Large Families at Walt Disney World
By Dave Shute
OVERVIEW: LARGE FAMILIES AT DISNEY WORLD
A large family is one that will not fit into a standard Walt Disney World hotel room—more than 4 people for standard rooms at the values and most moderate rooms, 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.
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.
DISNEY WORLD 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 pages linked below 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
- For suites, see this
- For staying off-site, see this
MORE ON WHERE TO STAY AT DISNEY WORLD
- For where to stay, see this
- For your next best choices, in order, see this
- For picking your resort based on appeal to kids, see this
- For picking your resort based on convenience, see this
- For where not to stay, see this
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- For what you get in each resort price category, see this
- For Walt Disney World resort price seasons, see this
- For resort reviews, see this
- For the value resorts, see this
- For the moderate resorts, see this
- For the deluxe resorts, see this
- For suites at the deluxe resorts, see this
- For the Disney Vacation Club (“DVC”) Resorts, see this
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- For a (geeky) overview of comparative room size, see this
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- Military/DOD families should look at this
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- Families seeking the most comfortable place to stay should see this
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76 comments
Dave, you are quickly becoming my go-to guy 🙂 Thank you for all your help!
Place for 8 people, 2 under 3. The rest adults.
Thinking about renting points for a two bedroom condo? Either old key west, or animal kingdom.
If hotel, thinking Art of Animation, or Carribean beach. 2 rooms.
If we rent points, can we still buy meal plan?
And ,.if we can buy the meal plan, can we use Disney gift cards to pay for it??
Melissa, the point owner would have to buy the dining plan and then be compensated by you… you can use your gift card yourself to pay for your WDW expenses, but putting the third party in the middle means I dunno…sorry
Dave,
I’m planning a trip in early November with a bunch of friends in their mid-late 20s. I recall asking you earlier about the most appropriate resort based on our age, and you recommended the Boardwalk Villas. Is that still your recommendation?
For the last few weeks I was looking into renting DVC points, as I figured our group would be too big for a standard room (and having more space is always nice). Do all rooms/suites at DVC-resorts have a kitchen? Since we’re just a big group of friends and not a family, I realized that maybe having a kitchen is overkill since we’ll barely be in the room; but then again if we have 6+ people it seems like a DVC suite is our only bet. It just sounded like the kitchen was a big selling point about renting a DVC suite, and I don’t foresee us ever needing one.
I also noticed the family suites at Art of Animation and how awesome those looked! The fact that they sleep 6 is incredible. Now I’m thinking that getting a suite (or 2) at Art of Animation would be our best bet. Is the décor too kid-friendly? Would it be inappropriate for a bunch of 27 year olds? I’m sure the price would be drastically lower than any DVC suite, right?
Lastly, if it turns out most of the invitees flake and it ends up being 3-4 of us, where would you recommend we stay? I assume that if 4 of us chop a regular 2 Q room at a deluxe resort it won’t be too expensive. Then again, having that space in a family suite at Art of Animation also sounds nice. Thanks!
Michael, all the DVC one, two and three bedroom villas have kitchens. The dvc “studios” do not.
Re other options, the family suites are a hoot, but WDW will charge you extra for more than 2 people over 18 in a room, per person, per night. You don’t pay this at the DVCs–just regular rooms and suites. If you end up with 3-4 I’d vote for the yacht or beach club.
See the links here for prices: http://www.mousesavers.com/2014-disney-world-resort-room-rates-season-dates/
My large family (soon to be 10 of us, children are all 13 and under) enjoy staying at the Ft.Wilderness campground. One spot reservation allows up top ten guests, and it is very very affordable. It’s less luxurious than a hotel room, yes, but it it by far the most amazing and wonderful campground my family has ever stayed at.
We happened across the campground the first time we stayed, but I am surprised not to see it mentioned more frequently as an option for large families.
