[Dee]

I'm planning a vacation for my family of five and another family of five. There are 4 adults, 1 girl and 5 boys (3 - 11). We are planing to stay at the A/S Sports w/ each family having 2 connecting rooms. Is this enough space? Should we try the PO? Any suggestions would be helpful. By the way, I took the family on a business trip w/ me in Feb 2001. We stayed at the CBR. The room was okay but nothing special.

[mickey]

Dee, welcome to DisneyCentral.

So, that is four rooms total? That should be plenty of room, since the adults will be in one side and the kids in another, you should be fine. I think moving up to PO will give you a little more room, but it is not like you are trying to cram everyone in one room, so it won't be much different. I would just save the money and go with the All-Stars.

So, when are you going?

[Dee]

Mickey thanks for answering so quickly!!

We are planning to be there Jun 22 - 28. We're leaving the day after school ends. I figure it shouldn't be too crowded by then!

By the way, I love this site. It has answered alot of questions I didn't know I had.

[Willbegone]

Welcome Dee!
I agree with you this sight ROCKS! I have asked so many questions and gotten terrific help! I haven't found another group so knowledgable and willing to help anywhere! I know you will learn alot. Happy planning!:D

[MickeyMac]

Will the All Stars let you book five people into one room? I would be cautious on that and find out before you try it. I know they would not let me through CRO, maybe through a travel agent?

Mickey?

[Goofy1]

Welcome Dee,

I was very "green" leading up to my trip to WDW and everyone here was very helpful, even with the really dumb questions !

We just returned from our Disney vacation Dec 27th and stayed at All Star Music. There were 9 of us in total including a baby. You won't get anymore than 4 to a room. We had 3 rooms side by side with 2 of them with connecting doors and all had 2 double beds per room. We were warned that the rooms were small but in the end, were actually bigger than I had envisioned. No trouble whatsoever having my 7 and 9 year old plus my wife and myself in the same room. You are in the room only a very short time. By the end of the day in the park you only want to sleep anyhow.

I have no complaints about the AS resorts so you won't be disappointed if you go that route.

Happy planning ! :)

Goofy1 :D

[mickey]

Originally posted by MickeyMac
Will the All Stars let you book five people into one room? I would be cautious on that and find out before you try it. I know they would not let me through CRO, maybe through a travel agent?

Mickey?

No, you can only book 4 into the All-Stars. They are very particular about that. Doesn't matter what the age is of the youngest person either. I have known people who have tried to sneak in with 5 in a room, and the majority of the time, they end up buying another room at full rate, eithe because they were caught or because they were too cramped.

[Jennly]

Originally posted by MickeyMac
Will the All Stars let you book five people into one room? I would be cautious on that and find out before you try it. I know they would not let me through CRO, maybe through a travel agent?


Mickey?

MickeyMac

The All Stars are roughly 280 square feet with double beds only. Because of the fact that they are smaller rooms the booking guideline is strictly 4 plus and infant. They will not stray from that at all.

Port Orleans Riverside however does have rooms with a small trundle bed that would hold a child up to about 6 or so. That may be something to look into if you need 5 or if Dee really didn't want to do 4 rooms.

:)

J

[Dee]

We're actually doing four rooms. Each set of parents will have a connecting room that holds their respective three kids. This prevents us from having to watch disney movies every evening and gives all of us a little breathing space!:dazed

[Jennly]

Originally posted by Dee
We're actually doing four rooms. Each set of parents will have a connecting room that holds their respective three kids. This prevents us from having to watch disney movies every evening and gives all of us a little breathing space!:dazed

Oi! Say no more I know exactly how you feel! Between my boyfriend's nieces and my best friend's 3 year old I think I have seen "Cinderellee", Monsters Inc. and Lilo and Stitch at least 50 times each!!! :)


J

[dlashe4977]

We stayed at A/S Music three wks ago two adults and 2 kids (under 8 yrs old) and the room was great, plenty of space for all.
Grandma was in a connecting rm next door.

