Help me plan - 2024 trip

[Choirmom]

My husband and I are planning a trip in 2024 with our 2 kids (both adults not married). DH and I have been to WDW a couple of times. Kids have been to DL many times but never WDW. Tentatively November 28 through December 8 (this allows us to take only 5 vacation days). We will be flying from Seattle. Here are loose plans:

November 28 (Thanksgiving Day) - Travel - Stay at Universal (planning on deluxe for Express Pass). DS is huge Harry Potter fan. Probably not visiting park, just dinner somewhere.
November 29: Universal - Yes, we know it will be packed. None of us are huge roller coaster people (except Disney coasters). Plan to rope drop Diagon Alley. The rest is up in the air. A must do is the Grinch play if they have it (DD is huge Grinch fan).
November 30 (my B-Day): Rope Drop Hogsmeade and stay in parks until late afternoon/evening. Move to Disney.
The rest of the time at WDW. We will take one day off from the parks. I will plan the park days according to extra magic hours (planning to rent DVC Deluxe resorts). We will get one park per day tickets. Last time we were there, DH and I split stayed at Bay Lake Tower and Animal Kingdom Lodge and loved both. Plan on staying there again.

My questions/concerns:

Are we crazy to plan to go this particular week? Most of the trip will be the week after Thanksgiving. Willing to go either the end of October or sometime in November if that is better (less crowded). Our other 2 trips were the end of October (2015 & 2020).

We plan to rent DVC. Will this be difficult this particular week?

Since we are not super wealthy, we plan to get either 2 studios or a one bedroom. They are roughly the same cost. 2 studios would give us more sleeping space, but 1 bedroom would allow us all to be together. Any input would be helpful.

We rented DVC from Daves Vacation Club last time and it went smoothly. How is the DVC Rental Store?

Any other comments/suggestions would be appreciated. Thanks!!!

 

[R&RsMom]

dulpicate

 

[R&RsMom]

We have done several trips in October and just did Dec 1-4. I will tell you the weather was much better in early December. It was gorgeous, and great temps. Thanksgiving was earlier last year so we missed the holiday crowds. Trip was specifically to see all the holiday stuff (such as Candlelight Processional). I’m not going to be able to answer your holiday crowd question. Kids will likely need to be back in school that Monday, but hard to judge if people will pull kids to continue their vacation, or whether most will go before Thanksgiving Day. I kind of suspect the latter.

We rented points for Poly through a Facebook group. I would just say to put in your request to meet the 11-month booking mark for home resorts. the whole period from fall through the holidays i think is low points time for DVC. I started looking for an owner I’m December 2021. I would think the same timeline applies when working with a rentAl agency.

 

[nw6675]

The week after Thanksgiving isn't too bad. The first week of Dec is prime DVC so may be a bit harder to secure.

We've rented through David's and the Rental Store. We've had three issues with the Rental Store and none with David's. That being said, I now will only book through private owners on the board. There are some awesome members on here.

We will be there with you! November 26 to Dec 6! Woot

 

[nw6675]

Also, the 1 bedroom is so nice with laundry and a kitchen. Even if you don't cook, it's nice for drinks and odds and ends. Plus, an extra bathroom at BLT and I think some of AKL.

 

[CamillaF]

Planning a trip from Seattle my self. We went last year around Halloween and am doing a family reunion in August this year.

I rented points for both trips on this board and it worked well to go with the owners directly. I found it less expensive, and I could find owners with the right home resort and book before the 7 month mark. I am sure you will want to do that.

https://www.disboards.com/forums/dvc-rent-transfer.29/

Last time my family of 4 got a studio (we have young kids) I found it too small. This year I got a 1 bed room. I really want a Kitchen as a way to save money. I don't need to go to multiple restaurants everyday. It's fun but the food is not very good.

As for universal it might be worth it to get park hoppers so you can ride the Hogwarts express. It's a fund way to get from park to park and stay in the Potter world.

With the deluxe hotel you get the fast pass for both check in and check out day if you can swing it (they have lots of deals) I would go on the day you check in. Even if just for an hour or two. There is nothing better then night in the potter world and you can skip a line or two.

Have a wonderful trip.

 

[Choirmom]

OP here. Leaning towards the 1 bedroom. My only concern is one of my adult kids on the convertible chair/bed. We are not particularly large people, but not small either.

Thanks for the tips on renting points on this board. Am a bit concerned about doing a private rent, but it sounds like you have had good experiences.

Good idea about possibly doing Universal on arrival. We will have the energy, since coming from the west coast. I will be getting the annual pass for Universal for the hotel discount, plus park hoppers for the family.

For WDW, we'll be doing one park per day.

 

[nw6675]

OP here. Leaning towards the 1 bedroom. My only concern is one of my adult kids on the convertible chair/bed. We are not particularly large people, but not small either.

Thanks for the tips on renting points on this board. Am a bit concerned about doing a private rent, but it sounds like you have had good experiences.

Good idea about possibly doing Universal on arrival. We will have the energy, since coming from the west coast. I will be getting the annual pass for Universal for the hotel discount, plus park hoppers for the family.

For WDW, we'll be doing one park per day.

The pullout chair is the pits to your point. My DD was 9 or 10 and wouldn't sleep on it. But....I'd say they can manage with all the other perks lol

 

[Choirmom]

Yeah. If a 9 year-old won't sleep on it....The other option is me and DD sharing a bed and DH and DS sharing a bed.

 

[CamillaF]

OP here. Leaning towards the 1 bedroom. My only concern is one of my adult kids on the convertible chair/bed. We are not particularly large people, but not small either.

Thanks for the tips on renting points on this board. Am a bit concerned about doing a private rent, but it sounds like you have had good experiences.

Good idea about possibly doing Universal on arrival. We will have the energy, since coming from the west coast. I will be getting the annual pass for Universal for the hotel discount, plus park hoppers for the family.

For WDW, we'll be doing one park per day.

Good point about the pull out chair. Both times I rented from this board the owners got the reservation and put it it my account. Once I saw it in my account I paid via Venmo or PayPal. My husband joked that if the room did not work he would make fun of me. But both of the reservations in our split say worked and were Magic.

I liked it so much that I have booked again. I feel confident when I can put the in my MDE account and see the details. This board has some guidelines on what you should do to make sure it’s legit. I recommend looking over those.