Best pool for the $$ for 7 yo

[quilthugger]

We're headed to Disney Oct. 2-9, and still haven't made ressies. I'm afraid we'll end up offsite unless I can score a discount. Anyway, my hubby thinks the pool will be important as a lure to get my 7 year old daughter out of the parks for the afternoon "rest". So I was wondering- between the moderates, AKL, and WL, who has the best pool for the money? We've budgeted $150 a night, so BC/YC doesn't look possible. I was looking at renting points to stay out at OKW during the week, but DH wants a better pool (for the kid- or so he says!)

Am I going to have problems getting ressies if I wait until there's a discount (AP or other)? Arrgh! I can't commit yet... Think I should make reservations at AKL and then cancel them if I can't get a discount? I sure like the $116 price- too bad my daughter's Fall Break from school set our dates in concrete....

TIA!

Susan

 

[dimimi]

I think both pools are nice. I've seen them both. I know people may not agree with me, but our family spends the day at the park. We have the hopper pass, so we don't go to the parks every day. We enjoy the pool/resorts on our days not in the park. Have a great time...I'm jealous!

 

[HopperFan]

Does she just enjoy swimming or does she want a big slide ?

Of moderates, you can't beat the pool at Coronado. The slide is long and the theme of the pyramid is great. Plenty of seating, some covered, good food bar, playground, hot tub etc. Usually the hardest for us to get into when discounts come out. They keep telling us it is the most requested.

(we love POR too, so I would be happy staying there and the kids enjoy it - pool is nice and fairly big so never felt crowded)

WL is a nice pool with a smaller but fun slide. Kids loved that the creek in the hotel lobby spilled out into the pool. We were able to really sit back and relax at this pool when our kids were younger. Loved the proximity to MK for the afternoon break. Don't know how discounts are running there.

AKL is a large pool with zero entry. The slide is decent and pre-teen kids enjoy it. Close to the food court, bathrooms, showers etc so that was nice. Lots of games are played with the kids by the lifeguards. Hotel itself is full of kids activities and of course animals. We stayed here with a standard reservation for $119 but were bumped up to a wonderful savannah view.

 

[CindyAnn]

DS and DD (who were 10 & 7 on our trip earlier this year) slightly preferred the pool at Wilderness Lodge. From an adult perspective there's also something really enjoyable about the WL pool - maybe it's the creek, as Hopperfan said.

In terms of activities for kids, however, we definitely preferred the AKL. The kids loved decorating the animal cookies, learned how to track animals, sat around the fire pit, and loved animal watching. We had no trouble at all removing them from the parks. I'd also give the AKL restaurants the edge over WL. For example, I could eat dinner 5 nights in a row at Boma but can't imagine doing so at Whispering Canyon, although one meal there was just fine. We liked Mara better than Roaring Forks and Jiko better than Artist Point, for that matter, so for us the AKL restaurants win 3 out of 3.

Even though I really like both hotels, and both of them have a nice laid back feeling, AKL would be our choice.

Have fun!

 

[Kimberle]

Our dd really loved the pools at WL. Besides the main pool, there is a quiet pool which truely is "quiet" (low useage). The water slide is much faster than it looks. The whole lodge is very relaxing. There is so much to do. You can rent bikes and or water mice. We also loved the convience to MK and easy access to other resorts.

 

[Scoootch]

Originally posted by quilthugger
[B
Am I going to have problems getting ressies if I wait until there's a discount (AP or other)? Arrgh! I can't commit yet... Think I should make reservations at AKL and then cancel them if I can't get a discount? I sure like the $116 price- too bad my daughter's Fall Break from school set our dates in concrete....

TIA!

Susan [/B]

You can make your ressie now and if a discount code comes out, you can call them and have it applied to your ressie

That being said, if it's the pools you really are interested in, if you stay at POR or FQ they are considered "sister resorts" and therefore you are aloud to use the pools at both resorts. Something you may want to keep in mind.

Good luck deciding. All your choices are wonderful, not an easy decision.

 

[SamanthaL]

You could try for a Beach Club Villa studio renting points. They are about $120 anight for Oct. If you decide to go that route I would say do it NOW!
Other than that we loved the pool at the FQ. That is my favorite moderate. I would make a ressie that you can live with now and then upgrade if the discounts come out. Then you could go from the moderate to say AK or WL. If not discounts then at least you have a room and you are happy with the price. Good luck.

 

[vettechick99]

Originally posted by SamanthaL
You could try for a Beach Club Villa studio renting points. They are about $120 anight for Oct. If you decide to go that route I would say do it NOW!
Other than that we loved the pool at the FQ. That is my favorite moderate. I would make a ressie that you can live with now and then upgrade if the discounts come out. Then you could go from the moderate to say AK or WL. If not discounts then at least you have a room and you are happy with the price. Good luck.

I was just going to mention that! We are renting a 5 nights (October 3-8) at the BVC from a gentleman I met on the DVC board. You can use this calculator to get an idea of what you will need. Points are going for $10 a piece right now, so for us, that meant $120/night for a studio = $600. I've stayed at the Beach Club before and never paid less than $275/night, so this is a real steal! Plus you'll be in a deluxe resort and have access to Stormalong Bay, which your daughter will love!

One last thing...if you can't get into BCV b/c its booked for the Food and Wine Festival, you may get into another HAFH resort. DVC members are allowed pool hopping priviledges, and some say those renting get those as well (I'm sure this is debate material).

