If you’re looking to book a Disney World and have a special focus on finding the best Disney hotel for your kid, then you’re in the right place. In this post we’re going to do two things. First, we’ll discuss our picks for the best Disney hotels for kids at the three hotel ties—value, moderate, and deluxe. Second, we’ll discuss the different factors that go into picking the right Disney hotel for your kid and how those might impact your decision. Read on to learn all about the best Disney hotels for kids!
About This Post and Related Posts
In this post we’re only talking about Disney hotels, not hotels run by third parties (like the Swan and Dolphin, for example). These hotels all have the perks of staying at a Disney hotel. This post is also focused on the specific issue of picking a hotel that suits your kid. Factors more relevant to adults (like bars) don’t come into play here, although they might still play a role in your decision (your party has adults, after all).
We’re also not talking about DVC villas in this post. For the most part, you can extrapolate what we say about a hotel to its companion DVC property (i.e. we talk about Contemporary, and that analysis applies to Bay Lake Tower).
We don’t personally consider Saratoga Springs, Old Key West, or Riviera Resort notable options for kids. However, with savings options like renting DVC points, you might find a 1-bedroom (or larger) room at one of these properties makes sense for your family.
If you want more hotel content, including posts with a broader focus, you might want to read our Complete Guide to Disney World Hotels and our Ranking of the Best Disney World Hotels. Those take a more general (i.e. not “for kids”) approach to these questions. We’ve also got hotel reviews and tier-by-tier rankings that we’ll be linking to throughout this post.
If you’re interested in more kid-centric planning, we’ve got:
Best Disney World Hotels for Kids (By Tier)
I think the “natural” way to write this post would be to do the discussion of all the factors first before telling you how I think they all balance out. In this case, though, I think there’s just so much to be said, and I don’t really want to bury the lede beneath thousands of words.
I’m going to start this post by telling you our picks for the best Disney World hotels in each of the three tiers (value, moderate, deluxe). It doesn’t make sense to compare across tiers in this post because the factors that justify the different prices don’t always cut the same way here (e.g. signature dining has very little value to families with small kids). After this section, I’ll talk about some of the most important factors for picking the best Disney hotel for your family and how you might evaluate the different options.
Best Value Disney World Hotel For Kids
I’m going to do something in this post I don’t do…ever…anywhere else on this website—recommend Art of Animation over Pop Century. (Note: we have a post comparing Pop Century and Art of Animation). While I have plenty of good to say about All Star Movies and Music (less so Sports), the Skyliner at Pop Century and Art of Animation basically means I only book or recommend the All Stars when Pop Century and Art of Animation aren’t available.
Pop Century (room pictured above, by the way) is probably my favorite hotel at Disney World. It was Zoe’s first hotel at Disney World. We like the theming, cafeteria, price, and Skyliner access. So, why am I recommending Art of Animation over Pop Century for kids?
It comes down to theming, room types, and pools. The Art of Animation themes—Little Mermaid, Finding Nemo, Lion King, and Cars—are undoubtedly more appealing to most kids than the nostalgic theming at Pop Century. While I slightly prefer the functionality of the Pop Century rooms, the Art of Animation standard (Little Mermaid) rooms are in good shape, and the theming is nice.
You also have the option (for a price) for family suites at Art of Animation. While I wasn’t impressed with the theming of our Lion King Family Suite, the extra space was nice.
Then there are the pools. The splash pad at Art of Animation is much more impressive than the splash pad at Pop Century, and the pools are a little bigger and better.
If these sound like small differences, they are. And its because they’re small that they don’t personally justify the price difference (Art of Animation is more expensive) for us.
We give our personal ranking of the Disney World value hotels here.
Best Moderate Disney World Hotel for Kids
This is another one where I have to step outside my personal preferences and recommend Caribbean Beach. Caribbean Beach has a great pool, a great aquatic play area, Skyliner access, and easy access to Riviera Resort, which has a character meal. The rooms are a little outdated, but that’s too small a criticism given the aforementioned perks,
The theming at Port Orleans French Quarter is probably a bit more fun, and some kids may like the Royal Rooms at Port Orleans Riverside.
