Samantha Brown made me cry! I have to use coupons again! A 2010 PTR~

[PrncessA]

Who loves Samantha Brown WDW Specials??? Whenever I need a Disney World fix she is who I turn to! If you didn't know you can find tons of clips on the Travel Channel website!

So before Christmas I was channel surfing and came upon Samantha Brown's Disney Christmas Special! We had never really considered going back during Christmas and our next trip was tentatively planned for February of 2011, sooo far away. DH walked in the bedroom and I have tears falling down my face and I am literally sobbing! He didn’t even have to look at the TV to know it was something Disney related, aw he knows me so well! The crazy in this family is easy to recognize!

I made sure to DVR the next showing and make DH watch it with me and that brings us to the fact that we are going to Disney World this winter!!!! We are crazy happy with the decision and at times just plain crazy! For the longest time we didn’t think we were going to be able to make it to Disney World until next year for the first time, but we thank the Lord for blessings in disguise and we enjoyed our first trip last September! We have been blessed greatly in the last month and we have decided that we can make sacrifices to make it to Disney this year!

Our last trip preparation (and PTR) was short and sweet and may I add completely one-sided! We learned a lot of lessons on our first trip like to bring ear plugs for meltdowns and .97 cent ponchos are NOT our friend. I have nearly an entire year to learn more valuable lessons from the DIS that will hopefully help me avoid spending another entire day at DHS and only being able to see 2 live shows THE ENTIRE DAY!

We are attempting to make this trip a surprise to the kids and hopefully get a better response than the last time (“Okay let’s go.”) They LOVED WDW and since the pictures are my screen saver they watch them all time and the excitement hasn’t died down in this family. My greatest hope is they will hold on to the magic for as long as possible!

Who’s going?
Me (aka Sara and Mommy)

I am a self proclaimed Disney-aholic and since our trip things have only gotten worse! I love everything about WDW and if I can convince DH we will retire there! LOL I am a huge fan of the history of Disney and Disney World and can’t wait to spend a bit more time…. taking my time! I am most looking forward to exploring Main St. a bit more and having a lot more time at Epcot! Disney World was built up in my head to impossible standards before our first trip and it blew them all away, I am in LOVE! I am also a saver when it comes to everyday spending and I have been slackin’ in the last few months due to being so busy! I literally just had to buy a bottle of shampoo for the first time in 4 years last week! So now I have to start my saving again, more coupons equals more money for the Mouse!

DH (aka Erik and Daddy)

He was not a Disney World fan before our trip having had an unmagical trip in his past. I remember talking CONSTANTLY about the MANY MANY trips we were going to have over the years and DH saying “No way, once will be enough!” He laughed at me when I told him I wanted to take a trip for just us for our anniversary and said it wasn’t going to happen. Oh how the times have changed! Disney made its way into his heart and blood and he is a Disney Lover through and through. He can’t wait till we have the time (and the babysitter) to take a trip alone and he is actually helping plan our next trip! I have caught him reading the many Disney World books he bought for “me”. He LOVES the MK and has become obsessed with the many hidden treasures of WDW that he is determined to see on our next trip.

Ethan

Acting scared for the picture but couldn't be bothered to stop eating the popcorn long enough, lol.

Our resident 4 year old smarty pants (in more ways than one). He is such a joy to have as a child and he is wise beyond his years at times. He LOVED Disney World and as we were waiting for my mom to pick us up at the airport after our trip he started crying and saying “I want to go home!” Thinking he was as ready to see his own bed as we were we told him we would be back to our house soon. He says “No my real home, with the bridge.” Meaning the Wilderness Lodge!

He is such a sweet kid and big brother! He is very easy going most of the time but he can be very sneaky. He is so smart that sometimes he leaves me speechless! He can maneuver the computer to get to the Playhouse Disney or Nick Jr. website better than my mom can turn on her own computer. He picks up things very quickly and is very social and makes friends easily. He is starting preschool next week (up until now I ran a daycare and he came with me) and it is causing me serious separation anxiety and he hasn’t even went yet!! He will be 5 during our next trip and right now his favorite Disney characters are Donald Duck, Buzz Lightyear, Woody and Wall-E. I really can’t say too much about how great of a kid he is!

Lorelai

Our resident 2 year old SCREAMER! She has been a screamer since birth and goes through phases where she is a perfect angel then stages where all she does is scream if she doesn’t get exactly what she wants. She is so much like me that DH says its crazy! Honestly I don’t think I scream… that much!

