Studio for 3 adults for 1 night around Christmas time?

[WonderlandsMostWantd]

We are going to be spending just 1 night at WDW before heading out on a Disney Cruise at the beginning of December. There will be 3 of us, all adults sharing a studio. We own at AKL and would prefer to use this 1 night opportunity to check out one of the other DVC resorts that we haven’t stayed at yet. I’m going to list off our details, and please tell me what you would suggest given our situation. Since I’ve only stayed at AKL and 2 of the 3 of us have been to BWV, I’m hoping you all have some insight for us. We’re 10 days from our 7 day mark, so of course I’m questioning and obsessing right now!

• We have 3 adults so 1 of us will be on the pull out – if there are any pull outs that are particularly more or less comfortable than others, that would be good to know

• We really, REALLY love Christmas time at Disney, so something with great Christmas decorations would be awesome

• We’ll be getting in early afternoon Friday, and then doing Mickey’s Very Merry Christmas Party that evening, and leaving Saturday morning for Port Canaveral. MK will be our only park this trip

• We will have a vehicle, so Disney transportation, while potentially convenient, isn’t our only method of getting around so we’re open to any location (though BLT or VWL might be nice?)

• It might be nice having someplace with convenient access to a restaurant for breakfast in the morning? But it’s not a deal breaker

Thanks in advance for any advice or suggestions you've got!

 

[drusba]

What you will need is a lot of luck to get anything other than SSR, and possibly OKW or AKV. One night might be available. Early December is one of the highest booking times of the year. BWV is already completely full the first week. That indicates to me that such is likely also true for BLT and BCV and possibly also VWL. I personally would stay at AKV before SSR or OKW. VWL might have an opening and has impressive decorations in the lobby with a very large tree. It has counter-service in the morning. BWV and AKV Jambo are also impressive. As far as comfortable pull-outs, i consider them all about average with AKV actually having some of the better so if you used one of those expect the same or a little worse elsewhere.

 

[WonderlandsMostWantd]

What you will need is a lot of luck to get anything other than SSR, and possibly OKW or AKV. One night might be available. Early December is one of the highest booking times of the year. BWV is already completely full the first week. That indicates to me that such is likely also true for BLT and BCV and possibly also VWL. I personally would stay at AKV before SSR or OKW. VWL might have an opening and has impressive decorations in the lobby with a very large tree. It has counter-service in the morning. BWV and AKV Jambo are also impressive. As far as comfortable pull-outs, i consider them all about average with AKV actually having some of the better so if you used one of those expect the same or a little worse elsewhere.

Thanks! I guess I'm looking for perfect world suggestiongs - assuming we could luck into any studio, what would people recommend?

It is worth noting that we do already have a studio booked at AKL - we booked at Jambo because we've only ever stayed at Kidani before, and thought that if worst came to worst and we couldn't try something new and different, at least we'd still have AKL

 

[jekjones1558]

BLT would be an obvious choice if you are doing MVMCP but 3 adults in a studio there would be pretty crowded. Since it is only for 1 night, maybe that would be okay (and will get you ready for a cruise stateroom!) Otherwise, VWL is a DVC favorite at Christmas time and is a short boat ride away from Magic Kingdom. My guess is that you will need to waitlist at both of these resorts, but since you have AKV booked as a back-up, I would do the waitlist. Good luck!

 

[WonderlandsMostWantd]

Thanks for the insight! I am a little worried about the size of the studio at BLT (we do have 2 staterooms booked for the cruise, thankfully!) so that is definately something I'm thinking long and hard about.

jekjones, I noticed you're also from MN - Do you think the decor at VWL is too similar to the general MN Northwoods theming we see a lot of out here?

Excelleng suggestions, keep them coming please!

 

[jekjones1558]

Thanks for the insight! I am a little worried about the size of the studio at BLT (we do have 2 staterooms booked for the cruise, thankfully!) so that is definately something I'm thinking long and hard about.

jekjones, I noticed you're also from MN - Do you think the decor at VWL is too similar to the general MN Northwoods theming we see a lot of out here?

Excelleng suggestions, keep them coming please!

Funny that you should comment about the VWL theming. We have only stayed at VWL once in all our DVC years for this very reason--I see this theme around home all the time! In the winter I especially like a lighter color scheme. I think that is one of the reasons we love BWV--the lighter decor and the style is not like home. But for your short stay I still think VWL would be a good choice. The crowds coming out of MVMCP can be pretty bad and it would surely be nice to just walk to BLT or boat to VWL. Jambo at AKV has a gorgeous Christmas tree but the decor there is pretty dark as well (again, we have only stayed there twice because we aren't so fond of the darker colors). But with only 1 night, now might be the exact time to stay somewhere that you are least likely to stay on a longer visit.

 

[Deb & Bill]

We are going to be spending just 1 night at WDW before heading out on a Disney Cruise at the beginning of December. There will be 3 of us, all adults sharing a studio. We own at AKL and would prefer to use this 1 night opportunity to check out one of the other DVC resorts that we haven’t stayed at yet. I’m going to list off our details, and please tell me what you would suggest given our situation. Since I’ve only stayed at AKL and 2 of the 3 of us have been to BWV, I’m hoping you all have some insight for us. We’re 10 days from our 7 day mark, so of course I’m questioning and obsessing right now!

