Taking my 5-yo niece - resort & MVMCP questions

[jenbrewer]

I am planning a trip to WDW with just my 5 year old niece and I this November. It will be her first trip. I have taken my 2 daughters 4 times since 2009, but my youngest was 9 the first time we went, so I've never taken anyone at such a young age, so I know my usual trip planning is going to be different.
I have done the Christmas party with my girls, and am wondering if this would be a good option for her. I'm just not sure about a late night in the park. If others have taken young kids, I am interested in hearing how it went.
My other question is about where to stay. I am considering AOA - Little Mermaid, Pop, POFQ, Polynesian or AKL. With AOA and Pop, I think she would love the theming. However, I looked at the map and the Little Mermaid rooms appear to be the furthest away from everything & I'm thinking ahead to tired little legs. I've stayed at POFQ twice & love everything about it, but it's not "overly Disney ". The convenience of the monorail at the Polynesian is very tempting because I think most of our park time will be at MK. We stayed there in January. Finally, AKL with the animals...would be just awesome. I stayed there with my girls before & we loved it. Pros & cons to each place, so I would welcome some opinions from others who have taken their young kids. I am super excited to be planning this special trip and just want to "choose wisely"!
ETA - I thought about the Lion King Suites at AOA, but it just seemed like way too much room for just the 2 of us, but it still is on my list of possibilities.
Thanks!

 

[jacknsally19]

I can say that my 4 yr. old loved AKL - I think any little one would enjoy it. The other nice thing about AKL is that it doesn't take too long to get to any park. Also, I find my DD enjoys downtime from the parks and there is a lot to enjoy at AKL. If your niece is still into princesses & theming is important than POR - princess rooms would be nice too.

My 4 yr old also did great at the Xmas party and stayed until midnight but we did nothing during the day. Just hung out at the pool & did some hotel activities. I think if you do it - make the day super easy. But I can also say that my DD was not crazy impressed with Xmas party, I think it was more for the adults. So don't feel like you need to spend the money on it.

 

[Marthasor]

I would hesitate doing the Christmas party with a 5 year old. I finally took my DS when he was 7 and he barely made it to the fireworks. Especially if you stay at a non-monorail resort, that's a long night and long bus ride back to the resort.

There are SO many Christmas decorations up that you will definitely get the Christmas feel without going to the party. Perhaps visit the gingerbread house at GF, get some cookies and see the big tree there - it's gorgeous.

I would recommend that you NOT stay in an AoA, LM room. As you said, they are very far from everything at the resort and, no, you definitely don't need a suite for 2 people.

Of the resorts you listed, my first choice would be Poly, especially if you will be spending most of your time at MK. It's gorgeous and so convenient. With a little girl, I would also recommend looking into the GF - it's the ultimate princess resort. If you want to stay at a mod, I would consider a Royal Room at POR. They are very nicely decorated and the headboard is adorable.

 

[kwdw]

I went with my niece when she was 5 (and her mom) - and the ONLY way I would recommend the MVMCP is if it's your LAST park visit. So - if you are lazy most of the day at the resort (sleep late) - and then head over to the park around 4ish - then I think she might make it until late. Sleep late the next day and leave. My niece could have managed this because she's okay with a late night - as long as she is rested going into it and doesn't have to be woke up early the next day.

That said - as a first trip - it's "just an extra expense" IMO. There's SO much to do and see for a newbie - it's just not needed.

You also might have a conversation with mom - or just observe her behavior yourself about how she does sleeping off schedule/dealing with being tired.

I've never traveled with my niece alone overnight - but based on traveling with her with her mom - if planning an alone trip with her - I'd plan days to make sure that we are back at the resort and have time to get her to bed close to her normal bedtime. She's a real sweetheart when she's rested and while 5 is old enough to maybe be able to give you some basic feedback about being tired rationally, it's not old enough to understand that it's exhaustion that might make her cranky in ways she doesn't get yet. I might plan a later night for fireworks - if I did - I'd make sure the next day doesn't start as early and might shorter in general.

I also figured out that if I gave her a choice at times (not all the time!) when traveling around the park with just her - just "do you want to do this next or this next" - it was easier for me to judge her mood and needs and desires. If it was HER plan what we did next when she started to get tired - I didn't get any complaining/attitude/grumpiness.

