We are Disney people. Well, DH and I are. Kids don’t care as long as there are thrill rides. We are planning a split trip in 2026. My starting point for a question is regarding rooms.
I have a blended family. My bonus DS will be 17, my DD will be almost 16 when the trip happens. We need separate beds for them. What resorts should I be looking at that would sleep 5? We normally would do a family suite at AoA or joining rooms at Pop if we were at Disney.
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We stayed at Hard Rock with 3 beds. One was a sofa pull out but DD said it was comfortable. The room was very spacious. We justified the price because of Express Unlimited. We didn’t use the pool area as it was February and cold. This was several years ago. The location to parks was great!
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All the value hotels have adjoining rooms that you can request and the Premier hotels have suites.
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Thanks so much!!
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Family Suites at Dockside and Surfside have 3 real beds, including one in a room with a door. Family suites at Cabana Bay have 2 real beds and a pull out, I believe. There is a two bedroom suite at Cabana Bay also. We moved from a suite at AoA to a suite at Dockside. I also like that there was a table to eat in the room and a small fridge and microwave similarly to AoA. The biggest thing you might miss from AoA if you do a suite is probably having only one bathroom.
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The Surfside Inn and its partner have the suites. They have three total beds and bonus mom and dad get their own room. But for your other child whom I’m assuming is younger maybe they would do a rollaway? Or can that kid sleep with their older sibling?
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If you want four separate beds this room at Cabana Bay would be a good bet as the couch is a bed:
Also when I travelled with my kids and my mother in law and parents we got what truly is just a connecting room but they sell it like a suite.
So if you want the “free” express passes this is a good bet if the money isn’t a showstopper. We were of course splitting it with our parents so it was a good deal for us. But in this sitch you could put the teens in the one room with two queens, the little on the couch bed in the King Suite and mom and pop get the King but just a note that it’s behind a wall but open so if you want a door this doesn’t give you that.
*You can probably also do one of the kids suites at any of the premier resorts and add a rollaway for little if your teens are okay sleeping in the same room in twins. They have Jurassic Park rooms, Despicable me, etc. We did this once with our kids in Hard Rock but we only have two kiddos so didn’t need the rollaway but I know they offer them in premier resorts.
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Thanks for all that info! Pictures really help me narrow things down. Thanks again for the time!!
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Our teens really liked the Aventura Kids Suite. Some benefits are: view of the parks, water taxi close by, smaller hotel without crowds, very good food court. There are dividers and a sofabed.
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We loved the family suite at Cabana Bay. 2 beds, pull-out couch, and kitchen area. The 2 BR suites are nicer, but much more expensive. The Endless Summer resorts are a bit cheaper than Cabana Bay, but not in walking distance of USF and IOA. Cabana Bay also has 2 nice pool areas and is right next to Volcano Bay.
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We have been in contact with our TA. I have a quote for Portofino Bay $5,015 and Endless Summer $3,200. And I’m assuming we will still need to buy the park tickets at a later date?
We would need to rent a roll away for Portofino, adding an extra $105. But, better than the cost of a second room.
Dates - June 1-4, 2026.
3 park days
UO, IOA, and Epic
DH, Myself, Bonus DS will be 17, DD will be 15.
We want EP to make sure we can hit as much as possible.
I am so out of my element with UO.
TA has suggested as things get closer we can look into the possibility of an AP helping on discounts.
Do I book Portofino and guarantee EP or go with Endless Summer and hope EP isn’t $200+ per person during that week?
UXP is regularly priced in the $150 - $200 + per person range. I don’t think you’ll see a drop in price.
If you aren’t going on the PEAK of summer, like late June - mid August then you really don’t need UXP.
The Express Passes aren’t like Disney. Only a tiny fraction of people at UOR will have them. The regular standby waits aren’t as affected by UXP.
By making the pass prohibitively expensive for most people it doesn’t get oversold.
I have never stayed at a premiere hotel. I think UXP is great, but you don’t “need” it at UOR.
Hope that helps!
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Unless I misread something, for three nights I would sure hope that includes your park tickets!
I have emailed for clarification. I’m hoping that is tickets included, but the email wording made me think tickets were purchased later. It does seem expensive.
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I did a suite at Portofino (Minions suite) and one at HRH. Minion suite felt like two connected bedrooms, but liked the hotel better than HRH. Suite there was pretty nice though. Royal Pacific nice too but stayed in a small room there. I like to stay where I get the express pass and are on the boat path. Sapphire Falls was very nice too with a boat stop, but no express pass.
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It’s a great hotel, but the price is too high for me. The water taxi is a great amenity, but not worth the extra cost. I prefer to stay at Aventura. It’s a wonderful hotel and shares the same parking lot. I walk over to the water taxi. Plus, you get to do the private security screening at the boat instead of the main CityWalk entrance!
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That’s true - you get the Adventure crowd at the Sapphire Falls boat line. It’s been a few years but I had a 1-bedroom at Sapphire that I thought was reasonable (albeit still expensive comparatively speaking against most hotels). But once I added in the price of the express pass, it really didn’t amount to any savings vs the deluxe places.
The express pass is kind of a must-have for me.
Interestingly, I’m doing two days in UO/IOA next month (with a day in EU), but not staying at one of their resorts. For the two days in UO/IOA it was cheaper to get a room for a night at Royal Pacific to get the express passes for the two days then it was to buy the tickets and add on the express pass for two days. So we’ll make good use of the room…
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That makes sense!
For the same amount I like to get a Seasonal Pass and go multiple times throughout the year staying at Aventura or a value hotel instead. 
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