"I can't believe we're staying here!" An Feb'16 DLR PTR (TR link Post #355)

[skier_pete]

I know I'm late to the party Pete but I read everything to this point and am following along.

Thanks for Joining in @rteetz ! It's never to late to come along!!

 

[NJlauren]

So close to trip time!!!

Exciting you also have a DLR trip coming up! So do I for May, I'm going to keep an eye out for your PTR and TR on that so I can still any tips

 

[PrincessInOz]

Getting ever closer!

 

[skier_pete]

10 DAYS TO GO!!!!!




That is all.

 

[rteetz]

10 DAYS TO GO!!!!!




That is all.

I wish I was as close as you I have 140 days to go

 

[PrincessInOz]

YAY!!

You'll be in single digits now!

 

[skier_pete]

days to go.

So I resisted for 5 days looking at the Hurricane forecast...wouldn't you know - Tropical Storm Danny appears. Looks like it will be entering the Carribean on Monday. Right now, it looks like it wouldn't get to Florida before us...and of course it's way too early to tell where it's going to track, but it definitely is in the realm of possibilities for dampening our trip. Booooo.



The good news:

Most of the dynamical track models now move Danny toward the west-northwest at a fairly modest pace until this weekend, when a building ridge to the north should help push it at a faster rate. By that point, Danny would draw on oceanic heat content that gradually increases along its path. However, a large area of dry air and Saharan dust north of Danny may inhibit its development at times. With a solid convective core, Danny might be able to fend off interference from this dry, dusty air until it encounters pockets of stronger wind shear, a possibility that long-range models are suggesting for this weekend into early next week. Thus, there is no guarantee that Danny would maintain whatever strength it attains in the deep tropics, and it is still far too early to predict with any confidence how much of a threat Danny might pose to the United States if it survives the long trek. A small change in trajectory now would have big implications for the track many days from now

On the bright side - I got our confirmation e-mails for the Y.E.S. classes. It says you have to bring a copy of them to check-in, which seems odd to me, but whatever. Looking forward to this aspect of the trip a lot.

Our friends leave for their vacation on Saturday. I'm rooting for them to have a good time, of course. They seem pretty organized, but I don't think they are much for getting up and out early - especially on vacation. Hopefully the crowds won't be too bad for them! We'll see them there in 10 days.

 

[JoshAndEvsMom]

Yay! Single Digit dance!

I have to say, I wish you could just send Hurricane Danny over to WA. It would be a win-win! You get a hurricane-free vacation, we get some relief

https://flic.kr/p/xhsYQN

Tried to attach a photo but it's not liking my phone. Click on the link: this is the smoky sky from my back yard today!

 

[franandaj]

I hope the hurricane doesn't give you any problems! It's getting so close now!

 

[tabrizia]

I just read through your pre-trip report. It sounds like you are almost ready to go, only 8 days now!

You did give me a great idea though, we are planning to rent DVC for our December 2016 trip, and I really wanted a Savanna room, but the cost savings for a 1 bedroom Standard or even value is decent amount. So I am thinking about talking my husband into going with 2 studios, we need room for 5 people and they don't have 5 people studios yet, though if you know when those are going in I would totally go for that option, my minions are small still. That way we can do 1 Savanna view studio and hopefully see giraffes out our window, which is minion 2s favorite animal ever and one standard view studio where we could switch who stayed where each night. It still saves enough that I might be able to talk him into it. Now if they came out with 5 people in a studio, I can totally talk him into and and possibly make it a full stay at AKL rather then a split stay between AKL, probably CBR (or 2 POP! rooms) and Legoland hotel, okay we'd keep the legoland piece because the minions really want to go and will love staying there.

Also I completely forgot about the YES program, the classes you chose sound great, I need to make a note to check into it for our next trip or hmm we are going in January maybe I should check then. Minion 1 and 2 would probably like it and I can totally count it for school while on vacation, benefit of homeschooling them .


Anyways I hope you have a great trip in a few days.

 

[skier_pete]

I just read through your pre-trip report. It sounds like you are almost ready to go, only 8 days now!

You did give me a great idea though, we are planning to rent DVC for our December 2016 trip, and I really wanted a Savanna room, but the cost savings for a 1 bedroom Standard or even value is decent amount. So I am thinking about talking my husband into going with 2 studios, we need room for 5 people and they don't have 5 people studios yet, though if you know when those are going in I would totally go for that option, my minions are small still. That way we can do 1 Savanna view studio and hopefully see giraffes out our window, which is minion 2s favorite animal ever and one standard view studio where we could switch who stayed where each night. It still saves enough that I might be able to talk him into it. Now if they came out with 5 people in a studio, I can totally talk him into and and possibly make it a full stay at AKL rather then a split stay between AKL, probably CBR (or 2 POP! rooms) and Legoland hotel, okay we'd keep the legoland piece because the minions really want to go and will love staying there.

HI there and You are correct in presuming that the studios in AKV (both Jambo and Kidani) currently only allow 4 occupants. Some resorts have reconfigured to fit 5 in a studio, but AKV has not. Your idea to rent one Savannah View and one Standard View studio is doable, you would save 3-4 points a day versus a Savannah view 1-bedroom, and you could easily get two rooms across the hall from each other - (though probably not adjoining). Doing this you of course lose out on the kitchen that the 1-bedroom would have, but I've generally thought the same thing - if I need the room of a 1-bedroom just for accommodations, I would rather get two studios.

