AKV Jambo 1 BR and the fantastic Disney Waterparks! (update 8/1) Complete

[Pinkocto]

Wow, I totally get why you fell in love and had to get the points!

I can't wait to stay there I was disappointed I dropped an AKV CL reservation and switched to VGF but now I'm super excited!

 

[Pinkocto]

Awesome pics!

Thanks!

 

[Pinkocto]

Congrats on your purchase! I didn't know the VGF were selling certain weeks? Are the prices more for certain weeks?

I didn't pay much attention to it, but I think it was a set price and you just pick the week. After he explained it I loved the concept but wasn't prepared to pay that much money. I would love to have Christmas guaranteed without even having to book it.

Cute glittery nails.

Thanks I have to have glitter or won't like them

Love the room view.

I couldn't get over that it was a standard view, it was amazing!

I never think Disney pastries a a good as they look. Ever. I just quit taking bites of them.

I keep hoping they'll be good I had a really good cheese Danish at the WL.

 

[franandaj]

So was the bathtub in the 1br a jacuzzi tub? The room looked very elegant with a turn of the century charm. I would like to stay there someday. Glad you got to use your FPs.

 

[dolphingirl47]

What a shame that the park was so busy. I love the model rooms for VGF. One day we will get to stay there.

Corinna

 

[Pinkocto]

So was the bathtub in the 1br a jacuzzi tub? The room looked very elegant with a turn of the century charm. I would like to stay there someday. Glad you got to use your FPs.

Yep, it was a jacuzzi tub. To me Victorian means a claw footed tub but Joe said they couldn't do that and still have a jacuzzi. I almost switched to a 1BR for December but the point difference is 82. Now it's not available for all the nights, I have a feeling I'm going to regret it. The only reason I didn't is because I need to save for my Aulani trip which is going to use most of my points that year.

 

[Pinkocto]

What a shame that the park was so busy. I love the model rooms for VGF. One day we will get to stay there.

Corinna

I was amazed there were so many people there that early, I thought we'd be able to walk onto all of our favorites.

They're so pretty have you decided where you'll stay in December?

 

[dolphingirl47]

I was amazed there were so many people there that early, I thought we'd be able to walk onto all of our favorites.

They're so pretty have you decided where you'll stay in December?

I have to save my DVC points for next year for the big Disneyland and Aulani trip. So it will be somewhere on International Drive. I have not been to Seaworld and Discovery Cove since 2009 and have never been to Aquatica so somewhere within walking distance to those would be great.

Corinna

 

[Pinkocto]

I have to save my DVC points for next year for the big Disneyland and Aulani trip. So it will be somewhere on International Drive. I have not been to Seaworld and Discovery Cove since 2009 and have never been to Aquatica so somewhere within walking distance to those would be great.

Corinna

Aulani does require a lot of points. How will you get to WDW? I've never stayed offsite so have never looked into the logistics of it.

 

[dolphingirl47]

Aulani does require a lot of points. How will you get to WDW? I've never stayed offsite so have never looked into the logistics of it.

Until we bought into DVC, we always stayed on International Drive. Most hotels have shuttles to WDW, but usually I just get the number 50 Lynx bus, which goes from Seaworld to Downtown Disney and the Transportation and Ticket Centre.

Corinna

 

[jenseib]

Wow the Villas look great. I really need to win the lottery so I can buy into DVC. My husband is absolutely against it, so until I win large sums of cash, it won't be happening for us.

 

[hstrickland]

Awesome pics of that villa! Wow! Can you say super nice??!! Y'all will have such a nice trip...I would end up wanting to just hang out in the villa all day When we looked at DVC, we ended up needing at least 260 points since we have 5 people...and that would basically only get us a week. We can't go during the off season either. They tried to tell us we could start with 160 points, but that wouldn't get us much of anything. Who knows!? Maybe one day.

 

[Pinkocto]

Wow the Villas look great. I really need to win the lottery so I can buy into DVC. My husband is absolutely against it, so until I win large sums of cash, it won't be happening for us.

Is he against DVC because he hasn't been going on the Disney trips? What a bummer.

 

[Pinkocto]

Awesome pics of that villa! Wow! Can you say super nice??!! Y'all will have such a nice trip...I would end up wanting to just hang out in the villa all day When we looked at DVC, we ended up needing at least 260 points since we have 5 people...and that would basically only get us a week. We can't go during the off season either. They tried to tell us we could start with 160 points, but that wouldn't get us much of anything. Who knows!? Maybe one day.

