PTR for the planning obsessed....Updated 11/5 We're home now.

Budget continued…

Which hotel to stay at has been a huge question for me this trip. Off-site is out of the question…can’t risk a crappy room with no magic. I used to be a Red Roof Inn sort of girl. Not any more. Even Disney’s value resorts are steps above those places (and the prices reflect that as well). I thought about staying at a monorail deluxe, and then I went and priced out a week’s stay at one. That killed that idea right then and there. The monorail is not worth that much to me…even with a toddler.

Then using Fuzzy Disney Math (FDM) I reasoned that we could stay longer and rent a car if we stayed at a value resort. So that was my working plan for quite a while.

I have this thing in my head that I don’t want to repeat a Disney hotel until I have stayed at them all or we run out of the ones we can afford. This idea makes no sense as it limits where we can stay each trip but I can’t seem to get pass this notion of how cool it would be to be able to say that I’ve stayed at all the Disney hotels.

I have checked off my completed list: All-star Music, POP and POFQ (in that order).

So All-star Movies it is!

Until I got to thinking about how small the rooms are. 260 square feet me thinks. I keep my hotel rooms are neat as a pin. Everything has its place. I bring little baskets for the bathroom area. I set up a little kitchen area. Shoes go by the door. Dirty clothes go in a piece of luggage. I plan to try the over the door shoe holder idea this trip. If only my house was as neat.

All-Star Movies is not going to cut it. We’ll be in the hotel room more this trip then any other vacation we’ve been on because of DS.

Now the plan is a studio at SSR. Bigger room and so close to DTD for shopping and food. Not to mention that it’s a beautiful resort. We went to dinner at the Turf Club last year. Very nice. But way more money. Rack rate for regular season is $252/night.

But I refuse to pay retail for anything. We went out to dinner tonight and I had a $10 off coupon. Then I scored paper plates for DS’s birthday party in May for 50 cents a package. I cut coupons. I search online for free shipping codes. I haggle. (You should see me in action in the Caribbean!)

I have been saving my emails from Disney since last year when they send me an offer for a discounted room. So I have a pretty good idea of what they might be offering this year. The weeks that I have selected for possible vacation dates are what Disney calls their “wonderful weeks”. Translation is “these are the weeks that we can’t fill our rooms”. These are the period that we should be seeing Pin offers and other discounts. I could go into a whole discusion about fixed costs and why hotels will discount their rooms…economics blah blah blah. But since you can’t haggle with Disney I won’t bore you.

So I already have a pin code for 20% off (which I think is the same discount from AAA) which brings the rack rate at SSR to $189. Ouch! Other DISers are claiming they have gotten 40% off offers. That would make it $164/night (if I was lucky enough to get that offer). My emails from last year show that Disney was offering SSR and OKW for $149/night at one point. So I got thinking about renting DVC points for the SSR studio. I did some checking around. Points usually start at $10 and go as high as $13.

So I did the math. I started with FDM…since I had picked a way more expensive resort I need to cut a night from the trip. So now we are down to an 8 night stay. And the math showed that renting points for $13/point (needing 108 points) was cheaper then having a 40% off code (which I may or may not get). $1404 vs. $1476. You don’t pay taxes when renting points so that right there saves 12.5%. Check out the DVC board sticky threads for all kinds of info on renting DVC points if you are interested in learning more. Mouseowner.com is another great source.

So SSR studio renting DVC point it is!

Or not. I decided that I didn’t want the stress of renting points from a stranger. And in the process chucked the whole idea of staying at SSR. So back to the drawing board. In FDM I’m up to $1404 for the hotel. If I down grade the resort I can add the 9th night back on. I started looking at Moderates. 4 to choose from:

POFQ- done that, can’t do it again
Coronado Springs- convention resort- no thanks
PORS- nothing really special there for a toddler
Caribbean Beach – huge resort

After much online research (I can see you all shaking your heads going “oh really…couldn’t have guessed that”) I picked CBR. Since we are getting a car this time I think it doable…plus I don’t plan to eat there. The rooms are the 340 square feet, the biggest of the moderates. What I really like about it is the white sand beaches, playgrounds, kid’s water play area and hammocks.

Aaaahhhh hammocks. I love me some hammocks. I have one. Between the cold weather, black flies, mosquitoes and cold weather I get to enjoy it for about 2 months out of the year.

