First trip to Disney- Recommendations?

RachLDis12

Earning My Ears
Joined
Feb 20, 2020
Hi all!

I’ve been going back and forth on plans/hotels and can’t decide for my toddlers first trip to Disney! My son will be turning 3 and my daughter 4 by the time we go. Thinking end of January 2021 or early February. Is this a good time to go? Should I wait until the fall? How far out should I book?

We plan to do a fairly low key trip this time around and go all out in a couple of years. Thinking 2-3 parks. Definitely MK, which others would you recommend?

Would love a room with a balcony in case the kids want to rest in the afternoon and it gives my husband and I some space? For those of you who had rooms with a balcony, was it worth it?

As far as hotels, I’ve been looking at AKL, Wilderness, Port Orleans (although a friend recently told me this may not be a good spot for a toddlers first trip because it lacks the Disney feel?) and Caribbean beach. My sister went to Art of Animation but felt it was a bit chaotic. She also went over the summer! I’m sure the kids would love the Disney feel there though...

I’d love a hotel with a good toddler pool/splash pad and easy food options as we will be spending a decent amount of time at the hotel. Somewhere easy to get around as well with two little ones in tow.

Thanks so much for your help! So many decisions!
 
We ourselves love Art of Animation and have gone twice. We got the Cars Family suite both times. During our visits, I don't feel it has been chaotic there at all and the bus loading zones are generally pretty dead. On our last trip we got to experience the new SkyLiner and think it's great for getting to Hollywood Studios and Epcot.

With that said, MK is a definite must for you. My daughter at that age adored Nemo, so the Nemo ride at Epcot was always a must for us. Animal Kingdom is another good one for kids to see the animals. Again here she loved the Nemo show. I think of the 4 parks, Hollywood Studios probably holds the least interest for a 3 and 4 year old, but it does have some Disney Junior characters.
 
I agree with art of animation but maybe give Saratoga springs(I think they have a fun pool for kids with some splash pads) a look over as well. Disney springs is a nice relaxing afternoon and one favorite memory is my daughter playing at the Disney springs splash pad and getting some free pixie dust at the bbb. also when we went I had no plans of going to Hollywood studios but we changed plans and it was one of the best for my kids. we didn’t care care animal kingdom personally of course everyone is different.
 
If a balcony is a priority for you, do note that CBR, AoA, and POR do not have balconies. You would need to stay at a deluxe resort to get a balcony. ALL the parks are kid friendly. I would definitely plan on MK, and then do some research on the attractions at the others and see what appeals to your family the most. We love all the parks and find plenty to do at all of them. My boys are now 4 and 2. I assume GF and Poly are out of your budget? WL is a lovely resort, and you have the ability to boat to the MK. Artist Point has on site character dining with Snow White. AKL has no character dining, but it is in my opinion Disney's best themed, most beautiful resort, and I have stayed at almost all Disney resorts of all levels. If you are planning on lots of resort time, it might be one to consider. You will need to ride a bus everywhere, but buses are necessary to AK and HS even if you stay on the monorail. There is no resort that allows you to completely avoid buses. You really can't go wrong with any Disney resort. They are all magical places in their own right. All will have children's splash pads. Deluxes and moderates will have waterslides at the feature pools. The moderates and AoA have the best food courts, but the deluxes often have better table service dining. Think about what's important to your family to have in a vacation. Look at the dining options, room decor, pools, etc of each resort. Pick the one you like the best in your price point. You can try something else next time!
 
I'd first settle on your budget and go from there.

Our daughter's first trip was at POFQ and we're doing POR this time. I book hotels based on where I want to stay, kids just care about if there's a pool (especially toddlers). Now when the time comes if she wants to start chipping in for a more expensive hotel, I'll consider it.

I'm NOT a big MK person (I know, sacrilege) I just get too overwhelmed there so we tend to spend most of our time in Epcot. Epcot is a boondoggle when it comes to characters, I think they are much easier to meet in Epcot compared to MK.

