Pilferk packs up the family truckster and goes to WDW (AKV, 1/5 – 1/11/08)

[pilferk]

The cast:

Me – Pilferk, obsessive planner, data junkie, DH, DF to 3 great kids, DIS member, and WDW addict.

DW – Also obsessive planner (though not as obsessive as me), CFO of our (not so) little family, and Supermom Extrodinaire to our 3 kids, avid scrapbooker, former professional (now amateur) shutter bug. Oh, and did I mention she tends to be VERY nice and humor her husband?

DD1 – The princess. 100% all girl, lover of all things Disney and Dora, who STILL talks about the trip we took back in Jan of ’06. She just turned 5, had a princess dress up birthday party, and asks just about once a week to watch the Disney planning video (and then asks when we’re going next).

DS1 – The brute. 100% all boy……who likes to wear his sisters princess garb and have his nails painted. Too cute. He’s ALMOST 3 (and will be long before our trip), the scientist as well as the brute (man, now I know what “love hurts” was about). He loves his sisters to death, and he, too, still remembers the trip from ’06 to “-rella world” (as in CINDE-“rella world”).

DD2 – The souvenir. Yeah, remember that trip back in Jan of ’06 I mentioned. Well, we brought home the ultimate (and most expensive EVER!) souvenir with us. She’s almost 1…will be about 16 months for our trip…the exact same age her brother was on HIS first trip. She’s smart, funny, and the happiest baby I’ve ever seen. Seriously…we hit the jackpot with this one. We’ll be trying to instill (brainwash?) the same love of Disney in her we’ve manage to impart (force?) on her siblings.

 

[pilferk]

The History: This is long, so bear with me. One thing you’ll quickly find out is…well….I don’t know how to be “brief”. I’m sorry….no, that’s a lie. I’m not. But I would suggest that you grab a bottle of water, a cup of coffee, or an adult beverage if you’re of an age(especially the adult beverage thing…it’s only going to make this trippie better, trust me!) because this could be a long ride.

My wife and I have been Disney nuts forever. It was one of the things we found we had in common very early on. So, when we got married back in ’99….we knew we wanted to go to WDW for our honeymoon. Now, I know…you’re thinking “Ye gods…what does this have to do with a trip to WDW almost 10 YEARS LATER!! HURRY UP!! GET TO THE GOOD STUFF!!”. Well hold your horses, it’ll all come together in a few paragraphs (pages, volumes…something like that).

Anyway, back to our honeymoon. While we were walking around the parks, we would periodically see something about a “Disney Vacation Club”. We were young, naïve, in love….and had no earthly clue what a “timeshare” really was. But we figured “What the hey” and decided, about ½ way through the trip, to check it out.
We talked to a rep in one of the parks (can’t remember which one…..MGM, I think) and they set up an appointment for us to see the presentation, talk to a “guide” and visit the BWV. So, we sat through the presentation, took the tour, fell head over heals, and then saw the price (funny how they do that bit, eh?). Now, I won’t say we choked…coughed, maybe, but not choked. We were young, both in pretty good jobs (though, looking back, that “pretty good job” wasn’t paying nearly as well as I thought it was…but that’s neither here nor there), and we were DINKS. But when you’re driving a 3k Toyota Tercel (keep in mind, I’m a big guy….about 6 ft 3), just starting a family, and you see a timeshare payment that’s bigger (with dues) than your car payment…well, like I said, we coughed a bit.

We talked to the guide, he laid out all the hertofores and whatsohaveyous and we said we’d talk about it and get back to him. I was pleasantly surprised by how little pressure they put on us…I’d felt more pressure buying chewing gum at the local convenience store…and we went on our merry way. We DID talk about it, extensively. Very extensively. Until the CFO put her foot down (and, in hindsight, rightly so). She calmly explained to her obsessed, addicted husband that we a) Needed to be a bit more financially established (ie: have some money in our savings) b) Purchase a REAL house before purchasing a vacation home and c) prepare for BABIES that we were planning on having. When she put it that way….I had to agree. So we agreed to table the discussion for a few years.

Flash forward a couple years to 2001. Now I was in a REALLY good job (with the same institution I’m with now) with a REALLY good future. We had decided for DW to “take a break” from the rat race, since we didn’t really need her income anymore. We had a nice nest egg, even AFTER commisioning our house to be built. And we went BACK to WDW that year, staying at AKL.

