DVC with young kids

[Tinkerfan4ever]

Getting close to booking our 2023 trip. (Oct 2023) This one will be special because we will have our first grandchild with us! The trip will be myself and husband, daughter 16, friend of family age 5, daughter 23, SIL 23, grandchild who will be 1.

We are looking at 2 bedroom villas. I want all of the "bigs" on beds and not pull out couches, so I know we will need a dedicated 2 bedroom.

We have stayed at almost all of the DVC resorts, so I am familiar with most of them, but never looked at them while thinking about a 1 year old and can't decide which is the best for this crew! SIL, the grandchild and the family friend have never been to Disney. A splash pad would be great for the grand and our 5 year old friend.

I think we will likely spend the most time in the Magic Kingdom, but will definitely hit all of the parks.
Our daughter really would like the kitchen and laundry in room with having the little guy with us. Easy eating and clean up is a positive.

The obvious choice I think is BLT (we recently stayed there and enjoyed the monorail, fireworks and walking to MK), but we also recently stayed at Copper Creek and I loved the feel of that resort. Kidani and Jambo are both amazing, but I don't know if I would want to stay there while naps are a must. Never stayed at the Grand, but I am not ruling that out. (There are just too many great options!)

FYI - I do have a resort booked at the Boardwalk which is our home resort, but plan on changing it at the 7 month mark.

Hit me up with your best advice for littles and dedicated 2 bedroom recommendations. (I just can't make up my mind!!!)

 

[_auroraborealis_]

Given the age of the grandchild, I would go with BLT. While the splash pad is not as fancy as that at GF or at Wilderness Lodge, at that age the slides and extra features are not useful anyway. Having the ability to walk to the bridge to watch fireworks or easily try to get up to TOTWL while one person stays back with the babe (assuming blue card) is priceless.

 

[pineapplepalms]

The 2BRs that have the new Murphy beds in the living room are great since they have a total of 5 beds, and the smaller Murphy bed is a good size for the 5yo. VGF and RIV have these along with easier access to parks. Our kids love the splash pads at those resorts too. They’re also nice since you could have the 1yo napping in the stroller and not have to fold it to get on a bus for some of the parks. We stayed at BLT last summer when our youngest was 1 and that’s also a good option, but it doesn’t have the new Murphy beds.

 

[mamaofsix]

If there's availability (which there may not be), VGF would be a good fit. Excellent splash bad, real murphy beds in living room. I imagine your daughter, SIL and 1 year old would need one of the bedrooms to themselves due to naps, etc. The 2 bedroom lock-off has the kitchenette in the second bedroom if they need a fridge / microwave for heating bottles in the night, etc.

 

[DeeBee3]

As much as I love Copper Creek, they only have the pull out in the living space of a 2 bedroom. I stayed there with 4 adults and 2 little kids. It definitely had enough room but one of the adults had to take the pull out because the kids were too little and staying with us (parents) in one of the bedrooms.

I'd go with a place that has full beds and extra bathrooms!

 

[SleeplessInTO]

Grand Floridian would be an excellent choice. The one bedroom has a king (separate room) plus a Murphy pull down that can sleep 2 and another pull down under the TV that can sleep 1 (perhaps one not very tall person). Has a shower (huge and amazing) plus a tub. Only one toilet but two sinks. If you get a two bedroom lock off you’d also have a queen, another Murphy pull down and one more under the TV (on the studio side). Plus a little kitchenette, and 1.5 bathrooms (again only one toilet).

My daughter loves the tub and sleeping on the bed under the TV. It fits her (now 7) and her stuffed animal friends quite comfortably.

The splash pad is fun although the bucket can be overwhelming if the kids are not expecting it. Great view of fireworks by Gasparilla’s. The pool is zero entry and there’s lots of fun pool parties.

You could always do a dedicated two bedroom if the kitchenette isn’t that important on the studio side and you don’t need a second pull down bed under the TV. You do get a proper queen bed instead of a Murphy queen bed in the dedicated.

Biggest advantage of the studio to me is that you can fold up the Queen Murphy when you don’t need it, but you’ll have loads of space in a two bedroom anyways so maybe it doesn’t matter.

Grand Floridian has a walking path to MK. It’s not as short as BLT’s walk, but it is a little prettier. BLT’s biggest advantage is an extra full bathroom. That could be hard to beat.

