Disney Parks " Disney Time" Sweepstakes- Any Other Winners?

[arbolita]

I live in The Dalles! And no one here knows yet so shhhhhh dont tell my secret!! Some one else asked but my boys are 12, 9, & 7. When we go they will be 13, 10 and 8!! Now I am leaning towards October lol Any tips for October travel??

October is great! Crowds are still pretty low, and you have the Food & Wine Festival and Halloween events to enjoy! I love Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween Party (which you would have to pay extra for) and the fall decorations in the Magic Kingdom

 

[pwdebbie]

Congrats to our new winner! Have fun planning! The DIS is a great place for advice and suggestions.

I was just over at sweeps advantage and there are two people there getting Disney trips --NOT this contest, but hey, a trip is a trip. One won through ESPN, I never saw it in the Disney listings and when I finally found it I found out why -- the word Disney was never in the write-up. Epcot was, so maybe I will start expanding my search to park names, .

The other person won $20,000 in an H&R Block FB contest and said they are using some of the money for a Disney trip.

 

[MissManda]

Thanks Everyone!! We are super excited! We live in Oregon so we are really happy to be going to Florida. I have been looking at the resorts and think the poly. What do you all think?? We have 3 boys and right now they are 12, 9, and 8. I want to push the trip out far enough so we could (maybe??) add a few days. I am nervous about the cost (big surprise) but not worried enough to not take the trip lol!! If they let us pick the dates I will do Jan or Feb 2014. Any thoughts/hints/tips/must dos I would love!!

Congrats on your win

You might could also look into the Beach or Yacht Club resorts. They share the storm along bay pool and your boys might really like that. The resorts are also very close to Epcot and DHS. You pretty much can't go wrong with any resort that you chose. Have fun planning!!!

 

[disneynan]

The Poly would be our first choice as well. Don't miss dinner at O'Hana - it is fantastic!
We have been in Sept, Oct, Nov and Feb. I would absolutely recommend fall rather than winter due to more reliable weather, Epcot Food and Wine Festival and Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween Party. As you can see from my sig pic, we attended the party and dressed accordingly. We would go again in a heartbeat, but I now work in a school and cannot get the time off. I am grateful we had the opportunity to go before this current job!

I am going to try to send you a PM with some other trip planning resources that we find helpful.

 

[swebb0310]

Congrats Kirby!! That's amazing! I would love to go when it s decorated for holidays like Halloween, or Christmas!
My neice and nephew loved animal kingdom lodge! I stayed at Wilderness Lodge last time and thought it was amazing!
One thing that is a must do for a first trip is to be at the Magic Kingdom early enough for the opening ceremony/rope drop. So magical!!
Enjoy the planning!
It's my 30th birthday in March, so I decided I want to have 30 magical Disney Momnts in my 30th year! I know I'm already planning in my head how some of those will be spent "when" I win!,

 

[Jen12573]

Okay dis-ladies and men!! I joined these boards this week to get helpful hints and tips for our upcoming trip that we won!!!! My husband was chosed for the Jan 5th drawing!! We have never been to WDW before and are super excited to take our 3 boys!! Any hints from past winners would be greatly appreciated!

Yippee, congratulations!!!

 

[lthiesfeld07]

Congrats Kirby!!

How exciting!

 

[caralyn817]

Congrats Kirby! Hopefully, we'll start seeing more Dissers winning from now on.

 

[zain2006]

Okay dis-ladies and men!! I joined these boards this week to get helpful hints and tips for our upcoming trip that we won!!!! My husband was chosed for the Jan 5th drawing!! We have never been to WDW before and are super excited to take our 3 boys!! Any hints from past winners would be greatly appreciated!

Congrats

 

[Blessed_wth_Triplets]

Congrats Kirby!!!!

 

[kirbyx5]

Oh forgot to ask or maybe I skipped reading it - Kirby what time did Ventura call?

9:22am Pacific

 

[monkyby87]

Congratulations! I won a trip last year for the One More Disney Day contest, and it was a great time I would recommend any of the Magic Kingdom resorts, but particularly the Polynesian. We stayed at the Grand Floridian and had a great time, but I your family might enjoy the Polynesian more. Either way, pick a Magic Kingdom/Monorail hotel, especially for yours first trip. Being your first trip, you'll likely want to spend a good amount of time at Magic Kingdom. I don't have much advice about the time of year, as I've really only ever gone in August. But keep us posted about what goes on with the contest.

And just a heads up for everyone, there likely will be blackout dates for when the contest trips can be taken, so it might be hard to go during a time when it's set up for Christmas or other holidays. I forget what the exact dates were for last years contest, but I remember several blocked dates during and around holidays...

 

[handustmom]

Congratulations, Kirby! We chose the Poly for our OMDD trip. It was amazing! We actually watched the fireworks from our room. It's a trip we will never forget, I'm sure yours will be just as magical!

 

[pegrad1]

I must confess. I missed entering a few days! It's not like I haven't been online every evening! How could I forget? Because I've been soaking up all things/tips/packing etc for our Disney World vaca! Yes, it's three months from now but I have already been putting things in a bag that don't HAVE to wait until the week before. Hand held fans, rain ponchos and the like.
While I'm on the subject of how much time til our trip, can any one suggest how I can make the below link (timeline) come to life on here? Clearly, I am not a computer genius!
Thanks DIS-friends!

 

[HausofDisney]

Congrats Kirby!!

 

[ARIELvsURSULA]

I live in The Dalles! And no one here knows yet so shhhhhh dont tell my secret!! Some one else asked but my boys are 12, 9, & 7. When we go they will be 13, 10 and 8!! Now I am leaning towards October lol Any tips for October travel??

