GusFamily's Spring Break Trip - March 2011 - Animal Kindgom Villas - Jambo House

[GusMan]

Who/When/Where:

Who: GusMan & Mrs. GusMan - DVC members
Co-Staring - GoofyGirl (16), GusJr. (6)
Dates: March 25 - April 3, 2011
Travel Method: Personal Vehicle - The Wagon King Family Truckster - Mk II.
Resort: Disneys Animal Kingdom Villas - Jambo House
Experience: Uber-Experienced. This was be our 4th trip to AKV.

Background:
After our mega-long summer trip of 2010, we decided that we were going to try to do two smaller trips in 2011. So the Mrs. called up DVC Member Services and got things set up for a value studio room at AKV - which happened to be located at Jambo House. We have been at JH a couple other times and this was going to give us a good comparison with our 2010 Kidani stay. AKV was not really our first choice, to be honest, but it was the best choice for saving some DVC points in the process as our ultimate plan was to stay at BLT in October. (More on that later.) Regardless, we were looking forward to AKV and it also happens to be GusJr's favorite resort.

Planning:
We knew that in order to do two trips, we were going to have to drive down for at least one of them. Not a problem - been there, done that. I made arrangements for some stays using Hilton points to save on costs. We were going to make a stop in Franklin, KY on the way down and then finish the trip on the second day. Because we were going to get in a little later, I also got a room at the Hilton @ Downtown Disney for free as well. On the return trip, we planned on staying just south of Atlanta as well. About $300 worth of hotel stays for free - not bad in anyone's book.

The Mrs. booked a couple ADR's in the process, including Chef Mickey's, Ohana, and the Garden Grill. The Garden Grill would be a new one for us, and we were looking forward to something different. Chef Mickey's is a trip fave for us, and it was a while since we been to Ohana. Additionally, we were planning on enjoying Wishes from the Poly's beach.

Checked Touringplans.com and all seemed like the crowds were going to be reasonable for that time. It looked like everything was falling into place.

As a part of our travel budget, I put in funds to maintain the truck so we can have a safe trip. Over the Winter months, I was able to take care of a few things, doing much of the work myself. Downfall is that now I think I need a heated garage if I am going to do something like this again.

So... How did the few weeks go approaching our departure date? Stay tuned for part 2.

[GusMan]

Days one and two - travel days.
Because our school district frowns on taking the kids out of school, we decided to leave our home area right after Jr. got out of class. The Mrs. and I spent the day loading up the truck and making sure that we had everything. Of course, this was pretty much a simple event as the dining room has been "vacation central" for the past month. Everything that was going was staged there. Every day it seemed like there was something else that needed to be included. But being that this was not our first trip, I knew that the Mrs. had things under control.

We packed the cooler with PB&J's, fresh cheese from Fair Oaks Farms, and a variety of beverages. It was our hope that we would just eat in the car and not have to stop. After all, experience told us that we would not have to stop for gas till our first hotel stay, even though we knew that we would need at least one bio break on the way down.

We left about 30 minutes behind schedule, which is pretty darn good considering all the little things we had to get ready. And off we go, heading south, 7.5 hrs to Franklin, KY., which is 2 miles north of the TN/KY border.

We were making great time following the speed limit. We missed the Friday rush hour traffic in Indy and all seemed well. We stopped just north of the KY border for a quick break and on we went. We were on track to be at our hotel around 11PM. However, there appeared to be construction in the middle of KY that took 3 lanes of traffic down to one. That may not usually be an issue but most of IL and IN were using I-65 as their route to warmer weather. We were stuck in traffic for 2 hours crawling at 3 MPH. This screwed up my entire fuel plan and I managed to wiggle my way through traffic to the right hand lane so we can fuel up in Elizabethtown, KY.

With the truck filled, and me paying for a bottle of Sun Drop (yum!) the local behind the counter started chatting with us. She mentioned a route that would bypass all the traffic and it was real easy to do. We followed her directions and it cut off at least 2 more hours of delays. 5 miles later, we were back on I65. We arrived at our hotel (Hampton Inn) 2 hrs late. A good night sleep ensued. I used points for the room, so it was even nicer.

The next day, after a good breakfast at the hotel, we got on the road for another 12 hours of driving. Our destination this time: The Hilton at DTD. ETA: 9PM. The trip was rather uneventful at first, which was nice. However, heavy rains covered us while going through the mountains in TN and through parts of GA. At times, it slowed us down to a crawl. The only real drawback to those delays was that we were not able to get to the Florida Visitors Center before they closed. After all, when you get to FL, you have to get your free sample of OJ! Disappointed, we laughed about it and moved on.

We arrived at DTD around 9:15. We decided to park and get a late dinner. We decided on T-Rex as we had good meals there in the past. It was only like a 20 min wait, but it ended up being less time than that. I had tortellini with chicken and the Mrs. and my daughter shared a full slab of ribs. (They were great!) Jr. had a cheese pizza, which is his fave. We ended the meal with the Chocolate Extinction. It was more show than good eats, but it was chocolate - and there is nothing wrong with that.

We headed back to the truck and made it over to the Hilton. We grabbed our overnight bag and headed to our room. (Once again - free - on points!!) We pretty much crashed as soon as our heads hit the pillow.

In the morning, I woke up to a nice view of some of the DTD hotels. It looked like it was going to be a real nice day for touring as this would be our first day at the parks.

However, some issues lurked around the corner.... Stay tuned for the next installment.

[Barberella]

Ooooh...a cliffhanger...

...and I had a little giggle at your family using the dining room table as a place for staging the things to be packed - I do that too.

[mickeymom5]

I am on the edge of my seat...can't wait to hear all about your trip...

[WdwGurl4life]

Definitely waiting for more Gusmannn

[disneysteph]

Can't wait for more!!!!!! Hurry

[TinaMouse]

Hey GusMan, get writing! You're off this weekend, right? LOL!

[mlcrdh]

More...more! Please don't leave us hanging!

[danyoung]

Can't wait to hear more!!!

[MilliMouse]

Hi GusMan. Even if you can't post more of your report right now, I'd love any tips you have on making the drive from Chicagoland/Indy area.

[ericles]

More...more! Please don't leave us hanging!

Ditto! Enjoying the trip report so far, looking forward to the rest!

[ericles]

(edit)

[ericles]

[B] However, some issues lurked around the corner.... Stay tuned for the next installment.

staying tuned in! looking forward to the next installment...

[Tanman]

staying tuned in! looking forward to the next installment...

as am I