 

[CarolynFH]

I’ll just add that BLT has both a sleeper sofa and a sleeper chair in the living room, which would allow your DD and the 5 year old to have separate sleeping spaces. The 2BR also has 3 full bathrooms! With a party like yours, I’d go for a BLT 2BR.

 

[kboo]

I'm currently considering some variation of your options for different family needs! (my kids are now older, but I've stayed at VGF with a crib before)

If you have the points, I would lean toward a 2br dedicated at VGF, or possibly a 2br lockoff, depending on where everybody ends up sleeping. Because all the beds are Murphy beds, you will have real bed surfaces for 9 (ded)-10 (LO) people.

It might also depend on where you put the 1yo, who I assume will be in a crib?
I think the LO may have more options where the crib can be a little out of the way without being in the middle of a room, but I may be wrong:
1. if you elect to use both doors into the hallway, the crib can go where the door is between the 1br and studio side. The split bath on the studio/2nd bedroom side allows you to sneak in/out of that bath while keeping the hallway mostly dark and quiet(er).
2. With both 2br layouts, another option for the crib would be to close the door between the primary bath and the laundry, and put the crib in the little hallway there. the drawback is that then anyone who is staying in the primary BR has to walk through the living room, where people will be sleeping. Of course if the baby's parents are sleeping in the LR/DR area then that won't matter.

Another benefit to the LO is that if the baby is sleeping on the studio side, you have a full kitchen and laundry, but you also have a small fridge and kitchenette that you can dedicate to baby bottles/dishes/milk.

At VGF, the splash pad and zero entry feature pool are very close to the DVC building. I would even ask for a ground floor room so you won't need elevators. (We did stay at VGF once on the ground floor even though we asked for a higher floor and found that we liked it - it was super easy to go back and forth to the pool, and very convenient with a stroller).

BLT dedicated 2br has 3 full baths (including 3 tubs, and 3 toilets) so with as many people as you have, that may just be easier. The drawback there is that there are no murphy beds, yet, and even my young kids have complained that the pull outs are not nearly as comfortable as the murphy beds.

 

[kboo]

Ooh ... looking at your group: *if* 2 of the 3 Disney adults can go in the 2nd bedroom with the 1 and 5yo, I might change my recommendation to an emphatic VGF 2br LO recommendation:

1 yo in crib on studio side, 5yo in studio twin murphy, 2 of Disney adults (16, 23, 23) on the queen. The studio bedroom will feel HUGE with the couch kept as a couch and not a Murphy.

1 Disney adult on the twin murphy in the LR.

Then, the little kids can go to bed earlier in the 2nd bedroom, and both the 2nd bedroom and the LR can keep the couch configuration and be used as hanging out space!

 

[kilik64]

How long are you going? If you are doing MK, Epcot, and HS, have you thought about doing a split stay? BLT for mk, then your home resort at BWV for the other part. People will poo poo the homeless part of a split, but man is it spectacular being able to walk to mk then walk to epcot and ride a boat to HS with littles.

If its a short trip probably not worth it, but if you are doing 6 days or more, thatd be what id look at.

 

[Tinkerfan4ever]

How long are you going? If you are doing MK, Epcot, and HS, have you thought about doing a split stay? BLT for mk, then your home resort at BWV for the other part. People will poo poo the homeless part of a split, but man is it spectacular being able to walk to mk then walk to epcot and ride a boat to HS with littles.

If its a short trip probably not worth it, but if you are doing 6 days or more, thatd be what id look at.

We will be going Saturday to Saturday. Not sure about a split stay. We have done them before, and with an older group, I would be fine with that. But I don't want to have a day where the 1year old won't have a place to nap if needed.

The 1 year old will be in a crib/pack n play. The 16 y/o would prefer to not share a bed with the 5 y/o. I was hoping that maybe he could go on a pull down under the TV (VGF) or a pull out chair (BLT).

We would have to borrow a few points to stay at VGF and we wouldn't have to borrow for BLT. I think that is a big hang up for my husband. That and he thinks we should do VGF when it is just an adult trip. He also really liked the viewing area at the Contemporary for the fireworks as well as the bridge to BLT.

I know these are great problems to have and either way we will have a great resort. I just need my 7 month window to get here so I can decide for sure!