Input Appreciated!

[bethymouse]

I say wait a while and save some more money to truly enjoy the experience! Being dishonest will always catch up to you.

 

[Travelitis]

I say wait a while and save some more money to truly enjoy the experience! Being dishonest will always catch up to you.

As they wait and save money, the price is going to go up, because the free 2 year old will turn 3.

Look, whether you obey the room capacity or not is YOUR business. As a frequent on site guest, I don't believe if you have your family in a value room it will affect anyone else or that Mousekeeping will know/care. A suitcase count or a pillow count won't tell you how many people there are, and they are too busy to waste time playing detective unless you are making their lives miserable by trashing the place. The only values with family suites are Art of Animation and All Star Music, and these give you microwaves and mini-kitchen areas so you could save money on food and offset the extra price of the room. I've stayed in all the values except AofA, and I can visualize how you would make it work, BUT I urge you to reconsider. We have been going (actually coming, since I am at AKL right now) to Disney with our family of 5 since they were toddlers (the baby is now 14). We were faced with the same budget constraints, so we went off site to Westgate Lakes timeshare, stayed for a week, and went on a tour to get a reduced rate. Having a full kitchen, space to spread out, full washer/dryer, easy access to Walmart/grocery, a short drive to Disney that allowed us to take a mid-day break, AND a budget-friendly rate sold us on off site while the kids we growing up. Sometimes we began our trip with a night at a Disney resort, and leaving for the space of a condo was NOT disappointing to my kids. The only downside is now they don't want regular hotel rooms. So do look at rental homes, condos, and timeshares and reconsider cramming into a value. The money you save on food with a full kitchen could take your kiddos to a character meal, and that has more magic than 6 in a tiny value room.

Like I said, I don't care what you do. I think you'll have a more relaxing trip in a condo where your hubby and you can set the kids up with a Disney movie in the living room in their jammies and close the bedroom door to get a few moments of privacy, peace and quiet after a day at the parks.

 

[emcclay]

As they wait and save money, the price is going to go up, because the free 2 year old will turn 3.

Look, whether you obey the room capacity or not is YOUR business. As a frequent on site guest, I don't believe if you have your family in a value room it will affect anyone else or that Mousekeeping will know/care. A suitcase count or a pillow count won't tell you how many people there are, and they are too busy to waste time playing detective unless you are making their lives miserable by trashing the place. The only values with family suites are Art of Animation and All Star Music, and these give you microwaves and mini-kitchen areas so you could save money on food and offset the extra price of the room. I've stayed in all the values except AofA, and I can visualize how you would make it work, BUT I urge you to reconsider. We have been going (actually coming, since I am at AKL right now) to Disney with our family of 5 since they were toddlers (the baby is now 14). We were faced with the same budget constraints, so we went off site to Westgate Lakes timeshare, stayed for a week, and went on a tour to get a reduced rate. Having a full kitchen, space to spread out, full washer/dryer, easy access to Walmart/grocery, a short drive to Disney that allowed us to take a mid-day break, AND a budget-friendly rate sold us on off site while the kids we growing up. Sometimes we began our trip with a night at a Disney resort, and leaving for the space of a condo was NOT disappointing to my kids. The only downside is now they don't want regular hotel rooms. So do look at rental homes, condos, and timeshares and reconsider cramming into a value. The money you save on food with a full kitchen could take your kiddos to a character meal, and that has more magic than 6 in a tiny value room.

Like I said, I don't care what you do. I think you'll have a more relaxing trip in a condo where your hubby and you can set the kids up with a Disney movie in the living room in their jammies and close the bedroom door to get a few moments of privacy, peace and quiet after a day at the parks.

The price will rise for everyone. When was the last time prices did not increase on a yearly basis?

If you can't afford a suite, stay off-site.

 

[JIMINYCR]

I do get indignant when people know they are doing something wrong, and yet ask about doing it anyway.

SIGH, too many people miss the point.

Too many never were taught morality.

 

[bethymouse]

If you can't afford a suite, stay off-site.
I agree completely! I just can't see it being morally correct or "fair" that people "abuse" the rules. That'spart of the reason why prices go up and those of us who follow the "rules" have to suffer for those who don't.

 

[Leilani Michelle]

An honest answer to this question is YES you can actually get away with not having to pay hundreds of dollars more by upgrading the room to fit one extra person in the room. Odds are you won't be spending much time in the room anyways so here are some tips to ensure you don't get caught. You can bring a blow up mattress to sleep this extra person. You can hang the Do Not Disturb sign on the door to make sure a nosy housekeeper doesn't come in during your stay. They will change out towels if you set them outside the door. When leaving the room have one adult take a few kids and the other adult take the others. Always keeping your family count below 4 when walking past housekeepers or any other staff. Now that they have MagicBands you can purchase these for park admission at Disney Springs and have it all linked to any Disney app FastPasses or reservations you made. You don't have to show anything to get on the shuttles so you will be fine if you follow these simple steps. I'm not here to question if it's right or pass judgement because Disney is expensive and they have no qualms about squeezing every dime from you so why not make the most of your trip and spend the least.

