SoG vs. AFVC

[spectrecat]

DH has agreed to a Disney trip before we move from FL! Right now, the AFVC is offering a 7 night stay for $299! We adore SoG, but for a 7 night stay there, we'd pay 3 times that amount! We are a family of four- our boys are 5.5 and 3 (almost 4 when we travel.)

We have not used AFVC, but we have friends who have, and I think we've narrowed down which resorts we'd want to book. We love the idea of possibly having some extra space and a full kitchen. We don't mind having to drive to the parks everyday...we did this on our '09 trip, and it really wasn't the issue I thought it would be. But it's still driving and paying for daily parking. We would consider paying for more than 4 days in the parks, as well as character dining, the pirate thing (where they do pirate makeup/dressup) and maybe a couple TS restaurants.

Sounds like a no brainer, right?

But we really, really enjoyed SoG back in '06. The rooms are big, the pools are great, everyone is so friendly. The shuttle service is nice and a walk to the Poly or TTC isn't a big deal. We would still have cereal and small snack-y meals in our room...just no 'real' dinners. We don't mind sandwiches, too. The location is such a huge benefit...so easy to get back to our room and rest or play in the pool and then head back to a park in the evening. We might have to limit our park days to the 4 day military ticket, and we would probably not do a lot of 'extra' Disney experiences (maybe one character meal or the pirate thing.) We would try to bring snacks/lunch into the parks and do more CS vs. TS.

I guess the bottom line is that we will get more bang for our buck with the AFVC deal. That comes out to less than $50/night for lodging. But like I mentioned before we just love SoG.

We aren't interested in looking at value resorts, but maybe we should check out moderate resorts?

I welcome your thoughts! I'm just so excited we get to go again! We are moving to NM, so I doubt we'll be able to go back for a number of years!

 

[PrincessSuzanne]

When are you looking at going? There are some specials at SoG that just might work for you. I have also been looking at the AFVC at $299, because we plan to be there over Christmas for 7 nights and that is $665 at SoG, which isn't bad, and because it is our 10th Anniversary. If Disney offers any Military deals in Dec, we may consider a split stay.

We have really only stayed at the Disney resorts, except for 1 night off-site last December and we decided off-site isn't for us, except maybe AFVC. I just don't want to give up EMH hours.

Don't forget you still have to pay for parking at SoG and if you drive to any of the parks, except MK, you may be charged the $14 for parking anyway.

I have also wondered about others experiences at AFVC resorts. Bonnet Creek is one of them and I have heard rave reviews, but our dates aren't available.

Suzanne

 

[spectrecat]

We are looking to go sometime between June and mid-August. If we can wait until August, we can get a lower rate at SoG...it will save us $20/night. But for a 7 night stay (before August) we're looking at 3x the AFVC deal!

Like I said before, we are willing to pay for more...we won't be going back for awhile...

I think SoG parking is $5/day, and the last time we stayed there, we got lucky and didn't always pay for parking the few times we drove (DH mentioned something about being military...we knew it wasn't supposed to happen, but the cast members at the gate let us in free more than once.) We will most like use the SoG bus just because it's there.

 

[PrincessSuzanne]

We are looking to go sometime between June and mid-August. If we can wait until August, we can get a lower rate at SoG...it will save us $20/night. But for a 7 night stay (before August) we're looking at 3x the AFVC deal!

Like I said before, we are willing to pay for more...we won't be going back for awhile...

I think SoG parking is $5/day, and the last time we stayed there, we got lucky and didn't always pay for parking the few times we drove (DH mentioned something about being military...we knew it wasn't supposed to happen, but the cast members at the gate let us in free more than once.) We will most like use the SoG bus just because it's there.

It's really hard to decide, isn't it? I'm hoping to see some deals come out for Dec, but not sure. We have only stayed at SoG once, and that was last month. The buses left a bad taste in my mouth, but we had no problem walking to the Poly for transportation.

I think it was $5/night at SoG for parking, that wasn't bad. We didn't move our van until we got ready to leave. I was using an ECV, because of torn ligaments in my ankle, so the bus was easier.

