you'll never guess what i just did.......

[disneyholic family]

ok....so after months and months and months of griping and number crunching and griping some more....i finally went and did it!!!!

made reservations for WDW....i think this calls for fireworks or something..

i used my pin code....only 5 hours before it was about to expire, i called up WDW and made the reservations...crazy crazy...

it's for the last two weeks of august...

should i dance?

one thing's for sure - i'd better not think about how much it's going to cost us..

oh..and i still haven't made airline reservations....just the hotel....and dining..

i'll have to buy the UK tickets at some point (i bought the minimum required for the US free dining package)..

anyway..

it's done...

let the planning begin!!

 

[Cyrano]

Beth this is great news. I am sure you will be having lots of fun now that the planning can commence

 

[wayneg]

Happy planning, I am sure the cost will be worth it, hope you get a good price on flights now

 

[poggs]

Congrats.

How did you get a pin code? Thought they were for US residents only.

 

[taylor91]

Thats fab news, happy planning

 

[disneyholic family]

Beth this is great news. I am sure you will be having lots of fun now that the planning can commence

thanks Reid!! yes, the planning will definitely be fun!!!
i love it almost as much as the trip itself!!
time to figure out EMH and all of that so i can make our ADRs (now that i have 14 table service meals to reserve for us.. )....

Happy planning, I am sure the cost will be worth it, hope you get a good price on flights now

well, the truth is, my daughter's best friend died a few months ago - only 6 weeks before my daughter's wedding....so if we needed a reminder that life is short........
it's only money....who knows where we'll all be tomorrow...right?

funny thing....i got this pin code a few months ago, but it was only for dates up to August 13th...(for the US free dining)...
so i've been waiting to see what would come out for the general public in the US, since we can only go the second half of august...
the US plan just came out on friday (for disney visa holders, but it will be open to the public on monday)....anyway, that free dining offer only begins on august 28th or something like that....
so that didn't work for us either...

and then as i was reading through the entire free dining thread (on the discount code sub-board of the dis resorts board), i noticed a post that said that if you check in at the end of an offer, the offer is extended through the end of your stay (up to 14 days)..

so i went into my pin code and started playing with it on disney.com...
sure enough, if i check in on the very last day (august 13th), i can still get the plan for the full 14 days i'm there....very cool!!!

so i have the free dining plan at a value resort.....
so it actually worked out cheaper for us than the UK discounted free offer at OKW....(several thousand dollars cheaper since i need 3 rooms)..

so i'm happy about that!! not to say that it's a cheap date....but it's much better than what i was looking at with the UK free offer....

and all the food will be paid for, so that's super great!!!

it took me hours and hours yesterday crunching all the numbers..
comparing the possibilities (AP discounted room without 'free dining', vs free dining in various combinations, all the different resorts, etc etc)..

anyway....we're good to go...well....once we're there.....
now i have to get us there.....
we're all good swimmers, so maybe that's a possibility....

clearly, we're not going to be able to do business class this time..
i don't know how DH and DS are going to manage...
DH is 6' 7 " tall and may need surgery after 13 hours in an economy seat...
DS is only slightly shorter...
but with 6 travelers, even "economy" is going to be a hit...
and in high season...
but it's just money...

i looked at the prices last night...cheapest i could find was $1450...flying via canada...

i should get a job working for an airline...i wonder how many free or discounted tickets an employee is entitled to...

 

[disneyholic family]

Congrats.

How did you get a pin code? Thought they were for US residents only.

we used to live in the states and we have an american credit card with an american billing address....
so that's the address the pin code is attached to...

disney knows we live overseas, since they have our 'real' address too...that's where they send reservation documentation..
but i guess the billing address is enough for them as far as the pin codes go...

they send me pin codes all the time....this is the first time i've used one of them...

 

[poggs]

we used to live in the states and we have an american credit card with an american billing address....
so that's the address the pin code is attached to...

disney knows we live overseas, since they have our 'real' address too...that's where they send reservation documentation..
but i guess the billing address is enough for them as far as the pin codes go...

they send me pin codes all the time....this is the first time i've used one of them...

Ahh. Ok fair enough. But I'm still a touch jealous....

 

[disneyholic family]

Ahh. Ok fair enough. But I'm still a touch jealous....

but you can still use the american free dining offers that are open to the general public...
it can work out cheaper than the UK offer because the value resorts are included in the offer....
the good thing about the UK offer is it's usually for more dates...and often OKW/SSR are deeply discounted...

but you should check the US offer that's coming out on monday to the general public...

