Restrictions on # people per room

[The Hitchhiking Ghost]

Unfortunately I think I may know the answer to this, but are there specific limits to the number of people (specifically children) allowed in a room? I know I've seen where they say children free and $10 per night for an extra adult. From what I'm seeing, it appears that in general only 4 (2 adults - 2 children) are allowed in a romm. Is that right?

We have 3 DD and they are little peanuts, 3-5-8 and when we go to a Holiday Inn or stay at someone's house or go camping they most often can simply sleep together comfortably in the same bed, if it's a queen.

Is that allowed on Disney properties at the value/moderate resorts (assuming getting only one room). Sort of assume that the Deluxe's allow for more.

Need options. Thanks

[Goofy4TheWorld]

Once your 3rd child turns 3, Disney throws you under the bus as a family of 5. There are no cheap options for staying on Disney property. All Values are limited to 4 people 3 years old and older, all Moderates except a limited number of Port Orleans rooms are limited to 4, and of course that only leaves you with $ Deluxe $ or Cabins.

I feel sorry for families of 5 because there is no great answer to your dilemma. The number one reason I would consider off-site hotels was if I had 3 kids (which I may well have one of these days).

There will be others who will post the particulars on what your options are, and some will even defend Disney for their occupancy rules (or blame it all on the Fire Marshall) so you will get more details shortly. But for me, it just makes me :mad:

[mdhiggin]

We were becoming regulars at POR for just this reason. They have a little trundle for a fifth little one. We recently joined DVC, and this has opened up a lot more options for 5. Loving it!

[disneymom15]

I think you can do All Star Music family suites. Also, Port Orleans Riverside has some rooms for 5 people.

[TammiMcMan]

There will be others who will post the particulars on what your options are, and some will even defend Disney for their occupancy rules (or blame it all on the Fire Marshall) so you will get more details shortly. But for me, it just makes me :mad:I have a family of 5 too and I think most agree that the accommodation choices are pretty limited. Usually, the argument about fire codes, etc. comes up when discussion turns to sneaking in additional guests. As that's not allowed on this message board though, the responses should be pretty safe ;) .

[BigRedDad]

There are MANY options available to families of 5. Disney is not doing anything to prevent having 5 people. That is the Fire Marshal. Unfortunately, some of the options for 5 are expensive: Moderates, Family Suites, Deluxe, 2 Value rooms. You can go for $40-$50 a night if you camp. This is half the price of a single Value resort. If you get more people you can put up to 10-12 people I think. If you get another family to go, it makes it that much cheaper. Otherwise, you are left looking offsite.

[Polynesian Dweller]

Remember, the limits are due to fire codes, not the number who can physically fit in the room. Fire codes are based on how many people can be evacuated from an area (areas are generally several rooms to the exit stairway) within a specified period of time. There is variation from jurisdiction to jurisdiction.

[TammiMcMan]

Oops, looks like I spoke too soon :D . Builders and designers know the fire code restrictions prior to digging the first foundation. It was Disney's choice to stay within the egress limits for a 4 person unit. They didn't build them and then find out they could only put a maximum of 4 guests in each room ;). It was a financial decision that they made at the time. I can't remember the exact timing of the values being built, but many years ago, weren't there only a few deluxes for resort choices? Probably made it very restrictive for many families, regardless of size to afford staying on site.

Yes there are plenty of choices for 5, but other than camping, none are as affordable as what's offered to families of 4. A family of 5 really shouldn't be relegated to having to stay offsite. Not a complaint, just stating it as more of a fact. POR's trundle bed is a great option if you're child is under 10 and with more family suites coming and hopefully being included in discount packages, those are all steps in the right direction. It's just taken them a little while to catch up.

[faline]

Oops, looks like I spoke too soon :D . Builders and designers know the fire code restrictions prior to digging the first foundation. It was Disney's choice to stay within the egress limits for a 4 person unit. They didn't build them and then find out they could only put a maximum of 4 guests in each room ;). It was a financial decision that they made at the time.

These decisions may also have been made on demographics. For a long time, the average size of families was decreasing and many families were not having 3 or 4 children.

[TammiMcMan]

Very good point Linda. We know how much Disney likes their survey's and research. At the time, it probably made much better business sense to save on costs and meet the needs of smaller families. Considering on average, we see very few threads about families with more than 4 people. It's a challenge when you have 3 or more children, I know. I'm one of 6 kids and we camped alot :D. I have 3 of my own and even have run into problems booking a standard room at a regular hotel chain. Sometimes we just need to be a little more creative, or give up some of the extra's.

