First trip to WDW since being members

[Meemoo]

Howdy!!

I am a DVC member from Australia. Our home resort is Aulani and we have since used our points to regularly visit Aulani and Disneyland. I have vacation leave from work already pre-booked for this year starting 11/8 for 2.5 weeks. I didn't realize at the time that this falls into the thanksgiving holiday period.

In order to miss out on the crowds of this busy week - when would you suggest me to wrap up the WDW trip by? We also plan to do a 4 night Disney Dream cruise. The cruise I have my eye on departs on the 11/12.

Another question is - There are so many hotels to chose from!! Is it likely I could score a reservation at the 7 month booking window for the Grand Floridian in a studio room? My current idea is to split our stay between there and the Animal Kingdom. There's two DVC hotels there - which one should I pick?! Any other DVC hotel recommendations?

I don't think we will have a lot of time at WDW - so am thinking to visit the MK, Epcot & Animal Kingdom - what would be the minimum days that I would need to enjoy these parks? Is it necessary to purchase a park hopper ticket or would it be easier to tackle one park per day?

Thank you so much - it is very overwhelming trying to arrange this trip - so many things we want to do, so little time haha! I appreciate your responses.

-Sarah

 

[KAT4DISNEY]

Touringplans has their crowd calendar estimating the biggest jump just the day before Thanksgiving. WDW is apparently putting peak ticket pricing starting the Saturday before but the biggest crowds will likely be Wed-Sat.

You can use the Resort Availability Tool on the member website to look at what's currently showing available for all the resorts and start to get an idea what you might see at 7 months but I suspect that VGF does not have much if anything for studio availability. I'd think that AKV might - most likely at Kidani.

Hoppers or not - we've tried the not and more or less have acquiesced to the fact we just want the ability to hop. It may just be to dine and see the fireworks somewhere but we're hoppers. But many are good planning an entire day only at one park and then moving on to the next.

 

[jerseygal]

Touringplans has their crowd calendar estimating the biggest jump just the day before Thanksgiving. WDW is apparently putting peak ticket pricing starting the Saturday before but the biggest crowds will likely be Wed-Sat.

You can use the Resort Availability Tool on the member website to look at what's currently showing available for all the resorts and start to get an idea what you might see at 7 months but I suspect that VGF does not have much if anything for studio availability. I'd think that AKV might - most likely at Kidani.

Hoppers or not - we've tried the not and more or less have acquiesced to the fact we just want the ability to hop. It may just be to dine and see the fireworks somewhere but we're hoppers. But many are good planning an entire day only at one park and then moving on to the next.

A few years ago, we tried to save some $$ by not doing hoppers and were good planners, spent one day at a park, then next day at another, etc. In the past two years, we have just "given in" to the price difference by getting park hoppers to allow more flexibility to our trip, to "hop" for shows or fireworks for part of day, return to hotel to enjoy the pools to relax, then go back to another park in the evening. Seems less stressful that way, but of course more expensive. ENJOY planning!

 

[Best Aunt]

As you may know, Thanksgiving is always on a Thursday. I don't know about other parts of the U.S., but around here, the schools are closed Wednesday, Thursday and Friday. Of course, there are people who pull their kids out of school on other dates. Most offices are closed on Thanksgiving. Many offices are closed on that Friday; of course, people also take vacation days to get out of the office on other dates.

For 2018, Thanksgiving is Thursday Nov. 22.

The Epcot International Food & Wine Festival runs from Aug. 30 to Nov. 12, 2018. A lot of DVC people like to attend that.

November 1 to 4 is the Disney Wine & Dine Half Marathon Weekend, but that seems to be before your dates.

Since your home resort is Aulani, you can't book a WDW DVC resort until 7 months out. I don't know what will be left by then.

OP, you say you don't think you will have a lot of time at WDW. If that is the case, I'm not sure why you want to do a split stay. If it were me, I would stay at one hotel (assuming there was availability) and focus on the parks, rather than having to deal with packing up my stuff in the middle of the trip, moving it or having it moved, not knowing how early in the day my second hotel room would be available, etc.

