September/October 2013 check in

[australiankaren]

Originally Posted by WanderlustNZ

Anyone who's been reading Kyl's TR will know that I've become a tad obsessed the last few days with the prospect of renting DVC points.

I never even knew DVC Brokers existed before reading her report and I'm now excited about the fact there are ways of renting points that makes the whole process a bit less risky. From what I understand it's still not 100% risk free, but I scoured the web for horror stories and couldn't find any.

I initially contacted David's Vacation Club and was really disappointed to discover there was a studio I wanted at AKV, but no points to book it. So then I contacted DVC Rental Store who could get me a preferred view studio at BWV, but it was beyond my budget to book it for the whole stay. I also had a lovely Disboards member offer to sell me points, but they weren't quite ready to use yet and I'm really keen to book asap while I know rooms are still available.

So, anyway, to cut a long story short I've decided to not put all of my eggs in one basket and are attempting to book a split stay through 2 different companies. I got back to DVC Rental store and asked them to book the BW for me for the first 5 nights of our stay. That transaction is almost complete and I can already see my booking on the Disney website Also, the customer service has been great.
I can't wait to be so close to Epcot during the F&W.

Davids also got back to me today to say that they now have AK points. I've asked them if they can book me in to a standard studio for my last 6 nights of my stay. I haven't heard back from them yet, but it's feeling promising. Fingers crossed.

All up, the price of these points is comparable to Disney having a room special of about 60% off their villas. Obviously there are risks, horrible cancellation policies, and upfront payments that come along with this 60% discount, but I'm just so happy about the potential to stay in 2 resorts I never dreamt I'd be able to afford, that I guess I'm prepared to take those risks.

So, my holiday plans presently look like this
18 - 21 Sep: HRH and Universal
21 - 28 Sep: Disney Fantasy
28 - 3 Oct: Preferred view studio BWV (Epcot Food and Wine, here we come).
3 - 9 Oct: Hopefully a standard studio at the AKV.

Doing the happy dance right now.

awesome job!..i love split stays...you get the best of 2 or 3 resorts.....as your not there long enough to get bored with the resort......our trip this time is BWV & OKW...so 2 very different resorts we havent tried....

Once you do DVC you cant go back to normal rooms.....we too will be there 29-3 oct for F&W...but staying at OKW as I think BWV will be impossible for us to get at 7 months out...so hopefully you are using BWV points for that part...

[WanderlustNZ]

Originally Posted by australiankaren

awesome job!..i love split stays...you get the best of 2 or 3 resorts.....as your not there long enough to get bored with the resort......our trip this time is BWV & OKW...so 2 very different resorts we havent tried....

Once you do DVC you cant go back to normal rooms.....we too will be there 29-3 oct for F&W...but staying at OKW as I think BWV will be impossible for us to get at 7 months out...so hopefully you are using BWV points for that part...

Cheers Karen :-)

Yes, we've booked the BW for 28-3 Oct using rented points. I also just got an email to say they've booked us a hard-to-get Boardwalk view and put in a request for us to also see the Fireworks. So excited!

I have this cunning plan to start our WDW park visits at Epcot. I think my son will enjoy Epcot more if he isn't comparing it to the more 'kid-friendly' parks.

[australiankaren]

Originally Posted by WanderlustNZ

Cheers Karen :-)

Yes, we've booked the BW for 28-3 Oct using rented points. I also just got an email to say they've booked us a hard-to-get Boardwalk view and put in a request for us to also see the Fireworks. So excited!

I have this cunning plan to start our WDW park visits at Epcot. I think my son will enjoy Epcot more if he isn't comparing it to the more 'kid-friendly' parks.

good plan.....always start witih epcot, then AK, then hollywood studios and then MK.....although epcot is my fav...

great result re BWV....but remember the boardwalk view is very noisy, so if you/family cant sleep take ear plugs...i enjoy noise, so wouldn't be an issue for me , but DH is a light sleeper and has ear plugs....

your going o love F&W...but expect to spend $$$$$ on the food as you go around..it just smells so good!

