Premium Plan for One Night Just for the Tours, LaNouba, etc.??

[goodferry]

Ooooh, never heard of the Jetski tour, do tell!!! Don't you love the BW view villas, we fell in love with the place. I hope everyone continues to be scared off by the clown pool, more availability for me!

 

[Dizney73]

Tell us more about the jetski tour! I'm doing it next month. Do they let you take a camera? (It's waterproof, not to worry.)

They run a Jet ski tour all around Bay Lake and over to the 7 Seven Seas Lagoon. The tour is available at 8 am (which we did) and 9 am. The 8 am seems to be kinda like an unknown gem. My friend DisneyYES really wanted to do this and when she called to book all the 9 am slots were gone... but the 8 am ones all seemed to be free! We had to meet at Sammy's at 7:45 (although we were a bit late... like 8 am instead of the 15 minutes early). We signed away our lives and away we went with Ben. Ben is a bit quiet at first but once you get to know eachother he really opens up! We loved Ben! Ben first tells you about operating a jet ski... really easy even for us newbies! Then off to the races! As you race around the waterway he tells you a little bit about the area... although nothing we didn't already know. Still... It is the only way that you get to ride a jetski around the 7 seas lagoon! At the end of the hour the guide takes you to a "roped off" area and you get to ride all about with some free time. I found that at first I was a little scared about riding over the wake... but by the end of the hour the WAKE was what I was loving!!! We loved jet skiing so much we actually booked it again during some of our free time... and yes, believe it or not we DID manage to fit in the extra activity!

We really enjoyed the jet skiing... the tour was really cool just because it took you to a place you cvouldn't jet ski to at any other time. Free time was awesome and on our second trip out I was hitting 39 mph, jumping the wake and doing 370's (not quite a 380 hahahahaha!)
I am sure that they would let you take a waterproof camera out with you... heck they let us take cameras up parasailing at 600 ft!

 

[Dizney73]

Ooooh, never heard of the Jetski tour, do tell!!! Don't you love the BW view villas, we fell in love with the place. I hope everyone continues to be scared off by the clown pool, more availability for me!

Oh yes... I sure did love that view! I think I will need to take my family there to stay! We have never stayed anywhere except our home resort... AKV! We love Kidani but prefer Jambo House's Value rooms! With kids, it is nice to have the Mara right there! I kinda like the clown face... he is just on the verge of being cute!

 

[let'sgo]

From our experience Sammy Duvall's is awesome! we did lots. Of water sports. We parasailed 2 times, used personal watercraft 2 times and also went tubing! Everyone there was so nice... we loved our Sammy experience! Everything went right on time and we even cut one of our jetski times shorter than the scheduled hour. They are very professional and totally make the experience all about you!
We did miss one of our parasails (we had 3 scheduled ) since our 11:30 am fort wilderness segway tour ended 45 minutes later than scbeduled! So those of you who have this scheduled just count on extra time. It was supposed to be over at 1:30 but ran until 2:15 . So we missed our 2:30 parasail.

OK, I'm not going tubing this time, but would like to hear your thoughts on it. Did anyone wipe out on the trip?

 

[disneyyes]

