Driving Myself Crazy....HELP!

[kristenrice]

Here's the situation:

DH agreed to "squeeze" in a DVC trip this year. We have 96 points to work with and our travel dates are June 6-11. The non-refundable airfare has been booked so the dates are not flexible.

Ok, so I have a value studio booked for June 6 since we'll be landing in Orlando at 5:30pm. Then, I have a 1BR value booked for the next 4 nights. This is costing us 95 of our 96 points.

We are a family of 4, 2 "adults" (and I use that term loosely ) and 2 DD's ages 3 and 5 (well, she'll be 6 at the end of June!). DH has never been to AKV before and the DD's and I went this past October.

Here's my dilemma..

I've been looking at all the Kidani pictures and really wanting to stay there. We are planning an April 2010 trip at Kidani already so it's not too far off. After playing around with the points, I found that I can make our first 2 nights in a value studio and then for the next 3, we could stay in a STANDARD (bigger!) 1BR at Kidani...and it would even save us 2 whole points!

Now, assuming that there is even availability at this late time, would you do it? We will not have a car so there is a bit of a transportation issue. Would bell services move our luggage for us if we went to the parks on the room switch day? Oh, the potential of being able to stay in Kidani is just getting me all wound up right now. I want to have a firm decision in my mind before I even call MS to check the availability.

FWIW, when we went in January (and had a car), we stayed for 2 nights at Pop and then switched for 5 nights at OKW and it went just fine. I guess my concern is with the switching rooms. I had fully planned to check out Kidani while we are there, but now I am really thinking maybe we should try staying there too! The girls and I loved Mara and Boma, but I figure we can work the meals into our arrival and departure from the parks. I will also have groceries, but I could have them delivered on the day we switch to the 1BR at Kidani so that wouldn't be a problem. I know the kids want to spend a lot of time at the pool. I figure that Kidani's pool area will be PACKED in June, but I am wondering if that might ease the crowd at the Jambo pool . If that were the case, we might be better off at Jambo in our value rooms.

Any and all opinions are welcome!

 

[ilovediznee]

I think it depends IF you really want to switch rooms. Yes the others are bigger but you have four people's stuff to move from point a to point b. Are you doing the dining plan? If so, switching may screw that up because you will have two reservations - one for the first few days and the a second for the others.

Di

 

[dianeschlicht]

Well, since I'd probably not ever book a value in the first place because of the size, I'd probably NOT want to spend MORE nights in one just to get a larger unit for the rest of the trip. ON the other hand....I also probably would want to stay savanna view if I was moving at all.

I'm going crazy with AKV ressies right now too. We have 42 points left in our '09 use year that I want to use up, because I want to use a full alottment for banking and borrowing two years down the road. We have a small AKV contract (69), so we are stingy with them. I also want mostly to either stay CL or Savanna view, so that means many of my trips have to be changed out from OKW at the 7 month window. I use the AKV points for our CL stays, since I can use those at the 11 month booking window.

When we first purchased AKV last year, we thought we had figured out the exact number of points that would work best for us, but it turns out to be 3 too many! Now I will have 3 points to bank this year, that will likely go unused, because I wont be using my AKV points until 2011. So I feel your pain!

 

[kristenrice]

I think it depends IF you really want to switch rooms. Yes the others are bigger but you have four people's stuff to move from point a to point b. Are you doing the dining plan? If so, switching may screw that up because you will have two reservations - one for the first few days and the a second for the others.

Di

Oh, good call!

I wasn't planning on doing the dining plan because we were going to use the TIW card. If I split it up and have a 2 night reservation, I might consider using the CS DDP for those first 2 nights. We can eat our CS meals off of credits those first 2 days and we can get grab'n'go stuff with any that might expire. Then, we'll have lunches or snacks for the rest of the week to supplement our TS meals! Hmmmm....back to the budget spreadsheet!

OK, I updated my dining plans. We'd eliminate one of our two planned breakfasts at Boma. We wouldn't have to pay OOP for the mugs and the 4 CS meals I was already planning on. By adding the CS DDP to our first 2 nights (if I make the switch) it will knock about $80 off of our dining budget!