We fell in love with that resort. It’s still our absolute favorite. It was a magical, once in a lifetime (and, it turns out, our last without kids..but I’m getting ahead of myself now) trip. We had a HUGE budget, which was awful nice. We were there for a LONG time (14 days). Oh, and did I mention it was about 2 weeks after September 11th? OK, so that sort of put a bit of a damper on things…but on the plus side, the parks were absolutely empty. It also meant we DROVE to WDW (this will be important later, so don’t forget it!) rather than flew. While we were there we, once again, decided to check out DVC. I don’t even remember what they were selling for units (VWL maybe?). We did another presentation (no tour this time) and talked to a different guide (our original had left DVC), got another set of numbers, and retired back to our room to discuss. We were THIS close to buying in. THIS close. But, ultimately, we decided that, since we were really trying to “start our family”, and were looking to have our first child very soon, it would be better to wait. Traveling with an infant would be hard (little did we know…we’d end up travelling with them ANYWAY). Babies are expensive. You know the reasoning. So, again, we decided to table the discussion until later.

We took several more trips to WDW…many for work (conferences) for me. We got preggers (I love how guys can say "we"...like I was pregnant...I mean, I gained the baby weight too. but... ) We had another discussion about DVC in 2002 (DD1’s first trip to WDW was at about 10 weeks old) but decided to wait a bit longer (we were finally moving INTO the house we’d commissioned to be built a year earlier). After we were settled, discussions were ongoing…and we got pregnant. So, we tabled the discussions again. Went to WDW a couple more times, again, mostly for conferences. Finally, in Jan of ’06 (we were staying at the Contemp…remember that..it’s important!), we toured a third time (SSR, new guide) and were pretty much ready to sign on the dotted line. We just wanted to wait on our tax return so that we could pay MOST of the upfront cost out of pocket. While we had some misgivings (SSR wasn’t really our cup of tea, but it was nice enough), they were pretty minor. So, we came home, I prepped our taxes, we got our refund….and found out we’d brought home a little extra souvenir from WDW. Yup, preggers again (notice a trend?) While my wife was on the pill (is that TMI? Sorry if it is…wait, no..I lied again..it’s a major plot point..I’m not sorry).

So, we tabled the discussion yet again, and decided to “decide” (at that point, there really wasn’t much of a “decision” to make…we knew we were going to do it…or at least I did. I’ll have to ask the CFO if she did.) after the baby was born, probably sometime in 2007.

Late in ’06, I started to really ingest the DVC board stuff. I knew we were likely to soon be members, and I wanted to triple check that we were actually making the right decision. I poured over numbers (something I do professionally), analyzed data, looked at opportunity costs, and room rate comparisons…..basically killed time while still feeding my obsession/addiction. Seriously though, everything I worked up showed this was a good “deal” for us, since we REALLY wanted to go every year (and basically had…through planning or work). Then, it happened.

Rumors of DVC at the Contemp started popping up. We’d stayed there now 4 or 5 times for work related conferneces, and it was our 2nd favorite resort next to AKV. The monorail was a great benefit, we loved the remodeled rooms, facilities, and proximity to MK. It was a much better fit, style wise, for us than SSR. And it didn’t hurt that there was now a sentimental link to our youngest daughter there. We were psyched.

THEN the AKV rumors started to swirl and we were even happier. As I said before, it is our favorite resort. We hoped that ONE of the rumors would turn out to be true, and points would be on sale in ’07 so we could buy in. Ultimately, we got our wish….AKV was officially announced late in’06, and points went on sale to non-members early in March of ’07. We bought in the very first day.

So…this trippie is going to encompass the planning, the pursuit, and the playing out of our first trip home, to AKV, in Jan of ’08.

OK…now…WAKE UP! The history lessen is over. For those of you that I put to sleep (Bueller, Bueller), I apologize. No, wait, that’s a lie. I don’t. But I would say….your regularly scheduled planning piece of this trippie will be forthcoming. So you might want to pay attention now.

 

[pilferk]

The trip plan: Ok, I lied. Right there in the title to the trippie. I’m hoping you’ll forgive me. The trip is ACTUALLY going to start on Jan 3rd and will end (hopefully….depending on my driving stamina) on Jan 12th. See…as you can guess from that last little aside (and yes, I now I use a lot of them!) we’re driving. Yes, that’s right. I’m going to drive me, my wife, our 5 year old daughter, 3 year old son, and 16 month old daughter from Connecticut to Florida. And no, I’m not insane (though I’ll let you know AFTER the drives!).