You can start with the 160 and always borrow from the next year and go every other year. As much you guys guys enjoy the deluxes it's got to be a win win situation. Have you priced it out? 160 points is about $20,000, and will get you, depending in the resort you buy at, 50 years of vacation. On average, what's a week at a deluxe, $3000? Less? You'll get 7 trips out of that $20,000, but with DVC you'll get 43 more trips for the same price. Not trying to be pushy or anything but I'm a huge advocate for DVC

 

[jenseib]

Is he against DVC because he hasn't been going on the Disney trips? What a bummer.

He thinks all time shares are a scam. my parents have one through Marriott vacation club and he thinks they are nuts. Me not so much because I have gotten to enjoy it with them.

 

[Leshaface]

Oh my gosh! The villas look so grand and gorgeous! Do you think they'll still be at SSR in October? I think my DM would love to walk through them.

 

[Pinkocto]

He thinks all time shares are a scam. my parents have one through Marriott vacation club and he thinks they are nuts. Me not so much because I have gotten to enjoy it with them.

I know some are scams, but others are a really nice investment. I love knowing that I'm definitely going to have a vacation.

 

[Pinkocto]

Oh my gosh! The villas look so grand and gorgeous! Do you think they'll still be at SSR in October? I think my DM would love to walk through them.

I definitely think they'll still be up. They said at the moment there are no new projects, I can't see them taking these ones down until they sell out the VGF and/or they start selling a new property. They said that with this one and Aulani being so close together they've spent a huge amount of money in a relatively short time, so nothing new in the immediate future.

 

[Pinkocto]

I left off with us leaving Hollywood Studios around 2:00. We walked through some shops on the way out but nothing really called to either of us. As we walked up to the bus stop a bus pulled up. We had perfect luck with buses this trip. Our plan was to go home, change into our bathing suits, and head to Blizzard Beach to relax in the lazy river for a few hours. When we got to the room we relaxed for a few minutes before heading out. I made us some mango smoothies and we put a load of wash in. Have I mentioned how much we both loved having the full kitchen and laundry? They really made the trip extra nice.

We got to BB around 4:15 and went straight to the lazy river after finding a chair to put our sandals and shirts on. We didn’t bring a backpack so didn’t need a locker. We put the room keys and APs in a ziplock and just kept them with us. We really should have brought one of those little containers you can put around your neck to keep things watertight. We both have a few of them. BB closed at 6:00 and all we did was three laps around the lazy river, just relaxing and enjoying the sun. It was still plenty hot even thought it was that late in the day. Tons of people had been leaving as we went into the park, but there were still plenty of people there. We had thought the lazy river at BB was bigger than the one at TL and we were right. A CM said it was a ¼ mile around. After three laps we headed out, we didn’t think we could do another and still be ok on time. It was a fantastic couple of hours, mom had an excellent idea to go to BB. We had contemplated just going to the resort pool but this was a much better idea. We didn’t have to wait more than 5 minutes for a bus and were back to the room around 7:00.

We watched the animals for a little bit before getting cleaned up. Our plan was to head to Epcot when we were ready.

Sorry these are a little blurry, but I need a few pictures in this update.







Well, even though we had the excellent plan to head to Epcot we both decided it would be a much better idea just to stay in and watch the new Alice in Wonderland. Now that that was decided we needed to figure out dinner. I made us some fruit smoothies as an appetizer, we were trying to finish up the fruit before we left. Then we went to get our old stand by, the veggie flatbread. down at the Mara. I forgot to take a picture so this is the same one as before, just in case you guys forgot what it looked like.



We split the pizza, had some microwave popcorn, and finished up the zebra domes. Mom was falling asleep so I stopped the movie at 10:30. I’m glad we didn’t try to go to Epcot because both of us were quite tired. We had been invited to a breakfast at BLT when I bought the VGF points, but we would have to be there between 8:00-8:15 and would have to pack before leaving. I thought that would make for a stressful last morning so we decided not to go. It would have been a different story if it hadn’t been our last day. I enjoyed a nice soak in the tub before heading to sleep. Loved that tub. I knew the 1BR would spoil us. Its for the better though, I couldn’t imagine vacations being more enjoyable but the extra amenities really add to the vacation experience.

