Oh, Thanksgiving would be great! I'll have to work on that one. We'd like to go back and volunteer too, one of these days...
I hope you guys get back to Disney very soon! I am going to get info about how we could volunteer at some point in the near future!
Belated Half-Marathon Congratulations, Maroo!!
The Thanksgiving trip sounds fantastic!
Kathy
I am so excited about it!!
And I guess this has worked out well, because I could not have gone in March AND November.
Maroo
Do you/will you still have your AP in November? What about AP rates on the rooms? Right now they are offering awesome AP rates and the past two Novembers they have offered them also. Although, you never know what will be offered.
OR...what about renting DVC points? While the transportation isn't as good, a 2 bedroom at OKW or SSR would be plenty of room for you guys.
Okay, I priced out DVC' for you and then typed up a PM, kind of long, sorry about that, hit send and BAM! "Maroo has exceeded their space limit"

oh man.....

Yes, I will still have my AP!

But I also already have a PIN for 20/30/40 - which is about the same as most of the AP discounts I have seen. So I could book POP for 20% off...but not the whole time - it would have to be two different reservations. They have blocked out the dates around Thanksgiving (and I assume they will block those for AP discounts later, too.)
The plan is to eat OOP - and just use my TIW card - which I have LOST, but that is another story.
I had issues when I looked into DVC...my biggest issue is a lack of trust for someone else booking it, honestly. I am so freaked about making sure it has a roll in shower and everything. We would need a 2 BR villa, which was going to run quite few points. And even then, I am not sure what the bed situation ends up being with the roll in shower. So, I think I am shying away from DVC for this trip.
My inbox was full of people telling me about DVC. I put a message on the DVC board and didn't get any responses to the thread, but got LOTS of messages.
But my PM box has room again.
Talk about a thread killer.....I'm sorry didn't mean to.
Here is a brief on what I found. You could get a two bed villa with actually three rooms. One for you and Lauren, one for Lisa and Richard and William could sleep on the pullout sofa. There would be two baths, kitchen and washer/dryer. If you were to rent points it wouldn't be much more than two value rooms. AK even has something called a value 2 bed.

Couldn't figure out what that was. Now, I'm sure something like that would go quick, but you never know. If you want more of the details, I'll be glad to PM them to you........
AK didn't have any more rooms that had roll in showers and 2 beds (that value thing, I guess).
I missed the posts on this thread! When I keep my computer turned on all day and sitting on the DIS, it tends to not really tell me what threads have been posted on...so I miss posts...even posts to me!
BUT...that washer and dryer sure sound good.......?? But we don't get housekeeping, right? We use a ton of towels in the shower process for Lauren (towels to cover the bed and her shower table), so housekeeping is a must for them...otherwise I would be doing laundry all day, like I do at her house.
I say go on as many trips to WDW as you can!
As for the rooms for Thanksgiving, do the Swan and Dolphin qualify as the same as WDW resorts for capacity closings? Not sure if that ever happens that week but you may want to consider that.
Do you guys have any interest in the dining plan or are you paying for meals OOP? Do you have or will you still have a DDE?
When we went with my parents, there were five of us and we had connecting rooms at POP. We got a free fridge due to DH's medications that he takes and it worked out very nicely and very cheaply! I have stayed at AKL, WL and Pop and I have to say that I think transportation at Pop is the most efficient with the least waiting.
I do think renting DVC points is a great idea too! You can get some great deals that way and it would give you lots of space. I just don't know much about it to offer any advice or concrete dollar amounts.
Based on Lauren's beauty routine alone, you definitely need two bathrooms! I love the photo of her, William and Mickey! How is her neck?
To answer your last question first, her neck is pretty bad. They are having to re-order a bunch of stuff for her wheelchair, which should be in this week.
I have read that the S/D DOES qualify as on site for closings...however, if the park is closed for Phase I for capacity, then we won't be going to that park anyway. Lauren can't do crowds like that in her wheelchair, especially if her neck is still so crooked (she can't turn her head back and forth as quickly like she is right now).
So...I know it is Thanksgiving week...and touringplans.com has it as straight 10's (but they also don't have the right "Parks to Avoid" yet - no way those parks they listed are right)...
My current plan is to carefully plan around the crowds. For example - we have planned our "big" DHS day to be the Tuesday before Thanksgiving - which is the ONLY day that neither has Fantasmic or EMH.
We will have 8 full days - we think we will take one full day off, maybe. But more on those plans later.
Congrats on the trip with Lauren!! You will show them a great time. We are going in October and December so it looks like we will miss you again. I can't wait to read all about your plans.
I still have not canceled my December weekend yet....

I *may* do a Room Only ressie and plan to drive in December...and just go if I want to.
It was an amazing weekend.
