Would you go cheap or stay close with 4 yr old?

[Skyw]

I can't decide whether to budget cheaply, (like staying at ALL Stars) or staying close to MK. My son is 4. We already stayed at the cabins but I don't know about spending the money this year. What are your thoughts??

 

[pednurse]

This is just my experience, but with a 9-year-old DS and a 5-year-old DD, we stayed at Pop Century. They actually loved the bus rides to the parks (we live outside of town so they had never ridden city buses before). I had to go as cheap as possible to afford to go at all and I think they did fine with where we were.....it's really not that much farther out.

 

[brymolmom]

I've stayed both onsite and offsite...and they both have their advantages. Especially at that age - as long as your hotel has a decent pool and you spend enough time in the parks - I'm sure your ds would LOVE the trip.

Try getting a great deal on a nice hotel from Hotwire. Then you can often request a frig in your room (or buy a small cooler at the store) - and do breakfasts in the room, make sandwiches to bring to the parks with you and do either one meal on site - or grab a pizza on the way back to your room in the evening. That, IMO - is the least expensive way to do it!!! And you'll have a blast!

You might want to let your son choose 'one thing' onsite that he really wants to do - like one character meal if that's possible in the budget?? And don't forget - if you go someplace not in a park - you can go to that meal without using up a park ticket for that day and still make it a 'Disney-ish' day. Like maybe your night of arrival??

 

[powellrj]

I assumed that by cheaply, you mean at the All-stars or Pop instead of the monorail hotels.

Kids that age love the big campy feel of the Values! The only downside is there are no pool slides, so if you spend a lot of time on the pool sides that could be an issue, but the pools do have cool theming!

I can't say anything about the busses because we always rent a car, but we never had problem going back and forth with our car even though we were at POP.

 

[princessrunner]

With a 12 yo DD and 5 yo DS we stay at AS or PC but pay for the preferred view so the walk is not so bad in the evening. My kids fave is AKL with the savannah view (not so great right now with the construction). We also liked WL if you want to splurge.

 

[pooksma]

Our DS is now 6 and we are leaving in 2 days!!!! We have stayed osite at values both times previous and this time as well. Its much more convenient for us to be able to hop the bus and go back to the resort whenever we ned to. We can always return to the parks later in the day if he needs a break.

On our first trip staying onsite was the best. Out for a while in the am, back to the room for a nap, back out later int he day. Themeing is an issue for him as well. I can't imagine not staying onsite but then again we've never tried.

 

[eliza61]

I can't decide whether to budget cheaply, (like staying at ALL Stars) or staying close to MK. My son is 4. We already stayed at the cabins but I don't know about spending the money this year. What are your thoughts??

If you're concerned about spending the money stick with the values, nothing worse than being on vacation and stressing about how much it's costing. If you can swing it without the stress, than I always enjoy staying at a monorail hotel just for the easy access. While you be pushing a stroller and carrying a bag? I'll pay a lot to make my life simpler when traveling with kids.

 

[Crazy4Disney72]

I can't decide whether to budget cheaply, (like staying at ALL Stars) or staying close to MK. My son is 4. We already stayed at the cabins but I don't know about spending the money this year. What are your thoughts??

I've stayed at the values with my kids and they loved them, the theming is so kid-friendly. However, you do spend a lot of time in transit getting to and from the parks with the busses, between the actual ride and the wait for the bus. If you are going to be there for at least 6-7 days, it's not that bad, but for a shorter trip, I much prefer being closer to the MK.

For my DD's birthday when she turned 6, I was taking her alone for a long weekend. Originally we were going to do ASMovies and request the Dalmation section as she loved the Dalmations, but DH suggested spending the extra money on the Contemporary since it was so close to her favorite park. We did that and it was so worth the extra money to be right there, really saved us time when we didn't have that much time to begin with. However, as far as the actual resort, I think DD would have enjoyed the grounds of ASMovies more than she did the CR, but since it was only a 4 day trip, we were spending our time in the parks anyway so it wasn't as much of an issue.