Lorelai is an individual and is very independent and stubborn! She knows how cute she is and uses it to her advantage whether it is charming her daddy into giving her a cookie or pouting as cute as possible. She is natural born actress and I have thought about putting her in a few child theater classes in a few years but I doubt we could slow her down long enough. She is very cuddly and loving and loves to give kisses and LOVES her big brother. Her favorite Disney characters are the Princesses of course but she likes Toy Story and Wall-E as well. Her favorites top at Pocahontas, Belle and Snow White at the moment but they change constantly, although Pocahontas has been the top for many months. Oh and she thinks that Cindy’s castle is actually her house and wants everyone to know it!

Developments to come: When to go? Where to stay? How to get there? How long do we stay? Where to eat? DxDDP, DDP or OOP? Should Samantha Brown pay for our trip since it is her fault?

 

[PrncessA]

No posts yet!?! Where is everyone who is as excited about this Pre-Trip Report as I am????

So exciting in fact that I made a call to the Disney Planning Hotline today! What happened? I'm not tellin' yet!



Lets start with our little pre-trippy and discuss how much we LOVE the WL and now DH refuses to stay anywhere else, okay so does DS in that aspect!

So when we say Christmas at Disney we are imagining our wonderful Lodge all decked out in Christmas Splendor and warm and comfy since Chicago winters are . Our only problem is price of course. Since this will be a trip we make room money wise for it would be much simpler to go with saving LESS money!

So I have been doing my due diligence on the Walt Disney World Website running the numbers trying to figure out the cost difference between November and December or value vs. moderate vs. deluxe! All the while hoping that a PIN finds it's way into my mailbox or email!

We have been very lucky with PINS the last few years since I started planning our first trip and I ended up getting TONS of PINS over the course of 2 years that I was never able to use! It was sad! But since our trip in Sept. no emails had came my way! I was a little worried that I would have to wait forever or book full price .

Two weeks ago I saved a couple trips on the website ordered a set of maps and ordered the new planning DVD! Gotta cover all my bases and wait .

Amazingly I was checkin' my email at work last week and POP I see a email from Disney I was so excited! It said something about a dream celebration.... and it was a link to enter to win one.

Fast forward to yesterday and viola a unsuspecting email arrived in my inbox calling us by name and promising our Disney Dream! And this time they delivered! That's right folks the powers that be at Disney sent me a PIN for 40% off deluxe hotels good for next winter! Oh yeah! It also includes 20% off value or 30% off moderates.

Next up: DD isn't free anymore.... be prepared to pay! LOL

 

[flamingglobessigmund]

Samantha Brown has the best job in th whole world, I'm completely convinced of this.

Lucky you, you got a great pin!

Love the pics of the kids. They're cutie pies

I use coupons so I can have champagne vacations on beer budgets.

Happy planning!

 

[PrncessA]

So since SOOOO many people are waiting to hear the details hashed out so far I can't keep people waiting!

So I called DH the second I got my PIN. Well actually I did this a bit then I called DH to tell him the FANTASTIC news! He wasn't as excited as I was but it didn't stop me from doing this .

Since he was at work I didn't discuss the fact that his reaction was very substandard for that kind of news! Thank goodness I received a text a few minutes later saying that 40% was a great code and he was just busy... I guess I can forgive his lack of excitement this once!

I began running the numbers immediately after I got the PIN without the discount to know what my "rack" rate comparisons were. I ran packages, I ran room only, I ran values, I ran deluxe. I was a runnin' machine! I had an idea of what the discount would give us.

I almost dreaded calling the reservation number and getting a quote with my PIN since I knew I wasn't booking and that is ALWAYS depressing! This time when they ask me if it was my first trip I got to say NO! That's right folks were comin' back! Watch out! I then learned that prompts the computer to ask 10,000 new questions! By the time I got to a CM I was ready to give them my blood type and power of attorney!

Before long the wonderful CM (I can't believe I didn't jot his name down) and I were swappin' Toy Story Mania stories and laughin' it up. Who wouldn't want to book a trip from this guy? He saw my PIN attached to my name and before I knew it I was pullin' out my debit card (we don't use credit cards) and paying my deposit. Disney is good that way!

LET'S BREAK IT DOWN

The Where
Wilderness Lodge BABY! We fell in love and are willing to make a little more effort to stay there again. The difference in price was a little over $500 but we LOVED the amenities of the WL and can't imagine staying somewhere else.

I tried to book a standard view but they were already booked so a Woods View it is! Now I need to research to figure out where we want to request...

