Getting excited and keen to share my plans

WanderlustNZ said:

Unfortunately I am not aware of a way we can buy the cheaper 5% off gift cards here in Aus and N.Z. There may be a way, but it’s not something I’ve ever read about.

I buy them direct from Disney purchasing the e-gift card version. (From what I understand, they don’t internationally ship physical cards.) There’s no discount, but at least you can control when you buy them and try to make best use of what is currently an awful exchange rate.

You can then log into the Disney gift card site and register your cards, combining them if you choose. We have purchased 2 cards and I went on a few days ago and combined them into one so it’s easier to keep track of my money.
I really wish Universal would do a similar thing as the more things I feel that I have prepaid, the happier I am.

On a separate note, looking at your restaurant choices, I think it would definitely be worth crunching the numbers to see if the DP is worth it (particularly since it’s quite possible they could increase the price of it sometime in the near future).

My husband and I got the classic drink package ‘free’ as part of our cruise booking. This covers drinks up to $9. About a month ago I paid the upcharge of what worked out to be about $US12 pp per day to get us the premium package. This includes drinks up to $15.
I swear I spent months deciding whether or not to upgrade. I’m not a big drinker, so I knew that I really didn’t need the premium package and buying it wasn’t going to save me any money. But I also knew how nice it would be if I could order what I wanted, without considering prices and without constantly signing for extra upcharges.

Anyway, since booking, it’s been a really nice feeling knowing that all is sorted and paid for and I can stop thinking about it. That feeling in itself is worthy of the few extra dollars per day I have probably overspent by getting the package.

The point of that long-winded spiel : If when you crunch the numbers, it only works out as a matter of a few dollars difference, those dollars could be worth the convenience of knowing your trip is paid for and you can enjoy meals without worrying about prices. Just my 2 cents.

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Thank you for your thoughtful reply! I was also wondering about them upping the price of the DP soon so should probably do that sooner than later. Think it is $70ish per day currently. Totally agree with the feeling of having paid upfront and not having to worry, although have heard that not everything can be used for snack credits, which would be annoying.

KEK1 said:

Thank you for your thoughtful reply! I was also wondering about them upping the price of the DP soon so should probably do that sooner than later. Think it is $70ish per day currently. Totally agree with the feeling of having paid upfront and not having to worry, although have heard that not everything can be used for snack credits, which would be annoying.

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Oh and know what you mean about the dreadful exchange. Our last trip was 1:1 !!

Franrose said:

In a similar vein, I keep pricing and re-pricing my trip moving us away from Saratoga Springs and into something like the apartments at Bonnet Creek WanderlustNZ. I allow extra for Ubering everywhere, and also for buying all our meals out of pocket (including some snacks, as my kids now have their hearts set on that since they've known about free dining). It actually makes me feel a lot better as there's not as much different between the two options as I keep thinking there is. Then I go and price up something like staying at AoA and I find I'm winning by quite a lot being at SSR with free dining. It's a good exercise lol.

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It’s definitely relieving to know that the price you’re paying holds up to the competition. I think that given the recent increase in food pricing, having the free dining is a bigger benefit than it’s ever been. Especially if you’re a family of four or more.

Unfortunately, we were never eligible for free dining given that we are only staying 3 nights and are renting DVC points for Wilderness Lodge. Had I forseen all these price hikes, I may have done things differently. Perhaps even staying at a value (or cheaper moderate) and paying for the DP. Or alternatively just staying the whole week at Universal.

But hindsite is a wonderful thing, and, on the flipside, I’m still super excited to see the WL all done up for Xmas. When I picture Xmas in the Northern Hemisphere, I picture log cabins and roaring fires and the thought of finally getting to stay at the WL does fill me with all kinds of happy feels.

KEK1 said:

Thank you for your thoughtful reply! I was also wondering about them upping the price of the DP soon so should probably do that sooner than later. Think it is $70ish per day currently. Totally agree with the feeling of having paid upfront and not having to worry, although have heard that not everything can be used for snack credits, which would be annoying.

