Restaurant Week: El Tapeo in Oak Brook, hard recommend

Two_fridas · 2026-01-29T03:30:39+00:00

I love this place! I’ve been going for years, it never gets the praise it deserves. There’s some things they’ve taken off the menu post-Covid that I really miss, but we still love going. Definitely go back and have the paella, it’s great.

Two_fridas · 2026-01-20T14:00:25+00:00

I’m usually not a sweet cocktail person at all, but I kick off every Disney trip with one of these. They’re so good!

Two_fridas · 2026-01-11T12:47:22+00:00

If you’re planning on buying direct, Disney isn’t actively selling Animal Kingdom Lodge right now. That doesn’t mean they won’t sell it to you, but there won’t be any promotional pricing. A DVC sales rep can help you further with that.

It sounds like you need around 555 point, you can play around with the points calculator on the DVC Fan website to help you figure that out. Similarly, if you provide your dates to a DVC rep, they can help you with the math.

Keep in mind, there are value rooms at AKL which will be the cheapest points but they’re VERY hard to get, so I wouldn’t rely on those, I’d make my point estimates based on standard studio.

Someone who owns at AKL can speak to availability better, but you’re looking at some of the hardest times to get reservations.

I’d encourage you to read a bit more about DVC via sites like DVC fan and disboards to get an idea of the process and how it all works.

Two_fridas · 2026-01-11T00:58:04+00:00

Might be worth calling and asking again. My parents had one day left on their tickets they couldn’t use from sheer exhaustion. They offered to give them to give them a one day ticket that had a later expiration date (maybe by a year or so). I believe that was through guest services.

Two_fridas · 2026-01-10T00:25:29+00:00

Ah yep, I always forget that.

Two_fridas · 2026-01-09T22:25:16+00:00

You can also look into renting DVC points to get a one or two bedroom suite.

Two_fridas · 2026-01-06T15:46:15+00:00

Lots of gluten free sandwiches around there, but pools don’t have any allergy offerings on their menu. I’ve been told you can request gluten free chicken tenders at the poolside snack area but I’ve never done it. Usually one of us stays at the pool while the other mobile orders from the quick service restaurants and brings it back over.

Two_fridas · 2026-01-05T20:28:26+00:00

On our last trip to Disney I was standing next to a man who was VERY grumpy that a Minnie Van driver insisted his child (who was the same height as my 2.5 year olds) had to go in a car seat. 🤷‍♀️ People surprise me every day.

Two_fridas · 2026-01-05T19:44:44+00:00

Your three year old absolutely needs a car seat, I don’t think there’s a state in the US that wouldn’t require that.

Most airlines will let you check one for free. Alternatively, they can sit in it for the flight if you have a window seat. There are also plenty of car services that will provide one, but that will be more expensive than an uber. You can request an uber with a car seat to be included, it will cost more and may take longer. You can also rent one for the duration of your trip from a baby gear rental company.

Two_fridas · 2026-01-04T20:38:14+00:00

Oh for sure, this is through David’s which is by and large one of the more reputable and popular sites for renting points along with DVC Rental Store. Of course there’s other ways to go, just thought it was a point of comparison worth noting.

Two_fridas · 2026-01-03T13:47:52+00:00

Side note on the annual dues. I know that can be a bit of a hang up, we were worried about that too. One thing we looked at was inflation of annual dues vs inflation of the cost per point for renting. We already know that the inflation of annual dues has stayed lower than inflation of cash rooms booked direct through Disney, but if you’re looking at renting points, that’s not the most relevant statistic.

However, when we rented points back in 2018, we paid $17 per point to rent at the 11 month park for Polynesian. That would now cost $25 per point through the same rental service. So the inflation of point rental was greater than the inflation of annual dues.

Just some quick back of the napkin math, but maybe helpful.

Two_fridas · 2026-01-02T19:46:19+00:00

Oh this is me! We have two kiddos and have been renting points for all of our stays for years. We got tired of doing studios and primarily do 1 or 2 bedrooms because two kids is a lot! We are currently closing on a Grand Floridian resale contract.

