finally....the planning begins...time to pick your collective brains :)

[disneyholic family]

so it seems a trip is in the offing....
as of Friday, DS and DD and their respective spouse/spouse-to-be have decided we are all going to WDW for DD's honeymoon (actually, it will be the delayed honeymoon for DS too)...by the way, DD's wedding is in March (so much to do, so little time)...

anyway...nice that they're including DH and me in their trip plans.....well....i'll be doing the planning, but you know what i mean..

so....

now what?

they first have to decide whether it's August or September 2011.
It depends on DS's wife (she's a nursery school teacher), but we're hoping for September (for obvious reasons)..

Then i have to decide if i'm going for free dining for the 6 of us or maybe an off property villa with pool. That's the first major decision.

I'm starting to work the numbers.
if i go with free dining, it would be at OKW or SSR (with the 47% UK discount).

so my first question for you all - what villas should i consider? I would only consider villa properties that are very close to WDW (since 99% of our time will be at WDW with maybe one day at universal - if that much).

or maybe i should think about a combo - free dining for part of the stay and villa for the rest....hmmm....

i started working the numbers last night (during a bout of insomnia) and i see it's going to be a major financial hit regardless of how i work it....the flights alone will be a killer....no way around that....i haven't even started looking at that part of the trip....maybe i should have a glass of wine first...

 

[disneyholic family]

just copying a post from another thread to this thread, so that i'll be able to find it later..this was written by Wayne....
it's another possibility - find a really cheap LBV hotel and buy all of our food..
the free wifi is an issue since DH will be working 24/7 through the holiday...(he always works through our holidays)..


BW lakeside is a good value resort at about £23/night but as said not LBV.

Around LBV going this Sat for 10 days I found these.

Monarch.co.uk(less 5% thru Quidco)
Stayed here twice, ask for a room near reception for free wireless, rooms further away are free wired connection, nice free breakfast, fridge & microwave in every room, £34/nt: Country Inn & Suites Lakes Buena Vista Lake Buena Vista
http://www.tripadvisor.co.uk/Hotel_R...o_Florida.html

Stayed here once, not my fave place but its had a recent refurb so should be better. Hotels.com have Comfort Inn Lake Buena Vista Orlando (now Clarion Inn Lake Buena Vista, A Rosen Property) at £30/night(less 9% Quidco)
http://www.tripadvisor.co.uk/ShowUse...o_Florida.html


We have gone for this one for Feb Holiday Inn Express Lake Buena Vista thru Alpharooms(reminds me I need to pay the balance this evening) £38/night (less 5% Quicdo) Done a lot of research and hardly anyone has a bad word to say about it.
http://www.tripadvisor.co.uk/Hotel_R...o_Florida.html

They look to be the pick of the under £40/nt hotels.

 

[disneyholic family]

And Reid posted this:

We stayed in Hawthorne Suites LBV and wi-fi was free in rooms and lobby.


and i checked the clarion site - for september the room rate is $69/night

 

[Cyrano]

And Reid posted this:

We stayed in Hawthorne Suites LBV and wi-fi was free in rooms and lobby.


and i checked the clarion site - for september the room rate is $69/night

That looks a good price. Think I need to search on google and check out this clarion website

 

[disneyholic family]

now i'm checking the Hampton Inn Orlando/Lake Buena Vista website

for september the rate is: $100.....and with fridge/microwave it's $110..

not so good...

onwards...

 

[wayneg]

When you have some dates let me know if you want me to look around for better prices.
For next Sept just seen Clarion LBV at £28.47 incl (6% Quidco)

 

[disneyholic family]

posting this link from Julie for future reference:
http://www.holiday-rentals.co.uk/se...villa/arrival:2011-04-01/departure:2011-05-06

 

[disneyholic family]

When you have some dates let me know if you want me to look around for better prices.
For next Sept just seen Clarion LBV at £28.47 incl (6% Quidco)

wow...that's practically free

Wayne, when you did free dining, how much would the food you ate have cost had you paid out of pocket?
i remember that you calculated how much you would have paid had you not had free dining...

 

[disneyholic family]

ok...so playing with numbers:

let's say 2 weeks in september for 6 people...

option 1 - 3 rooms at clarion for about £30/room/night = £90/night = $140/night or $2000 for 2 weeks
plus the cost of six 14 day ultimate tickets = £240/person or $375/person = $2,250 for tickets for 6 of us
plus food for 14 days.....let's say food per person per day is $5 for breakfast + $30 for table service + $10 for counter service + $4 snack = $50/day/person = $300/ day for the 6 of us X 14 = $4200 -- that's probably an overestimate, but it's not going to be less than $2500 - and that would be difficult to accomplish.

so the estimated option 1 total is $2000 + $2,250 + $2500 = $6,750 (not including air fare)

option 2 - 3 rooms at OKW including free dining and entrance tickets:

option 3 - villa at weekly rate
plus tickets, plus food

i have to calculate options 2 and 3 next

 

[wayneg]

wow...that's practically free

Wayne, when you did free dining, how much would the feed you ate have cost had you paid out of pocket?
i remember that you calculated how much you would have paid had you not had free dining...

