Disney's room occupancy policy (strict or relaxed)

[jake]

I would like to stay at the W/L in a standard room. There is one problem, I have 3 children and my wife (QTY-5) Will Disney give me hard time If I have 5 people in a standard room for 4 people?

Thanks.

[Insanity Clause]

I would actually like to know the answer to this one myself. I will be there with a party of 5 at POR but if they are relaxed in this I would prefer a room for four. My youngest usually ends up in bed with us in the middle of the night anyway so it would just be easier to stay at somewhere where we could get 2 queens like at CBR.

[sisterslovindisney]

Sorry, unless one of your children is 2 or younger you can't get around the occupancy restrictions. I do believe (but I'm not positive) that there are rooms (villas) at WL that accomodate more than 4.
By the way, some rooms at POR Alligator Bayou section allow 5 but I think they have two double beds and a trundle.

[KarenP]

Disney will not allow you to exceed the maximum occupancy in a room. This is due to fire codes.

[Goofy4TheWorld]

Jake,

As said, this is a non-problem if one of your kids are under 3 (well, 2 or 3, not 100% on that), since they do not count toward room occupancy.

IF all kids are over 3, then there are two reasons you can't use a standard room.

1) Disney loves to blame the price gouging they do to families of five on fire codes, so if a room has a max of 4 people, that's all they will allow.

2) A much more practical reason you couldn't do this is extra magic hours at the parks. If you had someone in your room who wasn't listed on the reservation, they would not get a room key, and since you have to show a room key for EACH person to ride any ride at any park during EMH, someone would be without a room key, and thus not allowed to ride.

I am always disgusted by how Disney treats a family of 5. By leaving them only to the most expensive of accommodations on property, they practically force many to stay off-property.

[BigRedDad]

Disney is bound by the fire codes and cannot tell you that you can exceed the number. Intercot doesn't like people talking about policy. However, in my college days, we had 12 in a room at BWI.

[mouseketeer mom]

We're a family of 5, that on other vacations, have asked for a cot for one of the three kids, and we do just fine in one room! We would love to have more choices at Disneyworld for staying onsite. We have stayed at all deluxes and villas. Now my kids would love to try the pirate rooms at CBR. We would be forced to get two rooms. Talk about adding to the cost of an already expensive vacation. Too bad.

[wdwfansince75]

The rules say "4"....and the rules and compliance to them are the first thing your lawyer would cite in a law suit against Disney. Sorry....maybe you can get a grant from the Trial Lawyer's Association to pay for the extra room.

[green ranger]

Jake,

As said, this is a non-problem if one of your kids are under 3 (well, 2 or 3, not 100% on that), since they do not count toward room occupancy.

IF all kids are over 3, then there are two reasons you can't use a standard room.

1) Disney loves to blame the price gouging they do to families of five on fire codes, so if a room has a max of 4 people, that's all they will allow.

2) A much more practical reason you couldn't do this is extra magic hours at the parks. If you had someone in your room who wasn't listed on the reservation, they would not get a room key, and since you have to show a room key for EACH person to ride any ride at any park during EMH, someone would be without a room key, and thus not allowed to ride.

I am always disgusted by how Disney treats a family of 5. By leaving them only to the most expensive of accommodations on property, they practically force many to stay off-property.

We were there in September and we only had to show one room key at the ride entrance for our entire party during all the EMH.

[wmdaddy]

Most of Disney's policies are totally fine. Their room occupancy rules at the resorts is not one of them. Why can 5 people stay in a 314 sq ft room at Port Orleans, but not in a 344 sq ft room at WL?

Not that I'm condoning this, but there's always the option of not telling them about one of the chidlren. How will Disney know?

[Marker]

So, if the policy says the maximum room occupancy is 4, and they ignored their policy and allowed 5, then why not allow 6. And if they allow 6, why not allow 12. Moreover, if they are going to have a policy and not abide by it, then why have the policy at all?

So, with no policy in place, the rooms are now hold 6, 8 or 10 people. Wear and tear on the funishings increases dramatically, yet revenue decreases ( not a good business model ). Soon we're all complaining about the condition of the rooms.

Then we have the noise factor, with more people in each room, the noise level increases. Of course then we'll all be complaining about the noise.

Not to mention the capacity of the pools, the food courts, and the buses.

I'm not even going to touch on the fire codes and insurance restrictions because I really don't know what they are.

We were a family of 5, and never felt we were mistreated. I was well aware of the policy going in, and made my choices accordingly.

