Here now.....some thoughts about our trip...

[edk35]

Great insights OP.


I am currently in the early planning stages of our 11 day December 2011 trip and am thinking we'll only need 6 day hoppers. We really want to enjoy our resort and have some much needed downtime. We have decided to have some non-park days- hopefully December will lend itself to some decent pool time and golf time and maybe even a water park. Our itin will look something like this based on this year's park/EMH:

Monday 12/12- arrive, no parks
Tuesday 12/13- parks
Wednesday 12/14- parks
Thursday 12/15- no parks
Friday 12/16- parks
Saturday 12/17- no parks
Sunday 12/18- parks
Monday 12/19- parks
Tuesday 12/20- no parks and first night of Hanukkah so I'd like to have a nice dinner- wonder if one of the WDW restaurants can make a decent kosher meal?
Wednesday 12/21- parks and DD's bday- she'll want a character meal for sure!
Thursday 12/22- no parks, depart

Good plan!!!! I think going to the parks 2 days in a row is good..then a day off. In the cooler months you can get more done and stay longer. On our summer trips...we are usually out of the parks by 1:00 or 1:30. Then go back around 6 or 7 and then we don't always even go back at night.

 

[BeesKnees]

I love all of the tidbits I'm learing in this post! Usually it's just my DH and I on our trips and we totally take the slowest route possible through the vacation. We usually sleep in until we feel like it, then go hit the pool for a bit and hit the parks in the late afternoon, early evening. I've found that my need for snails pace and doing whatever whenever only aides in my relaxation.

Don't get me wrong, I LOVE the parks but I also LOVE to lay by a pool, have a drink and read a book. Because of our work schedules we're forced to only take one week at a time and usually we take one week in June with the rest of the family (parents and siblings) and then take a week mid-late September for just us. The first few times we went to WDW we were total commando's but I have found that there are so many other things to see and do as well that the parks aren't a necessity every day.

This describes us. And this is the reason why when we take family we make sure they have their own rooms so they can have the vacation they want. Some of them are pool hogs and content to be in or around the pool day after day. Some are at the parks from opening to closing. My FiL has an unnatural love for Kissimmee and spends inordinate amounts of time over there doing who knows what.

I tell them to plan their own vacation and we will find ways to cross paths for meals, shows, rides, whatever. I don't want to be forced to be at Disney their way and I don't want them forced to do it our way.

 

[jblrn2b]

We ALWAYS take a passporter now. ALWAYS. It is the best 17 bucks (from Amazon) you can spend. Not only does it help you remember what you like and don't like it helps distinguish the vacations. When you go so often they run together and it makes it harder to remember specific vacations.

When we get home we transfer the important things we have learned to our vacation planning spreadsheet. This spreadsheet keeps up with our points, has packing lists, pre-trip to-do lists, proposed budget and itinerary for the current and next trip, owner's locker inventory with expiration dates where applicable, lists of helpful websites with usernames/passwords, and important notes. One of our pre-trip to-do items is to read our notes.

In our notes you might find things like:

Do not plan events for the night of arrival
Boatwright's at Port Orleans is very noisy.
Stop trying to eat at Ohana's the food is overcooked every time.
The bath balls from the basin store are not worth the money, get the milk bath instead.
etc.

I like this idea - I take it anyway why not use it - LOL.

I KNOW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Someone SHOOT ME NOW!!!! I told my dh the other night PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE DON'T AGREE WITH ME WHEN WE PLAN THE NEXT TRIP. He always agrees with me. He needs to remind me about the past two summers so I REMEMBER THOSE LIGHT BULB MOMENTS. I love WDW..... but this trip...I am actually ready to head to Vero. My dd and I slept in...went to DTD for about 3 hours today...shopped and had lunch. The guys all went to Blizzard Beach and are now playing pool down in the lounge next to Turf Club. We are not even going to a park on our last day here. We head out tomorrow to Vero and we are all ready to try something new.

My dd who is almost 20 and has now been to WDW 17 trip....said that her ideal trip would be to do a park every other day or 3 or 4 days out of a week long trip. Sounds good to me.

Like your trip report so far. This next trip I still planned a little crazy - can't help it. But have more time at the resorts than ever before - d/t going again in Feb and have decided if the kids want we'll just sit by the pool. You're helping me to remember to smell the pixie dust. Thanks.

 

[LIFERBABE]

Im glad you are discovering what works for you and your family

I think we all go thru this. Dh hates to move resorts. After a few rough moves, I was right there with him. Now I use the points. My min for splits is 5 nights unless we have flight booking issues. My Ds's were always losing stuff between moves too. Like video games, DVD's etc so it was costing us in other ways being rushed to pack up and move. 11am comes pretty quick and I always have that dread feeling when its time to move and I only want to feel way once a trip.

I dont care if we are not arriving til midnight, I spend the points for that night, because I want to wake up on vacation, not move.

