AoA - Large fam of 6 with two teens - Too tight?

[wendow]

Hey all!

We are a family of 6. We've typically stayed on the monorail and gone back to the room mid-day for breaks. Now, we are all grown out of naps so we are venturing further out. We are currently booked at SSR in a 2-bed villa. BUT we could save a bit of money by staying at AoA instead.

Kids are 17, 14, 8 & 6. My 17yo has trouble sleeping in a bed with others (she has a chronic illness which has her tossing and turning a lot in pain). One option would be to take a blowup mattress for our youngest so our oldest could have her own bed. Is there room for that anywhere?

We also travel with a lot of luggage. How is the space for luggage storage? Are there good options for six people to unpack and store clothes outside of the suitcase?

What about a place for a wheelchair and stroller? We will have both.

Thanks for any help! I appreciate it

 

[goofyintoronto]

Hey all!

We are a family of 6. We've typically stayed on the monorail and gone back to the room mid-day for breaks. Now, we are all grown out of naps so we are venturing further out. We are currently booked at SSR in a 2-bed villa. BUT we could save a bit of money by staying at AoA instead.

Kids are 17, 14, 8 & 6. My 17yo has trouble sleeping in a bed with others (she has a chronic illness which has her tossing and turning a lot in pain). One option would be to take a blowup mattress for our youngest so our oldest could have her own bed. Is there room for that anywhere?

We also travel with a lot of luggage. How is the space for luggage storage? Are there good options for six people to unpack and store clothes outside of the suitcase?

What about a place for a wheelchair and stroller? We will have both.

Thanks for any help! I appreciate it

Bringing a blow up mattress is a good idea. There is sufficient space for that. The two beds in the main room are doubles, not queen. So an air mattress is a good idea since one of your kids likes to sleep alone. But during the day you might want to lean it up against the wall to give room to walk around.

For storing luggage, you should be ok. I've seen 5-6 people in a room that had stored their luggage fine. One luggage can stay on the luggage rack. The others can go on the sides of the bed. Or you can store some in the bedroom....there might be more space there since its only two people in that room. You can fit the wheelchair and stroller, you'll just have to get creative.

To answer your question about dressers and unpacking clothes. There is a dresser (with a TV on it) in both the bedroom and the outer room. Here's one photo:

http://**************.net/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/TV-Side-of-Living-Room-Cars-Family-Suite-at-Disneys-Art-of-Animation-Resort-from-**************.net_.jpg

Not sure if thats enough space, but im sure you can make it work.

 

[wendow]

Thank you, @goofyintoronto, that info is helpful!

 

[Hopefully]

I would definitely stay at SSR. A 2 BR gives you much more room, a fully equipped kitchen, a whirlpool tub, a king bed in the Master BR, 2 BRs, and a washer and dryer. There will be more storage and relaxing Space and with the kitchen you can save money, at least on breakfast. AcWasher and Dryer will enable packing less.

 

[maxiesmom]

Does the 17 year old get up a lot at night? There is only one bedroom at AoA, the other beds are in one large open are that has one nook in it for one of the two "beds". If she needs to get up to try and make herself comfortable I would definitely stick with SSR. Make sure she has some space to be without waking anyone else up.

 

[tseitel]

I second the SSR stay. I can't imagine fitting 6 people in an AOA family suite. The 2 bedroom at SSR will give you much more space.

 

[kwdw]

I'm normally a huge advocate for AoA family suites - I think they are awesome. Two baths, three bed choices, the kitchenette - they work for most groups of 5 or 6. You could fit a little one on an air mattress - though I would recommend that in the bedroom vs. the main room. There are two dressers, two closet rods, and a few misc. drawers around the room to store stuff.

You need 4 sleeping areas, space for a ton of luggage, room for everyone to completely unpack, and space for a wheelchair. Not sure why you need space for a stroller, too, given the ages of your kids? NOW - I think AoA might be getting small for you - the 2 bedroom SSR is definitely LOTS bigger.

I think this is a money choice for you. Can you make the AoA suite work? Yes. Will that save you money? Yes.

But - SSR 2 bdrm is SO much bigger in terms of total space...... and it sounds like you might need that.

 

[dancin Disney style]

How much is the savings of staying at AoA? I have a feeling that SSR is the better option for your family but if we are talking a large sum of money as in $1000+ I, personally, would make AoA work.

 

[momjeeps]

I agree with PPs if it's significant savings you could make it work. I completely understand the stroller. Our youngest was 8 when we did WDW the first time and I debated it. It ended up being a very wise choice. Even our 11 year old rode in it some. (She was a small 11 year old though.)

We loved AoA (family of 6 kids ages 8-13) but with slightly older kids, the need of an extra bed and a wheelchair I think you'll prefer the larger space. In fact our first few days we were off property in a 2BD 2BA with the kitchen and washer dryer. We said we would prefer that but for the free dining we had with our onsite.

So my final analysis is yes you could make AoA work. But unless it's huge savings, I'd stick with SSR.

 

[dancin Disney style]

We also had to get a stroller for our, then, 6.5yo. She was miserable before noon on the first day and wanted to leave. Can't remember how we even thought to try a stroller but after that she had the time of her life.

 

[flortlebap]

I looked at a family suite for our family of 6, eldest 14, youngest 11, and thought it would be too small. We decided we'd probably kill each other in that close proximity lol.

We opted for two rooms at YC (they're guaranteed to be interconnecting if there are more kids than adults) which for our dates was cheaper than OKW & SSR. Just another option to consider

 

[maxiesmom]

[QUOTE="flortlebap, post: 58049138, member: 100447"

We opted for two rooms at YC (they're guaranteed to be interconnecting if there are more kids than adults) which for our dates was cheaper than OKW & SSR. Just another option to consider [/QUOTE]

Connecting rooms are never 100% guaranteed. Disney will do what they can, but as they don't block out rooms as they book them, they truly can't guarantee they will have connecting rooms available when people go to check in. There have been posters who did not get them and were told to have the adults split up and one sleep in each room.

