To splurge or not to splurge...

[Chrislovesdisney]

we booked 4 nights at AoA in the standard room with the idea of doing a very budget trip at the end of next August (2019) for our girls who will be 3.5 and 6.5. My parents are dvc members, and we are saving points for a cruise for 2020 so using points is not an option. I’ve only stayed at dvc villas before. I’m now having second thoughts about AoA and am debating about splurging on a studio at boardwalk inn IF Disney does 20% off rooms for next summer again. If they do, it will be about $700 more. At AoA I’m concerned about the long walk from the bus drop-off, the room size, the amount of people the busses will be accommodating, long bus lines, and the distance from the parks. I’m accustomed to being either at boardwalk villas or GF villas where there’s the alternates of boats, monorails, and/or walking trails to the parks. Honest opinions: am I overthinking these concerns? This is not our once in a lifetime trip, but I also don’t want major hassles in late August heat with little ones. $700 is a lot for my family but if it means me putting away an extra $50 a month to make it happen, I think can do that...

Edited: or should I consider changing to pop century? Some of my concerns will still exist but the walk to the busses will be less and the rooms seem a tad bit larger....

 

[bigbabyblues]

If you are booked for a LM room at AoA, those rooms are the same size as Pop Century. If it is a budget trip, I would switch to Pop just because the LM rooms are more expensive, not to mention we thought they were hideous/cartoonish when we visited family there (our kids are both boys, so that may have impacted that thought).

 

[Disneylover99]

I would switch to Pop. Walking back and forth between the LM rooms at AofA to the buses/foodcourt in August is no fun.

 

[Hopefully]

I definitely would save the extra $50 a month and stay at the Boardwalk.

 

[m3owbox]

POP

 

[jmkjr72]

What’s the price diffrent bumping up to a moderate like pofq this would take away the bus worries and the long walks

We are a dvc family and our sept 19 trip will be the first rime my wife and I stay at a regular hotel
We booked pofq and are waiting to see what the discounts would be for the upgrades

 

[Chrislovesdisney]

What’s the price diffrent bumping up to a moderate like pofq this would take away the bus worries and the long walks

We are a dvc family and our sept 19 trip will be the first rime my wife and I stay at a regular hotel
We booked pofq and are waiting to see what the discounts would be for the upgrades

I looked into the moderates, but I didn’t feel the reviews were great enough to justify not spending a little more and going for the Boardwalk.

I suppose my second question is if I go for the boardwalk, should I wait to book it til spring until specials are announced, or would the rooms sell out before? Am I better off booking now and then trying to get the lower rate?

 

[jmkjr72]

Spring is flower and garden so just like food and wine the studios are in high demand

Honestly if your thinking a villa your cheapest is going to be renting points

 

[Chrislovesdisney]

We are traveling late August. I meant I’d be booking spring when the specials are announced for summer.

 

[Chrislovesdisney]

And I’d be booking the inn part, not the villa part.

 

[TheOneWithTheTriplets]

With the caveat that I'm only going off of what I read, I thought using DVC points for a cruise wasn't as good a value as when you use them on site.

What about using the points and saving the LM room money for the cruise? You could even open a specific higher interest CD or savings account and moving the money there so that it's separated funds.

Unless my info is out of date and Disney is giving better value for points used towards a cruise than they used to.

 

[heidijanesmith]

The Inn side does not have studio's just regular rooms. There are some deluxe CL level rooms.

We love the BW Inn side and the Villa side. I would say BW for sure!

 

[Wild4Walt]

I agree with the others - if you are looking to do budget friendly I would switch to Pop since long walks to the bus are a concern for you. LM rooms at AoA are the furthest from everything. Closest are the Finding Nemo suites, which will most likely be lower than Boardwalk but not exactly budget friendly.

 

[3DisneyFanz]

I wouldn’t stay at AoA unless you are just dying to get in their main pool. The LM rooms are pretty much at Pop and that’s a long walk after a day in the park. For the price difference there really isn’t a reason to stay at AoA vs Pop or a moderate.

 

[tbholc81]

I looked into the moderates, but I didn’t feel the reviews were great enough to justify not spending a little more and going for the Boardwalk

I would really consider POR or POFQ. We recently stayed at POR in April and we enjoyed it as much or more than our stays at any of the deluxe resorts we have stayed at. We had Royal Room and that made it very convenient to walk to POFQ to eat there and use their buses

 

[Malestrom Troll]

I would not be saving points for a cruise. I would use cash for the cruise and points on a resort. It's even a better value to sell your points and use that money for a cruise.

 

[sjrec]

May I suggest looking into renting your points and paying cash? You will be surprised what you can get through an agency-and you will probably be able to get shipboard credits booking with cash-and you won’t pay the 95.00 fee.

 

[Chrislovesdisney]

I would not be saving points for a cruise. I would use cash for the cruise and points on a resort. It's even a better value to sell your points and use that money for a cruise.

They are my parents’ points, and they are taking us all on a cruise with a combo of cash and points so I don’t want to get involved in their generosity! The cruise is their treat, this wdw vacation is on my wallet!

 

[Chrislovesdisney]

I’ll take a second look at POR and also at renting others’ points, as well as POP. Seems like the consensus though is not for thr AoA LM rooms!

 

[MomOTwins]

With kids that age, MK is the main draw, so I don't think an Epcot area resort is that much of an upgrade. If you are gong to splurge, consider Wilderness Lodge for the boat to MK. It is also just a stunning hotel all around.