Returned from trip to WL/AKL with a toddler and baby, any questions?

mistaroo

<font color=blue>A vacation isn't a vacation witho
Joined
Mar 30, 2000
Messages
239
We just returned from a wonderful vacation at WL and AKL. We are a family of five (we have two kids and took grandma along). We celebrated my son's first b-day there and my other son is 2.5 yrs old. We stayed in the deluxe room at the WL and a 1 bdrm suite at the AKL. Taking two very young children was a lot of work but a lot of fun.

Food- Most buffets had fresh veggies, fruit and mac 'n cheese for the kids. Overall, there was a lot of good food for available for the young ones. Even though Spoodles and Concourse Steakhouse may at first seem to be more "adult oriented", they were really loud restarants so diners were not disturbed by little ones. The biggest surprise is that my kids LOVED the Biergarten! The oompah band announced my son's b-day and sang the german equilivent of "Happy Birthday" after presenting him with a cake! Hands down, it was their favorite dining experience, even better than a character meal! My kids were dancing around like this crazy banana :banana:

Double stroller- fit everywhere, no problem. I have a side by side that is the same width as a wheelchair. We could take the double stroller on both the boat and the monorail without folding it down! We didn't even have to take the kids out of it.

Sunblock- Coppertone Continuous Spray sunblock is AWESOME! Not even a spot of pink on either child and my youngest is as fair as they come. I didn't even have to reapply it all that often and it is safe for infants. I am allergic to many sunscreens but not this one. Using those fan/water bottle combo things kept the kids cooler outdoors. Get them at Walmart for 5 bucks so you don't have to pay $18 in the park!

Cribs- the WL gave us one pac n play and one metal crib. The metal crib was a small size. The AKL also gave us a pac n play and a metal crib. The pac n play at AKL was larger than at WL. The AKL metal crib was full size (enormous) and we switched it for another pac n play. The linens were freshly washed and fit the mattresses perfectly (as opposed to just being given an adult sheet to wrap on the crib mattress).

The baby changing stations- they were spotless and a gave my little ones a great retreat from the sun. They even had high chairs. I was really glad I brought along a thermometer and infant cold medicine/tylenol because my little one spiked a high fever on his b-day:( Then my 2 yr old came down with a cold on the last day so it was nice to have the basic supplies with us.

I almost forgot- watch the balconies at the WL deluxe rooms. The floor of the balcony ends a couple inches before the rail begins so there is a good 3-4 inch gap where there was no floor (hard to explain). My son's foot and leg could have easily slipped though, even if I was holding his hand so I basically couldn't let him walk out there at all. It wasn't a problem for adults but was a problem for my little one. It is definitely something I'm going to bring to the attention of the WL's manager.

I think that hits all the family related issues. Any questions?
 
Did you fly or drive? The reason I ask is because the next time we go to WDW I will have a 14 mo old and we always fly and I was just wandering how this is going to go over since we'll have to bring a car seat, stroller, etc.
 
Thanks so much for your post. My DS'S with be 13 months and almose 2 1/2. Lots of great info you provided. Were the pack-n-plays newer? I was thinking of bringing my own?
 
kimatigger said:
Thanks so much for your post. My DS'S with be 13 months and almose 2 1/2. Lots of great info you provided. Were the pack-n-plays newer? I was thinking of bringing my own?

When we stayed at AKL in May, the pack-n-play in our room seemed brand new.

We found the CM's at AKL (Boma in particular!!) to be great with all of our children. They were especially helpful when our 2.5 yo dd developed a bad upper urinary track infection and had to go to an immediate care center.
 

kimatigger said:
Thanks so much for your post. My DS'S with be 13 months and almose 2 1/2. Lots of great info you provided. Were the pack-n-plays newer? I was thinking of bringing my own?

You're welcome :) Like SqueakyMouse mentioned, the pack n plays were very new and extremely clean. Each room comes with a pack n play in the closet so its not as if the resort has just a handful of pack n plays that are constantly rotating around. They were all Graco brand but the ones at AKL seemed slightly larger than the ones at the WL. One thing is though, the ends are not mesh, they are "solid" which is different from the one I own. My 2.5 yr old slept fine in the pack n play (he is still in a crib at home) but my 12 month old seemed to prefer the openess of the metal crib. HTH.

beautybelle- we drove so I'm no help in terms of flying.
 
Great info! How did you get on monorail/boat w/ dbl stroller ( we're taking toddler twins), did you have to find handicap entrance/exit? Any character meals to report on? Sorry your DS got sick but glad hes ok & you all had fun! :flower:
 
poohluvrs said:
Great info! How did you get on monorail/boat w/ dbl stroller ( we're taking toddler twins), did you have to find handicap entrance/exit? Any character meals to report on? Sorry your DS got sick but glad hes ok & you all had fun! :flower:

To get on the boat we just walked on. The first time we started taking the kids out to fold the stroller but the CM boat captain told us that wasn't necessary and to go right on. The double stroller won't go down the aisle easily so we simply pushed it on and stayed up front (in the area where wheelchairs would go). Even with a woman in a wheelchair onboard there was plenty of room for my double stroller as well as two single strollers, all open with kids in them.

