Tying myself up in circles.

[CarolynU]

I’m an experienced planner of all things Disney hotel wise, but I’m thinking of a family reunion trip Oct/Nov 2022.
But our family dynamic has changed. It will be :-
Daughter, son in law and two kids a boy and a girl who will be six and three/four.
Me. A geriatric lol.
My son and his wife who may or may not join us depending upon whether they can get time off.
Choices.
The kids don’t stay out late and would be put to bed at 7-8pm.
We’ve always done that and it doesn’t bother us. If the adults want to stay out later that’s fine.
The kids are real fidgets so sharing a bed is tricky.
So I’m considering two bedrooms with possibly add another on if my son and his wife can join us, at Disney but that would mean two adults in one room with a child and one adult with one child in the other room. Then an add on room if needed.
Disney has larger rooms where we could all stay but the kids would have to share a bed or there is a villa option but I’m totally out of my depth booking villas. No nothing much about them.
I seem to be going around in circles getting nowhere.

[sacratini28]

Would definitely look at going down the Villa route.Theres a massive choice, and they offer complete versatility .

You can virtually tailor-made the property as well as the facilities as most are on complexes with loads of onsite amenities.

Theres lots of properties available on here from DIBB members as well as online booking sites.Ive used VR360 many times and find the information, phots etc easy to use !

Hope that helps !

[JessBlu]

Villa 100% we have always done villas they are amazing with young kids, pop them in bed and then have a bbq by the pool, watch a movie etc.

Not really much to be intimated by choose holiday company or a dibb villa and of course you will need a car, and welcome to a new type of Holiday.

Happy to help with any questions you may have, I love mornings by the pool while everyone else sleeps ❤️❤️

[CarolynU]

Thank you so much both of you. It’s so funny to be out of my comfort zone, but you’ve both made me really sway towards the villa idea.

[fluffychicken]

Deffinately villa. That's what we did when our kids were that age. Put them to bed sit out by the pool with a glass of wine heaven.

[mick]

Our family dynamic and Florida holidays very much different to yours but I have responded regularly with my opinion on the hotel -v- villa debates on here.

Why villa over hotel?

Apologies for a list but as I’ve responded to this question a few times it’s a bit easier for me to summarise. I’d like to clarify this list though by saying that we’re both 74/75 and have visited over 35 times but haven’t been to a park since 2010 (apart from MVMCP in 2014). Also there’s only two of us in a 4 bed villa.

Our needs and holiday plans however are highly unlikely to be typical of other Dibbers.

1. Park at your front door not a mile away.
2. Lots of space to spread out
3. Own private pool within 20’ of lounge and use it any time of day.
4. Own spa to watch the sun rise and set.
5. Pop back inside any time for drinks – hot or cold.
6. Spare bedroom to store shopping.
7. Spare bedroom for family occasionally joining us (after notifying owner obviously).
8. Choice of bathrooms if one engaged – including one on the pool deck.
9. Eat meals and snacks whenever you like prepared in the full kitchen.
10. Listen to your own music without offending fellow guests and neighbours.
11. Watch TV in the lounge or bedroom (s).
12. Separate walk in shower in the master bathroom plus a large tub.
13. Ability to keep on top of the clothes washing.
14. The lanai at the villa we use allows shade and sunbathing easily.
15. Freedom of access without wondering if housekeeping are there or have been.

Mick

[JessBlu]

There are lots of food options if you don’t want to cook, the supermarkets do hot pick up counters like cooked meats which we add salad and potatoes to to make a nice meal, take away places and if course Bbq by the pool.

Never had any real issues couple of niggles which the management company sorted out.

Dibb owners very friendly and always on hand for questions.

we have grown out of hotel rooms now.

[jags]

Hello, in your situation, villa seems a great option. Also on-site, with each family in their own room might work well too? We did villa when my son was 2.5 yrs and it was lovely using pool/hot tub when he was in bed by 7! I only cooked food for DS, we got takeout etc for us which was handy. We stayed onsite when youngest was nearly 4, and that allowed us to pop back for nap/pool time in the afternoon.

[steve@mac155.f]

If you have questions about anything in a villa you may be considering just ask the owner and I am sure they will answer any questions you may have, if they are like me they will only be to happy to talk about their own little piece of Florida.

Take a look at the dibb villa section or you could put a post in the villa request section.

Steve

[CarolynU]

Honestly thank you all. I really don’t know why I got so hung up on the idea of staying solely at a Disney Resort but I think it was partly because of accessing FP+ earlier and for the length of stay as we did last time. It was almost planned with military precision! Now of course that is no longer relevant right now but it may of course come back.
So I think I must balance just freedom and space against that one benefit if it ever reappears in its original format, so after reading your comments I sent the link to my daughter and she picked out a DIBB villa and I’ve spoken to the owner who is sending me a booking form by email.
This of course also gives me leeway to add on my son and daughter in law from Canada if they can get the time off but will also allow my son to work from there if needs be.
So fingers crossed I’ll have swapped gazing at my phone non stop to see where we should be for doing what we can but making the evening together part of our experience which we couldn’t do last time. Given that I haven’t been able to see my son since 2019 due to this wretched pandemic family time together means more than anything.