Best resort for toddlers? (1-3years)

My then 2 year old LOVED Kidani. It has an incredible shaded splash pad perfect for toddlers (no giant dump buckets), animals just outside of the balcony, and a decent Community Hall. We did a split stay with VGF and Kidani and of the two, my toddler preferred Kidani. She still talks about the giraffes just outside the window.
 
I know I'm in the minority, but I hate the monorail resorts unless I have a rental car. Yeah they're great to MK, but who spends all of their time at MK?

The awfulness of getting from the monorail resorts to Epcot more than offsets the convenience of taking the monorail to Magic Kingdom IMO.

Excellent point. Unless you know you will spend the majority of your time at MK, Id argue BCV or BWV are the best options. As you can walk to TWO parks and are roughly equidistance for MK and AK.

HOWEVER, nothing beats the magic of the Monorail resorts to me. So thats a big factor too. We usually do spilt stays between Epcot and Monorail resorts if we are there a week or more.

PROTIP: Toddlers would be happy if it was inflatable pool on the lawn. The adults are much more into thinking about which resort pool is better or not. And there isnt a bad pool at WDW.
 
1 bedroom at BWV, BCV, BLT or GFV. We did a one bedroom with DD when she was 2, the laundry and separate space was crucial. So was being able to walk to a park or two. Or boat. Basically not having to fold up the stroller is key.
 
I know I'm in the minority, but I hate the monorail resorts unless I have a rental car. Yeah they're great to MK, but who spends all of their time at MK?

The awfulness of getting from the monorail resorts to Epcot more than offsets the convenience of taking the monorail to Magic Kingdom IMO.
With a toddler and a 3 year old you DO spend all your time at MK.
 
The resort where their parents are staying.

Define your needs. What do you want from a stay?
I was going to say the same thing.

My DD didn't care about resorts until she was much, much older. You should base your decision on what YOU want, not what someone else thinks a toddler might like. FWIW, I also think that people make too big of a deal about being on the monorail and near the MK. There is no reason to pick a MK resort just because you have a stroller aged child and feel like you *need* to be near the MK. Because again, the toddler won't care which park they go to and most adults want to visit all the parks anyway. And, it's pretty easy to fold a stroller for the bus once you do it once or twice so the monorail is really a one trick pony.
 
With a toddler and a 3 year old you DO spend all your time at MK.
I didn't! I always considered WDW a family vacation, not a toddler vacation. I wanted to do more that IASW and Winnie the Pooh. We went to every park and took advantages of baby swaps to do all the rides. A toddler is just as happy hanging out with an adult and exploring with them (or, napping or snacking) while the parents and older kids enjoy other attractions.
 
With a toddler and a 3 year old you DO spend all your time at MK.
My kids are 7, 4, and 2. We've done about a dozen trips since my oldest was born. We spend about 28% of our time at Magic Kingdom (2 full days out of an 8 night, 7 park day trip).
 
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I'm a VGF owner with 3 kids, currently 10, 8, & 5 years old, and all of them have slept in the baby room..... I mean the large closet in the 2 bedroom unit. It holds a crib and is great for when your baby needs a nap!!! I'm sure the 1 bedroom unit closet is just as big, but this has worked out great for our kids. Now with the walkway to MK open, it makes it a lot easier to return from MK, but we like to walk. Also, 1900 Park Fare is by far our favorite Character Breakfast, because the characters are great and the food is probably the best breakfast buffet at WDW that we have found. Pools are usually less crowded than Poly, and the splash pad area is pretty tame for very young kids to enjoy.
 
If they are super young like 1-3, I think AKL would be really good. From my experience, little ones like that sometimes don't care about the parks. They probably have no idea where they are, TBH. But being able to sit in rocking chairs and look at giraffes and other wildlife is pretty cool for little kids.

I have never stayed at OKW, but someone I know did and he has a two year old. He said OKW has a really nice pool area for little kids, complete with sand. He said his son loved it and it made the trip very enjoyable. He also said his son loved the boat rides to/from OKW.

I am partial, but BCV would also be another good one. It's proximity to Epcot can't be beat. And SAB (the pool) does have an area meant for little ones, although it sounds like the OKW pool was better for kids of that age.

My kids are older now (17 and 15), but I remember the things we used to put the most emphasis on when they were little was pools and proximity. Good luck!
 
I'm coming back to confirm all the positives of Kidani. And they have a "mini-pool" that my kids loved last year. Perfect for toddlers. Honestly, the kid splash area was like a combat zone. They have sprayers that you can shoot water at ANYONE. Try getting out of there "alive." Seriously, that thing was intense. My kids much preferred being in the pool and doing the slide and just jumping around.

The animals were amazing and my kids were all into that. Would have stayed all day there if we didn't have park reservations at the time.

And yes, those CLOSETS are enormous and I've often thought about sticking someone in there to sleep.
 
My kids have been traveling to WDW every year since they were born. I think a lot depends on how YOU want to do the parks. For us, walkability was huge as it's a pain to deal with strollers on the buses (and this is coming from a city mom who was used to it). Fortunately both kids liked the front pack, which made it easier.