The odds are small you won't get them when requested, but by no means is it a true 100% guarantee.

 

[flortlebap]

[QUOTE="flortlebap, post: 58049138, member: 100447"

We opted for two rooms at YC (they're guaranteed to be interconnecting if there are more kids than adults) which for our dates was cheaper than OKW & SSR. Just another option to consider

Connecting rooms are never 100% guaranteed. Disney will do what they can, but as they don't block out rooms as they book them, they truly can't guarantee they will have connecting rooms available when people go to check in. There have been posters who did not get them and were told to have the adults split up and one sleep in each room.

The odds are small you won't get them when requested, but by no means is it a true 100% guarantee.[/QUOTE]

This is my booking for next week. Given that it says guaranteed, I'd be pretty annoyed if that didn't happen!

 

[maxiesmom]

Connecting rooms are never 100% guaranteed. Disney will do what they can, but as they don't block out rooms as they book them, they truly can't guarantee they will have connecting rooms available when people go to check in. There have been posters who did not get them and were told to have the adults split up and one sleep in each room.

The odds are small you won't get them when requested, but by no means is it a true 100% guarantee.

This is my booking for next week. Given that it says guaranteed, I'd be pretty annoyed if that didn't happen![/QUOTE]


I realize they say that. But again, there have been posters who didn't get them. They have no possible way to guarantee them as they don't take them out of inventory when we book our rooms. If you read everything on their site you will see Disney leaves themselves an out. Nothing is guaranteed 100%. Not even that you will end up at the resort you have booked. They cover themselves in case of things such as broken pipes or room that end up destroyed. But it also covers them when they can't give us what we booked.

Twice I have booked a particular room type and been downgraded. Nothing about your resort reservation is 100% guaranteed.

 

[Hopefully]

Connecting rooms are never 100% guaranteed. Disney will do what they can, but as they don't block out rooms as they book them, they truly can't guarantee they will have connecting rooms available when people go to check in. There have been posters who did not get them and were told to have the adults split up and one sleep in each room.

The odds are small you won't get them when requested, but by no means is it a true 100% guarantee.

This is my booking for next week. Given that it says guaranteed, I'd be pretty annoyed if that didn't happen![/QUOTE]

Prepare to possibly be annoyed. Connecting rooms are NEVER guaranteed, no matter who or how they say they are

 

[Kaytie]

We opted for two rooms at YC (they're guaranteed to be interconnecting if there are more kids than adults)

You will probably get connecting rooms, but despite what the confirmation shows, this is not guaranteed. It's 'guaranteed if available.' See the actual, legal Terms and Conditions for your/any reservation.
I never understood the connecting rooms guaranteed if minors outnumber adults thing. While not desirable, multiple adults could split up into multiple non-connecting rooms if necessary, to keep the room reservation contract valid.

 

[wendow]

Hi all, OP here. I am still debating the room choice and we leave in a little over a week. Thanks for all the thoughts. I appreciate every one of them.

Yes, my 17 yo may get up at night but she's quiet and can read with a book light if unable to sleep. She takes some good meds for sleep though and they help. It would be a problem for her if the room walls were thin and there was a lot of outside noise. Can anyone chime in on that aspect of AoA?

The stroller is for my 6yo. He is still kind of a peanut with little legs and even still naps sometimes.

The savings from moving to AoA is just over $1,000 so a good chunk of change.

I have priced out two rooms at several other resorts and nothing is as good of a deal as AoA. Two rooms at YC is actually higher than the two bed at SSR (for us and our dates).

Unfortunately, I agree that connecting rooms are never guaranteed. We stayed at the Poly last year and they could not accommodate our request for connecting rooms. It doesn't happen often from my understanding, but it does happen.

 

[dancin Disney style]

In terms of the noise at AoA it all depends on your neighbours. The majority of the noise you will hear comes from outside along the corridor. There are people that allow their kids to run and scream. OK, we are all excited to be at WDW but, IMO, it's a common courtesy to stay quiet late at night and early in the morning. The noise that you get from the rooms beside you is pretty minimal but again, if you happen to have a family of wild animals next door it could be a little loud. I always request a top floor room which helps with the noise and I also ask for a quiet location, away from the elevator.

Realistically, you can have bad neighbours at any resort. It really is luck of the draw. Over the years we have only had 2 or 3 really bad ones. Probably the worst was at POP. One family, that didn't know how to speak nicely to one another and did nothing but yell. They would go in and out of the room multiple times and slam their door repeatedly. They would come back to the room after midnight and get up in the morning before 6am. LOL....the third morning of this my DH got up to use the washroom and tripped over his own feet. He put his hand up to stop from falling and banged into the connecting door. We never heard the neighbours again after that.

 

[Nancyg56]

I looked at a family suite for our family of 6, eldest 14, youngest 11, and thought it would be too small. We decided we'd probably kill each other in that close proximity lol.

We opted for two rooms at YC (they're guaranteed to be interconnecting if there are more kids than adults) which for our dates was cheaper than OKW & SSR. Just another option to consider

They are not guaranteed. If you read all the fine print you will see there is an out if they cannot place your family in connecting rooms. It is rare, but it happens, and Disney always wins.

 

[Miffy]

The soundproofing between rooms and between the room and the corridor is not as good (to say the least) at the Values as it is at the Mods and Deluxes. It just isn't. If noise is an issue for you, stick with SSR. This from someone who once spent 5 sleepless nights at one of the All Stars. Never again!