Finally Shuttergirl has another trip to plan...WDW accom booked

[queenie82]

Thank you for the moral support. It's been a big decision, and not always received well by the people in our lives but I for one am thrilled with our choices. We have a very lovely spacious home that we have always liked so I know this was not a hard decision in the end. We just needed to go through this process to get here. Unfortunately the penalities for changing our mind are fairly massive but to me it is still worth the change. And with a wonderful trip or two to look forward to, how could I be anything but happy

I do understand what the penalties would be like. But I think you made the right decision.

Yes, it would be good to hear from Queenie. Where is my sweet Q when I need her ?

I'm back. And highly recommend flying out of Dulles Airport Washington.
It's old, crappy and a HIKE from check in to the section where international flights go from. Duty free store was worse than LAX

But it was EASY to get to and check in. Plus doing an opt out of the body scanner and got a lovely detailed frisk
[This is something you WILL have to get used to travelling in the USA now. Each airport has this and I scored the body scanner twice...and opted out twice. So I would seriously consider AVOIDING excess flying.
You thought shoes, belts and liquids was bad...]

I've skimmed but I'm not at all in the right frame of mind to be advising.

Niagara in winter was nice but done in a day. Nothing much to do.

 

[PrincessInOz]

Sorry - I've been on a mini break myself.

Boston - I enjoyed it heaps in summer. Not so sure about winter. It's a small and compact city and a lot slower in pace than NYC. 2 days would cover the things you want to do in Boston; particularly in winter.

If you're having second thoughts about Montreal, then I would leave it out. Far better to spend more time in the other cities and to do it well than to spread yourself thin.

 

[Ms. Shuttergirl]

Your itinerary looks awesome, but that's coming from someone with zero experience in nearly all those places.

For Disney I think you'll be able to fit it all in the 10 days you're there. You have a whole day dedicated to shopping but you might not need it, I mean you are going to NY afterwards! Plus the malls are all open late (10:00pm?) so you could stop there after Kennedy or after a half day in the parks. With the bonus of having been to WDW before you will know what you like in each park and have an idea on what you want to hit and in what order.

Looking forward to hearing more planning.

My DH was very impressed with the outlet mall shopping in Orlando, he felt the prices were better than NYC. He's the shopper in our family . After shopping in NYC last time, by the time we got to Orlando I refused to go to the outlets, he went twice without me .

I agree that we definitely will have evenings in there to do parks etc. I think our 11 nights, 10 days scenario will work well.

I do understand what the penalties would be like. But I think you made the right decision.



I'm back. And highly recommend flying out of Dulles Airport Washington.
It's old, crappy and a HIKE from check in to the section where international flights go from. Duty free store was worse than LAX

But it was EASY to get to and check in. Plus doing an opt out of the body scanner and got a lovely detailed frisk
[This is something you WILL have to get used to travelling in the USA now. Each airport has this and I scored the body scanner twice...and opted out twice. So I would seriously consider AVOIDING excess flying.
You thought shoes, belts and liquids was bad...]

I've skimmed but I'm not at all in the right frame of mind to be advising.

Niagara in winter was nice but done in a day. Nothing much to do.

Hiya, hmmmm sounds like those body scanners aren't so much fun. I'll need to find out more about them, I haven't heard about them at all.

Glad you liked Niagara in winter, I think it will be truly unique at that time of year.

Sorry - I've been on a mini break myself.

Boston - I enjoyed it heaps in summer. Not so sure about winter. It's a small and compact city and a lot slower in pace than NYC. 2 days would cover the things you want to do in Boston; particularly in winter.

If you're having second thoughts about Montreal, then I would leave it out. Far better to spend more time in the other cities and to do it well than to spread yourself thin.

I think in my mind I've already wiped Montreal off my list for now. I could kind of get rid of Boston too but my DH and DD are keen to go so off we go I guess

 

[PrincessInOz]

Consider Boston a history lesson.

 

[Ms. Shuttergirl]

And I actually do really love American History so I know i will enjoy it.

 

[Ms. Shuttergirl]

Well we've taken the first positive step towards this holiday. I have booked 2 rooms at Pop Century from 9-20 December . So we are all sorted for WDW at this stage. We have our fingers and toes crossed that free dining will be offered for this time period. Looking at the historic offering dates, it's usually around August that the December free dining gets launched. Our lovely Bob at Mousetales Travel will apply it straight away if it does come up.

To be honest, the thought of going without free dining is depressing. We loved it so much when we went in 2010, however I guess a room discount would be a wonderful thing too. It's just we love to eat out at lovely places and if we are paying oop I doubt we'll go to as many of the nicer restaurants as we would with free dining .

Trying to book Doubletree Suites in NYC for 20-29 Dec but they haven't opened up those dates yet. I have been in contact with management there and they will let me know once rates and availability are open.

 

[aussietravellers]

That is so exciting to get those first rooms booked I will keep fingers crossed that free dining comes out later in the year for you.

We had room discount last time (cause it worked out cheaper for us than free dining). So that the dining felt paid for, I purchased gift cards online a few times before we went, so when we went, I used the gift cards to pay for our food when there (and our $ was dropping so it was good to have the meals paid at the better exchange rate ) , so that's an option if the free dining doesn't come out.

