Long - Help Needed WDW - Onsite/Offsite?

[OscarQ]

Hi.  I've been lurking and trying to figure out a plan.  I agreed to do the Princess Half with a friend next year.  So, assuming (big assumption but I think we'd be okay to buy from a TA if needed) we can get into the half, I need to plan a trip.  Friend is a Disney person.  I am a relative newbie - I've been about four times - most recently in 2000 with then BF, now H.

Friend is a DVC member and wants us to all stay onsite at Beach Club or Boardwalk. Her boys are much older than mine - her boys will be 13/15 vs mine will be 4/6 - so we're in two completely different places kid-wise.  

Also, my H and I have enough experience traveling with our kids to know we need at least a one bedroom suite.  Two bedrooms is ideal but onsite cost is ridiculous.  (DS1 has a feeding tube and gets hooked up early and allowed to watch his iPad in bed, at the same time H goes to bed - so I can't have them in the same room.  Meanwhile, DS2 stays up with me.  Then H is up at the crack of dawn.  I realize we'll be exhausted from the parks so maybe we'll be too tired to care.) I looked at AofA but the room designs seem overwhelming and a bit of sensory overload for me.

I go back and forth daily on being onsite vs offsite.  Friend should have 400 points to use at DVC so she's saying we can work something out.  I'm cringing at the cost involved for staying in a seemingly small bedroom - or at best one bedroom suite - when we can stay offsite and get a house with a pool for 1/3 the cost.

H and I talked about going back and forth intra-day to the parks and neither of us object to it in theory. I've even looked at Uber with carseats so we could just Uber to/from the park.  I'm not sure how practical it is in reality.

Friend is all about the transportation benefits of being onsite, the meal plan, the pools, the bubble.  Meanwhile I show my kid a pool - any pool - and he's happy.

Also DS1 has a phobia of Darth Vader.  I was showing him a kids planning book at he saw the Star Wars ride.  Now he's asking if we can just stay at the hotel/house because he's afraid that Darth Vader will be at the parks.  I've assured him, he's only at one park (the Hollywood one) and we just won't go there. Am I lying to him?

Sorry this is so long and thank you for reading/responding!

[juliej]

The rules just changed for travel agents – if you buy a bib from a TA, you'll have to buy it as part of a package with park tickets and resort room. So, if that's the route you're planning on, lodging might be moot.

[jeaniebueller]

If you aren't going to have a car, you should really stay on site IMO. Especially with the race and getting to and from the start line. Darth vadar and star wars are really only at HS. We were at AK this past Feb. and there are no signs of Star wars there, or at any of the All Star resorts You should be able to easily avoid Darth Vadar.

[OscarQ]

Mar 23, 2016 13:04:12 GMT -5 juliej said:

The rules just changed for travel agents – if you buy a bib from a TA, you'll have to buy it as part of a package with park tickets and resort room. So, if that's the route you're planning on, lodging might be moot.

Hmmm...okay, so if we don't get bibs in the 23 minutes before they sell out, we're tied to a package?  Interesting.  Are they transferable?  Meaning I buy a package with bibs for H and me but H gives his to my friend?

[OscarQ]

Mar 23, 2016 13:31:54 GMT -5 jeaniebueller said:

If you aren't going to have a car, you should really stay on site IMO. Especially with the race and getting to and from the start line. Darth vadar and star wars are really only at HS. We were at AK this past Feb. and there are no signs of Star wars there, or at any of the All Star resorts You should be able to easily avoid Darth Vadar.

If we aren't onsite we'd have a car plus we'd be okay with Ubering too (if DS1 melted and I took him home via Uber, H could stay with DS2 and have the car.  DS1 and I could Uber back after nap if needed too.)

And great - glad I'm not lying to him.  I told him we'd just skip that park but that I'd call WDW and confirm he's not in the other parks.

[juliej]

Mar 23, 2016 14:03:32 GMT -5 OscarQ said:

Mar 23, 2016 13:04:12 GMT -5 juliej said:

The rules just changed for travel agents – if you buy a bib from a TA, you'll have to buy it as part of a package with park tickets and resort room. So, if that's the route you're planning on, lodging might be moot.

