travel tuesday

Travel Tuesday Tales: T-Minus 36 Days and Counting…

Nancy Christmas Holidays, Travel Tuesday Tales , , , , 7 Comments

While our friend Brenda is enjoying her vacation in Walt Disney World, I thought I’d take today to provide a quick update to our Disney vacation planning. We leave for Disney World in 36 days, on December 30…and as always happens when you start planning so far in advance….I can’t believe that we’re about a month away!

I can’t believe it because I have quite a bit to do in the next month for this trip.

Oh yeah. And we’ve got a few holidays sprinkled in there as well. 🙂

First let’s start with an update to some previous plans: Instead of 4 going, there are now just 3, myself, my DH and our DD. So I have had a few changes to make in the past month or so, namely to all of our ADRs, and Candlelight Processional reservations.

I also have been regularly in touch with Disney Vacation Club (meaning *daily*), in the attempt to reduce the size of our accommodations from a 2 BR to a Studio or 1 BR. Knowing how crazy busy this week is at Disney, I’m not holding my breath, but it’s worth the try, so that we can save the points for another trip. (And isn’t that always the case: you start planning your next one before you leave on the current one? Or is that just me…. 🙂  ) In any event, currently we still have a 2 BR at Old Key West for the first two nights, and now have a 1 BR at Wilderness Lodge for the 2nd 2 nights. In addition to calling DVC, I’m also on the waitlist for something smaller, so we shall see what happens.

Now what is done so far?

  • Accommodations (well sort of): check.
  • Basic Disney Dining Plan added: check.
  • Advanced Dining Reservations for all dinners: check.
  • Flights booked: check.

And what needs to be done in the next few weeks?

  • Tickets ordered: To Do!
  • Magical Express contacted: To Do!
  • Parking/transportation to and from airport: To Do!
  • Check park hours: To Do!
  • Any additional tours/meals/events booked: Research, maybe yes, maybe no.
  • Check luggage situation and replace some suitcases: Research, but probably To Do!
  • Check for new comfy walking shoes for me: Oh definitely To Do!!!!

This is, of course, in addition to getting ready for Christmas. Yeah, it’s gonna be a fun month! 🙂

Now you may notice that I don’t really have any itinerary planning on here, and I will say that is a benefit of many trips: for us at this point, we don’t worry about this as much as we would if we were still fairly new to Walt Disney World. Plus, and this is a biggie: there will be lots of crowds, and so we have learned that flexibility will be key during our time there over New Years. We have a few favorites at each park, and certainly know where we will be each evening (we decided that when making our ADRs). Beyond that, once I see the hours for each park, and see when the Holiday events will be ending, then we will narrow it down to which park we’ll go to each morning, and we’ll chat about if there are any Must-Sees for anyone on this trip. That will be about it for itinerary planning for this Disney vacation for us. (Note: it really helps here that we are 3 adults, so no little one meltdowns if we just can’t see something…..)

This weekend, DD will be home from college 🙂  so we’ll have a chance to talk a bit about if there are any extra things anyone wants to do, like doing a tour or something like that. We also need to decide if we want to get Park Hoppers for 4 days or 5, so I can order them from Undercover Tourist. And then I need to call Disney to arrange for Magical Express.

Oh, and before Black Friday, I’ll be looking at our suitcase situation, and my shoe situation, both of which are apparently necessary purchases….

And that will be it then, for a few weeks, as I get ready for Christmas………

…….until I start obsessing about the weather forecast. 🙂

Share

Travel Tuesday Tales: Dear Disney Dining, You Could Make This So Much Easier

Nancy Christmas Holidays, Travel Tuesday Tales , , , , 1 Comment

In this installment of Travel Tuesday Tales, I am providing an update into my vacation planning for our next Disney trip for New Years. If you want to know how the planning has gone so far, you can read about our initial plans, where we’re staying, as well as see where we’ll be eating and my experiences with making all my ADRs.

So last Thursday was the first day that Candlelight Processional dinner packages were available to book, and since this was the last major item that I needed to reserve for now (until we do flights), I had the date noted in my planner to make sure I didn’t miss it. The thing is, I felt like Disney was late this year in opening up these packages: while it’s been 3 years since we went during the Holidays, I know that in the years that we have gone at that time of year, I was making these reservations a LOT earlier….like June/July earlier.

Not sure why Disney was procrastinating here, but I was starting to get a bit peeved. I get cranky like that when something interferes with my planning timeline. 🙂

In any event, over the past week, I had begun scouring Disney blogs, websites and message boards, trying to find out SOME KIND of information about the packages this year. We’re going to be on the basic Disney Dining Plan, so I already knew that it was probably going to cost 2 table service credits like last year apparently did. But I did want to know pricing, in case we decided to pay out of pocket and use those credits for another meal.

