Trip Report No parks, no problem! - Completed

Hello everyone!

It's been quite the spring season. Our normal lives have been disrupted, but we are hanging in there as best we can.

What's happening with us:
  • We've been working from home since mid-March. We're slowly returning to work.
  • Our daughter graduated high school and participated in a drive-thru graduation ceremony.
  • Our April and September cruises were cancelled.
  • We did alright with our toilet paper supply. Two squares per person.
We have many trips planned, starting in September (fingers-crossed) with Disneyland. We extended our trip when our September cruise out of Vancouver was cancelled. We can't travel in July and August, so our only option before the fall is June. Yes, this June.

Let's get down to business (and defeat...the Huns!):

Who: Myself and @lostpro9het
20191020_165116_2.jpg

What: A resort-only stay
Where: Animal Kingdom Lodge - Kidani Village
When: June 25 - 29, 2020
Why: WE NEED A VACATION, that's why

We've been following the Disney developments for a while. We saw a unique opportunity to use our points for a resort-only stay. We've been throwing around the idea of this type of stay, but never acted on it. We're ok with the parks not being open and dining being limited.

A lot of thought went into this trip. We're flying, so I had to change our flight to MCO. We needed a car because I'm not sure 100% about DME (it was offered when I called DVC, but not taking that chance), so I rented from National (we like the ability to just go pick out our car without visiting the counter) and we plan to pick up our beverages and snacks on the way. We discussed the pros/cons of DVC resorts. We had originally booked for Beach Club Villas to use Stormalong Bay, but reports indicated only DVC pools will be open. I had to call DVC to change the reservation and the wait times are long. Kidani has one of the best DVC pools. Also, according to the list of cast members recalled, the pool at Kidani will be open, but with no bar service, hence the grocery store side trip.

We have one dining reservation so far, Homecomin', and I'm waiting for resort dining to open up for reservations. We will try to eat at Il Mulino as well if open.

So here we are, a DVC resort-only stay, no parks, and limited dining. I'm super-excited!
 
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Doc Disney

Doc Disney

Well-Known Member
slipperalwaysfits said:
Are most DisneySprings restuarants on Open Table? I'll have to check for our fall trip?! @Doc Disney I hope you make it back to the parks this year!!
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ELeigh said:
Looking forward to hearing all about it! I Am considering keeping our DVC rental for September at AKL with very limited park time and I am very interested to see how it goes for you guys-sounds like a great vacation
Sorry to hijack-But I am really hoping they lift the restrictions on the tristate sooner rather than later 🤞
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July 7 or 8 the order expires so hopefully they don't renew it :)
We hope to be there sometime this summer just need permission from work :)
Sorry to also hijack :)
 
imahistorygeek

imahistorygeek

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
*Dining Update*

If you have a stay booked at Disney beginning June 22 and checkout before July 11, you can call, beginning today, to reserve your dining.

Sean and I are pretty much a wing it type couple unless we want something really specific. I had already pre-booked Homecomin' via MDE. We took note of everything that would be open at the resorts and made out a wish list. We've never really had to plan like this (especially over the past 5 years), so it was actually a little fun.

At 8 am this morning I was armed with my list, DVC membership card, and the phone (my personal phone - this will come into play later).

Wishlist:
June 25 - Lunch at Polite Pig and dinner at Sanaa (around 7)
June 26 - Wing it for lunch and Homecomin (6ish, and I can't believe it was available) for dinner
June 27 - Beaches & Cream for lunch (12 noon) and The Wave for dinner (at 7)
June 28 - Wing it for lunch and Terralina (6:15)

8:00 am EST - call the regular Disney Dining reservations number. On hold with the standard Disney hold music. Rookie mistake...didn't realize phone lines opened at 7. Started to get a little nervous. I had no clue about wait times. I had an appointment at 10, so surely I would be done. SURELY. The standard hold message is that they were only taking dining reservations for the dates mentioned above and if you didn't have a reservation, then you were not getting a dining reservation.

9:00 am EST - I've gone through an entire round of hold music. I have a business number via Google Voice. Fired it up and called DVC member services. I got lucky and didn't get a busy signal. I proceeded to wait. Wait time was approximately 16 minutes according to the recording.

So now I have two phone lines on hold just waiting to see who picks up first.

9:35 am EST - Member services picks up! We got everything we wanted on the wish list that required reservations! The member specialist said several people were excited they were able to get Beaches & Cream. Less than 10 minutes later the restaurants were reserved and linked in MDE.

