Good morning everyone, I'm baaacccckkkk!
Ok, so it's been awhile since I last posted (over 2 months)..........more on that later. Aren't you interested where the plan stands on Day 106? Well here we go.................
The BOG conundrum
When I last spoke with you folks Donna and I were planning on a pretty elaborate dining plan. We were looking at 11 meals over our 5 day/4 night stay. You can see the plan as it was, below.
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Date | Location | Meal | Priority | Name | Best Time | Actual |
16-Sep | MK | D | 1 | Be Our Guest | 6:00pm | TBD |
18-Sep | CR | D | 2 | California Grill | 8:15pm | 7:35pm |
17-Sep | EP | D | 3 | Rose & Crown Pub | 7:45pm | 7:45:pm |
16-Sep | CR | B | 4 | Chef Mickey's - character breakfast | 7:00am | 7:15am |
17-Sep | BC | B | 5 | Cape May Café - character breakfast | 8:15am | 8:30am |
19-Sep | AK | B | 6 | TuskerHouse - character breakfast | 8:00am | 8:15am |
15-Sep | HS | D | 7 | Hollywood&Vine/Fantasmic package | 6:30pm | 6:00pm |
18-Sep | HS | L | 8 | Sci-Fi Restaurant | 12:45pm | 12:20pm |
18-Sep | WL | B | 9 | Whispering Canyon | 8:00am | 7:30am |
16-Sep | WL | L | 10 | Whispering Canyon | 12:30pm | 12:15am |
17-Sep | EP | L | 11 | Coral Reef | 12:00pm | 12:00pm |
To date we have been unable to get a dinner reservation for "Be Our Guest". From what I've read on the boards we're not alone........... The problem for us (and for others also) is that when ADR day arrives you can book 10 days in advance. So that put us at a disadvantage with those folks whose ADR day arrived before ours and (as expected) shared common ADR days. What that means if you want a BOG ADR early in your visit (ours was Day 2 of 5) you're at a big disadvantage on ADR Day..........as we've seen. The solution (and it may not always work) is to plan you BOG ADR for later in your trip..........and hope.
Don't let it spoil the trip
Ok, so I didn't get the BOG ADR that was my #1 priority. I say "so what......", I'm not letting it ruin the trip. If fact Donna and I are so over it that we don't plan on continuing to try and get a BOG reservation. Primarily because the day we're doing the MK is Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween Party night! See there's always something at Disney!!!
Dining Plan as of Day 106 (June 01, 2013)
So way back in March our plan included adding the Deluxe Disney Dining Plan. Well as I've always said things change. What happened is Donna and I when to a New Jersey Disney event with the folks on the DIS Boards. At that event the talk given by the DIS folks included a short discussion on the implications of having a "table service" meals for all 3 meals on each day of your visit. Basically her point was that you're going to spend much of your time in restaurants and is that how you want to spend your vacation? The Youtube link is here (this starts at 29:45 mark) Donna's response to that was "NO". So after some discussion and review of the Regular Disney Dining Plan we've decided to back off of the 11 table service/Deluxe Dining Plan to something a bit more low key. The new plan is below.
Date | Location | Meal | Name | Sched/Best Time | Table Svc | Quick Svc | Cash |
15-Sep | HS | D | Mama Melrose/Fantasmic package | 6:00pm | 1 | ||
16-Sep | CR | B | Chef Mickey's - character breakfast | 7:15am | 1 | ||
16-Sep | WL | L | Roaring Fork | TBD | 1 | ||
16-Sep | MK | D |
| 5:40pm | 1 | ||
17-Sep | BC | B | Cape May Café - character breakfast | 8:30am | 1 | ||
17-Sep | EP | L | TBD | TBD | 1 | ||
17-Sep | EP | D | Rose & Crown Pub | 7:45pm | 1 | ||
18-Sep | WL | B | Whispering Canyon Café | 7:30am | 1 | ||
18-Sep | HS | L | TBD | TBD | 1 | ||
18-Sep | CR | D | California Grill | 7:55pm | 2 | ||
19-Sep | AK | B | TuskerHouse - character breakfast | 8:15am | 1 | ||
19-Sep | AK | L | FlameTree BBQ | TBD | 1 | ||
Disney Dining plan | 8 | 8 | 5 |
With the Regular Disney Dining Plan you receive the following for each person on the plan per night of your visit; 1-Table Service meal , 1-Quick Service meal (there are also snack credits but they're not important for this discussion).
Given this information you'll note we had to make some decisions about which table service meals we wanted to retain. We chose to retain 3 of our Dinner meals to charge against the TS portion of the plan. Of course we'll use 2 TS credits for our California Grill Dinner, which reduces us to only being able to use the dining plan for 3 specific restaurants. The 4th dinner will be before the MNSSHP at Tony's Town square Restaurant and we'll pay cash. The prices aren't too steep there and they don't serve alcohol.