More importantly though, I needed to know what restaurants were going to be included, as my family had requested to eat at the new Hacienda de San Angel on this trip, and if we were able to do this, it would be our first night, the night we did Candlelight Processional. But would it be available for the package? That was the question….

Reading Chip and Co. and the Disney Food Blog, I knew that they were taking reservations for after Oct 15, but could not find out anywhere if this meant Hacienda was part of the CP dinner package or not.

And I have to say, the closer it got to August 26, the more annoyed I was getting. There was no information to be found about this anywhere. Not wanting to waste valuable time on Thursday morning by asking lots of questions (you can lose a reservation during peak times like this if you do!), I decided to just go straight to the source.

Wednesday evening, I called Disney Dining to ask.

And would you believe, it took the poor castmember almost 10 minutes to find out the answer? Finally, she was back: no Hacienda de San Angel was not part of the CP dinner package this year, nor was Via Napoli either.

OK, thanks, at least now I knew. Thursday morning, 7 a.m. I was requesting San Angel Inn for the package (our second choice).

So Thursday morning, I did my usual early morning walk, checked email and Facebook, and at 6:55 a.m. I was ready, at the phone, with pen, paper, and credit card in hand, waiting to get this done so I could then get ready for work.

At 6:57 I began dialing…and received the “office is not yet open” recording. Continued to power-redial (I have done this before and AM a “professional” 🙂  ) and at precisely 7 a.m. ET I got the “Thank you for calling Disney Dining, how may we help you today?”. Great! You can help me by getting me this reservation, so I can go shower and get ready to leave for work, thanks.

(You used to just “press 1 for this, press 2 for that”. Now you have to verbally tell them what you need, and hope the automated whatever on the other end understands what you need so you don’t waste valuable time getting sent to someone else…..But I digress….)

I announced as slowly and clearly as I could to the automated whatever, that I needed “Dining Reservations for Candlelight Processional” and then of course was put on hold to the kind-of-annoying-at-7 a.m. music of Haunted Mansion. Before I knew it, a recorded voice thanked me for holding, told me someone would be with me as soon as possible, and then informed me that “due to unexpectedly high call volume, your estimated wait time is at least………30 minutes.”…… WHOA!

Ummmm Dear Disney Dining:

  • First, I do not have 30 minutes to wait, I have like a job that I have to go to, so we can pay to visit you.
  • Second, I am trying to reserve this package for the last night of the Candlelight Processional, and during the busiest week of the year. I am worried that by the time you get to me, the dinner packages for that night will be gone. (Yes, I worry about these things. I clearly need a life.).
  • Third, if you had only publicized the details of the Candlelight Processional package before TODAY, people might have actually known all of the details before calling….and could have had quicker calls, resulting in everyone having a shorter wait time.

Yikes. Well, I was clearly not going to hop in the shower while I waited. My luck, it would have been like a 5 minute wait. So I tried to do as many other things as I could while on hold, and wondered if my co-workers would REALLY mind if I just went to work without showering…. 🙂

Happily for my co-workers, at 7:35 a charming and God-bless-her extremely cheerful castmember came on the line to ask me what she could do for me.

“IneedtoreservetheCandlelightProcessionalDinnerPackageforDecembe30for  SanAngelInnat5pm…..please”

The charming castmember of course understood this completely, asked how many it was for, and within 2 minutes we were done, and I had my confirmation number.

See Disney how nice that works when folks know before hand what they want?

All kidding aside, I am clearly a huge Disney fan as you know by now, and I do really feel like this was just very uncharacteristically unorganized of them. So I jest now….and am just happy that I got what we wanted. My family is happy too.

So, we’re all set for dining now (unless someone changes their mind). Next on the planning agenda? Making those flight reservations some time in September.

I’ll keep ya posted! 🙂

Share

Travel Tuesday: Disney Giveaway Today!

Nancy Travel Tuesday Tales , , , 27 Comments

UPDATE: Congratulations to Lauren Cortright for being the lucky winner for this giveaway! And thanks to all for the fantastic money-saving tips on dining: there were tons of great idea!

Last week I told you that I had a week’s worth of Disney souvenir giveaways for you this week, from our recent vacation at Disney’s Hilton Head Island resort. 🙂

Yesterday I ran a fun contest on my Facebook page. Today’s contest is here at The Affordable Mouse blog. And what will today’s lucky winner receive?

