NOVEMBER 2012 Trip Planners Part 2~yes there IS another!

[GMU MOM]

OMG! I accidently booked on SW 2 of my 3 kids with points (8 and 4) and my 13yo seperate with me(I paid for 2 tickets) I am worried now because my 3yo has a different confirmation number(my husband and 2 of the 3 kids have diff numbers.)! Will they make her sit by herself????

You have nothing to worry about. If you call SW and give them both CF#'S they can make a note that your DD is not an unaccompanied minor but she is connected to your reservation. And on SW since you just pick your seat when you board, you'll be able to board as a whole family.

 

[Lisadaa2]

Got our flights Now it feels official! I was afraid to see the prices but was ok with $140 each way. I got good times too! Now come on FD please!!!

 

[kaileighbug]

I looked at SW this morning and to fly the 3 of us it would be $1275.60. I checked the prices at Delta for the same flights I have already booked $1219.80. I paid $973.20 when I booked. Even with bag fees I still come out ahead. We have to fly out of DTW and SW doesn't offer non-stop. I would rather fly non-stop.

 

[mommyof3princess27]

Got our flights Now it feels official! I was afraid to see the prices but was ok with $140 each way. I got good times too! Now come on FD please!!!

Thats great! I was scared to look too!

 

[Melodious]

Yay, we booked our flights! Obviously Southwest came out with flights for November today. Though actually we're going to Orlando on Southwest because we could get nonstop and be there by noon. But we ended up with Delta on the way back because Southwest didn't have any flights that left after 2pm and we needed more time than that So now we'll leave at 6:30pm and spend the day at DTD with hopefully lunch at Raglan Road.

Oh, and we changed our dates to go down on Friday, Nov 9-Sunday, Nov 18.

So now, I guess I'll just be sitting here waiting to see if Fantasyland and Be Our Guest will be open during our trip Oh, and waiting for the release of the menus at the F&W booths

 

[mommyof3princess27]

I looked at SW this morning and to fly the 3 of us it would be $1275.60. I checked the prices at Delta for the same flights I have already booked $1219.80. I paid $973.20 when I booked. Even with bag fees I still come out ahead. We have to fly out of DTW and SW doesn't offer non-stop. I would rather fly non-stop.

Thats a great price for Delta!

 

[denman007]

Ooooh..15 hungry people..sounds scary.

I made ADRs for my whole crew..3 rooms worth..asked repeatedly for input and then decided based on my own experience.

I would make some kind of ADRs if I were you...just to be safe..

I did make some but trying to get everyone together would be near impossible, and so would availability for 15.

I did do Ohana's for 15.
Fulton's for 8.
Mama Melrose for 7.
Canada for 4.

I was looking into the castle but not for $54 per person.

I think that was it. I am contempt to eat cs if need be. Dining will be 'free' for me anyway as I have 700 disney dollars on my VISA.

 

[Happy Mom2]

I have been debating the samething! We have never been but are going for an early dinner the night of MVMCP. I figure it is one of those must do at least once things. I am excited to read the reviews here. We are very simple people as well so this may be just perfect for us!

How will traveling from here to MK be?

From Chef Mickey's to MVMCP? Just hop on the monorail at the TTC! Easy peasy!

oh my the SW flights are up for Nov now! Darn I have to wait at few more weeks for my points to drop in
how quickly do the prices go up? monthly maybe?

They usually go up, then come back down closer to the flight dates if the fares haven't sold.

Well, I am glad I did not wait for SW flights. JetBlue was the better deal, even with me screwing up and having to book a little later which cost us an extra $100. Almost 100% of the flights on our dates from SW were 1 stop flights and the few that were non stop at roughly the same times I have booked with JetBlue were $100 higher than what I paid

Don't you love it when you find out you got a good deal!

I got all 5 round trip flights for $791! Though I had 50,000 points to use lol but my brother and his gf bought theirs and paid $640 RT so not too bad at $152 pp per way. I did get 6am depart and 8pm return flight...great times!!!!

Wooohooo!

Thanks, mommyof3princess!! I think I am leaning on switching to the later time, it would be unfortunate to miss that reservation. My only other concern is do you think if we eat at 8:45, we could still hit poly beach in time for the 10pm fireworks show? I would love to get a picture with my kids on the beach with the fireworks reflecting off the water. I saw someone else with a picture like that and it was beautiful!!!

You might be cutting it close if they are running late seating you or the characters take a while to get there.

I'm now even more sure about our decision to drive! SW would be $1600 for 4 round trip, not even good times or non-stop! Thats double what we usually pay. Driving will cost us just1/4 of that (including renting a car!). I will watch in Oct, thats when prices take a major nose dive we found (at 6 weeks out).

We drive 11 hours divided over two days... 8 hours the 1st day and 3 the rest. It's hard for me to spend the money on flights, but I guess you have to decide how much vacation time you want to spend traveling. Each family is different.

OMG! I accidently booked on SW 2 of my 3 kids with points (8 and 4) and my 13yo seperate with me(I paid for 2 tickets) I am worried now because my 3yo has a different confirmation number(my husband and 2 of the 3 kids have diff numbers.)! Will they make her sit by herself????

The seats are not assigned on SW. You are boarded in the order you check in and choose your own seats. By paying for the early bird check in, you are automatically checked in at 36 hours prior to your flight. If you decide to check in yourself, you can check in up to 24 hours in advance...be sure to check in right at 24 hours. Some say you don't come out much better with the early bird than you do by checking in at 24 hours. One thing to consider is if you will be able to check in 24 hours in advance of your flights back home. SW has a great phone app you can check flight status, check in, etc.