Hmmm...okay, so if we don't get bibs in the 23 minutes before they sell out, we're tied to a package?  Interesting.  Are they transferable?  Meaning I buy a package with bibs for H and me but H gives his to my friend?

Nope. Non-transferable.

[lala]

Honestly I'm a big fan of the bubble and prefer to stay in dvc studios, only use Disney transport. Even before kids o preferred that but now with kids I think it's SO much easier.

We often stay all in one room for this kind of trip and it's not a huge deal. Ideal? Maybe not but the cost of a bigger unit isn't worth it to us for this kind of trip - where we are not in the room a ton and were exhausted when we are.

I've yet to see darth Vader in person, so don't worry about that.

[OscarQ]

Mar 23, 2016 14:11:38 GMT -5 juliej said:

Mar 23, 2016 14:03:32 GMT -5 OscarQ said:

Hmmm...okay, so if we don't get bibs in the 23 minutes before they sell out, we're tied to a package?  Interesting.  Are they transferable?  Meaning I buy a package with bibs for H and me but H gives his to my friend?

Nope. Non-transferable.

Okay, well at least that buys me some more time to figure this out since I'm not committing to that trip unless we have bibs.  I'd rather do another off-season week that won't be as crowded (if such a thing exists anymore).

Thank you.

[alleinesein]

Mar 23, 2016 14:03:32 GMT -5 OscarQ said:

Mar 23, 2016 13:04:12 GMT -5 juliej said:

The rules just changed for travel agents – if you buy a bib from a TA, you'll have to buy it as part of a package with park tickets and resort room. So, if that's the route you're planning on, lodging might be moot.

Hmmm...okay, so if we don't get bibs in the 23 minutes before they sell out, we're tied to a package?  Interesting.  Are they transferable?  Meaning I buy a package with bibs for H and me but H gives his to my friend?

They are non-transferable and the registered runner has to pick them up BUT a lot of people will then give their bib to someone else for the race.  Once the registered runner picks up their package there is no additional ID check.

You might be able to get in on one of the charity teams if you cant get registered.  Some teams will have a fundraising requirement and they vary in amounts.

Also your friend who owns DVC gets early registration a week before they go on sale to the general public.  Your friend can try to register you during the DVC registration.

400 DVC points can get a 3 bedroom villa for a few days or a 2 bedroom and a studio for a week.  If your friend is willing to book you a villa with her points definitely take her up on the offer.  Staying on site is much easier than staying off site.  You lose a lot of time just getting to the resort each day.

[ilikedonuts]

Is your friend ok in a studio? With 400 points you can do a studio and 2 bedroom but probably not 2 1 bedrooms unless you stay somewhere that is not walking distance to a park.

If your friend has an annual pass or owns DVC she can book early for the race.

[juliej]

Mar 23, 2016 16:31:08 GMT -5 alleinesein said:

Mar 23, 2016 14:03:32 GMT -5 OscarQ said:

Hmmm...okay, so if we don't get bibs in the 23 minutes before they sell out, we're tied to a package?  Interesting.  Are they transferable?  Meaning I buy a package with bibs for H and me but H gives his to my friend?

They are non-transferable and the registered runner has to pick them up BUT a lot of people will then give their bib to someone else for the race.  Once the registered runner picks up their package there is no additional ID check.

You might be able to get in on one of the charity teams if you cant get registered.  Some teams will have a fundraising requirement and they vary in amounts.

Also your friend who owns DVC gets early registration a week before they go on sale to the general public.  Your friend can try to register you during the DVC registration.

400 DVC points can get a 3 bedroom villa for a few days or a 2 bedroom and a studio for a week.  If your friend is willing to book you a villa with her points definitely take her up on the offer.  Staying on site is much easier than staying off site.  You lose a lot of time just getting to the resort each day.