Hi everybody, I was part of the Disney73 Premium tour last week and her report is great with all the amazing details and activities that I am now "Disney Homesick" for!!! And I hope it's okay with everybody but I just can't help chiming in!!! Definitely ditto on the Sammy Duvall experience - they are the best! I think Ben said he was on the Pro tour before he started at Disney. We kept hinting to him that we'd like to tour the lake and have him put on a little demo for us . . . but like Disney73 said, the experience was "all about us", so their staff is mostly interested in the guests' experiences. If you take a camera just be sure it has a wrist strap - for the parasailing I was able to fasten it to one of the clips on my lifejacket so it was secure. I did get some great photos - VERY cool to be looking DOWN at Space Mountain, Bay Lake Towers, Contemporary, etc.!!!!
And yes, the Segway Tour was the most challenging activity for all of us, mostly due to the heat. We didn't have time to peek at a TV pretty much the entire stay (too busy!) but that night when talking with my husband he said that according to the reports that day, the Orlando temperature got up to 98 degrees! (And I think that may have actually been in the shade!!! LOL) I have also done the Epcot Segway tour, and in retrospect I do wish we had scheduled that one for its early time slot and also the treat of traveling through the countries of the world with background narration from the instructors. And if I remember correctly, for the Epcot instruction we were inside (don't know if they still do that) so in July that would truly make a nice difference. For our off-road Segway class, we did get some background from our tourguides but it was more Fort Wilderness-related rather than Disney Park info. Some trivia was interesting, though, like about how a railroad used to run through the Fort. And one of the best parts of the tour was visiting the Horse Barn, where all of the WDW horses are kept - including the ones for the carriage rides, the weddings, and the Headless Horseman for Mickey's Halloween Party. The barn was very interesting and had a lot of great artifacts on display. The horses were all turned around though, so you can picture the view we had looking into their stalls!
We each had a few brand new items on this trip from our "Bucket List" and I feel bad that Disney73's was the Segway Tour since it was so tedious in the heat. One of MY bucket list items was the Hoop-de-Doo (had never been there in 30+ visits!!!) . . . and it did not disappoint! We had a blast, and sat right next to the piano player and the banjo player. They must be used to distractions because despite our fun and slightly rowdy behavior they didn't miss a beat!
Thanks for reading!

 

[HaleyB]

Welcome back!

I love the report, I want to hear every detail

I am already trying to figure out when we can do this "again" and we don't leave for the first time for over 6 months.

Here is a general question, do you guys think there is any wiggle room on the age 14 and up for the Segway tours? I would love to do this with the kids but the youngest will only be 13.5 next Summer. Only! Oh my, my baby is getting to be all grown up, she is already taller than me.

She is tall, very coordinated, very mature and looks older than she is but I will not fudge on her age when I book because that would make us both uncomfortable. She wouldn't go announcing it to all the other guests but the guide would know. Any chance? Or does Momma need to cool her heels for an extra year, lol.

 

[Justsyd2]

Here is a general question, do you guys think there is any wiggle room on the age 14 and up for the Segway tours? I would love to do this with the kids but the youngest will only be 13.5 next Summer. Only! Oh my, my baby is getting to be all grown up, she is already taller than me.

The only thing I would worry about is IF something happened to her and they found out her age, that might be a problem. They could say that she wasn't old enough to actually be on the tour, so I wouldn't want to risk that!

 

[Dizney73]

OK, I'm not going tubing this time, but would like to hear your thoughts on it. Did anyone wipe out on the trip?

Nope... none of us went wiping out... but we did a lot of banging into eachother and I almost went over a few times! We certainly didn't go as fast or crazy as i have before but it was a crazy good time. Ben pulled my two friends in and then we went faster and zigzagged all over catching the wake. I caught some major air and had a blast! Tubing was one of my faves (i actually liked it better than parasailing cause I was a little bored hanging in the air for 10 minutes!) They will go as fast or slow or rough as you want!

 

[Dizney73]

Welcome back!

I love the report, I want to hear every detail

I am already trying to figure out when we can do this "again" and we don't leave for the first time for over 6 months.

Here is a general question, do you guys think there is any wiggle room on the age 14 and up for the Segway tours? I would love to do this with the kids but the youngest will only be 13.5 next Summer. Only! Oh my, my baby is getting to be all grown up, she is already taller than me.

She is tall, very coordinated, very mature and looks older than she is but I will not fudge on her age when I book because that would make us both uncomfortable. She wouldn't go announcing it to all the other guests but the guide would know. Any chance? Or does Momma need to cool her heels for an extra year, lol.

They did tell us that the youngesut on the tour was 15... so it might be worth asking about your daughter but I definitely wouldn't just not tell her age. I was a bit stressed riding myself i wouldn't want any extra worry.
Ooo... speaking of age. Wdw infosaid parasAil age was 5 and up but a sign at sammy's says age 6. I took notice because I was hoping to do it next summer but my daughter will only be 5.

