I'm second guessing our resort choice

[3littlecuties]

We are planning on staying at the Contemporary Oct 13-20. We have 3 small children who will be 6, 4, and 2 at the time of our trip. The primary reason that we chose the Contemporary is because we can walk to the MK and monorail to Epcot. We plan on spending most of our time at those places. Our daughter has Down syndrome and can not walk too far without getting tired so we will have a double stroller to deal with and getting on and off the buses with 3 small kids and a double stroller and diaper bag sounds like a nightmare. We did it in 2008 when we went with just the older two who were almost 3 and 8 months at the time and it was very difficult and was the thing that we disliked the most about our trip then. We stayed at the cabins at Ft Wilderness then so we had an extra bus too to get through the campground. Never again with little ones!

Anyway...I'm now 2nd guessing our choice to all be in one room. We plan to spend most of our time in the parks but we will be coming back each afternoon for naps. We have never done a vacation where we are all in one room. We always do VRBO type rentals everywhere we go so that we can have space and the kids can have a separate place to sleep. Now I'm beginning to wonder if the little ones will want to nap when we come back if everyone is in the same room. One of us could take older DS to the pool or something to minimize distractions but would it still be too much? Also, our kids are used to going to bed early. I'm assuming they will stay up a little longer at Disney but they will still tire before us. Are we going to regret being in one room and having to go to bed when they do?

BLT is not available when we go or that would be a perfect solution. Would moving to a villa resort be worth it? If you were in our situation, which would you value more...ease of getting to and from parks without buses or separate sleeping space in the room?

 

[mmmears]

I think I would value the easy transportation. At least with the walkway and the monorail you can keep the kids in the stroller.

You could look at VWL -- I think the bigger boat will still let you keep kids in a stroller, but then you've got the buses to Epcot.

And the same with BWV and BCV -- you can walk to Epcot and DHS but you'll still have the bus to the MK.

Don't forget that you'll have a balcony at the CR, so you can put the little ones to sleep and relax out on the balcony.

I think it's a very personal choice, but I would take one big room and the convenient location over a larger place and then having to struggle onto the buses with 3 kids and a double stroller... I found that my DD was tired enough at WDW to fall asleep in our room with no problems, but every family is different.

Sorry you can't find something at BLT.

 

[WsPrincess]

For us we would pick ease of transportation. We love CR. What we did was make use of the balcony. We also upgraded to CL so we had the lounge area if someone was sleeping. One of us would stay in the room and the other would take the other one out to the lounge or to the pool. Worked great for us and we loved the Atrium Club.

If space is important to you though, I would go with SSR or OKW to be on Disney property

 

[Brian Noble]

I'm now 2nd guessing our choice to all be in one room.

Each family is different, of course, but my family of four has never considered a single hotel room to be "vacation". We'd rather (gasp!) stay offsite than stay in a single hotel room for more than a night or two. If a Villa resort is in the budget, go for it. The transportation will be a little less convenient, but for my family, it would be more than made up by extra space.

 

[twinboysmom]

I would stay with the CR for The ease of transportation. Taking the older child to the pool is a great idea as well as utilizing the balcony (probably too hot during the day) at night. I will tell you, we have been with our two year olds 4 times within the past year. Going back to the room or villa ( we own dvc) has never (and I do mean never) worked well for us for naps. We found that letting them fall asleep in there stroller (and they never do at the same time) then going back to the resort for an afternoon swim always worked out best for us. When we have tried to get them to sleep at the hotel it just hasn't worked well. Just passing this on ad it might be another option for you all. Have a great trip.

 

[birmantaz]

Have you thought about the Fort Wilderness Cabins for extra space? They are nice, and have a deck outside you could sit out on too. You can boat to MK...

 

[Disney-Kim]

Have you thought about the Fort Wilderness Cabins for extra space? They are nice, and have a deck outside you could sit out on too. You can boat to MK...

They stayed there the first time and it was too hard...

I just saw a review of the garden deluxe rooms at contemporary and they were a lot bigger...maybe look at those?

 

[Mommygraham]

I would definitely keep your reservation as it. We stayed in a studio at the BC last May with our 3 kids (ages 9, 3, and 1 at the time). Our kids also have early bedtimes normally but you will find that once in Disney, the rules change. We would go back to our resort after lunch for a swim and inevitably the little ones would fall asleep in the rooms while we were getting ready for dinner! I didn't mind though because it gave them their "second wind" for the evening. Personally, I couldn't think of a better place than at a monorail resort for ease of travel. (we did the double stroller thing As well and it was not fun getting on and off the buses!). Have a great trip!

