***Official November 2022 Thread***

[snikki]

Maybe this group can help weigh in. We have ONE night at a Disney hotel to hang with our friends before moving over to Universal. We arrive (all together on same flight) relatively early Wednesday and it will be a resort day. Thursday will be our one park day and once we are done with the parks, we will return to the hotel to pick up our stored bags and then Uber over to Universal hotel.

Choices for hotel:

Swan booked "free" on Marriott points. Means hotel/resort time on our own before meeting friends in park.

OR

Join our friends at Bay Lake Tower/Contemporary so we can be at the resort with them/pool and travel to/from the parks. Obviously $$$$$$, but maybe we can do a one night DVC rental for slightly "less"

Friends vs. money......really stuck........

Another thought is they could add you onto the room reservation and you pay the $25 or $35 extra adult fee if they aren’t over the limit of people allowed. Or they could add you as a day guest. With both options I believe you’d be able to use all of the resort amenities. I’ve never done these myself but have read about them on here many times.

If those aren’t an option I would probably splurge on BLT for the one night if I could rent points. Since it’s the one night and not a week long vacation.

 

[kimberwee]

Joining the group! We have booked an extended family Thanksgiving Week Trip.
DD, DH and I will be heading down on the 19th for 2 nights at Beach Club in a 1BR
We then head over to Kidani for the week, were we will meet up with the rest of the Family, from the 21st through the 26th.

Can't wait!

 

[JJ2017]

Another thought is they could add you onto the room reservation and you pay the $25 or $35 extra adult fee if they aren’t over the limit of people allowed. Or they could add you as a day guest. With both options I believe you’d be able to use all of the resort amenities. I’ve never done these myself but have read about them on here many times.

If those aren’t an option I would probably splurge on BLT for the one night if I could rent points. Since it’s the one night and not a week long vacation.

Oh wow-great info for me to look into!

 

[Jellybean9]

Maybe this group can help weigh in. We have ONE night at a Disney hotel to hang with our friends before moving over to Universal. We arrive (all together on same flight) relatively early Wednesday and it will be a resort day. Thursday will be our one park day and once we are done with the parks, we will return to the hotel to pick up our stored bags and then Uber over to Universal hotel.

Choices for hotel:

Swan booked "free" on Marriott points. Means hotel/resort time on our own before meeting friends in park.

OR

Join our friends at Bay Lake Tower/Contemporary so we can be at the resort with them/pool and travel to/from the parks. Obviously $$$$$$, but maybe we can do a one night DVC rental for slightly "less"

Friends vs. money......really stuck........

What Disney park are you doing on your one day? Because if it’s Epcot or Hollywood Studios I would stick with the Swan because you can walk. The pool at the Contemporary isn’t anything special so I wouldn’t lose sleep about not having access to it. The best part of Contemporary/Bay Lake Tower is it’s proximity to the Magic Kingdom. If that is important to you, then I would stay there.

 

[JJ2017]

What Disney park are you doing on your one day? Because if it’s Epcot or Hollywood Studios I would stick with the Swan because you can walk. The pool at the Contemporary isn’t anything special so I wouldn’t lose sleep about not having access to it. The best part of Contemporary/Bay Lake Tower is it’s proximity to the Magic Kingdom. If that is important to you, then I would stay there.

That's true. I don't know what parks yet - just joining in whatever our friends decide since it's their first time and we have been many. It will very likely be Magic Kingdom.

 

[MomOTwins]

Well we finally have our rooms booked! We are DVC owners so we can book our home resort at 11 months and other resorts at 7 months. I couldn't get a full week at my home resort (Riviera) in a standard studio, so was hoping to fill the gap with a split stay at another resort, and when our 7 month window opened yesterday, I nabbed one right at 8am EST! So excited: we will be 3 nights at Riviera following by 4 nights at the Poly. Should be perfect for doing EP/HS at Riv and MK/AK from Poly. Lapu Lapus here I come! Can't wait!

 

[snikki]

I’m exactly 6 months away!