 

[Dizney73]

We used 1 of our snack credits that day for a yogurt parfait at the Contempo Cafe. It was yummy and light enoigh with the heat not to feel sick. Also it was $4.29 so also a good use of snack credit. We got one of the same after we checked into saratoga the next day too.
Tuesday night we did an 8:30 pm carriage ride at fort wilderness and it was a great way to add some rrlaxing tims into the day while still doing an activity on the premium plan! We did th 9 pm hoop show and we hoop dee dooed it up till about 11:30 or so. Late night again but great!

 

[ScottOKW2K]

Welcome back!

I love the report, I want to hear every detail

I am already trying to figure out when we can do this "again" and we don't leave for the first time for over 6 months.

Here is a general question, do you guys think there is any wiggle room on the age 14 and up for the Segway tours?

You might want to check the age requirement again. The first time we did the segway tour the requirement was that the minimum age is 16, not 14. You may want to check this to be sure, but we did the tours at the beginning of June and I believe the age 16 requirement was still in force.

 

[Dizney73]

Here is a Price breakdown that was worked out for our Premium Trip!

Pop Preferred room: @ $134.00 plus 12.5% tax =$150.75

3 one-day base tickets @ 79.00 plus 6.5% tax = 84.14 x 3 = 252.42

Jetski tour and freeride (2 jetskis) @ 135.00 plus 6.5% tax x 2 =287.54

Parasailing, Deluxe @ 130.00 plus 6.5% tax x 3 =415.35

Segway, FW Backtrail @ 95.85 x 3 = 287.55

Fulton's Crabhouse 3 lunch(actually dinners) =166.82

Carriage Ride @ FW = 45.00

Hoop de Doo cat. 1 @ 61.99 x 3 =185.97

Wild by Design tour @ 63.90 x 3 =191.70

More Parasailing, Deluxe @ 130.00 plus 6.5% tax x 3 =415.35

Tubing Excursion @ 165 + 6.5% tax = 175.72

JetSki, free riding (3 jetskis) @ 135 +6.5% x 3 = 431.32

Parfait snacks @ 4.29 + 6.5% x 3 = 13.70

More Parfait snacks @ 4.29 + 6.5% x 3 = 13.70

Refillable Mugs @ 13.49 + 6.5% x 3 = 43.10

Cirque du Soleil La Nouba cat.2 @ 90.53 x 3 =271.59

Narcoossee's Dinner 3 dinners =243.75
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GRAND TOTAL VALUE HAD WE PAID GOING RATE FULL PRICE: $3,591.33
Our Cost: 910.59
------------

Savings to us: $2,680.74
We had some extra costs as well which we didn't include. Obviously, we did also gave tips to all our Sammy Duvall people and waiters which we did not include. We paid $12 = tip for valet parking at the Contemporary 1 day. We also tipped our valet at the Grang Floridian after our Narcossee's dinner (we valeted for free with our receipt for our drinks when we used a Tables in Wonderland Card).

 

[let'sgo]

Here is a general question, do you guys think there is any wiggle room on the age 14 and up for the Segway tours? I would love to do this with the kids but the youngest will only be 13.5 next Summer. Only! Oh my, my baby is getting to be all grown up, she is already taller than me.

She is tall, very coordinated, very mature and looks older than she is but I will not fudge on her age when I book because that would make us both uncomfortable. She wouldn't go announcing it to all the other guests but the guide would know. Any chance? Or does Momma need to cool her heels for an extra year, lol.[/QUOTE]

I don't think that it will work. My daughter really wanted to do a Segway tour but she was sick so we went without her. Later on in Epcot they were letting guests briefly try them out after some quick instruction. She signed up and was standing in line when a CM rushed in and told her that she couldn't do this unless she was 16 years old! My goodness, she is 5'8", has completed college and lived and worked in Japan for 3 years on her own and is in her mid 20's!

