Help: 1st time with kids 4 & 6!!

[bbreezy]

Good Morning,
Am in process of planning our FIRST TRIP to Disney with my two girls, aged 4 1/2 & 6 1/2. We are planning to arrive mid Jan/05. Where to stay??? Am looking at CB and PO French 1/4?? We will be there for 7 days. Are the water parks and/or pools open in Jan?? My eldest says that she will just shrivel up if she cannot go to Blizzard Beach. Everything seems to say "SEASONAL"!!! Where do you suggest we stay??? It seems that preferred place @ CB would be North Trinidad. Is that correct?? I would like to book prior to Monday and really need help. Would like to make this trip very special as we may not return for years. The girls love anything to do with Disney and we would like to make this the trip of a lifetime for them. Is there any advantage to having a car on property and driving into the parks rather than busing it??
My husband & I, other than loving Disney movies, are rather dreading the trip. Help us look forward to it - please.
Thanks to all who may read and a special thanks to all who reply.
Jennifer

[JuniorMickey]

Dreading a trip to disney? :eek: is that possible? :D

January is going to be cool, but the water in the pools is heated. One of the water parks will be open, I believe BB will be open at that time since it is closed right now for refurb. Just remember that you have to get out of the water at some point :)

If you want to do stuff offsite, I would recommend having a car. If your not going to leave Disney property, you can make do with the transport provided.

I've stayed at POFQ and I loved it. It was quiet and small which meant walking to the main building wasn't a marathon :) I haven't stayed at CBR so I can't comment on that one. Personally, I'm a value resort junkie :) Nothing like the larger than life theming of them.

[Whitequeen]

Welcome bbreezy.

May I suggest you break up all your questions and ask each one in the appropriate forum, where you'll get loads of answers. That way none of them will get missed. :)

[Ilovetink]

Welcome. I too have kids 4(almost) and 6(soon to be 7). We will be there from January 15th-21st. My biggest advice is not to dread it, and don't assume that you won't be back for several years. I think that the biggest mistake people make is thinking that they need to do everything on their "trip of a lifetime" and end up exhausted and miserable. Read through all your resources and figure out what are the absolute must do's for this trip. Then try to enjoy the trip with the attitude that what you don't do this time, you will do next time. My DH really didn't want to go the first time we went, but because we took it easy and didn't race around like lunatics, he loved it. He now wants to go every year.

As far as the pools/water parks go. It depends on where you are from. We are from the northeast, which means that we will swim no matter what. JM is right though, eventually you have to get out and sometimes that is cold. January can have some really nice days (if your not a southerner) for swimming though. Feel free to PM me if you want, but I think you are going to enjoy this trip more than you think. There is nothing like the look on your kids faces when they see that castle for the first time.

Oh--as far as the hotel. I have never stayed at either, but have heard a lot of good things about POFQ. CBR looks nice, but is so big. You may have a big walk to the bus.

[bbreezy]

Thanks for your replies thus far! Seems like we will see you there Tink! We aim to arrive on Jan 13.

Thanks - Jennifer

[d_dreamer]

I stayed in North Trinidy at CB, and it was very satisfactory. It was easy walking distance to the bus, the main center, and the main pool. Depending on where your from, the weather varies. If your like Taj, your going to be freezing, if your like me, its really really really hot. so it all depends on what your used to.