Had to cancel our holiday this year!

[Jill]

First time we went to Florida we stayed in a Disney hotel - we had a great time but once we had found villas much prefer the space.

I know I am biased but would have thought with a 1 year old you will be better in a villa. Cots, highchairs etc are not a problem especially if you add them to the comments section. If you are not going out during the day and the little one (hopefuly) is sleeping you do not have to be quiet as you are in the same room so you can perhaps sit by the pool and relax knowing you will hear them when they wake. Pool safety is a high priority for owners so that will not present a problem. At night when it is bedtime again you do not have to tip toe around as you are all in the same room - instead you can have some relaxation and entertainment yourselves. With a villa you will have a fully size fully equipped kitchen so storing baby food and milk is not a problem nor is preparing food. Most bathrooms in villas are also larger than those in Disney hotels so again bath time is easier.

[Ruth]

I have stayed at The Contemporary (14 nights) and The Grand Floridian (one night) and would only consider a hotel for a night or two as I do not enjoy sharing one room with our children and being forced to watch their choice of TV when we are not at the parks[B)]A villa gets you multiple bedrooms usually with their own TV and so much more space and privacy. Plus you do not have to endure Disney food for every meal[8D]

[Snapper]

<blockquote id="quote" class="ffs">quote:Originally posted by Spuddybaby

[i]My wife has stayed in a villa before on a florida trip, and she said that staying in a disney hotel is far superior.
So that is what we have always done.
I love staying in a Disney Hotel as well, as you are always in Disney and keeps the magic going 24/7.
Plus the rooms in Allstars are fairly big, 2 king size beds, or if you can get one of the family rooms they are even bigger. We had one a few years back, it has 2 toilets, kitchen, bedroom and living room. And it was only me and the wife in it, my parents had another one next door!

Not wanting to disagree too much, but the rooms in Allstars aren't that big. We stayed there a number of years ago. They are about what you would consider standard for motel type accomodation. From what I remember the bathroom wasn't much to write home about either.

To try to compare any hotel with a villa on the grounds of space is never going to work. Many villas have a master suite that's the same size as the Allstars rooms. And that's before you get to the other 2000 sq.ft. of living space and additional bedrooms that many villas offer.

It depends what you are looking for really. If you want to stay on Disney property then sadly you've no real choice but to go the Disney route. But if you want a lot more bang for your buck, or space for your buck, or facilities for your buck, etc. then a villa wins hands down.

[ShirleyD]

<blockquote id="quote" class="ffs">quote: I do not enjoy sharing one room with our children and being forced to watch their choice of TV
[/quote]

I know what you mean Ruth and sharing the TV with my husband is not much fun either [msnwink]

[Jill]

Try sharing a hotel room with 3 American sports mad fans, especially our 2 sons who having attended US universities are ardent college sports fans. I never get a look in but do get through several good books.

[gwensvilla]

we stayed in the all stars music resort.. room was TINY....2 full beds... not even queens.. tiny shower room also..if I were to stay in a hotel it would not be disney...

the thing that swayed me was when my son was seriously ill in florida and we had stayed in a villa... it was a huge saving grace... as my daughter still had the pool, games garage, sitting room with t.v. aswell as her bedroom to play around whilst we nursed him she was not getting bored...loved it so much we bought one....Gwen

[FraserLynn]

I guess ultimately it is your hard earned money and you should spend it exactly how you want to, but, I have to agree with the views stated here.

Usually, when my wife and I go anywhere, a hotel would be a first choice (although we have both stayed in a villa on our own before now), but as soon as you add in any number of children then a villa wins hands down.

I remember a particularly miserable skiing holiday when the children were very young. they were tired from the slopes and we were faced with a choice of either keeping them up and deal with the sort of behavior you get from tired children, or put them to bed and sit on a freezing cold balcony so that they were not distracted and would go to sleep, in the end most night we just went to bed with them.... never again.

By comparison, in a villa they can still have their routine, go to bed at the normal time and then we could enjoy a glass of wine, watch some tv, have a BBQ, read a book etc etc with the whole of the rest of the villa available to us. They really do give you the best of both worlds

That said, now they are getting a bit older, holidays are also becoming more about meeting and spending time with new friends and so I can see us going back to a hotel type accommodation for a while again so that they can have a bit more independence as well.

Give a villa a go, you really won't regret it

[Maddie]

Villa every time, especially with kids.

Maddie

[chrizzy100]

Well I for one hope you have a great time with baby..we own a villa but the kids still love the hotels within Disney and I found I got to the parks faster being on site with a young one..
not stayed in that hotel myself...so I can't say what the rooms are like..but you'll have a wonderful time...baby will love all the bright lights and it will be nice for your wife and parents to have a lazy day around the pool and maybe meet other new parents...[msnsmile2][msnsmile2]

[Spuddybaby]

we have stayed there 4 times now.
i can understand peoples views, i seeme dto have started a hotel v villa debate here!
but we just love the experience of being in disney for our holidays.

plus we would be having 2 rooms. it wont be 4 adults and a baby in 1!

plus if we request one of the fmaily rooms, we can put the baby in the bedroomw huilst we sit in the living room.

also, we hardly spend any time at our hotel, we are out at 8/9am and not back until 6/7pm as we are at parks/shopping all day.

anyway, the prices are out for next year now!!!
we can finally rebook!