and take dryer sheets. Every DVC resort has a small convince store you can buy food, baby supplies, toiletries, and laundry supplies at. Of course, you'll pay higher than normal prices. There are multiple grocers who deliver. We've had our groceries delivered before we arrived and had the resort store them for us (they have fridges and freezers for this!)

[Canada Amy]

As I just mentioned in another thread CBR currently has rooms for 5. We just can't book them yet. They will definitely be available for November 2015. If you want good value and likely free dining, it will be your best value option. pOR has been dropped from free dining. Also, no discounts on standard rooms at AofA.

[BelmontBelle]

Some dates in November are blocked from the discounts, but I believe that only the campsites at FW are blocked so if your dates are good, you'd hopefully get a discount on the cabins. AoA, just the Little Mermaid rooms are usually blocked. I'm curious what people are saying bad about AoA? I've only heard good things about it! As Amy said CBR will also sleep 5 people when the renovations are done, so it's also an option. Size wise it will be the same as POR.

Whatever you choose, be comfortable with the price it is now. While free dining and room discounts have been offered for quite a few years now, they are never guaranteed until they are announced. Also, POR was excluded this year and it hasn't been in the past, so you never know what resorts may or may not be included in the discounts from year to year.

[SOmommy]

Originally Posted by allgiggles

I think you have to decide what's important for your family in regard to room features and space.

We travel to Disney as a party of 5 or more. We have 5 kids but 2 of them are in their 20's and don't always travel with us anymore. For our trips over the last 10 years we've always booked 2 connecting rooms at Pop Century but last year we stayed in a LK Suite at AoA. We really enjoyed our stay there. I'm curious what you don't like about the reviews at AoA. We were a party of 6 when we stayed there (kids were 24, 14, 13, & 8 at the time). We liked that there was a separate bedroom for DH & I. We made good use of the kitchenette -- we almost always eat breakfast in the room so it was nice to be able to pop things in the microwave and be able to keep plenty of milk on hand. We also used the fridge and microwave for leftovers. The thing we liked most about the room was having 2 bathrooms. That's very important to us. While the suites are more expensive than 2 rooms, we found them to be much more spacious. We had plenty of space even though we had 1 kid using an air mattress. There are lots of little "nooks" to be able to store luggage and other supplies. I think they did a great job of providing storage space in the suites. I hate a cluttered room, so all the shelves and nooks throughout the suite really appealed to me.

A good friend of mine who has made more than 15 trips to Disney stayed in a cabin at FW last summer with her family of 5. Prior to getting there, she thought this would be the perfect room for her family. She planned to use the full kitchen to cook several meals to help save some money. While they had a good time on the trip, she said they won't be staying at a cabin again. They felt it took too much time to go back to the cabin to eat meals and ended up wasting some of the food they bought to prepare there. They also felt it took too much time just to get around the resort because of having to take internal transportation just to get to a bus to go to certain parks. They also realized that they don't want to stay in a room without 2 bathrooms ever again (they had stayed in a family suite at ASMu for their prior trips as a party of 5). They did like the amount of space they had overall, though. She said if she was going to Disney without kids and staying for an extended period of time, she'd consider a cabin -- that it would be great for non-park days. But for the next 15 years or so, they won't be staying at a cabin.

At POR, the extra bed is a murphy bed that measures approximately 30" x 54" -- slightly larger than a crib mattress. It is located next to the TV -- along the same wall. I've read that it's not really appropriate for kids over the age of about 8 or more than about 50" tall. Since you've already stayed there, you know how big/small the room is and that some rooms can be very far from the main building/bus stops. My sister stayed at POR a few years ago with a party of 6 (one was a 2 yo) and they ended up leaving a day early because they felt so cramped in the room and there were constant battles for the bathroom. They lived in a 5,000+ sq. ft. home with 4 bathrooms so I could see before they even left for Disney that it was going to be a disaster, but she didn't want to spend the money for a room that provided more space. Looking back she said she knew it was going to be tight but thought they could tolerate it for the week since they only planned on being in the room for sleeping and showering. What she didn't think about was that the 2 youngest kids were used to going to bed at 8:00 at the time and needed to be in a dark room with no distractions. So that meant that every night at Disney, the entire family had to be sitting in a dark room (no TV on, no lights on for reading, no electronics) at 8:00. That didn't sit well with the 2 tweens in the family....or her husband. Then everyone was awake and "ready to go" at 6:00 a.m. but that was too early to do much of anything so they found themselves tripping over each other while "hanging out" in the room for a few hours before going to a park. Just a reminder to keep sleep habits/schedules in mind when choosing a room type.