They've cracked down on this in a big way. DVC owners registering for Wine & Dine yesterday could only register themselves. If they could get in – presales disappeared in about 3 minutes. It's actually easier to get a bib during general registration since only around 5% of bibs are released early. Charities and TAs are the closest thing to a sure bet, though.

ETA: Man, I sound like a Debbie Downer in this thread. 

[curbsideprophet]

I do 't think we ever saw Darth Vader and we did a half day at HS. I don't think we went near the Star Wars stuff, so you should be able to avoid him if you want.

[ilikedonuts]

Oh I missed the Darth part. He's not there anymore actually. Kylo Ren replaced him both at the M&G and the Jedi Training Academy. I haven't been on Star Tours in forever, but its probably a safe bet he is in the movie at some point.

[alleinesein]

Mar 23, 2016 17:09:24 GMT -5 juliej said:

Mar 23, 2016 16:31:08 GMT -5 alleinesein said:

They are non-transferable and the registered runner has to pick them up BUT a lot of people will then give their bib to someone else for the race.  Once the registered runner picks up their package there is no additional ID check.

You might be able to get in on one of the charity teams if you cant get registered.  Some teams will have a fundraising requirement and they vary in amounts.

Also your friend who owns DVC gets early registration a week before they go on sale to the general public.  Your friend can try to register you during the DVC registration.

400 DVC points can get a 3 bedroom villa for a few days or a 2 bedroom and a studio for a week.  If your friend is willing to book you a villa with her points definitely take her up on the offer.  Staying on site is much easier than staying off site.  You lose a lot of time just getting to the resort each day.

They've cracked down on this in a big way. DVC owners registering for Wine & Dine yesterday could only register themselves. If they could get in – presales disappeared in about 3 minutes. It's actually easier to get a bib during general registration since only around 5% of bibs are released early. Charities and TAs are the closest thing to a sure bet, though.

ETA: Man, I sound like a Debbie Downer in this thread. 

Did they fix the payment issue?  I know that last year there were a ton of people who could not check out when registering because the system kept saying their cards were invalid.  The registration for Star Wars @ DLR was a giant clusterf!  I am hoping that it isn't as bad this June; we have a ton of people who want to run and we all qualify for either DVC or AP early registration but my mom and I will be the ones signing everyone up since we have access to computers during the day.  I really wish they would let you do 2 runner at a time and just put in their names.

[OscarQ]

Mar 23, 2016 19:44:38 GMT -5 ilikedonuts said:

Oh I missed the Darth part. He's not there anymore actually. Kylo Ren replaced him both at the M&G and the Jedi Training Academy. I haven't been on Star Tours in forever, but its probably a safe bet he is in the movie at some point.

You just made my 5yo very happy!  He's okay with going to HS now.

And thanks everyone else.  Yes, my friend is willing to let us use her points.  I think she's hoping to make me a Disney person.  Could work.  In addition to the 400 points and she gets a 25% discount (not sure on the details).  She also says that she's never had an issue staying in a studio with her kids.

[juliej]

Mar 23, 2016 20:34:22 GMT -5 OscarQ said:

Mar 23, 2016 19:44:38 GMT -5 ilikedonuts said:

Oh I missed the Darth part. He's not there anymore actually. Kylo Ren replaced him both at the M&G and the Jedi Training Academy. I haven't been on Star Tours in forever, but its probably a safe bet he is in the movie at some point.

You just made my 5yo very happy!  He's okay with going to HS now.

And thanks everyone else.  Yes, my friend is willing to let us use her points.  I think she's hoping to make me a Disney person.  Could work.  In addition to the 400 points and she gets a 25% discount (not sure on the details).  She also says that she's never had an issue staying in a studio with her kids.

If you have time while you're there, do one of the DVC tours. You get three extra Fast Passes to use immediately on all but the most popular rides (so, not the Mine Train, etc.). And when we did it, they were doubling points for the first year if you bought.

And between Boardwalk and Beach Club – Beach Club has the best pool at WDW. We stayed there for Marathon weekend and loved it. Plus, by Princess next year, they should be done refurbishing the DVC units.