Hitting the Disney trifecta! a Nov 2013 PTR-and then some!(2/21-Trip #3 return!)

[Tinker326]

We are meeting another on-line DIS family (Hey Tinker326!) for dinner as well. They have daughters very similar in age to our DD, and hopefully it will be chance for her to have some interaction with kids her own age. Depending on how we feel, and on how FP+ works, I think we will hit a couple of rides before we leave the park tonight – maybe we will continue to spend a little time with Tinker326 and her family. I could even foresee this as a good Illuminations night – so maybe we will use a FP+ for that!

HI!!! Looking forward to this dinner!

Day 7 - I love Fridays @ Magic Kingdom when there is a party scheduled that night. Notice this is only our 2nd time at MK so far this trip – with the party night being the first – so it will be our first MK rope drop almost a week into the trip! A lot of what we do this day will depend on what have already done. I could foresee a return to some favorites (Peter Pan and Jungle Cruise first among them). With the party at night – the crowds seem to arrive around 4 PM on these days, so I thought this would be dinner at O’hana (MVMCP is tonight – so an early night likely). We’ve actually never eaten at O’Hana – it’s been on the list for years and years. Without free dining, we will likely have to wait another year to try this, and instead we might just return to our hotel for dinner.

We did Ohana in 2008 for dinner (it remains my FAVORITE for breakfast) and it was very, very good. I have read reports it's gone downhill & we have not been back since then to test that theory out!

Peter Pan is my all time FAVE ride at all of Disney!!!

Day 8 - Saturday – Most of the day will be spent at Animal Kingdom.


We have a pretty fixed pattern for DAK, safari first thing and then the Pangori animal trails, then to Rafiki’s planet watch for the animal procedures. Maybe DD will want to get her face painted again:

Love this pic! Too cute!!! My kids beg all the time for facepaint here... I am always so hesitant because it's not cheap...and my kids end up in the pool at night........

We again hope to meet up with Tinker326 and her family for the kids to play in the boneyard, and maybe even we could grab lunch together, but probably only if they are willing to give FlameTree BBQ a try, because that is our favorite QS in Animal Kingdom!

Flame Tree is my go to in AK. We've actaully never been to any of the other QS resturants here because I always go to FlameTree. Love me some BBQ!!! So yup, we are heading this way regardless!


Thinking also maybe say- 3 months before the trips, perhaps we can get a correspondance going between all the girls. That way it may help ease the 'shyness' of meeting someone new? We could do it through PM on the boards or just our e-mails.... thoughts? I know my older one would LOVE this.

 

[skier_pete]

HI!!! Looking forward to this dinner!

We did Ohana in 2008 for dinner (it remains my FAVORITE for breakfast) and it was very, very good. I have read reports it's gone downhill & we have not been back since then to test that theory out!
Peter Pan is my all time FAVE ride at all of Disney!!!

O'hana's been on the list for a while. I am not a big fan of dining breakfasts in general, but want to try the dinner. We will be testing the theory. We also love PP.

Love this pic! Too cute!!! My kids beg all the time for facepaint here... I am always so hesitant because it's not cheap...and my kids end up in the pool at night........

Really I was surprised how reasonable the face paint was. At least relatively. I think it was only like $12-15, which I guess runs into a lot when you have 3 kids, but for the one didn't seem too bad. It definitely wouldn't last out the day. They start rubbing their face as the day goes on and oh no, there goes the face paint. I was also surprise how fast they are at putting it on.

Flame Tree is my go to in AK. We've actaully never been to any of the other QS resturants here because I always go to FlameTree. Love me some BBQ!!! So yup, we are heading this way regardless!

Yup, love them ribs, and DW loves the BBQ chicken salad there. I also like the outdoor seating area a lot. (A little known fact of AK - each of the pavillions in Flame Tree is decorated with a combination of two animals which are a direct predator/prey relationship.) So, maybe a good place to meet up for lunch as well.

Thinking also maybe say- 3 months before the trips, perhaps we can get a correspondance going between all the girls. That way it may help ease the 'shyness' of meeting someone new? We could do it through PM on the boards or just our e-mails.... thoughts? I know my older one would LOVE this.

