Favorite resort for pool days with babies/ toddlers

[justme0729]

What DVC resort is your favorite for pool time with a 1 and 3 year old? We plan to do a low key trip likely next May, September, or November with pool time everyday in the morning, naps in afternoon, and evening/ dinner in the parks. I would consider a split stay maybe so they don’t get bored of the same pool area each day and to get easy access to all the parks (thinking Riviera or beach club for a few days and then an MK resort might be a good idea). My current 2 year old loves a good splash pad. What would you choose?

 

[butterscotchcollins]

GF has maybe the cutest splash pad I’ve ever seen. Yacht + Beach has a great toddler pool w fake sand that kids love too!

 

[MarkNC2Disney]

IMO, Poly has the best splash pad, followed by CCV, then RIV and VGF.

Boardwalk also has a very nice pool area with easy sight lines. Wouldn’t recommend BCV for that reason

 

[monorailmom]

Kidani has the best kids splash area in my opinion! We were there with our 2yo DGD in February, and it was just perfect. It's shaded, not crowded, loads of space, plenty of benches in dry areas nearby to take breaks/park the stroller. Our DD and DSIL specifically wanted to stay at Kidani to take advantage of this, and it was so worth it!

 

[DeeBee3]

I loved the Riviera pool area. I think it would be great for a pool day. My kids also loved Wilderness Lodge. Beach Club seems too much with kids that little. The pool area is massive.

 

[DizneyLizzy]

The easiest pool areas to navigate with non-swimmers or pre-swimmers in my opinion are Riviera (splash pad + zero entry pool), Kidani, and Saratoga. Saratoga has several pools with zero entry and splash pads so you can try several within the same resort. Grand Floridian is good but gets really crowded.

 

[musicman0725]

They will love the pools at Beach Club with the sand area. The Polynesian has a great splash pad and so does CCV/RIV. The pools at Copper Creek and Riviera are also really nice pools. There are life vests at all of the resorts that they can use, which really made us worry a lot less. I do think the Polynesian and Beach Club have the top 2 pools. There is definitely something special seeing Cinderella's castle from the pool at the Polynesian.

 

[takemetomickey]

IMO, Poly has the best splash pad, followed by CCV, then RIV and VGF.

Boardwalk also has a very nice pool area with easy sight lines. Wouldn’t recommend BCV for that reason

Agree 100% on BCV. Tough sight lines and the slides are in a separate area.

We recently did a non park stay at SSR and the kids loved it. I did a lot of research beforehand on the pools. The main pool has a toddler slide and zero entry, as well as a splash pad. The secondary pools were not basic rectangles like many of the secondary pools at other resorts so I liked that as well . The paddock pool was also zero entry, great sight lines, and had a separate enclosed area with slides and splash buckets specifically for little ones. It also had a food window which was nice. The third pool I forget the name but it had a cute castle themed playground. My kids loved it there.

 

[cedricandsophie]

Old Key West. It’s a small compact area with a great pool, slide, playground, sandy area to play. Right next to community center with lots of activities for kids. And there is a pool party every day with fun activities.

 

[Wendysofftoneverland]

My kids LOVE the splash pads. My oldest is sad he just outgrew them; on our October trip, he was at the sweet spot where he was short enough barefoot for the spraygrounds with slides, but tall enough with shoes on to ride Tron. So we've been to a lot of Disney splashgrounds over the past 6 or 7 years.

My kids' current favorite: Poly ...but there are hidden alcoves and it is pretty expansive, so I would have been nervous had they been younger (they were ages 4 and 7 when we were there). But they love it because it is so expansive and it has a tunnel slide.

When my son was younger, his favorite was Fort Wilderness. He loved that little sprayground. Cons to there are that the bathrooms by the pool don't have showers and the cabins won't have laundry in them. The SSR splashground is very similar, so SSR might be a better choice.

SSR has the splashground by Paddock Pool, zero entry and a toddler slide at High Rock Springs (plus a basic splashpad, but my kids were sad that the Donald Duck statue had been removed from it), the Congress Park pool was just a pool but the dry playground was nearby, and a really cute horse-themed sprayground at the Grandstand pool (which also had limited food options...we ate lunch there one day). I think for that age range I would recommend SSR. Only con is no sand to play in...though as a parent, I sometimes see that as a pro, not con, that the SSR playground is not in sand like some of the others.

I would not recommend Old Key West for kids in the sprayground stage because all they have is a basic wading pool.

Grand Floridian has an adorable splashground and I wish we had been there when it was warmer. We were there shortly before X-mas 2022 and lasted maybe 15 minutes before going to the big pool, which was warmer.

Next trip we will be at AKL. The water playground looks cute, but if my son was younger, he would be disappointed that there are no kid-sized waterslides like at the SSR/VGF/Ft. W/Poly/POFQ/CBR splashgrounds. While CBR isn't DVC, it's my kids' 2nd favorite pool after the Poly.

 

[kboo]

Riviera and Grand Floridian are my top votes - the VGF splash pad is super cute and next to the zero entry feature pool. There is also lots of shade, a not-too-busy snack bar etc. Riviera is similar, with better food options nearby - including gelato at the pool. There is also the "backyard" with games and the quiet pool nearby, if you try a pool nap.

BLT, not really. Although there is a nice place for a stroller nap at the BBQ area at the far end of BLT.

Agree 100% on BCV. Tough sight lines and the slides are in a separate area.

As between BWV and BCV, I would pick BWV as it has a separate kids pool that is near the large pool. BCV is *terrible* for the toddler set. The small pool and beginner slide are across the walkway from all the action. While there is a large shallow sandy bottom pool area, it is kind of a nightmare for a new walker. Your 3yo would probably be fine, but when I was there with a wobbly 18mo old, the water was chest deep for her, and the sandy bottom was challenging. If she fell, she'd be totally under water and I wasn't sure if she'd be able to get up. I ended up sitting on the sandy bottom keeping her mostly in reach, while my older but still new swimmer tried the small slide across the walkway with dad. NOW, it's super fun - kids are 8, 12 and good swimmers - but it wasn't so much fun when they were little.