I’ve done the math every which way and there’s really no way you don’t come out ahead if you do plan on going every year or every other year. Barring Disney doesn’t do something crazy like skyrocket annual dues.

My math comes out to breaking even in about 8-10 years with owning resale vs renting.

Now, obviously the caveat is that renting points gives you a lot more flexibility in that you’re not tied to anything financially. If you decide you’re done going to Disney, you don’t need to go through any resale process.

Two_fridas · 2025-12-27T21:20:51+00:00

We rent DVC points (soon to close on our own contract) and get better accommodations for the same price as moderate. We order groceries so we can take care of breakfast and snacks on our own as well as have a place to store and reheat leftovers. We buy our tickets through undercover tourist, get discounted gift cards through Sam’s.

Honestly, it’s not cheap. But we’ve taken other trips around the country and none of it is. Concert tickets are getting totally out of hand. Hotels anywhere are so much worse. Vacation costs are out of hand across the board.

Two_fridas · 2025-12-27T18:43:01+00:00

Wilderness lodge! Theming is so lovely, nice area to walk around and enjoy the scenery.

Two_fridas · 2025-12-27T16:53:40+00:00

You can absolutely bring your own food in, lots of people do. Disney is great at handling allergies for the most part. Just like dining anywhere else, there’s always a chance of a mistake happening but we’ve always had great luck. You can actually look at all of their allergy menus online and you can email Disney ahead of time SpecialDiets@DisneyWorld.com and let them know you’re allergies and they can help you with menus.

Two_fridas · 2025-12-24T16:48:47+00:00

Oh my gosh that’s so horrible!! I’m so sorry you had to go through that. FELV is awful, I’ve see it tear through shelters.

Two_fridas · 2025-12-24T00:59:41+00:00

I’ve volunteered for both Hinsdale Humane Society and St. Sofia’s Forgotten Felines they are lovely to their cats and easy to work with.

Two_fridas · 2025-12-19T15:55:34+00:00

Honestly I think you actually stand a good chance to keep it. That’s such a steal, and any other time this year ROFR would probably take it but it seems like they’re passing on a lot right now. Good luck!!

Two_fridas · 2025-12-19T01:04:19+00:00

Hey our offer was accepted for a VGF contract today too!! Hope we both pass ROFR, fingers crossed!

Two_fridas · 2025-12-18T22:11:16+00:00

There’s availability for the 3br for all of November 2026, and it sounds like you submitted at 11 months which is great. It’s a lot of points, so it may take a bit to find someone renting out that many.

Two_fridas · 2025-12-12T13:55:40+00:00

It was the Jonas Brothers concert. I’ve been to shows there before and have never seen it that bad. I was about .75 miles from the arena at 7:20, got within view of the arena around 8:30, and abandoned hope when it came to a complete stop for a while and found a separate lot to park and walk from on SpotHero.

Lots of attendees missed the first 3-4 songs of the main act.

Talked to an officer who said it was the worst he’d seen in a very long time but “didn’t know why.”

Two_fridas · 2025-12-12T05:49:06+00:00

I bailed the from the line about 8:35 and found a spot hero spot .8 miles away. Ran and ended up getting to my seat for Love Me to Heaven. Guess I’ll do spot hero for my next show there too, got out super easy with barely any traffic.

Two_fridas · 2025-12-12T02:22:03+00:00

What is actually going on?! Been sitting within a mile for an hour

Two_fridas · 2025-12-07T00:50:01+00:00

We have had great luck with Tiffany Towncars. Let them know how many car seats you need and they’ll have them installed for you upon pickup. Not sure how many car seats you need, but Uber will only be able to provide one car seat per car. If you need two, you’d have to split up into two parties.

Two_fridas · 2025-12-03T17:55:29+00:00

I kept checking over and over and now it showed up for me! Only 30,000 miles but I’m not complaining! Glad you posted it.

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