*****Official October 2011 Thread*****

[sjs314]

Congrats on your flights! You're flying out of Westchester? I didn't even think to check that airport! I flew out of there last May and said never again! We paid something like $140 for 5 days of long term parking! Crazy!I'm kicking myself for buying that one way flight from SW a few weeks ago...Jet Blue has great round trip prices out of Hartford right now for our dates! Oh well! If only I could get a refund for my SW ticket!



I thought the pink castle was so pretty! I know a lot of people hated it, but I liked it!

We always do a stay, park, fly pkg the night before regardless of where we fly out of even when we flew out of JFK in 2009. I haven't checked rates yet but we can usually get a deal for $100-120. I did learn from someone on another thread last year that you can just park at the La Quinta near HPN without staying overnight for a fee that is less than at the airport.

 

[exwdwcm]

Now that I found this thread, you guys won't get rid of me.

DH will be celebrating his bday while we are on our trip, actually our first night there. We are going to have dinner at Ohana (1st time). I wanted to see if I can get him a chocolate chip cookie cake shaped like mickey or something. It's his fav kind of cake. Anyone know how I go about ordering this, is it even possible?

Just call the dining number- 407-WDW-dine. When you book your ADR, you can ask about the cake and they usually will place the order for you. I don't know prices, but i know twoboysnmygirl posted a pic of an amazing halloween themed birthday cake they ordered at CM and i think they said it was $100. it was a standard round cake, but had a lot of custom decorating on it.

Hey Stranger!!! I am headed over to your PTR, I will sub and read it tomorrow! Madi & I went solo last October and have convinced Shamus to tag back along this time! We're going Oct 22-29 - what time do you leave on the 22?

hey there- so happy to see you again!!! Yeah for another trip!!!! I am not quite sure yet on the 22nd, but i am thinking probably a 6:30pm flight like we did last year. If we could meet up, i'd love it!!! We will probably do MK that morning for our last day.

 

[Twoboysnmygirl]

Now that I found this thread, you guys won't get rid of me.


Just call the dining number- 407-WDW-dine. When you book your ADR, you can ask about the cake and they usually will place the order for you. I don't know prices, but i know twoboysnmygirl posted a pic of an amazing halloween themed birthday cake they ordered at CM and i think they said it was $100. it was a standard round cake, but had a lot of custom decorating on it.

Our cake was awesome! We actually ordered through Contemporary, Chef Brian at Chef Mickey's made it. Custom made and delicious, best cake I think I've ever had. It was huge as well, I have pics in my TR, although I'm not sure what page, you'll have to weed through all my ramblies!

edited to say: I actually just went and looked and in my list of Contents, you can find it under It's CAKE time!

 

[exwdwcm]

Our cake was awesome! We actually ordered through Contemporary, Chef Brian at Chef Mickey's made it. Custom made and delicious, best cake I think I've ever had. It was huge as well, I have pics in my TR, although I'm not sure what page, you'll have to weed through all my ramblies!

edited to say: I actually just went and looked and in my list of Contents, you can find it under It's CAKE time!

See, i am already an expert on your TR since i read it all in one sitting yesterday. It was an amazing cake, i loved all the unique spooky decor!

I think i am going to look into the pirate and pals cruise now- William is so into the Capt Hook right now. He was Capt Hook for halloween 2 years ago (the disney store costume) and was so cute. His nursery was themed in Peter pan (we custom did everything, including mural) and now we still have a lot of pirate stuff in his big boy room. Now with the jake and neverland pirates show, he is really digging hook and pirates. I think this would be a nice birthday treat!

 

[jjiillee]

Thanks for the info Michelle!
Karen - that cake was awesome!!! I showed my son and he loved it!

 

[KEPE]

Hi all, I'm looking for Oct. 2011 too. I haven't booked yet, hoping for some type of discount. I do have a few questions (I'm a Dis newbie).

1 - How are the crowds this time of year?

2 - I notice someone said Jet blue insurance, does that cover your flights only or your whole trip? I looked at flights today $97 each way compared to the $200 each way I would have paid last week on continental!

3 - Can I do ADR's w/o having booked the trip yet?

TIA!!

 

[Twoboysnmygirl]

Thanks for the info Michelle!
Karen - that cake was awesome!!! I showed my son and he loved it!

Thanks! She loved it and it's one of her favorite memories. It was so cool, CM's were stopping us as we left the restaurant to see the famous cake! Priceless!

See, i am already an expert on your TR since i read it all in one sitting yesterday. It was an amazing cake, i loved all the unique spooky decor!

I think i am going to look into the pirate and pals cruise now- William is so into the Capt Hook right now. He was Capt Hook for halloween 2 years ago (the disney store costume) and was so cute. His nursery was themed in Peter pan (we custom did everything, including mural) and now we still have a lot of pirate stuff in his big boy room. Now with the jake and neverland pirates show, he is really digging hook and pirates. I think this would be a nice birthday treat!