Make sure you tell them "CONNECTING" not adjourning, which is across the hall or three rooms down. I almost made that mistake.
:D

[Dee]

Thanks for all of your responses. They are extremely helpful but I have another question. We were planning to book through the Disney travel number vs our travel agent. However, I've seen differing views on some of the boards about this option. Does it matter????

[MickeyMac]

hehehe - funny, I just responded to this same question in another thread.

For me, it depends on the cancellation party (we seem to have a lot of deaths in our family :( ) The Travel Company has a 45 day cancellation policy, and take a long time to do refunds should you need to switch your reservation for whatever reason. Disney's CRO, or a Disney specialized travel agent (like Mousketrips or various others) can get you a five day cancelation, as well as keep you current on any discounts.

I would ask where you were planning on booking through at Disney (CRO or the Travel Company), compared to how comfortable with your travel agent to keep you current on any upcoming discounts.

Does any of this make sense? I think I'm confusing myself.

[BDavis932]

We've booked it both ways, and to us, it really didn't make any difference. Unless you have a travel agent friend that it may benefit from your booking, I would say to book by calling Central Reservations at 1-407-WDISNEY. From what I hear, booking online has more penalties if for some reason you need to cancle or postpone your trip.

The one thing that we learned over the years is this, if you are planning on purchasing an Ultimate Park Hopper Pass with your resort stay (Dream Maker Package), your park tickets start the day of your arrival, and continue through the night of your departure. Disney will allow you to drop off your arrival or departure day park tickets (only one or the other, not both) to be removed from the package. We always book an extra "stand alone" night at the end of our package, so we are not being charged for tickets for that first day or the last day.

Just as an example, take a look at this sample itinerary: Let's say you are arrive at WDW on Sunday afternoon and plan on flying home on the following Saturday. Drop the tickets off the first day of your package, which is Sunday, and make your first day in the parks Monday. I would book your package Sunday night through Thursday night. Friday will still have park privledges, and book Friday night as a "stand alone" night. Saturday won't have any park tickets that are being wasted.

Hopefully this was not too confusing, just a GREAT way to save some $$$$ on your visit. It really works well, we have done this on our last several trips. Have fun planning!:)

[mickey]

Personally, since I am a travel agent, you should book everything through me, no matter what. :p

Honestly, there are some advantages to booking through an agent, and some by doing it yourself.

An agent, if they are familiar with WDW will offer you some insight that you may not know, and can save you some money. Their prices should be as good as you can get yourself, or better, they can do all of the work for you, keep track of changing codes and discounts, as well as make your requests for you, or help you out with any special needs that you have.

Doing it yourself, you can spend time studying, and get a good rate, you can call WDW and make any changes by yourself without having to contact your agent.

Before becoming an agent, I always booked myself. I enjoyed doing the research, but at that time the research was basically calling WDW to find out if AP discounts had been released yet. There also were no Disney only travel agents, and no one around me knew much about WDW.

Now, I think a lot of things have changed. It is much easier to do research, get discount codes, ask questions of others here at DisneyCentral and other places, and you can be pretty sure that you are getting a good deal. Of course, on the other side, there are Disney only agents who plan full time, and know WDW inside and out, and know every possible discount option available.

In the end, you can get a good deal either way. If you book through disney yourself, always book through CRO unless you are booking a package that includes air or if you have to use a Disney Club discount, since it is the best one available. MickeyMac's explanation was great.

If you use a travel agent, make sure you use one who knows more about WDW than you do. We provide a service for our clients, though it won't cost you a penny, and most like, will save you a big pile of them.

Obviously, there is segment that wants help in planning, and needs advice and knowlede, and that is who the travel agents help out. Others like the challange of doing all the planning and doing everything themselves, and there is nothing wrong with that. I guess it just comes down to what you are comfortable with.