The plan is to leave on the afternoon of Jan 3rd, around 3 PM-ish, and I’m going to drive in a straight shot to Orlando. Gonna load DS1 and DD2 into the car, pick up DD1 at school, and just drive. Crazy, huh? But I think I can hack it…and the kids will sleep for a good portion of that ride, overnight…so I won’t be stuck with choruses of “are we there yet” for more than 3 or 4 hours at a time. And our kids are pretty good travellers, in general. Oh, and on the subject of the kids: They know NOTHING about this trip (or our DVC purchase…but then again, I’m not sure they’d “get it” this young, anyway). Not a thing. Which is exactly how we did the trip back in Jan of ’06…they found out when I woke them up at 3 AM to get them dressed to head to the airport.

Anyway, back on topic. We’ll be driving 84 to 684 to the Sawmill Parkway to 287 to the Garden State and finally to 95 all the way to I4 and WDW. I mentioned I’m an obsessive planner, right? Atlas bought, route already outlined, AAA trip ticket already put together and printed out….and put inside the atlas we won’t touch for almost 5 more months. Yeah, I know…it’s a sickness. Thank GOD my wife shares it (or humors me when my obsessiveness overshadows hers).

The trip’s accommodations: 1 night in a Family Suite at the Nick Hotel, 6 nights in a 1BR Savannah view villa at AKV, and maybe something along the way home if I can’t stay awake to make the drive.

The Trip objective: Well…DUH..to have fun! But, really, we’re catering a lot of this trip to the kids, as you would sort of expect. There ARE some things DW and I are looking forward to (we JUST missed the soft opening of Everest back last trip!), but largely we’re trying to plan stuff to keep the youngsters occupied. Heck, for us, the features of the villa (balcony, jacuzzi tub, etc), once the kids are sleeping, are what we’re looking forward to most.

In that vein, we’re doing things like planning a stay at the Nick Hotel. It’s something the kids have been asking about since we passed the place on the ME bus last trip. They’re Dora, Blue, and Nick FANATICS. And they love pools of all types, shapes and sizes. Here’s hoping we hit a nice January warm snap so they can get some time in…but even if they don’t…I expect meeting Dora, Blue, and the Nick gang will be a high point of the trip. We’ve also scheduled an appt at the Bippity Bobbity Boutique for BOTH the older kids….DD1 is getting the “middle” package (I can’t remember the names…the one WITHOUT the costume) and DS1 is getting the “cool dude” package. They’ll love it and the pics/scrapbook pages will be awesome.


Our “schedule” looks something like this:

1-4 - Arrive at Nick Hotel, check in for one night.
1-5 Check out of Nick Hotel by 11 AM, check in at AKV. Depending on the room availability, we’re gonna wing it (yes, this obsessive planner said “wing it”). We have a dinner ADR at Boma’s. That’s it. We need to fit in a grocery run at some point. We have 7 day hoppers. We can go to a park, hit DTD, whatever ends up striking our fancy. All I know is…we’re planning on an early night!
1-6 MK, with dinner at 1900 Park Faire
1-7 MGM with lunch at Hollywood and Vine (the kids love Little Einstens, etc)
1-8 AK, with Dinner at Ohana’s
1-9 MK with Dinner at Chef Mickeys
1-10 Epcot with Dinner at Cape May Buffet
1-11 Check out of AKV, hit MK til around lunch time-ish (maybe a bit later…perhaps after the parade…we’ll see how the weather is, etc), then start the LONG drive home.

What we’ve done so far:

OK, as anyone who’s ever travelled with kids knows…you need a LOT of stuff. One of the first things we did, as we started planning this trip, was make a list of “stuff” we needed. Things like a side by side, twin umbrella stroller (for the 2 younger kids), things like a hip sling so that, when standing in line, you’re not putting yourself in traction holding the youngest child (something we learned about LAST trip), things like bathing suits that will fit your large, very fast growing, children in the middle of winter (not something you easily find in CT!). Those types of things. And we’ve been slowly picking up those things over the past few months. Here’s some examples of the choices we made:
http://www.walmart.com/catalog/product.do?product_id=3757288

http://www.toysrus.com/product/inde...2255957&origkw=jeep&kw=jeep&parentPage=search

http://www.solartex.com/servlet/-st...standard&OVADID=3919961522&OVKWID=34597289522

http://www.cotnwash.com/home.php (Great "travel" washing machine detergent!)

