Which Resort with Grandparents and a Dog?

[Shibafam2011]

Hello! We are planning a trip for next March. It will be me, my DH and DD(5), my husband's parents and their well behaved corgi. We have all (except the dog) been to WDW before but never all five of us together, and it has been over 20 years since my husband's parents last went to WDW.

Since we will have the pup, I would like recommendations on where to stay. We would like to stay onsite so our options are limited. Of the dog friendly hotels we would be interested in Yacht Club, Cabins at Fort Wilderness, or AoA. We have stayed at POR before and like to experience a new resort each trip. So that one is not on the list for that reason.

Each of these resorts have pros and I think our family would be happy at either. With Yacht and FW we would need two rooms/cabins because we need two bathrooms. However, for AoA I really do think that the family suite would be the perfect accommodation for us to all stay in one room. Having one room would make planning easier too! I do like the Skyliner convenience of AoA and of course the convenience of walking to EPCOT and HS from Yacht! However, the cabins look like a really cool choice and I could see us enjoying that accommodation as well! Hence the indecision.

We plan to only do three park days (MK, EPCOT, HS) and experience the resorts, DS and other non-park activities for the other three days. The pool isn't a huge factor for us as I don't see us utilizing it much - likely just me, DH and DD for a couple of hours one afternoon and if we can squeeze in any other time. My main concern is to make the best choice for the best and easiest trip with a dog. Money isn't a huge concern but I also don't want to spend "ALL" the money just to stay at YC unless it truly is the best choice. If AoA or the cabins is a better/just as good of a choice I would rather save the money to spend on other activities. When generally pricing it out (not with our dates yet!) the Cabins and AoA were $2-3k cheaper.

If you have read this far thank you!! I really appreciate any advice on resort choice and taking a dog to WDW. Also does anyone know if dogs, who are not service animals, are allowed to walk on the Boardwalk? Completely understandable if not but that would be a nice activity for us, if dogs are allowed.

 

[cruising spud]

We have stayed twice at the Beach/Yacht Club Resort and many times at Fort Wilderness. I have never stayed at AoA. From what I know about the Yacht Club and the Fort, I would suggest the cabins at Fort Wilderness. First, the Fort is jammed packed with rv’s and their assorted pets and children. Meaning, the Fort is a fantastic place to bring a pet and children. Plenty of walking spaces and a dedicated dog park. Second, with three non-park days, the Fort will give you a place to ride bikes if at five, your daughter is able to ride a bike, ride horses (again age requirements ?), rent a golf cart for a day, etc. The Yacht Club has a great pool, but what makes the pool great also makes it a pain. It is huge, so you must be ever vigilant about child watching. The Fort has a nice pool. More child manageable. The fort is more relaxed for children and pets. Just my opinion.

 

[Rory607]

We’ve only stayed at Yacht of those three choices (and I actually met two adorable dogs there). It is lovely and a great location. The boardwalk is great for strolling and you could definitely walk the dog there. But I vote for Ft. Wilderness. It seems like it would be a great place to have the dog with all of the space to walk and get outside.

 

[Out and About]

Dogs are not permitted on the boardwalk unless they are service animals. There is a specific area at Yacht Club were dogs are permitted to be walked. Yacht Club allows dogs in specified areas if they are registered to the guest's room but you can't take them to other resorts such as nearby Beach Club or Boardwalk Inn and Villas.

 

[bluezy]

