By the co-author of The easy Guide to Your Walt Disney World Visit 2020, the best-reviewed Disney World guidebook series ever.

Available on Amazon here.

(As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.)





Category — d. Where to Stay at Walt Disney World

Large Families Looking for Value Pricing at Walt Disney World

by Dave

large-families-table-values.jpg

OVERVIEW

This page recommends Walt Disney World accommodations for large families seeking lower prices, sorted by family size. See this page for an introduction to Large Families at Walt Disney World.

Click on the thumbnail above (when open, click again once or twice to enlarge) to see the recommendations below in chart form; the chart also includes additional information—for example, number of bathrooms, kitchen facilities, total square feet.

As always, when more than one similar option is available, recommendations are made based on appeal to kids and transportation convenience.

To read the rest of this article, click here.

December 5, 2008   No Comments

More on Large Families at Walt Disney World

by Dave

OVERVIEW

This page and its links build on the general Large Families at Walt Disney World page by including options beyond connecting rooms, and covering family sizes of up to 12.

A large family is one that will not fit into a standard Walt Disney World hotel room—more than 4 people for Values and almost all moderates, and more than 5 for most deluxe resorts. (See this for the distinctions among the resort classes at Walt Disney World.)

The problem with connecting rooms as a solution is that while often the best choice, Disney won’t guarantee that you will get them—so if you cannot accept that when you show up at Walt Disney World, your “connecting rooms” may be not connected, and in fact may be in completely different buildings at your resort of choice, your best options are on this page.

To read the rest of this article, click here.

December 4, 2008   No Comments

Military Families at Walt Disney World

by Dave

disney-world-military-families

MILITARY FAMILIES AT WALT DISNEY WORLD

The general advice for first time visitors to Walt Disney World provided on this site applies equally to military families.

However, military families have access to deals and discounts that other families don’t, and also have access to Shades of Green.

The links below provide specific details and guidance for how to find out more about these, and the best ways to take advantage of them.

(Have you found other helpful links for military families visiting Walt Disney World? If so, sse the comment box below to let me know about them!)

LINKS FOR MILITARY FAMILIES AT WALT DISNEY WORLD

Thank you for your service and sacrifice. My father was career Navy, and my wife’s father was wounded with the Marines on Tarawa. We have some sense, therefore, of the sacrifices you make and risks you accept, and honor you for it. Thank you.

May 26, 2008   No Comments

Large Families at Walt Disney World

by Dave

OVERVIEW

A large family is one that will not fit into a standard Walt Disney World hotel room—more than 4 people for Values and almost all moderates, and more than 5 for most deluxe resorts. (See this for the distinctions among the resort classes at Walt Disney World.)

The problem with connecting, adjoining, or nearby rooms as a solution is that Disney won’t guarantee that you will get them.

When you show up at Walt Disney World, your “connecting rooms” may be not connected, and in fact may be in completely different buildings at your resort of choice.

Your chances of getting connecting rooms are best during the slow season—which is when this site recommends you go, see this for when to go—but even then, there are no guarantees.

SOLUTIONS FOR LARGE FAMILIES

The links below present the best options–by price and family size–for large families at Walt Disney World

Room capacity figures on the following pages always exclude one child under 3 in a crib, which can be added to any Disney room—so always read, when a capacity figure is given, “plus one child under three at time of check in, in a crib.”

These links cover large family options

  • Large families looking for low-priced rooms—what Disney calls “Value” rooms—see this page
  • Large families looking for deluxe level accommodations can see recommendations on this page
  • Some recommendations involve reserving Disney Vacation Club rooms, or even renting points from current Disney Vacation Club members to use. See this for more on Disney Vacation Club rooms in general, and this for more on renting points.

Last updated 12/09

LINKS FOR WHERE TO STAY AT DISNEY WORLD

Home Donate Sitemap

May 22, 2008   No Comments

How Many Square Feet in a Square Foot?

by Dave

OVERVIEW

This page tries to make the square foot numbers associated with Walt Disney World Resorts more understandable and comparable.

HOW LONG IS A SQUARE FOOT?