That, along with things like the aforementioned atlas, disposable sippee/straw cups, a portable DVD player for the car, and a carry bag that converts to a “support” system so that all the kids can see it (3 kids in a minivan….1 in the row behind the driver, 2 in the last row). We’ve been crossing stuff off our list pretty much every week. And other than the sundries (shampoo, toothbrushes, that sort of thing) we’re pretty much done with the big stuff. Thankfully. We’ve had to find places, high and low, to stow this stuff. So far, no suspicions have been raised amongst the kids….but I don’t know how much longer we can hide stuff and not have them think Santa is coming soon or using our house as a "waystation" to store stuff.

We’ve also (as you can see above) planned out our days (parkwise) and our TS meals. We made our ADR’s EXACTLY 180 days before check in, so that’s all set. We’ve also got a couple of TS meals (a Boma’s breakfast and a Kona Café Breakfast) not mentioned above. CS meals will be “wing it” style.

So…I’m sure you’ve now just come to a conclusion: We’re using the DDP. I know, I know…the changes! I’ll be honest: We’ve waffled which way we were going to go on this one. We thought DDP, we thought DDE, we thought OOP…we’ve been over it all. For us, DDP seems to still be the best deal. Certainly not as good as when we first worked up the numbers back in May, but better than the other options. We’re a bit worried on how the tipping will be implemented, but…provided they’ll charge back to the room, or on a separate CC (in other words…we don’t have to carry cash), we’ll be all set. In general, THIS was the decision I think we wrestled with the most, mostly because we couldn’t get information before we needed to make ADR’s. So we made them assuming we were going to do DDP…I mean, ultimately it probably wouldn’t have mattered much…but that was the assumption we made.

When the new DDP info “broke” last weekend, we reworked the numbers. We’re now saving about 15% (maybe a bit more) compared to the 30%+ we were saving. Still worth it, because, as DVC members, we’re not really prepaying (we pay the day we check in) and there’s not room discount to take into account. The savings is more modest but…eh…anything is better than nothing.

So, that brings us up to now. I’ll keep adding as we go along through the planning process…bring over some pictures I stumble across that might be interesting to those following along..that kind of stuff.

We DO still have stuff to do. More stuff to buy, packing to do, a holiday season to get through first and…oh yeah….Nick hotel character breakfast ressies to make.

It’s gonna be a fun ride!

 

[pilferk]

AKV rooms (not Jambo House rooms....):

http://s149.photobucket.com/albums/s50/LisaS_myphotos/AKV Model Rooms/1BR - Kidani Village/

http://s149.photobucket.com/albums/s50/LisaS_myphotos/AKV Model Rooms/Studio - Kidani Village/

AKV Jambo house rooms:

http://www.allearsnet.com/blogs/lindamac/2007/07/opening_day_pictures_from_anim_2.html

 

[tiggrbaby]

Wow!! What an exciting trip! You guys are going to have a wonderful time!

 

[pilferk]

Wow!! What an exciting trip! You guys are going to have a wonderful time!

Thanks! I think we'll have a good time too.

If the drive, lack of sleep, weather, and kids don't conspire to drive me insane!

See, while I've done the drive in a straight shot before (back in '01, on the way home), I've not attempted it with young kids. THAT is going to be an adventure.

Add to that my worries about driving overnight with just me, my coffee, and possibly my satellite radio for company (I'm assuming DW will snooze on the way...so SOMEONE is coherent when we check in) and add THOSE worries to the fact we're driving from CT to FL in early winter...so who KNOWS what we'll run into on the way down (cause frankly, who cares on the way back!) and you got one concerned pilferk on your hands.

Probably , everything will go fine. Probably. And I suppose if we were flying, we'd be contending with a whole slew of different issues....which, btw, is why we're NOT flying!....and weather would still be one of them. But that doesn't make me feel much better....and waiting for the trip just raises my anxiety level.

Here's hoping all goes relatively smoothly. And heck, if I get tired on the drive..there's always a few hours of shut eye at South of the Border!

