Which Value for 2 adults and a 4 yr old boy?

[aym4Him]

Hey everyone!

We have only been to WDW as a family once before and that was for DS's Wish Trip last November. It was great!!! This is the first time we'll be "on our own" to plan (and pay!) so we'd like to do things right. It's going to be an early birthday/Christmas surprise for DS! It's already killing me, trying to keep it to myself. I'm just thankful he can't read yet so I can post away here and chat on Facebook about it!!

I've been to WDW a few times before (when I was younger) and it was always with another family or group and we never stayed onsite. We stayed at Give Kids the World (amazing!) for E's Wish Trip so, since that is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, we wanted to do something to make this trip almost as special and figured staying on site would be a good idea.

Which Value do you prefer and why? What are the positives? We will likely be using Disney Transportation as renting a car seems to be impractical. We will probably have to bring his car seat for the plane and the taxi we'll need to take b/c we will get to spend one day at Give Kids the World (It's in Kissimmee) as a special treat.

Our dates are tentatively November 10-18, with some flexibility.

Thank you SO VERY MUCH for any and all help you can offer!!

 

[DisReilly]

If I were going to stay at a value again, I'd prefer POP. The kids really enjoyed the GIGANTIC versions of iconic toys and the pools had fun shapes. The rooms are comfortable and I feel like the colors in the rooms aren't as loud as at the all star resorts. Though I haven't stayed there in awhile, I know there's a bridge going to the Art of Animation hotel, so you could go check out the oversized Disney characters and have a second food court option. The food court at POP is pretty good, but busy and you have to pass through the gift shop to get into the place from the lobby, which sometimes caused us extra spending but it's decent food (be careful with the tie-dye cheesecake! colors your teeth!) I remember the bus lines here being long sometimes, but that should be expected. I say at POFQ now, but this is my preference when staying at values for sure.

 

[trishadono]

Look at POP thread and see what you think. It is great. The AOA resort is great too except they did regular rooms only in mermaid so kind of girlish. The Allstars are fun too. I like all star movies because my kids liked the Dalmatians and Toy Story areas.

Really it's what your 4yr likes. All very similar. I like travel times from POP/AOA better because more centrally located.

Have a great trip! The resort threads have lots of pictures so look and see what appeals to you and your family. And have fun planning

 

[ElizabethCRush]

My husband and I recently stayed on property for the first time and chose All-Star Movies! The accommodations are wonderful and you get the full Disney experience!! The room is perfect for 3. The themes are all something I imagine a 4 yr old (and child at heart like us) would love and be familiar with from Toy Story, Dalmatians etc... there was always some activity happening by the pool; coloring, hula hooping, Disney trivia. The arcade had several games geared toward very little tikes!! At the end of a long day you can always curl up & catch a movie poolside. While at The Movies you'll have access to all the amenities and recreation the other All-Star resorts ofter!

 

[belle912]

My family loves to stay at the Pop. We have been there many times and love the giant icons from past decades, the giant pool and the food court is better than some of the others. We also love how you can see the fireworks at Epcot from the upper floors of some of the buildings!

 

[aym4Him]

I went ahead and put in a tentative reservation for POP upon some other friends' recommendations. I think both ASM and POP were pretty close in who preferred what, but I do like the location of POP better.

How hard would it be to go visit the ASM during downtime? I'm going to go and look at pix to see what all is at AoA b/c, while he's trying to grow up too fast on me and ditch Thomas the Train for Star Wars, he's still a softie when it comes to Toy Story (ok, I say he's ditching Thomas but he still wants to keep all his trains and such!)! I'd like to go see some of the decorations, etc if we can.

Maybe you all might have some input into my "itinerary." We planned to arrive on the 11/10, but I just checked flights and they are a bit more pricey than if we flew on the 11th. Now, we are thinking the 11th-19th. We're going to get 5 day PH tix in addition to the MVMCP on 11/11. If we get the flight we want, we will leave here at 6:15am and arrive in Orlando at 10:55am. That should give us time to get to the hotel via Magic Express, get settled in- maybe nap or explore and then be able to get to MK by 4-ish. It does sound like a FULL day now that I've typed that out (DH's idea to arrive and do the MVMCP)...but when we went last yr, DS rocked it out til 1am on not one but TWO nights!! We'll see. I know HE can always nap in the stroller....there just won't be one for ME! Ok, so that is 1 day at MK for MVMCP, 5 other days everywhere, and then two days to play with before we head out on the 19th. One of those days will be spent at GKTW. The question is, do we need that extra day? Should we save our $ and fly back on the 18th? The flight we are looking at leaves at 6:50pm.

I know that, ultimately, it's going to come down to what suits my family. It just helps for me to "think out loud."

Oh, and if they don't offer FD (I didn't have a PIN attached to my name when I called today), we are going to somehow PB&J it most of the week just to afford this. Can you pack that in your checked bag? I'm not kidding .

 

[esdot]

POP is an excellent choice!!! We love it and find it to be the best overall of the values. Not too hard to go to ASM during downtime. AoA is even easier to visit, as its just a short stroll over the bridge from POP. For ASM, just use the buses to the closest park, then ride the ASM bus to that resort. Also, there is some delivery cost to it, but Garden Grocer will deliver groceries to the resort for a PBJ option.

