Trip Report - AKV 4/5-4/9

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We decided to join the rest of the entire population of Florida, Georgia, and Michigan and return to WDW for the chaos that is Spring Break/Easter Week!

Actually, we went last year that time and enjoyed being in Florida even if we could not bear the crowds past noon. I have AKV points just to snag a value studio over spring break.

We arrived Saturday around 4 - after a six hour trip that took 9 hours due to snails-pace Spring Break traffic on 1-75. I hate to waste a Disney resort night on my driving day, so we stayed at the Universal Wyndham (price-lined for 45 bucks) and it was just fine (actually, I loved its hardwood-style floors which looked and felt so much cleaner than hotel carpet). We played Fantasia Gardens mini-golf that night (Disney golf is fast becoming an arrival-night tradition).

Some Thoughts on this Trip:

Online check-in Sunday at 8am we checked into AKV. I had done online check-in and I won't do it again. We get there so early, there is never a line - and they did not even have our KTTW ready that early. Our room was not ready until 4pm, and we've never ever waited that long using traditional check-in. Usually, getting there so early, we get put in the most ready room. This time, our room was pre-assigned and our arrival time made no difference.

AKV Value Room: This was our second time in a value room, and this one had a slightly different layout (bed on the right-hand wall instead of the left). There was more room - not a lot more room, but it was possible to walk with the couch unfolded.

The value room was REALLY convenient to the pool/restaurants/Zawadi/bus stop - so much so that I did not head back to the savanna-area very much. I do miss the savanna-view, but at premium-point time, you can't beat the value room.

Issues - The thermostat in our room was broken and the A/C was blowing HOT air. With what I've learned on the board, I knew to go in person - so I took a digital photo of the thermostat showing that it was 79.5 degrees in the room and went to the front desk. They sent engineering and it was fixed within an hour.

Other than that, the room was very clean and in great condition.

To be continued (with photos)..

 

[glennbo123]

Thanks for posting. Looking forward to your photos.

 

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The Wyndham (not a bad arrival/travel-day option)

Value Room

Savanna Overlook

Behind the Seeds Tour

Crowd Alert!!! This is the line for the Nemo Ride at Epcot!!!

Value View

 

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Other Observations:

The CS Dining Plan - This worked GREAT. Two snacks a day plus a refillable mug makes it easy to stretch your plan - this is the first time I have not paid anything OOP for food/snacks and it was easier than I thought it would be to eat a variety of food (and healthy food) with CS dining. We loved not planning our days around dining!

New Attractions We agreed that American Idol was very well-executed, but the three performers we saw were pretty awful. We want to try it later in the day next time.

OTOH - My kids RAVED about Kim Possible. They loved it.

Crowds Recession??? What recession?? There were park closures almost every day we were there, making our day at EPCOT really crowded.
It was insane. I thought last year was crazy, but this was just unreal.

Thankfully, with DVC, we just take a very chilled approach to touring - we ride only if we have Fastpasses and do other low-crowd things (like rent a boat, Innoventions, and Behind the Seeds.

The pool-pooper strikes again!!!!!!!!!! This is the second spring break with a pool-pooper at AKV causing the pool to get shut down for "special cleaning". I've never had it happen anywhere but AKV. We can't wait for a second pool to open there!!!

All in all, a GREAT trip and we avoided SNOW flurries in Atlanta!!!!!

 

[SLM]

Thank you taking the time to post a report and pictures during your vacation-it is cold and rainy today in PA, so I'm enjoying your report very much. We're also thinking of adding the QS plan to our August trip-other than a dinner at Jiko one night we weren't planning on sitting down to meals every night. Any comments on the plan would be appreciated!

 

[DVC Mike]

Thanks for the pics. Too bad about the crowds.

 

[Luv2trav]

Great pictures. I love your view. The value room doesn't look all that small. I might have to consider that for next spring break.

 

[LIFERBABE]

Great report! Your little ones sure have grown!

Sorry about the PP

We are staying at AKV in June and staying in Jambo Concierge but will definitely visit Kidani pool so we are excited too.

May try the CS plan. That's about all we need anyway as we are not going to the parks that much and will probably hang around the resort alot before the cruise. Thanks for the encouragement to use it!

Great pics as always!

 

[arthur06]

Keep us updated and have a great time!

 

[bjakmom]

Crowd Alert!!! This is the line for the Nemo Ride at Epcot!!!

GET OUT!! That is unbelievable!! Have fun!

 

[starbox]

Thank you taking the time to post a report and pictures during your vacation-it is cold and rainy today in PA, so I'm enjoying your report very much. We're also thinking of adding the QS plan to our August trip-other than a dinner at Jiko one night we weren't planning on sitting down to meals every night. Any comments on the plan would be appreciated!

Here's what I ate on the plan:

Day One - Breakfast - bagel & cream cheese (snack) at Mara - coffee in the refillable mug
Lunch - Flame Tree (1/2 slab of ribs, cole slaw, baked beans & key lime pie for dessert)
Dinner - chicken flatbread at Mara, zebra domes for dessert - diet coke in the refillable mug and took a bottle of orange juice to the room for breakfast.


Day Two - Breakfast - bagel again, coffee
Snack - frozen cokes
we actually skipped lunch this day because we were not hungry
Dinner - Pizza, salad, chocolate cake, diet coke at Pizzafari

Day Three - Breakfast - Bounty Platter at Mara (used the credit from the lunch I skipped) - used the mug for coffee and got two bottles of water w/breakfast that I took in the park.
Lunch - Lamb and Chicken Plate at Tangerine Cafe, diet coke, baklava
Dinner - Rotiseree Chicken @ Mara, apples and caramel for dessert, used the mug for diet coke and got OJ to take to the room as my drink.