The When

December 1-7th Originally I thought that November would be cheaper but surprisingly it was a lot more expensive! That is fine we were flexible, hopefully we can find cheap airfare for these days! DS will be in kindergarten at that time but I am a firm believer it will be more than worth it for him to miss a couple days of school. We don't have many more years of being able to say that though!

We booked 6 nights since that is what we stayed in September and we don't think shorter would be enough time to relax and see what we want. Depending on circumstances we might add another night if everything works out!

The FOOD

After using the DxDDP last trip we thought about what we wanted on this trip. DD was free last time so she shared our food and ate free at buffets. I thought about our eating style at home and on our trip and for us the DxDDP just fits. It may be a little too much food at times but we liked the flexibility and the ease of it. We are the types of people who would worry about every penny that went toward food (even if we saved the money for it) and the prepaying our food works for us!

I am planning a few new restaurants this trip and I can't wait to make a wish list of ADR's!


The Tix!

We are not advanced enough to Park Hop yet and I am glad that we cancelled our park hopper on our last trip because we are one park a day people for the time being. I did however keep the 7 day ticket since it was only $10 more and we can possibly park hop one day to try it out. We are planning on MVMCP so we will have to see how it works out, we have time to figure it all out!

The Price

I had been convincing DH that we needed to take a trip before this Feb so that we could get another trip in before DD turned 3 and we had to pay for her but financially we would never have been able to swing it. I was worried about the cost that adding DD was going to bring.

For our trip last Sept. we had received a free Dining PIN and had upgraded it to the DxDDP, we stayed at the WL for 6 nights and had 6 day base tickets and DD was free. This trip we are staying the same amount of time, same resort, purchased the DxDDP again, and added DD as a paying member of the family.

Total price increase: $75!!!! Thank heaven for the PIN pixie dust!


Next up: How do we keep this from the kids? Only 140 days until I can book my ADR's, lol.

 

[PrncessA]

Samantha Brown has the best job in th whole world, I'm completely convinced of this.

Lucky you, you got a great pin!

Love the pics of the kids. They're cutie pies

I use coupons so I can have champagne vacations on beer budgets.

Happy planning!

I agree she has the best job ever!

Thanks for joining in on the fun!

I love coupons they are like free money and they give us the chance splurge on things that we wouldn't do. Like Disney!

 

[flamingglobessigmund]

The FOOD

After using the DxDDP last trip we thought about what we wanted on this trip. DD was free last time so she shared our food and ate free at buffets. I thought about our eating style at home and on our trip and for us the DxDDP just fits. It may be a little too much food at times but we liked the flexibility and the ease of it. We are the types of people who would worry about every penny that went toward food (even if we saved the money for it) and the prepaying our food works for us!

That's exactly how I feel. We had QSDP on our trip, and it helped me to actually feel like I was vacation. Anyone could get anything they wanted at the counter on that plan, and I didn't have to have the costs nagging at my brain.

Sounds like you are in for another great trip, with minimal increase in price for your DD!

 

[PrncessA]

That's exactly how I feel. We had QSDP on our trip, and it helped me to actually feel like I was vacation. Anyone could get anything they wanted at the counter on that plan, and I didn't have to have the costs nagging at my brain.

Sounds like you are in for another great trip, with minimal increase in price for your DD!

Gotta love that Vacation Feeling!!

 

[Raecheal]

I'm in... subbin'

 

[PrncessA]

I'm in... subbin'

Woohoo!

Welcome!!!

 

[PrncessA]

I am up this morning at 6:20am since my wonderful DS refuses to sleep past 6:00 in the morning. It is more than slightly annoying on Saturday mornings, especially when I had the oppourtunity to sleep in until at least 8:00am and feel like someone is yanking on my sinuses constantly. Never the less his internal alarm clock is like none I've even seen and once he wakes up he is awake the rest of the day until bed time, no matter what.

DH has been exhausted and he didn't bat an eye when DS woke up (or pretended not to) so here I am and wishing that I had the ambition to brave the freezing weather and go to CVS and get some Tylenol Sinus.

So I jump online check my email... only 2 emails from work, not bad. Read the news, too depressing. Check my Facebook, nothing new. Jump on the Dis . Then it hits me! Am I making the right room and dining choices at the WL?


I had been toying with the idea of staying Club Level at the Wilderness Lodge. I like the idea of snacks and I really like the idea of breakfast being right there so we can get on our way. Also I think it would be a fun experience and who can pass up free booze? I start wondering if our code works for CL... but the ressie line isn't open yet so I need to wait...

