A Blizzard in July PTR

[mom24girlz]

This probably won't be a "normal" PTR, but I needed somewhere to get my ideas and options out o‪f my head and hopefully get some feedback and suggestions from the experts.

Backstory: We are in the process of saving up for seasonal passes (we are fl residents) and expect to be able to purchase them in early August. We are a homeschool/work from home family so being able to go in the off season works great for our schedule and our finances. In 2010/2011 we did the weekday select passes which allowed us to visit the 4 parks on weekdays only with lots of blackout dates, but we wouldn't want to be there during most of the blackout dates anyway (crowds). The trip from our driveway to the MK parking lot is a little less than 2 hours.

So we've been getting all excited, watching Disney movies, and watching our Disney money grow I guess one of our daughters got a little over excited and announced that all she wants for her birthday in July is to go to Blizzard Beach. We've never been to Blizzard Beach. We visited Typhoon Lagoon once about 10 years ago, but we have passes to Adventure Island which is a water park a little closer to us.

This will likely be the crew for this trip: Me, DH, DD14 (turning 15 - birthday girl), DD12 and possible DD20 and grandbaby 3 months.

Sorry about the pics, I don't know how to make them smaller.

So, now my challenge is to figure out how to make it happen without going into our Annual Pass savings fund. As I see it now we have these options:

Drive down for the day, purchase 1 day tix to BB = $58pp, have a blast, then drive back home.
or
Drive down stay 1 night somewhere (hopefully in the $85 range), visit BB one day and either Typhoon Lagoon the next by purchasing the after 2 water park passes $62pp or $117pp for the Water Park Annual Pass.
or
Stay 1 night somewhere (hopefully in the $85 range), visit BB one day and enjoy our hotel the next day visiting Downtown Disney after checking out and have her birthday dinner at Rainforest Cafe. I'm working on earning giftcards for the Rainforest Cafe with Swagbucks right now.
or
Stay 2 nights somewhere and purchase the Water Parks + Disney Quest pass which is $148pp. Visit BB one day, DQ one day, and TL one day. This is attractive because this pass along with our Seasonal passes would mean we have access to all of Disney, but it also add about $600 to a trip that we hadn't even planned on taking until a couple days ago.

Like I said, not your typical TR, only 1-3 days, no ADR's, no parks.

 

[mom24girlz]

Small update: We have decided to stay 2 nights because this will be the only summer vacation we take. We will be doing lots of Disney starting in September, but we won't be doing any other summer trips. We also booked Buena Vista suites at $109 at night. That may change, but that is where we are staying right now. I'm not familiar with them, so if you've stayed their please share your experience. We booked them because the rooms looked spacious and close to Disney. If dd20 and grandbaby come with us, we would be spending at least $200 a night and we can't swing that this trip. We are also 90% sure that we are going to do the regular water park APs rather than the after 2pm APs. DH reminded me that we live in Florida and we afternoon thunderstorms. I would love to add the Disney Quest option but I'm not sure we can afford that right now.

So this is what I'm thinking right now-
Day 1 - Check in at our hotel, hang out at the pool, find an Applebees or Steak n Shake (we have giftcards for both) for dinner
Day 2 - Breakfast at hotel (free), Blizzard Beach when they open until early afternoon, then possibly visit Animal Kingdom Lodge (both girls really want to see it) and look around, next visit the Polynesian have a snack at Captain Cook's? (I think thats the name), head back to the hotel get ready for dinner then go to either Applebees or Steak n Shake
Day 3 - Breakfast at hotel (free) and checkout, Typhoon Lagoon when they open until early afternoon, then head to Downtown Disney to hang out and have an early dinner at Rainforest Cafe (I am working on a gift card thru Swagbucks), then get on the road and head home.

Questions for the experts:
Does anyone have experience with Buena Vista Suites?
When I was in middle school our youth group visited a nature type park at Disney and if I recall correctly it was either free or just a couple bucks to get in. It seems to me that it was a little Island. I can't find it on the DW site. Someone was telling me that I must be talking about River Country, but I'm almost sure I'm not. I went to River Country growing up, but this place wasn't a water park. There weren't any kind of rides or anything like that. Does anyone know what I'm talking about? Am I remember wrong that it was at Disney?
Does visiting AKL and the Polynesian after BB make sense? Are there other resorts that it would make more sense to visit and have a bite to eat?
TIA!