Wiloughby1
Challenge Accepted
- Joined
- May 21, 2010
- Messages
- 345
New Updates Pg 3
Why so early? Because Amtrak has it's best prices 11mos out, and we have a timeshare anyway.
Clearly I am not insane. I just got the. best. deal.
But first, a little background, and I'll add some pics later...
My name is Autumn and I fell in love with WDW at the tender age of 8. My parents took us and another family on the original DCL incarnation, The Big Red Boat and then for a stay at CBR. By the time I was in high school, they had already bought an alternating year timeshare in Kissimmee for the future grandkids. We took DS for the first time last year while I was pregnant with DD, and now it's time to plan for 2011.
Cast-
Me- Autumn (on left, with my friend who's off to grad school at Stanford)
DH- 32
he's an awesome snowboarder...and he's cute...
DS- will be nearly 4 when we arrive
(3rd birthday party this weekend!)
DD- will be 18 mos when we arrive
My dad- 53- this was his birthday too
My mom- 51
this is the best (old old old) pic that I have of my mom, and she was in the hospital for DS's party, so no new ones just yet...
What I know so far...
We stay at an off-site resort that has a great split layout, so even though our room joins my parents, we have our own complete condo. It's pretty sweet, but not Disney, which having stayed in the park on all my other visits was a bit of a let down. This significantly influenced my planning for this year.
Our dates are Apr 30- May 7 so I wanted to add a couple days at AKL for a little extra magic. And I'm turning 30 this year and DH and I will have just passed our 5th anni, so I totally deserve it. We pre-booked it with the hopes that 40% room only will come around for that week as it has the past 2 years. Otherwise, well, less spending money for sure.
We were going to add to the beginning or end of our trip, 2 whole days, until DH started complaining about flying. He HATES flying. It puts a damper onthe fact that I love to travel, especially since this was not disclosed until the day of our wedding, when he hyperventilated in anticipation of the flight to St. Lucia in the morning, but alas, I kept him anyway.
So I mentioned the Auto Train. We live in Baltimore, so it's an easy drive and DS LOVES trains. Plus we don't have to deal with schlepping car seats and strollers through airports, etc. Why not, right?
So since we are traveling in May, it's cheap to head down on the train, but return tickets are expensive. I learned on here about the process through which
Amtrak sells tickets- cheapest first starting 11 mos out.
I set my Outlook calendar to remind me. This morning, it popped up. Today was our return trip 11 month date. I went on to Amtrak's website and entered the details. I had decided before I logged on that we would save money by riding coach, but add a seat for DD, since I didn't want to sleep with her on me for all that time, but something told me to check the room prices-
The Family room, which had been $653 the day before was $231. Hmm. I checked it off just to get a total.
Then something crazy happened-
Our return fare, which was going to be $570 without the room went to $285!!!! The room made our return tickets 50% off! (OI later learned that the room ALWAYS makes your fare cheaper, but the $231 room was the ONLY one. They went up to $685 after that,I skipped back a screen, dropped the extra kid ticket and made DD an infant ticket since the family room has 4 beds.
I had in my cart round trip for all of us and our car with the family room for $1230 with our AAA discount on top! I panicked! What if it was an error and I hit back and lost the deal. Where was my AAA card? Why had I not activated my Disney Rewards card from my home phone and taken it to work?
Gasp and horror. I call AAA, get my number. I call Chase and activate my card with an agent. Then I call DH and explain why we simply can't think and must decide.
He went for it.
Then I went back to book my parents.
Disaster. Apparently, we got the only 50% deal! Amazing for us, but it was going to cost more for my parents than my whole family of 4.
So I called Amtrak and told her the deal. As she was going through things, I stressed that my mom needed to be on the lower level because she has some orthopedic issues that affect her ability to do stairs (even on steady steps that aren't swaying with the train) and some other medical conditions that require her to have quick access to a bathroom. The nice agent said, and I quote, "Honey, that woman should be in the accessible suite." My mom usually doesn't go for that. She is constantly saying how other people are far more in need than her. She wouldn't get a handicapped hang tag when she was in a full leg cast. I had to sell it to her- I explained to my mom that
1. The Agent suggested it, not me
2. Most people in the accessible suite have only 1 condition that makes it preferable. My mom has 2!
3. She deserves to enjoy her vacation, and if this would reduce her frustration, discomfort, and feeling of embarrassment while traveling, she deserved it, and her doctor had offered her notes before that she turned down.
She finally agreed, it came with a reasonable price, and we all are on the same train car on the same floor.
So the compromise I forgot to mention was that the train added 2 days of travel to the trip in terms of days off of work. Instead of adding 2 days at the end of our trip to stay at AKL, we'll leave the condo one day early to spend 2 nights at AKL. That means we'll leave home April 29, arrive in FL for the condo April 30, stay there until May 6 when we head to AKL for 2 nights, then head home on the afternoon of May 8, arrive home on the 9th, needing 7 days off of work for an 11 day vacation. (well really 9, but still)
So that's my start. I have a few more things up my sleeve, but I needed to celebrate the deal.
More in the future, and less than 11 months to go! Yay and Double Yay!!
Why so early? Because Amtrak has it's best prices 11mos out, and we have a timeshare anyway.