Hope Doubletree brings out their rates soon. Once you've booked (if it's refundable), keep an eye on expedia as they do bring out US hotel specials, so you could get 10 to 20% off during that period. If I ever see one, I'll let you know Remember too with Doubletree, if you are with RACQ, NRMA, RACV etc, then you can enter the little code on the back of your card into the Doubletree website when looking for prices to get their AAA discounted rates. I didn't use that as the Expedia discount was cheaper in the end, but I was going to as it was a cheaper rate than their standard rate.

 

[Ms. Shuttergirl]

Good thinking Aussietravellers, the gift card idea is a winner.

I received an email from Hilton Honours Club the other day offering up to 33% discount for any stay over a weekend booked for 2012, so long as you make your booking prior to 31 Jan, so I'm keen to get them to open up the dates so I can see how cheaply I could get the room. If it was a decent discount I'd be happy to pay in full now.

I would love it if you see any Expedia deals. How exactly do you following Expedia deals?

 

[aussietravellers]

I received an email from Hilton Honours Club the other day offering up to 33% discount for any stay over a weekend booked for 2012, so long as you make your booking prior to 31 Jan, so I'm keen to get them to open up the dates so I can see how cheaply I could get the room. If it was a decent discount I'd be happy to pay in full now.

I would love it if you see any Expedia deals. How exactly do you following Expedia deals?

33% is an awesome discount!!! I don't think you'd get as good a deal on Expedia. I'm not sure how I became a follower of their deals. Maybe through having purchased from them before I was put on their specials list or maybe I just registered for it Can't remember (alzimers is setting in ). The one I used was a 24 or 48 hours sale, but not as good as 33%

 

[Ms. Shuttergirl]

Well it says "up to 33%". I'd be surprised if somewhere like that would be the full discount.

 

[aussietravellers]

Well it says "up to 33%". I'd be surprised if somewhere like that would be the full discount.

OH, "up to 33%". You know, I am always the one who never seems to be within the eg, 33% off period I'm always the 10% or the 2% It's like that with shopping, I will see a sale and of course, everything I want is not included in the sale But I do have friends who ALWAYS seem to get the eg: 33% and whatever they are wanting is in the sale, so I'm keeping my fingers crossed for you that you are closer to or at the 33% off for your accommodation. If I do see any sales coming up over the next few months, I will let you know, just incase you haven't seen them

 

[Mum from oz]

Yay for accommodation! makes it feel real once you have something booked. Fingers crossed for free dining for you.

 

[Ms. Shuttergirl]

OH, "up to 33%". You know, I am always the one who never seems to be within the eg, 33% off period I'm always the 10% or the 2% It's like that with shopping, I will see a sale and of course, everything I want is not included in the sale But I do have friends who ALWAYS seem to get the eg: 33% and whatever they are wanting is in the sale, so I'm keeping my fingers crossed for you that you are closer to or at the 33% off for your accommodation. If I do see any sales coming up over the next few months, I will let you know, just incase you haven't seen them

Yeah I'm probably more like you than your friends so always a little sceptical about the "special" we shall receive .

Yay for accommodation! makes it feel real once you have something booked. Fingers crossed for free dining for you.

Thanks, it is kind of cool to get moving on booking some things

 

[PrincessInOz]

Excellent! Disney all sorted except for free dining. NYC with an UP TO 33% discount....is it for the time you want to be there?

 

[Ms. Shuttergirl]

Excellent! Disney all sorted except for free dining. NYC with an UP TO 33% discount....is it for the time you want to be there?

The discount applies for any weekends in 2012 so that includes us I believe. I'll keep my fingers crossed it is closer to 33% than not

 

[WAMUMOF4]

yay for booking
the discounted rate for Double tree doesn't work for me for my dates its unavailable i tried to book it as soon as i got the email and it said not available for those dates

 

[battymum]

Forgive me, I am no good at Disney discount math and I am just pondering out loud (well in type) but I am wondering if Free dining and also room discount comes out if it would be possible to split the reservation and have one room on free dining with 4 adults and the other on room only discount with one adult.
This would mean paying OOP for one, maybe your fussy DS would prefer to eat off the childrens menu ?

Although even 40% room discount at the values doesnt work out to be that much - youre probably better off just taking the free dining -Keep in mind you would have to upgrade to regular if you want to eat at the nicer restaurants though - I think its about $11 per person per day.

 

[Ms. Shuttergirl]

Forgive me, I am no good at Disney discount math and I am just pondering out loud (well in type) but I am wondering if Free dining and also room discount comes out if it would be possible to split the reservation and have one room on free dining with 4 adults and the other on room only discount with one adult.
This would mean paying OOP for one, maybe your fussy DS would prefer to eat off the childrens menu ?

Although even 40% room discount at the values doesnt work out to be that much - youre probably better off just taking the free dining -Keep in mind you would have to upgrade to regular if you want to eat at the nicer restaurants though - I think its about $11 per person per day.

I don't think they offer 40% for values as a rule. I think it is something closer to 20-25% but I could be wrong. Although across 2 rooms that might not suck completely. You are right, we need to juggle the options if and when the discounts get offered.

We would definitely upgrade to the regular plan if free dining was offered.

 

[alicia1506]

so happy you got rooms booked!! that first booking always makes it seem so much more real