If you are trying to go in December, you better not plan on getting a value room though - they are too hard to come by. Owners snatch them up right at the 11-month mark, so unless you can find someone renting AKV points that's also willing to try and grab up the rooms right at 11-months, you may have a hard time coming up with those. Standard/Savannah rooms don't go so fast, but even regular rooms in early December you will want to find a AKV owner to rent from and rent prior to the 7 month mark as they are tough to come by even at 7 months.

Also I completely forgot about the YES program, the classes you chose sound great, I need to make a note to check into it for our next trip or hmm we are going in January maybe I should check then. Minion 1 and 2 would probably like it and I can totally count it for school while on vacation, benefit of homeschooling them .

Check out the Disney website. They don't usually have availability in December, but they do in January:
https://www.studentguest.com/yes/

 

[tabrizia]

HI there and You are correct in presuming that the studios in AKV (both Jambo and Kidani) currently only allow 4 occupants. Some resorts have reconfigured to fit 5 in a studio, but AKV has not. Your idea to rent one Savannah View and one Standard View studio is doable, you would save 3-4 points a day versus a Savannah view 1-bedroom, and you could easily get two rooms across the hall from each other - (though probably not adjoining). Doing this you of course lose out on the kitchen that the 1-bedroom would have, but I've generally thought the same thing - if I need the room of a 1-bedroom just for accommodations, I would rather get two studios.

If you are trying to go in December, you better not plan on getting a value room though - they are too hard to come by. Owners snatch them up right at the 11-month mark, so unless you can find someone renting AKV points that's also willing to try and grab up the rooms right at 11-months, you may have a hard time coming up with those. Standard/Savannah rooms don't go so fast, but even regular rooms in early December you will want to find a AKV owner to rent from and rent prior to the 7 month mark as they are tough to come by even at 7 months.

I am planning to book right at 11 months out at the moment, but if we do Savanna I think I want Kidani anyways on a lower level, so since values are only in Jambo being in two separate resort areas won't work anyways. Do you know what resorts allow 5 in a studio by chance though? Since we were planning a split stay so if we could do 5 in a studio for the first half it would work as an option.

Check out the Disney website. They don't usually have availability in December, but they do in January:
https://www.studentguest.com/yes/

I just checked they do have a couple of programs during our January stay, but only 1 that would work at the moment. I think we might save the option for our 2018 trip when all 3 minions could do at least one class and the middle minion would have better options for classes she would be more interested in, since there are two classes she would love but will still be too young for in January.

 

[skier_pete]

I am planning to book right at 11 months out at the moment, but if we do Savanna I think I want Kidani anyways on a lower level, so since values are only in Jambo being in two separate resort areas won't work anyways. Do you know what resorts allow 5 in a studio by chance though? Since we were planning a split stay so if we could do 5 in a studio for the first half it would work as an option..

I believe VGF, Poly, BCV, BWV, and WLV are the only ones that allow 5 in a studio right now. My guess is when they refresh they will eventually get the rest.

 

[tabrizia]

I believe VGF, Poly, BCV, BWV, and WLV are the only ones that allow 5 in a studio right now. My guess is when they refresh they will eventually get the rest.

I may have to attempt to get Poly, that would be super convenient with the minions for the first half.

Thanks for the help. Looking forward to your trip report if you do one, after your trip in just a few days now!

 

[skier_pete]

Not liking the hurricane track - but not yet panicking. I guess Danny is a very small storm, and they expect it to lose windspeed over the next several days. If it makes landfall through Puerto Rico and Cuba that will really knock it down. The big question is does it travel straight or does in make a turn to the North, since continuing on its current path would keep it well away from Orlando. The other good thing is that it looks to me like it wouldn't get to Orlando by Friday anyways - so the most important portion, us getting to Florida, should be OK. Ideally it will skirt Florida and move into the gulf. This would draw moisture away from central Florida, and we'd get an unusually dry period. Long range forecast in Florida looks typically lousy. Low 90s everyday with thunderstorms in the afternoon between 3 PM and 8 PM. Nothing surprising there. (Edit - I just noticed that the picture I posted previously has changed to be the same as this one, so apparently whatever link I posted to is constantly updating.)

 

[franandaj]

I thought of you when I was watching the news in bed this morning. They said that Danny was going to be downgraded to a Cat 2 from a Cat 3 Hurricaine in the next day or two, and most likely it will make landfall in Puerto Rico. At least I think that's what GMA said. You should probably be fine. But now you have me worrying about Pacific Hurricaines for my upcoming cruise!

 

[skier_pete]

But now you have me worrying about Pacific Hurricaines for my upcoming cruise!

Oops - didn't mean to do THAT!

 

[PrincessInOz]

Not long now!! YAY!

 

[skier_pete]

Well - Danny died with a whimper....but here comes Erica!

Hopefully another storm that will deflect and miss us. Even so, looks like we are talking at least next Tuesday before there is any issue with this one.

With just THREE days to go we are packing away. Well, I am almost done while my wife has hardly started. Talk about a perfect storm. Expect a lot of yelling and frustration Thursday night. I may just go to the gym.

I'm going to try for the occasional update from WDW on this thread - and I promise a TR will follow!

 

[franandaj]

I saw Erica on GMA this morning and thought of you.

With just THREE days to go we are packing away. Well, I am almost done while my wife has hardly started. Talk about a perfect storm. Expect a lot of yelling and frustration Thursday night. I may just go to the gym.

I wish I had this option when packing started, but I'm the one with the hands and legs and can navigate swiftly around the house, therefore I am relegated to putting things in the suitcases. Good luck!