We've stayed at AoA several times. It could be a good choice for your family as long as you and your DH (or his parents) are willing to sleep together in a full-size bed or one of you is willing to sleep on the sofa bed. The murphy bed in the suites is very comfortable -- has a normal mattress on it (8" thick the last time I measured). The sofa bed isn't the greatest though my adult children have slept on it and say it is the most comfortable hotel sofa bed they've ever slept on (and they've slept on quite a few). It's definitely the least comfortable of the beds in the suite, but it's not unusable. You can always call housekeeping to ask for a foam mattress topper if you need extra padding on it. The big advantages I see for your family by staying at AoA are that you will have a private bedroom and 2 full bathrooms. You'll also have the mini kitchen with microwave and counter height fridge which comes in handy for leftovers and snacks. The Skyliner is awesome! And that's coming from someone who thought she would hate it due to anxiety issues and needing anti-anxiety meds to ride it the first few times. We love the theming at AoA because it makes us feel like kids again.
I've looked at staying at the cabins several times and we've always ruled them out for a few reasons: The bedroom sleeps 4 people (which would be our kids) and my husband and I would end up in the living room on the murphy (formerly sofa) bed. There was no way I was spending that much money on a room and having the *kids* be in the private bedroom. Also, the full (or queen...can't remember which it is now) bed in the bedroom is tight against the wall. So if that bed is being shared, someone is going to have to crawl out at the foot of the bed if they need to get up and go to the bathroom during the night (that would have been me!). We have no need for a full kitchen. With the last renovation, the kitchens in the cabins got "dumbed" down a bit but I still don't need all of that space being taken up by a kitchen I'm not going to use. The transportation system within the resort looks confusing to me. Maybe it's more obvious when you're staying there and there are signs indicating where you should go and what bus you should be on, but looking at it on paper makes my head spin. And the biggest downside to the cabins for us is that they only have one bathroom. And it's not even a split bathroom with the sink and mirror separate from the shower and toilet. So only one person at a time can be doing bathroom stuff. That's an absolute deal breaker (for us) with 4 teens/young adults in the room. I know a lot of families love the cabins, we just aren't one of them.

We haven't stayed at Yacht Club nor have I considered it yet, so I don't have any experience or information there. If it was me, I'd stay at AoA (but I'm biased. ) but YMMV.

 

[R&RsMom]

I have not stayed at the Cabins, but a concern I would have is that I don’t think you can be sure the two cabins would be near each other. At other resorts, adjacent is only a request. Maybe someone who has needed two can chime in with their experience.

 

[Anna131517]

Fort Wilderness Cabins. Normally I would say Yacht Club with grandparents because transportation would be easier on them but since you’re only doing 3 days out of 6 at the parks then Fort Wilderness might be better.

 

[SuperJ]

I stayed in AoA with my dogs, but Mermaid section. It was not for me. I posted a more detailed summary here: https://www.disboards.com/threads/resort-stays-with-dogs-reviews-plans.3883607/#post-64658994. I think maybe the family suites would be better, but if your dogs react to noise at all, AoA is not great. YC and AoA both get fireworks noise, though at AoA it may be less of an issue for the family suites, way down in Mermaid Motel the fireworks were right on the other side of the parking lot. I would not have chosen that resort if I had known that. Things I would add to consider for your situation:

Do the grandparents have mobility issues at all? AoA requires walks to the buses or the Skyliner. Dogs are placed in the furthest buildings from everything. Cars building 2 is where Disney will stick you as their first preference for family suites. I believe the other possibilities, based on the dog walk area maps, are Lion King 6 or Nemo 5. Nemo is shortest walks to things, but I expect you have to pay specifically for a Nemo room to get that and you may get pool noise. FW is probably best if you do have mobility/distance concerns because you can drive right up to your cabin there and parks already require a lot of energy. Also, if you or your dogs aren't fans of kids running up to them constantly when you take them out, AoA is probably not the place for you. We also didn't get Pluto's welcome kit there. Doesn't matter for me but I think some folks consider that a factor. YC also adds in walking for Epcot and HS because your only option is Skyliner.

if you are going back in the middle of the day to walk them, Skyliner worked way better for me than the bus. It was the one thing I really liked about AoA (though I did NOT like the walk from the Skyliner, but again much less of an issue if you're in Nemo). MK to AoA was a huge time suck with long bus waits (contrary to the reports on this forum, I actually had great luck with the buses for MK to POR when we stayed there). I would actually caution against Skyliner in the thunderstorm season because it could backfire (there is always Uber, or driving yourself if you have to but then you have to deal with parking on the return).

Note that the dog fee is higher at YC: 75/night over 50/night at the other resorts.

Given that you are interested in having resort days, note that AoA does not have waterslide. Since you said you're not big pool people, YC loses a lot of its appeal for that reason. FW has a lot more, and different, activities for kids beyond the pool than the other resorts (archery, horses, nature walkability). A lot of the kid-centric activities at the other resorts are focused on the pool or around the pool area. There is also a dog park, which all other resorts lack. As others have noted, the room configuration at FW may just not be for you.

Happy to answer any other questions you may have about a dog stay at AoA. IF I ever had to stay there again, I would try a family suite over Mermaid and would pay extra for the location but usually it comes out to more than a FW cabin, so I think we're going to be at POR out of necessity for any future visits. I haven't tried YC or FW with my pups (just the budget, really. and the ridiculous dog fee at YC) but if you end up choosing one of those, I'd be interested to hear how your experience went.