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I haven’t heard that, but it’s definitely worth investigating.

And, yes, the US dollar being so strong at present unfortunately means that for all us international travellers planning a US holiday, our dollar looks weak.

Update: I went to the doctor yesterday to get a travel check for our Costa Rica visit.

I was expecting to be told I didn’t need anything and would walk away just paying the doctors fee.

Instead I was told I needed to update my tetanus (fair enough, it’s been over 10 years now since I had one), get the flu jab (I’m susceptible to respiratory infections and really should get one every year anyway) and finally a Hep A injection. I knew Hep A was one of the top recommendations for Costa Rica, but most things I’d read suggested that it should be okay to not get it. The doctor was less convinced, and explained that the injection lasts 25 years and should also be taken before visiting the Sth Pacific or Sth East Asia (oops), so I gave in to more a educated opinion and got it.

$280 later!!

And now both my son and husband need to go get their Hep A too...

They have given me a long tick sheet of medicine we can pick from (a course of antibiotics, anti-nausea tablets, allergy medicine etc) and on his visit my DH will collect all that we feel that we need. Scary doctors fees aside, it is a relief knowing that we will have a nice little first aid kit at hand given that illness is the last thing we want when we’re almost 6 weeks away from home.

WanderlustNZ said:

Update: I went to the doctor yesterday to get a travel check for our Costa Rica visit.

I was expecting to be told I didn’t need anything and would walk away just paying the doctors fee.

Instead I was told I needed to update my tetanus (fair enough, it’s been over 10 years now since I had one), get the flu jab (I’m susceptible to respiratory infections and really should get one every year anyway) and finally a Hep A injection. I knew Hep A was one of the top recommendations for Costa Rica, but most things I’d read suggested that it should be okay to not get it. The doctor was less convinced, and explained that the injection lasts 25 years and should also be taken before visiting the Sth Pacific or Sth East Asia (oops), so I gave in to more a educated opinion and got it.

$280 later!!

And now both my son and husband need to go get their Hep A too...

They have given me a long tick sheet of medicine we can pick from (a course of antibiotics, anti-nausea tablets, allergy medicine etc) and on his visit my DH will collect all that we feel that we need. Scary doctors fees aside, it is a relief knowing that we will have a nice little first aid kit at hand given that illness is the last thing we want when we’re almost 6 weeks away from home.

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Lots of needles, not fun. Am sure your holiday will be more than worth it though!

Even though the last few days have been a bit more stressful than I would have liked, things are now on the up, so I thought I’d post a few updates.

Update 1: My flight from Fort Lauderdale to Long Beach was cancelled.
I think JetBlue decided the route wasn’t making them enough money, so they cancelled it. The substitution they offered was one flying an hour earlier to LAX.
I was quite disappointed. Partly because Long Beach airport is so much easier and quicker to get to Anaheim from, and had we known we would be flying into LAX, we probably would have booked a LA hotel instead.
But mainly I was disappointed because of the knock-on effect it had on our plans that day. The hour earlier departure time meant cancelling the Miami tour we were booked on as it would be cutting it too tight to get to the airport on time. There is an alternative tour I will book instead, but it’s quite a bit more expensive for a product that is no more desirable.
I did look at the other JetBlue offer of taking a full refund and booking with another airline, but prices across the board have increased a lot since I booked and it wasn’t financially viable.
Anyway disappointed, but realising there wasn’t a lot I could do, I rebooked the LAX route.
JetBlue have been my favourite domestic US airline since Virgin America was sold, but I won’t lie, I was feeling a tad annoyed with them. But after a call to them this morning regarding a separate matter (see update 2), I feel that they have redeemed themselves.