We aren't sure what dates, exactly we can go, so I don't want to get stuck with the AFVC reservation, because there are no refunds. At least at SoG there is the 30 day cancellation policy and at Disney there is a 5 day cancellation policy for room only.

I keep going back to the EMH thing, we love evening EMH, and being there for Christmas, we use it on Christmas morning.

Idk, we will figure it out eventually.

If SoG was 3 times more, I think I would go the AFVC route.

Suzanne

 

[spectrecat]

It's really hard to decide, isn't it? I'm hoping to see some deals come out for Dec, but not sure. We have only stayed at SoG once, and that was last month. The buses left a bad taste in my mouth, but we had no problem walking to the Poly for transportation.

I think it was $5/night at SoG for parking, that wasn't bad. We didn't move our van until we got ready to leave. I was using an ECV, because of torn ligaments in my ankle, so the bus was easier.

We aren't sure what dates, exactly we can go, so I don't want to get stuck with the AFVC reservation, because there are no refunds. At least at SoG there is the 30 day cancellation policy and at Disney there is a 5 day cancellation policy for room only.

I keep going back to the EMH thing, we love evening EMH, and being there for Christmas, we use it on Christmas morning.

Idk, we will figure it out eventually.

If SoG was 3 times more, I think I would go the AFVC route.

Suzanne

I LOVED being there in December!!! It was the first week of Dec, back in '09, and it was perfect! I would love to go back at that time. It's like the Disney magic is piped in at a higher rate...SO much fun!!

I think the refund thing is why we may not do AFVC. We lucked out with them extending the deal until today, but we are having trouble committing. But I could book an August stay at SoG at the lower rate, and cancel if we had to go sooner. We probably wouldn't stay the 7 nights, though. Or we'd find something else...

What happened with the buses? We had lots of luck with them in '06 (we stayed offsite in '09.) But we don't mind walking to the Poly either.

 

[PrincessSuzanne]

I LOVED being there in December!!! It was the first week of Dec, back in '09, and it was perfect! I would love to go back at that time. It's like the Disney magic is piped in at a higher rate...SO much fun!!

I think the refund thing is why we may not do AFVC. We lucked out with them extending the deal until today, but we are having trouble committing. But I could book an August stay at SoG at the lower rate, and cancel if we had to go sooner. We probably wouldn't stay the 7 nights, though. Or we'd find something else...

What happened with the buses? We had lots of luck with them in '06 (we stayed offsite in '09.) But we don't mind walking to the Poly either.

We love Christmas at WDW. This will be our 6th Dec trip, 3rd actually over Christmas.

That no refund thing has me scared. Dh lost his job at the end of October 2010 and we weren't sure we were going to be able to make our trip, we made a very modified trip, but I don't like to be stuck with no refund available. He got hired on at a new job just days before Christmas, so I am not sure if how much time he can take off this year. It will still be pretty iffy 30 days out.

As I posted earlier, I was using an ECV, and had some issue with one of the bus drivers. He was loading guests on the bus first, causing difficulty in loading the ECV, then no one would be nice enough to give up their seat, I couldn't stand because of instability, so he had me ride on the bus on the ECV, which is very dangerous. He was really rude to me, then proceeded to mishandle the ECV, which doesn't belong to me, but I am responsible for. He did this more than once and we spoke to the manager about it, so I hope the situation was corrected.

I don't care for their schedule much either, I want to come as go as I please and didn't get that you could do that with their buses. I will give it a shot in Dec, the give the benefit of the doubt. Not sure if I will still need the ECV then or not, we will see.

If Disney offers their Military room discount again, we may do a split stay, because we want to stay at POFQ again. The first 3 to 4 nights wouldn't be much more than SoG, but we have to stay at SoG for 3 nights over Christmas, that is their reservation policy.

Suzanne

 

[spectrecat]

That's a shame. I'm sorry you had such a hard time with rude people! Hopefully things are better. I don't remember having to wait all that long for buses...but again, that trip was 5 years ago, and instead of having a 7 month old and his 8 year old cousin, we have a 5.5 year old and his almost 4 year old brother!

