I’m looking at moving my August 2020 holiday to next November. 
We were going to treat ourselves to staying at the Yacht Club but next year it’s far too expensive so we’re looking at a more reasonably priced hotel now.
Any recommendations for 5th sleeper hotels? There is myself, my husband and two boys (14 and 9) but I’d like my boys to have their own beds.
Possibilities I’ve found are Caribbean, Port Orleans Riverside, Art of Animation suites, Fort Wilderness cabins.
I can obviously do some homework online but just wondered if anyone on here has experience of staying in any of these and can give me an insight.
I need to weigh up everything like…
- travel times to the parks,
- travel times throughout the resort (I’ve read that some like Fort Wilderness are so big they have an internal bus to get you to the park bus stops!),
- pools for the kids,
- restaurants at the hotel or travel times back out for dinner at night (my plans for August included eating a lot at Epcot and Boardwalk as there was such a big range of places)
Any tips would be great!
Contemporary has it, as well. Also, because they are an older hotel, they actually have more room in the rooms themselves. No divided bathroom, though.
I think AKL and Wilderness Lodge have the rooms with bunk beds if you wanted to look into that.
Not anymore. Both resorts removed the bunks, sadly.
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POR is 10 mins from EP and HS, 15 to MK and 20 to AK - once you leave the resort. But there are 4 internal bus stops. You can get the bus or boat to DS, the boat is a lovely trip and takes about 25 mins, the bus is closer to 10. It has one TS restaurant which we’ve never eaten at. It’s a huge resort but pretty, and you can use POFQ’s facilities, it’s about a 5 min walk from the lobby to POFQ’s pool.
Really? I had/have one booked at WL for next spring I think. I still see them on Disney’s site (WL, not AKL).
I would say stay at Caribbean. With the Skyliner, you can just be dropped right off at Epcot or Boardwalk’s doorstep for your meals (as long as you’re done before the parks close). They have a really awesome main pool/playgrounds plus some smaller pools.
The food at their main cafeteria is pretty good and I really enjoyed Sebastian’s when I visited last time.
There is an internal bus system there because it is large and spread out…and sometimes catching a bus for rope drop can be a challenge. Two trips ago I swore I wouldn’t stay there again because of the bus problems, but then they opened the Skyliner. It made things so much more bearable. My last stay there was lovely.
If you were planning to dine more in Disney Springs, then I would say POR. The boat to Disney Springs is a nice little trip and the two resorts feel about the same with regard to room size and being so large. I have stayed in the rooms there but have not dined at any of the resort facilities.
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They’re not finished with the refurbishments to rooms at WL, but they are phasing the bunk beds out just like at AKL.
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Yes. Part of the refurb was them
Going out.
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We loved the Fort Wilderness Cabins - but it is a huge resort and the internal bus is a pain. But you can always rent a golf cart to get around instead - kind of fun and then you can just drive yourself right to the bus stop. I didn’t think that doing the golf cart to the bus stop took any longer than walking from some of the further away buildings at some place like Art of Animation. But then we also have some slow walkers in the group!
Why would they phase out the bunks? I don’t get it. Unlike my parents’ generation, kids don’t share beds except on vacation. I would think that having the bunks is a plus, not a minus.
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My hypothesis is a combo of: they had too much liability from kids falling out and getting hurt, and that they take significantly longer to make up by housekeeping, reducing efficiency.
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We’ve stayed at a few of these resorts.
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travel times to the parks,
FW cabins would definitely be closer to MK. Further from the other parks, even with the internal bus system. Have not been at FW with the bus arrival times on MDE, tho.
Caribbean and POR internal buses weren’t a problem. We were at Caribbean with the bus info on MDE - worked really great. We’re usually so early at the bus stations we didn’t run into bus station crowds for rope drop except once.
Have not stayed at AoA.
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travel times throughout the resort (I’ve read that some like Fort Wilderness are so big they have an internal bus to get you to the park bus stops!),
Most of the time the FW internal bus worked fine - we seemed to develop a synchronicity with the system. We also once bought our bikes from home - awesome place for that since vehicle traffic is kept to a minimum. We also once rented a golf cart. That was pretty fun too. More expensive tho. Quite often we walked. Especially if we’re just going over to the trading post.
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pools for the kids,
At POR we only did the quiet pool one afternoon. We didn’t use a pool either time at Caribbean or FW.
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restaurants at the hotel
FW - we already were fans of Trails End Kitchen, so staying at FW was great. I don’t think we at any of the quick service. We also did Hoop De Doo Revue while at FW.
POR - we like the quick service here a lot. Good choices. We’ve only eaten at Boatwrights once but we enjoyed our meal.
Caribbean - haven’t eaten much here. One trip the whole center area was under construction.
or travel times back out for dinner at night (my plans for August included eating a lot at Epcot and Boardwalk as there was such a big range of places)
Travel to Boardwalk from Caribbean is quick and straight forward. From FW or POR not so much. However from FW any MK area is a boat ride or two away.
POR would be easy to go to DS in the boat.
Any tips would be great!
We did do the pull down bed at Caribbean and it’s great. I didn’t sleep on it but it was a big hit for the kid that did: slender 13 yo girl, about 5 feet tall with every spare pillow in the room.
When we were at FW in the cabins, the living room had a double size Murphy bed. I understand it’s now a queen size sleeper sofa.
The back bedroom had a queen bed and a bunk bed. One bathroom but it’s fairly roomy.
The cabins are gloomy; we were there in December so we brought plenty of Christmas lights. There’s a deck with a picnic table. Full size kitchen. Range. Fridge.
We have stayed in a Caribbean Beach 5th sleeper room. It was a very nice room. Maybe a little tight with the bed pulled down, and not always handy to fold up and down the little bed. Other than that, we loved it there, and would definitely stay there again. The pool is very fun with a waterslide and cool theming. We stayed in the Jamaica area close to a bus stop and never had any issues with buses. There is a bridge across old man island over to the restaurants and the big pool, so it was an easy walk. You do have to take an internal bus to get to the check in building, but you don’t need to go there often. With the new skyliner, it will be even easier to get to EPCOT and HWS from CBC. We used the skyliner from Pop Century and it was great, and so fast. We have stayed at AoA, but that was before we needed to sleep 5, so we didn’t have a suite. AoA has tons of cool theming, but I can’t vouch for the suites. Last year we got two connecting rooms at Pop Century, which was nice to have the extra space and extra bathroom. The value resorts won’t have waterslides, but otherwise, it was very nice to get two connecting rooms. Pop Century has newly remodeled rooms with Queen beds, and you can get a room where one bed is a Murphy bed. They also have coffee makers in the rooms. The new rooms are nice, but the resort is definitely a value resort. CBC is a much nicer resort, so if you are looking for more of a resort experience, I would recommend CBC. I will also say we have always wanted to try the cabins at Ft Wilderness - full kitchen!
I would try to get two connecting rooms at Pop Century in the preferred section. You’d have two rooms, two bathrooms, four beds. It’s actually cheaper than getting a family suite at Art of Animation. You’d be right by the Skyliner and have decent bus service.
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Some of the Beach Club rooms have a day bed. Also the Contemporary. Not sure about other deluxes. But they are request only, not guaranteed.
We got this day bed at Yacht Club one trip years ago. Maybe they are still there? We loved the day bed. We had 2 rooms, 3 in each room. The day bed room had 1 adult & 2 kids, allowing everyone to have their own bed.
This was back when there was really great Mousekeeping. Day bed kid would arrange his treasures just so. Come back from the park to find his bed made and treasures rearranged in another fun way.
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I miss the days of towel animals and fun stuffed animal setups.
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