Canadian Dollar is going to cancel our trip.

[Madame]

A few people, myself included, in Canada I know got pins for the first time ever.

We did. First time. Weeks after we closed on our DVC contract... In my mil's name...

 

[DoingDisney]

We did. First time. Weeks after we closed on our DVC contract... In my mil's name...

Hilariously we just got our email (like 10 mins ago) saying our DVC purchase passed ROFR !!!! So yea, same here, first pin ever, and I wont be using it.

 

[Donald - my hero]

When we went in Oct 2014 i added my e-mail account that is attached to my Kindle since i wasn't bringing my laptop and wanted to make sure i didn't miss anything connected to my account. Since then i've gotten (no kidding here) a different PIN about every 6 weeks, I just got one in the mail today as well!! It doesn't matter how many times they send me one though, I just can't afford the exchange right now, but it is really quite funny!

 

[Hey Hey]

A few people, myself included, in Canada I know got pins for the first time ever.

The PIN discounts I've received are usually the same Hotel discounts they offer to the public for the dates we go. The only difference is that they offer the park hopper option for free. But don't expect that you will save a miraculous amount with the PIN codes. The cheapest vacation package I could find with flights and hotel for 7 days at Pop Century was $2618 CAD through Red Tag Vacations for 2 people.There was no option for tickets.

 

[alc571]

At least they're now predicting the worst is over for the loonie. Predicting the dollar will reach 73.5 cents by the end of the year.

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/repo...ely-seen-its-worst-cibc-says/article28849480/

 

[xtinewashere]

Yeah, I ended up the Universal route as well. Originally I was going to do an All-Star resort at WDW (accommodations and tickets would have been about $1800 USD so $2500 CAD) plus flight and food and I was getting kind of bummed out.

I decided instead to do Universal to save money (booked the tickets, flight, accommodations separate but it came to approx. $1950 CAD for 8 days)

okay- so now the million dollar question-- are you doing disney at all? our package came with a car. i'm tempted.. at the very least, i'm thinking we can do the halloween party.. we can get our haunted mansion fix as well as get on some rides. i am not sure how 7 days will go with just universal.. although we do want to relax. we did go to disney last fall, so not in a rush to see everything again. plus my kids found it somewhat stressful and busy. i did keep 3 nights of my BB and wondering if i will change my mind and try to squeeze in 3-4 days of disney in.. that will end up costing thousands tho. it just kills me to give up the free dining.

 

[Frozen2014]

A few people, myself included, in Canada I know got pins for the first time ever.

How much does a pin save you? And of course, a pin has to come at the right time (i.e. happen to think about planning). I envy those that can go to Disney so often but with the price for the park and air travel and the awful dollar, it's not like we have regular trips.

 

[dis_guy]

Just been re-reading through this thread and had a few thoughts about how we're going to be doing our trip next January.

1. We usually stay in moderates but the reality is we are seldom at the resort other than to sleep, so this trip we're going to stay in a (gasp), value, specifically POP. I'm going to make a number of equal payments, monthly and hopefully even out some of the exchange-rate pain.

2. We are going to order water and a bunch of snacks/fruit/breakfast items from Garden Grocer and take a bag to the parks with us each day. Order early and you get a discount. Will still "need" a Mickey bar now and then.

3. We also have been fans of the free dining offers over the years, but really with the tips for TS and all those desserts we are probably better off (financially and nutritionally) without a meal plan and just pay out of pocket for food. We've found quite a few CS meals that DW and I can easily share for lunch and be quite satisfied. Think Flametree BBQ. And no drinks, we'll bring our own water. We do have our favourite sit down restaurants but we don't need a TS every day by any means. Probably will still do two or even three TS meals while there.

4. We are a few hours driving time away from our nearest airport (YEG) so we're going to choose our flights carefully to avoid having to spend a night at the airport hotel for at least one direction of travel. I'd rather pay $100 more on flights than $300 on hotel stays.

5. While trying to be frugal with this trip, I'm not about to turn it into a cost analysis exercise. It is a vacation after all. If we're stressing over money the whole time, why bother? I'll be careful about the money while planning but I fully intend to forget about it while we're there.

Anyway, that's my 2 bits worth.

 

[Cottager]

At least they're now predicting the worst is over for the loonie. Predicting the dollar will reach 73.5 cents by the end of the year.

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/repo...ely-seen-its-worst-cibc-says/article28849480/

73.5 by end of year? It was at a high of 0.7398 today!!! Bought all my trip money for the March Break.