Wherever you stay, all the pools are great! Have a great time and hope to see you there!

 

[SamanthaL]

Great minds think alike, Ally! We had a BWV studio but our wait list came through and now we have a 1 bedroom for 5 nights = $900!

 

[quilthugger]

Unfortunately, the only offer I've gotten so far is $150 a night for M,T,W. I guess we'll take it, even though I was hoping for $10-$11 a point. I'd been checking out OKW and we decided against it (the main pool will be closed and isn't all that impressive anyway.) I'd been hearing Oct. was booked up at the BC, but maybe we'll be able to get a few days, anyway. It was definitely worth checking! Thanks so much for bringing it up- I kind of had a duh! moment.

Hope to see ya'll there!

Susan

 

[SamanthaL]

Hmm. That is a bit high for renting in Oct. It isn't bad though. Too bad you don't have time to hold out for someone renting at $10 a point.
BTW- Loved OKW. So pretty!

 

[pumpkinboy]

Originally posted by SamanthaL
You could try for a Beach Club Villa studio renting points. They are about $120 a night for Oct. If you decide to go that route I would say do it NOW!

For your dates, renting at BCV would be very difficult, as there is little to no availablity at any of the Epcot resorts during the Food & Wine Festival (we own at BWV and still had to reserve at 11 months to get our view choices during F&W). To get BCV or BWV during F&W, you need to have points rented 11 months ahead. So for renting DVC points, that leaves VWL, OKW and the new SSR. VWL has a lovely but smallish pool. None of OKW's pools has a slide yet, and they are closing the main pool in September to build a pool slide there.
Of the three, SSR has the best pool for a 7 yr old, plus a huge water play area; plus since it is so new and they are building on to it, the resort still has a fairly low room count, so you share the facilities with fewer ppl. SSR can be had for $110-$125 Mon-Thurs nights and maybe double that on Sat & Sun if renting from a DVC member; on DVC's official calculator, your dates come to 97 "points" which rent for $10-$12 per point, putting a week at SSR in a $1,000 to $1,150 range for the week in a studio; not bad really. You can take a look at SSR by clicking this link. It looks beautiful!

IMHO, if you are thinking of renting DVC, see if you can't get SSR, especially since the pool is important to you.

If you are gonna go the Deluxe or Mod route, AKL has a great pool, plus there is the amazing theming, and the animals, and ... (can you tell that AKL is our fav'?). Poly has a great pool too, and the theming is great, but the price is pretty high. As for the Mods, we loved the Dragon slide at POFQ, plus FQ is quite a bit smaller than the other Mods, which can be nice. We are also CSR fans, tho it can get a bit chilly (not as family friendly, and less Disney magic IMO) when there's a convention going on at the CSR convention center; but if no convention, CSR is fantastic.

Just my 2¢. Good luck! And don't resort to off-site! It's just not worth it!

 

[SamanthaL]

You could wait list too. We got our BWV 1 bedroom just a few weeks ago. It can happen.

 

[palmtreegirl]

I asked my 7 year old and she said "I like all the pools" big help, huh?

The AKL pool is very large and has a zero entry area. It looks like a big watering hole and has a small water slide.

The WL- pool is on the small side, also has a water slide.

CSR- This pool is really cool, it has a giant pyramid which has water coming down it and the pool is very large. there's also a cool playground my kids loved. The only down side is there's no zero entry.

POR- Kids really weren't impressed with this pool but it was under going a rehab when we were there so that might've had something to do with it. Great playground though!

Hope that helped a bit.

 

[quilthugger]

Thanks for all of the help! Yes, the Food & Whine festival starts early this year. It should be fun- Epcot is my fav- although I haven't been to AK yet! Interestingly enough, VWL was booked up tight- the guy offered me a studio for $350! When I questioned whether he had a typo, he explained that was the cash cost for renting the room....

SSR sounds interesting. Maybe we can do two nights at SSR, then 3 at BCV, then two at AKL! That is, if there are any discounts for Oct. Of course, if we go the DVC route, I won't be getting an AP, so those rates wouldn't help! Still, even $150 seems like a good deal compared to staying at the BC hotel. Too bad I was so busy at work today we did not get the details ironed out yet. I hope the room will still be there on Monday! Of course, by then, somebody might have canceled....

Susan

 

[SamanthaL]

Good luck. Let us know how it turns out and be sure to check that the ressie is there before sending any money.

 

[lucysdad]

We loved our stay at AKL at the end of June. There are so many children's activities your 7 yr. old would love. To be honest, however, the only real disappointment for us was the pool. It is large, but shallow. We think that's why it was so warm. It wasn't refreshing at all to be in 90 + degree weather with all that humidity, and then get in a pool that felt warmer than the air. I don't like a cold pool, but the AKL pool was too warm for me. The slide is an open air slide and lots of fun, especially if you don't like the tunnel slides. It's a great resort, but if you're looking for a great pool, our opinion is that you won't find it at AKL.
Lucy's Mom

 

[quilthugger]

We'll be there early October, so hopefully the water temps would be more reasonable. Or at least, the air temps should be! We are going to try and stay at AKL the last two nights- but I'm working hard to get a studio at the Beach Club Villas for 4 nights, which should satisfy the pool requirement!

Thanks,
Susan

 

[RayJay]

What about the dragon slide pool at Port orleans Freanch Quarter?

Is that even still there?

RayJay