Assuming that you want this experience to be about your kids and not just dragging them to whatever you want to do, a lot will depend on their personalities. Eg. when DS was not quite 3 he rode Barnstormer 8 times in a row one day and was a champ at the parks. At 2 he loved swimming in the pool and having a bubble bath every night with the jets on. At 3, DD only wanted to do character meet and greets and even at 4 was pretty terrified of everything. My niece just went at 4 and only managed to do carousel and the Frozen singalong successfully. She was dragged on Small World and Peter Pan, lost her mind, and was done for the trip. She did spend 6+ hours/day in the pools though and every time she talks to my mom she asks to go back to Disney.

Does that mean that you shouldn't take little kids? ABSOLUTELY NOT, especially as a DVC family. DD actually learned how to read by texting Disney words to my mom, and even after many MANY trips each trip somehow manages to be better than the last.

So getting back to your original question...
If your kids are going to be big in the parks, MK and AK are probably going to be preferable to Epcot and HS based on the rides that are there. In that case I would probably bite the bullet and stay at a walkable MK hotel, as that will make your life easier. DS loved eating under the monorail as a toddler, but the pools at BLT are not that great. VGF and Poly weren't walkable when my kids were little, though they are now. CC is a fantastic resort with nice pools and a wonderfully relaxing location by the water, but the transportation situation isn't as favorable if you are trying to get into the parks easily.

If your kids are going to be happier in the water, it's really hard to beat BC, though Poly is a good alternative for a MK resort.

If your kids love animals, aren't going to be in the parks that much, or you are willing to drive AKV have a lot going on for them. The pool at Kidani is great for little kids and there's a lot to see for non-Disney families.

In case your kids end up having a tough time, for DD one saving grace was the idea of an "anytime snack bag," which we actually tethered to the stroller and let her eat out of any time she wanted. We also bought her a "brave blanket" - a large muslin that we could use to cover her stroller - after the disastrous 3 year old trip. Just knowing it was available to her was very helpful. Finally, we had a pixie dust experience where a CM bought her an "invisibility wand" that would turn her invisible in front of storm troopers in HS after they saw she was having a hard time. She went from having to LEAVE the park one day because we saw Darth Vader hundreds of feet away to having a storm trooper walk right past her stroller with no reaction. I will always remember that little bit of kindness that they showed her that day.
 
My kids are 7, 4, and 2. We've done about a dozen trips since my oldest was born. We spend about 28% of our time at Magic Kingdom (2 full days out of an 8 night, 7 park day trip).
These are my grandchildren about to do their first Disney trip in October and we will see how it goes. The plan is 2 days in MK out of a 5 day trip. Ny children's first trip was when they were 5 and 3 and yes they were troopers ,heck there wasn't even an Animal Kingdom yet and Hollywood studios was MGM.
 
I didn't! I always considered WDW a family vacation, not a toddler vacation. I wanted to do more that IASW and Winnie the Pooh. We went to every park and took advantages of baby swaps to do all the rides. A toddler is just as happy hanging out with an adult and exploring with them (or, napping or snacking) while the parents and older kids enjoy other attractions.
These are my grandchildren and it will be a family vacation and like you said the kids are happy hanging out with their family. The beauty of DVC you know there will be another trip for them to enjoy as they get older.Different strokes for different folks.
 
I know I'm in the minority, but I hate the monorail resorts unless I have a rental car. Yeah they're great to MK, but who spends all of their time at MK?

The awfulness of getting from the monorail resorts to Epcot more than offsets the convenience of taking the monorail to Magic Kingdom IMO.

Stupid question, but since I never stayed at a monorail resort before I was curious if they ran not only to MK but also to Epcot? I always thought they did with a station stop, but I keep seeing people ONLY mention MK in regards to it.
 
Stupid question, but since I never stayed at a monorail resort before I was curious if they ran not only to MK but also to Epcot? I always thought they did with a station stop, but I keep seeing people ONLY mention MK in regards to it.
Monorail resorts require a transfer at the transportation hub to get to Epcot. BC and BW are an easy walk into epcot and a longer walk to HS (though fine with strollers), or a boat or skyliner ride if you prefer. Skyliner also requires a transfer but it’s easy.
 
Stupid question, but since I never stayed at a monorail resort before I was curious if they ran not only to MK but also to Epcot? I always thought they did with a station stop, but I keep seeing people ONLY mention MK in regards to it.
"Blue line" serves the MK resorts and MK itself. There's another train that runs along the blue circle in the opposite direction, but it doesn't stop at the hotels, it just serves MK and the TTC (MK parking lot). Yes, if you're on a monorail resort you would get to Epcot by taking the blue train to the TTC, then transferring to the purple train. This is all wonderful if you like monorails, but it's much slower than if you could just get on a bus and go straight to Epcot.

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Poly is the most convenient of the bunch because it's close enough to walk to the TTC so you don't need to transfer.
 
Monorail resorts require a transfer at the transportation hub to get to Epcot. BC and BW are an easy walk into epcot and a longer walk to HS (though fine with strollers), or a boat or skyliner ride if you prefer. Skyliner also requires a transfer but it’s easy.

The only experience I had was hopping on to visit Chef Mickeys. But that was a few years ago prior to the insanity period. It was actually really nice. But as mentioned people are kind of leaving Epcot out of the monorail system now. Is that because it simply sucks transferring, or are more people walking?
 

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