 

[Raimiette]

okay- so now the million dollar question-- are you doing disney at all? our package came with a car. i'm tempted.. at the very least, i'm thinking we can do the halloween party.. we can get our haunted mansion fix as well as get on some rides. i am not sure how 7 days will go with just universal.. although we do want to relax. we did go to disney last fall, so not in a rush to see everything again. plus my kids found it somewhat stressful and busy. i did keep 3 nights of my BB and wondering if i will change my mind and try to squeeze in 3-4 days of disney in.. that will end up costing thousands tho. it just kills me to give up the free dining.

I'm thinking we're going to bypass Disney this year. I was originally thinking of going for a day trip but it's so exceedingly expensive to get tickets for only a single day. I am throwing around that we could do dinner at Chef Mickey's one day and then watch the fireworks from the Contemporary just so we can get a bit of Disney in but I haven't firmed up that decision. We aren't going during the Not So Scary Halloween party but if we were I would probably pay for that.

I was initially pretty bummed about not going to Disney but the more I think about it the more I'm actually looking forward to a more relaxing trip with Universal. No rushing around like mad to get everything we want to do, done. No up at the crack of dawn everyday just to make sure we get all of our park hours in. No dining reservations (unless I go the Chef Mickey route) etc.

 

[pigletto]

73.5 by end of year? It was at a high of 0.7398 today!!! Bought all my trip money for the March Break.

Hopefully it holds. I think we will bite the bullet and go buy $1500 for our early May trip tomorrow. Our flights are paid for, we earned one ticket through airmiles and ordered the other three from Air Canada Vacations today, and our condo is paid. All that is left is food and spending so $1500 should cover it for the week. It will feel good to have it all paid for and not be worrying about ups and downs for the next 60 days.
We do still have to book the rental car but I'm hoping that will drop much lower right before we go and I can book through RBC rewards and use the $125 in points I have.

 

[DizzyDis]

Maybe this time I have been paying more attention, but I am pretty surprised at how predictions have been. I knew they were bad before in terms of predicting interest rates domestically, but this just seems like every time there is a prediction, the exact opposite happens!

Our flights are booked and we paid our deposit (booked directly through Disney), so I am watching to see if it hits 75 cents and will then put some more against our reservation. I like the flexibility of charging to the room, so would prefer to prepay our booking and then pay off our charges there instead of buying currency for cash while there (personal preference, prefer not needing a purse!!)

 

[alc571]

73.5 by end of year? It was at a high of 0.7398 today!!! Bought all my trip money for the March Break.

Careful - I did that and it went up like 3 cents immediately! lol

 

[Cottager]

Careful - I did that and it went up like 3 cents immediately! lol

Yup....it's at .74 now. That's one extra Mickey Ice Cream Bar I could have had...oh well.

 

[mort1331]

But really you have the piece of mind now that you have your money. Dont look at the exchange now and just look at what to do at Disney. If we could all predict what where the dollar would be we could all win the lotto max last night too. Sleep well now that you have your money exchanged and enjoy/

 

[Donald - my hero]

Just thought i'd toss a few ideas for those of you who are not staying and/or going to WDW and thinking you might *miss* the feeling. We went in January and only went to EPCOT twice and MK once BUT ... i spent a solid 2 hours at AKL wandering around, watching the animals, sitting in the rocking chairs, grabbed a snack and sat by the pool. I took pictures very carefully so i was able to crop out the buildings and i left feeling i had done a Mini-AK day. We spent lots of time resort hopping, getting snacks/drinks even the odd CS meal and just pretending we were staying there. Rode the monorail around the loop EPCOT, several of the boats and ferries between the resorts and even had fried chicken on the beach at Fort Wilderness. We were lucky enough to have a balcony that i could watch the fireworks from both EPCOT and the Studios so i did that every night and took tons of pictures. None of those activities cost much other than the snack/drinks we ate (or anything in the case of the Disney transportation roulette .. take whatever comes next regardless of where it's going... NOTHING) I still came home feeling like I'd been to Disney the entire week and super proud of myself for saving the cost of park tickets everyday. Super jealous of those of you who are in the planning stages, have a blast

 

[xtinewashere]

that is a good point. you can get that disney feel from just the resorts. even more than downtown disney i think. we're not big shoppers so maybe we'll try this. or if we do go to MNSSHP, we might go earlier for a character meal at a resort and just wander around a bit... great idea!!

 

[minnie56]

And tomorrow ..park tickets go up in price, depending when you go.
Bummer.

 

[alc571]

And tomorrow ..park tickets go up in price, depending when you go.
Bummer.

No one ever said Disney vacations were going to get cheaper! It's not a cheap family vacation - never has been, never will be.

 

[minnie56]

No one ever said Disney vacations were going to get cheaper! It's not a cheap family vacation - never has been, never will be.

So true.
I'm in the midst of booking Disneyland Paris mind you ...WDW looks bargain basement in comparison!