 

[jjk]

Happy Planning

 

[Mrs Stonfiesta]

Wow wee, well done and let the planning commence I am sure it will all be worth it and like you say life is too short (sorry to hear aout your daughters friend), my mum passed away just 3 months after my dd, her first grandchild was born, and I have lots of happy memories of mum in Disney ( we went in 1990 and it was our firstproper family holiday) and I love taking dd to all the places mum enjoyed and sharing those memories with her, roll on tomorrow when we are off
Hope you manage to get some decent priced flights and could you justify the upgrade as you have the free dinning or maybe just let the taller members of the party upgrade as a compromise, might make it alot more bearable but then on the other hand it's such a short amount of time for an amazing holiday although I love the idea of swimming lol

 

[disneyholic family]

Wow wee, well done and let the planning commence I am sure it will all be worth it and like you say life is too short (sorry to hear aout your daughters friend), my mum passed away just 3 months after my dd, her first grandchild was born, and I have lots of happy memories of mum in Disney ( we went in 1990 and it was our firstproper family holiday) and I love taking dd to all the places mum enjoyed and sharing those memories with her, roll on tomorrow when we are off
Hope you manage to get some decent priced flights and could you justify the upgrade as you have the free dinning or maybe just let the taller members of the party upgrade as a compromise, might make it alot more bearable but then on the other hand it's such a short amount of time for an amazing holiday although I love the idea of swimming lol

i am so jealous of people living in the states who can just jump in their cars and drive to WDW....
i'm terrified of flying (my fear has gotten worse with age), so driving - no matter how far - sounds perfectly dreamy to me!!!

as for the upgrade....i'm looking at everything now....
i'm a silver level frequent flyer...the lowest level....
but i'm checking the website now to see if there's anything special....

DH used to always fly economy - up to about 10 years ago, when he switched to business....but if he has to do it, he'll have to do it...
i feel sorry for the person in front of him as there is no way for the seat in front to lean back....his knees are in the way....in economy, there is just no room at all..

maybe there is a way to get an exit seat...it's a 747, so the exit seats are great....maybe i can get the airline to given him that (or maybe i can pay an upgrade to be guaranteed that seat - for both DH and DS)...

i'm writing up the instructions now for the TA....to at least get our reservations in.....then i'll look to see if there's something better ...

regarding your mum, that must have been tough - right after your daughter was born...
disney is a great place for making memories together!!

 

[orangetiggs]

Ahh. Ok fair enough. But I'm still a touch jealous....

we get pin codes through and we have never lived out there, admittedly we dont get them alot but we do get them

congrats on booking sounds really good

 

[disneyholic family]

we get pin codes through and we have never lived out there, admittedly we dont get them alot but we do get them

congrats on booking sounds really good

i have no idea how the pin codes work and if there are any requirements...

i know that some of the pin codes i've received are because i've traveled there in the past and they relate to my account disney has in their system..

but i've also created new email accounts, with different personal information (using my nick name instead of my real name) and received different pin codes as a result of that....where i played around on disney.com and then a few weeks later got a pin code...

and as i said, disney knows i don't live in the US....so residence in the US isn't a requirement...i don't know if the billing address is even an issue (it is for disney UK, but i don't know if it is for disney US)...

 

[Cyrano]

well, the truth is, my daughter's best friend died a few months ago - only 6 weeks before my daughter's wedding....so if we needed a reminder that life is short........
it's only money....who knows where we'll all be tomorrow...right?

This is so true.
You will make some lovely memories at WDW.

Hopefully DH and DS will be able to get an extra legroom seat.

 

[Mermaid2sea]

thanks Reid!! yes, the planning will definitely be fun!!! i i should get a job working for an airline...i wonder how many free or discounted tickets an employee is entitled to...

DH works for an airline and gets 1 free ticket per year and unlimited 10%..I know of another airline that get 7 free tickets for family "and" friends.

Disney also offer 40% room discount for airline employees, but we won't be taken advantage of it this year as we'll be doing the Free Dining at SSR eventhough after calculations it may work at bit more were doing it for my special birthday this year.

Congratulations and happy planning what are your dates?

 

[disneyholic family]

DH works for an airline and gets 1 free ticket per year and unlimited 10%..I know of another airline that get 7 free tickets for family "and" friends.

Disney also offer 40% room discount for airline employees, but we won't be taken advantage of it this year as we'll be doing the Free Dining at SSR eventhough after calculations it may work at bit more were doing it for my special birthday this year.