[BigRedDad]

Don't get my statement entirely wrong. Disney full well knew what they were doing. I am sure at the time, families were still 4.5. They definitely knew the numbers going in by not allowing 5 to a room they can make more money on the resorts. Disney has a team of Actuarialists that crunch numbers to determine what decision have the best benefit to the Walt Disney Company. This same team crunches numbers with supercomputers for room discounts, free dining, perks, etc to determine the best way for the Mouse to squeeze money out of your wallet.

Example: The typical sit down meal at WDW probably has a cost of about $4 per person. By "giving it away for free dining", they are only giving up $4 and charging rack rates for the room (Example purpose only $180 vs $140 at a Moderate). For a family of 4, this is still a $24 per day benefit to the Disney Company. This same team spends countless hours on how cruddy they can make the experience before the graph starts to curve down.

It is all a numbers game.

[Goofy4TheWorld]

Oops, looks like I spoke too soon :D . Builders and designers know the fire code restrictions prior to digging the first foundation. It was Disney's choice to stay within the egress limits for a 4 person unit. They didn't build them and then find out they could only put a maximum of 4 guests in each room ;). It was a financial decision that they made at the time. I can't remember the exact timing of the values being built, but many years ago, weren't there only a few deluxes for resort choices? Probably made it very restrictive for many families, regardless of size to afford staying on site.

Yes there are plenty of choices for 5, but other than camping, none are as affordable as what's offered to families of 4. A family of 5 really shouldn't be relegated to having to stay offsite. Not a complaint, just stating it as more of a fact. POR's trundle bed is a great option if you're child is under 10 and with more family suites coming and hopefully being included in discount packages, those are all steps in the right direction. It's just taken them a little while to catch up.

I think that sums it up perfectly. It's not that the Fire Marshall is enforcing rules on Disney that they don't off-site, it's that Disney isn't stupid and knew exactly what they were doing when they made sure the footage of the rooms, hallways, and stairways were just a tad too small to accommodate 5 people.

[The Hitchhiking Ghost]

Thanks everyone. This has been a big help. It's unofortunately what I had thought it might be.

I think I'll be emailing MJ this morning to see what options are available. I think we are going to bump up our 2011 trip to 2010 with these discounts that are out, if we can find a date/resort that works. Originally never thought I'd go back to the DDP again, especially after the changes a couple years ago, but just realized that now having 5 people that even doing just counter service it's still a minimum of $40 per meal, so with 2 snacks and 2 meals we'd be saving a $100 a day (minimum) which unless we go Polynesian and get 40% off is the best deal for us (compared to room discount or prepaid disney card).

Hopefully we can get something to work.

[afowl1017]

Good Luck! Hope you find the right fit for you and your family. I know the frustration too. We have 2 adults, 3 children (9,4,and 3) and a baby traveling this year and it was a real challenge.

First we booked with ASMu for the family suite, using the kids stay and play for free deal (which was cheaper than the free dining!). After much discussion between me and my husband we decided to save a few more $$$ and book with POR Riverside! I am a little nervous about the size, being cramped, and noise level (other kids, showers, ect.) with the baby trying to sleep, but we figured we will all be so tuckered out nothing will wake the baby or the kids :fingers:

[Polynesian Dweller]

The older a hotel is the less sure one can be that the current restrictions were known at the time of building. Fire codes do and have changed over the years with changes in the scientific understanding of how fires propagate.

In our hotel here the allowed occupancy went down for an older section several years ago. That was due to the fire codes changing requiring a slightly wider cooridor. It made sense and was based on better understanding of the flows of toxic gasses in a fire.

My point is that without knowing the codes of the day we can't be certain if Disney made a conscious choice or not based on current occupancy.

[TammiMcMan]

Not a hotel, but we have a building that recently did not meed the most up to date code, so I completely understand what you're saying. Of course that building is 60 or 70 years old.

Pop Century is less than 10 years old and since they were built, the values have always had a 4 person limit. My guess is that those particular fire code restrictions were in place then. Not faulting Disney, they were probably able to build more units, because they stayed within those limitations. Just an interesting discussion all around.

[irish1967]

Don't know what the price was in comparison, but we were very comfortable in a Fort Wilderness Cabin with 5 people (3 adults, 2 children.)

The bedroom had a queen (maybe full?) size bed and twin bunk beds. The living room had a very comfortable murphy bed.

With a full kitchen, we were able to save significantly by having breakfast in the cabin each day.

[KylesMom]

The bedroom had a queen (maybe full?) size bed and twin bunk beds. The living room had a very comfortable murphy bed. Just to clarify, the FtW cabins have a full-size bed - not a queen in conjunction with the bunk bed in the bedroom. I concur that the murphy bed is quite comfortable.

Just a kudo to them all - God Bless the Fire Marshals who keep us safe! :thumbsup: We had a scary moment in of all places the HM this trip where people were smoking in the attraction. Never in my whole life was I so glad to know that certain requirements had to be met in HM = due in large part to their efforts over the years!