***Official April 2013 thread*** SEE POST # 4028

[Mousemommy1]

Ha, I'm sure they don't mind a bit My DD will technically miss 2 more days this way too, but she does an online school so we can reschedule our breaks pretty easily. The district does a 2 week spring break in March, we'll just have to work through part of that to make up the time.

It would be cool if we were able to meet up!

Our oldest DDs are the same age...it's always nice to put a face to a name!

 

[momtwoboys]

keep a watch on Southwest too, we booked the day APril 12th was released and got 135.00 for the flight there. I feel like I keep repeating myself here, but never remember what thread I am on? leaving out of BDL

 

[Mousemommy1]

keep a watch on Southwest too, we booked the day APril 12th was released and got 135.00 for the flight there. I feel like I keep repeating myself here, but never remember what thread I am on? leaving out of BDL

It feels so weird not to be flying SW....unfortunately, the lowest airfare I've seen through them for the dates leading up to ours is $165/one way

But that's from MHT.

 

[TJDisneymama]

keep a watch on Southwest too, we booked the day APril 12th was released and got 135.00 for the flight there. I feel like I keep repeating myself here, but never remember what thread I am on? leaving out of BDL

SW and AT haven't released their fares yet for my dates so I'm HOPING once those come out it will make the others go down.... competitive pricing and all. Otherwise, we may not be going at all. My budget is $300/pp. I can't in good conscience pay any more than that.

 

[momtwoboys]

me either TjDisneymama! I had that number in my head too, and we were supposed to go on April 13th, but when I saw that price the day SW released their fares I jumped on it and now we are going a day earlier than planned. I will be sitting at the computer the day they release to grab a return flight. I thought JB would have lowered their prices to compete with SW, but nope those idiots have the same high prices posted! No way.

 

[TJDisneymama]

I keep forgetting that SW & AT are the same co. now so they probably release their fares at the same time.

 

[crzyeeyoreangel]

Just started planning the first week of April for springbreak! Staying off site this time with some friends!

 

[wisblue]

My dad and I already booked our flights for April and it wasn't anywhere near that. Maybe because we did it the day Southwest extended their calendar to include April?

My experience is that if you're travelling at very busy times of the year, like Easter or Christmas, it's best to book as soon as the schedule comes out because the rates usually go up pretty quickly and, if they go down at all, they don't go down that much.

I booked flights from Milwaukee to Orlando for both mid March and early April for different family members when the schedule first came out two weeks ago. Since then, the fares for each of the 4 legs has gone up, and one is sold out for the lower Southwest "Wanna Get Away" fares.

I think travel experts usually recommend booking 2-3 months out, but I don't know if that works if you are going to a popular destination at a busy time of the year and you don't have much flexibility on dates.

 

[Jen12573]

Chatted with Mom last night about the family trip in April, we are getting excited already. When you have a moment, can you please change the first leg of our trip to the Contemporary (3/31-4/3)?

So, who is starting to think about their ADRs? That's what we were discussing last night, and we have a few places in mind, and happily Mom put me in charge of all the dining coordination. I cannot WAIT for 10/2 when we can make our ADRs!

 

[TJDisneymama]

I decided to go ahead and get the Southwest Visa when I found out you can transfer SW points to Air Tran points. So you get 25,000 points after making a purchase which transfers to 2.5 one-way flights on Air Tran. I can transfer a balance from another credit card to get enough points to make it 3 one-way flights. (we need 4). Then I have a $320 Air Tran credit to use. So the plan is to use the points/credit to cover all our flights one way (whichever has the more expensive flights which I expect to be on the way home) and then we'll just have to pay for our flights one way. I went this same week last year and there were plenty of flights going down for $150/less, but coming home the prices were killer. I stalked the airlines about 20 hours a day for 2 months straight and ended up having to suck it up and pay $400/pp. just for one way!!! I'm hoping we can use the points/credit to cover the more expensive flights, although I've never used points before and IDK how much of a selection they have. I have a feeling the "good" flights (i.e., the expensive ones) are probably blacked out or whatever.