That sounds really good. My DD is usually pretty friendly, but sometimes gets shy unexpectedly. I do have an e-mail address for her. When in Australia, my wife's friends' neices that she met there were her age, and she got very excited to write her e-mails. DD wrote a few to them, but they never responded. She was pretty bummed. So, yeah, I think she'd really like to make e-pals. Maybe after they write a few times, we could even get them to Skype once or twice just prior to the trip. Don't know if you skype at all, but it's pretty simple...we set it up with Grandma in Arizona already. It was better from Australia - free Skype versus $2 a minute phone calls.

 

[PrincessInOz]

Sounds like they will be great days, Pete. How cool to be able to spend so much time hanging out with another Dis-ser. Hope you guys have a blast!

 

[YodasMom]

Anything in the backpacks?

 

[Aussie Wendy]

I agree box contents a bit less exciting than the box itself-but that makes a great keepsake eg Disney souvie stuff/tix/placemats etc from over the years. Your itinerary for WDW sounds really relaxing-attractive when I am in the midst of planning a major rush around 5 week holiday!! Nice to meet up with a fellow Dis-ser too especially if the kids hit it off.

 

[skier_pete]

Sounds like they will be great days, Pete. How cool to be able to spend so much time hanging out with another Dis-ser. Hope you guys have a blast!

Thanks!

Anything in the backpacks?

Nope - nothing but air. It's really what the box means more than anything. It means the trip is almost here!

I agree box contents a bit less exciting than the box itself-but that makes a great keepsake eg Disney souvie stuff/tix/placemats etc from over the years. Your itinerary for WDW sounds really relaxing-attractive when I am in the midst of planning a major rush around 5 week holiday!! Nice to meet up with a fellow Dis-ser too especially if the kids hit it off.

Yeah, I don't know about "relaxing", maybe compared to SOME people's Disney trips. Part of the reason we like doing the 10-day trips is that we CAN get some downtime in there. We always TRY to plan a day at the resort, but rarely do we succeed. This year it looks like we might actually do it.

 

[Tinker326]

That sounds really good. My DD is usually pretty friendly, but sometimes gets shy unexpectedly. I do have an e-mail address for her. When in Australia, my wife's friends' neices that she met there were her age, and she got very excited to write her e-mails. DD wrote a few to them, but they never responded. She was pretty bummed. So, yeah, I think she'd really like to make e-pals. Maybe after they write a few times, we could even get them to Skype once or twice just prior to the trip. Don't know if you skype at all, but it's pretty simple...we set it up with Grandma in Arizona already. It was better from Australia - free Skype versus $2 a minute phone calls.

I keep throwing around setting up one for her. But regardless, she can use mine. She can get shy too with new people, so figured this may help. Let's maybe target sometime in the summer to get them corresponding.....

And yup- we have skype. That's all we used to talk to the kids while we were in China.....

 

[skier_pete]

And yup- we have skype. That's all we used to talk to the kids while we were in China.....

Yeah, so that might get them more comfortable too after they write a couple of times.

 

[khertz]

Back from Tennessee and trying to get all caught up on TR's! Your plans for November are really coming along great. Hopefully you can get FD and experience all of the meals you have planned.

The Osborne Lights are the ONE thing that always nag at me when we go in October!! That's my favorite part about going during the holidays. We are not going to be in WDW next year because of the ABD Italy trip, but hopefully we will be back in 2015 and I just might have to forsake October for another Christmas trip!!

If you do get the chance to go to DTD and see Festival of the Masters, you should check it out. They have so many cool different types of artists selling their amazing work to look at. Plus, we love checking out the Disney art, of course. And the sidewalk chalk art on the ground is simply incredible!! I can't believe how much detail those artists can create from on the pavement!

 

[skier_pete]

Back from Tennessee and trying to get all caught up on TR's! Your plans for November are really coming along great. Hopefully you can get FD and experience all of the meals you have planned.

The Osborne Lights are the ONE thing that always nag at me when we go in October!! That's my favorite part about going during the holidays. We are not going to be in WDW next year because of the ABD Italy trip, but hopefully we will be back in 2015 and I just might have to forsake October for another Christmas trip!!

If you do get the chance to go to DTD and see Festival of the Masters, you should check it out. They have so many cool different types of artists selling their amazing work to look at. Plus, we love checking out the Disney art, of course. And the sidewalk chalk art on the ground is simply incredible!! I can't believe how much detail those artists can create from on the pavement!

Looks like we will both be missing out on WDW in 2014.

I do want to check out Festival of the Masters even with my distain for DTD post PI-closure. However, I am not sure that DD would tolerate it for very long. I may let DW go check it out while I keep DD occupied.