 

[CeeCee101]

Woohoo! Just booked split stay 11/14 Swan for 5 days and then on to contemporary for last 2 days. DH birthday in that week. Made PRs but switched around, hopefully set now, have to do ADRs when can.

 

[npatellye]

That's true. I don't know what parks yet - just joining in whatever our friends decide since it's their first time and we have been many. It will very likely be Magic Kingdom.

Can you wait until they pick a park and then decide? Because if they plan on hopping it could be great to start at MK and then head over to Epcot or HS after, and I feel like Swan/Dolphin would be great for that.

 

[Memorymakerfor4]

Life got busy and I just realized we're under the 200 day mark for our trip! We started talking about park tickets last night, I'd like to purchase before prices go up. Given MNSSHP is back, I'm assuming MVMCP will be as well.

I'm just not sure if we want to go or not. Last time, the kids were so tired they lost their minds, and we left after the parade. I would've had more fun if we'd just dumped all the money wasted for those tickets in the fountain for charity. However, it's been a few years, so maybe the kids would fare better. Hmm.

What's everyone else doing?

 

[Jellybean9]

We love the Christmas party (more than the Halloween party) but I hesitate to spend $600-$750 on the event when it is so late at night. I will be curious to see if they limit attendance at the Halloween party to justify the increased ticket cost. We will probably skip and instead do the extended hours at MK on Monday night for deluxe guests.

 

[CeeCee101]

we haven’t been to WDW for 12 years, will they do one or the other? In other words, return of the regular Christmas party OR the extended hours party or will they do BOTH?

 

[Memorymakerfor4]

we haven’t been to WDW for 12 years, will they do one or the other? In other words, return of the regular Christmas party OR the extended hours party or will they do BOTH?

If they do what they’re doing for Halloween, they’ll replace the after hours with the party.

 

[snikki]

We did MVMCP in 2018 and I don’t know if we’re gonna do it this year. We enjoyed it but it was so crowded. I’m a huge Xmas freak so I enjoy the fireworks and parade and all of the holiday extras. We really don’t go for the rides. One thing that’s bugging me Is that they are most likely going to do a party on our last night and it’s tradition for me to have my last night be at MK. So that plays into it for me too. I will see prices then decide. We would go to the 11/11 party which is a Friday night.

 

[npatellye]

Life got busy and I just realized we're under the 200 day mark for our trip! We started talking about park tickets last night, I'd like to purchase before prices go up. Given MNSSHP is back, I'm assuming MVMCP will be as well.

I'm just not sure if we want to go or not. Last time, the kids were so tired they lost their minds, and we left after the parade. I would've had more fun if we'd just dumped all the money wasted for those tickets in the fountain for charity. However, it's been a few years, so maybe the kids would fare better. Hmm.

What's everyone else doing?

We are on the fence. It really depends because my girls are both under 10 and staying up is tough for my younger one (she’ll be 7 when we go); she struggled even with extended evening hours until 10 pm in January. I’m waiting to see when MVMCP is and what the extended evening hours calendar will look like for our trip. I we would only do MVMCP on a day when our APs are blocked out.

 

[JJ2017]

I'm kind of missing the 6 month ADR time period. We always go the same week in November and this is usually the time we book our meals! I've been panting scenarios of our 1 and only park day in my head since this will be a universal trip. Hearing all about Cosmic Rewind makes me want our 1 day to be at Epcot! Plus if it continues with extended hours on Wednesdays, that will be a bonus. And Food and Wine........and we really want to experience Space 220. If Tron opens though....that will make us change course I'm sure!

 

[npatellye]

Minor change of plans: we’re shifting to Vero Beach for a change of pace from right before Thanksgiving to a few days after. It’ll be a long ride back to MCO but we’re really looking forward to doing something different and relaxing while our APs are blocked out.

The rest of our stay is still at BWV in a 1 bedroom.

 

[MomOTwins]

We love the Christmas party (more than the Halloween party) but I hesitate to spend $600-$750 on the event when it is so late at night. I will be curious to see if they limit attendance at the Halloween party to justify the increased ticket cost. We will probably skip and instead do the extended hours at MK on Monday night for deluxe guests.