But that doesn't mean the website is down! I ran the numbers and staying CL and keeping the DxDDP is going to cost us about $550 more. But since we would have access to daily snacks and breakfast we could possibly downgrade to the DDP and the total for the CL upgrade would only cost about $75 more. If we wanted to add an extra night to the current ressie it would cost a around $350.

Now I am wondering what is our better option... could our family survive on one snack a piece a day? We liked the extra snacks.. or would the CL snacks do well for us?

Does anyone else wish there was a dining plan that was completely custom? We liked having 2 sit down meals a day but wanted CS for lunch, doable on the DxDDP but don't ya feel like you are loosin' a bit of the savings? Or did we only eat CS that often because we had the credits to use and CL snacks would be fine?

OH the questions? I am guessing my next course of action is to sit down and try and figure out WHERE we really want to eat and if alot of TS meals are on our goals. Then figure out which option fits us this time... and I thought I had it all figured out when I booked!

Any thoughts? Suggestions?

 

[PrncessA]

DH and I have discussed this at length and have decided that we want to try CL and since it really isn't that much more we should try it now.

We are going to downgrade to the DDP and I think that is a good idea for us. Since the kids love snacks I can pick up some prepacked apple slices and chips from Publix when we stop or order them in case we need them in the parks and last time we brought our own water in the parks so that isn't new to us. We talked about how many snack credits were used "just because" and how much time we wasted waiting on ADR's or working our schedule around ADR's and we want to try it a different way and see how it works for us.

I am going to call the ressie line and see if it is even available for the time of our stay...

 

[PrncessA]

Still no posts? Boy am I boring!

Update of CL as of right now there is no availability for CL during that week or the next... not to say it won't open up before then.

 

[PrncessA]

Anyone want to know what happens to a super planner who is given over 10 months to plan a WDW vacation???? She goes a bit loopy with details!

I haven't even started thinking about small details yet like dining ADR's or touring plans but the larger scale details are causing me to rethink everything multiple times.


I have been researching flights right now and the outcome isn't fantastic. We flew American on our last trip and it was by far the cheapest (including Southwest) and we paid $742.00 for 4 tickets.

I started searching prices for Dec 1-7th and found that American is very expensive during that time, $1,637.60 for 4 tickets. I searched all the dates around and none are any cheaper. So I started searching other airlines that will give us a direct flight, I can't drag a 2 1/2 hour flight out to a half a day layover.

I couldn't find a direct flight on Delta and they were still more than I want to pay. JetBlue isn't available yet but they don't fly directly from ORD to MCo either. I searched United and found the cheapest flights yet through a Continental/United booking at $677.60 for 4 tickets. Woohoo!

There is a problem though, the departing flight is perfect at 8:05am but the only returning flight at that price is at 6:42am! Not going to happen! If we move to a later flight it is only run by United and the price goes up to $2,709.60 for the tickets!!!!

So I searched for a returning flight coming back on the 8th through Continental and I can get the same deal ($677.60) flying out of MCO at 5:40pm that day.

I realize that flight prices could vary between now and December and it is a big non-refundable purchase so I am trying to weigh my options early. Since we bought our flights about a month before flying last time and the prices never dipped back down and we got a good deal I am unsure when the right time to buy airfare is.

On a happier note I think we have decided to add a day to our resort stay. I had been running the prices and it just cost too much to add a day to the package. We are planning on hitting DTD on our first evening to relax a bit and shop and eat at T-Rex which will be OOP no matter which Dining Plan we decide on and we will not need park tickets so a room only ressie would be good for us that day plus it gives us and extra day in the parks!

After running the prices with my PIN code it will cost us an extra $185 to stay one night extra in the WL or we could stay at the POP for only $74 and transfer to the WL the next day. DH isn't very sure about transfering but I assured him people do it all the time and it works great.

 

[SurfinTX]

I know the feeling about overplanning. I started over 10 months out as well! I'm just getting my pre-trip report going now.

Flights are reasonable from our location but for a family of 5 we would save about $500 driving and 2 nights at a hotel...well make that about $700 with baggage fees.

Here is some for you and your upcoming trip!

 

[Charlefours]

Hello!

I am new to your PTR. Looks like you are having fun planning! I started way far out too--January of last year we started talking about it and we are going September of this year. I booked it in September last year.

for pin codes!!! I wish I would get one!! J/j hopefully they will offer the free DP promotion again. We shall find out the end of March/beginning April.