Remember in school you had to show your work in math class :teacher: …here it is (I hope you can figure it out...I couldn't paste in the excel table):

Per Night ......... Per Stay with tax ............... add Fridge

AS- Movies
40%...... $59.00 ............ $602.69............. $692.69
20%...... $79.00 .......... $806.99................. $896.99
rack...... $99.00 ............. $1,011.29................. $1,101.29

CBR
40%......... $99.00 ........... $891.00
20%........ $132.00 ......... $1,188.00
rack......... $165.00 ........... $1,485.00

So unless all my hopes of pin codes and discounts fall thru we will be stay at CBR for 9 nights. And hopefully for $891 which is right under budget!

In the next update I’ll write about the food budget. DDP vs. Out of pocket. Thrilling stuff for the Disney planning obsessed.
 
Last January we brought so much stuff for the baby. Onies, bib, sweat shirt, plastic dinner set, his first Mickey stuffy, his first teddy bear from the shop in Germany.

:lmao: It was his first trip to Disney -- of course, he needed all that :). DD always has to buy Mouse Ears while we are there -- she is getting quite the collection :).

Then using Fuzzy Disney Math (FDM) I reasoned that we could stay longer and rent a car if we stayed at a value resort. So that was my working plan for quite a while.

I have this thing in my head that I don’t want to repeat a Disney hotel until I have stayed at them all or we run out of the ones we can afford. This idea makes no sense as it limits where we can stay each trip but I can’t seem to get pass this notion of how cool it would be to be able to say that I’ve stayed at all the Disney hotels.

:lmao: I never knew what I did with numbers and such while planning had an actual name: Fuzzy Disney Math is an awesome title for it! Heaven knows I did my share of it while choosing our resort! I, too, wanted to do the whole "stay somewhere new" each time, but ended up at POFQ again. I think I would have chosen CBR, but their pool will still be closed when we are there, so next time...You will definitely have to let us know how you like it!

I added pictures of the "cast" to post #1.

Your son is adorable!!!
 
I'm here! :) I'm loving your report so far. I like the fact that you don't have much planned yet so we can join you on your planning adventure.

Oh! And Happy Belated Birthday!! :)
 


I'm planning on doing laundry 1/2 way thru the vacation so that should cut down on the amount of luggage we take. Plus I'm going to mail down a box of stuff to the hotel so we don't need a Sherpa in the airport.


:lmao: :rotfl2: :rotfl: :lmao: :rotfl2: :rotfl:

A sherpa... :rotfl: :rotfl: If only they offered that service...:rotfl2:
 
Great hotel update - you kept me guessing. I was kind of hoping you would go with renting DVC points. I'm curious about that. I'd love to try it out sometime... maybe our 2009 trip. :confused3 I'll check out the DVC board and Mouseowner.com. Thanks!
 
:lmao: It was his first trip to Disney -- of course, he needed all that :). DD always has to buy Mouse Ears while we are there -- she is getting quite the collection :).

I didn't buy ears last trip and I'm still kicking myself for it.



:lmao: I never knew what I did with numbers and such while planning had an actual name: Fuzzy Disney Math is an awesome title for it!
Can't take credit for the name...I lifted it from somewhere on the DIS


Your son is adorable!!!

Thank you!

I'm here! :) I'm loving your report so far. I like the fact that you don't have much planned yet so we can join you on your planning adventure.

Oh! And Happy Belated Birthday!! :)

Thanks for the b-day wishes. Both our PTRs are like that. I'm reallly hoping that after I get thru all the basics everyone will really start to chime in with their ideas. And maybe some show and tell.

:lmao: :rotfl2: :rotfl: :lmao: :rotfl2: :rotfl:

A sherpa... :rotfl: :rotfl: If only they offered that service...:rotfl2:

Can you just imagine a little stand in the Manchester airport staffed with Sherpas? :rotfl2:

Great hotel update - you kept me guessing. I was kind of hoping you would go with renting DVC points. I'm curious about that. I'd love to try it out sometime... maybe our 2009 trip. :confused3 I'll check out the DVC board and Mouseowner.com. Thanks!
You try it first. Better yet...buy into DVC and then let me rent your points!
 


I didn't buy ears last trip and I'm still kicking myself for it.

Can't take credit for the name...I lifted it from somewhere on the DIS

See, all the more reason to go back -- you have to get a pair of ears! :)

Still a great name even if you lifted it! If I could only figure out how to do Fuzzy Disney Math on our real budget, I would be all set!
 
