JerseyJanice
A Disboards original...
- Joined
- Aug 20, 1999
- Messages
- 10,764
This trip was a long time in the planning. In July 2001, my mother-in-law called me at work to ask if I could still get Magic Kingdom Club cards from work. As we Disney vets know, MKC was a thing of the past by then, and I explained as much to MIL. The moment she asked me about MKC, I just knew she was thinking of taking the family to Disney World again. (They treated us to a 5 day trip in February, 1999.)
So of course, I said, "Are you asking me for an MKC card for the reason I'm hoping you're asking?"
And she replied, "Daddy and I will be married for 40 years on June 10, 2002, and we decided that we want to celebrate our anniversary in Disney World with the family."
Woo hoo! Could you possibly get any better news on the phone at work?
Because I am Disney World/internet obsessed, I told her NOT to contact a travel agent and allow me to handle booking the resort. I told her to make reservations at the resort they wanted, using my AAA membership for that discount. Then I promised her wed get a much better room rate, but wed have to wait until the right deal came along. At that point, I was thinking we might be able to get an Annual Pass rate.
She and my father-in-law were set on staying at the Wilderness Lodge, so she and reserved three rooms at the AAA rate (I think it was 10% off rack rate). She and Dad would pay for 4 nights at the Lodge for us and my sister-in-law's family; if we wanted to stay longer, we could do so at our own expense.
Four nights is nowhere near long enough for me (actually I want to live in Cinderellas Castle, but that's another story), so I tacked on four nights at Port Orleans (French Quarter) to give us a total of 8 nights. My sister-in-law added four nights at the Lodge for her family.
We added our 4 nights at PO-FQ because we had a terrific stay there in 9/00 and the room rate at the Wilderness Lodge was out of our league. (At that time, we were set to pay something like $219 for the Lodge and $145 for PO-FQ.)
So by the end of the summer of 2001, these were our plans. I checked the 'net often to see if I could spot any deals for the WL or PO-FQ. I doubted I'd find any discounts that soon, but it didn't hurt to look.
Then the whole world changed on 9/11/01. My husband and I were both at work across the river from Manhattan when the planes hit, and we were eyewitnesses to the whole thing. It occurs to me now that when we last visited WDW in 2000, the world was indeed a different, more innocent place.
One major effect of 9/11 was Disneys closing of Port Orleans French Quarter. This was such a disappointment to my husband because he enjoyed our stay there so much. We decided to wait it out and see what would happen by the time our trip rolled around. DH was hoping business would pick up and Disney would reopen PO-FQ. At worst, we could switch to All-Star Movies because my son is dying to stay there. At best, Disney would check out our guest records, realize wed been loyal customers, and upgrade us to a deluxe resort at the rate we were going to pay for PO-FQ.
Waiting to hear from Disney about where wed stay was making me crazy, but finally, in early March, I got "the call." They offered to move us to Coronado Springs or Caribbean Beach for the same rate, or pay a total of $100 more for all four nights to move us to the Wilderness Lodge or the Animal Kingdom Lodge. Of course, taking the WL would mean that we wouldnt need to change resorts mid-trip and also that wed save a little money by not having to tip Bell Services for the move. So the WL at a rate of something like $164 per night including tax is what we took.
About a week later, I checked my Disney 'net sites, and lo and behold, there was the deal we were waiting for. It was a discount code for rooms booked through the Walt Disney Travel Company. The Wilderness Lodge was listed at $130 for a standard room during the time we planned to be there. I called my mother-in-law at work, gave her the information, then called WDTC to change our 4 nights to the new discounted code. By the time I got them on the phone, all that was left for our dates was woodsview. It was still $45 cheaper in total than the rate we got from the PO-FQ switch.
Initially, Mom got her room at the $130 rate, but had to take my sister-in-law's and our room at the $145 rate. Later that night when she called back to make sure everything was done correctly, they were able to offer her all the rooms at $130, but she switched only my sister-in-law's to that rate so that DH and I could keep our woodsview room for all 8 nights.
Bottomline this deal saved MIL a total of $1,157! Woo hoo! Was I looking like daughter-in-law of the year or what?!
The same discount code offered moderate rooms at $95 per night--not a bad deal. So I called my sister to see if she and her husband would be interested in joining us at that rate. We tried to get them to join us on our last trip. I know she was dying to come, but her husband was being a stick-in-the-mud. Well, at $95 a night, he said yes, and they made plans to join us midway through our trip. That way, they wouldn't interfere with our time with my in-laws, and they'd also have some time to themselves. Knowing them like I do, I recommended PO-Riverside as the resort they should choose. My sister's husband is a nature nut and loves to fish. Theres a fishing hole at PO-R, although it's likely too elementary for his tastes, but the theme is so him in any event.
