20050514..May 14, 2005...Official Check in Disney's 1st 14 Day thru Panama Canal

[SandraLee]

Yes, the magnet *does* look pretty cool. Thanks for all the work.

Ok, after fighting with Delta all day yesterday, here is what I'm going to do.

Atl / MCO May 13 at 11:30 PM (yikes) I'll sit on the wait list for anything clearing earlier. If nothing clears, I can pay $25 per person on the day of flight to get earlier. I tried the other airports and nothing was any better for FF tickets.

LAX / ATL May 28 at 12:00. I'm keeping the LAX and not moving to SNA because there are more options if we decide to stay the day and visit DL and then take the red-eye out.

I hate committing my flights this early, oh well....

 

[tupperny]

We checked last week with Disney before booking flights back to Rochester, NY. Disney's recommendation is not to book any flights before 2pm. I think that they are trying to anticipate any problems with their first docking in LA. (they were figuring 2 hours for customs, etc.).

For us, that bumped us to a red-eye or the next day. We booked for Mon. May 30 which gives us a little time in DL (our first time there).

Bill

 

[rcostello1]

Always remember to keep your eye on reservations. Especially since we've booked them so early. I suggest checking weekly at a minimum.

I think I may have already posted this, but...in January two in our group had 6pmish flights which changed to 1pmish flights which meant they couldn't work that day. (this was the day before the cruise). Needless to say we weren't happy as those people had to take more leave.

This happened about 2 weeks before cruising, and I had checked the reservations just a day or two before the change and they were still ok. We were able to get the flights switched to the early AM flight which the rest of us were on so we could fly together.

I don't mean to scare anyone, but just keep an eye on it. We booked USAir...I hope they are still flying next year!! And keep in mind if a "schedule change" doesn't meet your needs the airlines should work with you if it's no big deal (same day, different flight).

 

[Az Pirates]

Wow, you guys make me feel like I'm slacking since I have not booked air. We're waiting on Southwest - so it may be awhile. Good thing I don't mind throwing plans together last minute.

We still have not decided exactly what we're doing for a summer trip this year and school starts Aug. 19 here.

The magnet looks great! It will be so fun to see all the Dis magnets up and down the hallways. We'll have to make a trek to deck 6 just to see so many in one place!

Thanks for all your work on it!

 

[Hannosmom]

Hi Ya'll,

I've been lurking here for quite awhile, introduced myself way at the beginning. I have a cruise coming up in November and have been spending most of my computer time with fellow dissers on that cruise.

I came out of lurkdom to because I wanted to tell Jeff what a marvelous job you are doing! The door magnet looks great, got a few butterflys just looking at it.

Also, the rest of you guys have been awesome! Getting bunches of great info from ya'll. Thank-you all!

I haven't booked a flight yet, have been looking at Delta out of SNA, but Southwest has a direct flight from LAX to Norfolk, so that may be the best bet for us. Just waiting for those dates.

Well, I will go back to lurkdom. Come on over and visit our 11/13/04 thread anytime!

 

[seaulater]

I love the door magnet! Great job Jeff!!!

I feel like I am slacking too on the flights. But, I have a good excuse, since I am waiting for the other six family members to make up their minds on what they are going to do! My sister is the one that has never been to DW and she is the one I am waiting to hear from!

On the way back, I think we will fly out of Orange County or Long Beach on Monday. Was thinking we would fly our DD (who will be 13) down to Orange County on Friday night the 27th. Then she can come greet us off the ship on the morning of the 28th. We have family, so one of them can get her Friday night and she can camp out over there. Then we can go to DL for Sat. Sun and Mon. before flying home.

On the way over, I am hoping to go a couple days early. My sis had better hurry I need to get my DVC villa booked!!! (or she will be staying at Motel 6!)

Linda

 

[Hygiene99]

Thank u Jeff....


Great Job



Az Pirates We also Are Waiting on SWA As wwe have a Rapid rewards tix. For the Flight Back From Cal. and just need one way to Florida...


Hannosmom Welcome aboard Again ....


Peter

 

[kpros]

We are also waiting for Southwest, but for the flight from CA to FL. We just have a 1.5 hour drive to get home once the Magic gets to LA.

Waiting for Southwest to open reservations could be a long wait. We need a flight for the 10 day Xmas cruise and they still haven't opened December.

Ken

 

[moocow35]

I just booked my flights to California on Jet Blue. No....not for the cruise, we are going in two weeks from today. I asked the rep when they will open the rest of May 2005, and she thought perhaps early August! I plan to keep checking back, as last night the flight I wanted was $99.00, and today it is $136.00. Needless to say I was a little upset.

Jeff, the magnet looks great! Thanks for all your hard work.

Robin

 

[Scott H]

Good luck toall on finding a great airfare. It can be rather trying at times. Excellent suggestion by rcostello, chances are that our flights will change several times before we sail.

Jeff they magnet is fantastic, Thanks..

 

[nasmith]

Nice looking magnet Jeff!

Everyone is making me feel like I'm behind the eightball with their planning!! Heck - We're moving from RI to MS in 2 months and I haven't even started to plan that!! (Or our other Disney Cruise in Dec., or our WDW trips in Oct, Nov., Dec.). And here I sit, reading the disboards yet again......Oh well......I did manage to buy the Panama Canal Cuise book - and just bought some new Disney shirts and Jammies for my DH and Son (Disneystore.com is having a big summer sale).....

