Double-size Beds at Disney World?!
December 22, 2009 7:10 AM   Subscribe

My wife and I want to stay at Disney World (Florida) with our 8-year old granddaughter. I'm almost 6-foot, 5-inches tall and I don't want a double-size bed, which seems to be what Disney wants families to sleep in. While there are rooms with king-size beds, they are only for two people. Our travel agent called them and was told that their Coronado Springs hotel is only one where we can get a room with two queen-size beds. Quite frankly, the Southwestern theme doesn't appeal to us, and we think our young granddaughter won't find it very charming at all. So, we're looking for suggestions or alternatives. We'd like to stay on the Disney property to avoid having to rent a car. Even more important than that, we want to stay at a hotel where we can get to/from the hotel quickly and easily, without having to wait for crowded shuttles or buses.
posted by 14580 to Travel & Transportation (21 answers total) 2 users marked this as a favorite
 
What about finding someone's timeshare online that they're willing to rent out to you for your stay? The ones we looked at there were pretty big, with king-sized beds.
posted by lizbunny at 7:13 AM on December 22, 2009


Tour Guide Mike would know! (By the way, I cannot recommend that service enough. You will get a theme park plan based on your exact days, you will know the moment booking for tickets for shows and restaurants you want to go to opens, you will eat very very well, and you will never ever ever wait on line. Your Disney experience will be head and shoulders above that of the poor hot, sweaty, lined up shmucks around you. Seriously, give him your money.)

But in terms of accommodation, you do not need to rent a car to not stay on property. The last time I went to Disney, we booked into a resort property, checked in, looked at the room and walked right back out again. Instead, we went down the road and stayed at a Radisson or a Holiday Inn or something. Every hotel in the area more or less exists to service the park and they all have very regular shuttle service. Plus it was nice to not be trapped on the resort; there were shops and restaurants around you could get to on foot if you had the inclination. You might look into this option.
posted by DarlingBri at 7:20 AM on December 22, 2009 [9 favorites]


Most hotels will provide an extra air matress or foldable bed in a room for little to no extra charge. Call the hotel and see if they can do this, then book a room with a king size bed and get teh extra matress for your granddaughter.
posted by WeekendJen at 7:22 AM on December 22, 2009


Couldn't you get a room with a king size bed, and a rollaway for your granddaughter?
posted by roomthreeseventeen at 7:23 AM on December 22, 2009 [1 favorite]


there are disney resorts with 2 queen size beds.
posted by majortom1981 at 7:45 AM on December 22, 2009


I don't think that's really the only place with two queen-sized beds; your agent might be mistaken. The Polynesian, for instance, which is ridiculously expensive but also very convenient to the monorail and thus several parks, describes its basic room as:

Standard Room with Garden View

* View of parking area, garden, pool, marina or monorail at Disney's Polynesian Resort
* Additional adult charge of $25 per adult per night for more than 2 adults
* Wheelchair-accessible rooms available
* 2 queen-size beds <> * One day bed
* Small table
* Chair
* Ceiling fan
* Bathroom
* High Speed Internet access (for an additional fee)
* Cable TV, includes Disney programming
* In-room safe
* Voice mail
* Hairdryer
* Iron and ironing board
* Alarm clock
* Coffeemaker
* Refrigerator
* Microwave (on request)
* Pack 'n Play Playard (on request)
* Bed boards (on request)
* Bed rails (on request)
* All rooms are non-smoking

See http://disneyworld.disney.go.com/resorts/polynesian-resort/rates-rooms/. Unless I'm reading that incorrectly. And there are probably others, but it's the best (I've heard) for avoiding the buses, etc.
posted by theredpen at 7:46 AM on December 22, 2009


I highly doubt that only Coronado Springs has the 2 queen beds.

This is a good site with detailed info on all the WDW resorts. They're all listed down the left side. They have FAQs, rates, photos, guest reviews for all. The Boardwalk Inn is described as having " 2 queen beds and a daybed, or a king-size bed and a daybed."

