Need help planning trip for special girls

[crazyforgoofy]

I'm taking my cousins' three girls to WDW next year. Can't afford it but doing it anyway. They're great girls who lost their birth mother several years ago. One of the girls has PKU so I have to do a significant amount of meal planning (she eats a VERY low protein diet). Can't afford many sit down meals but hope to take them to Hollywood and Vine and contact the chef in advance so there are appropriate foods available. I need help with ideas for cost cutting. The girls want to stay at ASMu and I'm waiting for the AP rates for late May/early June. My admission is taken care of, want to get a 5 day plus 2 ticket for each of the girls as they're mad to try the water parks. Hoping to find out if I can get SOG prices for their tickets as I have military id (husband is disabled veteran.) I'm saving Marriott points for motel rooms for the trip down and back so that's off my list of worries. I'm hoping ASMu will provide refrigerator at no cost as we have to keep special diet stuff cold. Planning on taking a hot pot to prepare special food in room and using microwave at food court too.

I want to give the girls a really special trip but have to keep the cost down. Any ideas for special things to do that don't cost much, little treats, exciting things to do, etc. would be greatly appreciated. The girls will 12, 13 1/2 and 15.

 

[annsteere]

Mickey stickers on plastic dinnerware can sparkle up breakfast in the room. (Or, whatever meals you eat there to either meet diet or wallet needs).

A packet of stickers can sparkle up lots of things. Bottle of bubbles with a sticker went over big. Homemade autograph books also used stickers and were well received.

I bought Mickey earrings for less than $5 for DD to wear on the airplane trip down. Big hit.

 

[jcanary]

Not sure if this is appropiate but what about earning some money thru test drives. There is one out there for a ford expedition in which you can receive a $75 mastercard. You send for the brochure and say you are interested in the next 0-3 months and you should receive a brochure with a post card in it that you take to a ford dealer to validate, some don't even expect you to do the test drive. YOu could then go to a disney store and buy disney dollars towards a meal. Check out the Disney rewards board. Hope you have a wonderful trip. You are very special to those girls.
Have you also checked out the rent/trade board? You may be able to get a studio for the same amount as the all stars and they supply a refrig, microwave and a little more room. The prices for Sunday thru Friday are great but staying a Friday or Saturday night is expensive. If you want any other info feel free to write. Good luck

 

[tink2dw]

Now you can start deciding what are the things that are "must do's" and "must
see's." and decide the length of your trip.

Then decide on the tickets you will need here.
http://www.mousesavers.com/tickets.html

To keep an EYE on All the discounts for on-site and off-site resorts check here
often and sign up for the MouseSavers.com newsletter to get all the best news.
http://www.mousesavers.com/wdw.html

For Air fares sign up at all the Airline Web sites that fly out of your airport
that fly to Orlando or MCO in airline speak. Then Check Expedia,Travelocity for
airline deals. Also check out the Transporation Board air,car deals.
http://www.disboards.com/

Start a WDW change jar to save for your trip.[there are many tips here on this
board!!]

Also you can decide where you will want to eat and start making plans to make
your food budget and check the Priority Seatings Calculator to know when you can
make PS's some are as far out as 730 Days.
http://www.wdwinfo.com/wdwinfo/dining.htm

Also to help decide where to eat you can find menu's at Deb's wdw site,this
works 2 ways to see where to eat what,and how much it costs, to finalize the
food budget.
http://www.wdwig.com/menu/menus.htm

To keep all this info in one place,here is a computer Disney Vacation Planner.
It will print each day on a seperate sheet. Also check the pull down menu'sat
the top for loads of info!!
http://www.intercot.com/planner/default.asp

Well,this should get you start on a thousand more Questions!! So,don't be shy!
Ask away!! The kind members here will share what they know! So,check back
often!!

tink2dw

 

[Cindy B]

Wow, with the diet restrictions, you may be better off in a place where you can cook, or have a micro/fridge available in the room with no extra fee.

