Insisting on staying a hotel when we go to Disney World. Sister wants a holiday rental

[Moru]

My sister and I are best friends. We have young children who are similar ages. We are taking them to Disney World as a very special holiday next year. But we are sort of at an impasse. I do t want to stay in a holiday let as I can’t be arsed to sort out meals and don’t want to tidy up. Our husbands are hands on but it just seems too much. Sister thinks it would be more fun and easier to stay in a holiday let. She doesn’t want to eat out for every meal. I also know I will miss simpler, home cooked meals on day 7 but we can find work arounds ie making salads/sandwiches. I prefer the idea of hotel which is so much less hassle. Sister says she will find it claustrophobic. The hotels are family rooms with suites. We would get separate rooms. We could also play socialising in the evenings by ear. Spend time together and have a drink when we felt like it. Spend time away from each other if we are exhausted for e.g.

Who has the right idea?

I want a break too. I don’t want to even have to think about meals after 8 hours in the park.

Your own place when you have children is much easier than being in a hotel room but that’s just my personal preference.

There are obviously pluses and minuses for both hotels and self-catering. But with such young children I think I would be tempted to rent a condo/villa. That will involve either renting a car or utilizing Ubers, and the associated costs, but it gives you so much more flexibility. It doesn't mean that you have to cook and eat every meal at "home", but even if you just have breakfast at home it's much easier than going out for breakfast. You can have dinner out, get a takeaway, or get something simple to prepare from the supermarket. Buy snacks and drinks, and the grown ups can all hang out together comfortably while the kids are asleep in the evenings.

There also isn't much more cleaning that you'll have to do than you would in a hotel. You'll probably have to run the dishwasher before you leave, take out the garbage, and maybe start a load of towels in the washing machine, but I've never been anywhere that requires more than that. Not much of a hardship.

(And now that I've said that, having a washer and dryer is a huge plus, especially with young kids!)

Disney have just upped their parking fees again if you were planning to drive from a villa. We’d originally planned to split our trip between a hotel and villa, then changed it to a hotel and apart-hotel and in the end we did one night in the apartment-hotel and went back to the original hotel. We stayed at the holiday inn at Disney springs,and there are a few others around, some of which maybe have kitchenettes, I’m not sure. For us it was a good balance, early entry perks without the price of a Disney resort and close to plenty of off Disney dining options (as well as those at Disney springs)

I’m going to be controversial and suggest you wait a few years until the youngest DC are more able to cope with days/evenings in the parks.

And I’m Team Disney Bubble, at least for the park days. If you can get ‘free dining’ so much the better, but actually kids meals are pretty decent and adult portions are large enough to share. Lookk up Disney Food Blog for menus - it’s not all burgers and fries. Check prices for the accommodation and cost to upgrade to the next plan up, as a previous poster suggested.

For a party of five your room choices are more limited. Port Orleans Riverside is lovely and has lots of small pools within the accommodation blocks so easier to pop back and forth from the room. Old Key West has apartments, and Animal Kingdom Lodge has studio rooms (although check if they sleep 5). The ‘Skyliner’ resorts are my favourite location for ease of travel. Also look at renting DVC points. I wouldn’t advise it with young DC but we love a split stay - 2 nights at All Stars to acclimatise, 3-4 nights DVC / Deluxe to get the late evening park entry, then finish off at Pop Century for Skyliner access.

PS supermarket food prices are extortionate, and I only stock up on snacks, fruit, cereal bars, beers and cases of water.

We’ve been 3 times and stayed in a villa for 2 weeks, then we went to the beach and stayed in hotel. We didn’t like to go to the theme parks every day, so it was nice to have a day in with a house with a pool, we either had breakfast out or dinner. Can you do a combination of hotel and house.

I’d want a villa 100% with small kids. You don’t have to cook in any of them. We just buy snacks and eat out/takeaway.

Hotels with kids are too cramped.

I agree about the supermarket costs, it really want much more expensive to eat out.

I would go for villa. Yes the hotel is convenient but 5 people squished into a room isnt much fun. Which Disney hotels have you found that are a suite? I only found one hotel that offered this option and it was super expensive compared to the rest (although my criteria around distance was quite restrictive so it’s possible there are more further out).

I’d recommend Margaritaville if you’re thinking of a hotel option. Free transport to Disney etc, and access to Sunset Walk. Loads of lovely restaurants within easy walking distance of the hotel. I’ve heard good things about Villatel too .