Additionally we've decided that our character breakfasts are meals we want to retain.....gotta see Goofy you know! We'll pay cash for each of those meals. We'll also pay cash for lunch at the Whispering Canyon ..........I have to ask for ketchup.... :-) That leaves 4 Quick service meal credits (for each of us) to split among 4 lunches. We've decided on 2, Roaring Fork at WL and Flametree BBQ at AK. The other 2 for Epcot and HS are still undecided at this time.
Random Thoughts - Halloween Party, Memory maker, and Airline tickets.......
Since I last wrote we've learned definitively that the day we've planned in the MK will also be a MNSSHP day. We're both very excited about this. There's an additional cost of roughly $130 for tickets to the event but I'm more than willing to pay it. All I've read and seen on Youtube [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jxPU-htbvRU] tells me this is going to be a blast. Plus its limited tickets which means the park won't be as crowded, can you say 7 Dwarves Mine Train at night!!!!!!!!! We're also planning our costumes...........all I'll say at this time is we're embracing our Disney "Villains" side for this one?
Had 2 colleagues from work recently visit WDW and both are raving about Memory Maker. I had a chance to view their photos and I have to agree. The word "awesome" doesn't do the photos justice. The added little things like adding Disney characters makes this at $150 for the trip a bargain. NEED INFO ON COST OF RIDE PICTURES.
Lastly, when I originally started writing this blog post I had written the following:
" no one can tell me all the consolidation of airlines is good for the vacation traveler. The reduction in choice is glaring, which in turn leads to no price competition. Add to that a limited # of flights makes for sticker shock. For us flying out of Philadelphia use to be a cheaper alternative to flying out of Newark.............no longer the case. Don't want to hear anything more about how the airlines are suffering...........I just don't see it. What I see is families with 4 or more having to drive to WDW because flying is prohibitive from a cost perspective."
Well the next day (yeah I wasn't ready to post.......again) I received an email from Southwest Airlines about a Fall Sale. I signed on and guess what...........There was a sale! I was able to procure 2 round trip tickets from Philly to Orlando for under $480! That's about $50 less then I've seen since I started looking back in January. Add to that was the fact that I was also able to get an early flight ( 7am ) on our way to Orlando and a late flight ( 8:30pm ) on our way back. Because of the Southwest sale other airlines reduced they're pricing in the next few days. Competition works for the consumer! Also, patience and persistence works for the planner.
Last Random thought......not so random really
I was cleaning out some old files yesterday when I came across the planning folder for our 2013 WDW vacation at the Yacht Club last Memorial Day weekend. What was interesting was the final cost of our room and tickets for a 4 day/3 night visit.
For 4 days/3 nights at the Yacht Club in May 2013 the cost was $1922.00. Looking back that was pretty pricey, however, it was a surprise and I have NO REGRETS about the trip in anyway. I bring this up to point out how planning a WDW vacation can make a difference.
My point here is, that through planning and taking advantage of discounts offered by Disney you can save money. Now within that is showing some flexibility regarding travel times and resort locations. Donna and I chose to vacation in September which tends to be a slower time at WDW, so they're more apt to discount during slower times. You can also get on Disney's mailing lists so that you can maybe receive PIN Codes for discounts. Our Sept trip was booked in Oct 2013 using a PIN Code I received from Disney. PIN Codes are exclusive offers from Disney to select guests who've visited recently (our situation) or joined a Disney mailing list, or site.
So what does all this rambling mean. Our Sept 2014 trip for 5 days/4 nights ( 1 day longer than our other visit) at the Wilderness Lodge is under $1775. On the surface doesn't seem like much but we're adding 1 day + park hopper tickets in that price. At regular rack rates its a savings of approx $350 off the same package (woods view/bunk bed....don't ask). I like that deal!!!
Where have I been?
As I said I've been away from the blog for more than 2 months.........What up with that?
I have come to learn that writing a blog post on a weekly basis is not an easy task! To develop a subject that is interesting and can be elaborated on in more than 3 sentences takes thought...........and I'm old so thought takes effort..........which in turn makes me tired. .......... My respect for all those Disney bloggers out there is very high! It's not an easy task.
Really, once ADR Day passed there wasn't all that much to write about ( in my mind )that was interesting at the time. There have been things going on but nothing I felt deserved a unique post. As you can see in this post I've combined a bunch of smaller separate subjects in to one larger post. Now do I always need to put together 1 large post per week.............no I don't but that's how I've chosen to approach this blog.........maybe that will change...........I don't know.
I do like writing down my thoughts regarding planning Disney vacations and sharing them. In fact my enthusiasm regarding Disney planning has led several of my work colleagues to setup WDW vacations for 2014.........so I feel like I'm on to something.
FLASH
If you go to the YouTube link I reference above and go to (31:00 mark) you can see how I participated in the NJ DIS meet this past April!!!!!