If they like Toy Story, I'd add Hollywood Studios to the list. If they like animals, I like Animal Kingdom.
 


The weather in January and February can be unpredictable. If pool time is important to your family I would consider the last week of April or first week of May. The parks are very stimulating, so having a resort that's a little less in your face Disney themed may be a restful thing for your family. We really enjoyed that POR and POFQ were less busy than the parks. If you plan on spending a lot of time at your resort I would check to see which food court offers the reliable go to items that your kids will eat.
 
We stayed at WL when our daughter was 23 months and again just before she turned 3. She LOVED the splash pad there and the boat ride to MK was really nice. It is one of the cheaper deluxes and we liked how compact it seemed. Nothing was a far walk and the buses ran for us pretty well. We planned another trip this summer.
 
Not to complicate things, but I would consider staying on the monorail if I were you - so that would be the Grand Floridian, Polynesian or Contemporary. It'll make travel so easy (you don't have to collapse strollers on the monorails but you do have to collapse them on busses).

If swimming is a big priority, then go in fall because it'll surely be warm enough to swim. Sometimes January/February isn't quite warm enough to spend an evening in the pool. Check out crowd calendars on google, which will show you which Jan/Feb times to avoid (MLK weekend, marathon, Mardi Gras, New Years Day, etc).

This might be an unpopular opinion, but I would only go to one park (magic kingdom) with kids that little. They won't know the difference if they didn't get to see Epcot or whatever. This will allow you to spend your time learning the ropes and the map of just one park and will allow you to have shorter days and see hopefully most of the park. Only go to more parks if YOU want to see the park.
 
Youtube is a great way of seeing the rooms/ hotels.
We watched all the videos to help us make our decisions.
January and February are a great time to go its the coolest months in Florida and the crowds are lower. The fall is still pretty hot and more crowds due to the Halloween parties.
 
With 2 young one's, if you can swing it, I'd stay at one of the monorail resorts. Of all of them, my favorite is Poly ( I love the theme, overall size of the resort, pools and dining options ). You can also walk to Grand Floridian from Poly which can be an nice walk and soon the walkway from GF to MK will be complete - so essentially you could walk from Poly to MK when that is done.
 
We stayed at WL when our daughter was 23 months and again just before she turned 3. She LOVED the splash pad there and the boat ride to MK was really nice. It is one of the cheaper deluxes and we liked how compact it seemed. Nothing was a far walk and the buses ran for us pretty well. We planned another trip this summer.

I came to comment the exact same thing. We have two toddlers and LOVE the WL splashpad and the boat ride to MK. The security line is sooo much shorter and every other boat is larger so you can roll the strollers right on. Food is great, there's QS and a new sit down with characters (Storybook Dining).

We always have a balcony and the extra space is nice when the kiddos are asleep.
 
Everyone is different and has different expectations for their vacations. For us, we liked Ft Wilderness when our kids were smaller. I could make them Mac n cheese and hot dogs, and keep milk and juice in the fridge!! You also have the bunk beds in the bedroom and a huge deck you and DH can use after the kids go to bed. There is no splash pad but the pool has a slide and is nice. The chip and Dale singalong is always a favorite especially if you roast marshmallows for s’mores ( we took our own But they have kits to purchase). While it is not in your face Disney, it is very relaxing to the end of a busy day and the boat ride to MK is fun!! Our favorite time of year is late February/early March because the weather is usually pretty good and just warm enough to swim in the afternoons. As far as parks, I would skip Epcot as there is just not much there to keep little kids entertained. But just like resorts, you will get many opinions as to what park to skip and the best time of year to visit. Don’t overthink it too much, any trip to Disney is great!!!!!!
 
If your kiddos like animals, I would recommend AKL. You will have access to use both of their pools. The pool at Kidani has a good splash pad area and a small water slide for the littles. If you get a savanna view, you can sit on the balcony and watch the animals. This may or may not be a good thing, as you could run into the situation where your kiddos don't want to leave the balcony! :)

I would also recommend AK for one of your park days. AK has a play area called the Boneyard. It's a great place to let the kiddos run and burn off some energy. It's a "gated" play area, so the kiddos can't get out without their adult.

