Have you ever traveled with family but stayed at different resorts?

[SarahC97]

My family of 4 is trying to plan a vacation with my sister and her family of 5 for next year. We want to stay onsite (hoping to book a free dining bounceback in August), but as I'm looking at resorts, the cheapest for her (cost is a factor for both of us) is one room at a moderate while the cheapest for us is a room at a value. I'm not sure what to do as my husband thinks if we stay at different resorts it will feel like we're not really vacationing together. Has anyone ever traveled with family but stayed at different resorts? How did it work out? I just don't see how to make it work any other way.

 

[Sue M]

I would stay at a moderate with sisters family. I have traveled with friends staying at different resorts. It’s easy to plan on where to meet up before park opening. And with cell phones it’s really easy. Pre arranging time to meet and area to meet.
But since your family and the kids will want to play together at the pools during breaks just won’t be happening if you are in different resorts.

 

[Disneylover99]

We’ve done it a few times and it has worked out great! We meet up at the parks or for dinner/lunch etc...,

 

[drwadadli]

We did it. If we were doing the same park at the same time, then we met up somewhere to do so. We also met up for "family" dinners at the same place and reservations.

@Sue M has a great point though that if you want to kids to play together at the same pool then that is easier with you all staying at the same resort.

But to answer your question...yes it can be done and yes it can work out well with good planning and communicating.

 

[Wubar]

Can't see how staying at different resorts would be an issue in this day of call phones and instant access to each other. You might not be able to splash around the pool together (not sure how the pool access works for guests of different resorts) and you won't be able to run back and forth between each other's rooms when not at the parks, but there are certainly other opportunities to hang out together outside of the parks. Go for it. Every family has their own individual budgets and should stick to them if they wish. If you all MUST stay together, IMO, the wealthier family should by no means be the one dictating where everyone should stay.

Have fun!

 

[Sue M]

Can't see how staying at different resorts would be an issue in this day of call phones and instant access to each other. You might not be able to splash around the pool together (not sure how the pool access works for guests of different resorts) and you won't be able to run back and forth between each other's rooms when not at the parks, but there are certainly other opportunities to hang out together outside of the parks. Go for it. Every family has their own individual budgets and should stick to them if they wish. If you all MUST stay together, IMO, the wealthier family should by no means be the one dictating where everyone should stay.

Have fun!

The other family is a family of 5 and that’s why they can’t stay at Pop. They are not dictating where everyone should stay.

 

[HHMcG]

Depends on how much "together" time you want. As others have said you won't be able to swim together or really have down time together if you are in different resorts.

We have traveled with family to DW multiple times. Everyone has elected to stay at the same resort as us since they wanted more together time. Except my brother, his family stayed at a different resort. They choose to do a lot of their own thing as that is what they were looking for.

If together time is important book a Mod. Or look at All Star Music which has value rooms (for your family) and Family Suites (for sisters family). That might not be too much of a jump from a mod.

 

[KenHutch]

Look the distance might be a good thing. In my case I pay for our room (daughter,goddaughter and me) and another room for her mother, stepfather and a maternal great aunt and uncle. Even under the best of circumstances and with the best of intentions different families can grate on each others nerves after awhile. And with cell phones who is really that far away from each other anyways?

 

[gillep]

We have done both, all at the same resort and at different resorts and they both worked out fine. I personally prefer when there is more separation, and we just meet at the parks, as it can be really difficult to get a group going especially if people have different trip expectations (morning people vs night owls etc.) That said, we were all adults and weren't planning on pool time together. If you want to make sure that the kids can swim together then I would encourage you to stay at the same resort.

 

[unrequited23]

A bit of distance can be a good thing when travelling with family. Last year our family stayed at POR and the grandparents were at POFQ. It was perfect. I shared a hard copy of our touring plan (the grandparents prefer physical copies of things) so they would know where we would be at what time and they joined us when they wanted. It was very easy since we all had cell phones.

 

[nascargirl]

DH and I will be doing this with DSL and her spouse in Dec. They will be staying at the AoA and we will be staying at the BC. We already made dining plans and FP will be the next thing to book.

 

[SarahC97]

I'm not sure it would be entirely bad to be at a different resort. The only hang up is, as someone else mentioned, pool time for the kids.

 

[tvsdisney]

No we all stayed in the same resort but man oh man do I wish we wouldn’t have
I think not having connecting rooms helps too! Gives everyone a little private time and space.

 

[tjmw2727]

We have done both - generally everyone chooses the resort that suits their needs and then we meet at the park or for dinner etc. Depending on who is going and the ages of the kids we may or may not do park time together but maybe meet for breakfast or dinner and or an evening fireworks show. If we want to swim together we hit a water park for an afternoon.

I will say that when I travel with my sil our kids love to spend more time together so we usually choose the same resort and spend more time with them.

I would talk it out what you would want to do together and decide if that's worth the jump to a moderate for you.

 

[GusGusTheMouse]

We did a two family vacation a few years ago. One stayed at the BC and the other the Caribbean. Worked out more than fine, we would meet up at the parks and spend time together there. Have you gone anywhere else with this family? Do your time schedules usually match perfectly?

Each family has their own way of vacationing, so staying together 24/7 is just not feasible or things will start to turn sour. Us personally, we even had separate meals some days. Its fun to be together, but some private time at some points during the trip is really nice after running around the parks all day!

 

[SarahC97]

We did a two family vacation a few years ago. One stayed at the BC and the other the Caribbean. Worked out more than fine, we would meet up at the parks and spend time together there. Have you gone anywhere else with this family? Do your time schedules usually match perfectly?

Each family has their own way of vacationing, so staying together 24/7 is just not feasible or things will start to turn sour. Us personally, we even had separate meals some days. Its fun to be together, but some private time at some points during the trip is really nice after running around the parks all day!

I am starting to think that staying in separate places may be a good thing so that we won't always feel like we're forced to hang out with each other. We're definitely more commando park goers than the other family.

 

[Jadyreen1282]

With my famy we have to split resorts. Just too complicated with them people to coordinate. We meet up for fireworks and dessert. They even hated hddr...WHO does that?!

 

[dansdad]

We have done both and now will only do it staying at different resorts. It's so easy to meet up nowadays. And we prefer the water parks to resort pool for letting the kids have fun on their own. Having our own space and time is invaluable on a vacation.

 

[TexasBee]

We've done it with my parents - they stay at SOG and we can't. Typically we meet up at the entrance to whatever park we're doing that day. It works out well as by the end of the day, everyone is ready for some 'alone time'.

 

[Micca]

No but don't think I haven't thought about it Seriously it wouldn't be a big deal in my opinion. You can hang out as much as you like, maybe even take turns enjoying both resorts.