Traveling with 3 yr old and 13 month old. Where to stay?

[disneybud]

All,

Have any of you traveled to WDW with a 3 yr old and 13 month old? If so where and what kind of room did you stay in? Looking for all experiences bad and good.

We are basically considering two options....

1) All Stars- If we stayed here we would get two connecting rooms so we could have the 6 month old or 3 month old nap in one room while the rest of the family could do things quietly in the other room. We could get two rooms roughly for the price of one room say at WL. Cons are that we would be forced to take buses all the time and would be far from MK where we spend most of our time with kids our age. We would probably do Music so as to use codes to get cheaper rate. Thus theming will not be as good as WL or All-Star Movies.

2) WL- If we stayed here we would get one room. Our thinking is if one child wanted to nap we could take the other out on the balcony or if both wanted to nap we (wife and I) could hang out on the balcony. We would be able to get back and forth to MK easily using the ferry boat so if one wanted to take nap one parent could go back to hotel easier than trying to get back to All-Stars. Cons - Less room than 2 rooms at All-Stars. If 1 yr old decided he isn't sleeping, no option of escaping to a second room so as not to disturb rest of sleeping family.

FYI reason we are so hung up on this is that we stayed at All-Stars with daughter who was then 16 months and found All-Stars to be good except she had trouble going to sleep every night. We would even keep her out until midnight and she still would be so wired that falling asleep was tough. I literally would drive off All-Stars in the rented mini-van back and forth out of Disney property and back on trying to go fast on the highways to get her to go to sleep and then try to carry her back into the hotel room and keep her sleeping. This was the only bad part of that trip. I guess we are fearful of the same thing happening with our youngest now who will be 13 months when we go back this October.

Again if anyone could relay their experiences with kids these ages and how you made out sleeping in the hotel rooms would be truly appreciated!! BTW we are set on staying on property this trip. The trip will be 7 nights.
Thanks!!

 

[BevS97]

well, until I read your last sentence I was also set to recommend an offsite villa or suite. We stayed in a small condo style villa on our last trip, and it worked really well for our needs. In a hotel room, we all go to sleep at the same time (dh, me, dd age 5), and that's usually quite late. Although my dd will keep on going till late, it's nice to get her to bed earlier and then have some free time to ourselves, and we got that in the condo. We also loved having the kitchen and laundry facilities (funny how much more fun laundry is on vacation than at home...)

if you are set on staying onsite, then I don't really know which would be better. Neither of them really strike me as ideal. I guess it depends which is likely to be more important, convenience to the parks, or a seperate place to sleep. once your kids are asleep would you be able to switch the tv on? Chat in the room, have a drink etc? or would the kids require absolute dark and quiet?

Bev

 

[Zephyr]

You might find that staying at one of the hotels on the monorail line more convenient (Contemporary, Polynesian or Grand Floridian). Kids that age tend to like the Magic Kingdom the best and it's nice to just hop on the monorail so you can easily go back to the hotel room for naps.

The Poly's rooms have a day-bed which you can get bed rails for and that worked well for my son when he was both 2 and 3 years old. Also, their rooms are a little bigger than others so there is room for a crib for your youngest.

 

[EAP'sDAD]

You should look at the DVC section of this website and look at the rent points board from that you could rent points for a 1 bedroom at old key west which would have a seperate br and living room also has a kitchen and washer dryer in the room which is great for small ones. If you have any problems with this or need some help just e-mail me at truther@optonline.net and I would be glad to help you. the price depending on when you went wouldn't be much more then WL.

 

[Jordan's MOM]

Between the two options you are looking at i wonder if the WL would be any quiter than AS. We like the AS but find it sometime a little noisy. Perhaps this is the reason your child had trouble going to sleep. We find a white noise machine to help with that. Also when my DS was that age we found being over tired made it harder to go to sleep. Giving him a nap and putting him to bed close to his regular bedtime made a would of difference. I see pros and con to both. The transportaion is better to MK from WL, but I like the idea of a seperate place to escape for the kids at bedtime. We could always watch TV after DS was asleep but some kids would wake right up. Good luck deciding.


Jordan's mom

 

[laughinplace199]

As EAP's DAD mentioned, you might want to look into Old Key West or one of the other DVC properties. We stayed at OKW in October with our 3 yr. old and 15 month old. It was great having the living room to hang out in while the kid(s) slept in the bedroom. We tried to keep to their nap and bedtime schedules as best we could, and they slept pretty well. The other thing that was great was having the kitchen and laundry room!

Good luck with your decision and have a great trip!

