Animal Kingdom Special Offer?

[patm95]

Hello all. I was browsing the add on tool on the DVC site. Under Animal Kingdom, it says "Special Offer: Ask a Cast Member". Does anyone know what the special offer is?

 

[atthebeachclub]

https://dvcexplorer.com/fin/m/AnimalKingdom_Member_DeveloperCredit.pdf

 

[patm95]

https://dvcexplorer.com/fin/m/AnimalKingdom_Member_DeveloperCredit.pdf

Thank you!

 

[Chili327]

Starting at $8 off per point if you buy 100 points.

 

[VGCgroupie]

Starting at $8 off per point if you buy 100 points.

Dont tempt me!

 

[Chili327]

Dont tempt me!

It is tempting, I just have to remember I can get savanna view at 7 months with points with much cheaper dues.

Same reasoning I had to use to talk myself out of OKW. lol

 

[Patmcpsu]

It is tempting, I just have to remember I can get savanna view at 7 months with points with much cheaper dues.

I wonder if that will still be the case post-renovation though. I won’t stay there with the current state of their rooms, and imagine lots of other people won’t either.

 

[eticketplease]

I wonder if that will still be the case post-renovation though. I won’t stay there with the current state of their rooms, and imagine lots of other people won’t either.

With the amount of Savannah rooms I don’t think it will be a problem to 7 month it even after the refurbishment is complete.

A lot of people avoid booking AKL, OKW and SSR for the same reason, bus transportation only for visiting the parks and the refurbishment will not change that.

 

[atthebeachclub]

I love Animal Kingdom, but in our family it would work best for adult only trips (because we’re the ones who most want to watch the animals all day). Unfortunately I haven’t been on an adult only trip in 10 years…so I’ll stick with my BLT points for savanna view when I can get it.

 

[thanxfornoticin]

With the amount of Savannah rooms I don’t think it will be a problem to 7 month it even after the refurbishment is complete.

A lot of people avoid booking AKL, OKW and SSR for the same reason, bus transportation only for visiting the parks and the refurbishment will not change that.

It really depends on which savannah rooms and the time of year...

How I wish people would avoid booking AKL sometimes - judging by how busy it's been when we've stayed there the past few years, bus transportation isn't an issue for many people looking for a quieter resort!

 

[Brian Noble]

I understand why people think the "bus triad" are somehow lesser. But I really don't share that view. During my trips, I tend to visit most of the various destinations around WDW, and each of them typically more than once. At this point, I've hit a wide variety of resorts across each of the "areas" in WDW. While some things are very convenient from a particular resort, other things are very much not. No resort is close to everything, and over the course of the week the time and hassle factor tends to balance itself out.

As they say on the Transportation Board: "There is no pixie dust in transportation."

I think for many people it's just the fact that the resorts only have bus transportation, period. Most people would not say it this way, even to themselves, but I think at least part of it is "I'm better than Those Bus People."

Now if you are going to spend more than half of your time in any one park, then location starts to make a bigger difference. But that's just not me, and it never was. Not when I had small kids, and not now that I'm doing adult-only trips.

 

[hhisc16]

I understand why people think the "bus triad" are somehow lesser. But I really don't share that view. During my trips, I tend to visit most of the various destinations around WDW, and each of them typically more than once. At this point, I've hit a wide variety of resorts across each of the "areas" in WDW. While some things are very convenient from a particular resort, other things are very much not. No resort is close to everything, and over the course of the week the time and hassle factor tends to balance itself out.

As they say on the Transportation Board: "There is no pixie dust in transportation."

I think for many people it's just the fact that the resorts only have bus transportation, period. Most people would not say it this way, even to themselves, but I think at least part of it is "I'm better than Those Bus People."

Now if you are going to spend more than half of your time in any one park, then location starts to make a bigger difference. But that's just not me, and it never was. Not when I had small kids, and not now that I'm doing adult-only trips.

For example as of directions this morning:
AKL to AK=6 minutes
AKL to Epcot=12 minutes
AKL to HS=10 minutes
AKL to MK=13 minutes

We noticed that AKL tends to run busses more frequently at park open.

We had similar times during our October, December, and January trips from AKL to these parks.

 

[Patmcpsu]

AKL's transportation issue is more emotional than it is logical. If Disney installed a manmade lake between the park/resort and provided safari-themed boat transport, it would have totally resolved the issue (even if a boat wound up being just as practical as a bus).

I imagine it's too late to add now, but the hotel would be way more appealing if it did (with no practical improvement).