We only paid £20/night when we stayed there Xmas 2006, its always been a cheap resort.
Amounts from our August 2010 21 day DDP trip.
CS Total $1078.04
TS Total $2137.84
Snack $214.81
Tip Total $305.06
Total $3735.75

 

[disneyholic family]

We only paid £20/night when we stayed there Xmas 2006, its always been a cheap resort.
Amounts from our August 2010 21 day DDP trip.
CS Total $1078.04
TS Total $2137.84
Snack $214.81
Tip Total $305.06
Total $3735.75

nice freudian slip of mine - i wrote "feed" instead of food.....

anyway.....your total was for 3 people, mine would be for 6 people, so i should double that...
of course, if we were eating out of pocket, we wouldn't have all those expensive table service meals that we would have on the DDP.....
but it's interesting....your CS was for 3 people for 21 days...so that's on average you spent $17 per CS meal per person....that's a fortune...
so for the 6 of us, just for one CS meal a day, even if we keep the cost down by elimating dessert, we'll probably spend at least $1000 for one CS meal a day for each of us for 14 days..

and table service you spent on average $34 per meal per person..
so for us that would be $2856 for 6 people for 14 days...

plus snacks....

so food is going to be at least $3500 for the 6 of us......

and there's something to be said about staying on property....

we'll have a car, but the two couples won't be driving...
so if they want to go out without us, it will be easier for them if we're on property...
and only on property can we use EMH - though i don't know if we'll use EMH, but we might in september...
or the kids might...

and i have to say that the last time i was at WDW (this past june), i was really really really shocked by the food prices....
even the snacks were ridiculously expensive....
so not having to fork over greenbacks for most of the food, might make it a more pleasant experience..
true i'm paying more for the hotel....but, i don't 'feel' that in the same way as i do having to pay $4 for a frozen coke that i could buy in the gas station for 89 cents....

 

[disneyholic family]

of course, this only works with the deep UK discount on the OKW/SSR....
although i'm going to try working the numbers if i buy through the US site...

but i'm pretty sure it only makes sense if i do it via the UK site...

 

[disneyholic family]

i just remembered, if we stay onsite, i have to add on the daily internet fee - on at least one of the rooms....

which reminds me - i wonder how much a 2 bedroom is at OKW or SSR....
we would still need a studio in addition - but with the 2 BR, we would also get a washer/dryer....much more convenient for extended stays...

i have to work those numbers too..

 

[disneyholic family]

so i was thinking....
we could fly into NYC - do the weekend there....
then drive down to orlando - or maybe the train....with a stop in DC...

i don't know when we'll have another chance for all of us to travel to the states together and this would be a great chance for DH to take the kids to see his old stomping grounds....DH is DC born and reared....he used to think DC was the hub of the universe (though he has since wised up)...

it would be fun to do a few days there....so 2 days in NYC and 2 days in DC...
not much time, but we don't want to take away too much time from WDW..

or here's a thought....instead of flying into NYC, we could fly into Washington (Dulles), do a few days in DC...
then either take the train or drive down to Orlando...

driving would be fun....road trip.....i love road trips...
and we could take the scenic route down, not just race down I-95....

it's a nice drive - Virginia, North/South Carolina, Georgia, Florida....
nice...

and then we could fly out of orlando via NYC, stopping for a 3 day visit to get our New York fix...

fun fun fun.....i need to rob a bank...this is going to be the trip of a lifetime...

 

[disneyholic family]

so meanwhile, i'm trying to help DIL get into graduate school....
traveling in September is dependent on her getting into a masters program..
otherwise she'll have to work in september (given that she's a teacher and all)..(university here only begins in October)...
she wants to go to grad school, but so far hasn't found a program that doesn't require a minimum of 5 years work experience (she only has 1)...
so i started doing some research on that for her....and i think i found a program that she's interested in that doesn't require any experience.........am i pushy or what???????

but now that i think about it, i wonder if SIL (to be) will be able to take off so much time from work...hmmmm.....this is turning into a minimum 3.5 week trip.....

 

[disneyholic family]

as fun as a road trip is, it will take less time if we fly everywhere...even taking into consdiration the TSA travel experience..

so we could fly into DC, spend 2.5 days there...(i wonder what immigration is like flying into washington...never entered the US via Washington)...
then fly from DC to MCO - spend about 16 days (14 WDW, 2 universal)...
then MCO to NYC for 2.5 days (the usual amount of time we spend there)..

then NYC home..

ok...so if i'm adding 2 days universal i guess we should stay onsite there for the first two days in orlando (we have to begin with what we hate, then move to what we love)...

so i'll take a look at universal - maybe that pacific resort - whatever it's called...