It's true that supermarket costs here in Florida are much more expensive than in the UK. I'm always stunned by how cheap everything is in supermarkets in the UK. So you'll often not save much money by cooking meals in rather than eating out, especially if you are eating at basic places like Applebees or Chillis. Having said that, I still think the convenience of having food available in your accommodation is worth it. And buying alcohol from the store will definitely be cheaper than in a restaurant (if that's an important part of a holiday for you as it is for me!).

I cam see your sisters point. You can sit in the garden having glass of wine while kids play.

We got a huge villa with a pool - great for the kids after a day in the park - all the adults enjoyed a glass of wine in peace.

How old are your sisters kids?

Either way nothing about Disney with 5,4,2yo sounds relaxing. I'd wait til they're older.

Those are young ages to go… we also spent a week in another place on a beach, which was fantastic. No way we could have done a whole 2 weeks IN Disney… week of Disney, week in a villa in coast, and one of the highlights of the whole trip was actually going to NASA so not even Disney. The kids LOVED seeing a real Space shuttle.

The cost of food and drinks in Disney parks was EXTORTIONATE so make sure you try to take snacks, water etc.

Could you split the stay? We have done one week in an apartment on International Drive and a week in a Universal Hotel before (kids are older and we were doing Universal rather than Disney on that trip). It worked well for us meaning we had some time being handy for parks but also some time were we could do our own breakfasts and eat in restaurants outside the (expensive) theme park bubble. May be a good compromise for you!

With little children I would stay in a villa with a pool and a maid. You won’t want to spend all day every day in the parks and having a refuge just for your family will be a godsend. Take out, eat out and sandwiches!

I’ve been to Florida twice and with young children I’d choose a villa with a pool. The parks are full on and tiring , I’d personally prefer some time away from them to chill. I have done family rooms, ok for a night or two but not for a fortnight.

I would also advise waiting until
your children are much older to appreciate it

Have a look at something like The Grove - large apartments with kitchens but also plenty of restaurants on site plus waterpark, loads of pools etc

kids that age id definitely want a kitchen for snacks, sandwiches etc and takeaways when knackered but you still want room service and restaurants to have a holiday feel

I’d vote holiday home because you will have more space and a living area for the adults when the kids are in bed, you can probably get one with a private pool too. You can always order takeaway or eat out every day if you don’t want to cook but it will be handy to be able to make breakfasts and sandwiches in your own kitchen.

we have just come back from orlando with ds12 and ds2. We stayed on drive by seaworld in a hotel which had 2 bedroom suites. We had uber eats most nights as we were too tired and the little one was having enough meltdowns during the day. In hindsight, I wish we had stayed in disney property with dining plan and done 2 days in universal. We plan to go back in 2027/2028 and will be doing this.

I don't think there's too much concern around being cramped in a Disney hotel room in the evening while toddlers sleep. Everyone will crash out at the same time every night after park days!

We had 5 of us at Riverside and I had the hairdryer on full with three children sleeping at 11pm 😂

With kids at the ages you listed I’d opt for Disney hotel and make use of early entry. We went when mine was 3, then 4, and each time we got a lot done during early entry and shortly after. Then had plenty of time for downtime (mine didn’t last most of the day there until 5yr old).
we’d go back in the afternoon for a couple of hours and then rest again. So amenities like pool, etc were very useful. Re eating out I agree- I also struggle with eating out for too long but overall for Disney in particular I find on site stay worth it.

Neithee of you are right or wrong, you just have different preferences. It might be possible to find accommodation that offers both hotel rooms and apartments in the same location (ChatGPT could probably do the work for you).
Personally I prefer an apartment - much more space and flexibility re meals. I certainly couldn’t bear to eat all my meals in the same hotel restaurant so even if I was in a hotel I would want to eat out anyway, which you could do with an apartment too. Making sandwiches or salads is no big deal for me at all, but clearly it is for you. I actually love being able to bung a pizza or chicken in the oven, or quickly fry a steak and eat with a ready made salad and not having the hassle of getting dressed up to go out every night. I am sure there will be lots of delivery options too. Choose accommodation with restaurants, cafes and supermarkets nearby then you can go out to eat if you want while tbe others eat at the apartment. There is a compromise solution in there somewhere, just have a long honest chat about it.