Update 2:

Right or wrong, I don’t think I’ve ever put my family’s middle names onto our airline tickets (despite having them on my passport) and it’s never been an issue. In fact, I didn’t even realise it could potentially create an issue until I opened a thread on a different forum where it was queried.

That was last night, and it lead to hours of reading a multitude of threads where people chimed in about whether or not it was a problem. While the more popular opinion matched my experience - that it shouldn’t be an issue, the comments where people said it could be (or the very small number of actual cases where it had been a problem) were weighing heavily on my mind. I’m not good with uncertainty so I try hard to avoid airline/airport issues, as unlikely as they may seem. Plus I was annoyed at myself for having travelled for years and not realised something as simple as typing in your middle name could save grief later.

I’m not too worried about my Air NZ flights. I’ve flown with them a lot without issue and they have a lot of my other details on record including my frequent flyer number.
Nor am I too worried about any domestic flights as they’re generally not as stringent given that you’re not actually leaving the country.
But the flights between the US and Costa Rica were causing me to lose sleep. That, plus I was also starting to worry about my cruise and ESTA.

After a rubbish sleep, I got proactive, got online, and started going through all my bookings one by one seeing what I could or couldn’t change.
The cruise was fine. I’d already put in middle names as it had been more obvious at the time that I needed to do so.
None of my flights had our middle names and in most cases a cost looked like it was required to make the change. But when it came to the Costa Rica flights I was in luck. American Airlines simply let me add our middle names online. They’d locked our first and last names and once I added the middle names, they also locked these. But the fact that I could do it at all, fueled me with hope.
I then went to my other one way Costa Rica flight, this time with JetBlue, and tried to add middle names there, but our names were locked. Thinking there was nothing to lose by ringing them, I asked if I could add middle names to this flight and they happily did it for free (even though they felt we should be okay without them).
I did have to ring straight back when I noticed a typo, but in all, both JetBlue staff members I spoke to were positive and helpful and renewed my feelings about good airline service that’s not all about nickel and diming.

Lastly: our ESTA. I ended up completely redoing these and paying for them again.

There is a box for ‘First (Given) Name’ and using my understood definition of ‘first name’, I had left our middle names out. On closer inspection, clicking the little ? icon, I discovered that I was supposed to input ALL given names as shown on the passport. This meant adding both our first and middle names. From what I can gauge, the specification to add ‘ALL’ names is a relatively new one, and whether it was there when I did my ESTA application back in early September, I’m not sure. But for peace of mind and the relatively small cost of an ESTA, I just redid them all. I wasn’t going to lose any more sleep over $14 pp.
The new applications were approved instantly.

So as long-winded as that was, and as paranoid as I was probably being, the main thing is that I’m feeling much happier now.

Wow, interesting, thanks for posting! I dont think I have bothered putting middle names in much either, will rectify that.
Aren't flight changes a massive pain! We had the same thing happen with our virgin flights on the way back- they changed them by an hour meaning our connection could not be met safely. Their solution was to make us leave 6 hours earlier- meaning we lost a whole day of the holiday. Given it is only 2 weeks to start with, we were not happy. Ended up taking the refund and booking with AirNZ.

KEK1 said:

Ended up taking the refund and booking with AirNZ.

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Fair enough! Hopefully Air NZ were able to give you a good price.

OOoh, I've always added middles but never realised it could cause issues - I remember getting tickets for a flight from a travel agent a couple of years ago where our middle names were merged with our salutation - so middle name Jane came out as JANEMRS for eg. Apparently that's not a problem.

(This time, the one flight I booked with a TA - because it meant I could use our credit card points to purchase it - is ticketed with the wrong time on it, as the flight has since changed times. The won't reissue it, apparently they don't need to. But it's a real pain because now I have to keep tabs on a different time so we don't turn up at the wrong time. Another reason why I avoid using travel agents lol. Any changes with our self-booked Air NZ stuff, I can print myself a new e-ticket any time. But I digress!)

