Hi, Jillian! A visit to Walt Disney World Resort during the holiday season is truly a magical experience! Mickey's Very Merry Christmas Party in Magic Kingdom Park kicks off at the end of the first week of November and the festive holiday displays at the Resort hotels typically appear in mid-November.
Each Disney Resort hotel offers a fantastic feature pool, so it's difficult to recommend one over another. But if I had to choose just one pool for your 5-year-old and nearly 2-year-old, I would have to go with
The Big Blue Pool at Disney's Art of Animation Resort. The Big Blue Pool is quite expansive with a more than 300,000-gallon capacity and features huge sculpted figures of everyone's favorite characters from
Finding Nemo. The Schoolyard Sprayground adjacent to the pool is a terrific water play area designed just for little ones. I love that the pool has a zero-entry feature and is relatively shallow all around (without a true "deep end"). This makes it perfect for kids!
My second choice of pools would be
Stormalong Bay at the Beach Club and Yacht Club resorts located within walking distance to Epcot. The 3-acre Stormalong Bay water complex is considered by many to be the best pool of all the Walt Disney World resort hotel pools. It's actually more like a mini water park complete with a sandy beach and meandering waterways featuring various effects. There's also a kiddie pool with a mini waterslide that's ideal for little ones who aren't quite ready to conquer the 230-foot main shipwreck waterslide.
I hope this helps you with choosing the best pool for your family. Please don't hesitate to write back if I can assist you further!
Wishing you a magical vacation!