Great PTR so far, I'm especially enjoying your FDM... :rotfl:

It's good to know that the process DF & I went through in deciding to buy into DVC has a name: FDM! I'd let you rent my points, but we only have 1 left for the year b/c of our upcoming honeymoon, so I'm not much help.
 
I am so glad I found your report.:goodvibes
First off I love your screen name as you can tell by mine I love Mary Poppins.
Your planning seems to coming along great I am really looking forward to reading along. We took my DD when she was 9 months old and had so much fun and have been going ever since.
I lso love the idea of staying at a different onsite everytime and then my Dad bought a timeshare off property and I have only squeezed in a day on site here and there.

We are going in April and I have to get going on my planning. Almost all done but want to add one more thing for DD's birthday.
 
If I could only figure out how to do Fuzzy Disney Math on our real budget, I would be all set!
I think they call that DEBT :rotfl2:

Great PTR so far, I'm especially enjoying your FDM... :rotfl:

It's good to know that the process DF & I went through in deciding to buy into DVC has a name: FDM! I'd let you rent my points, but we only have 1 left for the year b/c of our upcoming honeymoon, so I'm not much help.
:welcome: You were so smart to buy the DVC before you get married...I wish we would have...I spent all my money on the wedding.

The new CBR themed pool should be done :thumbsup2
We're not really pool people but that might change as DS gets older.

I am so glad I found your report.:goodvibes
First off I love your screen name as you can tell by mine I love Mary Poppins.
Your planning seems to coming along great I am really looking forward to reading along. We took my DD when she was 9 months old and had so much fun and have been going ever since.
I lso love the idea of staying at a different onsite everytime and then my Dad bought a timeshare off property and I have only squeezed in a day on site here and there.

We are going in April and I have to get going on my planning. Almost all done but want to add one more thing for DD's birthday.

:welcome: Mrs. Banks! Is you daughter named "Jane"? :rotfl2:
 
I finally managed to get to Michael’s this weekend to use my Christmas gift cards. Of course I mostly got Disney stuff.
See :3dglasses


3-5.jpg


Then I had to dress up my planning binder.
3-4.jpg


3.jpg


Maybe someday my binder can visit Jordan’s binder (if Flat Winkers doesn’t get jealous)


The dates for MNSSHP came out “unofficially” this weekend long with dates for the MVMCP. I spent most of the afternoon trying to pick our travel dates. Unless something big happens they won’t be changing.

Drum roll please…

Sunday October 26 to Tuesday November 4 2008

It’s based on crowd level predictions from touring plans.com; Disney’s wonderful weeks calendar and the special events calendar. I don’t know if we will go to the Halloween party yet or not; still plenty of time to figure that out. But today I found out (from wdwinfo.com) that last year Disney had trick or treating at DTD.

DOWNTOWN DISNEY HALLOWEEN: 10/30 - 10/31/07 Celebrate Halloween by trick-or-treating, visiting the pumpkin patch or joining in the dance party. All festivities are from 5:00 to 9:00pm

That looks like a good option to do on Halloween night. Does anyone have more information on it or has gone in the past? (the DTD celebration I mean)

I’ll hopefully finish up the budget postings this week.
 
Great report - Heidi - - -

Don't be afraid to rent points - - I have done it several times and it works like a charm. If you look at the price - you can go to SSR much cheaper than a value. I don't know the point rates for SS - but a studio at OKW costs like $110.00 per night using points.

Give it a look!!

Seven days and I will be sleeping at OKW!
 
Hi ---I've seen you posting on Jordan's tread...welcome...didn't you just get back from WDW?

Thanks. I went to WDW in January and in the middle of planning an August trip.

Love the stuff you got at Michael's. Isn't Michael's the best?!
 
Hi Heidi - Congrats on you dates! The DTD Halloween thing sounds like fun - I have never heard of that before.

And cc1075 - we may rent points next spring (2009) - I might PM you with some questions if that's ok.

Heidi - Love the Disney "stuff" you got from Michaels - I got a bunch of new Disney scrapbooking stuff... just have to find the time to use it now! I have't done the binder thing before - I usually just cram everything into a folder. :scared1: I know horrifying! Next year I'll try it though. At least I'll have fun decorating it!
 

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