We've been affected by the Air NZ plane changes (hired EVA Air planes) - how about you? It totally stuffed up our seat selection that we'd paid extra for. When I looked at our new seat allocation, we were in something like 57 J & K, and 57 J & K. That's right - four people jammed into two seats, and we paid for the privilege. The thing that annoyed me though is the info on their website said that passengers who were affected by the plane change would be emailed. To date, I've not received an email, and I'd have no idea what had happened to our seats if I didn't just happen to take a nosy at how full the planes were getting the other day. All our contact details are in the booking and nothing's gone to junk. I wouldn't have paid extra to pick the seats that were available on these planes either, but I don't imagine I'll be able to get my money back (and I don't want anything else to get mucked up).

I don't mean to sound so grinchy. I am excited, honest Just also bleeding money for dumb stuff, lol.

Franrose said:

OOoh, I've always added middles but never realised it could cause issues - I remember getting tickets for a flight from a travel agent a couple of years ago where our middle names were merged with our salutation - so middle name Jane came out as JANEMRS for eg. Apparently that's not a problem.

(This time, the one flight I booked with a TA - because it meant I could use our credit card points to purchase it - is ticketed with the wrong time on it, as the flight has since changed times. The won't reissue it, apparently they don't need to. But it's a real pain because now I have to keep tabs on a different time so we don't turn up at the wrong time. Another reason why I avoid using travel agents lol. Any changes with our self-booked Air NZ stuff, I can print myself a new e-ticket any time. But I digress!)

We've been affected by the Air NZ plane changes (hired EVA Air planes) - how about you? It totally stuffed up our seat selection that we'd paid extra for. When I looked at our new seat allocation, we were in something like 57 J & K, and 57 J & K. That's right - four people jammed into two seats, and we paid for the privilege. The thing that annoyed me though is the info on their website said that passengers who were affected by the plane change would be emailed. To date, I've not received an email, and I'd have no idea what had happened to our seats if I didn't just happen to take a nosy at how full the planes were getting the other day. All our contact details are in the booking and nothing's gone to junk. I wouldn't have paid extra to pick the seats that were available on these planes either, but I don't imagine I'll be able to get my money back (and I don't want anything else to get mucked up).

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Oooh that sucks did you pay extra for the exit aisles? We have been affected too but for once in a good way! As we paid extra to fly premium economy due to my health issues, they upgraded us to business as their is no premium economy in this other plane. So excited about that! Only perth-auckl though, I think.

Franrose said:

We've been affected by the Air NZ plane changes (hired EVA Air planes) - how about you? It totally stuffed up our seat selection that we'd paid extra for. When I looked at our new seat allocation, we were in something like 57 J & K, and 57 J & K. That's right - four people jammed into two seats, and we paid for the privilege. The thing that annoyed me though is the info on their website said that passengers who were affected by the plane change would be emailed. To date, I've not received an email, and I'd have no idea what had happened to our seats if I didn't just happen to take a nosy at how full the planes were getting the other day. All our contact details are in the booking and nothing's gone to junk. I wouldn't have paid extra to pick the seats that were available on these planes either, but I don't imagine I'll be able to get my money back (and I don't want anything else to get mucked up).

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Gosh, this is the first I’ve even heard of Air NZ using different planes. The confusion you’re experiencing doesn’t sound good. I will need to check my booking.
What legs have they changed your plane on?
We are flying AKL to Houston one way and LAX to AKL on the way back and have paid extra for sky couch seats. We haven’t actually paid the sky couch fee, just the cheaper pick your seat fee that still lets you pick sky couches. You don’t get the blankets, special seat belts etc which allow you to use it like a bed (all 3 of us would never fit on one anyway), but we like that the leg rests on these seats can be set at an angle which makes flying more comfortable.
Anyway, I too will be frustrated if they change my plane on me. A bit scared to check....

