Where to stay?

Mom2FiveKidz

Earning My Ears
Joined
Jun 12, 2017
I'd love suggestions on hotels to stay at. As you probably saw on our other threads we have a rather large party! We'll have 10 people altogether, 3 people with mobility impairments, 2 young girls who use wheelchairs full time, and an elderly woman who walks with a cane and needs things like grab bars and a flat entrance.

Here's what we need.

100% accessible, and room for stuff like dynamic standers, and storing back up wheelchairs, and double strollers.

A 1 bedroom condo/suite/room (or bigger) for my nanny and her daughter.

One of the following:

4 bedroom condo/house/suite with 2 accessible bathrooms

a 3 and a 1 bedroom condo

A community pool with lifeguards

A full kitchen with a full sized fridge

A washer/dryer

Handicapped parking for a conversion van, and a mini van

Here's what we'd like

A toddler pool or a beach entry at the pool

Extras at the pool, like a water slide or a spray ground

A short commute to the Disney parks.

Condos in the same building or houses next door to each other

A nearby grocery store

A playground

The nanny's condo/suite/house to be fully accessible too, so she can take the girls there when she's watching them.

Shuttles to the park (do not need to be accessible)

We're staying 2 weeks, and I think we can afford someplace pretty nice, but not onsite nice. I think to accommodate everything we'll need to bring, we'd need a fully accessible grand villa but 2 smaller villas and the price for that is ridiculous.
 
I'd love suggestions on hotels to stay at. As you probably saw on our other threads we have a rather large party! We'll have 10 people altogether, 3 people with mobility impairments, 2 young girls who use wheelchairs full time, and an elderly woman who walks with a cane and needs things like grab bars and a flat entrance.

Here's what we need.

100% accessible, and room for stuff like dynamic standers, and storing back up wheelchairs, and double strollers.

A 1 bedroom condo/suite/room (or bigger) for my nanny and her daughter.

One of the following:

4 bedroom condo/house/suite with 2 accessible bathrooms

a 3 and a 1 bedroom condo

A community pool with lifeguards

A full kitchen with a full sized fridge

A washer/dryer

Handicapped parking for a conversion van, and a mini van

Here's what we'd like

A toddler pool or a beach entry at the pool

Extras at the pool, like a water slide or a spray ground

A short commute to the Disney parks.

Condos in the same building or houses next door to each other

A nearby grocery store

A playground

The nanny's condo/suite/house to be fully accessible too, so she can take the girls there when she's watching them.

Shuttles to the park (do not need to be accessible)

We're staying 2 weeks, and I think we can afford someplace pretty nice, but not onsite nice. I think to accommodate everything we'll need to bring, we'd need a fully accessible grand villa but 2 smaller villas and the price for that is ridiculous.


I would not leave out staying on site at Disney you can rent DVC and have a nice 3 bed room or do a one bedroom, and then a 3 or 2 bead room. staying some where like Old Key west. or another DVC would meet all your needs and I think all your wants
 
I would not leave out staying on site at Disney you can rent DVC and have a nice 3 bed room or do a one bedroom, and then a 3 or 2 bead room. staying some where like Old Key west. or another DVC would meet all your needs and I think all your wants

I've never been to OKW, but we stayed in a 1 bedroom at Saratoga Springs on one trip. I think the one and two bedrooms have the same size living room. I think that 8 people, 3 wheelchairs (for a variety reasons, we'll need to bring both DD8's wheelchairs), a double stroller, feeding pump on an IV pole, 2 standers, baby equipment like a highchair etc . . . would be really tight in that living room. I think a Grand Villa might work size wise, but we'd also need 2 studios. I just googled prices for places that rent points, and the price of all that together makes my head spin.

I'm also not really sure of the possibility of getting a wheelchair accessible Grand Villa, plus 2 studios, on of which also needs to be accessible, relatively close together, 3 months out would be. Is that even a remote possibility?

I also know that it probably seems really spoiled that I'm insisting on 5 bedrooms, but there are a lot of special sleeping circumstances.
 


Many shuttles run only once or twice daily- if you want more regular service, that may further limit your choices.

It will be difficult to find somewhere with two accessible restrooms in the same house- it may be difficult to find accessible rooms/condos next to each other, due in part to ADA requirements about distribution of units.

If you're looking at August, please also consider the weather- the humidity can be rather heavy.
 
Many shuttles run only once or twice daily- if you want more regular service, that may further limit your choices.

It will be difficult to find somewhere with two accessible restrooms in the same house- it may be difficult to find accessible rooms/condos next to each other, due in part to ADA requirements about distribution of units.

If you're looking at August, please also consider the weather- the humidity can be rather heavy.

Shuttles aren't a deal breaker, but it would be nice for the teens to head off for a full day in the parks without using Uber every trip. If they have to keep to a schedule they'll be able to deal. If it turns out to be cheaper to get a resort with no shuttle and use Uber for them, we can deal with that too. The issue is that the only vehicle we'll have that the teens can drive is the wheelchair van, which needs to stay with the girls. Any other vehicle(s) will be rented, so no teen drivers.