I'm right there with you. For the price of party tickets, we can upgrade to park hoppers for the duration of our stay, AND add Genie+. Both of those things feel like a better use of money to me.

We've been twice to MVMCP, back when the prices were a bit more reasonable, and even at lower prices I questioned the value. The kids did not last much longer than the first parade, the entertainment at the hub was so crowded--worse than HEA if you can believe it (people were standing and completely filling the designated walking routes, so you literally couldn't move--it took us 45 minutes to get from main street to liberty square), characters were multi-hour waits, and the reduction in ride wait times was not as good as we hoped it would be (still waited 30 minutes for most rides and more for headliners). We did enjoy the castle lighting ceremony and the cookies and cocoa, but not sure that is worth $200 per person, especially as we can see the castle lighting from across the lake at the Poly beach or (hopefully open by November) the Top of the World lounge for free. They just massively oversold the party IMO on the theory that people will pay anything to have the perfect big blowout family Christmas. Maybe that would have been true for us a year or two ago, but I feel like inflation and the damage the stock market has done to our savings has made me much more budget conscious for our trip this year.

Minor change of plans: we’re shifting to Vero Beach for a change of pace from right before Thanksgiving to a few days after. It’ll be a long ride back to MCO but we’re really looking forward to doing something different and relaxing while our APs are blocked out.

The rest of our stay is still at BWV in a 1 bedroom.

We strongly considered this, and I think you are making a good call. We stayed at Vero for Easter because we wanted to get away from the theme park crowds, and it was heavenly--not crowded at all, just beach and pool and good food and drinks. Wind & Waves was spectacular--make sure you book early and note that you have to book it via opentable; it isn't available in MDE/the app. But my kids miss our "home" (Riviera) so we're going to brave Thanksgiving theme park crowds this year.... eek.

 

[npatellye]

We strongly considered this, and I think you are making a good call. We stayed at Vero for Easter because we wanted to get away from the theme park crowds, and it was heavenly--not crowded at all, just beach and pool and good food and drinks. Wind & Waves was spectacular--make sure you book early and note that you have to book it via opentable; it isn't available in MDE/the app. But my kids miss our "home" (Riviera) so we're going to brave Thanksgiving theme park crowds this year.... eek.

Riviera is also one of our “homes”! We’ve been exploring the other resorts for 1 and 2 bedrooms (VGF, BLT, OKW which is our other “home”, BCV, AKV, and soon to be BWV) and Poly for a quick studio stay so far but we’ve done one stay in the 1 bedroom at RIV and it was by far our favorite.

Thank you for the heads up about Wind & Waves! I’ll definitely book it via OpenTable.

I hope you have an amazing trip!

 

[Memorymakerfor4]

I'm right there with you. For the price of party tickets, we can upgrade to park hoppers for the duration of our stay, AND add Genie+. Both of those things feel like a better use of money to me.

We've been twice to MVMCP, back when the prices were a bit more reasonable, and even at lower prices I questioned the value. The kids did not last much longer than the first parade, the entertainment at the hub was so crowded--worse than HEA if you can believe it (people were standing and completely filling the designated walking routes, so you literally couldn't move--it took us 45 minutes to get from main street to liberty square), characters were multi-hour waits, and the reduction in ride wait times was not as good as we hoped it would be (still waited 30 minutes for most rides and more for headliners). We did enjoy the castle lighting ceremony and the cookies and cocoa, but not sure that is worth $200 per person, especially as we can see the castle lighting from across the lake at the Poly beach or (hopefully open by November) the Top of the World lounge for free. They just massively oversold the party IMO on the theory that people will pay anything to have the perfect big blowout family Christmas. Maybe that would have been true for us a year or two ago, but I feel like inflation and the damage the stock market has done to our savings has made me much more budget conscious for our trip this year.

For the price of party tickets, we just booked a condo on a beach for three nights this summer. The more we thought about it, the more absurd it is for our family. Maybe when the kids are older.