 

[mlacreta]

Hello....we were a group of 7 when we stayed at OKW a few years ago and switched the last 2 days to BCV. The resorts did take care of the luggage transfur so the move wasn't that bad. My husband took the kids to disney quest that day and I detoured with the baby over to BCV to check in early. I don't think it would be a problem with the dining plan either although you would have to book it for both rooms seperately so you would have to use up your credits during each of the stays. We also had the dining plan for part of that trip and technically we had 3 seperate reservations because at OKW we had my parents with us for half the stay so we had to split that ressie into two to only have their names on the room while they were there. We are planning our next trip for sept. and are actually thinking we will resort hop twice so we can stay at AKV (for the first time, OKW (hubby likes the big room size there) and finish off at BCV (Loved the pool there...nice way to end our vaca relaxing!) Although it does add extra re-packing time, the move itself didn't seem that bad. I probably would have stayed at AKV the whole time but we are hoping to find a coulpe extra points to be able to stay in a 2bdrm value for longer and hubby is nervous the room will be too small so i compromised with half the stay at OKW. I figure we really aren't in the room much anyway! although now my dilema is I heard the value rooms are not at Kidani and I'm not sure which would be better. One night less at Kidani is a standard with the nice new pool complex but i also heard they won't have a counter service restaurant which i like the idea of or staying in the value at the main lodge giving us one extra night and the CS close by. Of corse if I can't rangle up the 2 extra points which is proving difficult, I guess I won't have to worry about making the right decision!!! I'll be curious to see some trip reports once Kidani is further along! Hope some of this rambling helped!!!

 

[kristenrice]

dianeschlicht....
I hear ya' about the savanna view! This trip is ONLY happening because we will lose the points unless we go (since they are banked) and that's why we have a smaller number to work with. I wanted to make a 5 day trip and use up as close to 96 points as I could. Since we now own at AKV, I figured we should stay there so DH can see it for the first time.

mlacreta....
I am so anxious to stay in Kidani as well! I loved the Jambo house when we were there in October so I am perfectly content to stay in our value-size accommodations. But...the thought of even a few days in that huge 1BR at Kidani is so tempting! My DD's keep talking about who is going to sleep on the sleeper chair and I have to remind them that our chair (in the value 1BR) won't be a sleeper.

I am thinking that I will try to switch my reservation around. Since this was going to primarily be a "resort exploration" trip, I think I will plan on doing the park time on those first 2 days. That way, we will only be sleeping in the little studio. For the last 3 nights, we can thoroughly enjoy the big 1BR, Kidani Village and the rest of the AKL. I will add the CS DDP for the first 2 nights and go without a DDP for the rest of the trip. We weren't planning on doing one anyways, but the CS plan for 2 days will actually work in our favor.

Thanks for all the ideas....anyone else?

 

[mlacreta]

kristenrice....we are also planning on the cs dining plan. it's a shame not to use the nice kitchen in the villas but we really spend so much time in the parks that it is so much easier to just grab food there than have to pack it for 7 people and lug it around all day!!!! I'm glad the cs dp was added this year. We did he regular one 3 years ago for about 6 or 7 days and it was worth it with all the charecter dining we did but it was a pain to have to work your day around the dining reservations. this time i think we will do the regular plan again for half the trip and the cs for half. lot less expensive with 7 of us! anxious to do my taxes this year so see what i have to work with for this trip! I just wish my soon to be 10 year old twins would still be in the child price range!!! they ought to have a middle price somewhere. oh well....just can't wait to go!!!!

 

[kristenrice]

Well, it was a good idea...

No availability for a value studio for the second night.

Oh well, that will teach me to think through ALL of my options before I jump in. I was surprised to get the value 1BR at 7 months and the value studio at 6 months as it was! At least we are going to Disney World!

Oh, and I think I am going to add the CS plan to our 1-night studio reservation. We are planning on eating at Mara on our arrival day anyways and buying the mugs. The mugs alone are, what, $13? That means that for an extra $17 I get 2 CS meals and 2 snacks....ummmmm....ZEBRA DOMES! That's 4 packages that I can get!