Trip Report Step Right UP! for the Main Event. Did we Blow Niece and Nephews Minds on their Very First Trip to the World?

As Many of you know, We are on a multi year project. This project is to make sure our 4 Niece and nephews get to see the world. For many years, they have been told " you will get to go to Disney" and it never happened for one reason or another. Finally we were in a spot financially, that we could do it. Lets just say this was a very special trip for all of us, not just to see it through the eyes of a first timer, but due to restrictions etc. We will get into that much more later, on why i feel that this may of been my best Disney experience yet. On this trip we had My oldest niece at 17 years, and about to graduate in 2021. and my oldest nephew at 13. They have heard of our trips, seen some photos, but never got to go for one reason or another.

We live in Tennessee, and they live in Maine. If you read my Pre Trip, nothing went to plan on this one ha! There was covid, then my wife's Nana passed away, and the kids came to stay with us far longer than we had originally anticipated, so it made the big countdown actually better, as they were here with us from June, through now. They will go home this weekend, When my daughter goes home to visit family for her birthday.

To say they were excited doesn't even begin to describe it, as they got to be with us through all the final planning, final shopping, and watching our favourite podcaster weekly.

The time finally came, and we were to get on the road! Where we are about 11 to 11 hours with the time change back to EST away we tend to leave pretty early to get settled on arrival day. MY daughter and her fiancee had come over earlier on Saturday and got settled ,as they would be here to watch the dogs, and feed the fish and keep the pool going etc. Wheels up was to be 12:00 AM CST Sunday the 9th. I took a quick nap, as i am the driver, and we got on the road about 11:45 CSt on saturday, and got the wheels on the truck rolling Mouse Bound.

My Nephew had found this cheesy joke card deck on one of our prior adventures this summer, and kept them aside for the ride to keep me awake. This really did help, and the 4 of us laughed and Laughed the whole way through the night.

We do our best to avoid Atlanta, so we go down through Alabama, then in through the panhandle over to where I 10 meets 75, and go in that way. it adds just a few minutes to the drive, and honestly to not deal with Atlanta is nice.

We took our truck this time for the extra room for cargo, and room for people, so it was a new experience from the beginning as we had no idea how many miles to the tank we would get, and how many stops we would have to make. Turns out y thoughts of at least 300 miles per tank was spot on, and could likely do 350 before we have to really get gas. We timed it so we could stop and get breakfast one one stop, so we don't loose too much time. All in all we lost about 15 minutes total in food and gas stops.

On this trip one of the changes was our Hotel. We were booked at ASM family Suites, and well Thanks to Covid, they did not open that resort. Disney stepped up and delivered the upgrade of a lifetime. We got moved to Animal Kingdom Lodge Kidani Village, in a 2 bedroom Villa!!

We had not told the kids where we were staying for the ultimate surprise, but the GPS as we got there, ruined part of it, but they were still super surprised once we got to our room.

Our room ready text had come while we were still a couple hours out, which was super nice so we could get unpacked before we went to the pool for some lunch and some relaxation. We always spend the day at the resort on arrival day, as after driving all day i cant enjoy a park day.

Once we found parking, and a map to our room, we headed up stairs. We were in The Timon Section, 3rd floor, literally on top of the bus stops, but we drove all week, as it was just easier. More on that to come. Here are some photos i took of our home for the week. First silver lining of a Covid world was this amazing upgrade!
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We were a standard view, and had asked to be as close to a Savannah view as possible. We had a great viewing window right outside our door, to the left, and got to walk by it any time we went anywhere. Ive got some great photos to come of that for sure.

My nephew said " this is already more than i expected" and this was just the suite. We had not gone to view the Savannah, or gone to the pool yet. That would be next.

Being an arrival day, we unpacked out suitcases into the dressers, and got situated for the week. Next up we were off to view the Savannah, hit the pool, and relax before we went to the springs for our first dining reservation of this trip.
 

Mainahman

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
I'm enjoying reading your report! What a wonderful upgrade you got! We were to stay at the All-Stars in Nov but only got upgraded to Pop so....we will see where we end up, we are looking at other options right now for lodging. We may rent points.



WOW!!! It's so hard to get any shots of lightening! That's incredible! Yes, fantastic job! Crazy that was the lightening that knocked out ROTR.



Epcot is one of my favorite parks, too. I just love all the different nations and like you...food! What a nice treat to get a Via Napoli walk up! That would not have happened in 2018!



