Now that you know the reason behind the trip, let's look at the particulars of this trip.  

We originally booked a room only discount with the military discount at All Star Sports.  Booking it only 15 days before we decided to go was a bit daunting for me.  Only our first trips were taken with such little planning!

At the two week mark (yes, just one day later) we decided to add the dining to it and made our dining reservations.  Knowing how hard it is to make dining reservations at the 180 day mark, I knew there would be problems at the 2 week mark!  I was pleasantly surprised that we were able to get most of what we wanted.  The only character meal was Crystal Palace, but my kids are all older now, and character meals are actually more for Mom than the kids now!

Our meals were:
Tusker House
Crystal Palace
Tutto Italia
Hollywood and Vine

Of these, two were new to us (Tusker House and Tutto Italia).  One we really did not like much (Hollywood and Vine) and one was so so (Crystal Palace)

I knew I had until 36 hours before we checked in to add the dining plan to our Military discounted room, so I was in no hurry.

Since, of course, I was unable to get Be Our Guest, my plan was to try and snag Be Our Guest for lunch.  Every day I would play around with the 'secret site' to try once to snag the lunch time Fast Pass.  

When I finally was able to snag it I was so excited!  It would be a perfect trip!  I had Be Our Guest!

Then, less than a week before time to go I read online that a lot of dinner Be Our Guests were being released.  At the same time I realized that I had forgotten that the fireworks were going to be at 8 instead of 9...and our ADR at Crystal Palace was going to prevent us from seeing them!  

While trying to get a better time for Crystal Palace...an ADR time for Be Our Guest popped up!  I grabbed that thing faster than you can say "Go for it!".  I cancelled that Crystal Palace and felt very happy that my trip would be perfect.

So, to recap,
Our first park would be Animal Kingdom with Tusker House @ 6:15 with the park closing at 6.  On Tuesday we would be in Magic Kingdom with Be Our Guest @ 8:30.  Next would be Tutto Italia in Epcot @7:30 with Illuminations at 9:00 and ending our trip with Hollywood and Vine @6:20 at Hollywood Studios.

It felt like everything was falling into place.

In February, we decided to take a fact finding trip to Disney.  We had never stayed in a Value before.  I admit...I am a Moderate snob.  We have never thought about staying anywhere other than a Moderate.

But I realize not everyone can afford a Moderate, and there are some people who just prefer to stay at a Value.  Their argument is how much time do you actually spend in your room except to sleep.

Using the military discount, and the military salute tickets, we took advantage of the kids being out of school for a week to take a quick trip to Disney!  The next few posts will be my thoughts and ramblings about the trip, including the impressions that a Value made on me as well as some additional information about the FastPass+ and the DAS pass.

Sit back and relax, it is going to be a long ride!

Favorite Sites for All Things Disney!

Favorite sites for all things Disney!

This one is easy!

My all time favorite site for all things Disney is easywdw!  The BEST crowd calendars, info, news, reviews, and just about everything Disney can be found on this site.  Josh has an irreverent attitude that comes across as snark.  I love his comments on Disney as he pokes fun at the attitude that Disney OWES you a perfect vacation.  He is entertaining as he dispenses invaluable information!  His free site contains the BEST crowd control calendars I have ever found, and I would not DREAM of planning a Disney vacation without his help!

In years past I would have also recommended Tour Guide Mike.  For several years I paid the price of admission.  The first year I was blown away by all the information.  With each successive year I found the information was not updated, or at least not as updated as I needed.  In its heyday it was well worth the price, but the site as a whole is in dire need of some updates.  As it currently stands I could not recommend it.

Another site that has a crowd calendar that some people love is Touring Plans.  I love their actual touring plans, and the fact that you can customize them, but find their crowd calendars to be confusing and useless.  I have compared their crowd calendar to Josh’s at easyWDW on our past 3 trips, and find the crowd calendars at Touring Plans to be lacking in accuracy.  I have heard they are updating the way they figure the crowds, so I am looking forward to the release of the new calendars

With all that being said…I have to recommend easyWDW for any first timer or veteran Disney planner.  Not only do you get great crowd calendars and lots of information and help in the forums, but the price can’t be beat! I have found the information to be far superior to anything you can purchase!

I can’t leave this discussion without a word about the Disboards.  While I have learned a lot from this site and made some lifelong friends, I am afraid that the ‘mass hysteria’ type of mentality over there to be tiring at best.  Anytime you have a question or opinion that is different than theirs they tend to attack you.  The board is way too big to be moderated properly and it has become a way for bullies to reign supreme!   There is good information to be found in there, but you have to be careful about responding to anything.  However, if you want to read some GREAT trip Reports there is no place better!