If I had limited park time, I would think about the types of rides that the people in my group would want to do. Animal Kingdom has Pandora, but the big ride there doesn't work for people who get motion sick, people of certain body types, etc. Hollywood Studios will have Toy Story Land, but the big ride will be a small roller coaster and not everyone will want to do that. If I had limited time, I would put Magic Kingdom and Epcot at the top of my list, but that's just my personal preference.

 

[Deb & Bill]

Plan right now of not getting a GFV studio for Nov at all. There are zero dedicated studios and only 47 lockoff two bedroom villas (so any time a two bedroom is booked instead of one bedroom and studio, you lose a studio).

At AKV, many owners seem to prefer Jambo House for studios since the amenities at Jambo House seem to be greater than Kidani Village. You'd have Boma, Jiko and the Mara (counter service). At KV, you have Sanaa and the pool bar where you can get limited food. But if you are getting a one bedroom, you'll probably want KV since the one bedroom villas have two full bathrooms (the luxurious master bath and another smaller bathroom off the entrance to the villa). We've stayed at JH four times in hotel rooms (twice before they added the DVC villas and twice after - our son was a CM at the time and got us a discounted reservation for a few nights). We've stayed at KV at least two times and really enjoyed it since the landscaping has grown up a lot since it was first built. We hated the appearance in the beginning, but it has really grown on us with more vegetation on the grounds.

You may want to do a cruise as late as possible so you can book the nights you need with your DVC points. Your other problem is getting anything for the start of your trip since that is the end of F&W, Jersey Week and Veterans Day which is a very popular time, too. So both the start and end of your trip is going to be hard to book.

As it looks today, your best bet is going to be a one bedroom villa anywhere. But you need to hop on that immediately once your booking window opens. And if you book a cruise in the middle of your trip, that means you have two booking windows to fight with which makes it even harder.

 

[Best Aunt]

You may want to do a cruise as late as possible so you can book the nights you need with your DVC points. Your other problem is getting anything for the start of your trip since that is the end of F&W, Jersey Week and Veterans Day which is a very popular time, too. So both the start and end of your trip is going to be hard to book.

Oh, right, I forgot about Veterans Day!

 

[jerseygal]

Plan right now of not getting a GFV studio for Nov at all. There are zero dedicated studios and only 47 lockoff two bedroom villas (so any time a two bedroom is booked instead of one bedroom and studio, you lose a studio).

At AKV, many owners seem to prefer Jambo House for studios since the amenities at Jambo House seem to be greater than Kidani Village. You'd have Boma, Jiko and the Mara (counter service). At KV, you have Sanaa and the pool bar where you can get limited food. But if you are getting a one bedroom, you'll probably want KV since the one bedroom villas have two full bathrooms (the luxurious master bath and another smaller bathroom off the entrance to the villa). We've stayed at JH four times in hotel rooms (twice before they added the DVC villas and twice after - our son was a CM at the time and got us a discounted reservation for a few nights). We've stayed at KV at least two times and really enjoyed it since the landscaping has grown up a lot since it was first built. We hated the appearance in the beginning, but it has really grown on us with more vegetation on the grounds.

You may want to do a cruise as late as possible so you can book the nights you need with your DVC points. Your other problem is getting anything for the start of your trip since that is the end of F&W, Jersey Week and Veterans Day which is a very popular time, too. So both the start and end of your trip is going to be hard to book.

As it looks today, your best bet is going to be a one bedroom villa anywhere. But you need to hop on that immediately once your booking window opens. And if you book a cruise in the middle of your trip, that means you have two booking windows to fight with which makes it even harder.

Yes, Jersey Week and F&W are such popular times to vacation! We are AKV owners, we have done both Kidani and Jambo, but somehow prefer Jambo for the convenience of Mara and the ambiance of the Jambo Lobby. Both are lovely, when we stayed at Kidani, we had a 2 BR and with 3 Adults and 1 Teenager at the time, the 3 bathrooms was amazing. Both Kidani and Jambo are lovely! BEST OF LUCK booking!

 

[lovin'fl]

Studios during F&W time are tough to book at 7 month window. SSR might be a possibility, maybe AKV. Really, end of Aug (which is beginning of F&W) through marathon (right after New Year's) is the busy season for DVC at WDW. And studios are first to go as they are most popular room type these days.