Heartbroken a bit.

[Carol_]

My four year old did great with the Halloween party. You have to prepare for it and nap. Walk on rides and parades and wow.

Obviously, you know your kids, and maybe they aren't night owls.

My 4 year old passed out at the back of the park. Thank God we had a stroller for him.

 

[vetrik]

I wouldn’t worry about the resort level too much! We took my daughter for her first trip when she was 5, and we stayed one night at Pop Century before starting our package at Wilderness Lodge. She loved Pop so much more and kept asking if we could go back to the Play-doh hotel! We’ve stayed value, deluxe, moderate, Dolphin, and off-site and my kids like value best, go figure!

Our trip next month will be their first time at an All-Stars before our cruise, and a first time at Animal Kingdom Lodge for all of us after (found a DVC rental for a really good price, which can be a good option to make a deluxe stay a possibility). I’ll be curious to see their preference this trip!

 

[set88]

My advice would be to book a value resort and don't think twice about it. The kids are likely to be happy with any pool. And the massive amount of money you save will open up so many other options.

 

[Mommy2cody]

First of all, I think we all totally understand being frustrated and disappointed with things not working out the way you were hoping. It stinks. I want to tell you that your family, your children especially, will not care about the details. As much as we pour over every tiny detail to make it a perfect trip... What they will remember is the time they went to Disney World with Mom and Dad. Their favorite ride, the best snack they had, the funny face someone made in a ride photo... That's is what they remember. I promise.

My parents never took us on a vacation. They couldn't afford it. Walt Disney World was the top thing on my bucket list. I planned and saved for 5 years before we could afford to go. We stayed at POP with a discounted dining plan. My son was 12 by time we went. He is 21 and STILL talks about that first trip. The 50s prime time with the peanut butter and jelly shake. How we tricked DH into drinking the Beverley in Epcot. Playing the Agent P game in World Showcase. He has no idea how much planning and time I put into that vacation.... Just the memories.

Please don't beat yourself up! Its going to be wonderful. Book what your can afford and then go from there!!

We are all here to help you plan the best trip ever!

 

[daisylovesdisney]

We've stayed at all the resort levels and enjoyed every single one. You really can't go wrong with any of them. I understand the bit about the pool slide for the kids, maybe a moderate resort would be a good compromise. We liked both the Coronado and POFQ pools and look forward to giving the Caribbean resort a try one day.

Are you planning on two rooms if you stay at a resort, I don't know of any that hold 7 (the family suites at All Star Music/AoA may work if your youngest counts as an infant). We stayed in a family suite at All Star Music once and had a great stay there and was very economical in comparison to some other resort options.

Did your friend give you one day park hoppers? You could get 3 day tickets for the adults and use the free tickets to make the 4th day, and do the same for one child. Other kids get 4 day tickets purchased. You don't need to hop if you don't want to and could just buy the regular one park per day tickets.

We rented DVC points for our upcoming trip, but I don't find DVC to be the deal it once was either.

 

[Pickles516]

We've stayed at all the resort levels and enjoyed every single one. You really can't go wrong with any of them. I understand the bit about the pool slide for the kids, maybe a moderate resort would be a good compromise. We liked both the Coronado and POFQ pools and look forward to giving the Caribbean resort a try one day.

Are you planning on two rooms if you stay at a resort, I don't know of any that hold 7 (the family suites at All Star Music/AoA may work if your youngest counts as an infant). We stayed in a family suite at All Star Music once and had a great stay there and was very economical in comparison to some other resort options.

Did your friend give you one day park hoppers? You could get 3 day tickets for the adults and use the free tickets to make the 4th day, and do the same for one child. Other kids get 4 day tickets purchased. You don't need to hop if you don't want to and could just buy the regular one park per day tickets.

We rented DVC points for our upcoming trip, but I don't find DVC to be the deal it once was either.

I ended up booking a split stay at AoA(2 standard rooms) 4 nights, and Poly(2 standard rooms) 3 nights. The plan is to check DVC availability when the booking window opens and see if I can fl save some money that way.

 

[daisylovesdisney]

I ended up booking a split stay at AoA(2 standard rooms) 4 nights, and Poly(2 standard rooms) 3 nights. The plan is to check DVC availability when the booking window opens and see if I can fl save some money that way.

I think the kids will be thrilled with those resorts (and the adults as well). If you can get a room discount it may work out very similar to DVC anyway. We're staying DVC next week but I probably won't do it again. Renting points comes with it's own issues and you don't have the customer service like you do going through direct with Disney. If anything happens and you need to reschedule, you're basically out of luck with DVC when you would get a full refund with Disney. The cost per point has gone so high now there's barely any savings, especially for the risk you take.

 

[Pickles516]

I think the kids will be thrilled with those resorts (and the adults as well). If you can get a room discount it may work out very similar to DVC anyway. We're staying DVC next week but I probably won't do it again. Renting points comes with it's own issues and you don't have the customer service like you do going through direct with Disney. If anything happens and you need to reschedule, you're basically out of luck with DVC when you would get a full refund with Disney. The cost per point has gone so high now there's barely any savings, especially for the risk you take.

I’m feeling really good about the selection. I honestly like the kitschy uber-themed IP-laden resorts for the sake of the kids, so AoA is going to be really cool for them. It has the coolest non-water slide pool in my opinion, and it has skyliner access. Going AoA for the first leg of the trip freed up enough of the budget that we can still do MNSSHP. I stripped away some table service meals which, in retrospect, were too much to begin with(I can barely get the kids to all sit through a meal at home, so why transfer that stress to vacation?) which helped free up some money, and we still get to go all-in on MK vibes at Poly. Honestly, I’m even more excited now because I feel like the extras will feel even more special now that we’ve trimmed some things down.