Did she say Contemporary?? No Longer a Budget PTR

[tofubeast]

I am subbing! Curious to see and learn from you your budget carving ways! We are staying at the Beach Club for our Dec. trip renting points from a DVC owner. It was a way to pay mod prices for a deluxe!

Of your choices, I recommend CSR. It is a gorgeous resort and the pool is AWESOME!! The slide is the best of the mods (longest) and I think CSR has the biggest hot tub, but I could be wrong. Can't go wrong with queen beds too! Great bus transportation too.

 

[MK2010]

Hi! Count me in! I'm interested to see all the ways you can save. We're officially going in September too (as of 3 1/2 hours ago)! I need to go update my PTR. As soon as my paycheck posts at midnight I'm ordering our Y.E.S. tickets also. i had looked at staying at CSR. I think it looks so beautiful and relaxing. My kids were totally impressed with the pool. We're going to do Bonnet Creek this time though. Anyway, I can't wait to see what you come up with and congrats on getting the deal with the photog!

 

[francis6306]

Just checking in…

I must have missed the photopass CD. I nearly stalked the photopass people, but I ALSO did a share, which I think is a better way to do it! I shared with friends that were there at the same time. Have you seen the new "photopass+" thing? I don't think that's worth the money at all. I don't really care about the pictures from the rides.

 

[Jaaaacki]

Oh my poor PTR, how I've neglected you.

I will be back either late tonight or tomorrow to post my tentative ADRs. They are booked but you know they could change at anytime.

Still no resort booked. http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?p=44551942#post44551942 you can help weigh in on my decision here.

 

[Jaaaacki]

My husband and I decided that the deluxe dining we ate last year was just too much, not to mention too much running around all day just to get to the next meal. We decided to do 1 table service meal per day and the rest counter service this time. I mean who needs an appetizer per person at every meal??

We really enjoyed the restaurants though and our only complaint was Hollywood Brown Derby (very slow, cold steaks and a manager who couldn't give us the time of day to hear our concerns). With the kids we loved the character experiences and also the atmosphere of places such as Ohana and 50's Prime.

So here are the restaurants that made the cut:
Sunday - Crystal Palace (dinner)
Monday - The Garden Grill (dinner)
Tuesday - Tusker House Brunch 11a.m. T-Rex (dinner with $0.99 kid meal reading reward charts)
Wednesday - Sci-Fi (not set on this one)
Thursday -Tony's Town Square (this one is for dh despite the bad reviews)
Friday - Kona Cafe (breakfast gotta try the tonga toast) Whispering Canyon Cafe (dinner) Or Teppan Edo our fav from last trip
Saturday - It's my birthday so I left the planning up to dh, we check out this day also.

Now compare that to our plan from last year

Thursday - L- Teppan Edo D-1900 Park Fare
Friday - B- Hollywood and Vine, L-50's Prime Time, D-Was supposed to be the Wave but we cancelled last minute to head to MK earlier and meet up with family.
Saturday - B - Akershus, L-Teppan Edo (told ya we loved it) D - Brown Derby
Sunday - B- Ohana, L-T-rex we cancelled since we were still stuffed from breakfast, D-Tomorrowland Terrace Dessert Party
Monday- B - Cape May Cafe, L- Les Chefs De France, D-Yachtsman Steakhouse
Tuesday - B- chef Mickey's, D- Ohana
Wednesday - B-CRT, L-Whispering Canyon Cafe, D-Hoop-de-doo
Thursday - L-Le Cellier which we missed due to rain and no boat from HS to Epcot so we went to the French Bakery and had quiche and bread and is on our list of counter service this trip.

 

[smellyia]

My husband and I decided that the deluxe dining we ate last year was just too much, not to mention too much running around all day just to get to the next meal. We decided to do 1 table service meal per day and the rest counter service this time. I mean who needs an appetizer per person at every meal??

We really enjoyed the restaurants though and our only complaint was Hollywood Brown Derby (very slow, cold steaks and a manager who couldn't give us the time of day to hear our concerns). With the kids we loved the character experiences and also the atmosphere of places such as Ohana and 50's Prime.

So here are the restaurants that made the cut:
Sunday - Crystal Palace (dinner)
Monday - The Garden Grill (dinner)
Tuesday - T-Rex (dinner with $0.99 kid meal reading reward charts)
Wednesday - Sci-Fi (not set on this one)
Thursday - Chef Mickey's 11 a.m. (brunch)
Friday - Kona Cafe (breakfast gotta try the tonga toast) Whispering Canyon Cafe (dinner) Or Teppan Edo our fav from last trip
Saturday - It's my birthday so I left the planning up to dh, we check out this day also.