In terms of the monorail, there weren't a lot of people getting on so when the CM saw us pull up with the double stroller he directed us to the handicap door without our even having to ask.

We did the Crystal Palace character meal which was a lot of fun. When my DS#1 turned a year old he liked the characters so we took DS#2 there for his first b-day but he was petrified of them. It was a nice meal with great food but the surprise winner of the best dining experience was the Biergarten. Hands down the best place we visited and I was not expecting that.
 
We are in the process of planning a trip to WDW Nov - Dec and I'm considering staying at the WL. I have 2 DS's - one will be 3 1/2 the other 6mos.
How was the play area? Appropriate for what ages?
Are there a lot of activities for the kids at the WL? I read about Chip & Dale's Campfire?
How was the pool?
Anything that is unique to the WL that the kids loved?
Was it easy to get around - or did you have to plan a lot of extra time to get from place to place?
I plan on park hopping (A park in the morning, Lunch, Nap & Playtime in the afternoon & then Park in the evening) does this sound too hopeful?

TIA,
Robin

::MickeyMo Can't wait to finally bring the boys!!!!!
 
thanks mistaroo! Were doing CP lunch, POOH :love: !!! glad getting around wont be too bad, thanks! :flower:
 
Liz, is that you??!! :rotfl:

I guess I should have just come here for the trip report to begin with!

It IS a swall world, after all, huh? :wave2:
 
Robin,
Welcome to the DIS! Here are my answers to your questions:

How was the play area? Appropriate for what ages? Sorry, didn't even see the play area- too many other things to do! ;)

Are there a lot of activities for the kids at the WL? My oldest is just 2.5 yrs old so he's young for many activities but he loved the pool. The AKL had a lot of stuff to do.

I read about Chip & Dale's Campfire? It is at FT Wilderness, not the WL but we were given a movie schedule at check-in. We went once before having kids and it was fun but there were lots of mosquitos in May. Don't know about nov/dec

How was the pool? Great! But the baby pool is rather deep for babies. My 12 month old could not sit in it so I had to hold him the entire time. The AKL pool is shallow enough for small babies to sit down.

Anything that is unique to the WL that the kids loved? Of all things, the sign you drive under when approaching the resort- the "Disney tunnel" according to my son. Also the green elevator- go figure. My youngest loved the AKL animals and my oldest loved the WL baby pool's jets. Otherwise, they just loved the people watching, CMs, excitement, etc that is at all Disney resorts.

Was it easy to get around - or did you have to plan a lot of extra time to get from place to place? Nothing is extremely easy with two kids so close in age, lol. But it wasn't too bad. Having monorail access would have been easier though. We'll stay at the poly again next time

I plan on park hopping (A park in te.he morning, Lunch, Nap & Playtime in the afternoon & then Park in the evening) does this sound too hopeful? That sounds ambitious to me based solely on my own kids but all kids are different. My 2 yr old was too excited to nap during the day and so he was completely out of steam before 8:00 pm every night (and not a happy camper at that). We really wanted to take him back to the parks in the evening but there was no way he was up for it. We basically went to the parks in the morning and ate lunch there before returning to the room. We had a few hours of down time in the resort to rest or visit the pool before going to dinner (sometimes in a park). But after the early dinner was over my son reached his limit and would start getting crabby/over-tired. But, your children are much different ages than mine so you may be able to pull it off. Having to deal with the hot weather takes more out of the little ones, too. It would probably be easier in nov/dec.

I hope you have a great trip. Let me know if you have any more questions. :)
 
HLAuburn said:
Liz, is that you??!! :rotfl:

I guess I should have just come here for the trip report to begin with!

It IS a swall world, after all, huh? :wave2:

:wave2: Yup, you found me! Heather, right? :cool1: Mistaroo is my dog's nickname :rotfl:


Also, as promised, here are my pics:

Mistaroo's DIS pics.

I have an album for the WL, AKL, and b-day dessert photos.
 
Did you find the transportation from AKL to other parks slow or about the same as WL? We will be going early Dec. with DS who will be just about a year old.
 
Hi, we are going the last week of October with DD4 and DD almost 1 (11 months). I'll get the copertone sunblock you mentioned and I'm curious.. what is a "fan/water bottle combo thing"?

Thanks,

Karla
 
ninahbear said:
Did you find the transportation from AKL to other parks slow or about the same as WL? We will be going early Dec. with DS who will be just about a year old.

I didn't use Disney transport this time from AKL but in the past, I've found it to be speedy, never a complaint. We stayed at AKL when my first son turned a year and didn't have a problem schlepping a stroller on the buses.

Have a fun trip!

Dani&Pao'sMom said:
Hi, we are going the last week of October with DD4 and DD almost 1 (11 months). I'll get the copertone sunblock you mentioned and I'm curious.. what is a "fan/water bottle combo thing"?

Thanks,

Karla

The coppertone continuous spray is fantastic because you don't even have to rub it in, you simply spray it on. The fan/water bottle combo thing is basically a squirt bottle with a fan attached where the water squirts out. It is battery operated so you can use the fan with or without squirting the water. The fan disperses the squirting water and really cools you off, especially if you put in ice cold water.
 











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