They are currently doing a room only military discount right now - 40%- don't know if it will still be there in December. I called in and spoke to a cast member about it, but the rates she gave me didn't seem to be 40% off of what I was seeing online. Need to double-check that...maybe I was missing tax or something...

You're in Alabama? We live in Pensacola, FL. The Air Force has enjoyed keeping us on the FL coast for all but 2.5 years of DH's 10 year career, but now we're heading over to New Mexico in a few months. We're looking forward to something different, but we will miss the beach! And the nice little day's drive to Disney!

 

[spectrecat]

We've made ressies with SoG for August! We just decided we weren't comfortable with the $299 AFVC Blowout not being refundable. At least with SoG, we can cancel or change our reservation, and in a worst case situation, we're just out one night's rate. Oh, and when I called in (because the online resrevations weren't working for me!) I got an even cheaper rate! I'm so glad I called! I was just about to book at the higher rate to secure a reservation!

There's still a chance this sort-of-last-minute dream trip won't happen, but it's nice to have the lodging taken care of for now. DH still wants us to crunch numbers with onsite hotels, dining plans, military and regular tickets, etc, but I'm about 90% sure I'm happy with just keeping SoG.

 

[PrincessSuzanne]

Yeah, we're in Alabama. Dh is an Army Reservist (previous active duty) and our base is Ft. Benning. Luckily, we aren't going anywhere, I'm settled for life. We have not been as far over as Pensacola, the farthest we have been is Ft. Walton Beach, but that area is beautiful.

I am so happy you were able to get a better rate, I am hoping something better comes out for at least part of our December trip.

I sure hope you get to make this trip. We are a tiny bit afraid we wil have to cut this one short, as we usually do most of our trips, or cancel altogether, there is talk of him being sent over seas for a year and we have heard Dec, Jan, or Feb; but that could be a rumor, which has happened before.

Suzanne

 

[spectrecat]

My DS5 was born in Ft. Walton Beach while Eglin's L&D ward was being renovated! And I worked over in Orange Beach, AL way back when we first moved here, so we've seen a lot of the NWFL panhandle!

We are PCS'ing in Septemberish, and we keep going back to the fact that when we get there, DH will be going through re-qualification training, and then he'll be deployable again...maybe by the spring. We probably won't see a 'big' vacation for another year or so, and definitely not one to Disney. The drive from here is so easy! It's funny though...this trip started out as a "let's just go down for a long weekend" and now we're looking at 5-6 days in the parks and dining plans! LOL

 

[PrincessSuzanne]

We are in East Central Alabama, on the Ga state line (almost literally). We drive to Disney and it takes about 6 to 61/2 hours, and I love that. DH drives over night, so I can sleep. We dont' have children.

Our trips start out at 5-6 days, then end up being whittled down to just 3 maybe 4, if I'm lucky. We wanted to go for a week, since it is our 10th Anniversary, and we didn't get a Honeymoon.

Suzanne

 

[spectrecat]

Did y'all have any storm damage? I guess most of it was not in that part of AL (I'm not totally familiar with AL's geography!) but DH flies up to Huntsville with the students from time to time, and a week or two ago, they flew right over Tuscaloosa and could see the exact path some of those tornadoes took. He said it was nothing like he'd ever seen. We've been through hurricanes down here, but never anything like that. Breaks my heart.

And I hope y'all get your trip!

 

[PrincessSuzanne]

No, we didn't get any storm damage, thank goodness, in fact, I'm not even sure we got any rain. We did have alot of high winds, and there were some tornadoes close to our area, but we weren't affected.

Tuscaloosa and Huntsville are about 3 to 4 hours North and west of us, almost the opposite side of the state and closer to Tennessee. I am on the state line next to Georgia, just south of Atlanta.

I have seen many pictures and it was unbelievable what destruction was done, the area was almost completely wiped out.

I also hope you get to go on your trip, too.