Planning trip for an 8 yr old

[MinMou]

We are barely back from our kindermoon, and I decided that we will go back when our son is 8. We stayed at the Contemporary, because of its amazing location, in walking distance to MK.

I was thinking that our next trip should be on the lake between HS and Epcot, to take advantage of those parks. With the new Toy Story Land and all the Epcot restaurants, I thought we might do both parks more than once, and even hop between them. But will an eight year old want that, or would he want to be closer to the MK?

If we do stay on the lake, which of the resorts is the best one for kids? I know that the pool at the BC/YC is amazing, but I don't think I want to pick a hotel based on a pool.

I am not inclined to stay at AKL, because it is so far from everything else, but I won't rule it out

Decisions, decisions, decisions.

 

[Hi Pluto]

My DS8 LOVES the BC! Besides the pool, he loves that Hurricane Hannah's serves kids meals in a sand pail w/ shovel that he can use at the pool. The kids club is amazing and he was upset when we picked him up at 10:30pm because there was still more he wanted to do. You can walk over to the boardwalk and play carnival games. Plus there are two ice cream parlors within walking distance. You can also rent the little boats at the dock to ride around in. There's a pirate cruise he could do (I know it's at other resorts too). And that walk into EPCOT just can't be beat.

I say go for BC!

~Cari~

 

[zillayen]

We just stayed at YC with two 7 year olds and it was pretty convenient. We went to all 4 parks on different days and it was really nice only having to take the bus to MK and AK. The pool was fine but the slide was down so they got bored with thr sand and the lazy river at SAB is soooooo slow that they hardly went anywhere. They said they liked the Contemporary pool better but I dont know if they would feel differently had the SAB slide been working.

 

[kniquy]

But will an eight year old want that, or would he want to be closer to the MK?

I think by 8 he will really enjoy HS -- Our last family trip was when my twin boys were 9 -- they loved the rides at HS as they were more thrilling. Epcot might bore him a bit in the world showcase area, so you might want to split up the park and do future world and part of WS one day. Kids are not usually excited with WS.

If we do stay on the lake, which of the resorts is the best one for kids?

I would price out all 3 around the lake, but if all very similar i would choose BC because of the pool. you can also look into a DVC rental if you can plan close to 11 months out -- it will generally cost less than direct through Disney.

 

[loves to dive]

Epcot was always my son't favorite resort from the age of 3 forward. The Epcot resorts weren't open yet when he was 8 but as soon as they opened and were on our radar we started staying there. We love them, lately we have been staying at Swan/Dolphin since they are less expensive than the WDW resorts. The pools at YC/BC and BW are great and the pools at Swan/Dolphin are fun too. My son was happy with just a pool, he didn't need a slide or anything else, just a big ole body of water and he was good to go.