 

[esdot]

You can also ship down non-perishable items to the resort before your stay. Check out the threads on the resorts and shipping for more details!

 

[LovesTimone]

I went ahead and put in a tentative reservation for POP upon some other friends' recommendations. I think both ASM and POP were pretty close in who preferred what, but I do like the location of POP better.

How hard would it be to go visit the ASM during downtime? I'm going to go and look at pix to see what all is at AoA b/c, while he's trying to grow up too fast on me and ditch Thomas the Train for Star Wars, he's still a softie when it comes to Toy Story (ok, I say he's ditching Thomas but he still wants to keep all his trains and such!)! I'd like to go see some of the decorations, etc if we can. - You can get on a bus to any park or DTD from your resort, and changes buses to another resort, to look at the decorations or explore any other resort. I recommend getting on the monorail and doing the loop, the decoration are wonderful, and at the GF head to the Ginger Bread House for a snack,

Maybe you all might have some input into my "itinerary." We planned to arrive on the 11/10, but I just checked flights and they are a bit more pricey than if we flew on the 11th. Now, we are thinking the 11th-19th. We're going to get 5 day PH tix in addition to the MVMCP on 11/11. If we get the flight we want, we will leave here at 6:15am and arrive in Orlando at 10:55am. That should give us time to get to the hotel via Magic Express, get settled in- maybe nap or explore and then be able to get to MK by 4-ish. It does sound like a FULL day now that I've typed that out (DH's idea to arrive and do the MVMCP)...but when we went last yr, DS rocked it out til 1am on not one but TWO nights!! We'll see. I know HE can always nap in the stroller....there just won't be one for ME! Ok, so that is 1 day at MK for MVMCP, 5 other days everywhere, and then two days to play with before we head out on the 19th. One of those days will be spent at GKTW. The question is, do we need that extra day? Should we save our $ and fly back on the 18th? The flight we are looking at leaves at 6:50pm. With your tickets are good for your entire stay, you could take a break mid way, have a day at the pool, and check out DTD, and the other down day to go to GKTW,

I know that, ultimately, it's going to come down to what suits my family. It just helps for me to "think out loud."

Oh, and if they don't offer FD (I didn't have a PIN attached to my name when I called today), we are going to somehow PB&J it most of the week just to afford this. Can you pack that in your checked bag? I'm not kidding .

- Keep checking on free dinning, we got lucky a few years ago and they offered it a few week before we left. There is a grocery service that deliver's to the hotels, Garden Grocer - lots of good review, as a suggestion.

How are you getting to GKTW? If you are going to go by taxi, you might want to check the cost out 1st, - some friends got a taxi over to the other theme park (universal) for the day, They were charge 50.00 each way, that's over 100.00 with tip, My friend said she could have rented a car for the week for 100.00 bucks. I suggest this as, if you have a car you can stop and pick up items for the room, and if you want to you can explore around Orlando, or if you want on one of your down days, head over to the beach, Clearwater beach is really nice or Sand Key park which is around the corner from Clearwater beach. Just throwing out some suggestions.

 

[KELLY]

I went ahead and put in a tentative reservation for POP upon some other friends' recommendations. I think both ASM and POP were pretty close in who preferred what, but I do like the location of POP better.

How hard would it be to go visit the ASM during downtime? I'm going to go and look at pix to see what all is at AoA b/c, while he's trying to grow up too fast on me and ditch Thomas the Train for Star Wars, he's still a softie when it comes to Toy Story (ok, I say he's ditching Thomas but he still wants to keep all his trains and such!)! I'd like to go see some of the decorations, etc if we can.

Maybe you all might have some input into my "itinerary." We planned to arrive on the 11/10, but I just checked flights and they are a bit more pricey than if we flew on the 11th. Now, we are thinking the 11th-19th. We're going to get 5 day PH tix in addition to the MVMCP on 11/11. If we get the flight we want, we will leave here at 6:15am and arrive in Orlando at 10:55am. That should give us time to get to the hotel via Magic Express, get settled in- maybe nap or explore and then be able to get to MK by 4-ish. It does sound like a FULL day now that I've typed that out (DH's idea to arrive and do the MVMCP)...but when we went last yr, DS rocked it out til 1am on not one but TWO nights!! We'll see. I know HE can always nap in the stroller....there just won't be one for ME! Ok, so that is 1 day at MK for MVMCP, 5 other days everywhere, and then two days to play with before we head out on the 19th. One of those days will be spent at GKTW. The question is, do we need that extra day? Should we save our $ and fly back on the 18th? The flight we are looking at leaves at 6:50pm.

I know that, ultimately, it's going to come down to what suits my family. It just helps for me to "think out loud."

Oh, and if they don't offer FD (I didn't have a PIN attached to my name when I called today), we are going to somehow PB&J it most of the week just to afford this. Can you pack that in your checked bag? I'm not kidding .

You can also use a service to deliver groceries to you at the resort. Alot of people use www.gardengrocer.com