Disney World resorts (Florida) - a few questions

[Novembergirl]

We are thinking of taking DS, who is three in January, to Disney World, Florida next Spring and would be interested to know if anyone has experience of taking a similar aged child. Whilst he will be too young for most rides, will he be old enough to appreciate the Magic Kingdom etc or should we wait a little longer?

We have been advised to go in Apri/May as the humidity is lower: would others agree?

Finally, we have decided to stay at a Disney World resort and have short listed Port Orleans, the World Swan and Dolphin (where I stayed before DS) and Disney's Yacht and Beach Club resorts. Fort Wilderness and the Wilderness Lodge also look good though

Does anyone have experience of staying at these resorts, ideally with a young child and, if so, what are the pros and cons: which ones do MNers prefer?

Apologies for all the questions, espcially as there are a number of Disney-related threads, but it would be really helpful to hear from other MNers who have feedback on the reseorts /taking a three year old.

It is a totally different experience from going without kids. Ds2 was 3 when we went (nearly 4). Obviously the main factor for children is height rather than age. I can't remember offhand the exact cut-offs for each category but I think that it was around 98cm.

There are a huge number of shows at each of the Disney parks, and don't forget to book some character meals.

We stayed at the Polynesian as we wanted to be on the monorail. That said for most of the parks we drove rather than waiting on buses. We also spent part of our holiday at a villa and personally that worked much better for us - I'm not convinced that the Disney hotesl are truly woth the money. We were mainly looking at the side benefits such as free parking, Disney transport and additional park hours (though with little ones you can only really use the early morning ones).

We went in April and it was just right weather wise - very pleasant, but not too humid.

I can recommend The Dibb as the ideal website for all things Disney!

Novembergirl. I have just returned from WDW with a 7yo and 9yo but had a 3 and 5yo last time we were there and a 2.5 and 9mo the first time we went. IMO 3 year old is a lovely age to take them - they are just full of wide-eyed wonder at it all!

The previous two times we have been we stayed off disney. This time we had one week in Disney and one and a bit weeks off.

I think April or May would be a lovely time to go.

In terms of where to stay then there are a few things to take into consideration.

How important is staying on disney to you? From our trip this time we worked out that staying on a disney hotel is between 2 and 3 times more expensive than staying off site. For this you do get the advantage of being able to do the extra magic hours and use disney transportation. However, it took us no longer to travel from our off site hotel than it did to travel using the resort buses within Disney.

If staying in Disney is important then the next thing you need to think about is which park you will visit most frequently. I suspect in your case it will be the Magic Kingdom, in which case you would be best to find a hotel that is within the MK resort area. The Grand Floridian, the Contemporary and the Poly are probably especially worth a look becaquse they are on the monorail into both MK and Epcot which will save a great deal of travel time for you. Otherwise look at resports where you can get to MK via boat.

If you have a three year old you might also want to look at the Disney Vacation Club resorts as you can get a one-bed apartment with washing machine/tumble dryer and well equipped kitchen etc which means that you don't have to sleep in the same room as your child and can prepare basic snacks etc in the room.

We stayed at the beach club villas this time around whilst at Disney and they were lovely. However location wise these are really best if you are mainly intending to go to MGM and EPcot most of the time as they are a boat ride from there. This is true of the Yacht Club and the Swan and Dolphin hotels too.

If you don't mind hiring a car and driving then do seriously think about staying off site. We stayed at the Hilton Grand Vacations hotel on International drive and it was fantastic. Ask for a room in building one over looking the pool and you won't go far wrong! The Sheraton Vistana Village resort is also on this quite bit of I-drive and that is lovely too with a zero entry bit to the pool so that small children are catered for!

The other parks that are not disney ones, that you should go to if you are there are Seaworld, Universal Studios and Islands of adventure. US and IOA are both universal parks and if you go there, and money is not too tight, then booking a night in one of the universal hotels gives you unlimited front of queue express tickets for the date of arrival and departure - well worth it IME. Both the universal parks have a special area of the park suitable for young children and the themeing of these areas and the rides are excellent. They are busy though, so get those express passes if you can!

This website teh dibb was invaluable in planning our holiday. There is loads of information on there about the different resorts etc.

Happy holiday planning

Unless you are thinking of going more than once I would leave it for a couple of years.
Dd3 was 3 when we went and was limited in the rides she could go on and those had the longest queues. (Apart from Small World - aaaargh). Also the shows were too loud for her and she was scared of most of the characters walking round!
The parades never really caught her attention - maybe we should have made more effort to get to the front.
If you are not going with other people and you haven't got older children you have to go on the rides on your own because one of you will always have to stay with DS.

The rest of us had the holiday of a lifetime, wasn't meaning to sound to negative just pointing out some downsides.

If you go - don't forget the water parks. DS will love those.

Oh, perfect time of the year, try to avoid their Easter break.

I have just come back from Disney, being a teacher I can only really go in August but would think that April May is a much more suitable time. I have been to Florida many times during those months and found the humidity levels much more bearable. I am not sure however if the parks are at their busiest then, take care to miss spring break.

We stayed in a condo just outside of disney if we went back I woudl stay on a sisney resort but dp does not agree with me as he says the extra expense does not warrant it and I doubt with such a young child that you would use your extra magic hours.

