where to stay..1st time to DIS

[katherine]

We are planning our 1st trip this OCT.(4 days) Family of 4 with 2 kids @ 4 and 3 ( both in beds) We have been told that Villas (DVC) are the way to go since they have full kitchen and laundry. We want to stay on Disney property and was considering Contemporary too. ( with separate room for adults). Anyone have suggestions with young children?

 

[GIOny]

Are you sure you want a seperate room for a 3 and 4 year old? If they need their own bed for some reason you may wany to consider a resort with a daybed or bunks. You could save some money and the rooms run a little bigger. WL and AKL have bunks and I believe the rest of the deluxe resorts have day beds which should be plenty big for a 3 or 4 year old.

 

[vicb]

We are planning our 1st trip this OCT.(4 days) Family of 4 with 2 kids @ 4 and 3 ( both in beds) We have been told that Villas (DVC) are the way to go since they have full kitchen and laundry. We want to stay on Disney property and was considering Contemporary too. ( with separate room for adults). Anyone have suggestions with young children?

Hi Katherine, what's your dream resort to stay at? First time I took my family I kept telling my DH that I had to stay at the Poly! I had always wanted to since I was a kid. It really made the trip special for me and we really liked the Poly to boot! Since then we have stayed twice at the BWI because we ended up preferring the Epcot area. But the Poly is really nice when your kids are yound because you will probably spend the most time in MK and you have the monorail to get there! Also the restaurants are nice at the Poly, good for kids. They have 2 queens and a day bed so one kid could sleep there if necessary.

Good luck.

 

[domestic goddess]

We own DVC and we love the extras that you get with them. However, with a short trip, do you really think that you would use the full kitchen and the laundry enough to make it worth it? Just a thought. Also, with the villas in order to get two beds for the children you would have to get a 2 bedroom because the 1 bedroom only has a king size bed and a queen sleeper sofa. A deluxe may be a better deal for you like the previous posters have said.

We love the WL and you can get a deluxe room with 2 queen beds and a sleeper or a standard with 1 queen and bunk beds(if your children would do well in bunks). The pool is nice and not too big, there is a kiddie pool and the beach. It is close to the MK and the campground for the petting farm and campfire. The boat is also a nice way to get to MK.

Have a great trip!!

 

[Star Wars Guy]

I don't know if this applies to anyone else, but since my first stay at WDW was at CBR, that resort now seems like my WDW home. I've stayed at a couple of other resorts in recent trips, but the trips when we've stayed away from CBR felt a lilttle different. Not bad, just different. Our last trip had us returning to CBR, and I felt that familiar feeling...like I was on a WDW vacation. I know this all probably sounds weird, but that's just me.

Wherever you stay on WDW for the first time may stick with you and you may find that your future trips will have you return to where it all started. Or maybe I'm the only one like this....

 

[Bugsmom73]

I would say stay at either Poly, WL or COnt if you want to be close to the MK, if not and your kids MUST have their own beds, try POR.

 

[Jackie H.]

Another vote here for the Poly. The rooms are nice and large; the day bed would be plently big enough for one of your kids (my 10 year old had plently of room). The grounds are nice and relaxing and there is a sandy beach to play on, a big fun "Volcano Pool" and one or two quiet pools.

But the best thing by far is the convience! Magic Kingdom is a short monorail ride away - or even a relaxing boat ride will get you there. EPCOT is easily gotten to as well - just catch a different monorail from the Ticket & Transportation Center which is right next door!!! You take a bus to get to the Studios or Animal Kingdom.

As you can see by my signature, we've stayed at several of the resorts (others here have stayed at many more!), and I hope we will stay at the Beach Club on the next trip. But with what you described, I would definately recommend the Poly for you!

I always send everyone to see Tikkiman's Wonderful Poly Website

ENJOY!

 

[bellarella]

We just stayed at the Poly and it was perfect. Our DDs are 4.5 and 2.5. The deluxe hotels have a much better arrangement than the DVC studio does for your size family IMHO. The studios have one bed and one sleeper sofa. The deluxes have two queen beds and a day bed. DH and I slept in one queen, DD4 slept in the other and DD2 slept in the day bed. The room was large enough for all of us and since we were worn out from the park, DH and I were happy to go to bed at the same time as the kids.

I also would not trade the location of a monorail resort for anything. The buses were a bit of a hassle when we went to AK and MGM. It was so nice to be able to choose between the monorail (and at the Poly you can chose either the resort stop or the TTC stop) or the private boat launch. While I wasn't thrilled with the theming of the CR when we visited, I would definately stay there over a DVC in other areas of the park. I really don't think you will get anything out of the kitchen and laundry facilities for four days. You can get a fridge in your room for milk and bring some cereal with you for mornings that you don't want to get breakfast.

So my first choice would be Poly (the beach and pool are great for kids this age).
Second would be CR or GF
Third would be WL or WLV -- but I really think the Villas would only be better than the others if you were getting a one bedroom and not a studio, and even then I think the kids wind up sharing a bed.

 

[katherine]

Thank you for all your responses and suggestions. We booked a one room suite tower at CR. We are sooo excited! I hope our First WDW trip will be memorable for a long time. This is a great site where everyone is so nice and full of awesome tips!
katherine