Who's Gonna Have More Fun? Two PTR's for the Price of One!

[seacrestpromo]

We just got back on Monday night! I know how you feel - so I planned a bounce back trip for just my wife and I in August before school starts.

Hi Shelly and Jo!
I'm so looking forward to reading this! We just got back from WDW on Wednesday, so this will be my perfect Disney fix!
Cannot wait to read more!
Lauren

 

[ronnmel]

Followed you over from the August thread.

 

[Momof2Disneyboys]

Hi Shelly and Jo!
I'm so looking forward to reading this! We just got back from WDW on Wednesday, so this will be my perfect Disney fix!
Cannot wait to read more!
Lauren

Hey Lauren! You got here before I even got a chance to send you a link!

I hope we can provide you with your Disney fix. I know how depressing coming home can be.

Hi Shelly & Jodi!

Seacrest checking in!!!

What an awesome and great idea! Fantastic start today!

This should be a lot of fun!

Sea

Hi Sea! So glad you're here!

Followed you over from the August thread.

Welcome! Glad you came over!!

 

[mari360]

Hey guys i'm here toooooo....

This is going to be a fun ride..... the great storytelling on Jo and Shelly at it's best.....

Can't wait to read more.....

 

[Dancegrl624]

Count me in!

 

[lizzyb]

I'm here!

 

[lmillercrew]

I followed you over from the Aug thread too! I'm glad you started a PTR. I've been debating on starting one of my own. It'll be nice to read yours and Jo's. I can't wait for my trip in Aug either!!! It's been 4 yrs since I've been there and I'm so excited to see and do things that I've learned on the DIS!!!

 

[Disney Mommy 3]

HOW AWESOME IS THIS?!!?!

I am gonna soooo love this entertainment as my trip is not until Nov.....I am so excited!!!
And dang Sheree beat me to it!!! LOL

 

[MiaBella05]

joining in

 

[Pluto_fan]

Woo hoo! This will be FUN!

 

[Momof2Disneyboys]

Hey guys i'm here toooooo....

This is going to be a fun ride..... the great storytelling on Jo and Shelly at it's best.....

Can't wait to read more.....

Hey Mari! So glad you joined us! Hope you enjoy!

Count me in!

Welcome Meghan! How much longer until the baby arrives???

I'm here!

Glad you came over!

I followed you over from the Aug thread too! I'm glad you started a PTR. I've been debating on starting one of my own. It'll be nice to read yours and Jo's. I can't wait for my trip in Aug either!!! It's been 4 yrs since I've been there and I'm so excited to see and do things that I've learned on the DIS!!!

4 years??? WOW you must be so excited!! So glad you joined us!

 

[RinkyTinkyTinky]

Oooohhhh! Shelly, I am so glad I found you! I was just reading over on the CBR thread and saw you post your 100 day mark! I had to come over and join in! I am so excited that you are doing another TR!

I was tickled to see that you were going in October b/c I thought our trips might overlap, but then I saw you had to move it to August. Oh well, maybe next time! We are doing a 3 night cruise and then several nights at WDW at the end of October/first week of November. You know how I love November at Disney! I'm pretty excited about it this year too b/c Jersey Week will be later in November than usual b/c they have changed the dates for the Teacher's Conference. I'm hoping for low crowds.... we'll see.

I will say, you are a brave lady for going in the summer heat. I know I could not do that. I am the biggest heat wimp ever! But most people aren't like me, so I'm sure you guys will do fine. I can't wait to hear all about your plans. I'm curious to see if you'll be doing the dining plan this time since you liked not being on it last time.

We are staying at CBR this time too b/c you have raved about it so much. I've always been interested in staying there, but you sealed the deal for me. I trust your opinions on all things Disney b/c you are always very honest. So I think we will love it too. Can't wait to see all your pictures.

And I am with you on slowing down. My DH has also taught me that we don't have to do it all to have a good time, and he is right. This trip will be even more laid back than the last one, and I am looking forward to it.

I am really excited for you and just can't wait to read along!

I also want to say hello to Jo! I look forward to hearing about your adventures as well!

 

[Momof2Disneyboys]

HOW AWESOME IS THIS?!!?!

I am gonna soooo love this entertainment as my trip is not until Nov.....I am so excited!!!
And dang Sheree beat me to it!!! LOL

It is pretty awesome!! Hope we can keep you entertained over the summer while you count down to your fall trip!

Yep -- Sheree was super fast getting here!!

joining in

Welcome!

Woo hoo! This will be FUN!

YAY Kathy is here!

 

[Momof2Disneyboys]

Oooohhhh! Shelly, I am so glad I found you! I was just reading over on the CBR thread and saw you post your 100 day mark! I had to come over and join in! I am so excited that you are doing another TR!

I was tickled to see that you were going in October b/c I thought our trips might overlap, but then I saw you had to move it to August. Oh well, maybe next time! We are doing a 3 night cruise and then several nights at WDW at the end of October/first week of November. You know how I love November at Disney! I'm pretty excited about it this year too b/c Jersey Week will be later in November than usual b/c they have changed the dates for the Teacher's Conference. I'm hoping for low crowds.... we'll see.

