~*~The OFFICIAL 2014 Dates Thread - Come Join Us!~*~

[MonsterWDWmom]

Sorry behind on answering this and I know you got a few other answers, but wanted to throw my 2 cents your way.

I have always gone on the dining plan with 2 adults... and while it depends on a lot of factors, tips usually come to $20 or less. A strategy that I do is to go to Allears website and look at the menus for the places that I plan on eating... pick out the most expensive items on the menu (or if I know what I want that item)... add it all together and figure what the tip is from that total.... I always OVER estimate... this can also help you figure out how much you would need for extra meals... personally I always found the 2 meals more than adequate and had a hard time using up snack credits, which I know some people will use those to buy foods to make up for the 3rd meal.

I hope this helps!

Thank you so much that really helps a lot! I always try to overestimate too, and am very cautious with budgeting which is why I was asking for this info.

I just check the prices for Sep 2014 and if they offer the free dining then I will come in under what I estimated my budget to be!!!! So here's to hoping I can save up the money to go to the World in Sep 2014

Hoping for a lot of so next spring they offer the free dining for the fall!

 

[hsmamainva]

WOW have prices gone up!!

I priced our previous vacation plan (since our December dates are more than 499 days away) and checking in Sunday May 11 and checking out Saturday May 17 - 4 adults - 2 children (ages 14 & 12) - 7 day tickets with park hoppers - AOA Nemo suite --- $4600!!!

No dining plan or flights are included!

Does that seem really high to anyone else???

I can only imagine what they're charging for spring break and I'm now wondering what we are going to pay for a Christmas trip!!

 

[BearcatsFan]

Hey everyone!

Nothing booked yet, waiting on a job confirmation but it looks like we will be back at wdw in may 2014!!!!!

We are planning for the 9th to the 20th. So hopefully our dates will let us see the Epcot flower and garden festival, but we are just excited to to be going back!

Hey there Rikkilee, and welcome to our group! I've got you added to the list for May - where are you thinking about staying?

Look forward to getting to know you, so start chatting!

 

[BearcatsFan]

Thanks And you never know, we could always end up throwing in another trip next year. DH did laugh last night at dinner that if he gets a shut down next summer he knows where we'll end up

We should arrive there late on the 27th this month. I saw this a.m. AoA has LM available so we may end up booking there. Have the ressies and last night BOG opened up more slots as there was a lot of availability and I was able to get one so I am completely excited!

Congrats on getting that BOG reservation! Can't wait to hear details from your trip once you get back!

 

[BearcatsFan]

Sooo ... was everyone able to book what they wanted today?

 

[11point5]

WOW have prices gone up!!

I priced our previous vacation plan (since our December dates are more than 499 days away) and checking in Sunday May 11 and checking out Saturday May 17 - 4 adults - 2 children (ages 14 & 12) - 7 day tickets with park hoppers - AOA Nemo suite --- $4600!!!

No dining plan or flights are included!

Does that seem really high to anyone else???

I can only imagine what they're charging for spring break and I'm now wondering what we are going to pay for a Christmas trip!!

That's kinda high yeah, but unfortunately with 6 people in your group it'll be hard to do your trip cheaply. Any chance of staying at a different resort (family suite at ASMu would probably be cheaper) or splitting your group into 2 standard rooms? If it makes you feel any better, I priced out a family suite at AoA for my Feb 20 - Mar 1 trip with just myself and my dad (2 adults) with 7 day park hoppers and it's $4430! FOR TWO PEOPLE. We're currently booked at POR in a river view royal guest room and with 7 day park hoppers it's $3521! That's $909 cheaper than AoA, which is supposedly a 'value' resort while POR is a moderate!
Thankfully we all have plenty of months to save up!

 

[hsmamainva]

That's kinda high yeah, but unfortunately with 6 people in your group it'll be hard to do your trip cheaply. Any chance of staying at a different resort (family suite at ASMu would probably be cheaper) or splitting your group into 2 standard rooms? If it makes you feel any better, I priced out a family suite at AoA for my Feb 20 - Mar 1 trip with just myself and my dad (2 adults) with 7 day park hoppers and it's $4430! FOR TWO PEOPLE. We're currently booked at POR in a river view royal guest room and with 7 day park hoppers it's $3521! That's $909 cheaper than AoA, which is supposedly a 'value' resort while POR is a moderate!
Thankfully we all have plenty of months to save up!

I priced it at ASMu and it was $400 less. That's it. Two rooms would be less but there's no guarantee (since two of our children are "adults") that we'd have connecting rooms and it just doesn't seem like a vacation if we're not staying together.

According to the price quote, they're charging $382 per night on average for the AOA family suite for May and, according to the allears website, the suites were going for $331 on average for May last year. That's a big increase! $50 per night!

I'm so bummed! We've never stayed on-site before -- my hubby always said that he wanted a kitchen and space to spread out in. Finally talked him into staying on-site when we went to Disney this past May and met up with a college friend of his and his family -- who were at AOA as it turns out! -- and now I think prices are going to send us off-site again.

We can stay off-site at Windsor Hills for around $110 a night. And for that we have 3 bedrooms, a full kitchen, and a private pool right outside the door. Guess I'm not meant to experience the "on-site magic" -- at least not until some of our kids have families of their own to vacation with.

 

[DisneyFanSherry]

Sooo ... was everyone able to book what they wanted today?

I got what we wanted booked for DH and myself in Jan.

I have to wait a few weeks or so to book Nov. 2014 trip. Always waiting for something.