Now compare that to our plan from last year

Thursday - L- Teppan Edo D-1900 Park Fare
Friday - B- Hollywood and Vine, L-50's Prime Time, D-Was supposed to be the Wave but we cancelled last minute to head to MK earlier and meet up with family.
Saturday - B - Akershus, L-Teppan Edo (told ya we loved it) D - Brown Derby
Sunday - B- Ohana, L-T-rex we cancelled since we were still stuffed from breakfast, D-Tomorrowland Terrace Dessert Party
Monday- B - Cape May Cafe, L- Les Chefs De France, D-Yachtsman Steakhouse
Tuesday - B- chef Mickey's, D- Ohana
Wednesday - B-CRT, L-Whispering Canyon Cafe, D-Hoop-de-doo
Thursday - L-Le Cellier which we missed due to rain and no boat from HS to Epcot so we went to the French Bakery and had quiche and bread and is on our list of counter service this trip.

I'm following along - a bit late to the party, but oh well!

Your last trip looked extremely busy with dining...I see you're NOT doing Deluxe DP this time, but are you doing a lower tier DDP at all or just OOP? I'm just curious because I'm still contemplating DDP options...

I was looking at earlier posts, but missed it somewhere - have you picked a resort yet? What do you look for in a resort/your personal preferences...

I love your budgeting!

 

[Suzanne033]

Subbing to see what great money saving ideas you come up with. We are heading to WDW in June (just my DD13 and I this time). We will be driving which saves us approx. $300 over flying.

I am thinking that leaving my husband at home this time will be a huge cost savings. LOL

 

[francis6306]

So here are the restaurants that made the cut:
Sunday - Crystal Palace (dinner)
Monday - The Garden Grill (dinner)
Tuesday - T-Rex (dinner with $0.99 kid meal reading reward charts)
Wednesday - Sci-Fi (not set on this one)
Thursday - Chef Mickey's 11 a.m. (brunch)
Friday - Kona Cafe (breakfast gotta try the tonga toast) Whispering Canyon Cafe (dinner) Or Teppan Edo our fav from last trip
Saturday - It's my birthday so I left the planning up to dh, we check out this day also.

I have heard over and over again how people enjoy Crystal Palace, so I think you will enjoy that! I'd like to try the Tonga Toast as well!

I think the Deluxe dining plan is too much time eating as well. Unless you are going to be there over a long time and going to do several signature places.

 

[Jaaaacki]

Just checking in…

I must have missed the photopass CD. I nearly stalked the photopass people, but I ALSO did a share, which I think is a better way to do it! I shared with friends that were there at the same time. Have you seen the new "photopass+" thing? I don't think that's worth the money at all. I don't really care about the pictures from the rides.

So you didn't get a cd when you shared?

I don't like the new pricing. It just forces you to get more.

The only ride photo I regret not buying last trip was dinosaur. It was all of our first time riding and we all look scared to death in the photo especially my at the time 4 y/o. I so wish we bought it, it was priceless

 

[Jaaaacki]

I'm following along - a bit late to the party, but oh well!

Your last trip looked extremely busy with dining...I see you're NOT doing Deluxe DP this time, but are you doing a lower tier DDP at all or just OOP? I'm just curious because I'm still contemplating DDP options...

I was looking at earlier posts, but missed it somewhere - have you picked a resort yet? What do you look for in a resort/your personal preferences...

I love your budgeting!

Last trip we started with free quick dining at a value, then moved up to a mod with the ddp, then a room only code came out and we went all out with the double deluxe (resort and dining). Our value trip became over the top.

I would love to do regular dining but because we did the YES tickets we can't get dining plan unless renting points.

We have not booked our resort yet. I was thinking of renting points but it seems only SSR is available for our dates. I think we are going to try value (POP) and pay oop for meals. In the end the food costs will probably even out when compared to the dining plan.

 

[Jaaaacki]

I decided to make a couple of changes to the dining schedule.

I decided to add Tusker House to our Animal Kingdom day, that is the night we plan on going to T-Rex for dinner and doing DTD in the evening. I nixed Chef Mickey's since we did this last year and it's just OK. I also added Tony's Town Square for dinner. I know, I know, it gets horrible reviews but dh must have gone here during his childhood and really wants to go again. So I'm taking one for the team. I hope I don't have to say, I told you so.