Congratulations and happy planning what are your dates?

wow - 7 free tickets...that would be great!!

the UK discounted free dining deal at SSR (and OKW) is fantastic...
if it had only been one room, or maybe two, i would have gone for that one...
but for 3 rooms, it was just too much..

i'd much rather not stay in the values, but it would have cost thousands more for 3 rooms for 2 weeks...
if it had been one week, i might have splurged on WL....the rates there for this pin code were really great....but for 2 weeks, it was just too much...
and to go to WDW for anything less than two weeks - what with how much the flights cost - just isn't worth it...

and truth be told, both my kids say they're more than happy staying at pop...
so fine....i'm an old stick in the mud and like my deluxe, but they're happy at the values so i'm sure we'll have a spectacular time....after all, we'll be together...

we'll be there august 13 - 27...

i have to go check the dis meet schedule and see when everyone else is there..
when i was there last june by myself, i made it to two dismeets and they were a lot of fun (met Reid at one of them)...

i know that DD will want to go to at least one meet.....she loves people on this board (she doesn't hang out on the dis, but she's FB friends with a lot of people from here )

 

[starrysky]

i am so jealous of people living in the states who can just jump in their cars and drive to WDW....
i'm terrified of flying (my fear has gotten worse with age), so driving - no matter how far - sounds perfectly dreamy to me!!!

as for the upgrade....i'm looking at everything now....
i'm a silver level frequent flyer...the lowest level....
but i'm checking the website now to see if there's anything special....

DH used to always fly economy - up to about 10 years ago, when he switched to business....but if he has to do it, he'll have to do it...
i feel sorry for the person in front of him as there is no way for the seat in front to lean back....his knees are in the way....in economy, there is just no room at all..

maybe there is a way to get an exit seat...it's a 747, so the exit seats are great....maybe i can get the airline to given him that (or maybe i can pay an upgrade to be guaranteed that seat - for both DH and DS)...

i'm writing up the instructions now for the TA....to at least get our reservations in.....then i'll look to see if there's something better ...

!

We have the same problem with DH he is closer to 6' 10 and its a nightmare. We always ave to make sure we are at the airport mega early to get the exit row seats if we can. BA will not see his height as a specail assistance need all they would say is you have to pay to upgrade to PE! Used aerlingus last year and have booked them again for this year as you can pay a small fee to pre book the exit row seats.

We had a nasty experience with A BA flight three years ago when we could not get the exit row seats(tried special assisrance and even checked in the minute online was available still did not help). And it was handled very badly by the staff to the point where DH thought they were not even going to let us on the plane unless we agree to almost $6ooo of upgrade fee. Ended up with him in a seat in PE and me at the back of the plane on my own. If I can help it I will never fly with BA again.

 

[disneyholic family]

We have the same problem with DH he is closer to 6' 10 and its a nightmare. We always ave to make sure we are at the airport mega early to get the exit row seats if we can. BA will not see his height as a specail assistance need all they would say is you have to pay to upgrade to PE! Used aerlingus last year and have booked them again for this year as you can pay a small fee to pre book the exit row seats.

We had a nasty experience with A BA flight three years ago when we could not get the exit row seats(tried special assisrance and even checked in the minute online was available still did not help). And it was handled very badly by the staff to the point where DH thought they were not even going to let us on the plane unless we agree to almost $6ooo of upgrade fee. Ended up with him in a seat in PE and me at the back of the plane on my own. If I can help it I will never fly with BA again.

6' 10"!!! oh my!!!! i cannot imagine it....poor guy!!!!!
DH bangs his head on everything, your husband must have to walk totally bent over
i've been reading the airline website - there is a deal where frequent flyers can pay a fee for any special seats that are left (e.g., bulkhead automatically goes to parents with babies for free....if there are no parents with babies, they're available for a fee to frequent flyers)..
but i'm only silver....first in line is platinum and then gold...
but i'll sign up for the special seats and hope he gets it...you only find out right before boarding...you pay the purser on board the plane for the upcharge...
i'll see if i can convince the airline that he really needs the seat...
years ago, last time we flew economy, they put him and DS in the exit when i made an advance request because of his height...maybe they'll be kind

 

[Pootle]

BA will not see his height as a special assistance need all they would say is you have to pay to upgrade to PE!

Isn't this just so wrong? Your DH can do nothing about his height - I have little sympathy with obese folks being required to buy 2 seats (and I'm of very comfortable proportions myself ) but 6'5" and over should get you an emergency exit seat (if physically fit). I speak as the mother of a 6'7" son who knows the problem only too well.

Good luck getting flights a decent price Beth - and congratulations on getting a deal