So of course, I said, "Are you asking me for an MKC card for the reason I'm hoping you're asking?"
And she replied, "Daddy and I will be married for 40 years on June 10, 2002, and we decided that we want to celebrate our anniversary in Disney World with the family."
Woo hoo! Could you possibly get any better news on the phone at work?
Because I am Disney World/internet obsessed, I told her NOT to contact a travel agent and allow me to handle booking the resort. I told her to make reservations at the resort they wanted, using my AAA membership for that discount. Then I promised her wed get a much better room rate, but wed have to wait until the right deal came along. At that point, I was thinking we might be able to get an Annual Pass rate.
She and my father-in-law were set on staying at the Wilderness Lodge, so she and reserved three rooms at the AAA rate (I think it was 10% off rack rate). She and Dad would pay for 4 nights at the Lodge for us and my sister-in-law's family; if we wanted to stay longer, we could do so at our own expense.
Four nights is nowhere near long enough for me (actually I want to live in Cinderellas Castle, but that's another story), so I tacked on four nights at Port Orleans (French Quarter) to give us a total of 8 nights. My sister-in-law added four nights at the Lodge for her family.
We added our 4 nights at PO-FQ because we had a terrific stay there in 9/00 and the room rate at the Wilderness Lodge was out of our league. (At that time, we were set to pay something like $219 for the Lodge and $145 for PO-FQ.)
So by the end of the summer of 2001, these were our plans. I checked the 'net often to see if I could spot any deals for the WL or PO-FQ. I doubted I'd find any discounts that soon, but it didn't hurt to look.
Then the whole world changed on 9/11/01. My husband and I were both at work across the river from Manhattan when the planes hit, and we were eyewitnesses to the whole thing. It occurs to me now that when we last visited WDW in 2000, the world was indeed a different, more innocent place.
One major effect of 9/11 was Disneys closing of Port Orleans French Quarter. This was such a disappointment to my husband because he enjoyed our stay there so much. We decided to wait it out and see what would happen by the time our trip rolled around. DH was hoping business would pick up and Disney would reopen PO-FQ. At worst, we could switch to All-Star Movies because my son is dying to stay there. At best, Disney would check out our guest records, realize wed been loyal customers, and upgrade us to a deluxe resort at the rate we were going to pay for PO-FQ.
Waiting to hear from Disney about where wed stay was making me crazy, but finally, in early March, I got "the call." They offered to move us to Coronado Springs or Caribbean Beach for the same rate, or pay a total of $100 more for all four nights to move us to the Wilderness Lodge or the Animal Kingdom Lodge. Of course, taking the WL would mean that we wouldnt need to change resorts mid-trip and also that wed save a little money by not having to tip Bell Services for the move. So the WL at a rate of something like $164 per night including tax is what we took.
About a week later, I checked my Disney 'net sites, and lo and behold, there was the deal we were waiting for. It was a discount code for rooms booked through the Walt Disney Travel Company. The Wilderness Lodge was listed at $130 for a standard room during the time we planned to be there. I called my mother-in-law at work, gave her the information, then called WDTC to change our 4 nights to the new discounted code. By the time I got them on the phone, all that was left for our dates was woodsview. It was still $45 cheaper in total than the rate we got from the PO-FQ switch.
Initially, Mom got her room at the $130 rate, but had to take my sister-in-law's and our room at the $145 rate. Later that night when she called back to make sure everything was done correctly, they were able to offer her all the rooms at $130, but she switched only my sister-in-law's to that rate so that DH and I could keep our woodsview room for all 8 nights.
Bottomline this deal saved MIL a total of $1,157! Woo hoo! Was I looking like daughter-in-law of the year or what?!
The same discount code offered moderate rooms at $95 per night--not a bad deal. So I called my sister to see if she and her husband would be interested in joining us at that rate. We tried to get them to join us on our last trip. I know she was dying to come, but her husband was being a stick-in-the-mud. Well, at $95 a night, he said yes, and they made plans to join us midway through our trip. That way, they wouldn't interfere with our time with my in-laws, and they'd also have some time to themselves. Knowing them like I do, I recommended PO-Riverside as the resort they should choose. My sister's husband is a nature nut and loves to fish. Theres a fishing hole at PO-R, although it's likely too elementary for his tastes, but the theme is so him in any event.