So, there is my brief opinion on the best Disney sites for planning your vacation.  I know there are several people that agree with me, as well as many people that disagree with me.  What is your opinion?  What are your favorite sites for planning a Disney vacation?  Leave your thoughts…but please remember to be kind.

I will leave you with a picture form 2009.  We were chosen to be the family of the day at Chef Mickey's and got to open the restaurant.  Mickey himself escorted the girls to our table!

 

Why use a Travel Agent

So you are planning a trip to Disney and you want to know why you should use a Travel Agent?

Simply put, the travel agent works hard to make your vacation as magical as possible!  They help you with suggestions and ideas as to the best time of the year to go. They help you decide the best resort to stay in based on what you find the most important as well as the size of your pocket book.  They make the reservations for you and keep on top of the ever changing discounts and promotions may be added to your trip.  Most importantly they are there in the event that something goes wrong.

So you already know when you want to go and know where you want to stay, and have found a pretty good deal.  Why should you use a Travel Agent?

There are several reasons.  The first one being, IF a new discount comes along, THEY will do the math and see if it really will save you any money.  THEY get on the phone and wait on hold with Disney.  They send you an email letting you know what the actual discount would be and let you know their advice on taking the new discount or staying with the current one.  Hours in your day are saved by them  doing the calling for you.

And, have you tried to seriously keep up with all the changes lately to Disney?  Magic Bands; Fast Pass Plus; DAS card; RFID mugs….the list goes on and on.  You can get Legacy Fast Passes – You can’t get Legacy Fast Passes… So many changes in such a short year!  That is your Travel Agent’s job.  Keep up with the changes and give you the scoop. 

Speaking of changes… Do you like the planning of a trip to Disney?  I DO!  I think it is at least half the fun of going to Disney!  But what if you don’t like dealing with the crowd calendars, trying to figure out the best day for each park…trying to figure out how to make all the magical things fit in your vacation without spending your children’s inheritance for it… Then simple, you leave the planning to me! 

But if you like the planning aspect of it (welcome to the world of Disney obsession!) then, even if you have a travel agent, you can do all the planning yourself!  Just know that I am here if you hit a snag, or have a question.

But the big reason is this.  While Disney is a magical place, things can go wrong.  Most of the time when something goes wrong, it is easily fixed…but it takes time:  Time standing in a line or time waiting on the phone.  Time you could spend enjoying your trip and making more magic while someone else works out the details. 

This is when your Travel Agent earns their commission. (Which Disney pays by the way!) I get on the phone and work my magic to get things back on track.  My clients are my top priority.  

Surprise the Kids? Or let them in on the planning?

This is a hard one for me.  I have always wanted to have a surprise trip, but have never been able to keep it from them for very long!

I see those nice reveal videos and think; wouldn’t that be cool to do that for my kids? So much thought and planning goes in to the reveal…and planning is my favorite thing to do…

But then I remember that planning is half the fun and I want my kids to be in on the planning fun as well!  Of course, that look on the kids faces as they realize they are going to Disney is hard to resist.  And NOT having them ask 15 times a day how much longer till we go to Disney is another great point for not telling!

I think every family has their own story about surprising or telling the kids.  They each have their own reasons for their choices.  And of course, I have seen those videos where the kids seemed underwhelmed by the whole prospect of going to Disney.  (of course, that could be just because their parents have put a video camera in their face and they are still trying to process the whole thing!)

The closest I have come to surprising my family with a trip to Disney was the trip that we had to cancel for medical reasons.  It was planned for my youngest daughter’s birthday in June.  For Christmas the whole family got stuffed Mickey or Minnie dolls.  They were the last presents opened.  Dad had a large Mickey who was holding a banner that said “Surprise, you are going to Disney World!!!”  The kids were 3 and 4.  It went over like a lead balloon. 

Don’t worry, she did get to go for her 13^th birthday to Disney.  She decided she wanted to change her birthday because it was too hot in June and too crowded!

 This was our view at the Wishes Dessert Party in June of 2013!  See we finally made it for her birthday.  And being true to a 13 year old girl...no pictures were allowed of her!

See Ya Real Soon!

Changes, Changes, Changes

I admit, I do not like change.  I am a creature of habit and am set in my ways.  Unfortunately, in today’s world changes will continue to happen in our daily life.  (If you are not moving forward you are moving backward.  If you stop growing you start dieing.)  The same for Disney.  

