Need Advice

[paw1968]

Watch out Disney here we come!!! We are a 3 generation Family of 7 coming January 2021 for 7 nights with ages 19 to 75. We have a decent budget of about $15,000. We know we are planning on having a dining plan and 7 days of park tickets with park hopper. The biggest controversy we have is where and how to stay. DS and I have been several times before. My mom and sister have been once with DS and I and my niece, nephew and BIL have never been. The trip with my mother and sister we stayed at Saratoga Springs in a 2 bedroom preferred villa near Disney Springs. We lover the proximity to Disney Springs! I stayed at BC over Christmas and loved being so close to Epcot. The 2 bedroom Villa seems small for 7 adults. Cant see adult male cousins sharing a bed. What have others done with a group this size? Multiple rooms? Cram into one? What about the dining plan? If we do 2 or more rooms would you get deluxe for one room? We enjoy signature dining and most of the group would be considered foodies. Looking for ideas and suggestions please.

 

[starry_solo]

Multiple rooms if you want to get different dining plans. If you want to spread out more, maybe a 2 bedroom and a studio (if you rent DVC points).

But if you're mainly going to eat at Disney, then multiple hotel rooms are fine too.

Which parks do you like?

 

[sndral]

Some two bedroom DVC villas have an extra sleeping surface in the living room. If 2 share the king bed in the master, one gets the sleeper sofa in the living room & another gets the sleeper chair/pull down single in the living room, then one each in the 2 beds in the 2nd bedroom gets you to 6, maybe add an air mattress?
Or, as mentioned, a studio and a 2 br. will get you to 7 sleep surfaces in the villas w/ the extra single in the living room, you’d have 1 on the king in the master, 2 in the living room (one on the sleeper sofa and one on the sleeper chair/pulldown bed) 2 in the 2nd bedroom, then 2 in the studio (one on the bed & one on the sleeper sofa) gets you to 7 ‘beds.’ AKV, BLT and OKW all have the extra ‘bed’ in the living room in the 2 br.s. Other resorts have added the smaller pull down bunk.
BC has 3 separate sleep surfaces in the studios and 4 separate sleep surfaces in the 2 br.s so that would get you to 7 as well.
If you get 2 separate villas you can get different dinning plans, maybe consider deluxe for one villa and regular for the other if you want to eat some signature meals mixed with some 1 TS and some QS. Much as I like the signature 2 TS restaurants, if you eat at 1 signature restaurant a day you also need to have a sit down 1 TS lunch or breakfast every day, which IME eats up a lot of park time and is a lot of food.

 

[DisneyWishes14]

I would not do a 2-bedroom villa with 7 adults. There are some 2-bedrooms with 3 bathrooms, but it will still mean some of the adults will be sleeping on pull-outs in the living room area which, IMHO, is not very comfortable. I would consider doing three separate rooms so you have 3 bathrooms and real beds for everyone. You could do this at any resort that fits your budget. The two-bedroom villa plus one studio could work, but, again, someone is going to be on a pull-out. If you go this route, perhaps look at the new RIV resort which has pull-down beds as opposed to pull-outs and they are infinitely more comfortable (we stayed there in December). You could also consider a Grand Villa if there is availability - I've found SSR typically has grand villas available throughout the year if paying cash through WDW. I do not know what the point rental situation would be as we only book villas through WDW.

In terms of the dining plan, you would need to do the math on sharing the DDxP. I would plan out your meals, take a look at how many credits you will need and go from there.

 

[sponica]

When I've planned larger trips, each family unit had their own room. Think about how many bathrooms + sleeping surfaces you need then go from there.


Granted everyone bailed on our family trip this summer....so I have yet to successfully pull it off.

 

[cedricandsophie]

Is anyone dvc member or Florida resident? Are you drinkers? I’d consider the Tabies in wonderland card. For $150 or maybe it’s 175 now you get 20% off of most signature meals including alcohol. Also includes many lounges. We eat breakfast in room, buy lunch and then go out to dinner. For 7 people who like good food and alcohol the savings add up pretty quickly. You just need one card that covers up to 10 people. Most character meals are included. The card is good for about 13 months. You can check out the TIW list of participating restaurants and lounges.

As for the room I would never put 7 people in a 2 bedroom.

 

[disneydreamer1980]

You could always do 3 studios or 3 regular hotel rooms, then only 2 people would have to share a bed. We travel as a multi generational group of 9 every year and we’ve stayed in 2 bed villas, grand villas and most recently split up between 2 Poly studios. We’re always squished (and half the group is kids) but we’re hardly ever in the room so we don’t mind. If you do separate rooms you could get separate level dining plans for each room and just pool all the credits together, but that’d take some thinking and a lot to keep track of. Going with a big family group can be stressful but it’s so much fun and you’ll make a ton of memories. Have fun planning!

 

[RamblingMad]

The only time I went with a group this size is when we got a town house at what is now Saratoga Springs. When we went it was called something different. The biggest problem with staying here is the proximity to the parks.

Are you guys planning to spend most of your time in the parks? How do you plan to tour?

 

[cvjw]

When I take my extended family of 7, we stay in a 2 bedroom villa and a studio. No way I would put 7 adults in a 2 bedroom villa.

 

[KenHutch]

Mine is a group of 8 and I like French Quarter that way you would still have easy access to Disney Springs.

 

[paw1968]

With the variety of ages we want to be close to either Disney Springs or Epcot/Hollywood Studios. I am sort of liking the idea of the 2 bedroom and a studio. The other option that came to mind is 3 room at maybe POFQ. One for me and mom, a second for sis and her hubby and the third for the cousins.

 

[DisneyWishes14]

With the variety of ages we want to be close to either Disney Springs or Epcot/Hollywood Studios. I am sort of liking the idea of the 2 bedroom and a studio. The other option that came to mind is 3 room at maybe POFQ. One for me and mom, a second for sis and her hubby and the third for the cousins.

In that case, I would look at SSR, BCV, BWV and RIV. Along with 3 rooms at POFQ (or POR), you might want to consider CBR which now has Skyliner access to both DHS and EP. We stayed at RIV in December and found the Skyliner to be super convenient.

 

[holden]

Definitely skip the 2BR. You could rent points for a Grand Villa. The other option is separate rooms. There is something to be said about having your own private space to retire to at the end of the day.

 

[Babsy]

I would consider three rooms in the Epcot area, perhaps YC or BWI. If you get one AP you would qualify for the TIW card (or if someone is DVC or a FL resident) which might make sense as opposed to paying for the dining plans and would put the Swan/Dolphin rooms as a possibility. I'm not sure how many rooms a senior can book there, but the senior discount rates can sometimes be quite substantial at these resorts.

 

[Feberin]

We're going with my Dad in April and doing 2 rooms for seven but over half are kids. I would think about bathrooms and getting ready especially if you're going to all be heading out the samebtime.

 

[SharonZ]

I wouldn't just consider room capacity, I would seriously consider sleeping surfaces and the ages of the people traveling in your group, as well as bathrooms. You might be better off with hotel rooms if you are doing the deluxe dining plan.