It is important to me that my mother has her own space. Her own bedroom, where she won't hear DD8 or the baby crying at night, or the feeding pump if it alarms, and her bathroom where she's not tripping over shower chairs or sharing with teenage boys. The only accessibility features it absolutely needs are no stairs, grab bars in the bathroom, and a shower rather than a tub. I'd also rather that it was close enough that she could walk home (which means very close, as she walks slowly with a cane), but if someone has to drive her we can make that work.

The nanny and her child will need their own space too, for the times when she isn't working, but driving back and forth isn't as big a deal for them.

We're either going to be going in late September (hence the 3 months) or in late January. I'm trying to decide how to weigh heat/humidity in the parks with the fact that my 3 middle children are part fish, and will probably end up spending more time in the pool than in the parks. I worry that January will be too cold. If anyone has thoughts on this, I'd love to hear them.
 
I'd also rather that it was close enough that she could walk home
Then you are limited to the Contemporary if at Magic Kngdom, or Beach/Yacht Clubs and Boardwalk (and Swan/Dolphin) if at Epcot or DHS. She will not be able to walk to or from any other resorts from any park at any speed - much less to any off-site location.
 
Then you are limited to the Contemporary if at Magic Kngdom, or Beach/Yacht Clubs and Boardwalk (and Swan/Dolphin) if at Epcot or DHS. She will not be able to walk to or from any other resorts from any park at any speed - much less to any off-site location.

No, not from the parks to the resort. Please don't think I'd make an elderly woman with a cane go walking down the highway from the Magic Kingdom to the Sheraton Vistana! I promise I'm not that evil!

I mean that if she came over and ate dinner with us in our apartment, she could walk home from our apartment/condo/suite to her own. So something along the same corridor in the same building, or if it's very small buildings like at the Vistana, maybe the next building over. She'd prefer not to drive after dark.

She's actually not a Disney fan, and probably won't set foot in the parks. It's not her thing, and adding another person with mobility issues would complicate things even more. She'll come over in the afternoon and evenings to enjoy her grandchildren, and help with tasks like cuddling and feeding the baby, or reading bedtime stories.
 
My vote is for the Cabins at Fort Wilderness - 2 of them, one for your family, one for the Nanny. You can park outside the door, the accessible cabins are amazing, and you can bring a pack'n'play for the baby. Plus you get a real kitchen.
 
My vote is for the Cabins at Fort Wilderness - 2 of them, one for your family, one for the Nanny. You can park outside the door, the accessible cabins are amazing, and you can bring a pack'n'play for the baby. Plus you get a real kitchen.

Are there larger ones that I'm not seeing? I'm not comfortable asking my mom to share a room with either a teenage boy who is unrelated to her, or DD8 who wakes up multiple times a night because she needs to be repositioned. I'd also have huge reservations about sharing one bathroom.

I know it's awesome to stay on site. I've done it so I appreciate that. But given the variety of needs we'll have, I think I've got to prioritize things like space for privacy and to fit wheelchairs and equipment, having a full sized kitchen to prepare blended meals for DD8 and food for the rest of us, and a washer/dryer for those inevitable times when the g-tube leaks overnight or someone throws up or the baby has a diaper blow out. I think the only way to get all those things would be a Grand Villa, plus an extra villa, and the price puts that option out of reach.
 
i was looking at their website yesterday, and thinking that it looked promising. Do you have experience staying there?

We stayed at Vistiana Villages in a 1 bedroom in January because we got a great offer. We now have a 2 bedroom booked in September. I can't comment on accessibility as ours were standard access, but there were elevators. The full kitchen was a God-send for my ASD son and his food issues. There is a Publix down the street or you can arrange grocery delivery either through the Sheraton's Market or Garden Grocer. They even provided us with a packet of dishwashing detergent and laundry detergent. They have multiple pools, but one was closed for refurbishment when we were there. The main pool is zero entry with lifeguards. The kids LOVED it. In fact, we transferred to AoA suites mid way through and both kids asked to go back to the Vistiana Villages!

Another "perk" is they have free parking. We booked the 2 bedroom thinking we'd have another person with us. She is not coming so we've been looking for another place so maybe save a few bucks, but even with the cheaper nightly rate, when you add resort fees, parking, etc. so far we haven't found anything. (note: we used undercover tourist. They have some amazing prices).
 
The nanny's condo/suite/house to be fully accessible too, so she can take the girls there when she's watching them.
Have you considered if you stay at a resort, having the nanny and her daughter come to your accessible unit to watch your daughters? Rather than using three accessible units and potentially depriving a disabled guest from a vacation?
 
Have you considered if you stay at a resort, having the nanny and her daughter come to your accessible unit to watch your daughters? Rather than using three accessible units and potentially depriving a disabled guest from a vacation?

Is there a shortage of accessible units at the Vistana, or other off site resorts?
 

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