Oh the Dalles is beautiful, congrats!!! My half sister grew up in the Dalles.

I have yet to be there in October but I hear it's a great time to visit. Crowds are moderate, the weather is beautiful. They're decked out for Halloween time.. check the boards to find out the dates for Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween Party and if you go near Halloween, bring a costume!

 

[ARIELvsURSULA]

I'm also from Oregon! I live in Corvallis. Wouldn't it be great if they picked three families from Oregon?

That would be fantastic, we could get together to plan our Disney vacations lol!

 

[leelee9878]

Congrats and welcome! Sept/October is a great time to visit. As others said try to stay away from the middle of feb to the end due to presidents week and also Daytona 500, it gets pretty busy at Disney.

 

[disneychic2]

Okay dis-ladies and men!! I joined these boards this week to get helpful hints and tips for our upcoming trip that we won!!!! My husband was chosed for the Jan 5th drawing!! We have never been to WDW before and are super excited to take our 3 boys!! Any hints from past winners would be greatly appreciated!

Congratulations!! So happy for you!

Ok so here is what happened! I have been entering myself and my husband every day starting on the first. On the 8th I sat up in bed in the am and said "crap I forgot to enter yesterday. So I was bummed but headed out to start my day. I went to the grocery store and while unloading kiddos my phone rang. It was a 212 area code and I didnt recognize the number so I just ignored it! Ok here is the kicker in my head I thought "how awesome would it be if we won the diney trip hahahaha". So I went inside the store and when I got to Starbucks and ordered my coffee my phone beeped that I had a message. It was Ventura looking for my husband. SO in the middle of the grocery store I am shaking and call her back! She then sent an email with all the info and a fedex label to ship it back. We had to fill it out and it had to be notorized. We wonly have 5 days to do this or else we forfitted the trip. We sent it back the same day lol. We then recieved a call where she said all of our paperwork checked out and we did win! We then had to pick which park and the prize package. We picked WDW and the Big thrills outside of the park. They did not ask which hotel or dates yet! We got a email congrats letter today saying a disney trip coordinator would contact us in Feb! Hope that answered all of your questions!

My advise would be to get a copy of The Unofficial Guide to WDW and pour over it. It helps so much to familiarize yourself with all the parks and the attractions. Also, go on Disney's website and order the free customized maps they offer. That way you can be also familiarizing yourself with the layout of each park. If you start now, by the time you actually go on your trip, you'll know your way around pretty well. This way you don't have to spend valuable park time wondering what there is to do and how to get to it.

Our favorite time of year to go is September. The only drawback is how hot it is, but most all the attractions are walk ons. We usually get to the parks at opening , do everything we want to do, (sometimes twice!) and go back to our resort around 2 or 3 for a swim/relax before heading back to a park for the evening when it's cooler. Also, mid-September the Fall decorations are up and the MNSSHP starts. October was a favorite time of year, but got pretty crowded (to us). November was pretty good. The first week or two of December is also pretty good. Can't speak to the Poly as we've never stayed there, but I think it's a great choice based on what I've read here on the DIS.

Again, congratulations!!!!

I must confess. I missed entering a few days! It's not like I haven't been online every evening! How could I forget? Because I've been soaking up all things/tips/packing etc for our Disney World vaca! Yes, it's three months from now but I have already been putting things in a bag that don't HAVE to wait until the week before. Hand held fans, rain ponchos and the like.
While I'm on the subject of how much time til our trip, can any one suggest how I can make the below link (timeline) come to life on here? Clearly, I am not a computer genius!
Thanks DIS-friends!

Sorry, I can't help you since I'm always pretty shocked when I get mine to work. I just play with it until I pick the right line to use. Hope someone can come along and help you out. How wonderful to have a trip to look forward to!!!

 

[Shea&Van]

Good morning Dis Pals,

Way to go Kirby!!! That is amazing news. This is a trip that you and your family will NEVER forget and it's your first one -- OMG! That is SO fantastic and I'm so happy for you.

The Dis boards are a wonderful resource and you will get oodles of tips and tricks that will lead you to an awesome vacation. Soooo, welcome to the Dis family! We are here to help, so ask away!

I cannot believe we are at nearly 1100 posts. Does anyone know how to start a new thread or whatever? I thought I remember reading that threads are limited to 500??? Just want to make sure we can continue to chat and live vicariously through Gantu and Kirby

Kirby -- we went in 2011 at the end of September, first part of October. We had an awesome trip and I HIGHLY recommend the Halloween Party. It was fantastic. The Boo to You parade was so great and we still have that song stuck in our heads! But, beware...the temp can be HOT! We had temps in the 90s and the humidity was oppressive. But, if you are prepared for it, you will do just fine. If you can go mid-to-late October, the weather may be a little cooler for you.

My son really enjoyed getting his hair cut at the Harmony Barber Shop. He's little, but my husband said he wants to get his hair trimmed when we go next time. They did a great job and it was reasonably priced. They even put some electric blue mousse in his hair and did a tiny Mickey ears decal on the side. He loved it! Very festive!

I have never stayed at the Poly, but the folks on here RAVE about it. I've been wanting to try the Grand Floridian, but the prices are ! I think you are doing the smart thing staying at a monorail resort especially if you are going to be spending a bunch of time at the Magic Kingdom. We stayed at the Wilderness Lodge and thought it was fantastic. My kids loved the "log cabin" feel and the ride in the boat over to the MK was super cool.

Enjoy this special time planning and waiting for your trip and many, many heartfelt congratulations on your win. I hope you and Gantu have fabulous trips!

Please keep us posted on your next steps.

Best of luck!!