As for dd age she is almost six and loved it, I don;t know whether I would take a three year old unless I could afford to take them again in a few years. I know there were things dd couldn't do because of her age such as discovery cove and we plan to go back in about five years.

I would recommend a brits guide to Orlando a very useful tool in our planning

I have more experience with disneyworld than I'd like to admit as my parents have "treated" us to 3 holidays there with them. (They live in America & have a limited ability to travel long distances & also a limited imagination, but are less limited in the funding department.)

I took ds, my eldest, when he was 2.5. He remembers absolutely none of that trip now, but liked it very much at the time. (I also took him at age 5 and age 6. Those ages were much more successful, particularly age 6.)

And I took dd at ages 2 and 3. She enjoyed it too, particularly age 3.

But remember: 2 year olds can get very frightened, even of some of the so-called baby rides, especially ones where it is dark, like Snow White.

I don't know anything about any of those resorts. However I suspect the wilderness lodges might be a bit dark and dismal because they'll be trying to do that shady foresty "wilderness" log cabin thing, but fake and plastic of course, as is everything in Disney. But I'm sorry i just don't really have any direct experience & can't help with that. I'd pick one with the shortest bus ride to the Magic Kingdom I guess, but I'm sure you've taken that into consideration already.

PS yes, april/May are good times to go. But May would be much better IMO because American school holidays are in March/April and good god what crowds. I think the place would be much less busy in May, and if I didn't have ds's school hols to think about, I'd definitely go NOT in march or April, but would opt for May. But maybe early May because some American schools, particularly in the south, actually finish for the summer in late May.

We're planning on going again in early June (we finish here in Colorado May28th). We went this year and had a blast. Stayed in a private pool villa - $500 for the week . So have a great one I can recommend if you like. Hired a car which was very cheap. My Mum got cheap deal on Univeral tickets which saved us loads. Disney is truly magical but I can highly recommend SeaWorld - wow the shows are incredible and loads of shade for the hot sunny days. Universal Studios also great.

Top tip, take a back pack and carry water with you, a chore but believe me it's far cheaper to buy it at the Publix Supermarket than pay the $4 or so a bottle and you'll need to drink a lot. Strollers are great to hire, not cheap but better than lugging them with you in the plane and at Universal Islands and Studios you can go park to park with them. Enjoy it. Let me know if you'd like info on the villa. It was 4 bed with a great pool.

We all actually preferred seaworld to disney.

Oh Discovery Cove - I want to go and do that one too . SeaWorld was amazing wasn't it . We went three times during our week there.

We booked a vip tour so got reseved seats for shows, dinner backstage with Shamu, front of queue for the rides as well as dolphin feeding etc , it was fabulous.

My boys loved seaworld.

Discovery Cove is fantastic.

DD is just under six and is still working on her swimming so we will leave it a few years, but her experiiences at seaworld have spurred her on to improve. She wants us to all move to the USA so she can be a dolphin trainer

In answer to OP though, we waited til our youngest was six so that he could go on most of the rides (in fact all of the rides except Kracken at Seaworld, but then he's tall for his age).

We were only ever suppposed to be taking the boys once though, and wanted them to have a great time and great memories.

Don't quite know how DH talked me into booking again for this Christmas, lol.

yes you would be surprised what scares them for example the snow white ride at magic kingdom was a complete no go for dd but she loved splash mountain!

I am looking for my christmas holiday now, not up to a disney christmas though, we want quiet sun.

Well they have to be six to swim with the dolphins I think, but you don't have to be a swimmer.

Good that it's provided some motivation though.

Disney Christmas three years ago was fab.

Not intending to go to Disney this time, but you never know. Would love dinner at Cinderella's Palace but there's so much to do in Florida.

yes it is six to swim with dolphins, she also wants to swim with manatees at crystal river for which she needs to be able to sim independently.

One of the times we have been, my son was 3. He truly believed and loved the characters, parades and shows

He could only do the little rides but enjoyed them all, not scared by any

We stayed in Wilderness Lodge that time and the boat to and from Magic Kindgom was great, especially to go in early, pop back to hotel for nap and swim and then go back in the evening

Getting to the other parks wasn't as easy but still very little effort

the weather should be ideal, warm but not to humid

My son doesn't remember it all but we have videos of his face and reaction and it was worth it

Good luck!
heat and humidity, exhausted toddler during the day, hyper in the evening, crowds, fear of getting separated, queuing, loud music and noise, junk food................OMG the vacation from hell!

First time I went, I was 12 and my brother 6 and after 2 days we were shattered. We just wanted to hang out by the pool.
Think way too overstimulating for little ones and perfect recipe for disaster for parents.
Unless you can have another holiday after that one!

BTW, springtime is lovely in Paris. Why not just a couple of days there then fly to sunshine?

have you thought about euro disney, I took my dd to eurodisney when she was that age and she loved it.

sorry to hijack - alipiggy, I will be looking for a villa to rent, could you give me a website link or something?!?!

Thanks!

Sweetheart - have yoiu tried looking on www.thedibb.co.uk They have a section with villa owners who rent out at reasonable prices.