Help Planning February 5th - 12th at AKV

[exchanger]

I got really lucky and was able to get two exchanges into Animal Kingdom Lodge Kidani 1 Bedrooms as an RCI member for February 5th - 12th. What's more is that we were both assigned Savannah view rooms. We are really excited.

Our travel group will be the following:
My Family:
Me
My Wife
7 Year old daughter
3 Year old son
3 Year old son

My wife's parents. There is an outside chance that my brother-in-law, sister-in-law, and their 2 year old will join in as well.

Our 7 year old has seen countless commercials of kids staying at animal kingdom and I am sooooooo excited she'll get to experience that. Our twins will be a very fun age, and while I don't expect them to remember much when they are older, I know that the relationships that we build and fun that they have will stay with them a long time.

I'll be straightforward, I am a bit of a cheapskate.

Originally, I was thinking it would be fun to hit up the parks for just a day or two and spend lots of time enjoying the savannah view, the pools, and activities at the resort. It's now starting to sink in that the activities at AKV will still be pretty limited (i.e. we won't be able to go to community hall and do crafts).

I have done a bit of a 180 and I have decided that this is a great opportunity and we are now considering getting at least 6 or 7 days in the parks. I don't want to feel like we have to do "EVERYTHING" at each park each day as I hope to still spend time enjoying the resort.

When we were APs at Disneyland, our then 3 year old daughter's favorite activity was meeting characters, so we got into a pretty good groove of getting to the parks before open, got all the rides we wanted in, and then we just slowed down as the parks filled up and enjoyed entertainment / character interactions with the occasional slow dark ride mixed in. I'm sad that our boys may not get to experience that, but I am certain we will enjoy the parks in many other ways.

Our boys are tall. One is 40 inches currently and the other is 39 inches. I am certain they will both meet the all too critical 40 inch height by the time we go.

I have planned several disney trips so I was comfortable with all the old rules (i.e. when to get fast passes, etc). However, COVID has changed the rules, and I'm just wondering what tips you can provide.

I realize none of us knows what the future holds, but do you think there is any chance that some entertainment options return (i.e. parades, shows at Cinderella castle, some type of modified character greetings) return? I know how much these types of activities eat up crowds which has a big impact on wait times for rides. I'm sure Disney would like to increase their capacity a bit, but wants to make sure guests have a good experience. Of the activities that are missing, what is your best guess as to what may return.

As I was writing this post, I read that character meals are starting to return at some restaurants so is there hope that some of that may return in a modified fashion?

I'd appreciate any discussion on the following:
1) What are your tips for our family in a COVID world. Consider our dates, family, and where we are staying. Any help is GREATLY appreciated
2) Feel free to speculate on some things that may return by the time of our visit. I haven't kept as up to date as I would like, so feel free to let me know on what may have returned that our kids would love (given that they would be fascinated by parades, character interactions, any shows, etc).

Thanks!

 

[DebLovesPooh]

Congrats on such an exciting RCI exchange!

Here are my tips:

1. AKV doesn’t have too many doing options right now. Sanaa at Kidani allows mobile ordering now, but nothing is open at Jambo and I don’t expect that to change. I don’t know if you all like to cook when you’re on vacation, but I really do and make sure we do a grocery shop the day we arrive. If you won’t have a rental car, you may want to do a grocery order to be able to have more convenient options. As much as I love Sanaa, I wouldn’t want it every day.

2. You will be there during the Festival of the Arts at Epcot. I wouldn’t miss it. It’s my favorite festival!

3. You now need to make reservations to enter each park each day. Right now Disney is allowing people to buy park hoppers for 2021, but they haven’t issued any guidance as to how they will work with park reservations being one park per day. There is some speculation that park hopping will end up not being allowed and people will have to get refunds on those hopper tickets.

4. I don’t expect character meets in the parks to increase by Feb. I think they will just add more impromptu character cavalcades. These are unscheduled, to us, brief appearances of characters walking/floating by. I do expect more character meals to pop up.

5. I do expect more park shows to return, but with very limited seating. Expect to get to shows at DHS much earlier, especially with no fast passes.

Have fun planning!

Deb

 

[exchanger]

Congrats on such an exciting RCI exchange!

Here are my tips:

1. AKV doesn’t have too many doing options right now. Sanaa at Kidani allows mobile ordering now, but nothing is open at Jambo and I don’t expect that to change. I don’t know if you all like to cook when you’re on vacation, but I really do and make sure we do a grocery shop the day we arrive. If you won’t have a rental car, you may want to do a grocery order to be able to have more convenient options. As much as I love Sanaa, I wouldn’t want it every day.

2. You will be there during the Festival of the Arts at Epcot. I wouldn’t miss it. It’s my favorite festival!

3. You now need to make reservations to enter each park each day. Right now Disney is allowing people to buy park hoppers for 2021, but they haven’t issued any guidance as to how they will work with park reservations being one park per day. There is some speculation that park hopping will end up not being allowed and people will have to get refunds on those hopper tickets.

4. I don’t expect character meets in the parks to increase by Feb. I think they will just add more impromptu character cavalcades. These are unscheduled, to us, brief appearances of characters walking/floating by. I do expect more character meals to pop up.

5. I do expect more park shows to return, but with very limited seating. Expect to get to shows at DHS much earlier, especially with no fast passes.

Have fun planning!

Deb

Thank You! I don't think that will be a problem that AKV doesn't have much in the way of dining options. I am planning on getting an instacart delivery or two and making most breakfasts and likely dinners in the unit. Lunch will likely be at the parks on most days.

I guess I need to start to nail down when we should visit each park.

Character Cavalcades would be fun and I'm sure our kids will like that.

It may be worthwhile to try and get a character dining experience in -- I'll set up a calendar reminder for 60 days.