I won a Disney Cruise! PTR

[ProudMommyof2]

The "official rules" gives you an estimated value of the trip. However, they calculate the "actual" value after they book everything. We won a trip for 3nights that included airfare, park tickets, deluxe hotel (we stayed at the Poly) and $200 gift card. We added 3 nights at our own expense. The "estimated" value was $3500 but the "actual" value ended up being just over $4000 and that is what we had to pay taxes on. It is worth pricing out the trip on your own (as cheaply as possible) and keeping records because if you can show that you could have booked it cheaper, they have to adjust the tax documentation. Here is a good article to read http://contests.about.com/od/taxesfinances/ht/sweepstakestax.htm

Have a blast planning!

 

[nunzia]

Very cool, and loving the thread!

 

[Tommys Mommy]

This is awesome!! I cannot wait to read more about your upcoming cruise!

 

[jns]

congratulations enjoy the planning

 

[Britard]

I am so excited to read all the info that you have posted!!! I played the game too, and I am so happy to read about you winning and what kind of upgrades you chose.

So happy that all us DISboarders get to read your experience!

 

[awtigger]

Congratulations....

Can't wait till hear more.

 

[eyor44]

Cute!

Congrats on the trip, 8 nts, free excursions and airfare included! Sounds like a whole lotta fun!

Enjoy!!!

Thank you. Yes, I really can't believe all that is included.

The "official rules" gives you an estimated value of the trip. However, they calculate the "actual" value after they book everything. We won a trip for 3nights that included airfare, park tickets, deluxe hotel (we stayed at the Poly) and $200 gift card. We added 3 nights at our own expense. The "estimated" value was $3500 but the "actual" value ended up being just over $4000 and that is what we had to pay taxes on. It is worth pricing out the trip on your own (as cheaply as possible) and keeping records because if you can show that you could have booked it cheaper, they have to adjust the tax documentation. Here is a good article to read http://contests.about.com/od/taxesfinances/ht/sweepstakestax.htm

Have a blast planning!

Thank you for the information and web site. I really appreciate your taking the time to post it.

Very cool, and loving the thread!

Thanks!

This is awesome!! I cannot wait to read more about your upcoming cruise!

Thank you.

congratulations enjoy the planning

Thank you.

I am so excited to read all the info that you have posted!!! I played the game too, and I am so happy to read about you winning and what kind of upgrades you chose.

So happy that all us DISboarders get to read your experience!

Thank you. I'm excited to be able to share.

Congratulations....

Can't wait till hear more.

Thanks for joining in.

 

[eyor44]

For the past 4 years, we have spent Thanksgiving at WDW. Yes, it is crowded, but we used to go every couple of years in October, with DS in secondary school, we weren't comfortable taking him out any more. So Thanksgiving it was. We enjoy it and our time there with the kids. Occasionally someone else joins us, but we are really happy when it is just the four of us.

When the date was decided, DH looked at his vacation schedule and realized he wouldn't have the time to do both. We also have our Memorial Day trips and another summer trip to the mountains with his family. So, we decided to cancel our Thanksgiving trip for this year.

But.....we have something completly new this year and we will be at WDW in January for the marathon. It'll be okay.........Right?

 

[kerrydisney46]

It'll be okay.........Right?

Sounds okay to me!

 

[JoshAndEvsMom]

Oh my gosh! That's amazing, congratulations on the win! Thanks for doing a PTR and, I hope, a TR ?? Looking forward to hearing about your adventure!

 

[bbn1122]

I am so thrilled for you....I played that game everyday and for my Dhubby too....it was a fun game....

Enjoy your first DCL out of NYC too....wow!!!

I am going to keep entering those contests!!!

 

[dattlighner<3Disney]

CONGRATS!!!! I played that game too... it was so much FUN!! Enjoy your trip!!

 

[eyor44]

Sounds okay to me!