I had forgotten to hang up on the regular dining reservations line. I would have still been holding at an hour and 46 minutes. From what I've read, wait time was 2 hours right at 7 am. If I hadn't had called DVC with another phone, who knows how long I would have waited. I managed to get out the house right in time for my 10 am appt.

The only thing we have left to do is pack our bags!
 
imahistorygeek

imahistorygeek

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
*Resort Update*

One of the most important aspects of our trip is the use of the pools.

I had read somewhere on the internets that feature pools will be open starting at 11 am. We did not want to wait for the pool to open and felt like it would cut into our day, especially if we go out for lunch and dinner.

I called this morning to confirm pool hours. All feature pools at any resort are 11 am - 9 pm. Slides are open 2:30 pm - 8:00 pm. Pools without lifeguards are 24 hours.

We had discussed our options for resorts if it turned out the AKL pool wouldn't open until 11. We considered Copper Creek and OKW because we like the Turtle pool.

We ultimately went with Copper Creek because it has a feature pool and a quiet pool, plus we've never stayed in the villas. Geyser Point will be open and we've been a couple of times. It's one of the few outdoor spaces that makes me feel like I'm in the wilderness. The theme from Dances with Wolves was playing in the background and it just completed the whole experience.
 
MinnieM123

MinnieM123

Premium Member
imahistorygeek said:
*Resort Update*

One of the most important aspects of our trip is the use of the pools.

I had read somewhere on the internets that feature pools will be open starting at 11 am. We did not want to wait for the pool to open and felt like it would cut into our day, especially if we go out for lunch and dinner.

I called this morning to confirm pool hours. All feature pools at any resort are 11 am - 9 pm. Slides are open 2:30 pm - 8:00 pm. Pools without lifeguards are 24 hours.

We had discussed our options for resorts if it turned out the AKL pool wouldn't open until 11. We considered Copper Creek and OKW because we like the Turtle pool.

We ultimately went with Copper Creek because it has a feature pool and a quiet pool, plus we've never stayed in the villas. Geyser Point will be open and we've been a couple of times. It's one of the few outdoor spaces that makes me feel like I'm in the wilderness. The theme from Dances with Wolves was playing in the background and it just completed the whole experience.
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I'm a morning person, and I'd even go for a swim at 6 AM, if the pool was open. Opening at 11 AM seems late to me. (Moot point though -- I don't have any plans for a WDW trip until at least next year!) ;)
 
imahistorygeek

imahistorygeek

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
MinnieM123 said:
I'm a morning person, and I'd even go for a swim at 6 AM, if the pool was open. Opening at 11 AM seems late to me. (Moot point though -- I don't have any plans for a WDW trip until at least next year!) ;)
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We've been trying to work our reservations and make changes based on the pool hours. We want to tweak our dining a little bit, but since DVC member services made the reservations, we cannot alter them without calling. The hold times are crazy, so we will go with what we have.
 
BeautyBelle

BeautyBelle

Member
imahistorygeek said:
*Resort Update*

One of the most important aspects of our trip is the use of the pools.

I had read somewhere on the internets that feature pools will be open starting at 11 am. We did not want to wait for the pool to open and felt like it would cut into our day, especially if we go out for lunch and dinner.

I called this morning to confirm pool hours. All feature pools at any resort are 11 am - 9 pm. Slides are open 2:30 pm - 8:00 pm. Pools without lifeguards are 24 hours.

We had discussed our options for resorts if it turned out the AKL pool wouldn't open until 11. We considered Copper Creek and OKW because we like the Turtle pool.

We ultimately went with Copper Creek because it has a feature pool and a quiet pool, plus we've never stayed in the villas. Geyser Point will be open and we've been a couple of times. It's one of the few outdoor spaces that makes me feel like I'm in the wilderness. The theme from Dances with Wolves was playing in the background and it just completed the whole experience.
Click to expand...
I was just wondering about pools. We normally take midday breaks but since Epcot opens so late I've been thinking about swimming before going to the park so hours are good to know. Thanks! Of course, everything could change again by the time we go in October...
 
Dory71

Dory71

Well-Known Member
We have stayed at a studio at Copper Creek and found it very nice. Bright and airy when compared to Boulder Ridge. We love WL and all of it's offerings. Hope y'all have a great trip. We are looking forward to a Labor day trip.
 

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