Traveling as a family of five is always tricky when it comes to reserving a hotel room. Most locations will only allow four people in a room. And if you want on-property perks at Disney, you definitely have to tell them how many are in your room. If you exceed that “party of 4”, you have to either book some sort of suite or adjoining rooms which skyrockets the cost. Last year when we researched Disney (and not at the last minute), “normal” hotel rooms for five people were completely booked and the only space available for us cost $500-700/night…and we wouldn’t even have enough beds for all of us! Andy and I would have had a bed, but the kids would have been on a pull-out couch and chair. I’m sure you will agree with me that it made much more sense at that time to stay off-property in a 2-bedroom suite with two bathrooms and a full kitchen for a third of the cost!
However, for this recent trip I started looking almost a year in advance. The Disney Port Orleans Riverside resort was available and very reasonably priced. Our room had two Queen beds and a pull-down bunk-size bed . It was perfect. Stella kicks, sleeps and moves around during the night so she took the bunk shown in the photo. We all slept comfortably! It was a great resort and we would definitely pick it again.
On the cruise the situation was the easiest I’ve seen for a family of five and Disney. Everyone had a bed. Andy and I had an actual bed and the sitting area (which could be divided off by a privacy curtain) magically turned into three more beds. The couch converted into Charlotte’s, Stella’s popped down from the ceiling and Henry’s came out of the wall as a murphy-bed style. AND the room attendant took care of it every evening while we were at dinner. The turn-down service was awesome.
Overall, we were beyond pleased with our accommodations during this Disney vacation. A trip can be completely ruined if no one sleeps at night!
Where do you stay when you visit Disney?
Did you feel squished in the Port Orleans Riverside resort? We are planning a trip for May of 2015 and there are still rooms available. We are actually a family of 6, but Baby Reed will be considered an infant and in a pack and play. Trying to decide if staying on property is a better deal (we are only planning on 2-3 days at Disney and then going to stay with “Uncle Gary”…. than staying off property at a condo…I’m afraid we’d be squished in like sardines!
I can’t remember how much floor space was left for a pack n play. However I know there was some room in front of door that opened to adjoining room. The 5 of us are used to cramming into a Hampton room so this actually felt much bigger. And we were not in the room much at all anyway. We loved the resort and will stay there again. If you have a car with you, we also liked the Residence Inn nearby off property. Much more space!