We love pin-trading, so I just fell in love with this Tinkerbell lanyard and pouch. 🙂

It’s a perfect way to get a head start on your pin-collecting plans before your next Disney vacation!

But in order to be eligible, you are going to have to do a *little* work…… 🙂

As you know, I am in the process of a blog series related to affordable Disney World dining. With that in mind, I would love to find out from you:

“What tips, ideas, suggestions, advice, or information would you give to someone who is trying to save money on their meals at Disney World?”

To enter, simply leave a comment below before midnight ET today, Tuesday, August 24, 2010. One entry per person. I will choose a winner at random from all names who respond tomorrow morning, and announce the winner here in an update, as well as on our Facebook page and Twitter.

Good luck! Oh, and if you want to be eligible for the contests the rest of the week, be sure to *Like* us on Facebook and go to Twitter and *Follow* us!!

Share

Travel Tuesday Tales: Our Disney Vacation Accommodation Situation

Nancy Christmas Holidays, Disney Vacation Planning, Travel Tuesday Tales , , , , 1 Comment

Thanks for stopping by to read the next chapter of my Travel Tuesday Tales, where I am documenting my experiences planning our next Disney World vacation. For the story thus far, check out the Prologue, where I described who is going on the trip and when we will be at Disney.

And now, for today’s episode:

You know, one of the things I have struggled with my entire life is the conflict between my natural tendency to PLAN everything….and, well Life. As in, Life very rarely follows a plan. You think I would know that by now.

When last we spoke, I mentioned that Sunday, May 30 was my day to book our Disney vacation accommodations, since we would be using our Disney Vacation Club points and the earliest I could do it was 7 months out from our check-in date. I also mentioned that we were going to be driving home from western PA at 9 a.m. that morning, when the DVC phones opened, so I was hoping that I would have good reception in the mountains when it was time to call.

Well, the good news is that phone reception was not a problem. The reason for this is because I was not in the mountains. In fact, I was not anywhere near western PA at 9 a.m. on Sunday, May 30. I never went to PA with DH at all.

Like I said, Life has a way of doing its thing, in spite of my plans. And Life presented us with a sick dog last week. And a sick dog at home meant someone needed to be with said sick dog at home…which meant me. OK, no problem, I could still call DVC at 9 a.m. on Sunday, May 30. And, I could even go to church Sunday morning too, which was a good thing. Because it doesn’t hurt to have the Lord on your side when booking your Disney accommodations. 🙂

The only teensy problem with this plan is that our church services start at 9:15. OK, no problem, so I’d call DVC to book first, and then run into church when I was done….because I DO have my priorities. And the Lord would understand.

So I left early for church, and arrived just at 9 a.m., so that I could call DVC from the comfort of my car, when the lines opened. (I’m sure the rest of the congregation who passed me in my car on the phone with DVC thought I was doing some Very Important Business if I was on the phone in the car before church…which of course I was.)

At the stroke of 9 a.m. I was on the phone with DVC, and explained that I was looking for four nights, in a 2 bedroom, starting Thursday, Dec. 30. Wherever they had room. (In the Prologue, I noted that “Given a choice though, we are going to request Animal Kingdom Lodge or Boardwalk Villas…but I know from experience, I’ll need to have an open mind, and that’s ok too.”) So that’s where we started.

I found out that neither of those two options were available, no big surprise actually. Old Key West and Saratoga Springs were the two places available, and since we just stayed at Saratoga Springs last October, I opted for Old Key West: nowhere close to my first choices, but I was frankly grateful that anything was available.  While on the phone with DVC, I then asked to be put on the Waitlist for both Animal Kingdom Lodge and Boardwalk Villas. And I also asked about the possibility of doing a “split stay” where you stay in more than one resort, the thought being that starting with Jan. 1 we would have more options as people start to head home once New Years is over…and so could perhaps get in one of the resorts that we REALLY wanted, at least for a couple of nights. The very nice castmember said we could do that…but I would have to wait until June 1 (7 months out again) to request a different stay for the 2nd two nights.

Right. Forgot about that. OK, well that gave me a couple of days to now discuss the situation with DH and DD to see if they wanted me to try for a split stay. Feeling pretty pleased with myself for accomplishing what I did, I then went to church and thanked the Lord for there being any 2 bedrooms available at all for our vacation, and to pray for our Waitlist to come through. (Please…..I AM kidding here. Sort of.)

So DH arrived home from PA  later that afternoon, and I very happily described for him and DD my conversation with the nice castmember at DVC, explained our options, told them what I had booked, our Waitlist, and asked if they wanted me to try for a different place starting on Jan. 1.

