Poly or AK w/ 2.5 yr old in January?

[fishcall]

I am planning a surprise vacation for my wife and 2.5 yr old daughter in January 2004. I am nervous about staying at a "beach" resort in Jan, but I am also nervous about staying in the Animal Park because it may be cold keeping the animals hidden. Any suggestions on either resort with a highly advanced 2 yr old? How long does it take to get to MK and Epcot form each resort? There is not much info on either resort on Disney's site. Any help would be appreciated.

 

[Mike_in_FL]

They are both great hotels, and our children (7, 4 and 21 months) love them both. I would say that the Poly is the better choice for you IMHO, and would be the one my kids would choose if they had to make the choice (we stayed in both this summer). I imagine your 2.5 yo will like MK the best, and since the Poly is right on the monorail, you are only a few minutes away. The monorail also serves Epcot (get on at the TTC - not a very long walk from anywhere in the Poly). There are a quite a few other activities for kids at the Poly also (more so than at AKL).

Temperatures in January could be as low as the 30's at night and as high as the 80's in the day (although not on the same day!). It is a great time of year to visit - we go every January.

Mike

 

[momofmikey]

I would personally stay at the Poly. Although I've never stayed at the AK, I would prefer the convenience of the Poly, particularly its proximity to the MK. When we went with my 1 yo DS, we spent a majority of our time at the MK, and the convenience was awesome. My son would fall asleep in his stroller at the MK, and we'd be able to get back to our room with him still sleeping (strollers don't need to be collapsed for monorail - only for busses). Also, you're so close to the GF, which I'm sure is every little girl's dream - you could easily walk there from the Poly. The Poly is my favorite - we're staying at the GF in December with my now 2.5 yo DS, and 8 month old DS simply because we're going with my mom and she wants to stay there. Otherwise, we'd be back at the Poly.

Also, not sure if you're doing garden or lagoon, but we did lagoon view, and it was wonderful - the beach was right outside our door - your daughter would probably have a ball playing in the sand. Oh, and there's the Electrical Water Pageant every night that you can see from the beaches of the Poly - something really cute!

Have fun!

 

[LadyTrampScamp&Angel]

Hi fishcall -and welcome!

Am I reading into your post that you're nervous about your child "escaping" and getting into the water? I have a little escape artist myself so that has always been a concern to me. We stayed at the Poly when he was 3.5 in a 3rd floor room with a balcony overlooking the marina, also stayed at AKL when he was 5.
Well, the Poly is certainly wonderfully convenient and other than the water concern I'd say it would be the best choice with a child that age. I always travel with lots of babyproofing stuff to try to stop, or at least slow down, my kids. If water is your concern perhaps you would be better off in a garden view room and requesting a building further away from the water, maybe an upper level room so the child can't just get out a door to the water? At Walmart and Target they have these door knob covers that my kids couldn't master turning at that age. You can also get things for the sliding glass doors.
Of course if you decide AKL it's beautiful, peaceful atmosphere, very unique - it's only drawback IMHO is it's NOT as close to the parks as other deluxes and only has bus transportation.
Have a great time whatever you decide!

 

[Peter Pirate]

I have stayed at both and while I generally prefer the AKL to the Poly, travelling with a young one most definately favors the Poly. (1) The view of the brightly lit castle from the Resort is cool (2) the ease of return to your room from the MK is unparrelled and (3) being able to see fireworls and the one would/could enjoy.

The AKL, while superior in my humble opinion, has one big draw, that being the animals and I doubt that many 2.5yo's will be thrilled with them for more than a few minutes and certainly wouldn't appreciate it...

 

[NicsMom1500]

Although I love the AK, I would opt for the Poly. We almost always travel in January and I can tell you that the weather will either be cold (needing sweatshirts usually but once we did need jackets) or hot (Jan 2002 we were in shorts every day and it was very hot).

I've stayed at both hotels with a 2-3 year old. Our son enjoyed watching animals from the AKL balcony. We didn't notice less animals outside due to the colder weather and we've been there once in December and once in January.