[cola]

Originally Posted by KiwiMouseGirl

How many days would you allocate for a holiday to WDW. We would be doing all the theme parks, including Universal and probably Sea World. I would want to spend more than one day at Magic Kingdom to make sure we got everything done

Absolute minimum of 7 days for WDW, that is 4 days each park one day, a rest day, and 2 catch up days, because you will need to go back to every park, not just Magic Kingdom, though they will probably be half day visits. If you are going to MNSSHP that gives you another half day at MK too. I think an extra go light non park day visiting the resorts is also a great idea (going out to Animal Kingdom Lodge, you can get very close to the animals and have the CM guide pretty much all to yourself answering any questions and telling you lots more), so 8 days.

Then you also need a shopping day, Universal takes 2 days, and if you get captivated by the Wizarding World of Harry Potter, you might even need 3. The 2 days should be a Park to Park ticket because you probably won't spend a full day at Universal Studios, unless the Harry Potter expansion is open by then, and you'll need to go back to WWOHP. Once the Harry Potter expansion is open, I think they will have to make the only ticket options Park to Park, no single park tickets, because there is no way they will be able to say you can only go on this ride in Universal Studios if you have a Park to Park ticket.

Sea Wold is one day.

Then there is the shopping, that is easily one day.

Then there is the other options around Orlando - Kennedy Space Center, Lego World, alligators, shopping (again), etc - easily one day.

So that is 12 days going HARD, only one rest day, you really need another rest day in the middle, so 13, and add one day for arriving and departing, you're up to 14 days without even trying.

FOr that extra days for Universal/Sea World/shopping/etc if you have any budget concerns, don't stay at Disney for those days, off site is much much much cheaper. First visit, staying on site for at least a good part of a week makes it much easier.

[Travel Mum]

Originally Posted by cola

FOr that extra days for Universal/Sea World/shopping/etc if you have any budget concerns, don't stay at Disney for those days, off site is much much much cheaper. First visit, staying on site for at least a good part of a week makes it much easier.

Yes, we did 9 nights onsite at WDW with total Disney immersion then checked out and had 7 nights offsite (much cheaper accommodation cost) while we did the Universal parks, Sea World, KSC and shopping. One of those 7 nights we had two hotels because we nipped over to stay one night onsite at Universal to get the onsite perks on our Universal parks days

[WanderlustNZ]

Originally Posted by australiankaren

good plan.....always start witih epcot, then AK, then hollywood studios and then MK.....although epcot is my fav...

great result re BWV....but remember the boardwalk view is very noisy, so if you/family cant sleep take ear plugs...i enjoy noise, so wouldn't be an issue for me , but DH is a light sleeper and has ear plugs....

your going o love F&W...but expect to spend $$$$$ on the food as you go around..it just smells so good!

Thanks for the tip. :-) I had read somewhere that the Boardwalk view can be noisy, but I think I'm just too excited to care. My husband and son are quite deep sleepers, so the only one who might have a few sleeping issues is me and I'm okay with that. I love the idea that we will be able to sit out on our balcony one evening and watch the hustle and bustle going on outside.

I also just had my AKV booking confirmed. Standard studio (which from what I've read is usually a Pool View) at Jambo House. I'm even more excited now as I had hoped for Jambo rather than Kidani.

I'm just so ecstatic with the way this holiday is falling into place.

[Travel Mum]

Originally Posted by WanderlustNZ

I'm just so ecstatic with the way this holiday is falling into place.

And I am already really looking forward to your TR!!

[australiankaren]

Originally Posted by Travel Mum

And I am already really looking forward to your TR!!

NO...her PTR......

[Travel Mum]

Originally Posted by australiankaren

NO...her PTR......