 

[skier_pete]

A couple MINOR updates to our PTRs:

First up - just 40 days until we leave for our ABD trip!!!! If I can give up beer for 40 days of lent, I can certainly make it another 40 days to this trip.

Second - with the date until our November trip approaching 6 months - there are some dates coming up fast:

May 6th (next monday) - SWA opens flights for November. Do I book right away or wait? A lot will depend on prices. We'll be using points for TWO of the 3 flights I think - so refunds are even less of a bother. I think if I can get the dates/times I want for under $250 RT I will simply book it.

May 13th (the monday after) - first 180 day mark arrives. Do I book a reservation so I have 180+10 access or not? - see next date for why to consider that. If not, I would need to spend the next several days going on-line to get our preferred ADRs. And everyone knows what a pain in the bum THAT is.

Early-June (a month away) - this is the time of year that Disney raised ticket prices last. Why should that matter, you ask? Well, if you book a trip before the ticket prices go up, even if you make changes to that trip (such as adding free dining) you are "locked in" at the lower ticket prices. Even a 5 % boost in ticket prices would lead to a $45 savings by pre-booking our package. So, if I'm going to pre-book by early-June, do I just pre-book May 13th to take advantage of the 180+10 rule?

Decisions, decisions!

 

[PrincessInOz]

YAY for 40 days.

Hope SW has a good price for you.

As to booking your package, I would book it on May 13 and lock in some ADRs.

 

[Tinker326]

I read somewhere (and no idea where at the moment) that they were toying with raising prices even earlier than June. I've been debating getting my tickets soon for this reason...... still haven't yet. And I'll probably regret down the line procrastinating.....

And YHEA on 40 days till the big ABD trip! Fun! Fun!!! I read through a ABD Costa Rica trip yesterday at lunch that prompted me to go price stuff out I can't afford again! Someday I WILL take one of those! I really want to do the Peru one!

 

[skier_pete]

YAY for 40 days.

Hope SW has a good price for you.

As to booking your package, I would book it on May 13 and lock in some ADRs.

I hope they do also. It used to be they put out they're best prices when the tickets first opened up. This is no longer the case all the time, however, so I will have to wait and see.

I am leaning towards just booking the package. If I charge to $200 to my Disney Visa, I can wait 6 months to pay it anyways.

I read somewhere (and no idea where at the moment) that they were toying with raising prices even earlier than June. I've been debating getting my tickets soon for this reason...... still haven't yet. And I'll probably regret down the line procrastinating.....

They're were rumors of a ticket price raise early, but that was just speculation. They did it in June last year, but the previous two years it was August. The reason they moved it to June was mostly because of Carsland. (What WDW has to do with DLR changes doesn't make such sense to us non-Disney folks.) And in the past they have generally only had one price hike per year - but occasionally done two.

However, I've never seen them go longer than a year, so expect it to come by June.

If you keep a VERY close eye on the DIS/internet, you should be able to catch the announcement prior to the actual raise in ticket prices. They usually announce the raise late on Friday, with the policy taking affect on Sunday. There is no way I will wait into our June trip to book, just in case it happens while we are away. (Though you would think someone in our group would catch it.)

And YHEA on 40 days till the big ABD trip! Fun! Fun!!! I read through a ABD Costa Rica trip yesterday at lunch that prompted me to go price stuff out I can't afford again! Someday I WILL take one of those! I really want to do the Peru one!

Ha, we can't really afford THIS one...I really shouldn't be doing it, especially so soon after a big expensive trip last year. I hope we don't fall to in love with ABD, because honestly we'll be lucky to ever afford to take another one. The typical cost for two people for most of these trips is more than our vacation budget for the whole year ($4,000 - $6,000 per person seems typical). The BSM one is considerably less, but still runs $2,500 per person for a mere 6 "days".

 

[Aussie Wendy]

Yes I drool over the ABD tours but realistically can do very similar ourselves for a lot less cf our upcoming Scottish trip. We have always promised ourselves Egypt one day though-and since we will go upmarket regardless for that, I am keeping a close eye on what ABD offer!

Crossing fingers SW have come through for you (I got notice of some deals from them on May 2 but only valid til mid Oct) and I second PIO on locking in the deal soon given you can still make variations.

 

[skier_pete]

Crossing fingers SW have come through for you (I got notice of some deals from them on May 2 but only valid til mid Oct) and I second PIO on locking in the deal soon given you can still make variations.