Holly, I love the campground too! See this https://yourfirstvisit.net/2013/02/26/a-lesser-known-tip-for-large-families-at-walt-disney-world/ and also this https://yourfirstvisit.net/2010/11/02/review-the-campsites-at-disneys-fort-wilderness-resort/
Hi Dave -After calling 3 places yesterday (disney chat, OKW front desk, then reservations) the person in reservations told me it was “Acceptable” to add more than 1 crib infant to the OKW Grand Villa. I told her i had 12 adults/children and TWO babies… i am leary to believe this…. It would make total sense if they allowed one crib child PER ROOM, and since a grand villa is 3 bedrooms, and 2200 square feet it doesnt seem a stretch!….. Do you have any experience w/ this? who can i call to talk to to get an official answer? several people on facebook also said they put more than 1 crib child in a DVC rental…… who would be the ultimate authority on this? DVC services? a manager at OKW???
Oh Michelle, I dunno. For what it’s worth, my rule of thumb is that if doesn’t cost Disney anything–which your situation doesn’t–then go ahead and bend things a bit and assume you’ll get the second crib…
She even told me to just leave the child off the reservation online and just ask for an extra pack and play when we arrive…..
Hi Dave!
Amazing site! I will definitely use it on my next trip to WDW! I heard the Disney is offering group rates if you reserve at least 10 rooms. Do you have any ideas what are those rates for lodging, dining and tickets?
Thanks a lot!
Sebastien,
I have not heard this, but will check…see this: https://www.disneygroupgetaways.com/dgg/disneyworldAwesome blog! Too much information 🙂
Planning on going with my wife and two daughters (7 & 5), and my in-laws. We are essentially booking two separate vacations (we have to go for a value resort, they are going for something higher; all on dining plan), but plan on spending most meals together (but not all). Some just the 4 of us, some my wife and I only, and some with the grandparents and kids. Will this be a problem booking reservations?
John, you need to have the count right for each venue before you book, but otherwise its not a problem…
Hey Joel could you give me the name of the place where u usually stay.. This is our first time going to Disney with a large family
I’m plannin a vacation with my family of 5 looking to book the week of Christmas but don’t really know what to look for either a villa or standard hotel room looking to stay outside Disney can u help
Sorry, John, I don’t track the options outside Disney, as I can barely keep up with the Disney options.
We are first timers planning a trip the week of Nov. 16 or Dec. 14 for my party of 6 (four kids + me and my husband) . First off, I apologize if my questions you have already answered. Do the magic band passes and/or park entrance come with the purchase of the on site hotel rooms? I have a family member who works for WDW and gets three free quest passes a day. He would have to meet three of us each day to gain entrance. If we do that, how does that work with the magic band pass?
Bekah, magic bands come with the rooms. You buy tickets separately. I don’t understand the point about your family member who works for Disney–you can’t get in without your own tickets, and tickets come with three FP+.
We are grandparents trying to take some of our children and grandchildren to Disney World. We have a unique group, and we are trying to decide on the best accommodations. Our daughter and her husband have two sets of twins who will be ages 4 and 1. Our son and his wife have 3 children ages 6, 5, and 2. The 6 year old is handicapped and may not be able to handle the crowds. We would like to have rooms that are relatively quite as noise can sometimes be an issue. We wanted to be on the monorail since he will be in a wheelchair and we will have many strollers. We were considering the Polynesian Resort but were wondering if there was any type of accommodation that would make sense. We would at least like to be close to each other so we ( grandparents ) could easily take care of 1 year olds and 6 year old if they became a problem. What would be our best option for best price?
Thanks,
Frazzled Grandma
Brenda, there’s no great options on the monorail that won’t cost an arm and a leg for such a big group, and because of everything happening nearby none are particularly quiet. (Boat whistles, train whistles, fireowrks, the nightly Electrical Water pageant, etc…)
Consider getting both a two bedroom villa and a studio at Bay Lake Tower, with a Bay Lake view (for more quiet). These spaces together have a capacity of 13 (9 in the villa, 4 in the studio). The virtue of BLT compared to renting three regular rooms is that you have a very livable space with a kitchen and such for the downtimes that the little ones and the 6 year old might need. BLT is also the easiest place from which to get back and forth to the Magic Kingdom.
For more on Bay Lake Tower see this.