WL is also a good option. They have a good splash pad for the littles too. I like WL because you can take the boat to MK. However, depending on your timing, you might get a smaller boat and have to fold up the stroller, or you might get a bigger boat where you don't have to fold up the stroller. Just something to be aware of and keep in mind.

I went with my cousin and her twin 2 year olds last year and MK and AK were, by far, the biggest hits with them.
 
We were just there last week of Jan/first week of February. Our kids are ages 5, 3, and 2.5. We did a split stay between Port Orleans Riverside and Boardwalk Inn. A thousand times over, I would chose Boardwalk Inn and though it is deluxe technically, the prices were basically $20ish more per night for BWI over POR (maybe this is a seasonal fluctuation but we were also able to use a Gift of Magic room deal that brought the price at BWI down to be basically the same as a moderate.) The weather was okay...mornings were cold- in the 40s, but most days got up to about 60ish. We used light jackets a lot and the kids did swim but just one day. I think it was a colder than normal from what locals seemed to be saying.

Crowd-wise, it was still higher crowds than I expected for the end of January but I am guessing it was "normal" for Disney. We intentionally didn't wait in long lines given our kids ages, but with fastpass and by leaving the parks by about noon and returning around 5-6 p.m., we were able to avoid some of the craziness. We had some awesome extra magic hours (particularly the night time ones!) where we were able to ride so many rides and enjoy an empty park!

Our Boardwalk room had a lovely balcony with a nice view. We were able to find healthy-ish food at the Boardwalk Bakery, though selection a bit limited. Everything we got to eat there was well priced and good though! We loved being able to walk into Epcot, and you really could walk to Hollywood Studios (or Skyliner) as well, which is majorly convenient with kids. Our kids loved Hollywood Studios and Magic Kingdom most. Our 3 and 5 year olds loved Epcot, the 2.5 year old definitely did not. We all enjoyed Animal Kingdom as well.

Port Orleans Riverside was a major letdown for us, personally. We found the food court area to be super chaotic and the meal choices really, really unhealthy. We didn't eat much there besides grabbing a piece of fruit or an oatmeal cup to go. Most of the food stations involved the basics (burgers and fries and pizza maybe? Pasta etc but nothing looked very appetizing to us or the kids. I think our experience was tainted by some bad luck, like our room was not cleaned well at all, a layer of dust and leftover clothing from a past guest on the floor; we had some rough luck with buses and had to wait 20 minutes to 40 min on average to get on a bus, etc. Most of the buses we rode on required us to be standing the whole time (not the easiest with young kids) so that may be an indication of crowds, or just that they didn't send enough buses to the resort. I reported all this to Disney and never heard anything back so maybe it's par for the course?

If you're seriously considering Port Orleans, I'd really consider French Quarter instead. The footprint is so much smaller, it had a nice playground area and we ate over there twice with it being a pleasant experience both times (and the food choices were at least a little more interesting/flavorful). We also took the kids over to their outdoor movie and campfire one evening and the cast members there were awesome. We hopped on their buses a few times and then walked to Riverside, and those buses were never very crowded at all.

We had a meal over at Wilderness Lodge and while that would've been over budget for us to stay at personally, it looked awesome and we enjoyed the boat transportation over from MK. I'd echo the suggestion to consider that for sure.
 
When is your son's birthday. I'd go the day before he turns three. It'll save so much money!

I'd ask your four year old what she wants to do. My four year old has meeting Anna and Elsa as top of her to do list. Skipping Epcot wouldn't work for us.

I'd think somewhere with multiple rooms like art of animation or a cabin would be helpful if you're expecting to need somewhere to escape when the kids are sleeping. Especially if you go during a cooler time of year. It would give you more freedom than just a balcony to move around.
 

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