mousegear
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Mar 30, 2011
Yes, true to the title, I booked this trip exactly 25 days before. When I booked this trip, I was sitting at home because we had Category 3 Nor'easter and getting tired of cold weather. I decided that it has been entirely too long since we've been to Disney (1 year ago- DS's last spring break) and the weather in Florida around this time is just too gorgeous although the crowd level is insane. I had enough points on my Amex SPG to cover our entire trip so I started to search SPG site to see the availability at Dolphin/Swan. And my luck is that they didn't have the availability for the whole week. I know, I am super late into booking lodging for prime Spring break so I am willing to do split stay. I quickly checked, next year's school calendar and noticed that next year's Spring break falls a week before so if I bough APs, we could make at least two trips. So I bought APs and started searching for lodging with AP discounts. Thankfully, they had some, if not many choices. I decided to settle for AKL standard view (only thing available) for a part of our stay.
So in the end,
4/7~4/9 Dolphin
4/9~4/12 AKL
4/12~4/13 Dolphin
Normally, I would not do this many split stays for a short trip but I had to accept it since this was booked only 3 weeks before. Only thing available for our whole stays were Deluxe resorts with 2-bedroom CL which the prices are pretty scary during Spring break and the value resorts. BTW, we don't do value resorts. We've stayed over at Pop for a night and never again. Once was enough for us. I would much rather stay for a longer trip but W could only miss one weekend for his extracurricular activity so I decided to the weekend before the Easter rather than Easter weekend.
So who are on this trip? It's two of us this trip, DS 13, we will call him W and mom, G. We've been to WDW more than 20 times so we don't do all day at park. We are both morning birds so we like to do morning EMH and do few rides and relax at the resort and eat good food. We've mostly eaten at TS restaurants with TIW but we do have a few favorite CS. We haven't done crazy TS ADRs in the past several trips. We would make an ADR the night before or on the day of depending on the availability. However, on this trip, there were a few that I wanted to make ADR before we left for the trip like ROL package and Cali Grill brunch (b/c we haven't done it before). And I got the crazy idea that maybe we should do a deluxe dining plan for the AKL stay. Yep, I was crazy. I am not a big eater. I actually eat smaller portions than normal people. However, after going through possible place, I would like to eat during our vacation, it just made sense to to DxDP. Although it's 18 TS credits, it's spread out over 4 full days, so it's much more doable. Besides, W usually eats double portions these days so he could definitely help me finish.
So three weeks flew by pretty quickly between my work and W's school and activities. We said our good by to our dog, Coco. He is 1.5 y/o yorkie. My parents took care of him while we were away.
We arrived at Orlando pretty early around 9:30am. We debated while driving the rental car to Dolphin, if we should grab something to eat on the way or at Dolphin/Swan. However, we didn't have much choice since we hit the traffic on I-4. It was just bad and I could see W getting really hangry. W is very mild tempered and easy child despite his teen years. However, when he gets hangry, he doesn't like to talk and gets moody. It's usually very easy since I just have to make sure too feed him. After stuck on traffic for 45 minutes were more, I finally pulled out of I-4 for Disney Springs exit. I had to feed DS ASAP and I am not going to sit on I-4 for any longer. After quickly talking over our options, we decided on McDonalds for quick drive through for their breakfast options. Nothing great but did the job of filling our tummies. Instead of taking I-4, I decided to drive over Disney Springs to Dolphin. Besides hitting some traffic lights, we are cruising and got to Dolphin around 10:30.
After unloading the car for the bell service, I went to park car while W decided to wait in the lobby. Dolphin's lobby was bursting with activities. There were many people in and out also quick a few people were in line for the check-in as well. I didn't have much hope for our room to be ready since this was one of the busiest week and it seems that both Dolphin/Swan were having some kind of conventions. Much to my surprise, the girl at the check-in desk said that our room was ready and also found me a room on high floor and somewhat near elevator/lobby. Those of you who are not familiar with Dolphin, the resort has two wings, East and West and if you get a room towards the end of a wing, it could be a mile walk each time from the lobby.
So in the end,
4/7~4/9 Dolphin
4/9~4/12 AKL
4/12~4/13 Dolphin
Normally, I would not do this many split stays for a short trip but I had to accept it since this was booked only 3 weeks before. Only thing available for our whole stays were Deluxe resorts with 2-bedroom CL which the prices are pretty scary during Spring break and the value resorts. BTW, we don't do value resorts. We've stayed over at Pop for a night and never again. Once was enough for us. I would much rather stay for a longer trip but W could only miss one weekend for his extracurricular activity so I decided to the weekend before the Easter rather than Easter weekend.
So who are on this trip? It's two of us this trip, DS 13, we will call him W and mom, G. We've been to WDW more than 20 times so we don't do all day at park. We are both morning birds so we like to do morning EMH and do few rides and relax at the resort and eat good food. We've mostly eaten at TS restaurants with TIW but we do have a few favorite CS. We haven't done crazy TS ADRs in the past several trips. We would make an ADR the night before or on the day of depending on the availability. However, on this trip, there were a few that I wanted to make ADR before we left for the trip like ROL package and Cali Grill brunch (b/c we haven't done it before). And I got the crazy idea that maybe we should do a deluxe dining plan for the AKL stay. Yep, I was crazy. I am not a big eater. I actually eat smaller portions than normal people. However, after going through possible place, I would like to eat during our vacation, it just made sense to to DxDP. Although it's 18 TS credits, it's spread out over 4 full days, so it's much more doable. Besides, W usually eats double portions these days so he could definitely help me finish.
So three weeks flew by pretty quickly between my work and W's school and activities. We said our good by to our dog, Coco. He is 1.5 y/o yorkie. My parents took care of him while we were away.
We arrived at Orlando pretty early around 9:30am. We debated while driving the rental car to Dolphin, if we should grab something to eat on the way or at Dolphin/Swan. However, we didn't have much choice since we hit the traffic on I-4. It was just bad and I could see W getting really hangry. W is very mild tempered and easy child despite his teen years. However, when he gets hangry, he doesn't like to talk and gets moody. It's usually very easy since I just have to make sure too feed him. After stuck on traffic for 45 minutes were more, I finally pulled out of I-4 for Disney Springs exit. I had to feed DS ASAP and I am not going to sit on I-4 for any longer. After quickly talking over our options, we decided on McDonalds for quick drive through for their breakfast options. Nothing great but did the job of filling our tummies. Instead of taking I-4, I decided to drive over Disney Springs to Dolphin. Besides hitting some traffic lights, we are cruising and got to Dolphin around 10:30.
After unloading the car for the bell service, I went to park car while W decided to wait in the lobby. Dolphin's lobby was bursting with activities. There were many people in and out also quick a few people were in line for the check-in as well. I didn't have much hope for our room to be ready since this was one of the busiest week and it seems that both Dolphin/Swan were having some kind of conventions. Much to my surprise, the girl at the check-in desk said that our room was ready and also found me a room on high floor and somewhat near elevator/lobby. Those of you who are not familiar with Dolphin, the resort has two wings, East and West and if you get a room towards the end of a wing, it could be a mile walk each time from the lobby.
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