Surviving Disney with 6 little ones. . .

[clamof8]

I have been snooping around the disboards probably for the last two years, trying to get all the information I can for our childrens 1st trip WDW . We had planned to do this trip 3 years ago, when our eldest daughter was fascinated with everything Princesses (she still is today), but then a unexpected blessing occurred and DH and I were blessed with our 2nd set of twins, and it had to be postponed at least till they were a little older, we thought it would be the perfect by the time they were two.

First and foremost, those I should introduce ourselves:

Me(26): I am a planner, kindergarten teacher, lover of everything Disney, and think the greatest gift, is being able to learn through my children’s eyes.

DH(27): care-free, hardworking guy, not much of a lover of Disney but never complains either.

Ruth(7): Our shy, quiet eldest daughter, not much of a thrill seeker, lover of everything Princess.

Carina(6): Our fearless daughter, loves every Disney Movie imaginable.

Tate(4): Our outgoing son wants to do everything his older siblings our doing. Favourite Disney movie, would be Monsters Inc.

Casey(4): Our timid daughter, does not like new things, quite content staying with mommy and daddy. She would be our fairie lover.

Issac(2): Our happy go lucky son, lover of fish.

Cassie(2): Care-free daughter, her face always has a smile on it. Loves fish just as much as her brother.

I hope to give you a detailed report on our events, throughout the day, hopefully some pictures to go along with it (have to reach the 10 post first) . So sit back & enjoy!!!

 

[bijoli666]

I'm in! And first! I thought Disney w/ three kids was fun, I can't imagine 6! Can't wait to hear how it went

 

[clamof8]

I'm in! And first! I thought Disney w/ three kids was fun, I can't imagine 6! Can't wait to hear how it went

Thank you! It was absolutly was an amazing trip, I am glad we took them when they were younger, but can't wait again to experience it when they are all older too

 

[clamof8]

For us the most important decision we were going to have to make was which hotel to stay-in. We wanted to comeback to our room for about 3 hours in the middle of the day to let our youngest nap and to let the older have some downtime, so we needed a hotel with options. We also needed a place where we would have space for all of us to relax. We decided to stay at. . .

Wilderness Lodge Villas (2-bedroom Suites)

Layout:
Everything you need is in the lobby, which was only a 3 min. walk from our Villa. The Gym ( in the lobby of the villas) was very easily accessible also, which DH loved since he tries to work out once a day. You also have access to Bay Lake from the lobby back door, which is a short walk to the pier.

Room:
The 2-bedroom villas sleep 8 adults and 1 child under the age of 3, so it would be plenty of space for 2 adults and 6 wee children. The 2-bedroom villas are actually a studio and 1-bedroom villa with a connecting door. Our sleeping arrangements looked like this: DH and I in master suite with King Bed, 2nd bedroom slept the four girls (it has 2 queen size bed), and the living room slept the two boys on a pull-out queen-size sleeper sofa. It was challenging the 1st few nights putting everyone to sleep as none of the kids share the same bed at home, but share the same room. It was an adjustment but we managed.

Another nice thing about the room, was it was stocked wit everything we needed, plates silverware, coffee mugs, anything you might think you need to cook with. For example, I made pizza bites (small pizzas) for the kids one afternoon to take as a snack to the parks, I had every utensil I needed. With a full size refrigerator I did not have to worry about anything going bad from our grocery delivery from Garden Grocer.

I could not believe how quiet and peaceful this resort was, it was great to come back to in the afternoon for naps, and relaxing. I loved sitting on the balcony with a good book, listening to the different sounds of the woods. It really felt like we were the only ones around the whole resort, a feeling you rarely get when you travel with six young ones. It was so quiet one day Tate and Casey were with me on the balcony listening to the music, that they actually thought they saw Moose Tracks down below in a grassy area.

The rooms also have a washer and dryer in them, which I loved. For the fact, that I did laundry 2 afternoons on our trip, and it was not a huge pile when I returned home. This was truly a life saver for a big family.

Pool:
The Villas do have their own private pool, but it is not as nice as the Lodge pool. It does not have a slide, and it is small, but it does have several “geyser” bubbling jets. For us, this was perfect because it kept a lot of older kids away, as they went to the main pool. The pool was never crowded when we went down, which was nice.

The Villa pool area also does not have a hot tub, there is only 1 located at the main pool.

Other:
Another Exciting thing about the Hotel was in the evenings the Water Electrical Pageant floats by, just head down to the boat docks, we saw it on two separate occasions since the first time only half of us went, but loved it so much that we went again as a family when the 4 youngest were really wounded up from the day, we put their pjs on and grabbed both strollers and watched it again. They all fell asleep before it was over, for us it was mission accomplished while seeing it again.

There are also free DVD Rentals, which we took advantage of couple afternoons, when we were all too exhausted to go swimming.


Side Note:
We drove down to WDW, so we had a car on site, and we used it to travel to all the parks, since we had two double strollers, and two backpacks that had snacks, camera, park passes, diapers, change of clothes, etc. that we might need throughout the day.

 

[DLB]

Sounds wonderful - can't wait to hear more