Thank Goodness there are those of you out there to do all the legwork for us Perpetual Procrastinators!! (Hotels, airports, etc.)

Jill

 

[videogal1]

Cash and I will be staying at the Candy Cane Inn until my family kidnaps us...that'll give me four days or so to explore DL with my mom who will probably come down from the Ventura area (Oxnard) before we pile in on my brother who set up housekeeping in the family home above Pasadena.....Now, all I have to do is figure out the airline tickets, the transfers and pack....

 

[videogal1]

Originally posted by rcostello1
I checked hotel availability on travelocity and expedia and you can't book ("no rooms available") at the Disney resorts. Other hotels are available.

They are so slow out there...hope they get their act together soon! At least maybe if we can't book a room through DVC then nobody can book a room!

Nothing available until August....

 

[danicaw]

Magnet looks great! Wonderful job Jeff.

We were just looking at airfare last night....its still higher than we would like.
With a one way from Seattle to Orlando running over $250 (Oddly the roundtrip is only about $20-30 more). We are going to wait and hope they come down.
Southwest is having a good fare sale lasting thru the end of the schedule....October I think?

 

[jin diesel]

Hi Everyone!!!

Hope you all had a great 4th and are all doing well!!!

Our trip to Disnleyland was awesome. It's always so much fun to be there! Thanks so much to Danica and Rick for meeting up with us. I'm sorry the meeting was so brief! (I had promised Adrienne that "no matter what" we'd ride Screamin' one last time - and you know you can't go back on a promise!) I played phone tag with you guys and my Anaheim friends all day long that day! I'm glad I was able to see you all. And your son is A DOLL!!! I can't wait to see how much he's grown by next May! It is so neat now having a *face* to match to our cruise. Makes the wait that much more exciting! I hope you enjoyed the rest of your stay in California...I thought the parks weren't too crowded, except for on the 4th!! I think people are not visiting this year in anticipation of the 50th celebration next year.

There is so much discussion regarding flights already! Congrats to those of you who got great fares. I actually found a one-way fare from San Jose to MCO on one airline that was $1000.00 ONE WAY!!! I'm just going to wait for Southwest because I don't have a penny to my name right now anyway. I know the rates will be cheap, it's the times I'm more concerned about.

For those of you planning to visit Disneyland that Memorial Day Weekend; I've been doing a lot of thinking, and not to be a party pooper, I haven't been thinking good things about next May: there is the 50th hoopla, Buzz Lightyear will most likely not be open, Space Mountain will DEFINITELY not be open, if the Fast Pass rumors are true: there are a few rides who have permanently or will soon lose their fast pass machine (PIRATES, Small World) - all of the things will make the park seem so much more crowded. I'm worried there may be too many bodies walking and standing and not enough bodies on RIDES. I think I'll prob visit the park earlier in the month or just wait til July again. I realize some of you don't have a choice though...this may be your one chance to visit - so definitely TAKE IT! But be prepared...

JEFF: The magnet is aweome! Thanks for you hard work!

That's all for now. Have a great evening!

jindy

(please check PMs, robin and vicki)

 

[Cap]

Originally posted by danicaw
We were just looking at airfare last night....its still higher than we would like.
With a one way from Seattle to Orlando running over $250 (Oddly the roundtrip is only about $20-30 more).

Cheer up! We're finding that one way fares from Detroit to Orlando are HIGHER than round trips. Airline ticket pricing is just totally illogical. We've got good one-way fares booked from LAX back to Detroit, and I was able to get frequent flyer upgrades on that one. We're just going to wait on the Orlando leg and hope that Spirit or ATA posts something better than Northwest.

 

[micknstang]

OpenJaw fares are fares that are r/t trip in nature. It allows you to fly into on city and fly back out of another, as long as you return to your originating destanation. This is a cheaper alternative to one way tickets. For example one way fares from Dallas to Orlando are $112 each and Orange County to Dallas one way is $110 each. A open Jaw fare is $210. So you can see this option is cheaper. When finding fares online do a multi city fare which is an open jaw fare.


Scott

 

[rcostello1]

And you can usually book the above trips if you select "multi-city" in the booking process. Then you can select origin/destination and then the next origin/destination.

Happy hunting!

 

[kpros]

One of the nice things about the Southwest FF tickets is that one round trip ticket is really two one way tickets and can be used by two people for a one way flight. So, I'll be waiting for Southwest to open up May 2005 for our flight from CA to Fl. It will be very nice to only face a short drive home (1.5 hours) when we dock in LA.

The down side with Southwest is that they probably won't open up May 2005 until sometime in January of 2005.

I guess I will just have to be patient.

Ken

 

[jin diesel]

Originally posted by kpros
The down side with Southwest is that they probably won't open up May 2005 until sometime in January of 2005.

No Ken, that's the upside!!!! It's so far off it's less stressful!!! I did check what they have listed now, and it looks like most flights from anywhere in CA are $99 bucks or less one-way to MCO. Definitely worth the wait!

The only prob is Southwest isn't always *on time*.