Best villa with two toddlers

[Disneyin08]

Hi all!

My parents, my husband and our two daughters (ages at trip time will be 11 mos. and 26 mos.) will be heading to Disney in June 2008. We want to book a 2 bedroom/ 2 bathroom villa on the Disney property. I know the Beach Club villas have a walkway to Epcot so the location is great, but the cost is about $160 more than Saratoga Springs or Old Key West. Which do you think is more important considering we will be with toddlers...location or cost? Also, any pros/ cons to any of the villa resorts would be appreciated.

Thanks, everyone! I just joined the board yesterday and can not believe all the info. available here.

 

[eliza61]

for me the answer would be location. I'll pretty much pay any price known to man to make my vacation easier. I love OKW though, it is very soothing, picturesqe (sp) and they have the biggest rooms on site, but when we stayed there with our toddlers we rented a car so I would not have to lug strollers on and off the buses. If I don't have my own transportation, I'd go with BCV's

 

[BrianD]

To us, with toddlers it's LOCATION, LOCATION, LOCATION. We stayed at the BCV last September and absolutely loved it! Being able to walk to Epcot and boat to MGM, not to mention the pool, and being able to walk over to the activities of the Boardwalk. Great place to stay!

The only slight negative was the fact that we spend a great deal of time at the MK, so that is why we try to stay on the monorail a lot of the time. There are the WL Villas, where you can boat over to the MK, but we just loved the theme and the atmosphere of the BCV so much more!

 

[spiceycat]

you are going in the summer - so it will HOT & Humdity - not exactly weather that little ones like - so yea go with BC.

besides Star War weekend are at Studio in June!!!!

 

[helenabear]

While I love OKW, with two toddlers, I would definitely go with location!!! OKW is great though for room size. You get almost 300 sq ft more. The location is more remote though, but definitely quiet. I will say skip SSR for sure with two kids. Confusing layout IMO and not very "quiet" feeling there.

BCV would be perfect, but also do not discount VWL either. Just an easy boat ride away from MK as well The theming there is outstanding and should be cheaper than BCV if I recall correctly.

 

[cjnix29]

Wilderness Lodge Villas. With toddlers, you won't spend as much time at Epcot as you will at MK. The location is great, theming is great. OKW is a hike, and they do not have elevators to the third floors. VWL is all contained in one building, so you are close to everything you will need. It's fantastic!

 

[ElizabethB]

I agree. Wilderness Lodge Villas. These are the most convenient villas to Magic Kingdom (until the DVC villas at the Contemporary are built anyway). With two little ones, you are likely to spend the bulk of your time at MK. It will be very hot and tiring and you'll be happy to have an easy boatride between MK and your villa. Enjoy!

 

[Aneille]

Another point of view in regards to toddlers at Epcot.

My first trip was in 2004 we stayed in a 2 bedroom at the Boardwalk Villa's. We had 2 kids then and they 14 months old and almost 3 years old. We loved Epcot and MGM. I also was travelling with my parents and they loved that there was a boat to each of these parks as well. And my Dad loved getting up early and sitting on the Boardwalk.

We now have also stayed at BCV, WL, AKL, OKW (we do a lot of split stays) and our kids still love the BWV the best. They also loved OKW's pool.

They still really enjoy Epcot at 5, 3, and 1.

It is really nice to be able to walk to 2 parks and strollers are allowed to remain open on the boats from BWV/BCV that travel to Epcot and MGM.

Also my kids enjoy the atmosphere on the Boardwalk. My kids like to be busy. So at night we may be too tired to head over to the Magic Kingdom but we will walk outside get a drink, let the kids let off some steam on the Boardwalk(where there are jugglers and magicians every night), watch Illuminations from the bridge or even head into Epcot to watch the fireworks.

So I lean towards BWV or BCV (great pool and the young kids love playing in the sand!)

Yes, your going to WDW for the kids but it also your vacation too. Kids that age will enjoy wherever the family takes them. And every park and every resort has something to offer and something for your kids to smile at.

Don't stress too much over it. Everyone has their favorite resort and you will get tons of opinions.

 

[Lynne M]

It really depends on which theme park you plan to spend most of your time in. If you want Epcot or MGM, go with BCV or BWV.

If you'll be in MK most of the time, go with VWL.

With little ones, I think the ability to get back to the villa quickly is more important than almost anything else. VWL is about a 10-minute boat ride from MK, or a 10-minute bus trip. You can walk to Epcot pretty quickly from BWV, or very quickly from BCV. Or, take a boat to Epcot or MGM from either resort.

OKW and SSR are both lovely resorts, but they're pretty far from the theme parks, bus service only. They're also very large resorts, and you may need to use their internal bus service just to get from your villa to the pool or restaurants. BCV, BWV and VWL are all of a very manageable size.

This may or may not be important to you, but BCV, BWV and VWL all offer room service. OKW and SSR do not.

 

[Aneille]

It really depends on which theme park you plan to spend most of your time in. If you want Epcot or MGM, go with BCV or BWV.

If you'll be in MK most of the time, go with VWL.

With little ones, I think the ability to get back to the villa quickly is more important than almost anything else. VWL is about a 10-minute boat ride from MK, or a 10-minute bus trip. You can walk to Epcot pretty quickly from BWV, or very quickly from BCV. Or, take a boat to Epcot or MGM from either resort.

OKW and SSR are both lovely resorts, but they're pretty far from the theme parks, bus service only. They're also very large resorts, and you may need to use their internal bus service just to get from your villa to the pool or restaurants. BCV, BWV and VWL are all of a very manageable size.

This may or may not be important to you, but BCV, BWV and VWL all offer room service. OKW and SSR do not.

Maybe you should look think of it as Lynne suggested. Figure out how many days you think you will be in each park. Then choose the resort that you think will be the most the convient to get back to.

Just figure in MGM, Epcot and MK since everyone has to take a bus from the animal kingdom. To me getting on the bus is the hassle(with kids and stroller) so the distance on the bus isn't as important.

 

[Sammie]

While SSR and OKW do only offer bus service to the main parks they are certainly not far from the parks. In fact they are closer to MK than BW or BCV.

 

[skipperkim]

Also something else to consider is that OKW and SSR do not share buses. Both BCV and BWV do with the Swan and Dolphin as well. So while getting to MGM and Epcot might be easy, MK will be rough staying at one of the Epcot villas.

 

[crazywig]

In the past 4yrs as a DVC owner we've stayed at BWV, VWL and SSR. Currently my kids are 5 and 3. While I love love love the theme of the VWL, it's proximity to the MK was not all it's cracked up to be imo.

We prefer BWV for the easy access to Epcot and MGM, especially when we had a double stroller or two singles. The less time on/off buses the better imo. Bus service to MK is not as bad as in the past when all the Epcot area resorts shared.

So I'd choose BCV or BWV .

 

[PrincessAlways]

You cannot beat OKW if you're looking for a spacious 2 bedroom condo! True, it only offers bus transportation to all parks, but you don't share buses with any other resort. You rarely have a long wait for the bus. The rides to the parks never seem to take a long time. Except the ride to DTD. On that route the bus stops at Blizzard Beach. I think that's the one. Someone will correct me if it's wrong. It's a quiet resort with pools, Olivia's restaurant, Good to Go (take out) & general store. When our "gathering" includes my 3 nieces (4,6 & 7), we really appreciate the size of the condo. It's very comfortable & affordable. We stayed at SSR one time & were not impressed. In November we're trying BWV. Can't wait to see how we like that one!