First time with 5yo

[Meaghan]

Planning a WDW trip this summer with our 5yo. We have to travel in July (sigh) and are preparing for the heat! We're looking at a 7 day trip. Our plan will likely be to rope drop, return mid-day to the hotel and back to the park later in the day.

A few questions:

Resort hotel recs? I was considering Pop Century/AOA but a friend mentioned that bus travel time can seriously cut into the day as they're further from MK etc. We're not on so tight a budget that we couldn't hop up to a more moderate resort...but which one? Would consider Caribbean Beach but I know it's starting construction in may...

Dining plan vs Cash - we're considering the quick service dining plan - if I'm doing it right, it does seem like as long as we eat 2 meals a day between the 3 of us that it would be cost effective..we are certainly snackers as well. We'd probably do 1 or 2 table service meals the entirety of our stay - 1 of which will be character dining.

Park hopper - worth it? Part of me thinks it will be nice to have the choice - the other part of me sees nothing wrong with 1 park per day. What're the benefits?

I'm sure I'll have more questions!

 

[Master Yoda]

1. Unless you are on the monorail loop, you travel times using Disney transportation from the resorts to Magic Kingdom is going to be within minutes of each other. For example... from the all stars the actual travel time is 23 minutes, for AoA/Pop, 22, from Port Orleans 17 and from Caribbean beach 15.

Going back to the resort midday will cut into your time...there is no getting around it . The general rule of thumb for travel times including wait is an hour each way.

If you can't swing the monorail resorts, Port Orleans would be my choice. The layout at Caribbean Beach is just bizarre, entertainment and food options are pretty meh, and you have to deal with construction.

2. The only way to know for sure is to do the math. If all you do is compare food to dollars, the dining plan will win. If you start to look at what you would actually order, the savings begin to erode. About the only time where the dining plan really comes out ahead is if you are doing a lot of character dining. For what you are describing, my gut instinct would say pay cash.

3. For park hopping, if you are not sure you will want it don't add it. It can be added anytime during your trip for the same price. On the flip side, you won't get a refund if you don't use it.

 

[DisAl]

I agree with everything Master Yoda said.
In addition:
The biggest difference in bus travel seems me to be that it seems that the less you pay for the room, the further the bus stop is from the park gates. Not always, but it seemed that way to me.
The one hour estimate for leaving a park and getting to your resort is a good estimate. What we do for a "rest" rather than going back to the resort is to pick something nice and slow (and cool) like Carousel of Progress. I have had more than one nap on CoP. One trip we rode it three times in a row waiting for a thunderstorm to clear out.
On the meal plan in addition to doing the math also think about how you want to spend your time. Unless you plan to do a lot of character meals with the Dining Plan the Quick Service plan may work better for you because of the time involved in full service restaurants. Most 5 year old kids are not interested in spending 1 1/2 hours at a full service meal; they would rather be doing things. You can get some really good quick service meals. (My favorite locations are Flame Tree in AK and Sunshine Seasons in Epcot.)
I wish people would quit saying how good Port Orleans is. That is our favorite resort and if everybody keeps saying how good it is it is going to be harder for us to get rooms.
As for park hopper, when we take the grandkids we don't do that. They are worn out at the end of the day just doing one park, plus the time your loose moving from one park to another (probably 1 1/2 hours).

 

[lorreejean]

I agree with most everything posted already EXCEPT consider Wilderness Lodge. It is one of the least expensive Deluxe resorts, and has boat transportation directly to the MK. Whenever we have traveled with our granddaughter around that age we have used Wilderness Lodge and find the boats to be an excellent alternative. And my granddaughter thought it was another ride - loved it. The other advantage is the proximity to the main entrance to MK - no long hike to buses or uphill to the monorail.

There is also another boat at WL that circles between Ft. Wilderness, WL and the Contemporary. Nice for a little down time float around.

 

[Meaghan]

Thanks everyone! Funny enough we are also looking at Wilderness lodge...it seems like a happy medium. And will skip the Park hopper option for now...we'd be there long enough we'd have time to do everything we want.

