I think I've got my initial plan down for sure but have a question too

For some that may remember, I was planning on going back to the World in 2020 for my daughters birthday. When we went down to Orlando to go on a cruise, they wanted to go to the playground at the resort. My wife returned in about 10 minutes and said “We can’t go in June. It is too hot and they won’t last.” She recommended Spring Break, but I told her that’s not a good time. She also recommended Christmas Week and I said the crowd calendars have that week an as absolute stay away time. We don’t want to pull them out of school for a week like last time, so we thought going down the Friday before Thanksgiving would work. Now, I am thinking I would LOVE to go to MVMCP again, so I check the dates and they don’t have it the week of Thanksgiving. So I told my wife we pick them up from school on Thursday, drive down half way that night and the rest of the way the next morning. They get pulled out of school (on a day they won’t be doing too much anyway) and we get to start our vacation off at the MVMCP.

She kind of complained. She said “We have already done the MVMCP and there is so much to do.” I told her when we did it before, we did more of the parades and shows. We can do more character meet & greet and rides. We didn’t do any rides before. We will start out doing lots of rides.

We will be going for 7 days in the parks, not counting MVMCP, so our last day will be the day after Thanksgiving. I’m thinking we will spend 2 days in each park with only 1 at AK. We aren’t doing the meal plan or park hopper, both of which we did last time.

I’m also thinking we could go through Davids Vacation Club to get a room for 8 nights. I would love to do the Wilderness Lodge, but will try to do Animal Kingdom Lodge due to cost difference. My other not-as-expensive options include Old Key West and Saratoga Springs.

Any advantages or disadvantages I should know about of each of these resorts?

1 Like

I have only been to the Wilderness Lodge so can’t compare with your other choices but I can tell you that WL is awesome. Incredible lobby, great pool and we really liked the boat transportation to MK.

2 Likes

Are you planning for 2020? If so, you’ll want to try to book 7 months out from your first day.

Will you have a car? If not, I would not recommend Saratoga or Old Key West. They are both wonderful resorts but very spralling with multiple internal bus stops. I had to drive from our building to the main pool…that’s how large Saratoga is…

WL is fantastic and has 2 DVC properties which should help with availability.

AKL is also amazing. The main lodge has a number of DVC rooms in addition to Kidani Village, which is 100% DVC.

1 Like

At that time of year, they’ll need to book 11months out, not 7.

I would be in touch with David’s 12 months out, so people can be booking for you at 11 months.

1 Like

Ah, good point. I was thinking about avoiding the home resort premium. Before we owned DVC, I always waited (and took my chances) until the home resort period was up.

1 Like

We will have a car and we are going Thanksgiving week of 2019.

My wife is dead set on us going back to the room some each day. My mindset is to either start early and end early or start late and end late. Not sure which of those we will do at each park yet, but I have a little while to plan that. :slight_smile:

Have you thought about any of the Epcot resorts? If you’re spending 2 days at each park, that’s half your trip being walkable right there. We stayed at Boardwalk and loved that convenience.

1 Like

Boardwalk is definitely a possibility. Now that I think about it, I am thinking more and more that this is where I will want us to stay.

1 Like