Last year we did the dessert party. It had been a super long day and we had skipped dinner because we figured we could just eat desserts. Bad plan. I was so hot and tired that by the time we got to the party (9 p.m.) I had a wicked headache. It just wasn't the fun it should have been. We stayed for a while, ate some food and tried to book it out of there before the fireworks started. I was feeling horrible. It was basically a big waste of money and dh wasn't too happy.

This year we thought of doing the Pirate's and Pals cruise. I know this doesn't exactly go along with a budget friendly trip but I wanted to do one extraordinary thing this year. But I've read the reviews and although it sounds like fun, I'm not sure it's $180 worth of fun. I have to cancel our reservation for this tomorrow. I'm going to let the kids do the pirate's league this time. I'm super excited they brought back the mermaid package, we missed it last year. I also think this is a good value for your money.

My kids are money savers so they will actually be paying for this. They sticker up an envelope with their favorite Disney characters and put all their birthday and holiday money inside for their next vacation. Last year they both did BBB, ds did the knight package. They had fun so I think becoming pirates will be even better.

Now I'm just looking for some kind of budget long term parking and a place to board our dog. Then I think our trip will be set except of course for the resort...but I'm so close to booking!!!!!

Oh yeah, I also need to plan their Disney attire. I don't think I've mentioned it before but I love to sew and made quite a few themed outfits last year. I've started some for this year too. I think my next post will be the sewing agenda to go along with our restaurant plans. Of course I will be mainly sewing for dd because ds has his own style (character tee's and athletic shorts) I might be able to sneak in a few embroidered tee's - they just have to be cool enough.

 

[francis6306]

I think you will be happy with TH!!! Seriously, it's so good and it's a great location!

I want to do the Mermaid package for myself!! It looks so pretty! I doubt my daughter will want to do that though, she's still young enough to be in love with the Princesses!

That's so sad about the Dessert Party! I'll have to remember to make sure I eat something for dinner if we do end up doing that at some point!

 

[KELLY]

Just joinng in. Followed your link from the pop thread. We have gone during FD for the past 3years going on 4.. We use to stay moderate or deluxe until we stayed at pop. Dh tells me we are paying 800.00 more for a foot extra of space. We don't miss the pool slides since we add the wp&f option to our tickets. Plus we go for 11 days so the list if a moderate adds up.

 

[Toria]

We are taking DD down for her birthday in May and DH was against it. He frowning upon it, because the 2 of us are taking a Disney cruise in July. It is all about money with him(favorite saying, we could be paying off a bill). Sure, Disney first. So I booked Rodeway Inn for a total of $95.00 for 3 days. We live in Florida so we will be driving. Total for gas one way is $80.00. Florida resident 3 day pass for a family of four is $497.00. Haven't factored in food yet because I am still deciding where to eat.

Total so far $772.00

 

[Chelley00]

Going to follow along. We are doing a semi-budget trip after doing a couple of splurges. We are like you and save money some places so we can splurge others, like dining and Pirates League.

 

[Jaaaacki]

Just joinng in. Followed your link from the pop thread. We have gone during FD for the past 3years going on 4.. We use to stay moderate or deluxe until we stayed at pop. Dh tells me we are paying 800.00 more for a foot extra of space. We don't miss the pool slides since we add the wp&f option to our tickets. Plus we go for 11 days so the list if a moderate adds up.

I know I'm not really getting too much more for my money. It just still pains me at this point not to be staying deluxe. I'm sure once I get there I will realize I'm not missing anything...it's all psychological. LOL

I think you will be happy with TH!!! Seriously, it's so good and it's a great location!

I want to do the Mermaid package for myself!! It looks so pretty! I doubt my daughter will want to do that though, she's still young enough to be in love with the Princesses!

That's so sad about the Dessert Party! I'll have to remember to make sure I eat something for dinner if we do end up doing that at some point!

Both kids did BBB last year (princess and knight) but I think they may enjoy the pirates better. My 7 y/o actually wants to do the Jake package, heck my 5 y/o daughter will probably pick that over the mermaid. They are big Jake fans. Too bad they don't have Izzy.

I think I was bordering on dehydration for the dessert party. My fault for not drinking enough water. I get headaches pretty easily too and that day was just a lousy one.

We are taking DD down for her birthday in May and DH was against it. He frowning upon it, because the 2 of us are taking a Disney cruise in July. It is all about money with him(favorite saying, we could be paying off a bill). Sure, Disney first. So I booked Rodeway Inn for a total of $95.00 for 3 days. We live in Florida so we will be driving. Total for gas one way is $80.00. Florida resident 3 day pass for a family of four is $497.00. Haven't factored in food yet because I am still deciding where to eat.

