Two Kids, Two Parents....One Hotel Room?

MadMadamMim1

Marvelous & Mad
Joined
Sep 1, 2014
Those of you that have two kids...do you share one regular hotel room?

We have a 9 year old and a 2 year old. My husband works nights and so naturally stays up late even on vacation. Tiptoeing around sleeping kids every night in a little hotel room is not an appealing option. Plus I doubt the 2 year old will go to sleep if she can see us.

Last time we went before our youngest was born, my mother went and shared an adjoining room with our daughter (AKL). Time before that we got a junior suite at CSR which worked well.

So I guess my options are either adjoining rooms again (but those aren’t guaranteed and obviously my kids can’t be alone down the hall!) or a one bedroom villa (I’d have to rent points I guess). Either way will be pricey! (AKL or maybe WL, we’re thinking)

Some friends of ours think we’re nuts to not just share a room with the kids. Just curious what others do!
 
We have a 5 year old and a 2 year old. When we had kids our favorite accommodation became an OKW one bedroom villa. It’s still our favorite. Although rather than renting points for these, I suggest looking at a room only discount via Disney. The point totals for one bedrooms can be really high depending on when you’re traveling. We travel in summer, and the past two summers we’ve done this, a cash discount was cheaper than renting points.
 
We always just share 1 regular hotel room with our 2 kids. We usually sleep in 1 bed & them in the other, though sometimes we split up with one adult & 1 kid per bed.

However, we don't like to stay up too late, so usually we're all lying down and turning out the light together - maybe between 10-11pm. Actually the kids would stay up later than us if we let them. And yes, even from a very young age they would not fall asleep unless we were also going to sleep.
 
I actually look forward to catching up on sleep during our hotel visits. My wife and I have a 6 year old girl and 4 year old boy, so I just share the bed with him, which means going to bed before 9 pm sometimes. It's hard to do the first night, but the next morning I end up feeling more refreshed than ever.
I agree that if it is an issue, look into renting a 1BR unit at Old Key West.
 
We've done it many times, with no issues. :) We found vacation made the kids sleep like logs, so tip-toeing around was never an issue for us. Actually, we slept pretty darn well, too. Vacationing with 2 little kids isn't terribly relaxing--we were exhausted! :D
 
We have 4 kids, 2 under 3, and all 6 of us regularly sleep in a regular hotel room. They just get off their sleep schedules for the most part when we are in hotels. We have a 13 night stay coming up in June in regular rooms. I can never get why people can’t a) spend a few nights in smaller quarters- we’re on vacation not buying the room to live in- b)have 2 kids of any age/sex share a bed. My brother and I shared hotel beds through our teen years in the same room as our parents without any problems, we just each had our own side and stayed on it. Or I shared with my mom and my brother with my dad. But on here even people with same sex kids say they need 3 sleeping surfaces and c) have smaller beds than they sleep in at home. I always read about people who just can’t sleep in a full bed. It isn’t that much smaller than a queen in the grand scheme, and you aren’t buying it, just sleeping in it for a few nights.

However, I’ve read these issues come up so many times over the years that I have to conclude that possibly we are the odd ones, or else a less vocal majority, because it is a frequent, recurring topic.

I mean, in a perfect world we would
always get a 2 BR club level room for our family, but unless someone else is paying it just isn’t happening!
 


We have a 5 year old and a 2 year old. When we had kids our favorite accommodation became an OKW one bedroom villa. It’s still our favorite. Although rather than renting points for these, I suggest looking at a room only discount via Disney. The point totals for one bedrooms can be really high depending on when you’re traveling. We travel in summer, and the past two summers we’ve done this, a cash discount was cheaper than renting points.

Thanks I’ll look at the cash option! Just waiting on the 2020 packages to come out...
 
We have 4 kids, 2 under 3, and all 6 of us regularly sleep in a regular hotel room. They just get off their sleep schedules for the most part when we are in hotels. We have a 13 night stay coming up in June in regular rooms. I can never get why people can’t a) spend a few nights in smaller quarters- we’re on vacation not buying the room to live in- b)have 2 kids of any age/sex share a bed. My brother and I shared hotel beds through our teen years in the same room as our parents without any problems, we just each had our own side and stayed on it. Or I shared with my mom and my brother with my dad. But on here even people with same sex kids say they need 3 sleeping surfaces and c) have smaller beds than they sleep in at home. I always read about people who just can’t sleep in a full bed. It isn’t that much smaller than a queen in the grand scheme, and you aren’t buying it, just sleeping in it for a few nights.

However, I’ve read these issues come up so many times over the years that I have to conclude that possibly we are the odd ones, or else a less vocal majority, because it is a frequent, recurring topic.

I mean, in a perfect world we would
always get a 2 BR club level room for our family, but unless someone else is paying it just isn’t happening!

Wow that’s a lot of people in a little room! But hey if that works for you, why not.

We’d have a hard time relaxing after a day in the parks if we had to whisper and tiptoe around the kids. My husband usually stays up watching TV til at least 1. He has trouble adjusting his internal clock on vacation.

I don’t have the “different sex, same bed” issue because I have two girls but I shared a bed with my little brother on vacation when we were kids too.
 