I am not sure on that either. I have 3 different ressies for 9 peeps.

I am considering upgrading to the early bird where I think you can get assigned seats at $20 per round trip ticket. I need to read more about it before I do it.

Never flown SW before.

I love SW. It's my favorite airline. See my response ^ for more info on the early bird.

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Hope everyone is having a good Disney planning day!

 

[Schmoodle]

For this trip i'm planning on buying one of the new Small World themed Lesportsacs. They are super cute!!

Oh crud, I did not need to know about this. I have several perfectly good park bags. But that magical journey pattern is so cute! I love the little Kasey bag and the weekender duffle. Sigh.

 

[mommyof3princess27]

WOOHOO! Got FDing for my Grandparents!

 

[denman007]

WOOHOO! Got FDing for my Grandparents!

You're on a roll.

 

[mommyof3princess27]

You're on a roll.

all cuz u told me how to get that 4th room! She didnt even ask if I had gotten any other rooms. I just told her I had FDing and wanted to add a room....no other questions wierd

 

[lvstitch]

Booked half of my SW tickets today I usually only book one way so if they do down in price I can used the credits for the return. It's the most I have ever paid to go to Orlando.

 

[mommyof3princess27]

Booked half of my SW tickets today I usually only book one way so if they do down in price I can used the credits for the return. It's the most I have ever paid to go to Orlando.

From which airport? How much? We paid $150pp RT and it is more than last year. Lat year they went down to $89 pp

 

[lvstitch]

From which airport? How much? We paid $150pp RT and it is more than last year. Lat year they went down to $89 pp

Las vegas, I paid $232pp OW, last year I paid $179 (of course that was without taxes) but it's still more. This seems to be about the average price right now, my friend is going at the end of June and paid the same amount.

 

[4my2girlz]

I was hoping for some better deals than what I currently see for airfare. I've checked 3 different airports (all within 1 - 2 hours) and South West seems to have the best prices/non-stop flights/time choices but I am still having a hard time convincing myself to buy!!

$1046 RT for 4 vs. 11 hours in the van with a 8 & 6 year old

In 2009 we paid $463, 2010 $580, and 2011 $900 (which I wasn't happy about but my husband was adamant)...

How does everyone else feel? Anyone familiar with how the credit card promo works? Would it benefit me to activate a card and make a purchase to get the promo? Or would airfare go up before I was even able to take advantage

 

[mommyof3princess27]

Las vegas, I paid $232pp OW, last year I paid $179 (of course that was without taxes) but it's still more. This seems to be about the average price right now, my friend is going at the end of June and paid the same amount.

$150 from baltimore seems to be the price around here so considering your traveling father, I think the price is good! Im only 2 hours away!

 

[exwdwcm]

Can someone fill me in on what's so bad about Chef Mickey? I've never been there before, but read so many bad reviews.. is it the food? The service? What?

I was thinking about going there this trip since we've never gone before, but am worried about all of the awful reviews...

We enjoyed both dinner and breakfast there. Not my favorite meal, but not bad either. The characters are great.

to be honest, take every review with a grain of salt. Don't let people throw you off.....i used to hear horrible things about Ohana dinner and we loved it, our favorite now (and appears it is getting more popular now too). So i say try everything for yourself at least once!

On flights, no luck for us. Still looking at $440 direct and $400 connecting. SW didn't help, since they connect and they are looking close to $500 for us. ugh! So still waiting. Driving me crazy as i like to book my flights super early.

 

[mommyof3princess27]

I was hoping for some better deals than what I currently see for airfare. I've checked 3 different airports (all within 1 - 2 hours) and South West seems to have the best prices/non-stop flights/time choices but I am still having a hard time convincing myself to buy!!

$1046 RT for 4 vs. 11 hours in the van with a 8 & 6 year old

In 2009 we paid $463, 2010 $580, and 2011 $900 (which I wasn't happy about but my husband was adamant)...

How does everyone else feel? Anyone familiar with how the credit card promo works? Would it benefit me to activate a card and make a purchase to get the promo? Or would airfare go up before I was even able to take advantage

I did the SW 50,000 points promo. I applied on a sunday, had the card by friday, charged pizza that night, waited 2-3 weeks for my billing cycle to end, ended monday the 21st and by the 22nd at 11am I had 50,000 points booked 3 fairs with 51,000(had to buy tires and forgot a check so charged it to get points and paid it off) and it was 50,700 for 3 RT tickets. Paid $5 9/11 fee and then $20(early bird check in) and bought 2 flights(paid cash and EBCI) plus the $69 yearly fee for the CC and paid $791 for 5 RT flights out of Baltimore. If you havent booked, Id do the promo mow before they get filled up especially for a busy weekend(ours is Thanksgiving weekend) if its not busy then I would still do it, just not worry about booking immediately. If you do it now, you probably would have points by the july 4th sale ppl are talking about

 

[julsmom]

I was hoping for some better deals than what I currently see for airfare. I've checked 3 different airports (all within 1 - 2 hours) and South West seems to have the best prices/non-stop flights/time choices but I am still having a hard time convincing myself to buy!!

$1046 RT for 4 vs. 11 hours in the van with a 8 & 6 year old

In 2009 we paid $463, 2010 $580, and 2011 $900 (which I wasn't happy about but my husband was adamant)...

How does everyone else feel? Anyone familiar with how the credit card promo works? Would it benefit me to activate a card and make a purchase to get the promo? Or would airfare go up before I was even able to take advantage

I feel the same. I'm already searching & the rates have been horrible.
If it were me, I would drive 11 hours. Our drive is 21. Yuck. But we may do it if the fares stay up.
Just focus on the mouse.