Total so far $772.00

That's a nice discount you get for being a FL resident. My dad just doesn't get that we can't use his discount and keeps mentioning it. How far away from Disney are you? I'm curious because we will be driving up from Delray Beach and have to plan on that gas too.

And yes, we could be paying down bills too, so I really am trying to do this as budget as possible to avoid hearing all about it from my dh.

Going to follow along. We are doing a semi-budget trip after doing a couple of splurges. We are like you and save money some places so we can splurge others, like dining and Pirates League.

I think it's great to save on the not so fun things (flying, room) but spending on the yummy food and frills. After all it's not something we do everyday.

 

[Jaaaacki]

It's official we are staying at POP!!!!!

I decided I might as well take full advantage of those Southwest points and pay as little as possible for an on site hotel. Now we did end up paying for 1 night and my reservation is a bit complicated. If you remember I had already used my points for our airfare, as I had gotten my card last October. Dh signed up for a card in February and convinced his grandmother to get a card so we could use her points I know that almost feels like cheating but she got the card. It took a little while for the points to post and I was waiting for both cards to show the 50,000 points before doing anything but there was a hold up on grandma's card and it never arrived so SW had to send her another. In the mean time I booked the last 3 days of our stay with dh's points. POP was offering a special on a preferred room, only 16000 or so points/night for a total of 48,000. Perfect! Now I just had to book the first 3 nights.

Those pesky points finally posted today and I went to Rapid Rewards to finish up my reservation. Well in the past week the points for POP at the special rate went up 2000 points/night. AAAAAH Now I couldn't book the 3 nights, I could only book 2. So I had to log on to Disney and book our first night through them and actually pay for it. So the total out of pocket expense for the 6 nights is $159.25.

The current price for a 6 night room only stay at Pop Preferred is $982.22 I know that may not be completely accurate had I booked last week. This price includes the summer discount of 15% (I think) and I know the rate per night was much less 1-2 weeks ago.

We are making out pretty good so far. The numbers are at the bottom (I can't remember if those include the credit card annual fees or not so that might be an additional $178). I'm just hoping we don't run into a problem with having 3 reservations. They are all booked as preferred rooms so fingers crossed we can just stay in the same room all week.

(Airfare, Hotel, Park Tickets)
Total Expense to date $1039.35
Total Savings to date $2158.87


Next up is sewing my way to Disney. Custom clothes for my kids!!! This is slow going at best. The kids were home for spring break last week and I got NOTHING done. Over the weekend I did get an applique finished for one of ds's tees for one of our ADR's. I will post them as I finish them.

 

[smellyia]

It's official we are staying at POP!!!!!

I (Airfare, Hotel, Park Tickets)
Total Expense to date $1039.35
Total Savings to date $2158.87


Next up is sewing my way to Disney. Custom clothes for my kids!!! This is slow going at best.

Congratulations on getting your resort settled! That's some serious savings...

I wish I had sewing as one of my talents...I love all the theme outfits seen on the boards. You'll have to post pics of your creations

I decided to add Tusker House to our Animal Kingdom day, that is the night we plan on going to T-Rex for dinner and doing DTD in the evening. I nixed Chef Mickey's since we did this last year and it's just OK.

For some reason, I have NO DESIRE to go to Chef Mickey's - It may just be the look of the restaurant, but something about it doesn't seem....I don't know, fun enough? Although, Tusker House looks like a blast!

 

[BrerMama]

Looks like you have a fun trip planned! Way to use those Southwest points!

 

[Jaaaacki]

So I have some exciting news!!!! We are no longer staying at POP! My dh's grandmother has recently been through some trying times and I thought it would be good for her to come along with us to Disney. She needs a break and a little fun. Dh's family grew up Disney, with trips often more than once a year and they always stayed deluxe. So when we suggested getting her a conjoining room at POP she wasn't exactly thrilled and asked us to price out some other options.

As you know our trip is in about 5 weeks. Let me tell you those options were far and few between. Since she wanted to be in the room with us I checked for suites and for over $5000 we could get a 1 bedroom at Coronado. Not worth it at all. This was supposed to be budget, remember?? Art of Animation had some but they were still $2385 with no summer discount. The best bet was going to be a Cabin at Fort Wilderness for $1800 with summer discount.

So what did she decide..................................?























She put us in a Tower Theme Park View at the Contemporary!!!

I am beyond excited. I had really wanted to stay at Contemporary and after getting to the beach club last year was kicking myself for not booking CR.

So I guess this is no longer a budget trip.