Need your help with Dec '10 trip

[arthur06]

I am so undecided on how I want to get our trip set up...

Here is what we know...
We are leaving Sat. Dec 4th and returning Sat Dec. 11th
We are on DCL 4 night cruise from Dec. 5th to Dec. 9th (we got the cruise for our 125 point add on last year)

It will be me (30), DW (28), DS9, DS3, DS2, MIL, FIL

We have our first night at BWV in a 2BR Boardwalk View (51 points Sat. Night)

and have our last 2 nights at BLT MK View.

Here is my REAL dilemma...

we are kind point deprived as we only own 155, just joined last year...

we have a Dec UY and have 16 banked points for our trip.
I want to get AP's for us and try to make multiple trips... if I stay offsite, like HRH or one of the Universal Hotels, I could essentially add a week to my AP's that I could use at the end. What I mean, if we arrive on 12/4 and go to Universal (my DS9 is a big Simpsons fan) and then leave on 12/5 for our cruise, we wouldnt start our AP's until 12/9. So that would make at least 7-9 days in Dec '11 that we could use our AP's with full points as our UY starts in Dec.

BUT

then I wonder if we go to US we would have to rent a car... and get to the cruise on our own... Can I return a rental car at the Port and then just rent one for the drive back to BLT and return it there? Would I be bettor off just having one the whole trip? There are 7 of us going, and I dont want to rent a car, but I also dont want to pay $89 or whatever Disney charges per person either?

Any help would be great!

 

[Sandisw]

If you go to Universal the first night, then you won't be visiting Disney that day so why not just plan to keep the BWV room and not visit Disney and still plan your AP's to start when you return from the cruise.

You can always go to Universal from BWV that first day as well. You could rent a car from the Dolphin (Alamo/National) which is a real quick walk from BWV (did it last summer). Go to universal for the day. The morning of the 5th just return the car prior to your going on your cruise. If there is no time to do this, find out what is the latest you could return it on the 4th (basically, renting it for one day).

This way, you are at Disney, can use the bus to go to port, etc. Not sure of your times, but it could work out for you. Of course, there is always the option of taking a cab from BWV to Universal as well.

Good luck!

 

[arthur06]

we will be 7 for the cruise... so $89 per person puts us at over $600 for the entire party... are there other options then Disney (im sure there are) is parking free at the Port? or is it like airport parking?

 

[dvc deernut]

Hi i dont know if this helps, i'll tell you what we do.

We have done the cruise a few times, and flown down. What we did because there was 5 of us it was going to cost a lot to take disney transportation. We rented a car from national for one day, you will have to rent minivan that holds 7. We stayed 1 night at okw but you can stay where ever, then the next day which was cruise day we drove to coco beach but i think that location is closed now so you may want to try enterprise because they have location close enough to the port they will drive you over no cost. Then when you get back from cruise what we did was rent a car from same place, they picked us up at ship no charge then we got the rental and drove back to wdw and okw and i returned the car. We had the rental for a total of 2 days.
We also have annual passes we bought them dec 7 /09 but didnt use them until dec10/09. They told us the starting date was the day u purchase the passes not when you first use it. We thought it was the first time u went into the park. Our expiry date is dec 7/10 not dec 10/10.

 

[CarolMN]

H.......
We also have annual passes we bought them dec 7 /09 but didnt use them until dec10/09. They told us the starting date was the day u purchase the passes not when you first use it. We thought it was the first time u went into the park. Our expiry date is dec 7/10 not dec 10/10.

If you buy annual passes on-site, you get the actual pass and your year of admission starts on the day of purchase, whether you use it to go into a park or not.

If you buy over the phone or via the website, you receive either a paper exchange certificate/voucher or a "will-call" confirmation number. Your year of admission will begin on the day you exchange the voucher or "will call" number for the actual pass. Doesn't matter if you visit a park that same day or not.

HTH.