Walt Disney World Pools
 

Hi. I'm planning a trip with my husband, and kids - ages 5,6,7,9. I'm thinking that it would be great to stay at a Disney hotel that has a really fun pool for my kids. They are really good swimmers, but not thrill seekers. Right now we have reservations at the All-Sports Hotel, but I might be willing to upgrade to a moderate priced hotel if they have a great pool. I'm thinking that rather than going to the parks in the evening it would be more convenient to just swim at the hotel. I've found it hard to find pictures and detailed information about the pools. Does anyone have any suggestions or help in this area?

Thanks.

Well, I think the best pool on WDW property is Storm Along Bay at the Beach Club/Yacht Club. However, these are deluxe hotels and can be pricey.

We enjoyed the pool at Port Orleans French Quarter. Nice pool slide.

Go to allearsnet.com for great pictures of the hotels and pool areas.

I completely agree with your idea about swimming at night but you may want to take a break in the afternoon and enjoy the parks at night. The transportation at WDW usually makes is pretty easy to go back and forth.

The best pool at a mederate hotel is at Coronado Springs. There is a large Mayan pyramid waterfall and waterslide. The waterslide would be really fun for your kids. My 5yo niece loved it as did my 9 and 12 yo daughter. Fast enough without the scariness of the waterslide at the Beach Club. Next to the pool is a interesting playground and a small arcade. Plus there is a nice snack bar and volleyball court.

Check out the pictures of this and the other resorts at allearsnet.com.

The Coronado Springs had a nice pool.
Very large, with a waterfall coming down the pyramid, a good waterslide, a hot tub area. Most importantly they have a fun poolside bar.

We went to the parks early - arriving before they opened. We would then come back to the hotel and go to the pool during the hottest hours of the day. We would get cleaned up and go back to the park in the evening. But we dont have kids, and every family that I have ever talked to about going to Disney - says half the time kids are more interested in the pools than they are in the parks!!

if you can afford it the yacht club/beach club would be your best bet. We went for our first time last year with our children (5,7,9) and the yacht club location was PERFECT - great pool, walk to Epcot, short boat ride to MGM and short bus to MK and AK. We would definately stay there again.

I agree about the quality of the pool at the Yacht and Beach. They issue wrist bands for the guests staying there in order to keep guests from all the other Disney hotels OUT.

Bad side is that the Yacht and Beach are considerably more expensive to stay in than some of the other hotels.

The All-Star (value) resorts have fun theming, but are basically just large pools with no extras.

The Moderate resorts all have slides at their pools.

The Deluxe resorts have slides plus other nice stuff like pool bars/snacks and such. As mentioned above, Yacht and Beach is the best.

However, if the Deluxe resorts are not in your price range, I would not recommend stressing yourself out just to pay for it. Your kids won't know what they are missing at Y&B Club. If you can swing a Moderate resort, their pools really are a step up from the Value resorts - they also seemed a little less "zooey" to me.

I hope that helps. Happy travels! :-)