My family of seven is planning on going to WDW in February of next year. My kids will be ages 13, 12, 9, 8, and 6. Given how little in size my six year old is, I know we would all fit comfortably in an Art of Animation family suite. However, the occupancy maxes at six for that room. Since they can’t guarantee connecting rooms, will they let us reserve a family suite anyway? Or would they automatically kick us into two rooms once they saw our seventh member at check in? The only other options for our size group are much more cost prohibitive. Thanks!
Christina,
The occupancy is not determined by Disney but rather by fire code. So your family of 7 will not fit in one suite. BUT when it’s a single family (2 adults and more children than fit a standard room) the WILL GUARANTEE connection rooms (2 standard rooms in a value resort or usually less expensive than 1 family suite). This is Disney’s only exception.
Please let me know if you need any help booking your vacation. I’m Kelly, the dedicated Destinations in Florida agent for YourFirstVisit.net. We want to get you booked as soon as possible as the 180 mark for dining reservations for February open this month. You can reach me at kellyb@destinationsinflorida.com or 980-429-4499
Christina–what Kelly said.
I was wondering where the best place to stay with 2 Adults and four kids ages when we go will be 10,8,2,1. We are looking to go after Thanksgiving of next year any suggestions would be appreciated. We have previously stayed at pop century and Caribbean but that was before the last two additions .Also my wife planned our previous trips and I am kinda doing this as a surprise so was wondering about the dinning plan regarding the 2 year old and one year old will I need to purchase the dining plan for them as well.
Jason, Disney won’t count the one year old against the room limits, so you can stay in any room that will hold five. The least expensive five person rooms are in Port Orleans Riverside, and, after its 2014 renovation, Caribbean Beach.
Disney will not sell a dining plan to anyone under three (at the time of check-in). So those two can eat off of your plates, or if there’s something special they want, you can buy them stuff with cash.
My family and my sisters family are planning to stay at the Disney Art of Animation resort this fall. We are a family of eight. My sisters kids are 3 and 14 and my kids are 9 and 13. We don’t want to buy two standard rooms and join them together, because we are worried about space. But we also don’t have the budget to buy two family suites, tickets, and food. Are we allowed to book one family suite for all eight of us? We are fine with sharing beds.
Hi Tara – You can NOT have more than 6 people in a family suite at AoA. This isn’t Disney’s “rule” but rather fire code. One thing to note about standard rooms is that Disney does NOT guarantee adjoining or connecting rooms. They will try to place you as close as possible, but it’s only a request, not a guarantee.
How much time do you actually plan on spending in the rooms? If you are going to be in the parks most of the day and just sleeping and bathing in the room, you should be fine for space. I’ve stayed at value plenty of times before and we had plenty of room.
can anyone help me find the best way to get tickets to disney for 8 people.. im getting the room for two nights and only need a one day pass to the park.. its my daughters 16th birthday and my youngest daughters 11th birthday. im a single mom and dont have alot of $ but im trying to do this and bring the grandparents and little cousins so my family has memories to last a lifetime like i did when i was a child… thank you
Gina, one day tickets are very expensive–more than $100 each. You may be able to find some minor savings, for example at the Official Ticket Center, but discounts on one day tickets are very rare.
We’re a first time family of 11 2 adults and 9 kids ranging in ages of 2-16 and have no clue where to start! We are on a budget so the cheaper the better for everything- places to stay, meal plan ideas park tickets….etc.
Kristel, your best bet will be to rent a house offsite (and get a couple of rental cars too). The dining plan will not be available if you stay off-site. For park tickets, use The Official Ticket Center
I just wanted to take a minute and remind everyone that if you are traveling with 1 or 2 adults and more children than fit in one room, you are able to get 2 guaranteed connecting rooms. This is the only situations that Disney will guarantee connecting (rooms connected by door) rooms. You can always add the request for connecting or adjoining (next to each) other. But it’s only a request at that point. If you need some help figuring this all out, please feel free to contact me at kellyb@destinationsinflorida.com or 980-429-4499
I have 18 month old twins and a 4 year old. Can you fit two pack and plays into a standard value resort room?
Rachael, it’ll be a tight fit. I haven’t tried this, but it looks like you could fit one infront of the window, and another between the dresser and the bath.
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