Day Four - Breakfast - we had 12 unused snack credits accumulated, so we went all out at Main Street bakery!! Cinnamon roll and coffee for me - plus a bottle of water for the park.
Lunch - took the ferry to WL to avoid the crowds and got a roast beef and bleu cheese sandwich, those apple slices again, and diet coke at Roaring Forks
Snack - a Mickey ice cream sandwich!
Dinner - We went to DTD this night so the kids could pin trade and DS could visit his beloved Lego store - walked to SSR for dinner so I could get the chicken and artichoke flatbread and mickey sprinkle sugar cookie. Got a bottle of water.

Quite a nice 4 days of dining - and I did not eat anything fried!

 

[ADP]

Crowd Alert!!! This is the line for the Nemo Ride at Epcot!!!

GET OUT!! That is unbelievable!! Have fun!

Wow! So much for riding Nemo. The weeks leading up to Easter can be crazy, busy. If I were going the weeks leading up to Easter I wouldn't plan on riding much. It would be more of a relaxation and observation trip. A lot of DVC resort time.

 

[dcamdad]

Park closures almost everyday! Whoa, no wonder my neighbors son called them yesterday and told them he was having an OK time. Besides Easter/Spring breakers I know there are about 150 high school baseball teams at various resorts for some kind of tournament.

 

[DisDaydreamer]

The pool-pooper strikes again!!!!!!!!!! This is the second spring break with a pool-pooper at AKV causing the pool to get shut down for "special cleaning". I've never had it happen anywhere but AKV.

Hey stranger, good to read you. (notice I didn't panic this year)

Now, as far as the AKV pool pooping... I'm thinking the kids are watching the animals pooping all day long and it must be having some psychological effect

 

[starbox]

Hey stranger, good to read you. (notice I didn't panic this year)

Now, as far as the AKV pool pooping... I'm thinking the kids are watching the animals pooping all day long and it must be having some psychological effect

I was thinking the same thing - maybe it's just the call of the wild....

 

[La2kw]

Here's what I ate on the plan:

Day One - Breakfast - bagel & cream cheese (snack) at Mara - coffee in the refillable mug
Lunch - Flame Tree (1/2 slab of ribs, cole slaw, baked beans & key lime pie for dessert)
Dinner - chicken flatbread at Mara, zebra domes for dessert - diet coke in the refillable mug and took a bottle of orange juice to the room for breakfast.


Day Two - Breakfast - bagel again, coffee
Snack - frozen cokes
we actually skipped lunch this day because we were not hungry
Dinner - Pizza, salad, chocolate cake, diet coke at Pizzafari

Day Three - Breakfast - Bounty Platter at Mara (used the credit from the lunch I skipped) - used the mug for coffee and got two bottles of water w/breakfast that I took in the park.
Lunch - Lamb and Chicken Plate at Tangerine Cafe, diet coke, baklava
Dinner - Rotiseree Chicken @ Mara, apples and caramel for dessert, used the mug for diet coke and got OJ to take to the room as my drink.

Day Four - Breakfast - we had 12 unused snack credits accumulated, so we went all out at Main Street bakery!! Cinnamon roll and coffee for me - plus a bottle of water for the park.
Lunch - took the ferry to WL to avoid the crowds and got a roast beef and bleu cheese sandwich, those apple slices again, and diet coke at Roaring Forks
Snack - a Mickey ice cream sandwich!
Dinner - We went to DTD this night so the kids could pin trade and DS could visit his beloved Lego store - walked to SSR for dinner so I could get the chicken and artichoke flatbread and mickey sprinkle sugar cookie. Got a bottle of water.

Quite a nice 4 days of dining - and I did not eat anything fried!

Sounds great! I laugh every time someone posts that they don't like eating counter service because they would get sick of hamburgers and chicken strips. WDW has some of the best CS options available. We usually go for two weeks and I never touch a hamburger or chicken strip the entire time.

 

[starbox]

I forgot to say that we stopped by the model rooms while we were at Artist's Palate.

On BLT - There are many things I dislike about the Contemporary, so I have been pretty lukewarm about the prospect of BLT. I'm happy for those thrilled by it, but it's not my dream resort.

That said - I thought the rooms were much more appealing in reality than there are in photos. The studio felt very apartment-like because of the way the bathroom/kitchenette is set up.

Likes -

• Views - honestly, the whole area is so pretty, there won't be a bad view. I love my balcony - it counts as practically a whole room to me since I do so much reading out there. BLT looks like it will have very nice balconies - MK view or not.
• Storage - I like all the storage in the kitchenette area
• Layout - The living area and bathroom felt really open because of the fact that they took away so much space from the bathroom/kitchenette
• Decor - While it's not the way I'd decorate my own house, the modern-art feel actually worked better than I expected it to. It was much warmer than it looks in pictures.

Wait and See -

• We rented a boat from the WL and rode behind the CR and the pool area just looks really unappealing/uninviting to me - very dystopian/Blade Runner-ish. Maybe it will be prettier when it's done.
• While I loved the "feel" of the empty model room's kitchenette/vanity combo - I can't decide if I will love it in actuality or if it will drive me crazy to have -basically - the kitchen in the bathroom. If I kept actual food in the kitchen, I don't think I'd like it - but since we don't use the kitchenette to prepare any food, I think I'll appreciate having extra space in the bathroom.
  
  Speaking of the bathroom - since it's so big - a stool in there to put clothes on and allow for a a private area to change clothes in would be such a great addition.

We also saw the treehouse model and all I can say is

Oh my goodness. It was amazing. Makes me want more SSR points.