 

[disneyholic family]

meanwhile, i'm running the air fare numbers...
i won't write about that here, since it doesn't affect anyone else on this board (since i fly from a different place and typically on a different airline, though occasionally the same)..

anyway, i just checked kayak.com for the fun of it...
the cheapest way for me to fly? via Lot Polish airlines, through poland...
yeah right....definitely NOT my first choice...
next cheapest is Alitalia, then Iberia, then Austrian, then Swiss...
i would consider Swiss to be the first reasonable choice in that list..
the prices were pretty close....Lot is only $20 cheaper than the rest of the pack....no reason to fly through poland

 

[wayneg]

your CS was for 3 people for 21 days...so that's on average you spent $17 per CS meal per person....that's a fortune...

Every CS included a large drink each(or bottle) plus dessert, paying OOP we wouldn't have dessert and we would share a large drink.
The average was increased with 4 meals at WPE just looked at reciepts $68.32, $69.38, $68.32 & $69.38. Somewhere we would never pay to eat OOP.

When staying offsite we average approx $100/day for food, drinks & snax, hotel for next Feb costing $55/night. Onsite internet to pay for but free parking so I don't take those into account. Onsite costs us more in tips due to higher value food.
End of the day the cost difference is minimal for us in a Studio at OKW compared to offsite at a good value hotel.
Next year will be the 3rd year we have done OKW with free DDP, no way would I pay the regular price or eat in Disney at their prices so while the offer is on we are taking advantage, when the offer ends back to offsite.

 

[disneyholic family]

Every CS included a large drink each(or bottle) plus dessert, paying OOP we wouldn't have dessert and we would share a large drink.
The average was increased with 4 meals at WPE just looked at reciepts $68.32, $69.38, $68.32 & $69.38. Somewhere we would never pay to eat OOP.

When staying offsite we average approx $100/day for food, drinks & snax, hotel for next Feb costing $55/night. Onsite internet to pay for but free parking so I don't take those into account. Onsite costs us more in tips due to higher value food.
End of the day the cost difference is minimal for us in a Studio at OKW compared to offsite at a good value hotel.
Next year will be the 3rd year we have done OKW with free DDP, no way would I pay the regular price or eat in Disney at their prices so while the offer is on we are taking advantage, when the offer ends back to offsite.

we would probably order the large drink for each of us - we drink a lot in hot weather - but we would never order the dessert...

i think the free dining works out to being more expensive, but the additional cost might be worth it to have the convenience of being onsite and also it makes meals less obviously expensive...it will "feel" as if it's free, though it isn't of course..

when i was there in June, when i paid for everything out of pocket, the cost of everything seemed so incredibly high to me...and i was only paying for 1 person most of the time (and then for 3 when my mom and sister joined me)..

this trip will be for 6 adults....i'll have the feeling that i'm shelling out a fortune if i don't do free dining....
i know it's not "free", since i'm paying a lot for the accomodation, but it won't hurt as much this way if you know what i mean...

i'll give you an example....i love frozen cokes....when i was at WDW in june i was shocked to see that they'd raised the price to $4 (for something that costs 89cents at 7/11).....
but i love them and i can't get them here, so i bought one....and felt terrible about spending so much money on it...imagine if i'd bought 6 of them...$24 for a tiny cup of frozen coke....but if i just spent a snack credit on it....a free snack credit, i wouldn't feel badly about it...
know what i mean?

by the way, i think they raised the prices of all the snacks all over the park to $4, so that people would use their credits on them...
the same frozen coke used to be $2 (and actually, it used to be in a bigger cup than it is now....so them made it smaller and doubled the price).

anyway....i found the food prices both onsite and off to be much higher than i had remembered them....
pretty much my entire trip to the states in june and then again in september (to texas and michigan) i was suffering from sticker shock of one kind or another..

 

[disneyholic family]

so based on two weeks at OKW during free dining, and including the 14 day ultimate ticket, the cost for the 6 of us would be something on the order of £6500 (not including airfare)...

i could do that as 3 studios or 1 studio and 1 two bedroom (to get the washer/dryer)....it works out about the same..
(this is for 3 couples, but one of the couples could share the two bedroom with us and the other could be in the studio)...

so now i started playing with the american website.
as it happens, i received a pin code a few weeks ago...
unfortunately, it's only through may, but just for fun i used it to estimate two weeks in february to see how it compares.
since it's a room only pin code, i calculated the cost of 3 Pop Century rooms and then added on the dining plan FOR MONEY...
that is, actually paying for the dining plan as an add on to a discounted hotel room rate..

the room by itself was £700/room or £2100 for the 3 rooms
then if i add on the dining plan it's about another £2500

so that's about £4,600 for the two weeks...

and then i have to add on the tickets...
so what's the 14 day ultimate? i have to go find the rate
ok....so 6 tickets would be about £1,400

so the total is £6,000

that's pretty funny....
awfully close, but in the first case i'm getting much better accomodations...

i guess a no brainer..

except... now i should figure out what it would be if we didn't use the dining plan..

if we take the pop century rooms with no dining plan and just go a la carte so to speak..

this is going to take me a while....
i have to go look at menus and prices...

by the way, anyone have an opinion on the orlando freedom ticket?