Since @profmatt kind of epitomized the art of making a solid plan and then refining it over and over, I decided to turn his name here into a noun, meaning “the act of revisiting every decision you made in light of new ideas”.
So, I’m pulling a @profmatt and toying with an idea.
Okay. Our current plan, after much discussion, has been to rent a Theme Park View Bay Lake Tower 1-bedroom studio for our trip in 2020. If, for whatever reason, we can’t get a Theme Park View, we’ll settle for a Lake view.
Our plan also is for either 5 or 6 nights, depending on what we can afford.
But then I got to thinking about the timing of things, and the options, and started wondering about doing a split stay in such a way that might allow us to stay a little longer (another night or two) for about the same price. Because, truth is, the Bay Lake Tower with a Theme Park View is about the most expensive option overall. Neither my wife nor I have been keen on the whole split stay idea just from a hassle standpoint when we are talking 5 nights. That would be like 3 at one and 2 at another. But now I’m rethinking this.
I see a few advantages.
We can experience more than one resort.
By extending our entire stay by a day or two (say, 7 nights) that makes it more like 4 and 3 nights.
Also by extending the stay, it means the FP 60+5 becomes FP 60+7. This might help in MAYBE POSSIBLY securing a FP for Star Wars GE or whatever.
We get more days!
So, this is where I kind of need your help. I’m trying to figure out which resort might be the best choice. It needs to be a cheaper resort, but I’d still prefer a 1-bedroom to a studio. This probably means one of the following: Animal Kingdom Lodge (Standard View), Boardwalk Villas (Standard View), or Saratoga Springs (Standard View)
I kind of like the idea of the Boardwalk Villas in terms of proximity to HS and Epcot (since we’d probably make our HS day later in the trip due to the whole FP thing). But I’m open to thoughts, etc.
I’m pretty sure your FP+ window is only 60+length of stay. So in this case you wouldn’t get 60+7, you’d get 60+4 and then four days later 60+3. Just so you keep that in mind…
This is broadly similar to the fantasy trip I’m planning. The idea is to enjoy higher end accommodations and simplest park access.
That necessarily implies a split trip. CR and BLT are pretty obviously the only options for the MK leg. And then YC / BC / BW for the Epcot / DHS leg. Nowhere gives walking access to AK so that requires transportation from one of the other hotels. Since CR / BLT are more expensive, that suggests visiting AK from YC / BC / BW.
However the Skyliner may be a game changer, opening up other resorts with relatively easy (and fun!) access. Though the accommodations may not be as desirable.
Of course in my case a stay at UOR is also required as I couldn’t come all the way to Orlando and not visit WWOHP.
I mean, I could be wrong (it’s happened before! ) but I’m pretty sure I’m right…that’s why @profmatt only got to book his first 2 days of FP+ and then the rest on a 60 day rolling window…
There we go. This is what I was thinking about. Just got confused about FP+ versus ADR. I knew something was not bookable for the whole stay when doing a split stay.
Back to your theme park view turning into a lake view. Our lake view room at BLT actually had a fireworks view too. It was the best of both worlds. We stayed in a 1 bedroom, room 7610.
we loved Boardwalk location. being there was so convenient for our whole trip (we are usually DL, so MK was not as big of a priority as everything else the world has to offer). I can’t imagine not staying at one of the Crescent lake properties on our future trips. I may decide to explore/experience the others as well, but always that area. plus the convenience of easily eating in Epcot regardless of where we might have been during the first part of the day.
Yes. In fact, my wife had previously stated that it was something about staying at Bay Lake she didn’t like. But now, if we do Boardwalk, that becomes a non-issue.
I just spoke to my wife about the idea, and she really likes it. In fact, after some quick calculations, we can actually do 3 nights at Bay Lake and 5 nights at Boardwalk for the same price as 5 nights at Bay Lake. So we might even do an 8 night stint instead!