I've been thinking about this since our trip to WDW in May and all the recent changes, and just wanted to throw some thoughts out there.
First, some background. Huge lifetime Disney fan here. We live on the West Coast, and DL is our favorite park, both due to convenience and to the park experience, but we also love WDW. We tend to do DL every other year and own at the GCV; we also own at AKV and were planning to buy more WDW points and make that our alternate years' Disney vacation. We had previously gone 9 years between WDW vacations, but then did a trip there in 2019 and in May of this year.
Our May trip was a split one-we started in a 2 bedroom at Bonnet Creek, then 2 bedroom value at AKV-Jambo, and ended with a few nights at Hard Rock Hotel. We also toured RIV during this trip.
Bonnet Creek: this unit, which cost us $550 FOR A WEEK, rented from an owner, was similar in quality in my opinion to many DVC results. The pools were fabulous-multiple pools, several with lazy rivers. Masking was worse here than on Disney property (it didn't help that we were there during a cheer competition and man, those cheer moms didn't seem to want to mask). We had a rental car for our Disney portion of the trip and transportation was fine except to MK. I would not hesitate to stay there again. Other facilities here aren't great-food, etc, but we didn't check the hotel next door. Location is fab.
AKV: We love this resort so much and enjoyed staying at Jambo for the first time-we've been at Kidani previously. We had a really fabulous Savannah view in our value, and bus transportation was really excellent. We ate at Sanaa for the first time-we are big "foodies" and not picky at all. Hate to say this, but it was a mixed bag. Steak and bread service were absolutely amazing; shrimp biryani and dessert were meh. Service was quick and perfunctory. The pool at Jambo is beautiful and we loved having it almost to ourselves since the resort wasn't open yet.
RIV: We enjoyed our tour of this resort and the rooms are truly lovely. We enjoyed riding TO Epcot on the Skyliner, but did not enjoy our return trip-the line was insane and I would hate that being my only real option to get back to my resort at park closing, especially during festivals. The pools here were disappointing, especially compared to the wonderful pool at Jambo with all the shade (I am pale and don't do sun well). This resort reminds me of many other modern resorts, like the Cosmopolitan in Vegas-lovely but nothing particularly special/unusual.
Universal: our kids are 11, 15, and 24 and I think Universal and DL works better for them than WDW. They thought Velocicoaster is the best ride in Orlando, and love being able to come and go and have more independence at Universal, similar to when we at DL. Hard Rock is a lovely hotel and the walk is beautiful-we paid about $260 a night with included express passes and bought seasonal annual passes for about $20 a person more than our base tickets were.
Here's the thing, for us. We are big fans of the Disunplugged and take Pete's comment to heart-stop *****ing about DIsney's price increases and changes if you keep buying. And I think, with WDW, we may have hit our tipping point regarding our trips there-we may be putting our money where our mouths are. It wasn't the absence of FP+-we actually have never been fans of FP+ and much prefer paper fast passes and Maxpass at DL (my family HAAATES having to plan where they are going to eat 6 months in advance and me telling them what their whole day is going to look like). Our trip to WDW cost us significantly more, just for tickets, than it did two years ago, and more and more experiences are being removed or upcharged. And WDW is just So. Much. Work. Even at the best of times-it takes so long to get anywhere, when things are normal you have to plan so long- in advance. It wasn't ideal for us previously, but we also love the parks and so much about it that we were excited to go. I add the increased cost to the upcoming changes and I'm just not thinking I'm there anymore.
I said this on another thread, but if you are someone who drives your own car or a rental when you're there, and you're not a rope-dropper, I don't think the case is there for onsite stays anymore. If you aren't getting up for early entry, I'd save the thousands of dollars and stay offsite in what is probably a nicer room or a full home rental. I think this is especially true for folks who aren't staying Deluxe-as Pete says, the offsite hotels are going to be sending Disney thank you cards for their increased business with the recent changes.
For us, I think we will be moving our WDW trips to less frequently, and use our AKV points at other years at Aulani or to add to a GCV trip if we can, or renting them. We will probably continue to do Universal trips-our annual pass for 15 months was just a few hundred dollars and the deluxe hotels are reasonable there, so if we can get cheap airfare we may just jaunt out there. (I could see adding a night or two at AKV on a USO trip and doing resort only or a special event. I anticipate paid fast passes coming-more and more, the Disney experience is becoming very different based on what you're able to pay. I'm in their highest affinity group and we are fortunate to be able to afford this, but I hate the direction this is taking, the removal of experience for everyone...and heck, the fact we can take our kids to Europe for significantly cheaper than these trips cost EVEN with our lodging being largely paid for.
