Value Resort Recommendation for young kids?

[brymolmom]

Hi - I'm new here. A big Disney fan (now and pre-kids) but I have never stayed on-site. Well, I'm taking the leap with the great MYW plus dining deal. I was going to wait until the kids were a little older and could appreciate the on-site experience, but this deal's getting us to it sooner than planned.

Anyway- We're going to stay at a value resort (most likely- unless the deal for a moderate is great - any hints for this?) and I'm wondering if there are any differences in the value resorts that might swing us to one over the other. My kids will be 3 and almost 2 in our Sept 2005 visit. I know the All Star resorts are very similar, but I heard that Pop Century has a better 'kids area' with shooting spouts of water out of the ground (similar to Donald's house in MK which my son loved when we were there in Nov 2004).

Any thoughts, comments or recommendations would be appreciated.

Thanks!
Karen

THINK MICKEY!!!

 

[emememem]

Been to both Allstar and Pop...liked Pop better. Very colorful...loved the big wheel and mickey phone!

 

[spiceycat]

I love Pop.

however, I think your kids would enjoy ASMo more.

It is more designed for that age.

of course you would appreciate Pop more. You will be surprised how many memories WDW has packed into this resort.

 

[buzzmom3]

Hi - I'm new here. A big Disney fan (now and pre-kids) but I have never stayed on-site. Well, I'm taking the leap with the great MYW plus dining deal. I was going to wait until the kids were a little older and could appreciate the on-site experience, but this deal's getting us to it sooner than planned.

Anyway- We're going to stay at a value resort (most likely- unless the deal for a moderate is great - any hints for this?) and I'm wondering if there are any differences in the value resorts that might swing us to one over the other. My kids will be 3 and almost 2 in our Sept 2005 visit. I know the All Star resorts are very similar, but I heard that Pop Century has a better 'kids area' with shooting spouts of water out of the ground (similar to Donald's house in MK which my son loved when we were there in Nov 2004).

Any thoughts, comments or recommendations would be appreciated.

Thanks!
Karen

THINK MICKEY!!!

We are going in Sept. and are staying at All Star Movies, hopefully in the Toy Story buildings. We thought this theme would appeal to my 3.5 DS the most.

 

[hojo]

stayng at ASMo in September as well with DS 's 4 & 6. Can't wait!

 

[robinb]

Welcome to the DIS!!!

It's my opinion that your kids will be thrilled with any hotel as long as it has a pool . Of all the values, I like POP Century the best. No room is very far from the food court and bus stop. In addition, transportation is always good at POP: there are a lot of buses and they only service one resort. Plus, it's the newest value resort so everything is in tip-top shape. My second choice would probably by All Star Movies, just because of the Disney movie theme, although I have not stayed there. Next would be All Star Sports and lastly All Star Music. The biggest downside for the All Star resorts is that they often share a bus between the 3 resorts which can increase your travel or wait time.

By the way, have you heard about the new package available? It includes free meals with your package purchase: http://mousesavers.com/packages.html#freedining

 

[FanOfStitch]

I would have to vote for ASMo. I think it is one of the best theme wise for kids. Also, it's been over a year since I stayed there, but when I did, I noticed that alot of the buses combined ASMu and ASSp, but Movies seemed to have their own buses due to the amount of people who stayed there compared to the other 2. Don't know if this has changed or not.

 

[bamagirl@hrt]

We've stayed at the All Star Movies twice and loved it each time. First time, DD was 4 and DS was 15 months. We were in the Love Bug building. It was a little further from the buses and food court, but not a problem at all. It was kind of funny that it took my DD most of the week to figure out that the "Love Bug" wasn't actually a bug!

Our last trip to ASMo was last fall, when DD was 6 & DS had just turned 3. He adored Toy Story, and we were fortunate enough to get in the Buzz Lightyear building. A suite at the Grand Floridian wouldn't have been as magic for our kids as the Buzz building was. Both of them, but esp. DS, had a ball in the courtyard between the Buzz and Woody buildings. We were closer to the pool, food court, and buses. I had requested the Toy Story buildings when I made my ressie. However, when we checked in (at 11:30am!), the CM said, "Oh, I see that they've put you in Dalmations, but you requested Toy Story. Let's see what I can do." We felt that our vacation started with a big helping of pixie dust.

With little ones, the food court is great, as there is a wide variety to choose from. Mickey waffles were a big hit with ours! As a funny sidenote, we are looking at staying at a deluxe on our next trip & DH asked if we could take a bus to a value resort for the food court. He WAS kidding, but only kind of.

On our first stay, which was the week after Thanksgiving, the buses seemed to be more crowded. They also seemed to go to the other All Star resorts most of the time. Our last trip, in Oct., the buses were very smooth. We never shared a bus in the mornings. We only shared buses with the other All Stars after park closings. Only once did we wait longer than 10 minutes for a bus.

I've never stayed at POP, so I can't comment on it. I have read that their food court has Icees as part of the refillable mugs. I would love that! But, I think whatever you chose will be fun & magical with your kids.

Have fun planning!
Christy