This is my favorite store on the entire property!! We spent some time in Japan so I tend to get a lot of presents for my family here. Where in the store did you find the Sake? Not sure I've ever noticed it....but definitely need to pick some up next trip!
We feel so blessed. We got bit by the DVC bug though... Fingers crossed we may be buying in.. EPCOT just brings all the memories of my first trip in 02. Millennium celebration!!! We only got AKL o feel because we had a family suite. So they had to give us something close to that, and that was Kidani. What a beautiful resort!
Out back in the store there is a "secret sake bar" to the right hand side of that is a corner with a ton of types of sake and glasses etc. Couldn't help myself!



We didn't realize that was THE lightning till morning, but definitely was a amazing memory. This trip meant so much to us over all.

I totally didn't think we could get Napoli, last time we had it was 2018 and we had a reservation. I guess the stars really alligned for all of us!
 

slipperalwaysfits

Well-Known Member
We feel so blessed. We got bit by the DVC bug though... Fingers crossed we may be buying in

I really hope the DVC thing works out for your family! Thanks for telling me where the Sake is located! Have you tried the pocky there or the wide variety of kit kats they have in that store?
 

Mainahman

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
I really hope the DVC thing works out for your family! Thanks for telling me where the Sake is located! Have you tried the pocky there or the wide variety of kit kats they have in that store?
We brought the pocky home and kit kats home for different family members. I didn't get my hands on it.myself though. Excuse to go back right??
 

k8einwdw

Well-Known Member
So I need to post the next day of fun, and hope to start that tonight or tomorrow, but i have to share some news...

We became DVC members this morning! All thats left is to get our login stuff, swag, and last bit of paperwork to close. We bought into OKW>
Woohoo! Congratulations!
 

Miss Bella

Well-Known Member
So I need to post the next day of fun, and hope to start that tonight or tomorrow, but i have to share some news...

We became DVC members this morning! All thats left is to get our login stuff, swag, and last bit of paperwork to close. We bought into OKW>
I wish I would have done this 10 years ago. How is the resale market?
 

MickeyCB

Well-Known Member
So I need to post the next day of fun, and hope to start that tonight or tomorrow, but i have to share some news...

We became DVC members this morning! All thats left is to get our login stuff, swag, and last bit of paperwork to close. We bought into OKW>
Congrats, we love our membership! Bought at the Poly in 2015 and it's been great! My only regret is that we didn't buy in sooner. It took a lot of arm twisting and almost the end of our 30 some years of marriage to talk my husband into it! 🤣 What's he do now? Tells everyone, we're DVC members, like it was his idea!:rolleyes:
 

ajrwdwgirl

Premium Member
So I need to post the next day of fun, and hope to start that tonight or tomorrow, but i have to share some news...

We became DVC members this morning! All thats left is to get our login stuff, swag, and last bit of paperwork to close. We bought into OKW>

Congrats! We've thought about it and are on the fence about it. Since we usually stay at values it hasn't made complete financial sense yet. And not to sound stalkerish but did you post this on FB in group led by a choose the good podcaster?
 

Mainahman

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Congrats, we love our membership! Bought at the Poly in 2015 and it's been great! My only regret is that we didn't buy in sooner. It took a lot of arm twisting and almost the end of our 30 some years of marriage to talk my husband into it! 🤣 What's he do now? Tells everyone, we're DVC members, like it was his idea!:rolleyes:
We hemmed and we hawed, and re watched videos till we could of taken an exam... We decided this was the way to go to be able to best share our happy place with other family members.
 

Mainahman

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Congrats! We've thought about it and are on the fence about it. Since we usually stay at values it hasn't made complete financial sense yet. And not to sound stalkerish but did you post this on FB in group led by a choose the good podcaster?
Thank you so much! We always stay at values too.. But we got upgraded to Kidani and fell in love with the amenities of a villa. When we did the math over the 37 years of the contract, per night that we would go, and the fact we can make APs work pretty well, it priced out cheaper per night than a week at POP would.. i was kinda blown. Totally going to change how we Disney for sure. You are not a stalker! Lets just say its where i learned about the Boathouse! That group is my second home! The good can be found in everything, and if you look hard enough, all breadcrumb trails lead to the boathouse! Ha!
 

Mainahman

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
I didn't know you could buy into older DVC's direct. I thought you had to do a resell.
NOPE! If they have the points, they will sell you them. All older resorts are now 5 dollars off a point until the 16th. Theres still deals on Rivera and Copper Creek, but if they have the points ( just the other day they returned to buying back resale via ROFR) you can buy direct. For me it was 2042 resale or 2057 direct. The extra years made it worth it.
 

Mainahman

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Congratulations on your DVC membership! I hope that means more trip reports from you in the future!
Many more! We got 150 points. Which if we time the trip right we can get 2 trips at least out of that in a studio, or one main trip for the parks, and 2 get aways for events like the halloween and christmas parties. Plus were at OKW, so were a boat ride ( when it runs again) from the springs, and BOATHOUSE!
 

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