This is exactly what I was looking for, and gives me lots of good info to consider. Thank you! What I read about AoA is that it was too spaced out and hard to get around and that it was not really a good "value", but when I looked at the pictures I loved the spaciousness and decor.

[SOmommy]

Originally Posted by Her Dotness

Here's the PPer thread that spells out the details.

http://www.passporterboards.com/foru...vc-member.html

Originally Posted by HollyH

How old will your children be at the time of the trip?

If you were to look into renting DVC points, I would say that you should focus on the 1 BR units (most of which allow 5 guest over 3 although not all provide a bed/bedding for the 5th guest -sounds a bit silly, I know, but unless you want to bring an air mattress with you be clear on what beds/pull outs are provided). Some of the 1 BR villas also have 2 full bathrooms. One huge benefit of a 1 BR villa over the other options that you have mentioned is the FULL kitchen and the washer and dryer within the villa that you can use for free -no quarters. As you mentioned the pool, many of the DVC resorts have fabulous pool complexes -my favorites being at BC and AKL. Another thing to note, those staying on points do not get daily Mousekeeping -be sure to bring some of your own toiletries to avoid running out. For the most part, I consider this a positive vs a negative as your villa will be available to you all day, every day -no coming back to the resort to change for a swim or to take a nap and having your plans delayed by the presence of a mousekeeper in the middle of cleaning your room.

If a villa isn't in your budget and the AoA suites and cabin stretch your budget too much, I would also suggest pricing 2 connecting rooms at a value resort, maybe even the Little Mermaid rooms at AoA or book at Pop which is walking distance to AoA.

Originally Posted by Teresa

I'd second the DVC rental idea. I've rarely been to WDW with less than 5 people, and the deluxe rooms or DVCs are the only way to go. Even with the deluxe rooms, we usually get 2 or get a suite for the added bathroom and the privacy allotted.
If you do rent DVC points, it is cheaper. HollyH is correct, you'll not receive daily housekeeping. They do a "trash and towel" run on the 4th day of a 7 or less night stay and a full service cleaning on day 4 with trash and towel on day 8 of an 8 or more night stay. UNLESS you pay for daily service. It's about $35 and you don't have to do it every day. We do pay for the full service every other day (keeping track of who used what washcloth on what body part can get confusing!). Even with that additional fee, it's cheaper than renting a room.
I pack those laundry tabs, and take dryer sheets. Every DVC resort has a small convince store you can buy food, baby supplies, toiletries, and laundry supplies at. Of course, you'll pay higher than normal prices. There are multiple grocers who deliver. We've had our groceries delivered before we arrived and had the resort store them for us (they have fridges and freezers for this!)

Thanks for the link!! When I have more time I will research this further, it sounds like a great option! Lots of great advice. I appreciate it!

[SOmommy]

Originally Posted by Canada Amy

As I just mentioned in another thread CBR currently has rooms for 5. We just can't book them yet. They will definitely be available for November 2015. If you want good value and likely free dining, it will be your best value option. pOR has been dropped from free dining. Also, no discounts on standard rooms at AofA.

Originally Posted by BelmontBelle

Some dates in November are blocked from the discounts, but I believe that only the campsites at FW are blocked so if your dates are good, you'd hopefully get a discount on the cabins. AoA, just the Little Mermaid rooms are usually blocked. I'm curious what people are saying bad about AoA? I've only heard good things about it! As Amy said CBR will also sleep 5 people when the renovations are done, so it's also an option. Size wise it will be the same as POR.

