Hiya, Amy!
Welcome to planDisney and thanks for stopping by with your excellent question. As a family of five, we are often in the same boat trying to coordinate the best sleeping accommodations for our cast of characters. The good news is that
Disney Resort Hotels have a variety of sleeping set-ups that are practically perfect in every way for families like ours.
You have a couple of options when looking at Resort rooms. Certainly, you could book two adjoining rooms, however, when you look at the Standard Room you want to check how many people it can accommodate. Typically, with either two queen beds or one queen bed and a pull-out, you can fit four adults in a Standard Room if the individuals share a bed. This option definitely gives you sleeping space, but as you noted in your question, you would need to book two rooms.
But, many Disney Resorts have a Deluxe Studio option - sometimes called a Standard View with a 5th Sleeper - that fits five. Our family booked one of these last year. It included two queen beds and a "flip bed", which is like a day bed that is a couch by day and a bed by night. My teenager loved that single, so my pre-teen twins were the ones to share in the queen and he got the flip bed. The nice thing was that when it was a couch, it was a place for the three kids to sit if we were spending some downtime in our room. It's a great economical option over booking two adjoining rooms; however, I'll be honest and say if you need extra space, the two adjoining rooms might be a better way to go.
For a
one-bedroom Villa, the setup varies, but it may have one king bed, one queen pull-out that by day is a couch, and one pull-down twin (like a Murphy Bed) or something similar. But, you will have the added perk of a full-sized kitchen. The benefit of the kitchen can save you money because you can get some bare necessities for simple breakfasts in your room, snacks, or even sit back and relax as your dining table presents your dinner! Villas also have in-room laundry, so you can pack less, which may save you money on your baggage fees or at least leave you some room to take home an extra set of Mickey Ears. To book a one-bedroom Villa, look at
Deluxe Villas under the "Places To Stay" tab after logging into your My Disney Experience account.
Because
Disney Resort Hotels are either Value, Moderate, Deluxe and Deluxe Villas, it is hard to say for certain which room arrangement is most economical for your family. Two adjoining rooms at a Value Resort will be a different cost than two adjoining rooms at a Deluxe Resort. But, for us, we love to have a kitchen and washer and dryer, so we prefer a one-bedroom Villa for our 'ohana.
One other thing to note that may make your decision is that Disney sometimes runs offers for discounts on select stays at select Resorts. There are a
few offers for select stays this spring through early summer, so definitely have a look at those to see if they work for you.
I hope this helps you, Amy. If you have any further questions while planning your Disney vacation, stop back and
see me here at planDisney. I'll be so happy to help you. Have fun making the most magical memories on earth!
See ya real soon,
Keri