 

[HaleyB]

I don't think that it will work. My daughter really wanted to do a Segway tour but she was sick so we went without her. Later on in Epcot they were letting guests briefly try them out after some quick instruction. She signed up and was standing in line when a CM rushed in and told her that she couldn't do this unless she was 16 years old! My goodness, she is 5'8", has completed college and lived and worked in Japan for 3 years on her own and is in her mid 20's!

She will learn to love looking much younger than she is, in about 15 years.

Ok. So it looks like we'll have to wait to do this. If we go Platinum I'll send her older brother and Dad to do a tour and we'll go get a massage. If we decide to do Premium we'll more than get our value out of the water sports. It is always nice to have something to look forward to Trip excuse 72, Sophia is finally old enough to do the Segway tours... that will be 2014...

 

[beautifultomorrow]

Hi! We are also just back from our one night on the premium plan and here is a synopsis of what we did and how it worked out. We did use Disney transportation exclusively. OUr group was comprised of 3 20-somethings and our parents (mid to late 50's).

DAY 1 --
Checked into Pop on premium package. We had alread been at pop for 3 nights and had no problem staying in the same room. In fact we received a call saying they would bring the new keys to us and we didn't even have to come to the front desk, but we had to be in the room between 8 and 9 am. We had things to do before then so we went and got the new keys ourselves.

9:00 am -- Around the World Segway Tour. This was a really good tour, the first hour (training) is inside. My parents were very hesitant about getting on the segway but did finally get the hang of it. The park was open when we went out for the World Showcase part so we had to be careful. Once we got to China we had the World SHowcase to ourselves which was much more enjoyable. By the time we finished the around the world part the world showcase was open. Something to keep in mind when choosing a time. We really liked the tour.

11:30 am lunch at Coral Reef -- This was just steps from where the Segway tour ended so it was a good fit. I love Coral Reef and have never had a bad meal. This was no exception. No problem getting a table for 5 on the lowest tier at 11:30

2:00 parasailing at Contemporary -- We had 2 single flights and one tandem. We were able to easily meet the 1:45 arrival time coming from Epcot. Parasailing was awesome, we enjoyed it a lot. I dont know if there was some problem with the booking if or if the guy working the counter just wasn't paying attention because he originally said we were booked for skiing for 3 people. Not sure where that came from. After parasailing we went up to Contempo cafe and got our refillable mugs and had some snacks. After that we went back to Pop Century (via MK) to get cleaned up for the evening.

6:00 pm -- Cirque Du Soleil La Nouba. We left Pop Century around 5pm and got to the Cirque theatre around 5:40. La Nouba was great as always. When we came out after it was over downtown disney was MOBBED. It was a fRiday night and it was sooo crowded. Hard to move anywhere there were so many people. Every bathroom had a huge line. We tried to shop a little before dinner but everyplace was just jammed with people, pretty unpleasant actually.

8:50 pm -- Dinner at Fulton's. THe food was very good, but the service was not great. I understand fine dining has a slower pace and takes a long time but this was excessive. WE probably sat for 20 minutes before our drink orders were taken. There was a long wait between each course. We were seated in the hallway on the second floor and it sort of felt like grand central station with everybody coming through there all the time. We left Fulton's around 11:20 pm. FUlton's was good but I may consider a different signature restaurant next time.

DAY 2

We took our luggage down to be transferred as we were moving to the Polynesian for the rest of our stay.

8:30 am -- Keys to the Kingdom tour at Magic Kingdom. We got a late start on the tour as they seemed to add some people to our group last minute. I was glad we got a few minutes of the tour before the park opened because once it did everything was SOO loud (shows and music on main street). It was kind of hard to hear our guide Anibal sometimes. He was really great though and really thorough with everything. Somewhere along the way we actually got PASSED by the 9 am tour!! They did not seem to be enjoying their guide nearly as much. The tour ended around 1:50 pm which was much later than I thought.