 

[Jake06]

I agree about the cabins! We stayed in the cabins in August of 2010 with our DS who also has down syndrome. The buses and stroller were not fun! We were celebrating his 4th birthday and that he finally started to walk. We went again last year for his 5th birthday and stayed in POR - much better. We are going back to POR again this year. We are also a family of 5 - we have another DS who is 16 and a DD who is 19 so we have extra hands and built in babysitters. Our DS - 5 has trouble going to sleep at night - very loud and just takes along time to calm down. We were all surprised how well we all did in POR for a week. We were only in the room to shower and sleep. I think we were all just exhausted so slept well. Good luck!

 

[3littlecuties]

Jake06 - Thank you for your perspective! I am jealous that you have built in babysitters! Our daughter is our middle child (4). She started walking at 2.5 but her gait is still not the best and she tires easily. The double stroller is just a must. For our last trip, she was an infant and then we had the 2 year old so I had to hold her since she was just a baby and hold DS's hand and try to hold the diaper bag while DH folded up the stroller each time. Plus the cabins have that extra bus to get to the end of the campground. Not fun!

 

[3littlecuties]

Jake06 - Just realized you are in Ross Township, OH. We are in the northeast suburbs of Cincinnati! Small world!

 

[arcticdisneylovers]

We always stay at CR. When DD was younger she could watch Wishes at 8pm and go straight to bed. We love it We also loved not having to take her out of the stroller to get to MK and Epcot because that is where we spend most of our time too

 

[athumann]

I think if you are second guessing your resort then wasn't the right choice to begin with. Go with your gut, it won't steer you wrong.

 

[StuckInKS]

I would value the ease of transport over space. All of our trips have been with 2 young kids in a double stroller + 2-3 walking young kids. I would LOVE to be able to hop on the monorail at the end of the night and be at our hotel. Both the buses or car/trams are a big PITA. If they would allow us to all stay in one room at CR, we'd do it without a second thought. But I don't want to shell out the money for 2 rooms for 14 nights at a deluxe (I think would be over $10K once we add on tix and dining but a value is only half that), so we will deal with the buses again.

Good luck with your decision!

 

[LaMickey]

Just my $0.02, CR is a good choice. We are going in June with 7 kids and chose BLT for those same reasons - mainly ease of transportation. We have ages 10, 6, 5 & 3, but also have three 15 yo that are a huge help. Just the thought of being able to leave the park late and not have to wait for a ferry or monorail or anything.

A 1br at BLT would be another option, but is probably next to impossible to get this close. If ther's none on the website you might try calling. We booked about 10 months out, but our dates showed nothing available. When I called there was nothing for the exact dates, but if I moved our trip up a day there was plenty. Not sure if you have any flexibility, but the CM may be able to give you some options. I understand the concern of sharing the one room, but at least the CR rooms are quite large.

By the way, I also have a brother with Downs, now 31. We had many vacations with him as a child and had to account for his pace. The double stroller will be a nice plus. We've rented one for this trip also and even added a glider board for the 6 yo to use occassionally.

I am sure you will have a blast! Best of luck.

 

[DOREEN1779]

Keep the CR room and keep calling direct to check availability on a BLT Villa. On several occassions, I have found the computer availability not as accurate as the call center direct. I hope you have a great trip!

 

[CoachBagFanatic]

They stayed there the first time and it was too hard...

I just saw a review of the garden deluxe rooms at contemporary and they were a lot bigger...maybe look at those?

JMPO but I would have to go with the ease of transportation and keep CR. Here is the thread that Disney-Kim is referring to. Hope it helps.
http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=2919774&highlight=deluxe+room

 

[patty57]

We always used to share a room with our 2 boys when they were those ages without any problems. I know you have 3 kids, but I would still vote for ease of transportation.

 

[minniebeth]

If you stick with the CR, people mentioned using the balconies...only the tower rooms have balconies. If you have a Garden Wing room, make sure to ask for a first floor room, you will have a patio. Otherwise, the upper floors do not have balconies. I just wanted to mention this in case you are counting on the extra space, as you didn't say what kind of room at the CR you booked.

 

[ashleypmo]

I have 2 kiddos with that beautiful extra chromosome: DS6wDs, and DD5wDs. Our last trip (we only had DSwDs, who was then 2) we stayed at VWL, and loved it! We were almost always able to wheel his stroller onto the boat for MK. And you could take the boat to MK and then take the monorail to Epcot...but I think you'd have to transfer at the TTC or one of the hotels on the way. Still, it would probably be just as fast as the bus and would allow you to keep her in the stroller. You *can* technically have them treat your stroller as a wheelchair if you get a GAC designated as such (you ARE getting a GAC, right? ), and they can load the stroller w/ the wheelchair lift, but we found that to be really iffy. I think it worked out for us exactly ONCE during our 10 day stay...and that was probably ME from the airport.

Next year, we're staying at AKV. DS6wDs will be DS7wDs by then, and because of his compulsion & behavior issues, he'll still be in a stroller, so I'm sort of dreading taking him in and out.