 

[TiggerDad]

I agree with everything Master Yoda said.
In addition:
The biggest difference in bus travel seems me to be that it seems that the less you pay for the room, the further the bus stop is from the park gates. Not always, but it seemed that way to me.
The one hour estimate for leaving a park and getting to your resort is a good estimate. What we do for a "rest" rather than going back to the resort is to pick something nice and slow (and cool) like Carousel of Progress. I have had more than one nap on CoP. One trip we rode it three times in a row waiting for a thunderstorm to clear out.
On the meal plan in addition to doing the math also think about how you want to spend your time. Unless you plan to do a lot of character meals with the Dining Plan the Quick Service plan may work better for you because of the time involved in full service restaurants. Most 5 year old kids are not interested in spending 1 1/2 hours at a full service meal; they would rather be doing things. You can get some really good quick service meals. (My favorite locations are Flame Tree in AK and Sunshine Seasons in Epcot.)
I wish people would quit saying how good Port Orleans is. That is our favorite resort and if everybody keeps saying how good it is it is going to be harder for us to get rooms.
As for park hopper, when we take the grandkids we don't do that. They are worn out at the end of the day just doing one park, plus the time your loose moving from one park to another (probably 1 1/2 hours).

And I'm going to agree with everything you said, except that sometimes we would use a late lunch as the "rest" you need for a young child. But it works better at a Quick Service than character dining, because they are constantly stimulated during the character meal, so not as much of a break. You need to find a quieter spot like upstairs Columbia House, and it works better if you aren't eating at prime meal times. Or find a long, boring ride. Travel back to the resort is not just the 20 minutes on the bus, you also have to walk out of the park, wait at the bus stop, then walk to your room. On the way back you go back through security and turnstiles, so more lost time there. But I know some people swear by it.

 

[Seeshark]

If you can swing WL, I would definitely pick it over Port Orleans or any of the moderates. It's a beautiful resort, very relaxing in my opinion, and taking the boat is so much nicer than taking the bus. And if you're taking a midday break for a nap or the pool, it's so much less of a hassle when you go back later. The lines for the boats to return from the Magic Kingdom are a lot shorter at night post-fireworks as well since the WL has its own dock. On the bigger boats, you don't even have to fold up the stroller (if you're using one). Whispering Canyon Café is a fun place in the Lodge to eat, and you're near the Hoop De Doo Review if that's something you'd consider doing. I'm a bit of a broken record, but I keep recommending splitting stays between resorts to put yourself closer to the parks you'd be doing on a certain chunk of days. I found it all pretty simple and convenient to do. You in effect get two meal plans, so maybe a little more planning goes into that. But the physical move was super easy - they did all the work. I just had to throw everything into the suitcase. But to take the boat from WL to Magic Kingdom over two days' time, and then take the boat or walk to Epcot and Hollywood from, say the Boardwalk Inn, on the same trip - that was really great. And a nice way to see more of the property. Boardwalk a totally different vibe than WL, and was cool too. I also love doing dinner at the different countries in Epcot, and so I always get a park hopper so we can end our day there when we're staying in that vicinity, no matter what park we did during the day. It's so much easier to use that back entrance as opposed to coming in from the front. Also, easier to get out of there if you stick around for Illuminations (which I think is awesome).

 

[Raegansmommy]

We traveled to WDW last Disney after not going for 6 years. My youngest was 5. We also went for 7 days and we did not purchase the park hopper. There were a couple of times where it would have been nice to have it, but it isn't a necessity. We generally tend to sleep in (8-9am) and then stay at the parks later. My 5 year old did complain a few times and we often carried her through the park. We understand there is travel time no matter where you are staying, and we like the convenience of not having to drive while there, so we just put up with it LOL. We stayed at POP last year and the only issue with travel really was a bus picking us up from the parks. We often had to wait quite awhile for one. We prefer Moderate resorts over Value. We have stayed at Coronado and really liked it. As far as the dining plan goes, you just have to sit down and figure out if it is something that will work for your family. We buy the Deluxe Dining plan because we like that everything is prepaid and we also do a lot of character dining.

 

[Pixieish]

We've taken our kids 3 times - our youngest was 2 1/2, then 4 1/2, then almost 6. The park hoppers are definitely worth it to us - even with the kiddos in tow and a stroller. Here's a couple of tips that SAVED US from the August heat...bring spray-bottle fans. You can get them on Amazon for much cheaper than at Disney and if you take the batteries out when you get home, they last basically forever. ALSO...bring a ziploc with a brand new sponge in it! We wet it down whenever we were near a fountain or got a new water and used it for wipe-downs. The kiddos also loved having cold water drizzled on them (it sounds gross, but having a slightly damp shirt helps keep you cool as it evaporates!). People insist that cooling towels rock but I wasn't able to get my hands on any before our August trip.