Oh my gosh! That's amazing, congratulations on the win! Thanks for doing a PTR and, I hope, a TR ?? Looking forward to hearing about your adventure!

Thanks for joining in. I do hope to do a trip report also. I feel so very fortunate to be gifted with this trip and I want to share as much as possible with everyone.

I am so thrilled for you....I played that game everyday and for my Dhubby too....it was a fun game....

Enjoy your first DCL out of NYC too....wow!!!

I am going to keep entering those contests!!!

We are very excited to be going out of New York. DH is from Upstate New York and we visit his family often, but the kids and I have never been to the city.
Keep playing the game. I still am. There is another round going on for a cruise out of Texas next.

CONGRATS!!!! I played that game too... it was so much FUN!! Enjoy your trip!!

Thank you! You need to keep playing also. Same game, different trip.

 

[eyor44]

Passports! We need passports!

We have all been to Canada, but that was years ago before passports were necessary. DH is the only to have traveled outside of the country and that is always for work. His will be easy as he just has to renew his tourist passport, which he has already sent off. The kids and I need to submit for our first ones. Lots of firsts on this trip!

We have the applications fill out but the office in our town is only open 10-2 Mon-Fri. DD has perfect attendance at school and even to take her out at lunch time would ruin that. I finally found an office about 40 minutes away and called today for times and to plead my case. Luckily this office is open until 4:00pm (DD gets out of school at 2:45) and we can be there by 3:30pm baring any traffic problems. The woman I spoke to was very nice and when I explained my problem with school, she said it wouldn't be an issue at all, that they understood and would help us with the entire process. So happy!

My plan is to leave work early, pick up DS at 2:20pm and be to DD's school by 2:40pm. If DD's class comes straight out and we can get back to the car and get out of the parking lot before the rush, we should be just fine getting to the office with time to spare. DH will meet us there as both parents have to be there for minors. There is a form a parent can fill out if they can't be there, but we decided it would just be easier for us both to be there.

I'll let y'all know tomorrow how this worked out for us. Oh, and then we have to get right back to our town for DD's dance class at 4:45pm. I have every confidence that everything will go completely smoothly as planned.

 

[eyor44]

Well, no passports for us today. Our office is playing musical supervisors and DH is one of those moving. He had meetings about this today and couldn't leave. Bummer. This evening we tried to go to CVS to have the pictures taken. Cheaper (plus I found a coupon) and thought it would speed up the process tomorrow. The girl at CVS had never done the pictures tomorrow, but she gave it a good try. Got the pictures taken, but she wasn't able to process them, as the system kept giving an error. She said their resident expert would be in tomorrow morning and would process and print them. I'll be able to pick them up on my way to get the kids from school.

I do have a couple of other things to share. Last week I received a FedEx envelope from Disney. Not sure what it could be but any Disney mail is welcome in this house. I opened it up to find this.

A nice note and four $50 gift cards. I wasn't really sure why I got them, then I decided that they must be instead of the ship board credit I was to receive.

Today I emailed my contact at Disney with a couple of questions. I was wondering how the reservations for Palo's and the Spa were going to work. I've been reading the difficulties others are having with making reservations and while I have a hard time asking about something someone is giving me for free, I don't want to miss out if there is something I need to do. I received the nicest note back telling me to not worry about a thing, they are already taken care of all of our reservations and a week before the cruise, we will receive documentation with everything lined out for us. All we need to do is show up and enjoy our cruise. I have never had anyone make reservations and an itinerary for me before. This is so awesome!

 

[eyor44]

Isn't he the cutest thing?

 

[AquaDuck1]

Congrats on winning the cruise!! Enjoy and relax!! AquaDuck1

 

[Nikkim]

Congratulations! that is so exciting for you and your family. Keep the PTR coming x

 

[nobellybutton]

Congratulations! Reading your posts I feel like I'm vicariously living your excitement!

 

[ProudMommyof2]

So cool! It is really great that you do not have wait long for you trip!