9/24/09 3 Day Wonder - Cruise Meets, and FEs, and Goombays oh my!

[karentan]

jenny, yeah we're still on 9 cabins so far.
garys like that too, he's very much "do whatever you think is best". its cool but can be a bit annoying when i want his opinion on something!
i cant remember what i had at 50's, i think it might have been the pot roast, but i do remember it was GOOD!!

 

[jenny105]

I forgot in that list that we're also going to do breakfast at WCC too. I don't know if that's going to be the 28th or 29th, before we leave. And I will take a hundred pictures of WL because that's where we were going to stay originally. It's so pretty, I just wish they would do something about those rooms!

 

[karentan]

i was looking at all the rooms when i was looking at deluxes for our last trip, i didnt like the WL rooms, the poly rooms look so dark, we went for the AKL in the end as i just loved the idea of the animals outside your room!

 

[jenny105]

I like the bright bedding at AKL. That's what sold me on it. That and the closeup shot I saw of Simba in the curtain. The Lion King is one of my favorites.

I liked the rooms at WL before they re-did them. I wasn't crazy about it at all but the resort as a whole is gorgeous. My favorite rooms (pictures anyway) are the Boardwalk area resorts. So bright and airy! But way expensive. Maybe some day.

 

[PixyDusted]

Mikkel, you'll have to tell me all about DL! I've never been there.

DL is FANTASTIC! It'll be my third time there - Jason's been there a countless amount of times.

FE: I was going to make one gift per room since I'm handmaking something. So don't expect one thing for everyone in your cabin! I hope that's okay!

 

[karentan]

i think a lot of us are doing one gift per cabin, i think its easier that way

jenny, you'll absolutely love AKL, its sooooo nice. its an amazing resort, just wish we could afford to stay there again
technically we could stay there, but it'd be about £400 more than i'm paying at the mo. so i cant really afford it, but the other part of me is thinking that this will be the last trip to WDW until at least 2012......

 

[jenny105]

You could always crash on our pullout if you miss it too much.

How's the water slide? I'm a big water slide person.

 

[karentan]

its quite fun, i mean its not typhoon lagoon but its good for a laugh!!
i'm trying to justify paying more by saying its only £400 more than our current deal, but thats renting points, and with the exchange rate at the mo, our current package has dropped by £50 so far, so the AKL is actually £450 more, and thats not even savannah view. think we'll have to save up for the next trip and go deluxe all the way
its horrible to think though that next time we go wont be until at least 2012, after this holiday i'm planning to save up as i'm going to try and save enough so the whole family can go back to singapore for my dad's 70th birthday in 2011. i'm going to try and save enough for us to go in february 2011, so that means i'm broke for all of 2010, and wont be able to afford WDW til 2012. thats at least 3 years with no disney we'll have to make the most of this trip!

 

[jenny105]

I'm looking forward to staying there. I keep looking at pictures of it. Then I looked at pictures of the WL room to make sure I made the right choice. I did. I honestly don't know why they changed those rooms. They looked better before they renovated them. But that's just my opinion.

I definitely want to stay in a deluxe for our next trip. The whole trip, not just two nights.

 

[karentan]

same here, i'd love to stay deluxe for the whole trip but it'd just be sooooo much money, as we live so far away, we normally stay for at least 14 nights, so its kinda bank breaking. plus we dont qualify for PIN codes so we dont get the cool discounts

 

[jenny105]

What if you split your time between a value and a deluxe? You could stay at the value first and then move to deluxe for a week and get pampered.

Has anyone heard from Lainey? How is her mom doing? She's been MIA from the thread for a few days.

 

[m_kasch]

We are a bit spoiled, because we usually go with Tim's family, and his parents pay for our rooms, so we stay at Deluxes. They are all great! But, since we know someone who works there, we can usually get great rates at them anyways ($180 for GF!!), so that is good too. AND, my step-brother has a phone interview with Disney for some safety related job -- so then I have more people to get me discounts!! Yay for that!!

I've been doing some investigating about the sea lion encounter and how would be the best way to do it. I think that I'm going to either book the earliest excursion through Disney and then stay and take the 2:00 pm ferry back, or just book it through Dolphin Encounters. It's $20 per person cheaper for the same thing...so I might just save the $40 -- more to spend on drinks!!

I hope Lainey's mom is okay, we haven't heard from her lately. She hasn't updated her facebook either. Hopefully we will hear from her soon.

 

[PixyDusted]

Not to open up a can of worms, but I am not a fan of GF. DF and I stayed there once (long story, I'll spare you) and we didn't really like the rooms. They need a major facelift. I would much rather stay at Wilderness Lodge or AK Lodge.

I really like the restaurants at GF and the ambiance during the holidays is great but otherwise, I'd stay elsewhere. It's not worth the money imo. Just me - I totally understand why others love it!

 

[jenny105]

I've never stayed at GF but I've visited and felt out of place lol. It was nice but seemed very stuffy to me, not Disney at all. Just not my style I guess.

Are you definitely going to do the sea lion encounter mary? I think we're going to but we'll probably just book through DCL.

 

[m_kasch]

Mikkel -- have you stayed there since the rooms were redone? They are a lot like the new rooms at the Boardwalk. I know my SIL doesn't like GF either, that's why there are so many hotels!! I agree about the cost of it though, I would never pay rack rate when there are so many other awesome alternatives. I can't imagine paying over $1000 a night to stay in the main building either!! Maybe if I won the lottery...

Jen, i'm pretty sure that we will do the Sea Lion encounter, but I haven't decided through who yet. If we book through Disney, I will let you know what time. The sea lions look so cute!!

 

[jenny105]

It'd be fun if we could get into the same group. I've never heard of a sea lion encounter before. I would love to do the dolphin one but it's way too much money!

 

[karentan]

i hope lainey's ok.

jenny, you may be on to something with the split stay, i've just priced up 8 nights at ASM with free dining, and 4 nights renting points at AKV and paying for the 4 nights dining and it comes out as $300 more than i'm paying for 12 nights at ASM. thats staying savannah view, i could book a value (normal size room, not DVC studio size but without the view) for $205 more. think its worth paying for the savannah view though.

i'll probably wait til closer to my final payment date, i've still got tickets listed on ebay, if i sell them i can upgrade to SSR for the whole 12 nights for £195 more.

 

[jenny105]

You have all sorts of upgrades going on!

I just priced what it would be if we stayed at a deluxe for our entire trip and its $500 more. I don't know if I could swing that. That may be pushing it...

 

[karentan]

how long are you there for?
i WISH mine was only $500 to upgrade, i'd jump on that one!!

 

[jenny105]

I'm staying 9/20-9/24 at POR. That comes out to be around $1200 with tickets and free dining. I looked to see what it would be for AKL or WL for that timeframe and it was closer to $1800.