 

[pilferk]

I forgot to add a few things about budget, etc.

Now, I'm not going to be gauche enough to discuss exact dollar amounts here. I'm not sure if that's considered tacky or not but....well, I'm not comfortable doing it here.

Suffice to say, while we're not on a shoestring budget, I'm certainly amenable to saving as much money as possible...within the parameters of the type of vacation we're looking for.

Case in point: Tickets. We've been buying them over the last few months, from undercover tourist, via the "savings link" sent to all mousesavers newsletter subscribers. Sure, the savings isn't HUGE compared to Disney, but...free shipping and saving a few bucks is better than NOT saving anything. Plus, I know they're reputable.

Anyway, back to tickets. One of the nice things about my job is they allow us to "cash in" earned vacation time. In other words...they pay me for it even though I haven't actually taken it. So, some of our trip expenses are being paid for that way...tickets being one of them. The first round I bought back at the end of May....one adult, one child ticket. I was going to hold off and buy the next round in late August or early September. Then, late last week, the news of the ticket price increase hit. So I scampered off to Undercover Tourist and put the tix on our Disney Visa (cause, lets face it...everybody who has a Disney Visa wants points!)....where they'll sit til my next pay check when the vacation time cash in hits.

We'll be paying for the DDP the same way (built up vacation time cashed in). Makes it sort of like paying for those things with "free money", if you know what I mean. I mean...I know it's NOT, but....well, it amounts to something similar.

Once the trip comes, the only piece we'll be "paying for" from our vacation fund is Gas for the drive, tips at the TS places, souvenirs, OOP food money (we have those previously mentioned 2 TS places we're NOT using the DDP for), groceries for the room, and the like.

 

[Flossbolna]

Great start! I love all the details you put in and it is great to know someone's back story! I am already looking forward to your trip report in January!!!

 

[CJsMom]

Sounds like your trip is going to be great! Good luck with the drive. DH and I went back and forth a lot about driving vs. flying (from MA) but we decided to fly this time - Southwest out of Manchester. The kids have never flown so it will be part of the adventure for them. The trip is a surprise for our kids as well - now my dilemma is whether to tell them when we wake them up or just put them in the car and let them keep guessing. I'm dreaming of ownership at AKL but DH doesn't share my Disney obsession - so it's probably not going to happen. Unless I get an amazing job someday and buy it myself!
Thanks for sharing all the planning details! Subscribing!

 

[Avivasmom]

We leave AKL the day you arrive. We love that resort. This where DD decided she wants to spend her birthday. SO we are.

Love your report so far!

 

[SleepingBet]

Sounds like you've got everything well planned out! I thought I was planning everything ahead of time, but we leave on Fri. Aug 17th and I'm beginning to think of all kinds of things I haven't done yet! Help! We're going to be staying at AK for the first time and I can't wait. Like you, I'm interested in the AKV. I've never thought about it before, but I think AKV would be wonderful. I'm still looking at the numbers, though.

Have a wonderful trip, and I can't wait to read about it when you get back.

 

[pilferk]

So, this past weekend, we started putting together the packing lists (since summer is ALMOST over and we're begining to do the "sumer clothes to go in storage" dance), and going over our "to buy" list.

During that process, we stumbled across an item that has begun to cause MUCH debate: road snacks.

Now, keep in mind, I'd doing the drive in a straight shot....probably about 20 hours + of driving. AND the kiddes will be in the car for that long, as well. So we're trying to come up with some good snack ideas for the kids, etc...something a bit more unusual than "trail mix" and "granola bars". Anyone have any good ideas? We try to keep the candy and chips down to a minimum (for both us AND the kids). We WILL have a couple of soft sided coolers in the passenger 1/2 of the van. So..what can you all come up with that's fun, the kids will like (or the adults will like, after the kids are sleeping....shhhh...I won't tell if you don't) and that will travel well.

Also, on the "boring details" front...I've reupped our AAA membership, and am starting to put together a timetable on some "general car maintenance" I want to get done before we leave. Not "sexy", but there you have it.

One other question: Anyone have any favorite food stops, or just off, I 95....probably either in NJ/Maryland area or in SC/Georgia area? We're starting to think about meal stops, too....(can you tell we're foodies?).

Oh, and everyone who is an AKL junkie.....travel channel, tomorrow, noon (eastern, at least) they're doing the great hotels ep with AKL.