Need Help on Where to Stay at Disney!

They would all be great, but for the kids I would suggest the Animal Kingdom Villas, they are so great with the animal walking around in the area and you can watch them. It is so peaceful there also.

If you need any other help planning, send me an email, we go there quite a bit and have a spreadsheet we use I would be happy to send you.

Probably Wilderness Lodge. The Boardwalk is directly connected to Epcot and if you don't plan to go there it would be a waste IMO. It is also a quick boat to HS but at your kids ages you would probably not spend a ton of time in HS. I would take the AK LOdge out of the equation b/c it is far from everything else and you don't plan on going to AK anyhow. So yes-I would say WL. It is a pretty cool hotel and it is a boatride away from the MK.

But let me also strongly suggest that if all possible you should try to fit the other parks in-esp AK.

We live in Orlando so we don't stay on or off property, but we have passes so we are usually in Disney about once a week.

The Wilderness Lodge is really nice. They have a great resturant in the main building! They also do campfires and movies most nights for the kids.
Kidani Village is awesome! There are tons and tons of animals living on the property so there is always something to see/do at the hotel. There are even packages avaliable where you can rent night vision goggles and go out and see the animals playing at night. Soo cool!!
Boardwalk is sooo close to HS. There are also tons of resturants and game places on the boardwalk so there is also a lot to do around there. You can walk to HS or take the boat and it is really quick. It is also a very short walk to Epcot from the boardwalk.

Sorry I didn't really help they are all awesome. My husbands favorite has always been the Beach Club. They used to stay there every Christmas when he was a kid.

With the ages of your kids I would probably reccomend doing Animal Kingdom instead of Hollywood Studios though. I'm assuming you have been there before, because you said it was your kids first time. But HS doesn't have that much for young children (so much fun for older kids and adults!) For the younger two they have Playhouse Disney (a show), Little Mermaid (a show), a Toy Story ride (but you have to get fast passes first thing in the morning as soon as you get there run to it, I haven't seen the line less than 2 hours long in the past two months and that's when the park isn't even crowded!), and a Honey I Shrunk the Kids Playground. There are tons of other things, but some can be a little scary. My almost 2 year old LOVES the Lights, Motors, Action Car show but it does have explosions and lots of special effects so not all kids would like it. She saw the Fantasmic show on Sunday and was a little frightened by it (it is about all the villians getting into Mickeys imagination and making him have nightmares). She was okay on the Great Movie Ride but didn't like the Alien that comes down from the ceiling. We haven't done American Idol or Sounds Dangerous with her. SD is completely in pitch black dark and you have to wear headphones, so I know she wouldn't like it. She hasn't seen Indiana Jones but your 6 and 4 year old would probably really like it, if they are okay with fight scenes and explosions. She did like the backlot tour, but I was suprised again because of explosions. Obviously our two year old hasn't been on Tower of Terror or the Rockin' Rollercoaster ;) but fun for the grownups. They also have a Beauty and the Beast show that she would love, but I have yet to convince my husband to sit through. :) I think I've basically covered everything in the park, but if you want more details PM me. :) I <3 Disney.
My daughters favorite place (other than magic kingdom) is Animal Kingdom she asks almost daily to go see "mickeys animals" it is adorable! There are tons of shows and rides and things to see and do there. It does close early, especially in the winter/spring when it gets dark early so we usually do AK and then go to HS to do the quick things she likes there before heading home. Also if you decide to go to AK make sure you look up what time attractions close so that you can kind of plan your day around what is open longer. Some things close hours before the park closes so that the animals can get fed or whatever they need to do. Also the Bugs Life show is scary. :)
If you can afford it I would do all 4 parks, they are all pretty amazing in their own way. Epcot has a lot more for kids than it used to!!

The Villas at Disney's Wilderness Lodge! We are Disney Vacation Members and this is our home resort. We LOVE it. So easy to get to the parks via boat and bus. It is also what I call a "compact" resort. Things are not a million miles from each other (ie, bus stops, eating area).

Just my two cents,
R.

The Villas at Wilderness lodge will be very close to the Magic Kingdom. Boardwalk Villas will be very close to Hollywood Studios (easy/fun boat ride) and within walking distance to Epcot. For what you plan to do, I wouldn't recommend the Animal Lodge Villas. Good luck and have fun.

Sorry I know I am not responding to your question, but had to share. We were at Disney in November and I have 4 year old twins. We did Magic Kingdom, Hollywood Studios, and Animal Kingdom. We loved AK!! It was definitely our favorite. HS is nice but agree with the others that it is for a bit of an older age range. For your younger ones there is really only Playhouse Disney show and The Little Mermaid show. And let me tell you that the shows at Animal Kingdom are fantastic!!! They are not to be missed.