 

[crisi]

I'd be very temped by the monorail resorts - but we did our "two in diapers" trip at the WL. The boat to the MK and the monorails don't make you fold your stroller, the busses do. Transportation (to me) is a bigger issue than sleeping.

Your 13 month old is young enough that he may just take stroller naps throughout the day. And you can take him for a walk while the 3 year old naps back in the room if he isn't tired. We discovered neither of our kids napped in the room anyway. We did all our napping on Disney transporation - kind of like doing all your errands on Saturday with the kids taking carseat naps! And, as for the end of the day, Daddy sat with a book while the kids fell asleep (and Mommy did a hottub spin), then we swapped.

The ideal solution would be a one bedroom at VWL - still have boat access to the MK, have two rooms, a washer dryer, and a kitchen. But renting points may get pricier than what you had in mind. I wouldn't do OKW myself (although the units are much bigger and beautiful) - as it is either busses everywhere (with less than the World's best bus service) or having a car.

 

[disneybud]

Thanks all for your comments. I considered the whole renting DVC points idea... Here is what I came up with and why I think it would end up being too expensive at least for us.

For the days we are planning on traveling.. 10/22/03 to 10/29/03

I calculate the following number of points I would need to rent for a 1 bedroom..

VWL - 214
OKW - 172
BWV - 174
BCV - 214

Using a price per point of $8.50 up to $10.00

The 172, 174 OKW and BWV would be between $1,479 to $1,740

The 214 needed at VWL/BCV would be between $1,819 to 2,140.

For some people that might seem like nothing, but for us and where we are that seemed too high for our budget.

We are comparing that to the following....

If the codes come out right we are hoping we can get a room at WL for $140 per night.. for 7 nights that would be aroung $980. I know there will be taxes etc probably tacked onto that too.

If we were able to get All-Stars codes for that 10/22 to 10/29 and say get around $75 per night, we could get 2 connecting rooms for around $1,050.

If I use the middle range above I think we would be saving at least $500 for lodging then if we go with the rooms versus the renting of DVD points.

I could see if we were comparing say CR or POLY to DVC renting that it would be better to go with the DVC renting, but if we could get $140 per night in late October at WL then I think we might opt to go for that and see what happens with the kids.

Does anyone think my math is off here or thinking??

THX!

 

[shelly3girls]

I don't know what the code rates are for the deluxe rooms at WL, but you may want to consider them. The room is not alot bigger than a regular room but is divided into two rooms by french doors. You also have a minibar with a small refrigerator. We chose this option before we bought into DVC and found it worked out great. My DD's were 2.5 and 8 months. We had my older DD sleep with us in the bedroom and put the baby in the living area in a crib. This may not be an option since I really don't know what the cost would be with a code, just thought I would mention it in case someone else does.

Another thought may be to stay at the All-Stars on the weekend then move to a DVC resort on Sunday when it would cost you alot less to stay. I hear it is very easy to move resorts although I have never done it.

 

[crisi]

You'd be looking at the 214 points for BWVs as well, as the lower point figure is for a standard view room and those were booked long ago. Not that you are interested (I agree, its a lot of money), but in case anyone else is reading this thread and uses your numbers.

One thing you aren't factoring in is room tax. There will be no room tax on a DVC rental. Room tax for the hotel is pretty high (I don't remember how much). And keep in mind that if you'd rent DVC you'd have a kitchen - which may end up saving you some money as well (a lot of people really like the kitchen and think it ends up saving them a ton of money - and with two little kids I could see where that plus the washer would be worth something). You are also assuming codes - which may or may not be a sure thing.

But I won't argue that renting DVC will be more expensive than getting a regular WL room - especially if you aren't picky about your view.

 

[disneybud]

Thanks all again for you input!

 

[BevS97]

Another option for you:
The Doubletree Guest Suites at Downtown Disney - You would get a 2 room suite , still be onsite, and for your dates it's quoting $944.41 including all taxes which compares pretty favorably to your other 2 quotes.

Bev

 

[TandyR]

Our first trip was with one child being 4 years old and 12 months old and we stayed at WL it was really easy and nice and quite so they didn't have trouble sleeping. We hung out with friends on the balcony and talked late into the night while our girls slept. So it worked really well for us and I am very very biased I think there is no better place to stay then VWL and then WL for a back up. The ease to get to MK with two small ones is just wonderful. They veiw the boat ride as one of the major attractions of WDW and also that you can catch a boat ride right over to FW and go to the petting zoo on a down day is a major plus for us and our girls. So if I were you I would stay at VWL or WL, but as I said I am biased.