Our personal preference in the moderate tier is the Gran Destino Tower at Coronado Springs. That’s basically because it’s a nice hotel and we don’t mind dealing with the transportation situation (we’ll pay for a few Minnie Vans). Admittedly there’s very little specifically for Zoe here.
We give our personal ranking of the Disney World moderate hotels here.
Best Deluxe Disney World Hotel for Kids
If I had to pick one, I’d say Contemporary, but there are several caveats. First, Polynesian is overall a better hotel, and if it weren’t for the ten-minute walk from Contemporary to Magic Kingdom I’d pick Polynesian. If your family can handle a short wait for the monorail, or the longer (20-30 minute) walk between Polynesian and Magic Kingdom, it’s maybe a better pick (Polynesian is our personal preference, for what it’s worth).
Second, if your kid is at an age where they really prefer Hollywood Studios or Epcot to Magic Kingdom, then I’d go with Yacht Club, which has a walking path (and boat) to Epcot and Hollywood Studios. It has better rooms than Beach Club, with which it shares the amazing Stormalong Bay pool.
Third, I have to at least mention Savanna View rooms at Animal Kingdom Lodge. While it’s less appealing from a location / amenities perspective for kids (though more appealing on price), a savanna room allows you to sit on your balcony and watch the animals, which some kids will absolutely love.
We give our personal ranking of the Disney World deluxe hotels here.
Picking the best Disney World Hotel for Your Kid
With our picks behind us, here’s more information for those of you who want to make more of an informed decision of your own. We’ll basically go through a list of factors relevant to picking a Disney World hotel for your kid. I’ll try to address specifics as much as possible, but some of these are going to require further research if they’re important to you.
How We’re Talking About These Factors
This post is not a general guide to picking your hotel at Disney World. It’s specifically focused on how factors impact your decision to pick a hotel that’s best for your family with a kid. For example, when we talk about dining, we care a lot more about character meals (really relevant to many kids) and less about signature dining (not as relevant to most kids).
Kids’ Ages and Hotel Choice
One recurring theme throughout this post, even where I don’t spell it out, is that the age of your kid is going to matter a lot as to which hotel is best for your family. The most straightforward example would be a family torn between Contemporary Resort and Yacht Club.
Contemporary has a walking path to Magic Kingdom. Yacht Club has a walking path to Hollywood Studios and Epcot. Generally, younger kids are going to get more out of Magic Kingdom, so it makes sense to stay at Contemporary.
Older kids are going to get more out of Hollywood Studios, so it makes sense to stay at Yacht Club. When I was a teenager on family trips I basically lived at Hollywood Studios, and this was before Galaxy’s Edge.
Of course these aren’t hard and fast rules. If I could go back, I’d tell my teenage self to go appreciate things other than Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster and Tower of Terror, and I hope to one day encourage my teenager to do just that.
Another example could be something like room size. Below a certain age, you might want a larger room or even a suite so that a baby can sleep in a crib with some distance from parents. For a few years, you might all be comfortable cramming into a small room because you’ve all got the emotional tools to handle it. Then after a certain age, you might need a larger room or even a suite or separate rooms as privacy becomes more important.
Theming
If you have anything less than a full no-parks day, theme shouldn’t play much into your decision. A half day at the resort is easily going to be filled with pool time, playground / arcade time, and meals that won’t turn much on theme. Might you make an exception because your kids loves the Little Mermaid (Art of Animation standard rooms) or has to see Rex and Woody (All Star Movies)? Sure, but only do so after you’ve considered how the change is going to impact the other 99% of your expensive vacation.
The best theming for kids is going to be found at All Star Movies and Art of Animation, both of which have a variety of gigantic statues of animated figures. The other All Star hotels and Pop Century have similar flair but focused on things other than animated Disney films (e.g. giant basketball hoops at All Star Sports, a giant foosball table at Pop Century) that might easily appeal to your kids as well.
Once you leave the value tier the theming becomes a little less childish. But I’ve simply never been in a situation where my toddler seemed bored at a Disney hotel. There are pools, playgrounds, arcades, and stores aplenty to keep them engaged for the limited time we plan to dedicate to our hotels.