 

[gtpoohbear]

So, who is starting to think about their ADRs? That's what we were discussing last night, and we have a few places in mind, and happily Mom put me in charge of all the dining coordination. I cannot WAIT for 10/2 when we can make our ADRs!

We can't make ADRs until 10/20, but I already have it all planned out, lol! As long as they don't mess too much with EMHs anyway. We do the DxDP, so I will have 22 ADRs to make. I'm hoping that by starting early I can get all the changing-my-mind stuff out of the way before I actually make them. Since I usually spend the next month after they are already made changing and tweaking everything.

 

[Mousemommy1]

Chatted with Mom last night about the family trip in April, we are getting excited already. When you have a moment, can you please change the first leg of our trip to the Contemporary (3/31-4/3)?

So, who is starting to think about their ADRs? That's what we were discussing last night, and we have a few places in mind, and happily Mom put me in charge of all the dining coordination. I cannot WAIT for 10/2 when we can make our ADRs!

Our ADR date is not until 10/20/12, but I will hopefully be making ADR's at:
Be our Guest (dinner)
Tusker House (breakfast)
Kona (lunch)
Yachtsman Steakhouse (dinner)

We also plan on giving ESPN club a shot, but you can't do ADR's for that. We usually do the dining plan but have decided to go without it this time, as it really doesn't work for us at all. We will be getting the TiW card, and have agreed to only 5 ADR's for our 11 day trip, as we are getting really sick of being tied down to ADR's.

 

[TJDisneymama]

I can't think about ADRs yet and it's killing me! Usually i have everything planned down to a T..... but everything is up in the air this year because of airfare. Depending on what days we can get decent flight prices we could have 5 days in WDW or who knows, maybe as little as 2 days.........unless we don't do the cruise, but I really, REALLY want to do the cruise. The only ADRs I know for sure I want are Chef Mickeys and Akershus and *maybe* Be Our Guest. If we end up going for 5 days we'll go to AK and so do Tusker House. Any less than 5 days, we'lll skip AK

 

[Stefjp]

I wasn't planning on making any ADRs. Is this a mistake? I'm planning which parks to go to on which days etc, but was just going to see where the day took us and not plan our meals. I guess as its just me and my boyfriend will make that easier as we don't have kids to cater for?

 

[Mousemommy1]

I wasn't planning on making any ADRs. Is this a mistake? I'm planning which parks to go to on which days etc, but was just going to see where the day took us and not plan our meals. I guess as its just me and my boyfriend will make that easier as we don't have kids to cater for?

If you don't mind possibly eating QS meals everytime, and not TS, then you'll be fine. If you have certain restaurants that you have your heart set on trying, I'd do ADR's. DH and I always did ADR's, even before children.

 

[Jen12573]

We're hoping for:

-Easter Dinner at Narcoossee's, our family's favorite (DH and I had a lovely Christmas dinner there last year)
-Citricos (Mom's request)
-Brown Derby (Dad's request)
-1900 Park Fare for breakfast (so my brother can see Mary Poppins)
-Crystal Palace for breakfast (for me, I have to see Eeyore)
-Hoop Dee Doo Review (for DH)

Happy planning everyone!

 

[Stefjp]

If you don't mind possibly eating QS meals everytime, and not TS, then you'll be fine. If you have certain restaurants that you have your heart set on trying, I'd do ADR's. DH and I always did ADR's, even before children.

It's just so much to think about!!! How do I know where's good and what times are best for what places? I dont mind QS for lunch but i dont want it for every evening meal too. There's a couple of places in DTD and CW I like the look of- can I get ADRs for them too?

 

[TJDisneymama]

Most table service restaurants will be booked. Except maybe at off times ~ lunch at 3, dinner at 4 or 9, etc

 

[TJDisneymama]

Just look at the TS restaurants at each park and pick what appeals to you

 

[Stefjp]

Just look at the TS restaurants at each park and pick what appeals to you

Are they all listed on the parks websites?