newbie in need of guidance!

[Taratink]

I want to go to wdw 1st week in Feb. 05. I will be traveling w/ DS5 and DD3. My DH and I want to stay at a WDW resort hotel. I have a hotel budget of $200.00 per night. I was interested in the Poly, WL or CBR. I was thinking a balcony would be nice too. Last time we stayed offsite in a suites hotel but every time we left the park the magic left too. We had a lot of room last time but I am willing to sacrifice it for Disney magic. I don't know how to work all of these codes I am hearing about. Who do I call with a code and do they always work? Are these codes for every Disney hotel or just a few? What is a rate should I expect for these hotels? Any advice that you might have would be great.

 

[rcraw45425]

First, welcome. I'm fairly new to this board also but have stayed at WDW several times. If you want a balcony you can count out CBR. We have not stayed there and it looks really fun but I've read in the Unofficial Guide to WDW that there are no balconies at the Moderate resorts. They say that you can bring your lawn chair and sit out front of your room in the corridor, which I gather must be outside. To me that would be rather botehrsome for the people trying to get to their rooms. Just my humble opinion, though. Of the Deluxe resorts that you mentioned, WL and AKL are usually lowest priced, followed by CR, then Poly and GF. These codes that you see people referring to are sometimes found on the official WDW website, sometimes in your Sunday newspaper in the travel section, and sometimes come to your house on postcards from WDW directly. I have been very lucky in the past and was able to book our trip in June off of a Geogia resident discount tha twas advertised in my Sunday paper. I got the CR Garden wing room for $149 per night. That's lee than we've paid during the value season regular rate. I have paid as high as $325 a night there during spring break, but that's another story. DH was unhappy at the Hotel Royal Plaza in the Village, said "WE'RE MOVING, I DON'T CARE WHAT IT COSTS" . I booked the WL courtyard view for OCT. 6-8 for $169 per night, POLY garden View for OCT 8-10 for $244 per night with the BAT code that I found on this board. I already had reservations for those dates at AKL for $149/night for the first two nights but was having to pay rack rate of $290/night for that same WL room that I now have for $169 for the previous two days. THat weekend is high because of the Halloween PArty at MK. My old rates were from a post card I got form the parks. If you call them and answer their questions you can get on this mailing list for these code cards. It works for me. Annual Pass holders get special discounts too. Good luck, Hope this helps.

 

[ellenmiele]

With two yound children, the proximity of WL and Poly to the MK make those your best choices, with Poly being #1 on my list for travel with little ones because of the monorail for transportation and the zero-entry pool (less important in Feb bec of the weather but you can get lucky and some swimming days in Feb). If you are planning first week of Feb that is value season so the rate (with no discount codes) on a WL room would be min. $199/nite and min. $303/nite at the Poly. I think there is a good chance that a code would come out for that time period though so you could always book a WL room since it fits your budget but you might be able to change to Poly when and if codes come out. You should check the budget board here and/or mousesavers.com for historical code/rate info, and then as soon as the codes are likely to be released just check those websites every day and as soon as the codes are released call right away and see if it could either apply to the ressie you already have or change to a new ressie w/code. There are also discounts for vaious hotels at various times through AAA so sometimes it can pay to become a AAA member. And, depending on how long you will be staying, it can sometimes be worthwhile to get an AP for one member of your group in order to get an APholders discount (you just need to crunch your numbers on that one).

Good luck and Happy Planning!!

 

[Taratink]

Thank you for the info. Should I attempt finding these codes myself or should I hire a travel agent?

 

[ellenmiele]

If you have just a little spare time it is really not hard to find the codes yourself. (Plus, I can't bear the thought of paying somebody else to help me save money). For our upcoming trip, I found out (on these boards) that AP codes for Oct were likely to be released in late Aug. So beginning around Aug 20th I checked the mousesavers.com website EVERY DAY and the day the codes were released I called WDW and got my ressie modified to the AP code and I saved 20%. Plus I'm still keeping my ears open for any other codes that might pop up. But since there are only a set number of rooms with the discount at any given resort, you do need to be persistent in checking for the codes to come out and then call ASAP -- but it is totally worth it -- I've heard of people saving as much as 45%!!

 

[rcraw45425]

Taratink, I agree with ellenmiele about the AP thing. I'm thinking about converting one of my children's 5 day hoppers to an AP for the discounts. Is your room budget firm on the $200 per night amount? The reason I ask is our girls are 7 & 9 and we've been travelling to the park since my youngest was 10 months. With the exception of our trip this past spring break we've stayed onsite each time and it definitely is easier. You can go back to your room and rest or let the kids swim. If room size is important to you, the WL and AKL have smaller rooms that only sleep 4, whereas the CR & Poly standard rooms have an extra daybed. That is hand for us because our younger one is a perpendicular sleeper. It's hard to swallow paying over $200 for a room, but when you figure in the convenience and the ability to nip the whine time in the bud I say spring for the monorail resorts. I have never used a TA, so I can't help you there. I have always booked everything myself, I am one of those people that likes to set things up t osuit my family's wishes, and this way I have only myself to blame if I make a bad decision. I agree about the early booking thing. I have changed these exisiting reservations so many times that I hate to see the mailbox because of all of the Disney envelopes that come for now non-existent reservations.

