Split stay AoA/WL with toddler - bad idea?

[branv]

We're taking our first trip in November with DS who will be 2. As DINKs we hated our one stay at the values (too crazy, too noisy!) but loved our stays at WL. We want to stay at the WL again, especially because of the closeness and boats to MK. We would like to stay 7 nights to allow touring flexibility because, well, toddler. But 7 nights may be a little steep $$ even with the usual discounts.

Now that we're parents and noise and chaos are far easier to deal with , we've been tempted to do a split stay in the Little Mermaid rooms at AoA. Not only would it mean more nights due to affordability, but I know my DS would get a HUGE kick out of the theming and the pools. My thought was to stay the first two nights at AoA and do half days at AK and DHS, with the rest of the time for swimming. When we move to WL we will make the bulk of that time MK.

My concerns are that AoA will rock his toddler world so much that he will hate WL. I'm hoping the trade off of visits to MK will minimize the effect. But am I asking for trouble here? Plus is the move too big a hassle? (We've done it before, but without a child). Would we be better off just living with fewer nights at WL versus 7 nights with a split stay?

 

[DisneyWishes14]

Your 2-year old will not hate WL. I don't think he is really going to have an understanding that you switched resorts. As you know, WL is amazing. My DS7 is happy just wandering around the lobby of WL and taking it all in. Throw a fabulous pool and a boat to MK and FW (for pony rides!) in the mix and you've got a seriously happy kid. My DS has stayed at almost every resort in WDW, including WL and AoA and has loved them all. I, on the other hand, can't stand the values. As you put it, too crazy, too noisy. And with a toddler, honestly, it makes it worse. Long walk to the buses, no coffee in the room, chaotic food court to get something to eat - no thanks! It's not easier with a toddler, IMHO, it's even harder.

Two nights AoA and the rest WL, sure. As I said, I think your DS will love both. And you'll be REALLY happy when you leave AoA to go to WL! Or, forget the hassle of moving and just do fewer nights at WL.

 

[disneypolybride2008]

2 nights at AoA would go so quickly, especially the first one being a travel day, i was going to do AoA and Poly, same itinerary as you but then DH said we'd waste 1/2 a day changing over, and what if they misplaced our bags, repacking, so then i said fine then a week at the Polynesian then! Go when there are the better discounts. At 2 he's free at buffets and park tickets are free, so maybe do the split stay on the next visit. i ran the numbers on the ddp and our fav is the character breakfasts and if we do that and a qs, budget 4 for snack then we have way more money left than we would have used at a QS so it would save money not to do the regular dining plan.so i can take the $58 dollars left after a character meal and snacks to put towards a TS and not have to get a QS (two adults, one child). plus i can use my disney rewards visa for some meals and get 10% off at WCC! I say go for your favorite, and split stay when he's older.

 

[shm_helene]

We did a split at Poly and AoA the last time we were there - I liked the suites at AoA and the closeness of Poly and just wanted to try both. Though I like teh concept of split stays I actually really didn't like it. Packing up everything twice and just the act of moving was a pain. Maybe without kids it would be different but I probably wouldn't do it again.

 

[Thing 1]

I would choose one or the other and a toddler will not care which one. It takes little ones a night or two to get adjusted to a place and to switch after that will just mean going through that again. The day you move, you may also be without a place to go for 4 or 5 hours. I would choose WL because you will enjoy it more and therefor your child will. While chaos and noise may seem to be less of concern, it can be even more of a problem when you have a toddler asleep at 9:00 and the kids next door are screaming and kicking the thins walls. Been there....done that!!! WL is a very nice resort and we like it there. If its not doable. consider a moderate. We like CSR and it is really a great compromise. The huge sand play area and cool pool are great for little ones.