I will say, you are a brave lady for going in the summer heat. I know I could not do that. I am the biggest heat wimp ever! But most people aren't like me, so I'm sure you guys will do fine. I can't wait to hear all about your plans. I'm curious to see if you'll be doing the dining plan this time since you liked not being on it last time.

We are staying at CBR this time too b/c you have raved about it so much. I've always been interested in staying there, but you sealed the deal for me. I trust your opinions on all things Disney b/c you are always very honest. So I think we will love it too. Can't wait to see all your pictures.

And I am with you on slowing down. My DH has also taught me that we don't have to do it all to have a good time, and he is right. This trip will be even more laid back than the last one, and I am looking forward to it.

I am really excited for you and just can't wait to read along!

I also want to say hello to Jo! I look forward to hearing about your adventures as well!

I'm so glad you found us! I just loved reading your last TR!

That is a bummer that we aren't going at the same time. Oh well, maybe next time.

Wow a cruise followed up by CBR!! Awesome! We are considering a cruise for 2013. It will be our 15th anniversary and I also have a certain big number birthday that year.

I'm kind of a heat wimp too, so this trip could end up to be a disaster. We are planning on taking it VERY slow and only doing our favorites and whatever else we do is a bonus! I'll just be happy to be there and hope I don't melt!!

 

[T*Bird]

Yesterday I failed to mention something - between the 2 of y'all those are 5 beautiful children! (and yes, boys can be called beautiful, too! )

Their parents are unfairly good-looking, too. (typed with envy )

 

[*tinker*bell*]

I'm along for the ride! came over from your last TR excited to follow along sounds like it'll be a riot!

 

[Dancegrl624]

Welcome Meghan! How much longer until the baby arrives???

Hopefully soon! My due date is this Friday.

 

[Momof2Disneyboys]

Yesterday I failed to mention something - between the 2 of y'all those are 5 beautiful children! (and yes, boys can be called beautiful, too! )

Their parents are unfairly good-looking, too. (typed with envy )

Aw thanks! But I won't tell my boys you called them beautiful!

I'm along for the ride! came over from your last TR excited to follow along sounds like it'll be a riot!

Welcome! Hope you enjoy!

Hopefully soon! My due date is this Friday.

Good luck to you! I bet you are so ready. Those last few weeks are a killer!

 

[Momof2Disneyboys]

Hello everybody, happy Sunday! Jodi and I don't normally get on here a lot over the weekend, but I thought I'd sneak on here today and do an update since the week ahead is looking quite busy for me with work, a Chorus Concert, Awards Day, Field Day, etc. Gotta love the end of the school year!

So I will give you some specifics about my trip and then we're off to DS's soccer game - if the rain holds off!

Just a warning -- this is a long one! So long (and so many pics) in-fact that I had to put it into 2 posts!




So, when exactly are we going and where are we staying??? And how are we getting there?

If you have looked at my tickers you've probably figured that all out by now!

As many of you DISers do, I have changed my vacation plans a few times. When we finally decided on August we were going for 8 nights, Sat-Sun I think. Free Dining was out for our dates, so we were staying at a moderate and doing the DDP all week. We were also getting the water-park & more option on our tix. Later the room discounts came out. Well that got me to thinking....We considered switching to a deluxe and went back and forth on it. Eventually we came to a decision and we are now going for 9 nights, Fri-Sun (our longest trip yet!) and we are doing a split stay -- 5 nights at a moderate and 4 nights at a deluxe, and getting base tix. We will be on the DDP (free dining) for the first 5 nights and paying OOP for the last 4 nights. For us it is cheaper to book free dining when staying at a moderate, but cheaper to take the room discount and pay OOP for food when staying at a deluxe. So we are doing both!

August 26 - September 4 – Caribbean Beach Resort and the Polynesian!!!!!!!!!!


And here's how we came to choose our resort(s) this time.....

While we do have a favorite WDW resort, we are not a family that stays at the same resort each and every trip. There's just too much out there to do & see at all of the resorts and we like to add a new and exciting twist to each trip. This is our WDW resort experience:

October 2005 ~ CBR ~ Loved it! It was the perfect choice for our first Disney trip. We loved the relaxing tropical atmosphere and everything about the place! The grounds are very spacious and beautiful. The food court is very good and the pools are awesome! The room was a good size for us too.

May 2007 ~ POFQ ~ We liked POFQ. We weren't in love with it, but it was nice. Very quaint. But with that said we really prefer a larger resort. More bang for our buck I guess!

May 2008 ~ CSR ~ We didn't care for it much. We thought it would be a lot like CBR with the size and the lake, but we just weren't feeling it. It didn't have much of a Disney feel to it and we thought that it catered more to the conventioneers than the vacationing Disney family. 90% of the CM's we encountered were just plain rude.

January 2009 ~ CBR ~ Loved it again!

November 2009 ~ POR & OKW ~ Loved POR & Liked OKW very much. POR is very beautiful and we had a really nice stay there. The food court is awesome. OKW has that laid back tropical feel that we love, much like CBR. But it is way more spread out. Our room was so far away from everything and right beside a very busy highway.

