Two Accommodates better than One?

[rlovew]

DVC Jen,

It looks like you have been a member for some time. i would like to ask which water parks are the best. Trying to find a place to stay and plan a down day to recoup. Thinking a waterpark day would fit the bill. would you agree? Which days are better than others? any idea?

The water park best for your family depends on their ages and swimming abilities as well as likes.

Typhoon Lagoon has a better wave pool (but it is hard on nonswimmers/poor swimmers. Their water coaster is lots of fun and they have a shark swim that you can do.

Blizzard Beach has better water slides and family raft ride as well as it does have a lift to get up instead of always taking the stairs (although sometimes that has more of a line than the rides themselves).

The kiddie areas are good at both from what I hear but since I have only been with teens we haven't actually used them at either.

 

[Pirate Granny]

We've done 2 bedroom BCV for 9 people, OKW GV with 10 people (Yep, that meant our single daughter took the living room couch), and an GFV 2 bedroom lock off with 10 people. We are all family; three adult daughters, one spouse and four kiddos. The GFV was tight, but only two nights, and the daughters really lobbied to stay there��. Oh yea, we did 2 bedroom dedicated BLT theme park view for 6. Since we are family, we tend to stay in the same unit to share our vacation time together. We have had no issues, ok, I'll be honest the son in law who is no more cause friction on one family trip but that is in the past and we've enjoyed our more recent family trip

 

[MAO]

Rocky, I am a single and older individual so I doubt my recommendations will match up with what you need. However, I do suggest staying away from the Magic Kingdom on Mondays -- that's when the majority of people seem to hit it. I also highly recommend Josh's site at easywdw (.com) for insight into what days are best for the parks. He has a breakdown, several months in advance, of what parks will be the busiest - and why - for every day of the month. And he keeps on top of those schedules, so if Disney adds hours or parades or whatever he will reconsider his recommendations and adjust accordingly.

And don't forget that, whatever resort you stay in will have things to do - even if it's just exploring the resort! I don't remember when you said you were going, but maybe by the time you get there the Downtown Disney area will have finished a lot of the refurbishment that's evidently going on now. I've always wanted to try their archery class at Fort Wilderness - that might be something to do with kids. Generally speaking, I suggest just perusing these boards -- there are boards for the resorts where you can see pictures of the rooms and views, there are boards for the theme parks where no doubt there are 'plans' you can consider, as well as boards for trip reports where you can read what others have tried and how well it worked out for them. Good luck!

 

[nalajms]

If you book at a resort with an interesting enough pool, you may not need the water parks.

Last summer we had a last minute trip to SSR. Party of 7 with 4 kids (8,5,4,2). We spent a whole day at the SSR pool (Paddocks). The older ones switched between the kiddie pool and the bigger slide. Then we went back to the room for lunch, rested a bit and went back out till dinner. They have pool activities all afternoon. Then we try to hit the campfire on the way out to dinner.

This summer we're booked for BCV. I'm scheduling 2 resort days. We're still planning to add water parks and more to our tickets, but they'll most likely be used for Disney Quest since the kids love it. Yes, even my 2 yr old can spend 1+hr there banging the games around.

The best strategy is to get to the parks at RD, start early rather than later. And avoid parks with extra PM magic hours, they tend to be more crowded on those days.