Touring resorts with kids?

[kclark9830]

Good idea? Terrible idea? I'd love to take a day to explore a few of the resorts we haven't seen. But with two kids under 10, I'm wondering if this is just asking for frustration. My kids are generally well behaved, so im not worried about them acting out, but i dont want to bore them either.

Which resorts have things kids will enjoy seeing? I'm thinking AKL, but what else? Thanks for any help or opinions.

 

[minnie mum]

I think that 2 kids that age would be bored out of their gourds. AKL would probably be the only exception.

 

[mmmears]

Depends on the kids, I guess. But it helps if you are going there for a dining experience or something like that. AKL is amazing -- we went once to go to Boma and DD (who was under 10 at the time) loved it so much she asked if we could stay there on our next trip (we did). We also toured WL when we had a dinner at WCC, and Poly for Ohana. I think an entire day of just looking around resorts could be a bit much for some kids. Contemporary is fun with the monorail going through it. Poly has a lovely beach (and you can rent those little water mice and go out on the lake -- that's really fun). I like the shops at the GF and the Poly and AKL, but I'm not sure kids would.

 

[G719]

Depends on the kids. I have 2 girls 7 and 10 and they enjoyed seeing the contemporary, wilderness lodge, and grand floridian. It is especially fun when the Christmas decorations are up. They got their hair done at the Ivy Trellis at the GF and liked shopping at the Basin store there. They loved how fancy GF is. Then we went over to the contemporary and ate at the QS and looked around. They have a gingerbread display too at christmas. On another evening we went for dinner at WL and they enjoyed the lobby with the fireplace and the water running through. You can find pressed penny machines at the resorts too if you want to make it like a scavenger hunt for the kids. Or if you trade pins, look for pin boards or CMs with pins.
I think a whole day would be kind of long but a morning with a lunch stop would be good.

 

[LemonNeko]

I think it may depend on what activities you do. If you are going to look around other than AKL they will likely be board if you tour multiple resorts. We went to contemporary last time I went with my three year old had lunch and walked around the shops. Our next trip we are going to spend some time at the Boardwalk renting bikes. There's a DIS article that came out recently about 25 non-park things to do. It might give some ideas which are the better resorts for kids.

 

[dancemonkey]

If you wanted to tour I would get each of the girls lanyards with pins and have them do pin trading! Or check out the different resort restaurants!

 

[Mousemommy1]

We have done resort tours with our 2 older girls (they are currently 9 and 11) when they were younger and they had fun "picking the one we will stay at next".

 

[bumbershoot]

We've toured around, both with just our son (who was 10 or under on our trips to WDW) and with extended family, with a cousin older and a cousin younger, and as long as we don't try to hit ALL of them, they were fine.

GF was a big favorite. And on our first trip, which was with extended family, it was this season and we had photopass pictures done of the cousins under the big tree at WL.

I am 100% unclear on the status of arcades now, I don't know if they exist at all but don't have the tickets, but if they DO exist, that worked well for my son. Tour a resort, play a few games, etc.

 

[tinkerbesh]

I think with a good plan you could make it really fun. Maybe certain resorts you're going there to get a special snack or meal, and the ones in between they get to visit the gift store and purchase something small. (Or visit several gift stores, but say at the last one they're allowed to buy something more sizeable. Maybe the $ accumulates for each resort they visit with you?) How about including a treasure hunt where they have to take pictures of (or just find) certain things? Again, accumulate a certain $ for each "found" thing.

 

[wilkeliza]

I would go to resorts where the playground is centrally located. It would give them somewhere to burn off some of the "boredom" and let you guys explore as well.

 

[To_Infinity_And_Beyond]

I would take them to WL. On my last trip to Disney, my small nephews were captivated by the Fire Rock Geyser. We also have lots of pictures among the giant trees

Playgrounds pose a problem as Disney requires adult supervision to use them.

 

[kclark9830]

Thanks everyone. This gives me some great ideas. Maybe we will just do a morning or afternoon of touring, and not a whole day. And adding in a few activities or rewards to spice things up for them sounds good. Gives me a great direction to go in!