Need professional opinions!!

[eangel12]

I am in the midst of planning our September 2014 trip. My husband, 4 year old son and 2 year old son will be going...along with myself! My mother in law is also planning to join us possibly with her boyfriend. My 4 year old is obsessed with animals and when we took him when he was 2 he loved AK park. We stayed at Beach Club and rented a minivan so getting around was easy!

For this trip we are planning to arrive on Thursday and stay until the following Sunday so 9 days total. I don't count travel days because Thursday we won't get in until 8pm or later and Sunday we will be flying out early!

Our original plan:
Rent a minivan and either book a 2 bedroom suite at AKV--savannah view at Kidani Village. We liked the idea of viewing animals and we loved, loved AK last trip. We have scheduled 3 days at MK, 3 days at AK, 1 day at HS, 1 days at Epcot and 1 day at Sea World.

Now here are my 2 thoughts:
1. Stay 5 nights at BLT and go to MK and Epcot for those days to utilize the walk to MK and monorail to Epcot and then switch to AKL and do Sea World, AK, and HS which will be easy with the rental!! (We would either book a 2 bedroom at each place or rent points!!)

2. Scratch all of those and stay all days at Polynesian Resort because of the easy access to MK. Use minivan to access other parks with exception on Epcot...we would take monorail. It is a hard choice...I love the idea of animals at AK but LOVE the convenience of a monorail hotel with 2 small kids!

We are not planning to go back to rooms for naps. Our youngest would sleep in the jogger stroller.

We are planning a September 2014 trip and August 2015 trip for another 10 days.

We liked the Beach Club when we went and I loved the walk to Epcot but that wasn't a favorite park for my 2 year old--we did 2 days at AK and never got to Asia at all. My son adored everything there and so did we!!

I know it is ultimately my decision but opinions would be great. I've stayed at BC and BWV but never at any of the others. Thought opinion might help me narrow it all down!

Thanks in advance!!

 

[ptlohmysoul]

I am in the midst of planning our September 2014 trip. My husband, 4 year old son and 2 year old son will be going...along with myself! My mother in law is also planning to join us possibly with her boyfriend. My 4 year old is obsessed with animals and when we took him when he was 2 he loved AK park. We stayed at Beach Club and rented a minivan so getting around was easy!

For this trip we are planning to arrive on Thursday and stay until the following Sunday so 9 days total. I don't count travel days because Thursday we won't get in until 8pm or later and Sunday we will be flying out early!

Our original plan:
Rent a minivan and either book a 2 bedroom suite at AKV--savannah view at Kidani Village. We liked the idea of viewing animals and we loved, loved AK last trip. We have scheduled 3 days at MK, 3 days at AK, 1 day at HS, 1 days at Epcot and 1 day at Sea World.

Now here are my 2 thoughts:
1. Stay 5 nights at BLT and go to MK and Epcot for those days to utilize the walk to MK and monorail to Epcot and then switch to AKL and do Sea World, AK, and HS which will be easy with the rental!! (We would either book a 2 bedroom at each place or rent points!!)

2. Scratch all of those and stay all days at Polynesian Resort because of the easy access to MK. Use minivan to access other parks with exception on Epcot...we would take monorail. It is a hard choice...I love the idea of animals at AK but LOVE the convenience of a monorail hotel with 2 small kids!

We are not planning to go back to rooms for naps. Our youngest would sleep in the jogger stroller.

We are planning a September 2014 trip and August 2015 trip for another 10 days.

We liked the Beach Club when we went and I loved the walk to Epcot but that wasn't a favorite park for my 2 year old--we did 2 days at AK and never got to Asia at all. My son adored everything there and so did we!!

I know it is ultimately my decision but opinions would be great. I've stayed at BC and BWV but never at any of the others. Thought opinion might help me narrow it all down!

Thanks in advance!!

My vote is stay at AKV. If your sons loved AK, they will love AKV. We stayed there in Feb. The kids loved going out on the balcony and looking at the animals, plus you can walk out the back of the lobby and see them closer. I thought this is the time to stay there, when the kids were little and really enjoy the animals. We stayed at Kidani, ate breakfast in the room, then headed out to the parks. We had a 7yo, 4yo, 2yo, and a 1yo. The buses start at Kidani, then pick up at Jambo, then go to the parks. I liked that we were first on the bus, so we could def. get seats. We flew in and had no vehicle.

 

[eangel12]

Good to know that you enjoyed AKL!! How was the pool at Kidani for the little ones?! I have to say that we didn't love the pool at BC--well we didn't love the pool for a 2 year old. Once the kids are older BC will be our spot because we know they will love the slide but 2 was just too young!

 

[gdrj]

Just wondering, on the first plans why not stay at Poly instead of BLT, since Poly is plan 2? Not sure if you are looking at cash or renting points for DVC locations.

The nice thing about Disney is no matter what you choose it's the right decision and it leaves something to try on the next trip

 

[eangel12]

We are paying cash--we could do a split stay with Polynesian--didn't think about that!! Yikes--another choice!! I'm leaning towards AKV for this trip and Polynesian in August 2015 since it will be hotter/more crowded!!

