1 day only and first timers - lots of questions!

[nkereina]

If it were me, I'd stay at a deluxe resort and spend time at the pool, have a nice lunch or dinner somewhere, and visit Disney Springs. It would be a nice, relaxing way to kick off your cruise, IMO. We've done this exact thing after a cruise, and it worked out great. We opted to stay at POR and rode the boat to and from Disney Springs. If I had to do it again, I'd pick a deluxe resort with a nice pool just for more amenities.

 

[minniebeth]

Lol, nkereina, I was just going to make the suggestion of staying at POR (Port Orleans Riverside) when I saw your post ^^^...
I was going to suggest POR Royal rooms to you, bcwife76~ the Royal Rooms are a perfect size for 4, and perfect for your two young girls! Very Disney-like! The location/property is so pretty and perfect to take the boat down to Disney Springs right from the resort. It's an outing in itself! Love the boats from POR/POFQ.
The resort has some nice ammenities, middle of the road since it's a moderate. Beautiful property, nice food court, nice pool and pool bar. It's my favorite moderate resort.
A deluxe is wonderful of course, but since you are combining the pre-stay with the cruise and flying from Canada, it can be a pretty pricey add-on. Given that you will be travelling in January, there are no guarantees for warm/sunny resort days. You can spend a day taking the boat to Disney Springs, shopping, etc. and perhaps a day on the monorail loop, lots of fun things to do there! It's perfect for a 2ish night stay!
If you are looking at a value, Art of Animation/Little Mermaid rooms would be a perfect fit for your girls, and you hardly feel like it's a value resort with so many fun surroundings.
For a deluxe, all of them are fantastic! My favorite is the Polynesian.
You didn't ask about resorts, but I figured I would write anyway...
I've been reading your posts on the cruise board too and so many of your posts are so helpful!

 

[bcwife76]

@minniebeth awwww gee shucks, thank you! I try to be helpful and not get into the 'drama' (which is found on most boards at some point!) If I don't have anything nice or helpful to say I try to keep my nose out of it

I certainly like the look of some of the deluxe resorts but I'm thinking they might be budget busters. But since the 2017 dates haven't been released yet there is no harm in looking at them once the prices are out (and look on sites such as Orbitz and hotels.com).