Well, as you can tell by my post title, SW did come through - though as usual all was not perfect.

I woke up at 6 AM and checked the web-site. The dates weren't open yet. So, I took a shower and got dressed, and when I went back to the computer at 6:25 AM the dates were opened!

(I am presenting everything below in $$, but actually used points for two of the three flights.)

So, I went and looked at the prices for our dates:

• Saturday Nov 9th: Early flight -our first choice (7:10 AM out of Buffalo, arrive 10 AM) was $167.
• A slightly later flight (10:25 AM out of Buffalo, arrive 1:10 PM) was $145.
• The cheapest flight was in the evening (7 PM arrival @ MCO) for $112.

Monday Nov 18th: This was a no brainer. Leaving MCO @ 5:25 PM arriving BUF 7:55 PM, only $124.

DW and I quickly discussed the Saturday options. We could also fly down late (arrive 9 PM) on Friday for $124 one-way, but even though this saved us ~$129 total, it would require an extra nights hotel stay, which would cost at least that if not more. The problem with the 1 PM arrival was it made us spending the afternoon at DAK as planned very difficult. Was it worth $60 to lose that day?

We rapidly decided that we would book our preferred flight times, which would cost us ~$291 round trip. This is a little on the high side of what I was hoping to spend – I preferred $200-$250 as a "good" RT fare.

In the end – we couldn’t resist spending the extra money/points to get exactly the flights we wanted, especially since we ended up with DIRECT flights in both directions. I booked DD and my own flights with 16,000 points each. I always book DW’s flight for the cash, as it's her SW points we use for this.

We also had a $35 credit from our upcoming California trip when the prices dropped, so I used that on the November 18th one-way flight ONLY, and bought the November 9th flight as a separate buy. This way, if the price drops on the November 9th flight, I can get the credit for it, and that creidt will start from today's date, as oppose to if I had used the $35 credit on the round-trip flight, a change would make any credit be only good for one year from the date of that original credit (which was March I think). Did that make any sense at all? Basically, I'm trying to use the system to make it so I am more likely to be able to take advantage of any cash credits I get.

I really don't expect the opportunity to improve these prices, to be honest. That November 9th 7 AM flight may be a really prime flight, so we may never see the price drop below the current $167. SWA prices flucuate more than anything based on availability of seats. For example, that $124 rate on the return flight from Orlando to Buffalo??? By the time i was done purchasing the ticket....the price had already risen to $145. Meaning I was within minutes of having to spend another $60!

Either way, we're happy. Our current situation is our "worst case" where I had to use more points/cash than I really wanted to, but in the end I got exactly the flights I wanted.

We also did really well this year on saving airline $$ by using our SWA points. So far we got.

• One round trip Pittsburgh -> Phoenix
• One round trip Buffalo -> LAX
• One-way Phoenix -> Buffalo (my mom)
• Two round trip Buffalo -> Orlando

And still have 29,000 pts between the two of us, with more earned each month, so I am sure we will taking some free flights next year as well.

I am very excited to get the flights booked! It always makes it feel like it's a real vacation at that point. I also told my boss today, firming up the dates.

 

[PrincessInOz]

Congrats on the SW flights! I think it is worth the extra $$ and points to get on the flights you want and to be able to plan the day the way you want.

Seems like this plan is coming together.

Now.....if only FD opens up for your dates.

 

[skier_pete]

Now.....if only FD opens up for your dates.

Oh, we so much could use that...my budget says no FD means $400 more expensive and we stay at a value instead of the mod.

 

[Tinker326]

Yhea on the flights!!! It's always so nice to get exactly what you want (timewise). It's all the more offiical now for you!!

I'm still looking. They are wicked expensive still......

My goal is under $250. Right now they are hitting at $350.

 

[skier_pete]

Yhea on the flights!!! It's always so nice to get exactly what you want (timewise). It's all the more offiical now for you!!

I'm still looking. They are wicked expensive still......

My goal is under $250. Right now they are hitting at $350.

Can you fly Southwest? Where are you flying out of - I forget where you're from. I was reading an article that airline prices are statistically at their lowest about 2-3 months before the date you are flying. I find that to be pretty common with Southwest at least.

You have a LOT of tickets to buy, too! Hope you can find a better deal. Just be patient...check frequently, and be ready to jump when you find a good price.