WL is my DREAM resort but we will stay there someday! It is not feasible this go around because of all the extra people coming along and taking into account their budgets (and ours, too, with the extra expenses thrown in now).

Looking forward to reading along.

 

[PrncessA]

I know the feeling about overplanning. I started over 10 months out as well! I'm just getting my pre-trip report going now.

Flights are reasonable from our location but for a family of 5 we would save about $500 driving and 2 nights at a hotel...well make that about $700 with baggage fees.

Here is some for you and your upcoming trip!

Can't wait to read your PTR!

If I price it out we would end up paying more by driving from here. DH refuses to drive our van long distances to keep the miles off of it so we rent and that combined with gas and hotel would be the same or more than airfare most likely.

Hello!

I am new to your PTR. Looks like you are having fun planning! I started way far out too--January of last year we started talking about it and we are going September of this year. I booked it in September last year.

for pin codes!!! I wish I would get one!! J/j hopefully they will offer the free DP promotion again. We shall find out the end of March/beginning April.

WL is my DREAM resort but we will stay there someday! It is not feasible this go around because of all the extra people coming along and taking into account their budgets (and ours, too, with the extra expenses thrown in now).

Looking forward to reading along.

I don't know is having dreams about ADR's already having fun? LOL I am having a blast planning already!

I am guessing the will probably offer the Free dining again this year, it was a pretty huge window last year. We went during free dining last year although ours was a PIN that I had sent in an email. We love the WL, DH LOVE LOVE LOVES it! I would love to try out so many other resorts in the future.

 

[PrncessA]

We have definatly come to the decision that we want to stay an extra day we just haven't decided if we want to add a day to the package or a room only day. It really all depends on what we want out of dining. If we aren't able to stay CL then we want to take full advantage of our DxDDP again.

We know we want to try at least one Signature Dining experience and I think we have narrowed it down to either Narcoossee's or the California Grill for an anniversary dinner.

We also are thinking about a couple other 2 credit meals like CRT and one of Fort Wilderness's meals either Mickey's Backyard BBQ or the Hoop-de-Doo, I have heard both good and bad reviews for each place and I think that either would be fun for the kids.

Other than that we are only POSITIVE on a few places:
Crystal Place
Akershus (Breakfast this time)
Le Cellier
and possibly 1900 Park Fare (dinner this time)

 

[ethansmommy]

Hello, Just joining in. We are going back to the Wildernes Lodge (our favorite resort also) this November and cant wait. This will be our 4th time staying at that resort, we have tried others but none of them seemed as magical to us as the WL. I think I might be able to give you some advice on the whole dining plan/club level thing. We have stayed club level twice at the WL (once was a surprise upgrade on our 1st visit the other was paid for), each time with the regular dining plan. Let me just tell you we had plenty of food between the lounge and the dining plan. Each time we have had left over snack credits and at some points were so stuffed we dreaded going to eat again but didnt want to loose our dining credits. This upcoming trip we are booked in a woods view and are on the regular dinin plan and are very confident that we will have plenty to eat. One thing that you might want to consider is getting some snacks delivered to your room. We used a company called garden grocer on our last trip so we could have things that my son is used to having everyday like danimals and apple slices and it worked out great. I highly reccomend them.
~Jennifer

 

[PrncessA]

Hello, Just joining in. We are going back to the Wildernes Lodge (our favorite resort also) this November and cant wait. This will be our 4th time staying at that resort, we have tried others but none of them seemed as magical to us as the WL. I think I might be able to give you some advice on the whole dining plan/club level thing. We have stayed club level twice at the WL (once was a surprise upgrade on our 1st visit the other was paid for), each time with the regular dining plan. Let me just tell you we had plenty of food between the lounge and the dining plan. Each time we have had left over snack credits and at some points were so stuffed we dreaded going to eat again but didnt want to loose our dining credits. This upcoming trip we are booked in a woods view and are on the regular dinin plan and are very confident that we will have plenty to eat. One thing that you might want to consider is getting some snacks delivered to your room. We used a company called garden grocer on our last trip so we could have things that my son is used to having everyday like danimals and apple slices and it worked out great. I highly reccomend them.
~Jennifer

Although DH has made up his mind and isn't changing his mind about going with the DxDDP, I'm not as convinced yet. When we left last trip we only had two extra snack credits left to use and I got the kids Mickey rice crispie treats for the flight so that worked out, but who knows this time.

So much time to mull it over...

 

[The4bits]

I'm in. Love your PTR. I'm thinking of starting one myself but a little intimidated since we're far out too (Sept) . Can't wait to read more updates.