I Have A Dream...

I knew that you're last trip couldn't possibly be your "last trip." You weren't fooling anyone.

November 5th-19th will largely be a transition time in the Parks as all of the Fall festooning comes down and the Holiday swag gets put up all over. The Magic Kingdom will get its holiday decor first because of the Very Merry Christmas Party, then followed by the other Parks, and Resorts. Kids are not out of school for Thanksgiving yet during this time period so crowds will be pretty low. I think that the weather at this time of year is beautiful, just a touch cooler than what you experienced in October.

AKL is further away from the Parks, and that is a downpoint to some. But the overall resort is so luxurious it's a pretty finicky issue, what does that really mean, on one or two days you have to spend an extra 20 minutes on a bus? Oh no. If you get a savanna view room, request one on the lower floors (the 3rd is my favorite at Jambo House) for better animal viewing. Personally, I'm in love with the AKL Jambo standard pool view.

Very Merry Party should be going on beginning that first week at Magic Kingdom, and you should also be able to catch the tail end of food & wine festival at Epcot.

My choice would be November 5th-19th.

Welcome back Watchmaker!
My vote is also the 5-19. We went during that time in 2013 and loved it. The weather was nice and it wasn't too crowded. The F&W festival goes until November 16 this year too

i agree with spook and Kristen, the earlier dates will find it lower crowd levels which is a huge deal for me, I love low crowds

I also didn't think your last trip could possibly be your last trip, disney is too good! AKL is beautiful, just stunning. Its as far from MK as the MK resorts are from AK which people seem to forget. I spend a lot of time in AK as well as the other parks so I guess it doesn't matter so much to me, however those who spend more of their time in MK I can understand where they are coming from.

Are you planning for 2015 or 2016?

Either way, go for the 5th to 19th time frame. The 12th to 26th will run you right into the USA's Thanksgiving holiday and crowds will be enormous.

We went 3rd - 18th November 2013. Perfect timing for us and we would go that time again. You get F&W at the start of your trip and they are just starting to put the Xmas decorations up by the end. The weather is pleasant, the crowds are generally moderate although we did have our busiest ever MK experience during this trip.

I'd go with 5th through 19th like everyone else. You'll definitely see large crowds of people who take the entire week of Thanksgiving off in Disney World from what I've seen. If you're going in 2016, keep in mind that Thanksgiving in 2016 is the 24th of November so expect big crowds all week long from the 21st to the 27th of November 2016.

The only slight uptick of crowds would be during Jersey Week where NJ schools close on 10th and 11th in 2016 of November because of the state-wide teacher's convention.

I'd say do the 5th through 19th. You'll save yourself a lot of time, headaches and money.

Welcome back! You have been missed

I think that timing would be perfect - before the Thankgiving madness, and I would bet the weather is fantastic. We've been there in mid- to late September, and the heat and humidity can be horrendous, and we've been there the first week of December, where the mornings can start out a little chilly but the late morning and afternoons are spectacular.

Let the planning begin!! Or continue. Ha!

Starting on Nov. 5 will have a great bonus attached to it--you'll get to meet me!! LOL. We're not official yet, but I'm tentatively planning to do the wine & dine 1/2 marathon with my bestie that weekend!

We've avoided AKL for the same reason--I love MK and we usually spend part of the day there on at least half of our days every trip. I think there's a more direct way than driving back into the center of things and turning north. I've gotten lost between MK and AKL and I think there is a back way that turns north before you get to EPCOT and DHS, so it might not take as long as you think! It does look like an amazing resort and there's the bonus of some of your favorite dining experiences being there, right?

For a deal like that, how can you pass it up?

I would pick the earlier dates also! Who doesn't want to go for food and wine! I can't wait to stay at AKL. Hopefully around the same time frame!

I agree with the earlier dates too.

Yayyy watchmaker!! I knew you couldn't wait that long!! lol Keeping for lots of money to pay off the trip!! I would have said that same week too, but I just now read this. I have been a busy girl!!

I haven't stayed at WL yet and we only spent one night at AKL last month. However, I loved AKL and can't wait to stay there again! We took the bus to AK which of course is a very short ride and also took it to MK. I didn't find the ride to take too long. MK is my favourite park and where we spend the most time, but I personally would not skip staying at AKL just because of the commute ( even after having stayed at BLT which is about as close to MK as you can get!).

I think you should go with AKL if it's on your son's dream list. If you end up regretting it ( which I doubt you will), then you'll just have to go back to WL next time

I agree completely.

I agree too

As long as you don't mind packing up and moving, I think it sounds like a great plan.

Great plan watchmaker. Your son will be very happy, I'm sure. I have read about lots of people on here splitting their stays at resorts. You should get some feedback soon.

In the fall, we did a split stay on an 11 day trip. We did three resorts--Wilderness Lodge, BLT, and SSR. The only thing to keep in mind is that on switch day, you might be a nomad from the time that you check out until check-in officially opens at 4pm. We were able to get into BLT around 2-2:30 and SSR around 11:30-12. As long as you don't take a mid-day break or you can skip your break that day, you'll be fine.

You won't have this problem in November, but we had planned MNSSHP for switch day and we ended up opting not to deal with costumes because of the uncertainty of whether or not we could get into our room early to change and still be at the party at the very beginning.

We had a rental car, so we just threw our luggage in the car and drove over the new resort on each switch day. If you are in the habit of buying any perishable food, obviously you'll have to finish before moving because you won't have access to a refrigerator for part of that day.

Remember to actually check out and settle your account before leaving. You can usually just leave without "checking out" if you have a credit card on file, but if you're switching resorts, that seemed to cause some extra delay at the next check-in. Magic Bands were not a problem--of course, we had three sets for this trip, but if you just make them all active on your account, you can use them interchangeably regardless of which resort you're at.

I was afraid that doing a split stay would make our vacation feel very choppy, but it actually made it feel longer--it was like we were on three separate vacations in a row! Bonus. The only bummer was that WL was definitely my favorite resort and stayed there first. Had we stayed at BLT only, I would have loved it, but it was a total letdown to switch there!

We are split stayers and have no problems with it. I think you will love both resorts, they were designed by the same guy it's a great way to experience new hotels. We are moving 3 times in 3 weeks when we go in November/December (though only 2 resorts, we are spending some time in club level AKL)

On checkout morning you just call down to bell services and tell them you are moving resorts, they come and collect your bags like normal and give you a ticket, it's no bother at all. You check out as normal, check into your new place later in the day and then go to bell services, hand them your tickets and they bring your bags to your room. Job done.

I'm a bit late to this but Kidani is our home resort and we both love it. We always take the buses and we never seem to wait that long either going to or coming back. Last trip we only had one long wait and that was from AK back to the Lodge and of course it was our last day. Luckily Tragic express was delayed or we would have missed it.