 

[rharper1496]

Sooo ... was everyone able to book what they wanted today?

BC standard view was already booked but otherwise we're good to go. I can't book that portion of the trip until payday on the 19th so I'll either book BC garden view, YC standard view, YC garden view or BW (in that order) depending on what's open then.

And then I priced out my Halloween trip too, just because

 

[rharper1496]

That's kinda high yeah, but unfortunately with 6 people in your group it'll be hard to do your trip cheaply. Any chance of staying at a different resort (family suite at ASMu would probably be cheaper) or splitting your group into 2 standard rooms? If it makes you feel any better, I priced out a family suite at AoA for my Feb 20 - Mar 1 trip with just myself and my dad (2 adults) with 7 day park hoppers and it's $4430! FOR TWO PEOPLE. We're currently booked at POR in a river view royal guest room and with 7 day park hoppers it's $3521! That's $909 cheaper than AoA, which is supposedly a 'value' resort while POR is a moderate!
Thankfully we all have plenty of months to save up!

I checked our dates, if we did a week in a Cars suite instead of the split stay it would only be $1000 less than the deluxes. When you figure in the 35% discount for deluxe vs. the 15% for AOA it's even less. There's nothing "value" about those suites, IMO.

 

[LucyBC80]

Got myself and my mom booked for Universal and Disney today! 10 days at Hard Rock Hotel plus 11 days at POFQ!

 

[Valgoof]

I am booked!!! Feb 7-15 CBR King bed. 7 day PH. Deluxe dining--but will probably change that to regular or possibly even OOP. I still need to crunch some numbers for that.

 

[Rikkilee]

Hey there Rikkilee, and welcome to our group! I've got you added to the list for May - where are you thinking about staying?

Look forward to getting to know you, so start chatting!

Howdy!

We are doing a spilt stay between, POR Royal Guest Room, Boardwalk Inn, Polynesian and the Contemporary!
It's a lot, but we love a split stay! Plus we are coming from along way away so have to make the most of our trip!

We are also going to the dark side prior to arriving in Disney.

But very excited to be coming back!

 

[BearcatsFan]

I got what we wanted booked for DH and myself in Jan.

I have to wait a few weeks or so to book Nov. 2014 trip. Always waiting for something.

BC standard view was already booked but otherwise we're good to go. I can't book that portion of the trip until payday on the 19th so I'll either book BC garden view, YC standard view, YC garden view or BW (in that order) depending on what's open then.

And then I priced out my Halloween trip too, just because

Got myself and my mom booked for Universal and Disney today! 10 days at Hard Rock Hotel plus 11 days at POFQ!

I am booked!!! Feb 7-15 CBR King bed. 7 day PH. Deluxe dining--but will probably change that to regular or possibly even OOP. I still need to crunch some numbers for that.

I'm glad you all were able to get booked today!

 

[BearcatsFan]

I priced it at ASMu and it was $400 less. That's it. Two rooms would be less but there's no guarantee (since two of our children are "adults") that we'd have connecting rooms and it just doesn't seem like a vacation if we're not staying together.

According to the price quote, they're charging $382 per night on average for the AOA family suite for May and, according to the allears website, the suites were going for $331 on average for May last year. That's a big increase! $50 per night!

I'm so bummed! We've never stayed on-site before -- my hubby always said that he wanted a kitchen and space to spread out in. Finally talked him into staying on-site when we went to Disney this past May and met up with a college friend of his and his family -- who were at AOA as it turns out! -- and now I think prices are going to send us off-site again.

We can stay off-site at Windsor Hills for around $110 a night. And for that we have 3 bedrooms, a full kitchen, and a private pool right outside the door. Guess I'm not meant to experience the "on-site magic" -- at least not until some of our kids have families of their own to vacation with.

You sound so disappointed, Kelly. I'm sorry the prices were higher than you expected. Any way you can make it work?

 

[BearcatsFan]

Howdy!

We are doing a spilt stay between, POR Royal Guest Room, Boardwalk Inn, Polynesian and the Contemporary!
It's a lot, but we love a split stay! Plus we are coming from along way away so have to make the most of our trip!

We are also going to the dark side prior to arriving in Disney.

But very excited to be coming back!

You are coming from a long way away - is Australia as beautiful as I imagine it to be?

How many days are you planning to spend on the dark side?

I'll add your resorts onto the list. If anything changes, just post an update.

 

[rharper1496]

Just a heads up for anyone that wasn't able to get what they wanted, double check a few hours later. At one point today, SV Beach Club , SV and GV Yacht Club and every single room in the CR were unavailable for the second half of our trip. BC and CR are now showing as being available again. Someone on the Jan thread had POR showing all of the standard rooms unavailable on the 28th of January when she checked earlier, everything except king rooms were available again when I checked just now. Looks like there are still (more than) a few bugs to be worked out.

 

[OnlyDisney]

We were originally going to stay in an AoA Nemo suite Jan 3-11 but switched over to Fort Wilderness. I think the kids will be happier here with more chances to run around. Any my kids will NEED to run around, even after spending all that time in the parks!

 

[leshunlenese]

I haven't booked a WDW trip becasue I am checking to see what the bounce back offer will be when we go in September but my family did book our first disney cruise for may 1st!!!

 

[BearcatsFan]

We were originally going to stay in an AoA Nemo suite Jan 3-11 but switched over to Fort Wilderness. I think the kids will be happier here with more chances to run around. Any my kids will NEED to run around, even after spending all that time in the parks!

I'll get you changed to FW on the January list.