POR ~

OKW ~

Continued in next post. . . . .

 

[Momof2Disneyboys]

Continued. . . . .



November 2010 ~ BWI ~ Loved it! What can I say -- there's not too much better than being within walking distance of your 2 favorite parks! Very convenient. Lots of food choices in the area. The room was beautiful and we loved that clown pool!

We have been wanting to get back to CBR, but also wanting to try the Poly. And as it turns out, we are getting to do both! So it's comforting to know that we are going somewhere we love and are familiar with, and very exciting to be trying something new!! We have visited the Poly and ate there (at Ohana once and Kona twice), so we already know how beautiful it is. I hope we enjoy our stay there as much as everyone else seems to! We have toyed with the idea of upgrading to CL at the Poly since we will only be there for 4 nights, but at the moment we are booked in a standard room.

We are looking forward to seeing this very soon:

After our last trip and finally visiting AKL I thought we had visited all the WDW resorts. But then it dawned on me that we have never set foot in SSR or POP. For some reason POP doesn't interest me. Not sure what it is. I know LOTS of people on here love it! We have been by it on buses, but that's about it. SSR doesn't hold that much appeal to me either, but I'd probably give it a try. Love the location right across the lake from DTD! We are planning to visit SSR this trip and dine at the Turf Club. One day I will be able to say we have toured ALL the WDW resorts. And maybe even say that we have stayed at them all eventually!



Moving on to the “How” part. The dreaded airfare game.....


Getting airfare this time around was not fun and was not easy. Wow. What an ordeal. For a short while there I thought we were going to have to break down and drive the 20 hours to WDW. I know lots of people do it and lots of people even love it – but I am not one of those people!!

After our dates were all set and finalized I started to stalk the airfare as usual. We fly out of Pittsburgh and always fly with either AirTran or SouthWest. Whoever has the best price and flight times. Those are the only 2 airlines that offer non-stop flights down from PGH. The other airlines offer flights at the same price, or most times higher, but with stops. I'll never understand that.

It used to be that SW had better rates than AT. I would get SW Dings all the time with flights as low as $59-$69 each way. In recent years that hasn't been the case. But even so, we have always flown round-trip for the 4 of us for about $600-$750. Not too bad and sure beats driving! As the prices were released this time I about had a heart attack. The first day they released them they were at something like $357 each way. They stayed that way for a week and then dropped to $119 each way. Still too much for me. More than I've ever paid before. Then they went back to the crazy butt price of $357 again for a few days. Then back to $119, then $124, and then $129. I was about to cave because it seemed that it was going to do nothing but go up at this point. SW released their rates shortly after and they were matching AT exactly, which wasn't surprising since they are supposedly buying AT out this year. So of course it is a bit cheaper to go with SW since they don't charge baggage fees, but they only had 2 non-stop flights down and the times were terrible – 6am or 6pm. Neither sounded too inviting to me. Same with the flights back – either had to come home very early or very late. We like to fly down in the morning, but not at 6am. And we like to fly back between 11am and about 4pm. Now don't get me wrong, if SW was offering a way better deal we would take whatever time we could get!!

So now AT was my only hope. I waited them out and waited them out. They went back to $124 and were not budging. Our grand total was going to be $1078. Way more than the $600-700 we are used to paying. Then one day I saw someone post here on the DIS that they called Disney and were able to get their AT flights cheaper than what the AT site was offering. I was skeptical. When we started going to WDW I used to price the flights on the WDW website with my package and they were always the same exact price AT was offering that particular day. But I figured I didn't have anything to lose, so I called. I told the CM that I wanted to check prices for adding flights to my package. She was very pleasant and helpful, but it seemed to be taking forever. The whole time my stomach was in knots!! Finally she said I can get you these flights (quoted me the same exact flight #'s and times I was just looking at on the AT website) for a grand total of...................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................... $830!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


Apparently AT offers a discount to WDW now when they book the flights. She wasn't able to tell me the price per flight, only the grand total. Later I figured it was about $94 each way plus taxes & fees. So it wasn't as low as we are used to but sure beat the heck out of paying over $1000!!!

She gave me a confirmation number and I went on my merry way. I tried to look it up on the AT website and it said something like it was on hold and not confirmed yet.....I was a little worried but decided to give it 24 hours before I started to panic. The next day my phone rings and I see it is a 407 area code and immediately start to panic that it is WDW and something is wrong with my airfare. I thought they were going to tell me that the price they quoted me was a mistake. Or that there was a computer glitch and the reservations weren't made, or something like that. So I finally answer and sure enough it was a CM from “WDW transportation”. And......There was a slight problem. But not anything I was imagining. She said she was in the process of taking my airfare off hold and confirming it and wanted to make sure of my travel dates because she could see that we were arriving on Aug 26 and checking out of CBR on Aug 31, but not flying home until Sept 4. So I had to explain to her that we were moving from CBR to the Poly and that the airfare dates were correct and all that.

After we got that all settled all was well and I could now see my confirmation on the AT website!