June comes before August & the APs will still be valid! I think we're done here!

[jackskellingtonsgirl]

Welcome to my June 2010 pre-trip!

For anyone who missed out on the August and December 2009 trips, you will find those trip reports here:
http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=2036352

Travel party consists me of me (39), DH (42) and DS (13). DS will be 14 before we leave, but really, that has no bearing on the story.

We go to WDW whenever we can. In 2008 we discovered the joys of the mega-trip. It is better to stay 17 nights and only pay for airfare once than to go 3 times in one year and never stay more than 9 nights at a time. Unfortunately DH's days off have now been juggled so that we can't stay for 17 nights anymore. Have to settle for 15.

I decided I wanted to go to WDW in June, 2010. We have been in August the past 4 years, and that was working fine for us. The problem is our APs expire August 1. It would be MUCH better if we could get the 2010 trip in BEFORE they expire. So I called at the 11 month mark and started booking our villa. You can only book a certain number of nights to start with. Then you have to call back every day and add one night at a time until you get all the nights you want. Tedious. But I did manage to get all of them! 12 nights total. I wanted to make sure we had the villa ressie secured in case DH was able to get the time off in June. He has to bid for vacation. But bids aren't until December. And they are based on seniority. You never know what the guys in front of DH will bid for, so we never know if the weeks we want will be open or not. So we booked the villa and hoped for the best.

We bought tickets to Universal, but we ended up not going. Kind of like the water park tickets I have been carrying around for 3 years. I decided we would go to Universal in 2010, after WDW. I booked 3 nights at the Royal Pacific.

Then I started thinking...
DH HATES when I think. I spend lots and lots of time thinking. I decided maybe we didn't really want to spend 3 nights at Universal. I had an AP PIN for discounts in June. Hmmm.

I called and cancelled our first 2 nights in the villa, and booked a pool view room at AKL with the AP rate. I moved the 2 villa nights to the end of the trip and cancelled the Universal hotel. Well, that would mean going home Friday instead of Saturday. I don't want to go home a day early! So I convinced a friend to transfer 4 points to me so we could add one more night in the villa. Luckily the villa was available so I was able to just tack it onto the existing ressie. Good. DH's bid went just the way we were hoping - he got the time off! Now we are rolling!

I booked our ADRs at the 178 day mark. I am fanatical about booking at 180, but we were at WDW on my 180 mark and it just didn't happen. I booked as soon as we got home. Today I added 2 more ADRs, since we are staying longer. I think we are just going to go over to Universal for one day.

DS is excited about being at WDW for Star Wars weekends. Not sure what all we will be able to see and do, but I will present the options to him and let him decide how long he wants to stand in line for said options.

 

[ghester]

Not really sure where to post this question, but.. How good are annual pass discounts? Our first trip was july 09 and now we can't stop thinking about going again. we want to go in may 10 dec 10 and early feb 11. I cant seem to get any good info on discount with an ap unless i already have the annual pass we have a camper and i was wondering if the ap would give a discount on campsites? Also can you still get the dining plan if you have an ap?

 

[jackskellingtonsgirl]

Not really sure where to post this question, but.. How good are annual pass discounts? Our first trip was july 09 and now we can't stop thinking about going again. we want to go in may 10 dec 10 and early feb 11. I cant seem to get any good info on discount with an ap unless i already have the annual pass we have a camper and i was wondering if the ap would give a discount on campsites? Also can you still get the dining plan if you have an ap?

Welcome!

We own DVC so we really use the APs more for admission than for room discounts. Having said that, we just got back from doing 4 nights on an AP discount because we were out of DVC points, and we have 2 more nights for June booked with an AP rate.

Lately the AP rates for Deluxe resorts have been about 40% off of rack rate. The thing that shocked me was just how HIGH rack rate is on some nights! I have no idea about campsite rates - sorry!

If you look at the Mousesavers website there is rate info for all of the different resorts, and the charts show how the rates fluctuate with the seasons.

You will be able to add any of the dining plans to an AP reservation, but the dining plan will not be discounted. Hope that helps!

 

[PNO4TE]

I'm in!!

 

[jackskellingtonsgirl]

Hi, Elin!


This will be our third trip using DVC points. AKL was our favorite resort before we bought in, so I only waffled a little when we were choosing our home resort. (SSR had some additional incentives, but in the end we chose AKV.)

Since there are just the 3 of us we fit comfortably in a studio. The biggest problem is what to with all of the throw pillows and sofa cushions once we have the sofa pulled out for DS.

I tried to get a concierge studio for June, but there weren't any. There are only 5 to begin with, so getting one for 10 nights last time was an incredible streak of luck. I decided we will go with a value 1 bedroom this time. Having a washer will please DH. And having extra sqaure footage is always useful. We don't really NEED a full kitchen, so maybe that's where we will store the luggage.

 

[jackskellingtonsgirl]

Waiting for SW to release their summer schedule.

 

[jackskellingtonsgirl]

HOLY CRAP!!!!!

OK, so the SW schedule is out and they are PROUD of those flights. O M G!!!!

Over $1100 for the 3 of us to fly round trip. I think NOT!!! I can fly on American WITH the bag fees for WAY less than $1100. And the plane won't stop anywhere else on the way, either!

 

[jackskellingtonsgirl]

Well, obviously American was feeling left out so they raised their fares yesterday afternoon. While I was on the site, right before my eyes, BOOM! Fares jumped high enough that with the bag fee American is more expensive than SW.

Airtran is the only one offering a reasonable fare, but I am too chicken to book with them. Too many scary stories.

 

[eyeheartgoofy]

Then I started thinking...
DH HATES when I think. I spend lots and lots of time thinking.

Whenever I start a sentence with, "I've been thinking ...", DH either says, "Stop it" or "Uh Oh".