Resort wise - I love the family suites at AoA! While you don't NEED the space - if she is used to sleeping in her own room alone - she might like that feature. I love these because we always get groceries and we eat breakfast in the room. IT's also nice if you want to have dinner in the room one night, too. And if you want to be able to get her to bed - but still rumble around a bit later in the room - it's nice to have the divided space. To me, Poly is just overpriced for the monorail feature - we don't need to be on the monorail because we don't really spend "more" time at the MK than the other parks - and we aren't mid-day break people. Plus - at least for my niece - I don't think the theming of Poly would be that interesting to her. I LOVE AKL because of the animals - but with your niece - I'd only pay for that if you are doing a savanna view and plan to have enough time at the resort to enjoy the animals. That said - kids really do love the theming at the values - and they are nice enough. They really think those over-sized "things" are just super cool. I agree with a previous poster that if doing POR - get a Royal Room for the theming. I wouldn't pick a mod in December with a 5 yo otherwise.

 

[ktlm]

We have taken DD (10) since she was 2. We have done either MVMCP or MNSSHP every year- and from age 3 up, we have done multiple parties during each trip (discovered after doing 1 party at age 2, that it was worth it for us to have the lower stress of splitting things between two parties). I would say it depends on your niece. Is she an early bird by nature or a night owl. Is she high energy or lower energy. My DD has been a high energy night owl since the day she was born. She absolutely loves the parties and has since she was 2. At age 5, I would say we typically left the party about 11:30, and we usually were at a park within 20 minutes of rope drop the next morning.

DD was a total character fanatic (still is), so the special characters at the party were huge for her- she wanted to see them all (which is a big time investment and about impossible to do every one and anything else- hence multiple parties for us). Unless they change it this year, MVMCP is the one place that you can meet the Princes with their Princesses and that was HUGE for her. That alone would have been worth the party ticket to her. The Christmas parade is wonderful too, and you can't see that outside of MVMCP. I'm almost ashamed to admit it, but when DD was 5, we wound up going to MVMCP 3 times during our trip. I think I had bought tickets for 2 ahead of time, and then we made the spur of the moment decision to go one more night. The parties have always been a highlight of our trips. BUT, as wonderful as it was for us when DD was little- if your niece is a kid with an internal clock that swings toward a very early bedtime, and is not that high energy it might not be right for you (my niece was one of those kids-- just not very flexible and pretty low energy on top of barely being able to keep her eyes open at 8:00 p.m.)

If the price is not a deterrent, I would pick the Poly. We stayed at the Poly twice when DD was little and it was wonderful. Not only are you close to MK, but it is a short walk to the TTC and you can take the express monorail to EPCOT (much quicker than taking the resort line and switching monorails). While everyone else was cramming on the monorail in the morning to MK, we would go get on the boat. It was hardly ever crowded- I'm talking a couple of families, and a very nice ride. Also, if you are going to the party, it is great for party nights because assuming you leave before the party ends and the crowd is huge (why we used to leave around 11:30) it typically didn't take long at all to get back to the resort. Again, we typically would either take the boat or we would take the express monorail to the TTC and walk to the room (unless the resort line wasn't crowded- then we might take that- but I think our room was actually closer to the TTC than the main building).

We love AKL- but with a 5 year old- for us it was just too far away from everything. We liked the convenience of being close to MK and being just an express monorail ride from EPCOT. Our decision was that we did not want to stay at AKL until she was a bit older.

Also, I will say that DD did great open to close every day at age 5- BUT we did still use a stroller. Her stamina was not quite enough yet to walk the parks from open to close. She was never a stroller kid. She would not set foot in it at home after she was 12 months old and took her 1st steps. That 5 year old trip, we went ahead and took it thinking we would probably take it in the park the first day- wind up parking it all day- and leaving it in the room after that. To our surprise, we used it quite a bit and brought it to the parks every day. That was our last stroller trip.

 

[Julylady]

We stayed at POFQ with my niece at about 5 years old. She was freaked out by the life sized alligator statues at the resort. If you can do it, I would stay at the Poly.