Toddlers: 24 Months+
Disney enthusiasts come in...
Contemplating taking DD this June for her 3rd birthday. Does anyone have any recommendations on most toddler friendly resort, attractions, transportation, etc.? TIA
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Re: Disney enthusiasts come in...
I think it's all relatively kid friendly, but I would most definitely stay on site. They have a service (forget what it's called, Magic something or other I think) that will pick you up at the airport and take you to your hotel. They also have an option to where you can pick up your own bags, or let the service do it (but then you won't get them till later, so back bathing suits in your carry on). Then you can just use the onsite buses to get everywhere and you don't have to rent a car.
Depending on your budget they have 3 levels of resorts. The value resorts are the least expensive, but I can't say what they are like because we usually stay at Port Orleans which is a moderate resort. It has a (few?) sit down restaurants as well as a cafeteria style food court place. I think the value resort has a similar set up.
The parks are all kid friendly, stroller rentals, baby centers, etc. Each park will have some things for toddlers, but the park with the biggest bang for your buck will be Magic Kingdom I think. There is also plenty to do at EPCOT and Animal Kingdom, and less at the Studios (can't remember what they are calling it now).
ETA: This is all assuming you are talking about Disney World.
Not sure of your budget, but last year we stayed at the cabins at Ft Wilderness. They just redid their pool area and they have a really nice children's pool area with slides and the water was like a foot or so deep. Had the overhead spray things, etc. It was a lot of fun, even for us adults! Then they have a separate adult area and kiddie pool as well. I would not recommend this resort because it can take forever for a bus. You wait a lot because it is so big.
This year we stayed at Coronado Springs. Not sure about the children's area since it was in December and they had record breaking low temps while we were there. This is a larger resort as well, but we never had to wait more than 15 minutes for a bus to take us to the park
I would highly suggest using Disney's magical express and Disney transportation. We have used it both times and it's really nice. You don't have to worry about driving or how to get places.
We stayed at one of the value resorts (before we had DD though)--the Pop Century resort. It's not fancy--think a budget-type hotel room plastered with Mickey Mouse..LOL. But we just wanted to be on site. We really just slept in the rooms, so it's not like we spent a ton of time there. It worked out just fine. The rooms were clean and comfortable, the resort was fun (definitely more geared towards kids--they would love it). There was a cafeteria style/counter service restaurant which was convenient for breakfast, and having the transportation to and from the resorts was invaluable. We also had the meal plan, which worked out great.
We did take DD in 2009 (she was 10 months), but we stayed off site at my IL's timeshare. It worked out well since they drove down so we had their car. But next time we go, I want to stay on site for the convenience factor.
We're going on a Disney cruise this fall, and plan to go a day early and spend one night at the Pop Century again, and take DD to Magic Kingdom. Then we can take the Magic Express to the cruise port. I can't wait!
I've never been to WDW, but if you're looking to save a lot of $$, take your DD right before she turns 3. If she hasn't reached her 3rd birthday, she's free.
Ditto! We're going about a 1.5 months before DD2 turns 3 and it's saving us several hundred dollars.
We live in Fl, so, we're able to drive our own vehicle around and avoid Disney transportation, so, I'm not help there. Our passes allow us into Magic Kingdom, Animal Kingdom and Epcot. IMO Magic Kingdom has the most to offer the little ones, followed by Animal Kingdom. We always stay inside Disney, but I don't know which resort is the most toddler friendly.
When I was planning our first trip, I found a ton of information by searching "toddler" here....
https://www.disboards.com/
HTH:)
We stayed at Double Tree resort (the one closest to Disney). They have a shuttle to all the parks. The thing I loved abut it is all the rooms have a separate bedroom (either 2 queen beds or 1 king bed) and a separate living space with a pull out couch, kitchen table and chairs, microwave and mini fridge.