We are a family of 5 planning for our visit Disney vacation in Jan 2022. When we visit our boys will be 9 and 6 and our baby girl will be 1 1/2. We are trying to figure out what resort is our best option. We are debating between Caribbean (cost and skyliner), AoA suit (skyliner), Wilderness, Beach Club, and Contemporary. Carribean is $1,500 cheaper. We can afford the extra $1,500, but is it really worth it to stay at a better resort without the skyliner?
We also have these considerations:
1) Transportation is very important because one parent and the baby will need to leave theme parks early for naps.
2) We are spending two days at Magic Kingdom and two days at Hollywood (Galaxy's Edge).
3) We will have a stroller.
Thank you so much for your help!
Based on your family size/kids ages and days at MK & DHS, here is my two cents- take it for what it is. Top choices/almost interchangeably would be Beach Club and AoA.
1-Beach Club (would do a studio so you get the under TV pull down as an extra bed for the kiddos, my kids love those. Walking to DHS/Epcot and/or skyliner is another perk. And the boardwalk area is a fun area. PLUS Stormalong bay- the pool is amazing. Now granted as a Floridian, I don't enter a pool until about April or May, your kids may swim in January and that pool and slide area cannot be beat. If you don't plan on swimming then I would go with AoA.
2. AofA- the suite is great for a family of 5 and the skyliner is a great for your days for DHS. At your kids ages, they will love the theming, probably more so than Beach Club. In which case you know your kids best, so AofA may be a better choice for you all especially with kids. Food court is easy to grab stuff with kids and the buses aren't usually terrible.
Of the remaining choices, CBR and Contemporary would be great for your DHS and MK days respectively. Wilderness-super cool theming, Kids may really love that and the pool area is nice. Would be convenient for your MK days but bus only on DHS days. Contemporary never really wowed my kids at that age. The monorail through the lobby is cool but my kids much preferred the value themed resorts at 9 and 6 like AoA and POP. Plus with no epcot monorail right now, I don't see a huge benefit to staying at the monorail resorts. Hopefully by January it's back.
CBR is nice as some rooms have the pull down bed under the TV so that would be fun for the kids and you get the skyliner. The buses at CBR are the worst IMO of all the Mods. It's also a really large resort so unless you have a preferred room, you will be walking alot. And if you decide on pirate rooms for the kids, they are far from everything and the beds are not that comfy. So really for me, the last three ranked-- I would pick Contemporary for the proximity-walkability/monorail to MK, then Wilderness- boat transport to MK and then CBR. CBR is last for me since I despise the buses. Not that I suspect we'd have a ton of rain in January, the skyliner should be full throttle most days but it does go down sometimes and when it does, the buses aren't fun and can be long waits which would make leaving parks midday for naps a chore.
Edit to add..... I think split stays could be good if you want to experience several resorts but I would not do it if you A-have never done it before and B- definitely not with my whole family which includes a baby. If you need to have a crib for the baby to nap, being homeless and in between resorts for one day on your trip would be a deal breaker for me.