I'm all about having experts on my TR! Never done the pirate & pals cruise, but it looks fun!

 

[sjs314]

Hi all, I'm looking for Oct. 2011 too. I haven't booked yet, hoping for some type of discount. I do have a few questions (I'm a Dis newbie).

1 - How are the crowds this time of year?

2 - I notice someone said Jet blue insurance, does that cover your flights only or your whole trip? I looked at flights today $97 each way compared to the $200 each way I would have paid last week on continental!

3 - Can I do ADR's w/o having booked the trip yet?

TIA!!

Hey and welcome to the DIS-

I have only ever gone to Disney the 1st week of October and it was busier than I had expected a lot of school groups were there when I was. But most days the crowd levels are from 1-4, except Columbus day weekend from what I have been reading

I was the one who mentioned about buying the travel insurance from Jet Blue
I downloaded and read over the documents since you have 10 days to cancel the coverage if you change your mind , it is basically like the travel insurance Disney sells you pay for each person you bought a ticket for. It cost me $39 for me and my DH which was less than what was quoted on the Disney,com sight when I booked our trip originally. It covers cancelled flight, trip being interrupted, delayed luggage( you get reinbursed for items you have to purchase) If you should take ill and need emergency care it pays second to your regular insurance,(most times your regular insurance will only cover 80% or less since you are out of area) emergency dental, there is a lot more and some exclusions as with any policy.
I have never bought travel insurance before and I hope I do not need it but for just $39 for the two of us I figured it was worth it for the peace of mind.

You can book ADR's at 180 days out without a booked reservation but you will need to call each day, if you have a booked reservation then you can call on day 80 and book what they call "180+10. That is from the first day of your vacation and the next 10 days.

Hope this helps

 

[Nermel9]

I have only ever gone to Disney the 1st week of October and it was busier than I had expected a lot of school groups were there when I was. But most days the crowd levels are from 1-4, except Columbus day weekend from what I have been reading

Ugh, the first week of October is going to be busy? I'm so used to going at times that aren't crowded (late September, mid November) that I don't know how I'm going to react if there are huge crowds! I'm expecting big crowds the first weekend of Food and Wine, and with the 40th anniversary of MK, but I was hoping the week would have low crowds! Oh well! I'll make the best of it, I'll be in Disney after all, it can't be that bad!

Oh and thanks for the tip about parking by HPN I'll have to look into that!

 

[KEPE]

SJS, thanks for the response. We're looking at the last week of Oct. so we'll be avoiding the Columbus weekend but will be there for the Halloween stuff and the food and wine stuff. The insurance info I got from disney was higher than that too. I'll have to check it out. I want to book the flights now since they are so cheap (I found $97 each way on Jet blue) but I don't want to book the hotel, park tix and dddp yet as I'm still hoping for a deal. W/ the insurance I would book the flights tonight! Do you know if I have to have the entire vacation booked now or if I can call back and add it on later? Got it on the 180+10. I'll keep that in mind. Hoping to book by the 180 day mark but was just wondering.

This site is amazing and has been soooo helpful. Thanks to all you experts out there!!

KEPE

 

[sjs314]

Ugh, the first week of October is going to be busy? I'm so used to going at times that aren't crowded (late September, mid November) that I don't know how I'm going to react if there are huge crowds! I'm expecting big crowds the first weekend of Food and Wine, and with the 40th anniversary of MK, but I was hoping the week would have low crowds! Oh well! I'll make the best of it, I'll be in Disney after all, it can't be that bad!

Oh and thanks for the tip about parking by HPN I'll have to look into that!

The crowds the first week of Oct or not what I would call huge...compared to summer or say easter week/spring break , they were just more than what we expected since we had heard they were lower.

SJS, thanks for the response. We're looking at the last week of Oct. so we'll be avoiding the Columbus weekend but will be there for the Halloween stuff and the food and wine stuff. The insurance info I got from disney was higher than that too. I'll have to check it out. I want to book the flights now since they are so cheap (I found $97 each way on Jet blue) but I don't want to book the hotel, park tix and dddp yet as I'm still hoping for a deal. W/ the insurance I would book the flights tonight! Do you know if I have to have the entire vacation booked now or if I can call back and add it on later? Got it on the 180+10. I'll keep that in mind. Hoping to book by the 180 day mark but was just wondering.

This site is amazing and has been soooo helpful. Thanks to all you experts out there!!

KEPE

The insurance covers the time period your flights are booked for and since you will be booking your hotel for that same time period, you would be covered as I understand it .