Location and Transportation
This factor is a bit trickier to consider than in the past because things have generally gotten better the last few years. If it surprises you to hear me say that—I’m constantly complaining about Disney buses, after all—let me explain.
Yes, relying on buses to get to and from the parks is the worst of all worlds, and if you have a child without much schedule flexibility, you’re setting yourself up for some tough times if you’ll be relying purely on the buses to get you around Disney World. This is all to say that the basic transportation difficulties at Walt Disney World are a bigger deal with a child in tow.
Historically, the only way to avoid these issues was to stay at a deluxe hotel, where access to the parks is somewhat better. The monorail resorts—Contemporary, Polynesian, and Grand Floridian—all have monorail, boat, and walking path access to Magic Kingdom, along with the cumbersome monorail (with a transfer) to Epcot.
The Boardwalk area hotels—Yacht Club, Beach Club, and Boardwalk Inn—have walking and boat access to Epcot and Hollywood Studios. The non-Disney Swan / Dolphin / Swan Reserve hotels are also located in this area.
Animal Kingdom Lodge has only buses to the parks, and Wilderness Lodge’s only special offering is a boat to Magic Kingdom, but these deluxe hotels have lower prices than the others.
But now we’ve got more options. First, the Skyliner conveniently connects Caribbean Beach, Pop Century, and Art of Animation to Epcot and Hollywood Studios. This means guests staying at these moderate and value hotels now have access to one of Disney’s premier transportation systems.
Second, Minnie Vans (and to a slightly lesser extent, Uber) provide guests with the ability to get from any of the resorts to the parks in speedy fashion, albeit at a cost. Rideshare prices can be high, but they’re nowhere near the $400 per night someone would have to spend to upgrade from a value resort to a deluxe resort.
Of course, no transportation is perfect. If the Skyliner is down at Epcot and you walk all the way there, you’ll have to walk all the way to the front of the park to catch any other transportation to your hotel. Rideshare waits can get excessive, particularly if you need a car seat. Our last stay at Polynesian came with a lot of monorail downtime, which overloaded the boat waits and prompted us to walk. For reliability, nothing beats a sidewalk.
Finally, if you bring your own car or rent a car, you’ll be paying for daily parking, and you still won’t be able to directly access Magic Kingdom (parking is at TTC and requires a monorail/boat to get to the park). Those issues aside, this is certainly one way to take the sting out of a bad location.
What this comes down to is that location and transportation don’t matter as much as they once did, but you can still distinguish some of the hotels from others based on these factors. They won’t be dispositive in most cases, but here are the things to remember…
Pop Century and Art of Animation are the only value resorts with Skyliner access to Epcot and Hollywood Studios. Guests at the other value resorts will rely entirely on buses (or paid transportation) for access to the parks.
Caribbean Beach is the only moderate resort with Skyliner access to Epcot and Hollywood Studios. Guests at the other three moderate resorts will rely entirely on buses (or paid transportation) for access to the parks.
Contemporary, Grand Floridian, Polynesian, and Wilderness Lodge have the best access to Magic Kingdom. Guests of all other hotels have to take buses (or pay for Minnie Vans) to Magic Kingdom. Wilderness Lodge is not on the monorail and its boat isn’t much more convenient than a bus.
Yacht Club, Beach Club, and Boardwalk Inn have the best access to Hollywood Studios and Epcot. Guests of all other resorts, except the Skyliner Resorts, have to take buses or paid transportation to these parks.
There is no special access to Animal Kingdom. Animal Kingdom Lodge is closest to that park, but you’ll still have to take a bus or paid transportation to get there.
Split Stays with a Kid
Building off the above location discussion, I want to briefly note that we love doing split stays—where you stay at two (or more) hotels as part of one trip, say two/three nights at each—even with our toddler. This allows us to enjoy different locations and amenities over the course of the trip.
Certainly this won’t be for every family. Disney can transport your bags from one hotel to another, but even so the change requires packing / unpacking, along with a day where you have no room between check-out and check-in.