 

[ruadisneyfan2]

2 nights at AoA would go so quickly, especially the first one being a travel day, i was going to do AoA and Poly, same itinerary as you but then DH said we'd waste 1/2 a day changing over, and what if they misplaced our bags, repacking, so then i said fine then a week at the Polynesian then! Go when there are the better discounts. At 2 he's free at buffets and park tickets are free, so maybe do the split stay on the next visit. i ran the numbers on the ddp and our fav is the character breakfasts and if we do that and a qs, budget 4 for snack then we have way more money left than we would have used at a QS so it would save money not to do the regular dining plan.so i can take the $58 dollars left after a character meal and snacks to put towards a TS and not have to get a QS (two adults, one child). plus i can use my disney rewards visa for some meals and get 10% off at WCC! I say go for your favorite, and split stay when he's older.

Wow, I had no idea the Disney Visa gets us discounts at restaurants! I've had it for years. We have an ADR for WCC for our upcoming WL stay. Is there somewhere I can get a list of all the places that give a discount with our card?

OP, I have visited WDW with toddlers and really wouldn't do a split stay at any combination of resorts. If this is your first trip with your toddler I wouldn't schedule too much until you see how it goes the first time. We did stay at a value (AS Sports) when our kids were 4 and 1.5. Never again. It was a crazy long walk to the bus stop and back then they didn't offer a refrigerator in the rooms so we had to pay $11/day to rent one. I brought a travel coffeemaker from home.
Just choose a place that's affordable and don't stress about what your son thinks of the resort. He will find things that fascinate him everywhere he goes; it's really easy for little ones to become overstimulated. Believe me, by the time he's an opinionated teenager he will be telling you which resort is best anyway.
Also our first visit was only 4 nights and that was plenty to have some park time and some pool time. jmho


ETA: Never mind. I found a list of all restaurants that offer the discount. I'm glad I found this before we left!

https://disneyrewards.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/9100_WDW_ThemeParkPerks_11.pdf

 

[branv]

Thanks so much! So many things I never thought about. What would I do without BTDT parents to clue me in, oooph! I may be an older parent, but still a first time parent, which generally makes me feel about age 10 experience-wise. Talk about on-the-job training

 

[Jing]

Thanks so much! So many things I never thought about. What would I do without BTDT parents to clue me in, oooph! I may be an older parent, but still a first time parent, which generally makes me feel about age 10 experience-wise. Talk about on-the-job training

Woot - fellow former-DINK!

We were debating split-stay with CSR (conference rate) and CR with our almost 2-year old. Proximity to MK and packing up Mid-trip vs bus ride everywhere and being settled is still an ongoing discussion that will not likely be settled until Fall discounts come out. We are leaning toward staying put since CSR has a good pool, excellent bussing, and a number of eating options, plus we are likely going to do mostly half-days at the parks anyway.

 

[DSNY4ever]

We took our 2 year old DS and stayed at AoA for 6 nights then switched to AKL for ( more nights. He truly loved both! Although, I think AOA had a little bit of an edge because let's face it, it is awesome for kids! Look into renting points, it'll save you money on the WL.

 

[BuzzandAriel'smom]

Split stay can be a pain. Another option if you can afford it, go to AoA on your DHS day for lunch and to walk around. It's such an amazing resort outside with cars area and all the rest of the larger than life icons. It's a nice break from the parks. We did this and it was nice. We just hopped on an AOA bus at DHS at lunch time. The resort wasn't busy and DHS doesn't have the best CS restaurants anyway.

 

[disneypolybride2008]

Wow, I had no idea the Disney Visa gets us discounts at restaurants! I've had it for years. We have an ADR for WCC for our upcoming WL stay. Is there somewhere I can get a list of all the places that give a discount with our card?

OP, I have visited WDW with toddlers and really wouldn't do a split stay at any combination of resorts. If this is your first trip with your toddler I wouldn't schedule too much until you see how it goes the first time. We did stay at a value (AS Sports) when our kids were 4 and 1.5. Never again. It was a crazy long walk to the bus stop and back then they didn't offer a refrigerator in the rooms so we had to pay $11/day to rent one. I brought a travel coffeemaker from home.
Just choose a place that's affordable and don't stress about what your son thinks of the resort. He will find things that fascinate him everywhere he goes; it's really easy for little ones to become overstimulated. Believe me, by the time he's an opinionated teenager he will be telling you which resort is best anyway.
Also our first visit was only 4 nights and that was plenty to have some park time and some pool time. jmho


ETA: Never mind. I found a list of all restaurants that offer the discount. I'm glad I found this before we left!

https://disneyrewards.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/9100_WDW_ThemeParkPerks_11.pdf

glad you found it, don't forget you get a free photo at Epcot's character spot, AND the best perk is free travel insurance!! all you have to do is have paid for the trip using the card.