Which brings up the other thing I was going to mention, that a lot of their rooms have daybeds which might be fine enough for your granddaughter. So you might be ok with one king bed and a daybed?
posted by dnash at 8:01 AM on December 22, 2009


Animal Kingdom Resort's standard room comes with two queen beds. This is the only one I checked. Wait, just checked Old Key West Resort. Their standard rooms come with two queen beds as well. I'm betting most of the Disney Resorts in the higher price points come with two queen beds.

Gaylord Palms is a very fun and beautiful resort. It is not a Disney property and you would have to use a shuttle. It's a huge resort but you are kind of isolated, even though it is probably two miles or less from Disney. You might not mind this because the resort has everything and my kids love it. I always have luck getting it for cheap (less than 100 dollars) on Priceline. If you're interested, send me a message, and I'll tell you how I conduct my search.
posted by Fairchild at 8:04 AM on December 22, 2009


Our travel agent called them and was told that their Coronado Springs hotel is only one where we can get a room with two queen-size beds.

This is not true, but it will cost more to get the larger beds. Coronado Springs is the only one of the moderate-price hotels which has two queen beds, all the rest in that price bracket have two doubles. The deluxe hotels AFAIK all have two queen-size beds, and the studios at the villa-type resorts are mostly one queen bed and one foldaway sofa (except Old Key West, which is two queens). You can get all the details of room sizes and layouts here. The daybeds are pretty small, and I'm not sure an 8-year-old would be comfortable on them.

Most of the Disney hotels will use bus transportation to the parks, but it is generally pleasant and reliable, although crowded at park closing time. The exceptions are the monorail hotels (Contemporary, Polynesian, Grand Floridian) where you can take the monorail direct to the Magic Kingdom and Epcot (with a change), and the Epcot area hotels (Yacht and Beach Club, Boardwalk, Swan and Dolphin) where you can take a boat or walk to Epcot and the Hollywood Studios park.

The DISboards forums will probably have the answer to any Disney question you might have, and also the latest information about hotel discounts.
posted by penguinliz at 8:10 AM on December 22, 2009 [1 favorite]


When my wife and I went in June (big mistake) we stayed off property, but just. We were half a mile from Downtown Disney. There had to have been a dozen hotels just on the road we were on. That said, the busses were never so full we had to stand or even wait for the next one.

We had an excellent king suite at the Double Tree for $99 a night.

If you're going in off season, you have nothing to worry about.
posted by phritosan at 8:24 AM on December 22, 2009


Response by poster: My agent checked again, and the "Deluxe" hotels do have bigger beds, but they also cost about $300 more per night, which we don't think is worth it.

I also called Disney myself, and after getting very frustrated by their voice-response phone system, found that getting a fold-away/daybed is not an option.

So, I appreciate all your help. But it looks like I'm going to have to suffer with a double-size bed or we're going to have to stay at the Coronado. We just don't want to stay off-property on this trip.
posted by 14580 at 8:43 AM on December 22, 2009


The king sized beds aren't only for two people. They sleep four. I shared a king bed with my mother at the All Star Movies resort (which is a budget hotel on property and has theming a kid would love) and it would've easily slept 4. There was a gulf between us.

All Star Movies doesn't advertise it much, but there are 74 king bed rooms. The reason we had one was because my mother needed a disabled-accessible room. Most of the accessible rooms have king beds, but not all the kind rooms are accessible rooms. You can request one of these.
posted by cmgonzalez at 9:04 AM on December 22, 2009


With a child I wouldn't stay off property. Part of the fun for a kid is never leaving the Disney experience. (For an adult...not so much.)

Have you considered renting someone's timeshare? There are bunch on property.