To see the upsides of a split stay, let’s look at an example. We recently did a split stay at Pop Century and Polynesian. Our first three nights were at Pop Century and our second three at Polynesian. The time we stayed at Pop Century we mostly visited Hollywood Studios and Epcot via Skyliner. The time we stayed at Polynesian was spent at Magic Kingdom and Animal Kingdom.
This allowed us easy transportation to three of the four parks (Animal Kingdom is always a bus, no matter what) and we got to enjoy a deluxe hotel (Polynesian), including Extended Evening Hours at Epcot, without paying for a full six-night stay there.
Arcades and Playgrounds
Several of the Disney World hotels have playgrounds. These are typically small jungle gyms with a slide or two. Most also have indoor arcades, though these cost additional money if you want to actually play games. Listing all the hotels would be a bit much here, so I’m going to just link to the official Disney pages on arcades and playgrounds.
Even with a kid who loves playgrounds (and arcades, even without paying), I wouldn’t make a decision based on playgrounds. They’re nice amenities, and if you plan for lots of resort time that you don’t want to spend at the pool, then perhaps you’ll get more value out of them.
Pools and Splash Pads
Without going into a separate discussion of the best hotel pools at Disney World (here’s Tom Bricker on that), we can highlight some important differences in the pools at different hotels.
Before we get to specifics, keep in mind that all the hotels have both feature pools and secondary pools. The feature pools are centrally located and tend to offer a bit more (if nothing else, they’re where the activities are). The secondary pools tend to be more basic and exist to save you from making the walk to the feature pool. At some of the hotels these are called “quiet pools”, though there’s no guarantee you’ll get that experience.
Probably the most important thing to know about the hotel pools is that the value resort pools do not have slides. If a pool slide is a dealbreaker for you, you’ll need to stick to the moderate and deluxe resorts.
Another thing to know is that the quality of the splash pads / kiddie pool / aquatic play areas varies even within hotel tiers. Generally , the deluxe and moderate hotels have the best splash pads, some of which even have small slides of their own—i.e. more like aquatic jungle gyms. Here’s a look at the aquatic play area at Caribbean Beach:
Coronado Springs is a notable exception—its splash pad is basically the same as the value tier. The value splash pads are more basic and in some cases are just a shallow pool. If these details are important to you, I strongly suggest using Google to find more information about specific hotels you’re considering. Here’s the Pop Century one, as an example:
Dining
When it comes to hotel dining options with a kid, there are three types of dining to keep in mind:
Quick service
Character meals
All other table service
The value hotels only have quick service. Character meals are only found at select deluxe hotels. Moderate resorts have limited table service options, and deluxe resorts have the best table service options. You can travel to other hotels for meals, but it will either cost time, money, or both. There are also character meals in the parks, which might be more convenient overall.
Personally, we prefer the quick service cafeterias at value resorts for trips with our toddler. The convenience of being able to place a basic mobile order—waffles for breakfast, mac and cheese or pizza for lunch/dinner—get it, eat it, and be on our way works best for our style of travel. We’ve done character meals in the park and would gladly book a Minnie Van to another hotel for one if we wanted.
If having a character meal on-site is important, your hotel options are limited to (note: these have been changing since the 2020 closure, so I recommend confirming dining options at your hotel and nearby hotels before booking if they’re important):
Beach Club (Cape May Cafe)
Contemporary Resort (Chef Mickey’s)
Polynesian Village (‘Ohana)
Riviera Resort (Topolino’s Terrace)
Wilderness Lodge (Story Book Dining at Artist Point)
A few quick notes: Beach Club is attached to Yacht Club and a short walk from BoardWalk Inn. It’s also accessible via the Skyliner from Pop Century, Art of Animation, and Caribbean Beach. Polynesian Village is a short walk from Grand Floridian. Riviera Resort is a short walk from Caribbean Beach and accessible via the Skyliner from Pop Century and Art of Animation.
Room Size and Balconies
This is a relatively niche issue that could take up thousands of words because there are just so many room types at Disney World. We’re going to do our best to cover the major issues, but this is an issue you could spend a lot of time researching if the details are important.
For starters, you can always get a crib or Pack ‘n’ Play for a child under 3 in your room on top of the ordinary (adult) occupancy. If you need more than one crib, you’ll need to do a bit more research (here’s a forum thread to get you started). The only rooms I’m unsure about fitting a crib in are the Riviera Tower Studios. Those are very small rooms and I imagine fitting a crib would not be easy.