 

[KEPE]

SJS, you got a good deal on the insurance. They quoted me over $200 last night!! Crazy.

I got a pin code for 10% off hotel only Sun - thurs. won't save me much so I'm not going to use it but it's a start. At the bottom it said something like ask about our other offers. So I called and asked and he said that nothing else has come out for after 10/1 but to be on the lookout for things in the next 4-6 weeks. I'll be watching.....

 

[sjs314]

SJS, you got a good deal on the insurance. They quoted me over $200 last night!! Crazy.

I got a pin code for 10% off hotel only Sun - thurs. won't save me much so I'm not going to use it but it's a start. At the bottom it said something like ask about our other offers. So I called and asked and he said that nothing else has come out for after 10/1 but to be on the lookout for things in the next 4-6 weeks. I'll be watching.....

We are booked with a 20% off pin DH recieved via snail mail not much but at least it is something. I am going to be watching too just incase they offer a better deal and we can save more $

It just stands to reason when the current % off promo ends on 3/27 something should be coming along, I think I have read historically it is usually April 1st

 

[NYEmomma]

SJS, you got a good deal on the insurance. They quoted me over $200 last night!! Crazy.

I got a pin code for 10% off hotel only Sun - thurs. won't save me much so I'm not going to use it but it's a start. At the bottom it said something like ask about our other offers. So I called and asked and he said that nothing else has come out for after 10/1 but to be on the lookout for things in the next 4-6 weeks. I'll be watching.....

We used the 10% PIN because I figured it was better than nothing, but I'd LOVE for a better offer to come out!! Keeping my eyes peeled.

 

[KEPE]

NYE Momma, I thought about using the 10% off too but we're going Sat. - Sat. so it didn't even save us $100. I know it's silly but I feel like once I book that trip, thats it, I feel like they will see no reason to send me a pin and if a GP code comes out and I call they will tell me nope, all done. If they have me paying full price why give me a discount? I know a lot of people say it doesn't work that way but..... I'm still hesitant to book. So I'll wait a few more weeks see if something better comes out and if not.... O well at most I wasted less than $100 .

 

[lmc318]

NYE Momma, I thought about using the 10% off too but we're going Sat. - Sat. so it didn't even save us $100. I know it's silly but I feel like once I book that trip, thats it, I feel like they will see no reason to send me a pin and if a GP code comes out and I call they will tell me nope, all done. If they have me paying full price why give me a discount? I know a lot of people say it doesn't work that way but..... I'm still hesitant to book. So I'll wait a few more weeks see if something better comes out and if not.... O well at most I wasted less than $100 .

Do you book through Disney or AAA? We book through AAA and they will apply any PINs until you pay your full trip amount, which is a month before your trip. I have gotten TONS of pins and such via email over the last month, mostly for July - October 1, but I did get a resort discount PIN in January that we already applied, and we booked last October. It saved us around $900 and we decided to book an extra night with our savings! Still came out $400 ahead, though, so it's all good!

 

[KEPE]

Lisa, we would book through disney, not an AAA member. Thanks for the tip. I know others said too that they can apply them through disney after they've booked, I'm just paranoid

 

[tambam500]

Hey guys i'm joining in on the fun. Just booked an adult only trip Sept 30 - Oct 3rd at the YC. F & W here we come!

 

[Family Loves Disney]

I am back, I can't believe it has been a whole month. I'm gone for a month and the thread is up to 11 pages, WOW!

I have had alot of personal and health issues this past month and have not felt up to getting online to update the thread. Not only did I have surgery, but the day after I drove to say goodbye to my only living grandmother (let's just say, it was physically painful to drive 2 hours south) and after returning home, my dad called and said she had passed away, and BTW her funeral was on my 40th birthday! It was a very sad day that day, had to bury my grandmother, celebrate a birthday I was not looking forward to (not to mention my family didn't seem to remember it either), and I was in constant pain from the health issues. Sometimes I wonder if my family has a clue sometimes, because people kept telling me how wonderful my grandmother was and I shouldn't cry because she was in a better place (of course I cried during the funeral, but I was crying after the funeral because of pain, heck, I almost passed out at the grave site from pain. DH said he looked at me and I went pale white and looked like I was about to pass out and he came up to me to keep me standing) Anyway, I know TMI. LOL Just had to vent.


Anyway, to all the newbies to the thread. So glad to see you here. I have updated everyone on the list. Please check it out and make sure everything is correct. I have counted 43 subscribed DISers here. And I am looking forward to others. If you are new, pull you up a chair and introduce yourself if have not already. I am off to bed and I will read up on all the new posts tomorrow (I was just looking for newbies tonight to update the list) I missed you all, see ya tomorrow.

 

[Lehuaann]

Heading back to the world Sep 27 - Oct 8. AKL/CSR/Poly here we come!