KEK1 said:

Oooh that sucks did you pay extra for the exit aisles? We have been affected too but for once in a good way! As we paid extra to fly premium economy due to my health issues, they upgraded us to business as their is no premium economy in this other plane. So excited about that! Only perth-auckl though, I think.

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Yay! Pleased it worked in your favour.

This week’s updates are few:

Celebrity Cruises is currently having another 20% sale on shore excursions. I was therefore able to nab a replacement to our cancelled Miami tour at a price I felt happy with. Plus I cancelled and rebooked a tour in Aruba to make use of a few extra dollars in savings. A tiny $13 to be exact, but it’s become a bit of a mission of mine to get the best deal possible on my ship excursions and I’m feeling quite proud of how much I’ve saved by tracking price changes.

Also tonight, at midnight, my Fastpasses open up. Even though I will diligently be online at that time, I’m still not sure what I want to book.

I just checked and my flights are unaffected.
However, I did read about the changes that have been happening and Air NZ did say they will refund payments for seat upgrades that can no longer be fulfilled. So @Franrose definitely chase up your refund. They’ve mucked you around and it sounds like you’re definitely owed that money back.

WanderlustNZ said:

This week’s updates are few:

Celebrity Cruises is currently having another 20% sale on shore excursions. I was therefore able to nab a replacement to our cancelled Miami tour at a price I felt happy with. Plus I cancelled and rebooked a tour in Aruba to make use of a few extra dollars in savings. A tiny $13 to be exact, but it’s become a bit of a mission of mine to get the best deal possible on my ship excursions and I’m feeling quite proud of how much I’ve saved by tracking price changes.

Also tonight, at midnight, my Fastpasses open up. Even though I will diligently be online at that time, I’m still not sure what I want to book.

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I hope MDE behaves for you, sounds like it has been a big battle lately.
Not long to go for you now

KEK1 said:

I hope MDE behaves for you, sounds like it has been a big battle lately.
Not long to go for you now

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Thanks. It really is beginning to feel close now and I can hardly believe that in 10 days I’ll be able to say “Our Trip is next month”. Where on earth has the year gone?

The app behaved, the website not so much. Either way, I got most of what I wanted with a few exceptions.

Even though I was online right at 7am EST, our short stay meant there were no Fastpasses left for Seven Dwarfs Mine Train. We’re going to MK on our second day and having never been on this ride before, I thought I should try and get one - but no luck. On the flipside, I got passes for my 3 favourite MK rides (Space, Big Thunder and Haunted Mansion) and with a bit of playing around and refreshing I got them all lined up - 9am, 10am and 11am.

For our first day, I had decided that if by miracle there was a FOP Fastpass available, I would change our plans to make it a AK day instead of an EPCOT one. There weren’t, so I’m sticking with EPCOT as I really want to see the Xmassy stuff (despite preferring AK’s rides). There I have Fastpasses for Living with the Land, Mission Space and Frozen.
I must say, picking fastpasses at EPCOT really isn’t that much fun. The lack of rides and strict tiered system, makes the selections feel a bit dull. We aren’t really there for the rides, so the selections I’ve made are fine, but when I think how easily I could get Fastpass for Expedition Everest over at AK (my favourite WDW ride) it does make me feel a bit like I’m missing out.

Lastly, for HS, we have the 3 I wanted - Tower of Terror, Star Tours and TSMM (again getting them all lined up).
Slinky Dog wasn’t available, but I think even if it was, I still would have picked TSMM because I love that ride so much. We might try to rope drop Slinky instead.

Glad it behaved!
You could do a PPO bfast at BOG and get on 7DMT that way? Thats what we are doing, and will split the food to keep costs down, since with the pastries platter I think that will be heaps.
Everest is my fave as well, dont think I could stand to be there and not ride! The christmassy stuff will be so special, though. Next time we go that's what I want to see.
Or you could ride SD last thing and night? Sounds like the lighting effects are pretty cool.