 

[thomas998]

The cheapest is $1000 more. =*( Thank you for your input though.

I have to ask how much have they quoted you for a room for your 8 days because unless Disney has made you some crazy cheap offer there is no way you can't find cheaper rooms offsite. I have to put a value on the perks such as being able to book my fastpass sooner and other things in order to justify staying onsite and if I was to be honest with myself I probably couldn't ever rationalize staying onsite with any tangible measures.

Normal prices for the values will be about 90/night... but I can find room as cheap as 40/night for econo lodge or 50/night for howard johnson.... So I'm not sure how you are looking for rooms but you can find some pretty cheap hotels if that is your goal.

 

[thomas998]

Each person that rides DME gets a little pass or coupon. They scan it before they allow you on the bus. Each person that gets on a bus has to have a coupon. And you can't get a coupon unless you are listed on a Disney resort reservation.

I do get indignant when people know they are doing something wrong, and yet ask about doing it anyway. If you have to pay for another room because you have too many people to fit honestly into one room, then you get another room. It isn't for anyone to decide if they like that rule or not. Just as it isn't left of us to decide if we want to pay to go into the parks or not. Disney's resorts, their rules. Don't like them, vacation elsewhere.

Disney won't turn a blind eye to people stuffing extra guests into their rooms. At some point they would be caught, and at the minimum fined heavily. And I'm sure none of us would like to have to pay even more for our vacations to cover that cost! At worst, the resort in question would be closed. Not to mention, can you imagine the hey day the media would have if it got out that Disney allowed people to put extra guests into their rooms? They would go on and on about how Disney cared more about having people spend money on-site than they did about their health and well being. It wouldn't be pretty.

Actually they can't fine you... that would be if you broke a law that the state has that the state could fine you. Put too many people in your hotel room and the worst case scenario if they find out is they kick you out of the hotel... Which depending on the time of year could be a problem as their might not be any other places conveniently located.

 

[Goofyernmost]

OMG... just stay off-site. You'll have enough money left over to buy a car. (kidding of course) However, you can avoid all this fear and consequence, save a ton of money and believe me you will not have missed one single thing that is worth worrying about. After 33 years and 45 trips to WDW, I have stayed onsite only once and I will never do it again. I miss nothing, I save money and I have a great time. If you forced me to stay onsite for 8 nights they would either have to take me out in a padded wagon or they would be arresting me for looking for very large mouse traps.

 

[Shane7694]

Haha.. This thread was 4 years old..

 

[BuddyThomas]

I knew when I saw a thread two pages long with a generic title like "Input Appreciated", there must be some grand battle brewing in here.

One thought. Is it possible to leave the infant at home with a trusted family member? Baby's not going to remember it anyway.

Anyway, whatever you do, have a great trip!

 

[BuddyThomas]

Haha.. This thread was 4 years old..

Oh geez, you're right. Who dredged this thing up? The infant is now 4 and the 2 year old is 6. I wonder if they went.

 

[Nemo14]

An honest answer to this question is YES you can actually get away with not having to pay hundreds of dollars more by upgrading the room to fit one extra person in the room. Odds are you won't be spending much time in the room anyways so here are some tips to ensure you don't get caught. You can bring a blow up mattress to sleep this extra person. You can hang the Do Not Disturb sign on the door to make sure a nosy housekeeper doesn't come in during your stay. They will change out towels if you set them outside the door. When leaving the room have one adult take a few kids and the other adult take the others. Always keeping your family count below 4 when walking past housekeepers or any other staff. Now that they have MagicBands you can purchase these for park admission at Disney Springs and have it all linked to any Disney app FastPasses or reservations you made. You don't have to show anything to get on the shuttles so you will be fine if you follow these simple steps. I'm not here to question if it's right or pass judgement because Disney is expensive and they have no qualms about squeezing every dime from you so why not make the most of your trip and spend the least.

Do you realize this thread is over 3 years old ? I'm sure the OP has taken that trip by now.

 

[KristiGate]

Me again! The terrible OP who wondered about "sneaking" a baby into our room... We are planning another trip and I just signed into this forum and found this old post. Anyway... yes, I asked this question and apparently came across as a horrible, dishonest human being. As someone above wondered, we did go on the trip in Jan/Feb 2013 and ended up staying in a family suite at AoA. We added a fifth child to our family and went back again staying in AoA in Sep. 2014 (7th occupant was a baby... so was legit), We added twins to our family this year and have now outgrown our new favorite spot... family suites at AoA with 2 adults, and will be children that are 17, 10, 7, 5, 3 and 17 month old twins when we travel next. Sad!

Anyway, after reading this and feeling super guilty for even asking this, I wanted to clarify that I am an honest person and do have a conscience and we did not cheat the system.

 

[Darth Figment]

Who cares if you add a free baby to a room . People are mad at dinning plan, people are mad at ride changes, half the people on here have been dishonest at one time or more in their life. Good luck have fun .