The different resort classes all have different sizes:

  • The Value resorts—Pop and the All Stars—are 260 square feet
  • The Moderates are 314 square feet, and
  • The Deluxes vary from 344 square feet at the Animal Kingdom and Wilderness Lodges to more than 470 square feet at the Polynesian’s newest rooms in its Tahiti, Rapa Nui, and Tokelau buildings.

Most of us, however, have no idea what this means.

  • First, most of us don’t normally think in squared dimension—we think in linear distances, not areas.
  • Second, we don’t usually whip out our tape measures and size up our hotel rooms, so we don’t have a comparison readily at hand for how much difference there really is between 314 square feet at Coronado Springs (at $149 a night in the low season) and 344 square feet for $225 at the Wilderness Lodge.
  • Finally, most of us lump all these square feet together—but hotel designers know that bedroom square feet make much more of a difference in the livability of a room than the remaining components of square feet (which are the bathroom, and also the access area from the interior corridor to the bedroom, if the hotel has interior corridors), because your family spends much more time in the bedroom area.

To read the rest of this article, click here.

April 21, 2008   No Comments

Where Not to Stay

by Dave

Home      Donate      Summary of Instructions      Sitemap

Where to Stay      Resort Features by Price      Resort Kid Appeal       Large Families

OVERVIEW

This site recommends you stay in the Deluxe resort Disney’s Polynesian Resort if you can afford it, or at the Value resort Disney’s Pop Century Resort if you cannot.

Three other resort categories exist

  • Disney Vacation Club Resorts
  • The Campgrounds at Disney’s Fort Wilderness Resort
  • Moderate Resorts

and while wonderful for trips after your first, none of these categories is recommended for your first family trip.

DISNEY VACATION CLUB

Disney Vacation Club (DVC) resorts are expensive, and neither as convenient nor, with the exception of the Villas at the Wilderness Lodge and at the Animal Kingdom Lodge, as kid-appealing as the Polynesian, their price comparitor.

They do make sense for large families seeking deluxe accommodations. See this for large families; see this for more on the DVC resorts.

FORT WILDERNESS

Disney’s Fort Wilderness Campground is neither as convenient nor as kid-appealing as the Pop Century Resort, its appropriate price comparitor.

THE MODERATES

The moderates unquestionably are much more appealing to adults than Pop Century (and the All-Star Resorts).

However, they have very little visual kid appeal.

The rooms of the “traditional” moderates (that is, excluding the Cabins at Fort Wilderness Resort) are almost 2 feet longer and a foot wider than those at the values (this is a huge difference, as the values are about as small as a hotel room can reasonably be…), and their bedroom spaces are actually larger than those at some Disney deluxe resorts: see this.

However, the beds at the moderates are mostly only full-sized, (Coronado Springs is the exception, with queens), as they are at the values; other than Coronado Springs you need to stay in a Deluxe resort to get two queen beds.

The moderates have more amenities than the values, and, to an adult’s eyes, much better landscaping and exterior design.

Even so, the moderate resorts are not a better choice for your first family trip than the values, even if you could easily afford them:

If you could afford the moderates, a more kid-appealing and convenient itinerary would be to spend the first 5 nights of your trip at Pop Century, and the last 3 at Disney’s stunningly kid-appealing deluxe resort the Wilderness Lodge.

This approach costs you ~$30 more (total!) than staying at the moderates for 8 nights, but is much more convenient and kid-appealing.

You could even (for a total of less than $200 more) spend 4 nights at Pop, and 4 at the Wilderness Lodge!

(Note: do not reverse the order here–don’t go to the Wilderness Lodge first, and then to the Pop Century Resort–or you will hear no end of complaining from your family…!)

The Cabins at Disney’s Fort Wilderness (designated moderates in 2008) do sleep six–but so also do the Family Suites at All-Star Music. The Family Suites are cheaper, more kid appealing, more convenient, and have a better layout for parent privacy.

Last updated October 09

LINKS FOR WHERE TO STAY

Home Donate Sitemap

April 18, 2008   No Comments

← Previous EntriesNext Entries →