Whatever you choose, be comfortable with the price it is now. While free dining and room discounts have been offered for quite a few years now, they are never guaranteed until they are announced. Also, POR was excluded this year and it hasn't been in the past, so you never know what resorts may or may not be included in the discounts from year to year.

I'm curious about these free dining offers and discounts. I'm not familiar with them. We are probably going to put the vacation off for a year so that we can save up some more and not stress out so much about the budget. So probably looking at 2016, but we haven't decided for sure. Either way, its good to start researching this stuff now, right? Nice to know that CBR will be an option then too

[allgiggles]

Originally Posted by SOmommy

This is exactly what I was looking for, and gives me lots of good info to consider. Thank you! What I read about AoA is that it was too spaced out and hard to get around and that it was not really a good "value", but when I looked at the pictures I loved the spaciousness and decor.

The only rooms that are a bit of a walk to the main building are the Little Mermaid rooms. All of the suites are very close to the main building and bus stops -- probably 5 minutes or less. Even the farthest Little Mermaid room shouldn't be more than a 10 minute walk -- but you wouldn't have to worry about that because you'd need a suite (unless you're looking at getting 2 connecting rooms but if that's the case, I recommend Pop Century over a Little Mermaid room).

As for whether or not it's a good "value" -- I think that depends on what you're looking for. The suites are not the cheapest option available for 5 people, but for our family, they're the "best" option right now. We've considered renting DVC points but decided against that for a few reasons: 1. A full kitchen and laundry in the room add no value for us. It's vacation. I'm a stay-at-home mom so my days are filled with cooking, cleaning, and doing laundry. My husband wants me to get *away* from those things on vacation (so do I!!!) so that I can enjoy my days and not feel like I need to do any work. 2. I want my room cleaned every day without having to pay extra for it. I like fresh towels every day on vacation. I don't get fresh towels every day at home, so I take advantage of that on vacation. 3. We tend to eat at QS restaurants most of our stay and often come back to the room for a break in the afternoon so we'll eat lunch or dinner at the resort several days while we're there. The deluxe resorts have much more limited menus at their QS restaurants than AoA (or Pop) does. 4. We love to be totally immersed in Disney Decor. The kids (even the "big" ones) love the larger-than-life decor at AoA. And I have to admit that I like it, too. We've visited almost all of the deluxe resorts either for a meal or just to look around, and while they're all lovely, the kids have always commented that they don't want to stay at that resort -- they'd rather be at Pop or AoA. The only exception was the Polynesian. They said they'd like to stay there. So we may try that on a future trip...when we're ready to have the 5 of us in a standard room with 1 bathroom. :-D

[BelmontBelle]

Originally Posted by SOmommy

I'm curious about these free dining offers and discounts.

The fall months are typically a slower time of year, so Disney offers a couple different discounts. For quite a few years now, they have offered "Free Dining." You pay full price for your room and park tickets and the dining plan is included at no extra charge. For a Value Resort, you get the QS Meal Plan and for all others you get the Regular Dining plan. You can upgrade a meal plan for the difference in cost. Disney has also been offering "Room Only" discounts for the fall months depending on the resort it's up to 30% off. Depending on where you stay and whether or not you want a meal plan, this can be a better deal than free dining. As mentioned earlier they do block out some dates and some resorts. Also, as mentioned before, it is never a guarantee from year to year. I hope this helps.

It's never too early to start researching, happy planning!

[MayraLR]

Originally Posted by Canada Amy

As I just mentioned in another thread CBR currently has rooms for 5. We just can't book them yet. They will definitely be available for November 2015. If you want good value and likely free dining, it will be your best value option. pOR has been dropped from free dining. Also, no discounts on standard rooms at AofA.

I was going to suggest CBR as well. I found out, today, that the refurbished rooms will be adding the murphy bed, allowing 5 guests. This is a great alternative for families of 5.