There were a lot of changes announced concerning Disney.  While some are still only rumors, most can be c confirmed through Disney…although please remember, some of the things being posted are not official and while they may contain some truth…well, until Disney officially announces it I tend to wait to get too excited about it.

I think I will start with the most exciting one first..Disney Visa Card holders  get advanced booking for the new Play, Stay, Dine , and save offer for January 5^th through March 5.  I will say I am a little bummed about this.  Originally the rumors were it would go through May.  Since we were thinking of an April trip I was very excited.  Now, not so much!  LOL!  Of course, we will be eligible for room only rates for the trip we want to take.  I guess we will have to wait and see which rates are better.

Because the room only rates vary by resort location, I will suggest you contact your friendly Travel Agent for details. 

 The Play, Stay, Dine and Save promotion is …complicated, to say the least.  You can save up to $600…in certain circumstances.  There is a discount on part of the room, a discount on the tickets, and a discount on the dining plan…but Disney is not exactly jumping on the spelling out the discount.  From what I have been able to see the rates don’t appear to be consistent.  It will again, take that friendly Travel Agent a few minutes to decipher which promotion is best for you. 

Now for a change that has to potential of being either good or bad, depending on how you plan and tour. Disney will now require a credit card hold on all dining reservations made after October 23.  So what does this me for you?  Well, if you are one of those people who like to make multiple dining reservations and cancel the ones you don’t need at the last minute, it has to potential to be very bad.  If you forget to cancel, you get charged $10 per person. If you are like me and only make the necessary dining reservations, it will not mean a lot.  The biggest inconvenience is to remember to have your credit card handy when you make your reservations, which is very minor.

I know this is one of those changes that will make a lot of people angry.  It will make a lot of people happy.  If you are on the receiving end of those extra charges, you will be angry.  If you get to benefit from someone cancelling a reservation that you would love to have, well, then you will be happy. I find it interesting that this change is causing as much discussion as it is.  After all, it is only an expansion of a policy that was put into place a year ago.  We really should have known it was coming…

Now for a change that I can’t see anyone upset about…The Tomorrowland Terrace Wishes Dessert Party can now be booked at 180 days out!   This is TRULY a great one!  Previously it would be released somewhere between the 45 and 90 day mark…it varied so much you had trouble getting it!  There were actually boards on the internet where people would check for dates each day and alert you as to when it was available!  So much easier now.  It is still not on the dining plan, and you have to prepay, but you now know when you can actually book it.

This is one of the changes I am not happy about.  I will not hide this fact.  It has the potential of making our family Disney trips a living nightmare.  It is the changes for the GAC/DAS system.  Disney has been very tight lipped about exactly how these changes will be implemented as well as what exactly will be changed. I understand the reason for needing a change.  It is not because the current system is not doing what it was designed to do, it is because some jerks found a way to take advantage of the system.  These abuses of the system have given the majority of the people the idea that a GAC is a ‘head of the line pass’ which is not and never has been true!  The only Head of the Line Pass is for children on their Make a Wish trips.  

The current GAC system allows those of us with special needs children a chance to enjoy a Disney trip where their disability is not holding us back.  A chance to enjoy a trip just like families without a special needs child. The new system sounds like it might work on paper.  But as a parent of a special needs child it is not as simple as come back when it is your turn.  If it were, we would use the current Fast Pass system.

I will not go into detail about the rumors of the new system.  The only thing we know for sure is that the name will be changed to DAS. We know that it may or may not take effect on October 9 in either Disneyland, Disney World, or both.   Disney is being deliberately tight lipped about this.  This is seeming more and more like a knee jerk reaction to bad publicity and not a well thought out plan.  They have already admitted to parent’s groups privately that it is flawed and they are working on it. If you call Disney directly, they are still denying it.  What will happen on Oct 9?  Good question.  I am anxiously awaiting the answer.

But to prepare for it, I am making my Fast Pass+ plans, my touring plans, and hoping for a great outcome.  I refuse to panic until I see clear evidence that it is going to be as bad as the rumors have it!

To sum up, there are several changes coming to Disney.  Some are good, some are not so good, and some have tons of people up in arms about them.  Unfortunately, with the exception of the new Disney Visa Promotion, Disney has not made an official announcement on anything! We are getting back door type announcements.  Information is ‘leaked’ to several sources and it is reported.  While I do believe 90% of them are true, I also think that all of the details have not been filled in for us, we only have broad strokes.

Here is hoping for some good news in the finer strokes !

See Ya Real Soon!