 

[Pinkocto]

Final Day of Vacation:

I managed to drag myself out of bed at 8:10, I kept hitting the snooze button. I had woke up at 6:30 but mom was still asleep so I went back to sleep as well. When I finally woke up I went out to enjoy the animals. There was lots of activity. My lens kept fogging up, this wasn’t a problem I’d encountered before.









Mom finally came out and helped me fix the lens.











We did a last load of laundry while we packed up and took showers. Then sat down with fruit smoothies and watched the rest of Alice in Wonderland. Mom loved it. I knew she would. We finally left the room at 11:02. I remembered to leave the do not disturb sign so they wouldn’t knock 5 million times. I hate when they knock the last morning. It stresses me out, leave me alone to enjoy the last minutes of my vacation! The sign did its job and nobody knocked. We finally headed out and went down the airline check-in.

We saw this bird and its mate every time we walked to the room, but never saw the eggs. It was too cool.



On the same savannah





I wanted to see if they could change our seats, they had checked us in but we didn’t have seats together. Unfortunately we’d have to ask at the airport. We left our bags and headed down to the pool. I thought we’d go to AK the last morning, but mom didn’t want to rush and just wanted to relax at the pool.

The fruit smoothie didn’t fill me up and I needed something else to eat. We stopped in at the Mara, no surprise there, and got some lunch. This flatbread usually comes with chicken but we get it without the chicken. It has quite a spicy sauce and is much more filling than the veggie flatbread. You can see how much cheese is on there.





We had about four hours before our DME pick up and made the most of it. After enjoying our delicious lunch we found some loungers by the pool and soaked up some rays. We went in the pool a few times, it was nice and hot. We also read books and I caught up on the Dis. It was a fabulous afternoon.





When it was time we headed out and changed in the bathrooms by the pool. I had no idea there was such a nice bathroom by the pool. I had always gone inside to the one by the restaurants. Mom had found the one that has changing room and showers. We went out to wait for the bus and our driver was about ten minutes late. Then when we were all boarded he left us without a word and went into the resort. Turns out he was waiting for a large group of people that finally showed up another ten minutes later in a taxi. They had tons of shopping bags with them. To say I was irritated would be an understatement. Neither the driver nor the late comers apologized. Needless to say he did NOT get a tip.

We had a smooth ride to the airport and after the usual obligatory stop in the Disney store we headed to security. We chose the left side because the line was shorter, problem was we were behind the most annoying child. He talked nonstop the whole time in line and was very mean to his little brother. Finally through security and away from him and his family we made our way to our gate. We prayed we were not on the same plan with that annoying child, what could be the chances.

At the gate they tried to change our seats but it wasn’t possible, the plane was full. She was able to get us right behind each other, but not next to each other. At some point I went to the bathroom and when I came back mom pointed out some new additions to our waiting area. Yes, the utterly annoying child with his family. What were the chances! I went and got us some drinks and snacks before we boarded and quickly they called the boarding zones. Mom went in first and when I finally got in there, who would you believe was sitting right behind mom was the annoying child and his father. How could this possible be!? I offered to switch spots with her but she refused. Ok, when I say annoying, I mean really annoying. I think this child must have had some mental problem. ADD or something like that. He would start screaming for no reason. His dad would lean forward to talk to someone and the child would say, ‘sit back, SIT BACK!’ It was so awful. This child had absolutely no limits put on him, he would say and do whatever he wanted, loudly. All this before we even left the gate. We were late leaving, they were overbooked, and they offered two free flights for each person who would give up their seat. I tried to convince mom, but when she finally agreed they had found three people to switch. To say it was the worst flight I’ve ever been on would be accurate, same for mom, and we’ve both flown a lot. The boy kept up with his yelling and overall horribleness the whole flight. Our nerves were absolutely frazzled by the time we landed. We really should have taken the two free flights and gone the next day. We finally landed and even though we were at the gate we couldn’t get out of the plane for a good twenty minutes. What an ending to such a fabulous trip.


Thanks to everyone for reading along. Despite the horrible ending this was really a magical trip. It had a totally different feeling than the rest of the trips we’ve done. Totally a go with the flow and relaxed trip, no pressure at all. We loved the water parks, and will incorporate them in future trips when the weather is hot enough. I’m still over the moon about my purchase of the VGF points, and will be doing a short trip, 5 days, there in December. Mom is able to join me and we are both really looking forward to it.