Clearly I am not insane. I just got the. best. deal.
But first, a little background, and I'll add some pics later...
My name is Autumn and I fell in love with WDW at the tender age of 8. My parents took us and another family on the original DCL incarnation, The Big Red Boat and then for a stay at CBR. By the time I was in high school, they had already bought an alternating year timeshare in Kissimmee for the future grandkids. We took DS for the first time last year while I was pregnant with DD, and now it's time to plan for 2011.
Cast-
Me- Autumn (on left, with my friend who's off to grad school at Stanford)
DH- 32
he's an awesome snowboarder...and he's cute...
DS- will be nearly 4 when we arrive
(3rd birthday party this weekend!)
DD- will be 18 mos when we arrive
My dad- 53- this was his birthday too
My mom- 51
this is the best (old old old) pic that I have of my mom, and she was in the hospital for DS's party, so no new ones just yet...
What I know so far...
We stay at an off-site resort that has a great split layout, so even though our room joins my parents, we have our own complete condo. It's pretty sweet, but not Disney, which having stayed in the park on all my other visits was a bit of a let down. This significantly influenced my planning for this year.
Our dates are Apr 30- May 7 so I wanted to add a couple days at AKL for a little extra magic. And I'm turning 30 this year and DH and I will have just passed our 5th anni, so I totally deserve it. We pre-booked it with the hopes that 40% room only will come around for that week as it has the past 2 years. Otherwise, well, less spending money for sure.
We were going to add to the beginning or end of our trip, 2 whole days, until DH started complaining about flying. He HATES flying. It puts a damper onthe fact that I love to travel, especially since this was not disclosed until the day of our wedding, when he hyperventilated in anticipation of the flight to St. Lucia in the morning, but alas, I kept him anyway.
So I mentioned the Auto Train. We live in Baltimore, so it's an easy drive and DS LOVES trains. Plus we don't have to deal with schlepping car seats and strollers through airports, etc. Why not, right?
So since we are traveling in May, it's cheap to head down on the train, but return tickets are expensive. I learned on here about the process through which
Amtrak sells tickets- cheapest first starting 11 mos out.
I set my Outlook calendar to remind me. This morning, it popped up. Today was our return trip 11 month date. I went on to Amtrak's website and entered the details. I had decided before I logged on that we would save money by riding coach, but add a seat for DD, since I didn't want to sleep with her on me for all that time, but something told me to check the room prices-
The Family room, which had been $653 the day before was $231. Hmm. I checked it off just to get a total.
Then something crazy happened-
Our return fare, which was going to be $570 without the room went to $285!!!! The room made our return tickets 50% off! (OI later learned that the room ALWAYS makes your fare cheaper, but the $231 room was the ONLY one. They went up to $685 after that,I skipped back a screen, dropped the extra kid ticket and made DD an infant ticket since the family room has 4 beds.
I had in my cart round trip for all of us and our car with the family room for $1230 with our AAA discount on top! I panicked! What if it was an error and I hit back and lost the deal. Where was my AAA card? Why had I not activated my Disney Rewards card from my home phone and taken it to work?
Gasp and horror. I call AAA, get my number. I call Chase and activate my card with an agent. Then I call DH and explain why we simply can't think and must decide.
He went for it.
Then I went back to book my parents.
Disaster. Apparently, we got the only 50% deal! Amazing for us, but it was going to cost more for my parents than my whole family of 4.
So I called Amtrak and told her the deal. As she was going through things, I stressed that my mom needed to be on the lower level because she has some orthopedic issues that affect her ability to do stairs (even on steady steps that aren't swaying with the train) and some other medical conditions that require her to have quick access to a bathroom. The nice agent said, and I quote, "Honey, that woman should be in the accessible suite." My mom usually doesn't go for that. She is constantly saying how other people are far more in need than her. She wouldn't get a handicapped hang tag when she was in a full leg cast. I had to sell it to her- I explained to my mom that
1. The Agent suggested it, not me
2. Most people in the accessible suite have only 1 condition that makes it preferable. My mom has 2!
3. She deserves to enjoy her vacation, and if this would reduce her frustration, discomfort, and feeling of embarrassment while traveling, she deserved it, and her doctor had offered her notes before that she turned down.
She finally agreed, it came with a reasonable price, and we all are on the same train car on the same floor.
So the compromise I forgot to mention was that the train added 2 days of travel to the trip in terms of days off of work. Instead of adding 2 days at the end of our trip to stay at AKL, we'll leave the condo one day early to spend 2 nights at AKL. That means we'll leave home April 29, arrive in FL for the condo April 30, stay there until May 6 when we head to AKL for 2 nights, then head home on the afternoon of May 8, arrive home on the 9th, needing 7 days off of work for an 11 day vacation. (well really 9, but still)
So that's my start. I have a few more things up my sleeve, but I needed to celebrate the deal.
More in the future, and less than 11 months to go! Yay and Double Yay!!
, so I take my control where I can get it! Vacation planning is one of those opportunities!
It will be exciting to count down together. We are going from May 3-13, staying at Beach Club Villas. Here is our tentative plan. We have DS 6 and DD 4.
Quick question though, how do you figure you have only 3 months till you make ADRs? According to my calculations we can't make ADRs till November which is 5 mos away. 
LOL.