We stayed off site in a vacation rental, so I can't help with your accomodations. Sorry.

You didn't say if you are driving or flying...? I would rule out the Animal Kingdom village because you can't get to the parks by boat or monorail from there (the only perk worth staying on-site for). So, I'd probably go with Boardwalk Villas if you feel the need to stay at a Disney resort. We go fairly often and have stayed at a number of the on-site hotels, but recently found a great resort off-site and will never go back to staying on-site. The rooms are waaaaaay too small for our family (5 people) and cost 3 times what our off-site resort does and it has literally 15x the space!
Love Disney...have a blast!!

Here's a blog that has tons of information on many things Disney, including where to stay, etc: http://www.couponingtodisney.com/disney-world-training/

We really enjoyed Animal Kingdom Lodge. Can't speak for the villas, but I have heard they are really nice. We liked being able to see the animals from our balcony. The bus ride is not bad at all and our 2 year old at the time like to ride the bus. My family is actually visiting Orlando/Disney now. We went to Magic Kingdom yesterday. I would recommend getting a park hopper pass so that you can switch parks at any time and not be limited to just 2 parks. We were able to buy them in advance at the Disney Store or you can get them at your resort. One other suggestion, for this trip we rented a house that is 5 minutes drive to Animal Kingdom and 10 minutes from Magic Kingdom. We went to http://www.vrbo.com and found a house. It has a private pool, in a gated community with a clubhouse and access to the clubhouse/community pool and play area. We are finding that we really like it. We have a full kitchen, toys are here for the kids and we have the privacy of a home. It has 4 bedrooms and 3 baths for less than we would have stayed at on-site at the park. We will vacation this way again. Hope you have a great trip!!

You have great choices! All are fantastic. We have stayed at the Wildnerness Lodge and our home resort (we are DVC Members) is Kidani Village. But I also have heard that Boardwalk has a fantastic pool.

I would decide by what park you think you may visit the most. Since your children are so young, you may want to be by Magic Kingdom. I would look at the map on their site and see which of these resorts are closest. If you stay at the Wilderness Lodge, the Magic Kingdom is a boat ride away instead of a bus ride.

Have fun!

The wilderness lodge is beautiful :)

We stayed at Kidani Village over Christmas. It is very nice. We were in a 2BR condo w/ my sister and her family. The rooms are pretty big with a large balcony and a full kitchen. They have a nice pool area with a water play area for kids, a small water slide, and a big hot tub. They also have their own wildlife preserve right there, where you can see a variety of animals - ostrich, zebra, etc. You can also walk to the other Animal Kindgom lodge where they have a pool and a food area. It is a bit of a bus ride to go anywhere. I've never stayed at the other two, but I think they are a bit closer to the parks. The bus ride is not bad and you go directly from the Animal Kingdom lodges to the park - each park has a seperate bus. My nephew (almost 2) hated the bus ride. But when my daughter was his age, she loved the bus.

Depending on what you plan to do, I would base my decision on either the proximity to the parks (if you plan to spend most of your time at the parks) or what amenities the hotel has to offer (if you plan to spend some of your time at the hotel).

Good luck and have fun!

I realize that I am not answering your question at all but I cannot help myself. I have to agree with Kim commenting that Animal Kingdom is a great choice - I LOVE that place. I have been there twice and had such an amazing time both times going on the safari.

My family of 4 stayed at Disney's Animal Kingdom Villas this past June and loved it. The animals that roam the grounds are awesome! We spent plenty of time just standing on our balcony looking at the various animals and watching their routines. The pool area was fabulous, clean and not overcrowded. The lobby, gift shop, restaurants & grounds were stunning to say the least. All in all the resort was well worth the $$$ for us. I recommend visiting the Animal Kingdom it was our favorite over the Magic Kingdom (which was a total bust for us)...my kids were 5 & 3 when we visited.

Are you sure about Hollywood studios? Really the rides are only for bigger kids and mostly shows. Animal Kingdom is good for the smaller ones.

Anyway, we stayed at Kidani last time we were there and it rocked! You have to get the savannah view though! We saw zebras running around playing and kicking and giraffes came right up to our balcony! Oh and the pool at Kidani ROCKS for kids of all ages! There is a sprinkler park and smaller water slide for your 6 year old, plus you have your choice betweenn Jambo and kidani for pools. Just a 5 min walk from each other!

Have fun!