It's Been Six Years - Need Advice ASAP!

[mousefan1972]

You've received some good advice. I have a question, though. If you have not been to Disney since '05, what have you been doing with your points?? Please tell me you haven't just let them expire each year.....

 

[ArRzrbk]

We have rented our Points for the past few years, because we were unable to use them. I am just so excited to be going back. I really hope the trip goes well.

 

[mousefan1972]

We have rented our Points for the past few years, because we were unable to use them. I am just so excited to be going back. I really hope the trip goes well.

Oh, good! I was worried that they had just gone unused.

I hope you have a wonderful trip!

 

[bobbiwoz]

You say you're going to cook, are you going to do a traditional Thanksgiving dinner? Turkey? I wouldn't want to move in that case. I would waitlist for the whatever nights you need at Kidani or for the whole trip at one of the larger resorts, OKW or SSR.

Bobbi

 

[limace]

We did this last year in January-8 nights, half at AKV Kidani in a Savannah view and half at OKW. We loved them both. Kidani was so gorgeous, and the view was amazing; I still tell people about going out on the balcony with my glass of wine and being so close to the giraffes I could hear them chew. If you've been to BCV, I'd go for the full stay at AKV.

We also loved OKW-I think my husband preferred it, due to the size and the water-it felt more relaxing.

Moving was painless. We had groceries delivered by Wegoshop, as we love to cook (and eating out with three kids-one an infant and one 3 at the time-three meals a day is the reverse of relaxing). As others said, notified Bell Services ahead of time, packed 'em up, and let 'em go. We didn't go check in that morning-just showed up that evening after our day in the park and our stuff was all put away already in our room. Not a big deal at all. However, if I only had 5 nights, I'd be tempted to stay in one spot the whole time.

Big must, though, if you do a split stay: budget money to tip Bell Services at both ends, as it's a big job for them and a tip is definitely in order.

 

[BabsBunny]

We've never done a split stay, but I'd be hesitant as it seems our rooms are never ready until after 4:30 pm which is a pain if you want to get ready for dinner.

I love AKV. It has a nice, relaxed feel to it and great restaurants. We stayed in a two bedroom, standard view (pool), in Feb of 2009. I'm glad we didn't get the savannah view as it was too cold to sit on the balcony anyway. But there is less of a risk of that in late Novemer.

 

[msabol01]

We did a split stay early in our membership partly because we wanted to see more resorts and partly due to availability. I personally, wouldn't want to do a split stay but as long as you don't mind packing up it's not that bad a deal. One thing I would recommend is checking in with the front desk of the resort you are moving into regarding availability.

In my case we were at the VWL and moving to SSR. I called SSR the night prior to check and they said they were at capacity but to call first thing in the morning since they see the next day's inventory after 2 am. So first thing in the morning, I called over and they told may nothing was available but if I come over and check-in (before online check-in) they will give me the first available room. So while the family was eating breakfast I drove over to SSR. Upon checking in a room did become available, so I went back to VWL loaded our luggage, dropped them off in the room and went to the park.

The only real downside besides packing and moving is that we got a later start to our morning at the parks, but still wasn't bad. Also, I didn't take advantage of using Bell Services for our move.

 

[bumbershoot]

I'd like to try something new, so either an entirely diff. waitlist for the whole stay or the whole stay at AKV are our options.

Have you considered looking at SSR or OKW? I haven't stayed at SSR, but we *love* OKW. So much so that we're quite bummed we couldn't have bought it, instead of Bay Lake. The rooms are so big, the grounds are pretty... And they generally have more availability b/c they are bigger than the places you're currently looking at.

We stayed at Jambo House at the end of our first WDW stay. It was...something I personally don't care about doing again. DS loved seeing the animals from our balcony, but to me it was birds and cows. Sure, fancy birds and cows, but still. Some giraffes, too, I suppose. Giraffes are cool. The place is big and dark and IMO gloomy (noting that we were there during the nasty cold snap in December, and that I have problems seeing in dim light ever since I had Lasik done), and the staff was just incredibly incompetent for our stay.

I personally would just go with one solid stay at OKW or SSR, if one of them is available, especially for a shorter visit.

Split stay:

Our visit was 17 days, we started at CBR for 2 nights to sleep off the jetlag, moved to a 2 bedroom at OKW for 4 nights, moved to a 1 bedroom there for 4 nights once our extended family had gone home, then over to Universal for 3 nights, then to Jambo for the rest. We did have a car. We did not have separate bags. We *did* unpack thoroughly each time.

And it was fine enough that we're doing it in September (Hyatt for one night, 2bedroom OKW 4 nights, studio at BW 1 night (low points situation), back to OKW 1 bedroom then over to Universal.

But that was a long stay, and it felt like the time was there for the change days. With your stay, especially if you'll have extensive groceries, I would really try to go for just ONE place.