Besides that, every Disney hotel has rooms that fit up to four adults (usually on two queen beds), and many moderate and deluxe hotels have non-suite rooms that fit up to five adults.
All Star Music, Art of Animation (both value resorts), and Coronado Springs (moderate resort) have suites for larger parties or parties that want to have more space. The deluxe hotels all have suites, DVC villas, or both for larger parties or parties that want to have more space. (If space is a must-have, you’ll want to look into booking DVC rooms with rented points.)
While it’s certainly nice to have a suite or villa, we’ve never found it necessary with our toddler. The biggest issue is that in the smallest rooms—the value resorts—we essentially have a “no moving after bedtime” policy. It’s hard, but not impossible, to navigate around the crib in a small room. It is impossible to do make any movements without making enough noise to stir the baby. A white noise machine helps.
At the moderate and deluxe resorts, particularly when we’ve had a King Bed (so two adults plus a baby under 3 in a crib), we don’t have to be as sensitive once the baby is asleep.
One nice amenity, short of a suite / villa, is a balcony. This allows you a little space from a sleeping baby. The deluxe hotels all have rooms with balconies, but I’d note that even the Disney website incorrectly claims all rooms of a certain type of balconies (not me bolding something because I’ve been personally affronted). I’d recommend making a specific request for a room with a balcony when you book.
Noise
A basic rule of thumb is that the values are louder than the moderates which are louder than the deluxe resorts. There are several (mostly obvious) explanations for this, the basic idea being that more kids + outside facing doors = louder.
This is true enough, but noise just isn’t that simple. I’ve had rooms on high floors of Gran Destino Tower where I constantly heard the beeping of buses out front raising and lowering. There’s the time my preferred room at an All Star was next to the loading bay for the delivery trucks (BEEP BEEP BEEP starting at 3AM). Even at Grand Floridian with quiet neighbors, the Electric Water Pageant was an unexpected nuisance to our sleeping infant.
In our personal experience, the bigger issue has been noise from neighboring rooms, and there’s absolutely no rhyme or reason as to which hotels have that. From the person going through a breakup at 1AM at Yacht Club to the large family with the screaming kids who came back to the Polynesian at 10PM every night, we’ve had plenty of noisy neighbors.
Suites, villas, and specialty rooms (like Polynesian Bungalows) are probably the only way to ensure you’ll have something close to fully quiet space at your hotel, but in general we just don’t see value in planning around noise. Bring a white noise machine, and do your best.
Conclusions
It should go without saying that all the Disney hotels are good for kids. Our toddler doesn’t have the same experience as us, but they’ve still stayed at over a dozen Disney hotels, and I can’t recall a single time thinking “this just isn’t a good place for Zoe.”
However you wind up picking your hotel, the key is to make sure you know how to make it best for you kid. If you wind up being able to walk to Magic Kingdom, make an extra visit just for the fun of it. If you’re at a value resort, walk around and check out the gigantic figurines. Ultimately your stay at a Disney hotel is going to be what you make of it.
All Your Other Disney World Planning Questions Answered
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Just starting out? Check out our Walt Disney World planning guide! If you're still picking dates, we've got everything you need to know about Disney World crowd calendars. For picking your hotel, check out our Walt Disney World hotels guide.
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Don't forget to master your Disney World Genie+ and Lightning Lane strategy a few months in advance. We'll keep you out of long lines so you can maximize the magical time in the parks! We've got park-specific guides as well: Magic Kingdom Genie+ and Lightning Lanes, Epcot Genie+ and Lightning Lanes, Animal Kingdom Genie+ and Lightning Lanes, and Hollywood Studios Genie+ and Lightning Lanes.
Know what to ride with our guides to: Magic Kingdom rides, Hollywood Studios rides, Epcot rides, and Animal Kingdom rides! Plus learn about the water parks with our guide to Blizzard Beach and our guide to Typhoon Lagoon! And for some some fun prep, check out our Ranking of Every Ride at Walt Disney World.
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