HydroGuy said:
DS13 is not coming, as he is going to Greece with a group of 40 middle-schoolers and some teachers from their school.
How exciting for him!! Of course, if your wife is anything like me, there is a mixture of excitement and anxiety. This will be such a wonderful experience for him, he is very fortunate to have this opportunity.
Since the trip turned into this 10 day thing, DW said we had to have a kitchen, and so I had to drop CSR reservations in favor of a cabin at Ft. Wilderness - which was all I could find at this late date. So I will commute down to CSR for three days from Ft. Wilderness.
Hydroguy,
We went for 10 days as well. The first was spent at the Sheraton after a long day of travel. As it was Dec 31 and New Year's eve the Disney hotels were $$$$ ($99 at Sheraton vs close to $300 at the cheapest Disney property we could find) so we opted to spend the night at the Sheraton and get an earlier start the next day. We also rented a car starting Jan 1 for less than $200 for our entire stay vs over $500 if we had included that New Year's eve. Can you imagine $300 more for that one night?!
Our next 6 nights were at the cabins. They may not be everyone's idea of the Disney magic, but we loved them. Admittedly, we like the outdoors and really aren't hotel snobs, so these really fit the bill for us. I have found one of the best ways to save money on vacation is to cook your own meals. I am not one of those who feels like it ruins my vacation to cook. We are not talking gourmet meals, just something simple and healthy. Also, after all the hubbub of the parks, we liked having some place quiet to come back to. One evening we went to a Disney hotel (name slips my mind, but they have the popular ice cream shop). The lobby was packed and people were all over the resort. Nope, I liked the quiet of the cabins, if only for a couple of hours midday to relax before heading back.
The last 3 nights were at the AKL. OMG, we really loved this place. My kids are animal freaks, so I knew they would appreciate the views, plus chances are we will never make it to Africa, so we were willing to give the Disney version a try. We know it's not the real thing, but likely the closest we will get. The lobby was stunning, never felt overcrowded, the animals were right outside our balcony, and the staff very kind. I must say, our first room left something to be desired, but I sent hubby (my negotiator) back to the front desk and voila......new room, fantastic view. If you are at all interested, let me know and I can probably find out the exact room number. They had a small fridge in which we could store our sandwich fixings we brought from the cabins. Then for the other meal, we would eat at one of the restaurants we had read about (Ohana's, Sci Fi, 50's PTC and the one at the Wilderness Lodge ..... again, the name escapes me).
After doing a thorough price comparision of hotel costs, I decided that in our situation an AP for me was the way to go. With the AP discount the cabins were reasonable and the AKL, well that was our special treat.
And at the risk of sounding like a complete nerd and/or control freak, I made small table on the word processor to print general guide lines of what rides we wanted to do in each park and approx times to maximize shortest lines. Then I printed them and took each day's table with us in my fanny pack (yup, we used those too....... we are such tourists). We were not strict about sticking to this, but it was nice to have a general plan. With TGM, knowing his reasons behind his tips, allowed us to make changes on the fly as necessary.
Even in January, the weather was actually warm enought to spend a couple of afternoons at the pool (this is where you will notice a difference between cabins and other properties). Given that we are from AZ and a huge percentage of homes have pools, including ours, I did not expect this to be a big deal for us. I was wrong. The kids loved the AKL pool and we really enjoyed lounging by the pool and sipping our cocktails
So, I guess what I am getting at, is have you considered a split stay? After all this, if you have any questions I can help with, please don't hesitate to ask.