 

[keaster]

Good to know that you enjoyed AKL!! How was the pool at Kidani for the little ones?! I have to say that we didn't love the pool at BC--well we didn't love the pool for a 2 year old. Once the kids are older BC will be our spot because we know they will love the slide but 2 was just too young!

The pool at Kidani is great for little ones as it also has a large splash area. The pool also has a little toddler slide in addition to the bigger one.

 

[Pirate Granny]

Don't discount going back to the hotel in the afternoons. We go a lot of the time in Sep...there have been years that it rained, hard for more than a couple hours....naps would be better in the hotel rather than stroller if you hit one of those weeks where it rains EVERY afternoon. I like the two bedroom idea due to your numbers and it'll be cheaper to rent than to book with Disney directly.

 

[celtchic]

I agree with ptlohmysoul. Go to AKV in September, as it is a wee bit cooler than August, and let your son have his fill of animals! The Polynesian the following August sounds wonderful! Wow! I'm jealous, planning two trips at once (albeit the decision making!)

 

[eangel12]

Thanks for the suggestions!! I'll look into renting the points!! I am looking forward to taking my boys to Disney!! We aren't going anywhere this summer or fall--putting that money into 2 trips for the following year. My youngest just turned 1 and we wanted to wait until he was older before going back--just personal preference!!

 

[AdamsMum]

I vote you stay at AKV Kidani, but ask for a room close to the lobby, with little kids you won't want to walk to the end of that insanely long hallway.
We stayed there recently on the Sunset Savanna. We had giraffes 3 to 4 days, 4 zebras every day, ankole cattle, and two very amorous antelope (I think). One day the giraffes were standing as close as could be to our balcony staring at us. We thought "who's watching who?" If your kids get excited about animals, it's not to be missed. But remember you might have to jog your jogging stroller back to your room.

 

[SamSam]

I agree with others, AKV Kidani is a wonderful place to since your kids like AK. We love Kidani and have stayed there many times (just dh and me) but a couple of months ago we took our 2 1/2 year old twin grandsons and they LOVED it. They loved seeing the animals from out balcony, but their favorite thing was the water splash area at the pool. We took them to the splash area 3 days in a row and by the 3rd day they were giddy with excitement. so fun to watch them getting so excited!

 

[Deb & Bill]

CMs have asked guests boarding the monorail to remove their kids and fold up their strollers when they are more crowded. So it's not a sure thing that you can leave your kids in the stroller when you board the monorail.

 

[tigger51276]

Honestly I would skip doing a split stay and just stay in one resort. It's really amazing how much time you lose switching resorts. I've done it a few times and unless it's one night (and it's the first night) then I won't do it anymore. Especially with little ones I just want to get settled in and unpack and not have to worry about packing back up until the end of the trip.
I would also vote for AKV, it is by far my favorite place to stay and more importantly my kids favorite place. The first and last thing we do everyday is go onto the balcony to see "who's" out there and what they are doing. I love drinking my coffee in the morning out there as well.
I will say that I actually prefer Jambo House over Kidani though. There is no quick service location at Kidani and there gift shop/store is much, much smaller. My kids favorite place to eat is Boma and that is over at Jambo. Kidani felt very secluded and I once thought he hallways at Jambo could be a little long, they are NOTHING compared to getting to your room at Kidani, it is a very LONG set of buildings that are all connected.
I will say Kidani has an amazing water/splash area that my kids loved, however when we stay at Jambo this summer we will just walk or take the bus over to Kidani and spend an afternoon there.

 

[hakepb]

With a 4 year old boy, you might want to be open to adding another DHS day/partial day...that stage started to push us from being a DHS half day family to a 2day @ DHS family..

 

[eangel12]

Hakepb--I was thinking about that! My son is obsessed with Star Wars so I wondered if I should do 2 days instead of 1!!

 

[hakepb]

Hakepb--I was thinking about that! My son is obsessed with Star Wars so I wondered if I should do 2 days instead of 1!!

That's where park hoppers help. With AK closing early, you can head over to MK or do Star Wars and Fantasmic in the evening (but you do have to get there early for TSM)

 

[jillmc40]

Thanks for the suggestions!! I'll look into renting the points!! I am looking forward to taking my boys to Disney!! We aren't going anywhere this summer or fall--putting that money into 2 trips for the following year. My youngest just turned 1 and we wanted to wait until he was older before going back--just personal preference!!

Since you are doing Sept and August..........Have you looked into getting an annual pass? It would come out cheaper than buying 2 separate sets of tickets, and then you could hop all you want. I'm sorry if you already mentioned that is what you are doing, but I didn't see it. Then you could get a TiW card (20% off all meals), 10% off merchandise in stores, and if you are looking at Poly you could probably get a good ap discount! BUT, if I were you I would rent points and stay at AKV for the first trip and try the ap discount for the second trip! We just rented points and stayed there in February. We had a Savannah View. It was awesome! We were in Jambo, not Kidani, but it was really great. Renting points was super easy. We did it through Davids, it is recommended by Dis, they were fantastic!

 

[eangel12]

We are planning to get AP since with both stays we will be at 19 days!! Figured it made more sense!! I am also going to purchase the TIW card. We did the deluxe dining last time and we were stuffed--happy bit stuffed!!! We wanted to take it easy this time and eat what we want instead of getting the biggest bang for our buck!!