HTH,

 

[Taratink]

I am going to try it myself. So you can book a room and change the price when you get a code. What is the cancellation policies with these rooms and is there travel insurance on these rooms if my kids get sick or something? The more money I save the more often we can go. I have been to Disney 3 times once with children and twice without. I thought it was okay before I had kids and then we went as a family and I fell in love. I was grouchy when we got hope for 2 weeks. I had the best week of my life there and i didn't want to leave. I can't wait to go again and my husband thinks I have gone crazy.

 

[rcraw45425]

When you book through CR they don't require that you purchase the trip insurance. Their cancellation policy is 5 days,but I don't see why you couldn't just reschedule it if you have a sickie. Write this number down, 800-828-0228 this is their toll free number, it really helps especially when you're trying to call at 7AM on the morning that the new codes are released. I stayed on hold for 30 minutes before I got a human, then was on the phone for 45 more minutes working out the particulars.

 

[blondeqtip]

rcraw45425, a question for you: you mentioned converting one of your children's 5 day hoppers into an AP for the discounts. First, how is that done? Second, will they let you use an AP discount based on a child's AP as opposed to an adult's AP?

 

[2MuchOhana]

Taratink,

WELCOME to the DisBoards!

If you are booking a room only reservation in hopes of getting an AP rate you cancel up to 5 days before your trip without penalty. Room only requires one nights deposit. You can pay as much as you want but the balance is not due until you check in. If you book a package deal (generally not as good from cost) the penalty fee is $250 and it must be canceled 45 days prior to your trip. They require the trip to be paid in full a lot faster.

I recommend using DU! They are a sponsor of the Disboards! It is a free service for you! Our agent Sue Ellen has been wonderful! She has been so helpful. She got us the AP rate for our upcoming trip and is booking all of our Priority Seatings! She has saved us a lot of time being on hold!

This is our first time using this service; and I won't go back to doing it myself!

Just giving my 2 cents!
Have a Great Time planning your trip!

Jodi

 

[rcraw45425]

I had mentioned to a CM in one of the many calls I've made in the past 10 days that I have 1 day remaining on a 5 day hopper and just purchased new 5 day hoppers. What we generally do is split these into 2 3 day trips. The CM said that I could conver these to AP's and pay the difference and that the day remaining would be prorated in to save me more money. I was told that I could do that at Guest Relations once I arried at a park. By my calculations, though, for all four of us to upgrade to AP's I'll have to come off an additinal $500-$600. From what I gather, I can convert one childs pass to AP, then do the others later. It won't ge me the discount now, probably, since I gather that we're going to be there at a pretty "peak" non peak time. But there's always the next trip...............

 

[Taratink]

Rcraw, I see your trip countdown and I am jealous. I have 6 months to go and I can hardly stand it. Can I book a room around a childs ap and do a have a good chance of a ower price or upgrand if I do that?

 

[rcraw45425]

From what I've seen on this board I think you can. People talk about doing it. You might want to call and ask about the annual passes, say maybe that the child in question splits tome between parents or sometimes goes with grandparents. Wouldn't they have to use the AP? Anyone?????

 

[rcraw45425]

Tara, we're being a bit excessive this year, went spring break for DD7's birthday (what she asked for), then June rolled around and DD9 said "well, you did it for HER", now it's for DH's 45 birthday. Plus Haloween is one of our favorite holidays and we couldn't imagine being there and notgoing to the MNSSHP! If we become AP holders it'd be even more tempting. It's a 6 hour drive for us though. I don't fly comercial and we have a small private plane but I carry too much stuff to use it. Poor hubby couldn't get us in the air what with three females packing

 

[Taratink]

I'll have to crunch some numbers to figure all this stuff out. Thanks for your help. I will check out th DU.
Have a great time on your trip!

 

[Taratink]

We live in the Boston area and I cannot imagine living so close. I don't think the normal person likes Disney as much as I do. I need to leave the cold New England weather and get a little Florida sunshine. Last time we went it was in the 70's and at home it was around 0. So it was like a little bit of heaven.

 

[rcraw45425]

Well, it's hot & humid here right now! Outside temp is 76, humidity probably 80-90 percent. We're already getting rain, with Hurricaine Frances coming they're predicting "squalls" whatever that means, for Monday here. What's so bad is we're about 4 hours from both the Gulf Coast and the Atlantic coast. Makes me really pray for the ones that live in FL. I've seen on this board where Gov. Bush has asked for holiday travelers to postpone their trips if possible due to the expected weather.