• We have 3 adults so 1 of us will be on the pull out – if there are any pull outs that are particularly more or less comfortable than others, that would be good to know

• We really, REALLY love Christmas time at Disney, so something with great Christmas decorations would be awesome

• We’ll be getting in early afternoon Friday, and then doing Mickey’s Very Merry Christmas Party that evening, and leaving Saturday morning for Port Canaveral. MK will be our only park this trip

• We will have a vehicle, so Disney transportation, while potentially convenient, isn’t our only method of getting around so we’re open to any location (though BLT or VWL might be nice?)

• It might be nice having someplace with convenient access to a restaurant for breakfast in the morning? But it’s not a deal breaker

Thanks in advance for any advice or suggestions you've got!

Good grief, is no one going to recommend OKW? Olivia's has a great breakfast. You get two real queen sized beds. The bathroom is large. You park right outside your villa. OKW transportation to MK is very good. Takes about 8-10 minutes from the Hospitality House.

And the odds may be with you at OKW.

 

[SusieBea]

Good grief, is no one going to recommend OKW? Olivia's has a great breakfast. You get two real queen sized beds. The bathroom is large. You park right outside your villa. OKW transportation to MK is very good. Takes about 8-10 minutes from the Hospitality House.

And the odds may be with you at OKW.

EXACTLY! And no one needs to sleep on a pull-out!

 

[ccigliano]

Another vote for OKW -two queen size beds and the studio is quite spacious. While you won't be at a MK resort - the buses are fine and you could aslo drive. Olivia's is great for breakfast.

 

[WonderlandsMostWantd]

OKW is getting a lot of high praise - we may have to check that out! So many decisions! I know a lot of it will just depend on what's available on Monday when our 7month mark opens up. Thank you for the suggestions, keep them coming if you have more, please!

 

[com_op_2000]

OKW
Two full beds, no pull out couch.
Biggest rooms of all DVC villas.

 

[WonderlandsMostWantd]

Well, I’ve got an update:

Today was our 7-month booking window day. We’d talked quite a bit about our options and decided we’d roll the dice and see what we could get. We appreciated all of the advice and suggestions given here. In particular, the advice to try one of the resorts that we maybe wouldn’t typically want to stay at for an extended period of time, since it was a short trip. We had a LOT more options available than I really expected based on all the feedback I’d gotten here:

BLT – Lake or Magic Kingdom View (only 1 room of each was available)
OKW – Near HH and Standard available
Boardwalk – Boardwalk, Prefered or Standard View
BCV – Available

In fact, the only options on our list that were NOT available were BLT standard view and VWL. I think the fact that it was a studio for just 1 Friday night definitely worked in our favor – I think a lot of people were checking out on Friday and everyone else was checking in Saturday. I feel like we lucked into the sweet spot on that one!

We opted to go with the BLT Lake View. We figured since the MK was the only resort we’d be visiting this trip it would be nice to be as close to the park as possible to maximize our time there and reduce transportation time. It didn’t however make any sense to go with the MK view since we wouldn’t be in the room enjoying the park view all that much anyhow, since we’d be at the MVMCP all night anyhow.

I’ve never been a huge fan of the décor I’ve seen in photos of BLT – the ultra-modern look just isn’t particularly our thing. I’ve also heard about how much smaller and less conveniently laid out the rooms are, so the prospect of booking a longer trip there with the risk of the space not being particularly functional for the trip kind of put us off, particularly with the higher number of points required to stay there. We’d definitely want to get the firsthand point of view before committing to a longer stay. But, the location definitely appeals so we’ve all been curious about it – we figured that since it’s just 1 night and all we really HAD to do in the room was put our stuff down and sleep, this was definitely the time to give it a shot!

I do appreciate all of the OKW suggestions – we would love to give it a shot one of these days, but I feel like OKW is the kind of resort you may want to spend a longer stay at so you have time to really relax and enjoy the space – since we just needed 1 night and were going to be at MK most of the time anyhow, we opted to grab BLT since it was available.

Thank you all again, VERY much!

 

[bobbiwoz]

Great! Enjoy your stay at BLT and the MVMCP!

 

[jekjones1558]

For your circumstances I think you made a great decision. Have a blast!

 

[WonderlandsMostWantd]

Thank you very much! I'm getting pretty excited I'm even toying with the idea of a monorail ride to the Poly or GF for breakfast in the morning now. Ah, decisions decisions!

 

[bobbiwoz]

Thank you very much! I'm getting pretty excited I'm even toying with the idea of a monorail ride to the Poly or GF for breakfast in the morning now. Ah, decisions decisions!

That's a tough call! Kona cafe with the pressed coffee. ..... Or IHOP? IHOP is our traditional stop on the way to port Canaveral! We too are staying at BLT before our August DCL cruise. Decisions!

 

[Deb & Bill]

Thank you very much! I'm getting pretty excited I'm even toying with the idea of a monorail ride to the Poly or GF for breakfast in the morning now. Ah, decisions decisions!

Grand Floridian Cafe for Eggs Benedict sounds good to me. I've got them on my schedule twice for our stay in October (we're at BLT).

 

[dianeschlicht]

OKW is getting a lot of high praise - we may have to check that out! So many decisions! I know a lot of it will just depend on what's available on Monday when our 7month mark opens up. Thank you for the suggestions, keep them coming if you have more, please!

It gets high praise for a good reason. Even though we love our AKV stays too, we always wish we could drop an OKW room down into that location!