 

[thanxfornoticin]

AKL's transportation issue is more emotional than it is logical. If Disney installed a manmade lake between the park/resort and provided safari-themed boat transport, it would have totally resolved the issue (even if a boat wound up being just as practical as a bus).

I imagine it's too late to add now, but the hotel would be way more appealing if it did (with no practical improvement).

But what you're suggesting would only be a change for transportation between AK and AKL, which currently is a 5-minute bus ride. Not sure how the lake and boat idea would resolve much. It's an interesting idea, but would still require buses for the other 3 parks. Unless you are talking about a REALLY big lake!!

 

[Brian Noble]

I think @Patmcpsu's point is that if it wasn't an "only a bus" resort people would view it differently, even though it doesn't change the time it takes to get anywhere at all.

AKL's location at the end of Osceola is really very good. Yes, it's in a "corner" of WDW, but that corner is served by a main artery that has almost no traffic-light controlled cross streets between it and the other major WDW destinations, aside from probably Disney Springs. The Crescent Lake group, on the other hand, is mired on Buena Vista Drive--and even after it was widened, it is still a slog to get anywhere on it.

I love OKW---the "island time" vibe just really works for me. But, if you've ever stayed there with your own car, then this sentence will bring back immediate memories:

"Oh, that's Overpass Drive, over there!"

 

[davidhr]

I share the same view. I’ve stayed a lot at AKV and never found the buses inconvenient.

On the other hand, my favorite resort has probably the most annoying bus service: CCV. They share buses most of the time with BLT. And you almost never see people complaining about BLT buses.

 

[eticketplease]

As they say on the Transportation Board: "There is no pixie dust in transportation."

Unfortunately when waiting to go back from the parks we continue to see "Refilling my Pixie Dust" on buses.

 

[intamin]

I understand why people think the "bus triad" are somehow lesser. But I really don't share that view. During my trips, I tend to visit most of the various destinations around WDW, and each of them typically more than once. At this point, I've hit a wide variety of resorts across each of the "areas" in WDW. While some things are very convenient from a particular resort, other things are very much not. No resort is close to everything, and over the course of the week the time and hassle factor tends to balance itself out.

As they say on the Transportation Board: "There is no pixie dust in transportation."

I think for many people it's just the fact that the resorts only have bus transportation, period. Most people would not say it this way, even to themselves, but I think at least part of it is "I'm better than Those Bus People."

Now if you are going to spend more than half of your time in any one park, then location starts to make a bigger difference. But that's just not me, and it never was. Not when I had small kids, and not now that I'm doing adult-only trips.

I really don't have an issue with AKV buses. SSR and OKW aren't lesser because of the bus only transportation but the internal bus loop is a negative for me. The last thing I want to deal with when it's the end of the night and fireworks just got out for MK is seeing the bus line is entirely full and waiting for 2-3 buses to come by. It also sucks when you have people in your family who use an ECV and the buses are repeatedly full with guests from other stops who have filled the 2 spots on the bus for ECVs. My father dealt with that when staying at OKW. 3 buses came and went until my dad said forget it and took his scooter back to the room and walked during the day. His knee arthritis was killing him that day and he couldn't keep up. I'm never going to book SSR and OKW for them for that reason. I probably won't mind booking AKV because at least it only has the 2 stops at Jambo and Kidani.

 

[mgarbowski]

I think @Patmcpsu's point is that if it wasn't an "only a bus" resort people would view it differently, even though it doesn't change the time it takes to get anywhere at all.

AKL's location at the end of Osceola is really very good. Yes, it's in a "corner" of WDW, but that corner is served by a main artery that has almost no traffic-light controlled cross streets between it and the other major WDW destinations, aside from probably Disney Springs. The Crescent Lake group, on the other hand, is mired on Buena Vista Drive--and even after it was widened, it is still a slog to get anywhere on it.

I love OKW---the "island time" vibe just really works for me. But, if you've ever stayed there with your own car, then this sentence will bring back immediate memories:

"Oh, that's Overpass Drive, over there!"

Overpass Drive is my favorite WDW location, feature or street name. It's like the Imagineers just gave up, and I love it.

 

[Brian Noble]

Well, there's also Backstage Lane. I've used that more than once as a shortcut to/from Bonnet Creek. Amusingly, it intersects with Overpass, rather than passing under it.

(And at least last time I checked, Backstage Lane was not "Cast Members Only" but I could not tell you why.)