 

[jackskellingtonsgirl]

Whenever I start a sentence with, "I've been thinking ...", DH either says, "Stop it" or "Uh Oh".

It's great, isn't it?

 

[Victoriasmom98]

joining in with you!!!

 

[jackskellingtonsgirl]

joining in with you!!!

Welcome!

DS has recently become interested in Hidden Mickeys. He has a book, but he spent our December trip lamenting that his book is out of date. I ordered the newest one from Amazon for him along with some trivia book, and the 2010 UG for myself. I don't expect to uncover any new info in the UG, but I like Len and I don't want him to be unemployed.

Since we took a 4 night trip earlier this month we really aren't supposed to be doing "Christmas". But I had an Amazon certificate, and then there was free shipping, so I kind of HAD to order the books.

I also recently found out that Walgreens now sells Disney gift cards. So I had to go see for myself. And once I saw them I had to buy one for DS. As a stocking stuffer. Because we might do stockings.

I also bought him tickets to 4 musicals (The Color Purple, Phantom of the Opera, Wicked, and Beatles "Rain"). And an iTunes gift card. But I am not going to buy him anything else. Because we aren't doing Christmas.

I got Ugg boots last month. And at WDW DH bought the Dooney purse for me. As part of not Christmas.

So you may be wondering where this leaves DH. And that is what I am also wondering. He has been wanting a particular camera lens. And I have been telling him no. But maybe he will get the lens. Since we had that 4 night trip instead of Christmas. I know if he gets the lens he will immediately find some other thing to pester me about. But then I can remind him about the lens. And how he got the lens even though we weren't doing Christmas. Hmm...:

 

[jackskellingtonsgirl]

DH's lens is on the way. I hope he likes it. I hope he will not find something new to pester me about.

Our tickets for "The Color Purple" arrived yesterday. The seats are great! I am really excited. No, that has nothing to do with WDW. But it will create a nice diversion while we are waiting for WDW.

 

[jackskellingtonsgirl]

Still pondering the airfare dilemma.

I think we would probably be fine on AirTran, but I just can't bring myself to book them without waiting awhile longer to see if SW or AA drop their prices.

 

[jackskellingtonsgirl]

I should just book the air and be done with it. But I can't seem to do that.

I booked our December tickets in July and we got a good deal on them, so maybe waiting until late January to book June would be better. Or not. I could miss out on the low fares for AirTran and end up paying $1100 on American or SW. Not good.

It is too early in the morning to think this hard. More coffee.

 

[jackskellingtonsgirl]

After much hemming and hawing we finally booked AirTran for our flights in June. They had the best price, so we'll see how it goes!

Not having airfare makes me all fidgety, so now I can go find something else to fidget over.

Or not.

It turns out that the return flight I booked is not on their schedule prior to June 12. Obviously that is something they add only during the summer. This is NOT good, and it probably would have impacted my booking decision had I known before I booked. Crap.

Well, DH had said something about booking the later flight and he would try to take Sunday off. If they cancel the nonstop AM flight there may be very little choice. If they cancel the AM flight we can price out coming back on another airline, or we can try to switch to the PM flight.

 

[jackskellingtonsgirl]

Now I am trying to decide if I should order from We Go Shop or just suck it up and pay gift shop prices for the few groceries we will need.

 

[jackskellingtonsgirl]

As always, it perplexes me that doing a Dining Plan wouldn't save us a cent. I thought maybe since we are "scaling back" a little and not doing a TS every day that MAYBE I should look at the QS Dining Plan. We would end up with 26 credits each. Nope. No way we will eat 26 counter service meals AND 26 snacks AND all the TS I have already booked. If we DO eat that much (which we won't) then we wouldn't actually save any money.

We spend maybe $8 per person on breakfast, maybe $10 per person on lunch, and $3 per snack. That's $24 per person per day OOP, or $30 per person per day to do the QS DDP. Breakfast includes 2 drinks and lunch includes dessert. We don't NEED 2 drinks every day at breakfast (DH and I will drink coffee in the room) and we NEVER get dessert with CS lunches. Having dessert included with lunches would basically be like getting the desserts "free", but if we don't WANT them then that's kind of silly.

We already know it is silly for us to have a DDP for TS meals. We like to order appetizers, DS likes to order his entrees from the kid's menu. It works MUCH better for us to use the TIW card and have the flexibility to just order exactly what we want.

It seems no matter what our trip looks like and no matter which plan I plug our meals into, we NEVER come out ahead with a Dining Plan. It aggravates me. Not sure why I care. Obviously we do better without a plan, but then we feel left out. Seems like EVERYBODY else has a Dining Plan! Then again, saving $78 on our counter service meals and snacks by NOT buying a Dining Plan makes more sense than buying one just so we feel "included".

There is also a pretty good chance that we wouldn't use all of the credits, so that would be even more money wasted on the Plan.

 

[lovesdumbo]

Nevermind the accountant who can't count.

I really miss my brain! Maybe I left it in my Owner's Locker and I can get it back in a few weeks.

 

[jackskellingtonsgirl]

Welcome, Bernadette! Brains are overrated. We have done this enough times that we shouldn't need to think about it. Not sure why we continue to over-analyze each and every detail.

Tweaking already.

I took another look at our itinerary yesterday. Realized I had Blizzard Beach on an AM EMH. I hate water. Water at 8 AM is unthinkable. SO I flipped our BB day with our Universal day.

Rescheduled a Boma breakfast and a Jiko dinner. I may cancel the Jiko entirely. We'll see how it goes. We have only been to Jiko once before and we were not impressed. I keep thinking we'll give it another try.

I pulled our December receipts and we really do only spend about $70 day on CS meals and snacks. The plan would cost $90. I really MUST stop thinking about the stupid Dining Plans!