DH said no, he didn’t really want to change resorts.

DD said she would love to change resorts.

Thanks guys for the help here.

So we talked and discussed and weighed the pros and cons, and finally agreed that I would give it shot for a different resort on Jan. 1. Maybe try Boardwalk again, maybe Wilderness Lodge.

Cool. I LOVE Wilderness Lodge at Christmas time so that would be worth it to me to switch.

And THEN, DH let me know that he was not too thrilled with Animal Kingdom Lodge and really did not want to stay there AT ALL, and did not understand why I had Waitlisted there and that it is probably the last place he wanted to stay.

Really? Wow. So did not know that. And yes we talk. Apparently not often enough it would seem.

OK then. Tuesday morning June 1, back on the phone I went with DVC to try again.

Availability for two nights starting January 1?  How about Wilderness Lodge said the new nice castmember at DVC? You Betcha! said I.  Love the location for Boardwalk, but Wilderness Lodge at Christmas is tops in my book.

And happily, DH and DD concur. (DD’s friend doesn’t get a vote here. Sorry. 🙂 )

So despite my plans that changed not once but several times, we’re all good now. We will be staying at Old Key West for our first two nights (unless our Waitlist for Boardwalk Villas comes through for the first two nights…which I’m not holding my breath for.) Then we will move to Wilderness Lodge for the second two nights. And we are no longer Waitlisted for Animal Kingdom Lodge so DH is happy.

Even the dog is better so it’s been a good week all the way around.

What’s Next?

I am scheduled to book our ADRs on July 3 (but maybe doing it a few days earlier). So in advance of that, there is a lot of discussion going on right now about where we want to eat, and when, and just a tad little negotiating and bargaining as well.

My daughter even has made a spreadsheet. 🙂

I have taught her well, don’t you think?

Stay tuned!

Share

Travel Tuesday Tales: A Disney Vacation Prologue

Nancy Christmas Holidays, Disney Vacation Planning, Travel Tuesday Tales , , 4 Comments

I am probably my happiest when planning a Disney vacation…or at least that’s what my DH tells me.  So as we have started to make plans for our next Disney World trip in December, it’s been kind of a happy time around the Affordable Mouse house! 🙂 We’re just in the beginning stages at the moment, but will be making some firm plans within the next week, so it’s been kind of fun discussing the options. As you know if you have picked up my Affordable Disney Vacation Planning Guide, there is a lot of work to do at the beginning, before you book a thing!

Want to come along for the planning ride and see how I do it and what our experiences are like? Then follow along for my new series Travel Tuesday Tales, where I will periodically update you on the progress of our vacation planning. If you are new to planning a Disney vacation, it will give you the chance to see how I go about it. And if you are a Disney veteran, then you may enjoy living a Disney vacation vicariously through someone else….at least I know I sure do lol! 🙂

OK, so this is where we are at the moment.

Who: Myself, DH, DD and friend.

When: December 30 to January 3. Yup, we’re gonna be there for New Year’s Eve! We have done this a few times, and if you want to get some general thoughts on what we will be expecting, you can read this post, as well as a recent blog post I did over at Chip and Co. While we would love to be able to experience Christmas at Disney during a less busy time of year, with DD’s college schedule it is not possible at the moment. We really missed being at Disney over the Christmas season the past several years, so this year, we’re going back again.

Where: That’s the big one right now. We have been Disney Vacation Club owners for a few years now, so will be taking advantage of our points to stay in a DVC 2 bedroom, to accommodate everyone comfortably. Of course, as with everything else this time of year, points don’t go nearly as far as they do at other times of the year…plus we’ll be there over the weekend which cost more points than the rest of the week as well. So it’s a trade-off: more points per day means fewer days. It’s ok, we don’t mind.

Now, at this moment, we don’t know where we’ll be staying because we can’t book until 7 months prior to when we arrive. And I know that since Christmas week is the single busiest week of the year, I’ll happily book whatever is available. Given a choice though, we are going to request Animal Kingdom Lodge or Boardwalk Villas…but I know from experience, I’ll need to have an open mind, and that’s ok too.

What’s Next: My first opportunity to book our stay is this Sunday. Although we’re visiting DH’s family in western PA this weekend, traveling home through a few pesky mountains on Sunday morning will surely not prevent me from being on the phone with DVC Member Services when they open at 9 a.m.! So, as long as DH can find a place where reception is good, we’ll be fine. 🙂

Once I know where we’ll be staying, we’ll start finalizing those Advanced Dining Reservations, because those will be booked at the end of June!

Stay tuned for the next installment. Have a magical day!

Share