 

[bzzymom]

Values are great when on a budget. I have stayed at ASsports and ASMovies and had great times at both. DS was 4 and 5 when we stayed at ASSports and he loved it.

 

[Skyw]

Thanks everyone for the idea's and thoughts. I have stayed at the ALL stars as an adult with no kids and loved it. I was happy to be on the property!!! What about the food options at the All stars? If we decided to just stay at the pool instead of going to the parks, could we get a good selection for kids? I can't remember what was there.

If money wasn't an issue,I would stay at the Poly!!!!!! Near the monorail and the TTC. But it is a crazy amount of money.

 

[PiperPizzaz]

I would stay at the Poly too, but, I think Ds (2) will like a giant a potato head better. Save the $$$ for when the kids are older and want more ammenities.

 

[tinkerbell of winter]

Stay at the values! I never had a problem with the bus service from All Stars or from POP Century, just pay for a preferred room ($10 extra a day I think) to be closer to the Bus Stop in the All Stars. At POP I don't think any of the buildings are really that far away, we took a walk around the hotel when we stayed there and it didn't seem too far from the outlying buildings. As far as bus service goes, even when there was a long line to get back to the AllStars or POP it seemed to go much faster because there were a lot more buses, vs when we stayed at Saratoga Springs there were not as many buses, we seemed to have to wait quite a while. The values are great for kids, my daugher is 10 now and she could care less whether she stays at POP century or at the Boardwalk. As long as there is a pool she's happy

 

[tjmw2727]

Thanks everyone for the idea's and thoughts. I have stayed at the ALL stars as an adult with no kids and loved it. I was happy to be on the property!!! What about the food options at the All stars? If we decided to just stay at the pool instead of going to the parks, could we get a good selection for kids? I can't remember what was there.

If money wasn't an issue,I would stay at the Poly!!!!!! Near the monorail and the TTC. But it is a crazy amount of money.

I would also do the AllStars and have twice on solo trips with my dd's. I do think that I would book the preferred room to be closer to the food court and bus stop.

Here is a link to the menus for the All Star food options.
http://www.allearsnet.com/menu/menus.htm#res

I must also mention that we got a great deal last trip that made POFQ just a bit more $$ than the all stars and loved it. This may be a compromise as they have a great resort with access to POR so two pools with slides to choose from. They had a great food court and lots for the kids to do and we loved the boat to DTD. So if its a slow time and the moderates are offering discounts you may get a good deal.

TJ

 

[mom0299]

On our first family trip DS was 7 and DD was 5. We chose to stay at the Contemporary. We loved the convenience of the monorail and the walkway to MK. It really came in handy when DH an DS stayed late at MK and DD and I went back to the room. We could see Wishes from our room and Chef Mickey's was right there. We loved it.

 

[Honeybehr1]

DH and I have stayed off property and onsite. We will only stay onsite from now on. The convience of on site definately outweighs staying off site.

We are cheap. We only stay at the value resorts because we do not spend much time in the room at all - really only to sleep at night. Last time we went with a 2yr old and a 7yr old and the 2 yr old napped in the carriage for a few hours and was totally fine with that. He is a great sleeper and will sleep anywhere. So to spend extra and get one of the deluxe rooms, wouldnt be a good fit for us. We want to be in the park as long as we can.

 

[SmallWorld71]

JMHO - But, I found the food selection for kids at the resort food courts to be way better than the ones in the parks. At the CS places in the parks there are only 2 choices for kids at each place, there are much more at the food courts.
Although I would book deluxe in a heartbeat if I could afford it, my kids love the All-Stars. When my boys were 2 and 5 we stayed at Movies in the Toy Story section and they were in heaven. Last year we stayed at Sports in the baseball section for all my Red Sox fanatics. Also, while you may be further out from MK, you are right by the AK and Blizzard Beach so it all seems to balance out.