There are options for a family of 5 without going to the highest priced properties. You can get a family suite at a value resort, or 2 connecting rooms at a value resort, or a room at Port Orleans Riverside with a trundle bed, or one of the Fort Wilderness Cabins. Yes, it's going to cost more for 5 than 4, it really doesn't seem reasonable, or logical, to expect it to not cost more.

Just because I can't have my own way doesn't mean it's a bad policy. They have to consider the resort as a whole, and all of the guests, not just me.

And as for "how will Disney know", right and wrong are not usually about getting caught. At least that's the lesson I wanted my children to learn.

But that's just my opinion.

[wmdaddy]

I'm simply asking why Disney allows 5 people to share a room at Port Orleans where the rooms are smaller, but only 4 in Wilderness Lodge?

Will the noise factor be different at WL than Port Orleans?

Disney could care less how crowded the resort pools are. If they did, they'd put up a gate and enforce a room key policy.

As for the food courts, again, not something Disney cares about. There are 2,112 rooms at CBR, and not nearly enough food options.

If I honestly felt that Disney was doing this for a reason other than to make money, I wouldn't think twice about it. But to me, on this issue, it's all about the benjamins.

[Tink1]

I have no clue how they decide these things.

One glaring difference between WL and PORS is that WL has inside hallways and therefor an inside evacuation route vs an exterior evacuation route at PORS.

Going back to the days when i had to attend safety conferences for the hospital.....

I remember simple thing like sidewalk/stair/door width for exterior evacuation routes were taken into consideration. There were other factors as well, but since our lab was in a seperate building (stand alone type building) this stuck in my head.

They had to widen the sidewalks, doors and steps when we expanded the staff. Seemed bizarre, because along the sidewalk was grass, but it had to be done.


Nanc

[diz_girl]

I wonder if it's the egress that's different at WL than at POR. WL is all interior corridors, although you can exit a ground floor room through the patio door, while POR has exterior corridors. So when you leave your room at POR you are basically outside of the building, but at WL you are still inside and still have to go down the hall, stairwell, etc. to get outside. I think that's why there is a difference in room occupancy for the fire code. Are the Alligator Bayou rooms on ground floors, or have easy exits? Maybe that's why the can fit 5 in a room. I've never stayed at POR, so I don't know.

Up until 20 years ago, you had little choice if you were a family of 5. If you wanted to stay on property and you couldn't fork over the $$ for the CR, Poly or Disney Inn, you only other option anywhere near the MK was FW, whether you liked to camp or not. At least now you have the options of the Alligator Bayou at POR or the All Star Suites.

For the OP, maybe you could try to rent points from a DVC member whose home resort is VWL. You may need a 2BR unit, which would be more expensive than a standard room, but it's less expensive (in value season) than a Deluxe room at WL. I've heard from some people on other threads that you are allowed 5 in a 1BR at VWL, but I don't know how accurate that is.

[cal5755]

We are a family of 5 and I never felt slighted by the 4 person to a room. If disney lets 5 or 6 or 8 people pile in a room...not only does the wear and tear increase and the noise levels increase but our perks would eventually be gone too. Included in the price our the room is free transportation and the ability to either enter early or stay late at the parks, and lets not forget the free bus ride from the airport and free luggage delivery to our room ...I for one, with 3 kids in tow, love ME. I would much rather pay extra for another room...and keep these perks and get more space then have the hassle of dealing with luggage and pay for rental cars etc, I also enjoy EMH and would hate for them to end.

[Marker]

I have a hard time believing that "Disney could care less" about everything or that their motivation for policies such as this is to aggrivate customers. If that were the case I doubt any of us would be repeat customers.

Also, perhaps the difference with the Port Orleans Riverside rooms with the trundle bed allow 5, is that there is a 5th bed. Perhaps Disney is trying to make an attempt to be accomodating and allow some space for five.

I wonder why we're spending so much thought discussing how it's justified to ignore the rules and policies and do as we please. When I make a choice to stay at a Disney resort, I'm fully aware of the rules and policies in place. If I felt as though I could not abide by these rules and policies, I'd chose to stay somewhere else.

[MNNHFLTX]

Not that I'm condoning this, but there's always the option of not telling them about one of the chidlren. How will Disney know?

Whether Disney would know or not is a moot point, at least on our boards. Our Terms of Service (board rules) do not allow discussion of ways to get around Disney's policies.

I realize that the room occupancy codes are a source of frustration to some larger families. Unfortunately, the answer to original poster's question is that Disney does not allow more than four people (ages three and older) in a standard room at the Wilderness Lodge. As such, I will go ahead and close this thread.