 

[Betty Rohrer]

as others have said look for sleeping in a different place not sleeping well for a couple of days, just to repeat as you change resorts. also if your child is having fun may be upset with " leaving" parks, not understanding that you are just changing hotels not leaving the fun

 

[hsmamato2]

I wouldn't bother...your 2 year old won't notice at all where you stay...the rest of DW is so overwhelming,a nice quiet place to stay in the evenings,with a nice pool,etc is the best! And split stays are such a pain...I wouldn't do that with a 2 year old unless I had to and was saving a lot of $$$$

 

[amylevan]

Put me in the camp that says pick a resort and stay there. It may take your toddler a night or 2 to get used to a hotel room, and then bam, he has to start all over again. Not to mention all the extra junk that taking a toddler on vacation requires, and now having to move it halfway through your vacation...ick.

Having said that, there is nothing wrong with WL for a toddler. We walk through it when we stay at FW, and my kids like it. (They think the bridge with a creek INSIDE is the coolest thing ever....)

 

[Kuzcotopia1]

This has nothing to do with your question... but I'm totally stumped! What is a DINK!? I thought I knew all the acronyms!

 

[Kuzcotopia1]

This has nothing to do with your question... but I'm totally stumped! What is a DINK!? I thought I knew all the acronyms!

WAIT! I got it! Hahaha. -dumb- That's all!

 

[mrsap]

We're taking our first trip in November with DS who will be 2. As DINKs we hated our one stay at the values (too crazy, too noisy!) but loved our stays at WL. We want to stay at the WL again, especially because of the closeness and boats to MK. We would like to stay 7 nights to allow touring flexibility because, well, toddler. But 7 nights may be a little steep $$ even with the usual discounts.

Now that we're parents and noise and chaos are far easier to deal with , we've been tempted to do a split stay in the Little Mermaid rooms at AoA. Not only would it mean more nights due to affordability, but I know my DS would get a HUGE kick out of the theming and the pools. My thought was to stay the first two nights at AoA and do half days at AK and DHS, with the rest of the time for swimming. When we move to WL we will make the bulk of that time MK.

My concerns are that AoA will rock his toddler world so much that he will hate WL. I'm hoping the trade off of visits to MK will minimize the effect. But am I asking for trouble here? Plus is the move too big a hassle? (We've done it before, but without a child). Would we be better off just living with fewer nights at WL versus 7 nights with a split stay?

We did just that last year... 5 days at AoA followed by 7 days at WL with both our toddler and 6 year old. We had visited AoA the year prior and my kids loved it, so we surprised them! It's funny because even though they loved it there, when I asked where they want to stay this year, they picked WL!!!!!!!! As far as split stays with kids, we have been doing them for years and never had any problems! I think the change of atmosphere is fun and exciting for them! Good luck deciding and have fun!!!!!

 

[Crystal824]

I don't think your kid at 2 will care where you stay. We tried this once when our DD was 2 . We stayed offsite at a timeshare (DH's parents own a timeshare and traded for us) and then did WL for 2 nights. It was an incredible pain to switch rooms . We previously did a spilt stay before kids and it wasn't too bad. With kids especially a toddler, you seem to have all this additional stuff. In fact, we ended up losing a memory card and a stroller in the process (long story). Not only do you have more stuff, but toddlers don't really help with the process of switching rooms. It may have been more of a pain because we were offsite first. I know Disney will help you move stuff. We didn't have that advantage. Since that trip, we pick a place to stay for the duration.