On the Brighter Side....

[mkladycasey]

Yes, I'm a little bummed that I unknowingly booked our first "family" trip during black out week 12/5-12/12, and can't use either of the 2 pins we received - no discounts for us... and since I already bought our plane tix there's no changing the dates now!

But just for giggles, I just checked the current rate on flights and since I booked them early, I saved over $400 compared to the current fares! I guess I can consider that our savings this time around!!!

I think my hubby also get's corporate rates on park tix! I'll start checking into that next!!

Now - let's hope it's not ridiculously busy that week!!! I picked that week because I thought it was one of the slower weeks! Now I'm not so sure!!

Oh well!! Even "rack rate" won't keep us from having fun!!

 

[Ktharee]

Welcome to "The Dis Made Me Realize How Little I Knew About Planning a Trip To Disney World" club. I'm not only the founder, I'm a member.

Regardless, the memories are priceless.

 

[Loverly]

I've been 10 times to WDW.this is the FIRST time I could use a code.

Why was that ONE week a blackout week?

 

[crazypants]

.....Oh well!! Even "rack rate" won't keep us from having fun!!

Ditto. I can't wait get there

 

[mkladycasey]

Well - I just checked his corporate benefits site (I guess I should have done that sooner) and realized I can save another $110 if I get the tickets through them...

So here's a question, currently my ressie has 7 day park hopper tickets w/ basic dining package.

Will it totally screw everything up if I cancel the park tickets through my TA?
Does that make it a "room only" booking and make me ineligible for the dining package? I already have our ADR's made and I definitely DON'T want to go through all that again!!

BTW - if any of you have a relative that works at Walmart you can get discounted tickets. A 7-day parkhopper is only $261.65 (adult) and $230 (child)

 

[BostonMom]

And I thought I was the only one to make a planning error! Thanks for your thread. Mutual venting can be so helpful when hearing about how much evryone else is saving!

We chose September because it was value season and we are on a tight budget (who isn't these days). I also thought I was being very smart because I had read about "free dining in the fall" on mousesavers and verified with Disney that if it came out for our dates I would be able to apply it to our trip. So back in March I booked our MYW+dining and secured all of our necessary princess ADRs. When the dates came out for free dining they were for check-ins up until 4 days before ours. Ouch. We had the choice of switching and losing our ADRs or staying with what we had booked. We chose not to switch because our daughter has been talking about breakfast at Cinderella's castle since the spring. The things you do to put a smile on the face of your child.

What burns me is that I didn't look into it closely enough to realize that I should have booked it for just 1 week earlier in the first place. AND our dates were totally flexible, so it was just a mistake on my part. (Sigh)

I console myself with the fact that I was able to use a postcard pincode, but I think I need to stay away from this board because my pin only saved me about $160 on a 6day/7night stay and I have a feeling if I had found DIS sooner I may have had a much bigger savings. The moral of the story? The DIS is the best guide for all things Disney and for our NEXT trip (as a new DIS member I must begin planning my next trip already right?) I will be that much more ready to maximize our savings.

 

[BostonMom]

So here's a question, currently my ressie has 7 day park hopper tickets w/ basic dining package.

Will it totally screw everything up if I cancel the park tickets through my TA?
Does that make it a "room only" booking and make me ineligible for the dining package? I already have our ADR's made and I definitely DON'T want to go through all that again!!

From what I understand, you can only have the dining plan if you have a package, not a room only reservation. You can keep all your ADRs regardless of whether or not you have the plan, but the cost of the meals versus the plan may or may not balance out for you, depending on your situation.

 

[sherry8253]

Well - I just checked his corporate benefits site (I guess I should have done that sooner) and realized I can save another $110 if I get the tickets through them...

So here's a question, currently my ressie has 7 day park hopper tickets w/ basic dining package.

Will it totally screw everything up if I cancel the park tickets through my TA?
Does that make it a "room only" booking and make me ineligible for the dining package? I already have our ADR's made and I definitely DON'T want to go through all that again!!

BTW - if any of you have a relative that works at Walmart you can get discounted tickets. A 7-day parkhopper is only $261.65 (adult) and $230 (child)

I think you can still keep the package and dining but have to purchae a one day base ticket. I don't know if you will still save money by doing it that way or if it will negate your savings.

 

[HeyIt'sMe]

Well, I didn't do very well either.

Polynesian + October = No Code

But this is the first year this has happened. For our 8 previous trips we stayed at the Polynesian and went in October 6 times and September 2 times and got discounts every time. Although as the years have gone by I think the discounts have not been as generous. Oh well, it was nice while it lasted.

My brighter side - - we paid $621 for airfare and now those same tickets are $1,749!

 

[leo711]

I made the same error. POFQ Dec. 5-the 14th. Rack rate. No codes. I had a code way back for 40% but it would only cover the 7-13 and you would have to make separate reservations with separate one day tickets etc. So we go at full price. Or we could switch. to the following week, save $536 on the room and pay and extra 1000.00 in air fair for changing. I don't think so.

 

[siestakey]

Same problem here. I always saved on my room the first week of December, and here we are, paying rack rate for the very first time ever at POFQ. I think the black-out dates for that week are a combination of Christmas parade taping, Pop Warner, MouseFest, my own bad luck . Next year, it looks like the same type of thing, Thanksgiving last of the month, so the parade will probably be Dec 4-6 again. I am going to pay closer attention to the dates on the bounceback flyer, and hopefully never have to pay rack rate again! We live only 1 1/2 hours away, but work schedules restrict us from changing our dates. I was bummed for 24 hours but I am moving on now, at least I got a great rate for our mother/daughter trip in October. At least we'll be at Disney