I would opt for Poly because of the monorail to MK. The convenience with our fold-up stroller was ideal. The rooms are so much larger and navigating with strollers, etc does require a bit more space for everyone to be comfortable. Our son truly enjoyed sleeping on the daybed (with guardrail).

Kim

 

[IndianFan2]

I would choose the Poly with a 2-year old. It only takes a couple minutes to get to the MK on the Monorail. By the way, if you choose to stay at the Poly, make reservations for their character breakfast at the Ohana Restaurant. My daughters loved that one. They also liked the Character breakfast at the Grand Floridian's "1900 Parkfare" restaurant. The Grand Floridian is one stop away on the Monorail, or you could walk (but I wouldn't do it without the stroller!) Another benefit of staying at the Poly is that you are in plain site of the fireworks above the Magic Kingdom every night. We didn't have a Lagoon View, but we walked out onto the Stairway balcany, up to the third floor, and had a perfect view every evening.

 

[Grumpy37]

We've done the Poly once and loved it! We haven't done the AKL yet (but that's next!)

If you are still in the stroller stage (doesn't sound like it, though) the Poly is the way to go. Easy to get around, just take the stroller right on the monorail on the hcp equipped cars (we've seen lots of strollers elsewhere on the monorail as well).

The busses obviously make you breakdown the stroller to carry it on board, if you have stuff in the underneath basket it's a hassle to empty that, break down the stroller and carry it up onto the bus while keeping track of your child.

If your child is old enough to appreciate the animals and is beyond strollers then, by all means, do the AKL. You can always rent the strollers at the park, too, for petered out kids.

Edit: Almost forgot, the main monorail station connects to the east (?) side of the poly (by the ferry boat launch), you can walk there and get to the express monorails and to Epcot. If your room is on that side of the resort its actually faster than riding the resort monorails around to the transportation center.

 

[diathoney]

We've stayed at AKL and loved it, but I'd definitely recommend the Poly. When my kids were young (1.5 to 7) we always stayed at the CR so we could ride the monorail or walk to MK. With a little one, you'll spend a lot of time at MK, so the convience of the monorail is priceless!

 

[julfre]

I've stayed at the AKL and loved it. It has the best transportation of all the resorts I've stayed in. That said, if you plan on spending most of your time at MK, then I'd go with the Poly since the monorail is there. If you think you'd spend equal time in all parks and if your child loves animals, I'd stay at the AKL. AS for cold keeping the animals hidden, they put out food in enough places several times a day so you usually see animals from most views. I was there in Nov and many of the animals seemed to be alot more active when it cooled down at night.

 

[swilphil]

Another vote for the Poly. You can take a trip to AK for the animals. Maybe you will want to stay at AKL when your child is older. My 10 year old niece was dying to stay there on our last trip. My 3 yo son really doesn't care where he stays, but it's nice to be close to the parks when you want to come back for naps.

 

[Mississippian]

I've stayed at both, and while the AKL is better for adults, the Poly is great for kids. My four-year-old son really had little interest in watching the animals.

On the other hand, at the Poly my wife and I were having a really bad time with our children at check-in. They were worn out from the trip. We got a bottom floor lagoon room, and they immediately went outside and started happily playing in the sand. We had no problem with the children getting out of the room without us, so I wouldn't let this be a worry.

My only complaint about the Poly is the restaurants. The Kona Cafe is good for one meal, two at the most. Ohana's food is just awful unless you like burned meat and bad service.

One factor to consider is that the AKL is frequently much cheaper than the Poly. But if money is not your main factor, go with the Poly.

Have a good trip!

 

[jds]

Yet another vote for the Poly. We've stayed at and loved both, but with a young child you'll want to be spending plenty of time at MK, AND going back to your resort for naps/rests during the day, and it's just so much easier to do that from the Poly.

You never know what will happen with the weather in January--we stayed at the Poly in mid-January with our 19-month-old DD almost 13 years ago, two weeks after central FL had experienced a hard freeze. The gardeners were still replacing the flowering plants when we got there, and by the end of our 4-day stay it was in the mid-80s (swimming weather!) during the day!

Have a great trip!