The "Would you buy DVC again" thread inspired this....it sounds like we may not be the only ones feeling this way.
First, some background. Huge lifetime Disney fan here. We live on the West Coast, and DL is our favorite park, both due to convenience and to the park experience, but we also love WDW. We tend to do DL every other year and own at the GCV; we also own at AKV and were planning to buy more WDW points and make that our alternate years' Disney vacation. We had previously gone 9 years between WDW vacations, but then did a trip there in 2019 and in May of this year.
Our May trip was a split one-we started in a 2 bedroom at Bonnet Creek, then 2 bedroom value at AKV-Jambo, and ended with a few nights at Hard Rock Hotel. We also toured RIV during this trip.
Bonnet Creek: this unit, which cost us $550 FOR A WEEK, rented from an owner, was similar in quality in my opinion to many DVC results. The pools were fabulous-multiple pools, several with lazy rivers. Masking was worse here than on Disney property (it didn't help that we were there during a cheer competition and man, those cheer moms didn't seem to want to mask). We had a rental car for our Disney portion of the trip and transportation was fine except to MK. I would not hesitate to stay there again. Other facilities here aren't great-food, etc, but we didn't check the hotel next door. Location is fab.
AKV: We love this resort so much and enjoyed staying at Jambo for the first time-we've been at Kidani previously. We had a really fabulous Savannah view in our value, and bus transportation was really excellent. We ate at Sanaa for the first time-we are big "foodies" and not picky at all. Hate to say this, but it was a mixed bag. Steak and bread service were absolutely amazing; shrimp biryani and dessert were meh. Service was quick and perfunctory. The pool at Jambo is beautiful and we loved having it almost to ourselves since the resort wasn't open yet.
RIV: We enjoyed our tour of this resort and the rooms are truly lovely. We enjoyed riding TO Epcot on the Skyliner, but did not enjoy our return trip-the line was insane and I would hate that being my only real option to get back to my resort at park closing, especially during festivals. The pools here were disappointing, especially compared to the wonderful pool at Jambo with all the shade (I am pale and don't do sun well). This resort reminds me of many other modern resorts, like the Cosmopolitan in Vegas-lovely but nothing particularly special/unusual.
Universal: our kids are 11, 15, and 24 and I think Universal and DL works better for them than WDW. They thought Velocicoaster is the best ride in Orlando, and love being able to come and go and have more independence at Universal, similar to when we at DL. Hard Rock is a lovely hotel and the walk is beautiful-we paid about $260 a night with included express passes and bought seasonal annual passes for about $20 a person more than our base tickets were.
Here's the thing, for us. We are big fans of the Disunplugged and take Pete's comment to heart-stop *****ing about DIsney's price increases and changes if you keep buying. And I think, with WDW, we may have hit our tipping point regarding our trips there-we may be putting our money where our mouths are. It wasn't the absence of FP+-we actually have never been fans of FP+ and much prefer paper fast passes and Maxpass at DL (my family HAAATES having to plan where they are going to eat 6 months in advance and me telling them what their whole day is going to look like). Our trip to WDW cost us significantly more, just for tickets, than it did two years ago, and more and more experiences are being removed or upcharged. And WDW is just So. Much. Work. Even at the best of times-it takes so long to get anywhere, when things are normal you have to plan so long- in advance. It wasn't ideal for us previously, but we also love the parks and so much about it that we were excited to go. I add the increased cost to the upcoming changes and I'm just not thinking I'm there anymore.
I said this on another thread, but if you are someone who drives your own car or a rental when you're there, and you're not a rope-dropper, I don't think the case is there for onsite stays anymore. If you aren't getting up for early entry, I'd save the thousands of dollars and stay offsite in what is probably a nicer room or a full home rental. I think this is especially true for folks who aren't staying Deluxe-as Pete says, the offsite hotels are going to be sending Disney thank you cards for their increased business with the recent changes.
For us, I think we will be moving our WDW trips to less frequently, and use our AKV points at other years at Aulani or to add to a GCV trip if we can, or renting them. We will probably continue to do Universal trips-our annual pass for 15 months was just a few hundred dollars and the deluxe hotels are reasonable there, so if we can get cheap airfare we may just jaunt out there. (I could see adding a night or two at AKV on a USO trip and doing resort only or a special event. I anticipate paid fast passes coming-more and more, the Disney experience is becoming very different based on what you're able to pay. I'm in their highest affinity group and we are fortunate to be able to afford this, but I hate the direction this is taking, the removal of experience for everyone...and heck, the fact we can take our kids to Europe for significantly cheaper than these trips cost EVEN with our lodging being largely paid for.
The "Would you buy DVC again" thread inspired this....it sounds like we may not be the only ones feeling this way.