I hate to say this, but I stayed off site this past trip for 14 days. We usually stay at the All Star as well, and it was a VAST improvement. The micro/fridge were FREE, and there was a FREE breakfast as well, plus a $39 room rate.. .(try finding that onsite)

Did we lose magic NO!

BTW, WetnWild, (water park on International Drive/Universal area) had an annual pass Mon-Fri (no weekends) for $39.99 per person.

That is an annual pass, not a one time visit. One visit was $30/ and $20 for kids, so the annual is a great deal... .


That may be cheaper for you as well, if you do a four park hopper, and do the Wet N Wild annual instead.. (and you can get a whole year out of it!)


Drive straight through, so you don't the hotel cost on the way down. We did that as well.

This was a budget trip for us, we did 14 days meals, tickets, gas for the drive everything for four people for about $1700.

Offsite eating is much much cheaper than onsite... look for any and every coupon book available at grocery stores, etc.
There were tons of coupons for free kids meals, and buy one get one free, etc...

 

[worm761]

hi. my nephew has PKU so i know of the food restrictions. my nephew is allowed no protein with exception of a few potatoes. i would suggest keeping her on a vegetarian menu for the duration of your trip and/or bring food into the park with you. i am sure they will make an exception. make her sandwiches with her bread? i know it is hard to find things that she can eat. have you thought about talking to her dietician? i know that before i was allowed to be alone with my nephew my ex-sil insisted that we talk to the dietician so that we new exactly what he could and could not have.
have you asked on the disabilities board? or go the restaurant board and ask about vegetarian alternatives for your neice? i know we have vegetarians here. good luck.

 

[crazyforgoofy]

Thanks for the ideas worm761. I'm comfortable with what she can eat, just a bit worried about finding it. She's old enough to count protein grams and when she's with me her mom lets me do that rather than trying to count the other unit measurements (don't know how I'd do that unless I had a great big book with me at all times.) I've posted on the disabilities board and have help from some pku parents from the list her mom visits. I'm worried about keeping her bread from getting stale as we won't have a freezer. Will have to pack food in to the park, have argued with Six Flags people about it before, don't think WDW will be as big a pain about it. Desirea is 13 and has very definite ideas about what she'll eat which makes finding food a bit harder.

Cindy B, the girls have their hearts set on the whole Disney experience. They've seen pictures of the pools and rooms at ASMu and can't wait. They've also planned each thing they want to do at BB and TL. They haven't traveled much so this is a BIG adventure for them. Wow, your 14 day trip budget was incredible! I'm envious.

tink2dw, the change jar is started. The girls have everyone they know in town saving aluminum cans for them, we'll make regular trips to the recycler. I will keep my eyes on mousesavers. Wish I knew when the AP rates for late May/early June will come out. Thanks for the planner link, how cool!

jcanary, hope the ford dealers in this area (small, rural, Missouri) are doing the test drive. I'm going to try it. Thanks!!! I'm doing a couple of the rewards sites, hoping for stuff we can use. Any favorites?

annsteere, what great ideas. I'm going to start looking for Disney stickers, etc. And when the girls visit sometime we'll start making their own special autograph books.

As usual, the Disboard members are the BEST!

 

[kindredspirit]

If you have a military id you may want to just get a length of stay pass instead of a 5 day park hopper. We are a proud USMC family and we were looking into ticket options and my kids wanted to do Disney Quest but tickets were $25.00 and the 5day hopper was $210.00 each so that would make each person $235.00 but the 5day ultimate hopper which includes everything, water parks, DQ, pleasure Island, Etc. was only $222.00 each so we will opt for that! Only makes sense! The number for the ticket office for Shades of Green at the Contemporary is 1-888-593-2242 you can call and see if you are eligable for these tickets. I hope this helps.

 

[DisOrBust]

You could consider the possiblity of renting points for one of the DVCs. I am sure the teens would like BWV or BCV with the pools. Sometimes when the dates get closer some rent points fpor as little as 8$ a point. Then you could have a kitchenette and stay onsite..just a thought...

