AKL or BWV with toddlers

[Hollymom1229]

Thank you for posting this. We are going in September with our DD for her first trip she will be just shy of 11 months. We kept going back and forth on AKV and BWV. We are probably going to go with BWV based on what I read here. She will still be small enough that the thrill of the animals won't be too all encompassing. I think it will be more important to be walking distance or a short boat ride to a couple of parks. Seeing as we own DVC, there will be plenty of future trips for her to watch the animals from our balcony.

 

[wed100105]

I would highly recommend that you try to get BLT. It is awesome just walking to the MK, and saves a ton of time with the stroller. You can also go to Epcot via monorail and not have to fold up the stroller. We enjoyed our BLT stays so much with our kids. When you have a sleeping one year old in the stroller and a preschooler and decide you have had enough walking back to your resort or using the monorail is such a fantastic convenience!

 

[JAG107]

I would highly recommend that you try to get BLT. It is awesome just walking to the MK, and saves a ton of time with the stroller. You can also go to Epcot via monorail and not have to fold up the stroller. We enjoyed our BLT stays so much with our kids. When you have a sleeping one year old in the stroller and a preschooler and decide you have had enough walking back to your resort or using the monorail is such a fantastic convenience!

When you see the bus/monorail/ferry lines as you exit MK after fireworks, and you and your sleeping stroller-bound younglings walk right past all of them and are in your room at BLT 8 minutes later, the feeling is truly priceless, especially if you've ever been in one of those horrendous lines and smashed into other people on standing room only buses and know how it feels! And the ride back to AKL from MK is preeeetty long!

 

[wed100105]

And when you have forgotten something back at the room (which is bound to happen with two little ones) one of you just walks back. DH actually forgot to put on deodorant one stressful rope drop morning at MK. He walked back to our room at BLT, put it on, and returned within about 15 minutes-still in time for rope drop.

When you see the bus/monorail/ferry lines as you exit MK after fireworks, and you and your sleeping stroller-bound younglings walk right past all of them and are in your room at BLT 8 minutes later, the feeling is truly priceless, especially if you've ever been in one of those horrendous lines and smashed into other people on standing room only buses and know how it feels! And the ride back to AKL from MK is preeeetty long!

 

[Disney71]

I agree with other posts about BLT ... BLT is super convenient to MK. We stayed there last year and being able to walk to/from MK was fantastic. We also have two toddlers and a double stroller. The one bedroom at BLT was a great size for the 4 of us.

 

[scm200]

Even though you are staying at Kidani be sure to make the trek over to Jambo, the Lobby is beautiful and Mara is great for a quick meal...

 

[jahber]

We just returned from a stay at Kidani and my 1 1/2yo LOVED it! So did my11 and 8yos . The pools are perfect for kids of all ages and there are so many activities throughout the day. Oh, and you absolutely CAN walk from Kidani to Jambo. We've done it several times
Fwiw, my 1yo ran from window to window down the hallway, mooing at the animals in delight (he knows other animal sounds, but we don't know what an okapi says!). It's a memory we will have forever--just the sweetest part of our whole trip.

 

[Eliza'sMom]

The zero-entry pool at AKL is great with little ones. Plus the activities for kids are great there. But we do usually look for a rental car deal when we stay there.

 

[3 DD love princesses]

What would you choose- 1BR at AKL or at BWV? BWV is standard view, AKL is savannah view. We have two little ones so we will have a double stroller which makes buses not so fun.

We've stayed at BWV before and do like it and the close proximity to Epcot and HS- but we only plan on going to each of those parks twice. We've never been to AKL and have heard it's absolutely amazing. If we go ALK we will rent a car and plan on driving to all but MK.

Thoughts?

well we are a family of 5 with all girls 5, 3, 2 now. we stayed at bwv, poly and blt this last trip but we stayed in studios. if I had to choose between akv and bwv I would do bwv because of the stroller. if you have your choice over any resort I would do BLT because it was so nice to walk there or take the monorail. not having to fold the stroller and get kids out when they fell asleep was great. our next few trips will mainly be at blt because of the monorail and walking to mk. bwv is nice because the stroller didn't have to be folded but I did see that depending on the captain depended on if the kids could stay in the stroller or had to get out. we experienced both. didn't have to fold and lift the double stroller but the kids had to get out one time and then were allowed to stay in one time. we haven't stayed at akv yet but one of the reasons we haven't is because of not being able to walk to a park and having to fold the stroller and carry it on and off the bus. good luck deciding.