5 traveling, need accommodations
 

My husband, my two children, my niece, and I are traveling to Disney World. We were planning on staying at the all-star resort, but all of the accommodations state up to 4 guests. Do they really abide by this rule?

I've stayed in the All Star Music and I think it may be impossible to FIT 5 people in a room.

Do yourself a favor, get two ajoining rooms. You'll have two bathrooms and save your sanity.

Four in a room is the Fire Code Limit. You can have five but the fifth must be in a crib.

Please trust me on this, get two rooms. The rooms at the All Star Resorts are tiny and the beds are doubles not queen size.

You can get all sorts of accomodations in Orlando, from very high-end to very inexpensive. I agree with GoT (isn't she always right?!?) that 2 rooms is what you need -- put the niece and the 2 children in one and you and hubbie have the other. latonya, this is a great opportunity for a 2nd honeymoon. Doh!

Ah yes, of course! EVERYBODY can afford two rooms! Why didn't latonya think of that herself!!

We once stayed at the Holiday Inn Sunspree near Disney. It had a double bed plus two bunk beds (with a 3/4 wall between the adults and kids). That may be a better fit for you. Plus you get a little fridge and microwave.

tracy: Your sarcasm is misdirected. The All-Star resort has a four person per room limit for a reason-- Fire Code. The OP has five people to lodge. Either they get two rooms at the All-Star, or they find another hotel. Simple.

Like this has NEVER come up with the All-Star.... latonya, call the hotel and see if they can swing a deal for two adjoining rooms. Otherwise, ask if they can suggest another property. You may luck out.

I got the the All Star Music a couple of months ago for $49 per night using a code I found on Mousesavers.com.

How about a house or apartment with two bedrooms and all furnished. There are lots in Orlando for short rentals, think 4 night minimum.

What about an Embassy Suites hotel? There must be one nearby. There are a ton of hotels. It is very easy to stay off property and still be close to everything. Look at downtown disney area. they offer free shuttles and there are probably some suite hotels.

miguel, that's not a bad idea at all. I'm guessing, however, that the poster wants to stay on or right at Disney property, so the rentals might be hard to come by.

However, latonya, if you want to look in that direction, vrbo.com might be a good place to start.

There are Disney property hotels that you can have 5 in a room: Contemporary, Polynesian, maybe the Beach and Yacht Clubs. I believe it's only some of the deluxe properties, definitely not the All Stars or even the moderates. It's not a fire code issue; it's a Disney rule, which they are pretty strict about but some people do find ways to cheat.

padams, the 4 in a room is a fire code which Disney enforces.

No, with the smaller rooms at the cheaper properties, I would bet it IS an issue of fire codes. The upper-end hotels have simply larger rooms (I know, we slept five in a Concierge Level room at the Yacht Club several years ago, and it was tight, but not awful).

If it's a fire code rule, then why can you have 5 in a Contemporary room? Is it a square footage (only so many people per square foot) issue?

I had the same issue a year ago and the Port Orleans Riverside and/or the Port Orleans French Quarter had 2 double beds and a couch that had a pull out trundle underneath for the 5th person. That is a bump-up to a moderate resort, but I'm sure cheaper than getting 2 rooms!

padams, sort of.

When a company builds a hotel, in order for them to open for business they must have insurance. Before any insurance company will write a policy on a hotel the local Fire Marshall must inspect and rate a hotel.

Hotels are rated on different criteria such as the time it takes to exit hotel room, time it takes to safely exit hotel, number of sprinklers, number of emergency exits, width of hallways, number alarms, etc.

Hotels are built to specs allowing for the absolute maximum number of people that can safely evacuate a hotel in x amount of time in the event of a fire.

Common sense would tell us that 100 people can exit a building faster than 200 people can exit the exact same building.

All hotels are rated different.

Worst case scenario, a fire breaks out at Fleabag Motel. They have 100 rooms with maximum occupacy at 4 to a room. Insurance company finds out 500 people are staying at the hotel.

Insurance company doesn't have to pay hotel owners. Hotel owners will most definitely face criminal charges for exceeding maximum occupancy.

Does that make sense?

If it were up to Disney, I'm sure they'd like to cram as many people as possible in their hotels.