2:00 pm Personal watercraft rental -- I had made reservations the previous day for personal watercraft rental at 2pm at Contemporary and we were pretty late for that. It cut into our time but we still got to ride for about 35-40 minutes. For some strange reason they also had us scheduled for parasailing at 2:30 and 3:00 so when we got done with the wave runners we had time for 2 people to go parasailing again which was a great surprise.

After we left the COntemporary we went and checked into the Polynesian for some down time. With it being so hot it was very difficult to go go go the whole time, especially for the older members of our group.

7:00 pm -- Portrait session at Polynesian. OUr photographer was Don and he was great. We had 40 minutes since we had 2 premium rooms and we also got to choose two packages. We ended up getting prints of 12 different pictures. I am really glad we booked the latest available session time. It was not nearly as hot outside and although it was cloudy with some dark thunderstorm clouds in the area you can't tell from looking at the photos. Don did a great job with the lighting.

9:35 pm -- Dinner at California Grill. We were a little late arriving due to watcing the electrical water pageant at Polynesian and trying to make sure we used up all our expiring snack credits. We were not seated before the fireworks began but the buzzzer went off as soon as they ended. The food and service were both wonderful. This was one our favorite dining experiences of the whole trip. The food came out much faster than at Fulton's or Narcoosees (went there earlier in the trip). We left the restaurant around 11:45.


So that was our itinerary. We probably could have squeezed in a few more activities, but honestly I wouldn't have wanted to. THis schedule was tiring enough as it was, and the heat didn't help. My sister actually skipped CIrque because she was so tired and wanted to take a nap.

We loved doing the premium plan though and would do it again in a heart beat. (Next time maybe Platinum!) IT was great to do a lot of activites we had never tried before.

 

[Symans3honeybees]

Welcome back, beautifultomorrow!!

 

[arilvdc]

great reports everyone!

 

[Dizney73]

Beautifultomorrow,
Sounds like you had a super great time. I am glad that yo said all this was possible using Disney transportation. If I do this with my family... we don't ever rent a car. Althoigh i must say that now that my friend Disneyyes showed me the car rent experience from the Dolphin hotel I think I may actually rent a car in the future!
I am jealous of your segway experience... i wish we did thiz one insteAD of fw. And the Keys tour has always been a fave! We xid the Wild by design tour at the AK and it ws just as fantastic! I would so recommend it to everyone!
We also did Fulton's but had a 4:30 ressie. it was great and so was the service... but it was near empty. We had a nice tablw with a lake view. We ate at the hoop that night again and i was worried a bit about the time but at the 9:30 show we didn't eat till 10th. We didn't eat much but it was all about the show!
LOOKS LIKE THIS PLAN REALLY PAYS OFF! I CAN'T WAIT TO HEAR ABOUT MORE TRIPS!

 

[IMGONNABE40!]

I am getting close to my travel dates!! I will do my premium package on Aug 25 & 26. I have a tour booked each day. When I got my paperwork in the mail from Disney, it said 1 tour... I though I could do as many as I could schedule? Sammy Duvall--same thing. Anyone have problems doing more than one tour or water activity? Is there any thing (voucher) that you need to show other than your room key? Will wait staff know at restaurants what you are entitled to with the premium plan, or will I have to bring something there as well?

Thanks!!

 

[Symans3honeybees]

I am getting close to my travel dates!! I will do my premium package on Aug 25 & 26. I have a tour booked each day. When I got my paperwork in the mail from Disney, it said 1 tour... I though I could do as many as I could schedule? Sammy Duvall--same thing. Anyone have problems doing more than one tour or water activity? Is there any thing (voucher) that you need to show other than your room key? Will wait staff know at restaurants what you are entitled to with the premium plan, or will I have to bring something there as well?

Thanks!!

As far as I can see, both Dizney73 and beautifultomorrow were able to do way more than just 1 tour. As a matter of fact, beautifultomorrow was doing quite a lot of water sports in her 2 days there. NICE!!