resort choice a 7 yr and 7 mon

[alnina]

Planning a trip march 2010. Can you give me your favorite resort choices for an extented family trip with 5 adults but of course main focus the 2 children. A 7 yr. and a 7 mon. I am not sure of pricing yet so could you tell me your favorite value, moderate and delux [probaly just a dream due to price of paying for two rooms } We will need to use disney transportation and do plan on returning for afternoon breaks. I want to find a great place for my 7 yr. old grandson yet be able to accomadate taking his 7 mon. old sister Your help is greatly appreciated

 

[Macduffy]

We're going to for the first time so I don't have first hand advice but when planning our Sept 09 trip I wanted to stay at CBR but when DS (3) saw the pics he thought it was boring. So we are staying at ASSp as it is more "Disney themed" and he think it looks SO cool. The pools are pretty blah though.
We chose Sports because it was first to be picked up and dropped off which will garuntee us a seat in the morning and drop us off first for our afternoon breaks. DS wanted ASMovies but I told him it was full (I kept reading it was hard to get a set on the bus).
In the end I was happy with a value over a moderate because it's not THAT much bigger and not THAT much closer to the parks and it had a kid friendly theme. We are a party of 5 and got two adjoining (side by side) rooms.

GL

 

[daleswife]

We always stay at Value resorts when we go....reason....because I cant see the point in paying that much more for a room that my family will use to sleep and shower in. that being said, my fave value is POP, and I have stayed at Caribbean beach Resort once 10 yrs ago for our honeymoon and it was very nice. I haven't stayed in a deluxe.....I'm cheap....OH and my first trip to POP was in 2007 for my DD's 4th bday. My DS was 3 months at that time. last year we stayed at All Star Music and DD was 5 and DS was 21 months.....This September we are going back to POP and dd is 6 and ds is 2.....hope that helped you...

 

[deva]

Have you considered renting a villa (check out the DVC rent/trade board)? If you rent points it will probably be similar to the cost of 2 rooms at a moderate plus you get full kitchen and washer/dryer. Very nice for a big group so that people can spread out.

With kids I always like the zero entry pools - especially for a little one - there are only a few inches of water at the entry so baby can sit and splash around without being waist or chest deep. Off the top of my head I don't know which mods have one.

 

[susykt4]

We've stayed at All Star Music, Port Orleans Riverside (x2) and Pop (x3.) We keep going back to Pop because the kids (currently 8 and 6) love it so much. Pop doesn't share buses with other resorts like the All Stars AND it only has one bus stop. POR was beautiful and amazing, but HUGE. We spent so much time walking from our room to the eating area we needed strollers just to get around the resort! Plus, it took FOREVER for the bus to go all around the resort and make four or five stops including French Quarter. I imagine the other mods are similar with many bus stops.

Pop has three large pools, a kiddie pool with fountains and a pop jet fountain. It has a small playground. They have daily activities posted by the main pool and my kids LOVE the nightly parade with handheld instruments that goes from the food court to the check-in area and back. The theming is great. The rooms are small, but tolerable, especially if you're just going there to sleep.

I've always dreamed of staying at Animal Kingdom Lodge. We visited last trip and I found myself shushing the kids OUTSIDE because there were so many adults without children around. That's when I finally got it through my head- values only until the kids are much older I'll save the extra money and go on more trips with the kids!

 

[Jdougherty]

Like the pervious poster check the trade/rental board.it will cut your cost by atleast a third possibly half.

Piece of advice about Magical express to and from at resort levels:
Value - PACKED very hectic when you leave and Arrive.
Moderate - Was okay when we arrived, leaving was painfull with a 9mon, People taking up 2 seats while I was standing with a small child in my arms.
Deluxe - less people on the bus arriving and departing, I belive the buss wasn't even half full unlike the other two.

Our favorite place to stay is BWV BECAUSE it's so close to Epcot and Hollywood Studios. Plus busses to DTD, MK & AK aren't as packed. You can walk to Epcot's back gate and walk/boatride to Hollywood studio's.

Favorite thing to do is a park during the day, comeback early afternoon rest and than walk to epcot for dinner/rides in the evening.

We have stayed at CBR, No kitchen, but did have a mini fridridge, food cort was okay, little to far to go back to during the day for a rest and than leave for another park during the day with a 9mon

BWV and BCV both have Kitchens and washing machines when you book at least a 1 bdrm.

our 2010 we will be staying at BWV or BCV

 

[stacy6552]

When our kids were 6 and 11mos, we stayed in a one bedroom at OKW. That bedroom door was priceless with a sleeping baby. The kitchen was also very good. Stay in a villa with a baby.