Our Christmas holidays have always been 2 weeks, no parks. Too crowded for the parks, but the weather is fairly great, the resorts are great, and there is plenty for us to do. We love to relax, visit CH, catch the latest Disney movie at AMC, mini golf etc. Sure beats staying home and we drive and buy groceries so relatively cheap way to spend the holidays. This year I booked 14 nights at AKV-CL just because I dont want to move at all. We will miss SSR and I may still split but the thought of unpacking 1 time has a hold on me!

 

[edk35]

Im glad you are discovering what works for you and your family

I think we all go thru this. Dh hates to move resorts. After a few rough moves, I was right there with him. Now I use the points. My min for splits is 5 nights unless we have flight booking issues. My Ds's were always losing stuff between moves too. Like video games, DVD's etc so it was costing us in other ways being rushed to pack up and move. 11am comes pretty quick and I always have that dread feeling when its time to move and I only want to feel way once a trip.

I dont care if we are not arriving til midnight, I spend the points for that night, because I want to wake up on vacation, not move.

Our Christmas holidays have always been 2 weeks, no parks. Too crowded for the parks, but the weather is fairly great, the resorts are great, and there is plenty for us to do. We love to relax, visit CH, catch the latest Disney movie at AMC, mini golf etc. Sure beats staying home and we drive and buy groceries so relatively cheap way to spend the holidays. This year I booked 14 nights at AKV-CL just because I dont want to move at all. We will miss SSR and I may still split but the thought of unpacking 1 time has a hold on me!

WOW 14 nights and NO parks. How do you do that? I can't imagine not going to a park a few times in that time span. You are right about just staying at DVC the entire time even if we get in LATE. I think we might just do that next time. I know once we did just that on a Nov. trip. It was weekday points...got in around 9:00 pm on arrival night.

 

[edk35]

Your going to love Vero. We just came back from ten days @ SSR and seven @ Vero Beach!!

See...YOU TOOK THE TRIP WE SHOULD HAVE TAKEN............

 

[BeesKnees]

but the thought of unpacking 1 time has a hold on me!

The owner's locker alone makes a single destination trip more pleasant. I swear that thing has a sensor inside that knows when it is empty and causes the whole thing to shrink because even though we never add anything to it there always seems to be less space when we go to repack it.

I imagine we will be adding a second OL in November.

 

[toniosmom]

I have never done a split stay, but for our December trip, I booked our first night at BLT (just to try it out) and the rest of the time will be at AKV. I can't imagine it'll be too bad because we simply won't unpack that first day. I had hoped to get a few more days at BLT (on the waitlist), but after reading your comments, I'm not sure I want to.

 

[bbn1122]

I love reading everyones experinces and light bulb moments. These boards are great to get a feel of what to expect or what to avoid.

We just joined and have one week at BLT 2 bd the week prior to Easter next year. Then we are going on a 3 night DCL on the dream. That is when I am already planning 4 night at DVC resort with no parks. We may go to universal. We have never been, but I thought a water park, the resort and dtd should be plenty. We will stay a DVC prior to our cruise. I figure I have plenty of time to plan which resort. I would like to try SSR, AKL or OKW. I am very flexible on whatever will be available. I figure any of the resort will be beautiful and fun.

Thanks again for everyone helpful insight and guidance. I am looking forward to many happy DVC trips.

 

[rentayenta]

Good plan!!!! I think going to the parks 2 days in a row is good..then a day off. In the cooler months you can get more done and stay longer. On our summer trips...we are usually out of the parks by 1:00 or 1:30. Then go back around 6 or 7 and then we don't always even go back at night.

We just went to Disneyland and it doesn't have near the humidity of WDW but we still needed those midday breaks.

 

[edk35]

We just went to Disneyland and it doesn't have near the humidity of WDW but we still needed those midday breaks.

We want to eventually go to Disneyland too!!

 

[edk35]

I love reading everyones experinces and light bulb moments. These boards are great to get a feel of what to expect or what to avoid.

We just joined and have one week at BLT 2 bd the week prior to Easter next year. Then we are going on a 3 night DCL on the dream. That is when I am already planning 4 night at DVC resort with no parks. We may go to universal. We have never been, but I thought a water park, the resort and dtd should be plenty. We will stay a DVC prior to our cruise. I figure I have plenty of time to plan which resort. I would like to try SSR, AKL or OKW. I am very flexible on whatever will be available. I figure any of the resort will be beautiful and fun.

Thanks again for everyone helpful insight and guidance. I am looking forward to many happy DVC trips.

I think you will totally enjoy skipping the parks for a 4 day stay. My boys love Typhoon Lagoon.!!!

 

[edk35]

We are enjoying the Vero portion of our trip!! I am happy we finally tried Vero!!! It is a perfect relaxing ending to our usual WDW trip!!

 

[AnnaS]

We just went to Disneyland and it doesn't have near the humidity of WDW but we still needed those midday breaks.

We went in July of 05 and we loved the weather. No humidity. It was cool enough in the morning and at night to might need a long sleeve shirt.

 

[edk35]

We went in July of 05 and we loved the weather. No humidity. It was cool enough in the morning and at night to might need a long sleeve shirt.

Sounds good to me!!!