Some Boardwalk Villa Timeshare Rentals

Boardwalk Villas Description
posted by 26.2 at 9:09 AM on December 22, 2009


Here's a photo from the All Ears site of what the bed/room look like in an All Star Movies king room. Ours was exactly like this and in the same building.
posted by cmgonzalez at 9:19 AM on December 22, 2009


Have you tried the swan and dolphin? Its on Disney property . It has disney transportation but is not a DISNEY run resort.

Has the boat and disney buses and can walk right to the international gateway of epcot.

http://www.swandolphin.com/accommodations/standard.html

Guest room features include:

King or queen/queen-bedded rooms (Swan wing)
King or double/double-bedded rooms (Dolphin wing)
posted by majortom1981 at 9:23 AM on December 22, 2009


PS at the swan and dolphin a 2 queen size bed room during may is $254 a night.
posted by majortom1981 at 9:25 AM on December 22, 2009


Definitely try the Swan or Dolphin. I have stayed there many times and they have rooms with 2 queen beds. They're part of the Disney property but they are run by Starwood (Sheraton, etc.) so the rooms are quite nice. They have Disney buses that take you directly to each park, though Epcot is walkable from either hotel. The Swan has a restaurant with character dining as well.
posted by bedhead at 11:38 AM on December 22, 2009


Coronado Springs is actually a really fun, mid-priced hotel. I used to live a couple hours from Disney World and my SO was from another country, always with relatives and friends visiting, and that always meant a trip to disney. So between trips to show relatives, or "romantic" getaways, I think I've stayed at every upper and mid-priced disney hotel (never stayed at the all-stars or the like), and I've gotta say, it's a toss-up between the new orleans/plantation themed hotel and coronado springs for my favorite. And really, the themeing doesn't matter unless you're at the upper tier-on-the-metrorail-or-boat-line hotel. She'll love it, you'll love it. It's WAY better than staying off park.
posted by necessitas at 11:46 AM on December 22, 2009


I think you need a new agent (one who knows Disney in and out).

Other moderates (Port Orleans, Caribbean Beach) have rooms with a single king size bed, and usually those have a fold-out sofa as well.

In addition, this FAQ for Caribbean Beach indicates that rollaway cots are available for $15/night.

The linked page (also linked by a previous answer) gives TONS of information about all of the resorts. They also give specific phone numbers for each resort, which may give you better information than the general disney number.

I also doubt that in practice rooms at the deluxes will actually cost you $300 more a night. Disney always has deals going on (this is a another situation where a knowledgeable agent will help immensely). Mousesavers will you give you a great rundown of upcoming discounts.
posted by dforemsky at 1:40 PM on December 22, 2009


Response by poster: I called Disney again and they said that we'd have to talk to the hotel management about getting a roll-away bed in any of the hotels and they couldn't guarantee one would be available (and I don't want to leave things to chance). They also said that their computer system may not even allow a party of three to book a room with a king-size bed, which is suppose to be limited to two people. He suggested having my travel agent call again, since he might have better luck because they are treated differently.

There are no rooms available at the Swan or Dolphin (early March).

Staying at a deluxe room will cost almost $300 more PER night. The Caribbean (a value resort) is going to be about $2300 for five nights, and that includes the meal plan, admission tickets and a $300 gift card.

The Coronado (moderate resort) is actually cheaper, because while costs a little more it also comes with a $500 gift card.

To stay in a deluxe resort, the package jumps $1500 to $3800 (slightly offset by a $750 gift card).

It looks like I'm going to ask my travel agent to try again to get us a King-size room with a roll-away at the Caribbean Beach, which I think will have more kid appeal. If he's unsuccessful then we'll probably stay at the Coronado, because of necessitas review.

Thanks again for your help and advice.
posted by 14580 at 4:13 PM on December 22, 2009


Hilton just opened a couple of hotels (one is a Waldorf-Astoria brand) that are Disney adjacent and there's also the Hilton Downtown Disney. I know you can find some amazing deals for that property on one of the last minute travel websites right now.
posted by IndigoSkye at 6:28 PM on December 23, 2009


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