 

[SueM in MN]

crazyfor goofy, you might want to re-post on the disABILTIES Board because I don't don't find a post from you there.
you can follow the link in my signature to get there.
Anyway, I've got some phone numbers that might be helpful to you.
The first one is the executive chef's office: (407) 824-5967. I have nver used it, but have been told the people there can be really helpful about the menus/ingredients/contents of food at all the places that serve food at WDW. The chefs at the full service restaurants can prepare special foods with 24 hours notice, so you should be able to get foods she will like and be able to eat for your trip to Hollywood and Vine.

The other phone number is RESORTS/SPECIAL RESERVATIONS:
(407) 939-7807 [voice]
(407) 939-7670 [TTY]
It wouldn't hurt to ask for a refrigerator, but WDW has been inconsistent in providing refrigerators at no cost for medical needs, so I wouldn't count on getting one. Even many people who need a refrigerator for medication have been told there will be a charge (even when they were working thru the Special Reservations Department). The option they were given was to store the medication behind the desk at the office. People have posted that they were told that too many people were asking for free refrigerators (some who just said they had a medical need), so WDW stopped providing them. Recently people have posted that they were not charged, so it's worth asking about.
A lot of people have posted about using coollers with ice, so you might want to search for some of those threads.
You also may be pretty far away from the food court, so it might not be realistic to use the microwave there.

I see several people suggested trying to rent points at one of the DVC resorts. You might want to look into the cabins at FW too. With any of those, you would have a microwave and dorm size refrigerator at the DVC studios or a full kitchen at the larger accomidations.

 

[luckytso]

Crazyforgoofy,

I just sent you a pm.



Christine

 

[crazyforgoofy]

luckytso, thanks for the pm, appreciate your interest. Responded to your e-mail addy.

SueM in MN, thanks for the numbers, they're just what I need and now I don't have to search them out. I posted on disAbilities in early summer when planning our last trip with other family members with health issues. Got great help from you and others on renting ECV and handing little one with diabetes. Trip went GREAT! Sure this one will too with the right planning and advice. The refrig/ issues worked for us in July as Hannah had to have a cold place for insulin. Got a fridge free then, guess I can't count on it again. Desirea's "special foods" and aminoacid "formula" have to be kept cold and I'm afraid the humidity in a cooler with ice will be a problem.

DisOrBust, I will reconsider renting DVC points, only a tad nervous about it. Been burned on a few rental situations in the past. The girls would love to stay at a Deluxe as would I. I've only done moderates or All Stars.

kindspirit, we too are a proud USMC family, my husband is disabled Vietnam vet and I have a military id for use at base exchanges, etc. I've never used it at Disney, didn't know until recently that we could. Thanks for the advice.

And thanks again everyone for your time and interest.
Mary Alice

 

[horseshowmom]

If the girls are interested in a "cool" pool, Stormalong Bay looks fantastic! You can get points for a BCV studio at a pretty reasonable price. You might spend a little time on that particular board to get more in depth information and check the points calculator to find out exactly how much it would cost you. The major high points would be Stormalong Bay, the additional space, and being at Epcot's back door!

 

[SueM in MN]

Desirea's "special foods" and aminoacid "formula" have to be kept cold and I'm afraid the humidity in a cooler with ice will be a problem.

Someone recently posted on the disABILTIES board that they were able to get a medication refrigerator without cost because the medication is expensive and has to be kept at a pretty specific temperature. The poster was first told to keep the medication behind the desk if they didn't want to pay for a refrigerator. After explaining the cost of the medication, the CMs decided it was too much of a liability for them to keep it behind the desk, so a frig was provided without cost.
So it is worth talking to the resort about.
Be armed with the information you posted and also the cost of the special formula. If you work with a receptive Special Reservations CM and do a little simple education about PKU diet needs, you might even be able to get a microwave. I wouldn't count on it, but it certainly wouldn't hurt to try.