I like vacation. A lot. Paying for two hotel rooms would cut into that budget and I’m not willing to give up vacation time. I’m usually exhausted and asleep before the rest of the family anyway, but with exceptions, we’re usually in bed by 9 or 10. Sleeping arrangements vary. Sometimes if there is a large chair or small couch, a smaller kid gets that. Otherwise it’s us and currently 11 and 13 year olds and we just make it work for each room every time. Who wants to take less vacations just for more elbow room? We’re not there for the room....
 
Wow that’s a lot of people in a little room! But hey if that works for you, why not.

We’d have a hard time relaxing after a day in the parks if we had to whisper and tiptoe around the kids. My husband usually stays up watching TV til at least 1. He has trouble adjusting his internal clock on vacation.

That’s the thing, we don’t tiptoe around much at all if any. We just get them on the schedule we want, with a few more down type days that they can get more sleep during. We might not stay up as late as I would have before kids, but hey, I’m getting older also lol! With our youngest two we have also used a sitter some, so we can take the older 2 to a park and ride without RS and the youngest can stay and play In the room and nap. IDK, it has worked for us so far, and since we aren’t having any more kids I almost feel like I can say we’re in the clear!

Yeah, for some reason it doesn’t bother me with 6 in a room. Like I said, we do get bigger rooms and suites occasionally at other locations where it doesn’t cost us an arm and a leg, but for short term it’s fine and works for us. We aren’t moving in, just staying a few nights!
 
We have one child and I never would consider getting two hotel rooms. It’s just unnecessary to me. I grew up an only too, traveled a lot with my parents, and we never had more than one hotel room. I understand everyone is different, but I honestly don’t see sharing a room as a family on vacation as a bad thing. That’s part of the fun of it.
 
We have 9 year old twin daughters and always share one room. I, too, work night shift so am used to staying up late. My husband and I each have 1 in bed with us- although often both end up in bed with me. My husband is usually in bed the same time as them. I often stay up later though. Usually I am settled in bed, but use the time to wind down playing around on my phone- catching up on Facebook, watching Netflix, etc for an hour or so after they go to bed. Then, I am up before anyone else to get ready the next morning, actually hoping I make enough noise to wake them up. I can't imagine having 2 separate rooms. Both of our girls would end up with me in one room, as luckily they are still at that age where they actually want to be around us all the time. And then my husband would too, just because he doesn't like to be alone! But that's what works for our family. You know your own family best and what would make everyone happy!
 
We have 4 kids, 2 under 3, and all 6 of us regularly sleep in a regular hotel room. They just get off their sleep schedules for the most part when we are in hotels. We have a 13 night stay coming up in June in regular rooms. I can never get why people can’t a) spend a few nights in smaller quarters- we’re on vacation not buying the room to live in- b)have 2 kids of any age/sex share a bed. My brother and I shared hotel beds through our teen years in the same room as our parents without any problems, we just each had our own side and stayed on it. Or I shared with my mom and my brother with my dad. But on here even people with same sex kids say they need 3 sleeping surfaces and c) have smaller beds than they sleep in at home. I always read about people who just can’t sleep in a full bed. It isn’t that much smaller than a queen in the grand scheme, and you aren’t buying it, just sleeping in it for a few nights.

However, I’ve read these issues come up so many times over the years that I have to conclude that possibly we are the odd ones, or else a less vocal majority, because it is a frequent, recurring topic.

I mean, in a perfect world we would
always get a 2 BR club level room for our family, but unless someone else is paying it just isn’t happening!

We share space on vacation too. I don't much worry about the schedules, we make it work.

I love our vacation time and would not reduce it just to book more rooms, and I bet we are NOT in teh minority. I think that most folks will do as we do, but unless someone asks how to stay organized we just don't chime in to tell folks to make a change. If they want two rooms, who am I to tell them it's okay to book one?

OP- you need to ask for "Connecting" rooms if you want the door between the two. "Adjoining" is not the same thing. If you want the connecting rooms, I would make that my only request. If you do choose to try one room, request a balcony or patio room. My favorite stay was the Poly on the first floor. We had a lovely patio that acted like an additional room.
 
Heck no! Never. I suppose we'd make it work for one night if we had to, but on vacation I would simply refuse to go.

We very happily stay offsite...get a 4 bedroom 2.5 bath, 1200sq ft rental for less than the cost of a small "value resort" hotel room.
 
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Yes we’ve always shared and as a kid we shared up until we were teenagers and the budget could go a little further and we could be left in another room. You could always take a look at AOA family suites.
 
Last trip two of the boys were with us and we were fine in a CSR room.....though we added a rollaway because the boys don't sleep together....middle son is a vicious kicker. Next trip we are going to spread out into an AoA suite. The boys really like the layout and i think it will make the time they spend in the room (they sometimes take an afternoon break and they don't go right to sleep when we get back from nighttime activities) more pleasant. Plus, two bathrooms and a separate bedroom 8-) vacation mode! It's been a long time since I traveled with a two year old, but I understand wanting to be able to do things in the room without worrying about keeping them from sleeping. (My boys were NOT good sleepers.)
 
I can't comment on traveling with children, but have you considered a suite at Art of Animation? There's a queen bed in the bedroom and two sleep surfaces in the living room. And they look pretty cute.
 
if hubby is going to be up much later than the rest of you, try a 1 bedroom suite. you and the 2 kids get the bedroom, and he gets the living room at night. pullout bed, his own tv, etc
 

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