Well that too but particularly her TR because I've never read a report from a fellow KIWI who has rented DVC points for her WDW holiday. That's the way I am leaning if I ever get back but the dining issue worries me because we had free dining and I know OOP prices are very high especially when converting back to NZ$. So now only am I keen to know how Wanderlusts DVC hire goes but also her feedback on the dining and whether they go with buying the dining plan or paying OOP

[cola]

If you stay DVC you get a kitchen, and some of those have very big fridges, with very big freezers. This means you can easily have breakfast in your unit, have supplies for sandwiches to take to the parks, and freeze juice and water to take to the park if you can be bothered lugging juice and/or water around. You end up buying less snacks/drinks. You have your fridge full of nibbles for when you get back. This all applies whereever you stay with a full kitchen.
This all means you can get away with buying less food in the parks, you can eat kids meals some of the time, and you can do just one splurge every day or two. You can even go as far as cooking a main meal in your unit, but that is getting a bit far from holidays for my liking. Getting one or two microwave meals is about as domestic as I need to get on holidays.

[battymum]

Before I was educated in all things disney, I was planning for our stay to be off site, we would order groceries and cook in our kitchen, with the occasional meal out, this is how we have always holidayed previously. I plan a menu, usually simple and fun stuff order the groceries. This was one of our biggest concerns about a theme park holiday - we thought the only options would be bad/expensive fries and burgers - I blame you, movie world!!!
Now I have been spoilt - we loved dining out every day, I think I would have to include it in our budget, but not the dining plan, as you seem to always end up with spare credits. But definitely allow the cash!
Oh and that unit looks huge, but why oh why, can't they put a bunk bed in there somewhere, just an alcove would do- and if the bedrooms is as big as cola says I'm sure there would be room!

[Travel Mum]

I can see how they now put a sleeper chair in the living rooms of the One-Bedrooms at OKW - it's not as though the don't have the room! Think I may have to start visiting the OKW thread and perhaps adjust my next WDW dream holiday plans

[Minniemum]

WanderlustNZ you have one fantastic trip planned! Looking forward to reading all about it.

[WanderlustNZ]

Originally Posted by Travel Mum

Well that too but particularly her TR because I've never read a report from a fellow KIWI who has rented DVC points for her WDW holiday. That's the way I am leaning if I ever get back but the dining issue worries me because we had free dining and I know OOP prices are very high especially when converting back to NZ$. So now only am I keen to know how Wanderlusts DVC hire goes but also her feedback on the dining and whether they go with buying the dining plan or paying OOP

Will definitely write up a TR. I'll probably write a few paragraphs each night of our holiday as I find it a really relaxing way of ending a day out touring. I also hope to have some good photos to add as travel photography is a bit of a amateur passion of mine.

At this stage I'm thinking we won't be doing the dining plan. For all the reasons Cola mentioned, but also because we know we'll become a bit sick of the sight of large meals after a 7 night cruise. Also, I really don't like the kids menus on the dining plan. I think it ties kids into eating rubbish food twice a day and I'd rather have the option to buy my son a few adult menu items or have him share meals with us.

With the exception of perhaps one special breakfast on my son's birthday, we'll order groceries and eat all breakfasts in our Villas. I'm guessing that for dinners we'll probably snack or pick up a lite meal to take back to our room (e.g F&W festival food, sandwiches from the Boardwalk bakery etc). I'll make sure I get some snacks from the grocery store to fill the gap if we're still hungry at dinner. I also expect that we'll have a very large supply of sweets to snack on as I intend on doing MNSSHP early in our stay. I read somewhere that you can also get dried fruit at the trick or treat stations and I'm going to try and full a bag with these to use as snacks while we're walking around the parks.
Lunch will probably become the main meal of the day where I book the most table service meals. Lunch often seems to have cheaper menus, plus it's unlikely that all 3 of us will order desserts with every meal (usually we pass because we're too full, or we opt to share), so we'll save some money on eating a bit less at cheaper times. Plus, the cheaper the meal, generally the cheaper the overall gratuity at the end.

So that's my plan at this stage. Who knows what will happen once I properly start researching all the different restaurant options.

[WanderlustNZ]

Originally Posted by Minniemum

WanderlustNZ you have one fantastic trip planned! Looking forward to reading all about it.

Cheers Minniemum. I just can't believe how wonderfully everything is slipping into place. Admittedly, I am pushing my budget right to it's upper limits, but you only live once right?