PTR/TR: Without the Mouse, Round 2. Flexpasses, Lego & Emerald Is. villa in Aug 2013

[coastgirl]

Originally Posted by indimom

Oooh, a Universal PTR! I'm in! I'm in!!

We're also planning a "fiscally responsible" trip to Orlando this summer.
We're using Disney rewards to stay at Ft. Wilderness (in our tent) and to visit Epcot, DHS, Blizzard Beach and Typhoon Lagoon.
Then we're using BlueSky Rewards to cover two nights at Universal. (We did have to buy the 3-day tickets for the four of us, but it's worth it. lol.)

We haven't been to Universal since 2008 when the WWoHP was under construction and I can't wait to stroll through my favorite book series of all time! (We need a Hogwarts smiley, maybe one with a gryffindor tie...)

Our kids are 15 and 13, and we're keeping this trip under wraps for the time being. They just think we're going camping...

Looking forward to more of your planning!

Hey, nice to meet you! I just started reading your TR, and I love the way you got those nights at RPR. You da mom! I have been saving Air Miles (it's like a "non-denominational" travel reward thing here in Canada)...10,000 miles takes a looong time to gather when you get "Get 4 miles when you buy 4 bags of Green Giant veggies!!" Ds also has a cc that gets us 1 pt for every $15, which is good, but it's still takes a heckuva lot of determination to get to 10,500!

You are gonna LOVE WWoHP. It's just amazing. Amazing.

[pas130]

Originally Posted by coastgirl

LOL on the grandbabies. I still get nostalgic when I see a toddler or a preschooler, but am starting to reconcile myself to the next good opportunity to regularly snuggle little ones being grandbabies, but not for a long, loooong time. My ds, 12, wants to wait until he's 30 to get married, like his dad. (If he follows his dad I'll never get grandbabies, though...did I mention "late bloomers"??) But then that's also kinda why we got a puppy...and they toilet train so much faster!!

One of the neighbor girls has a crush on my DS12, and he blushes when he sees her...here we go Buthe told me when he is 25 he will marry and have 3 kids, 2 boys and a girl..there you have it He is still my cuddlebunny and I take it every chance I get

[Nancy for Disney]

Originally Posted by coastgirl

Here's one of me and my dd on Hallowe'en, Ravenclaw girls together. She's actually more of a Gryffindor, but I think she totally nailed the Moaning Myrtle look, and Myrtle is a Ravenclaw. (So, she's not sick, just wearing "ghost" makeup!)




Here's the picture I'm focussing on for our August trip:

It's the pool at the villa we've rented.

I love this picture. My DD19 was Moaning Myrtle for Halloween one year too. She did about five years in a row of being various characters. Here favorite is Luna Lovegood. By the way....You look just like Molly Weasley. I dressed as Molly once for a midnight party at a book store when the 6th book came out.

I love the pool. I keep going back to the pictures of our resort. Very exciting to look at it.

[coastgirl]

Originally Posted by Nancy for Disney

I love this picture. My DD19 was Moaning Myrtle for Halloween one year too. She did about five years in a row of being various characters. Here favorite is Luna Lovegood. By the way....You look just like Molly Weasley. I dressed as Molly once for a midnight party at a book store when the 6th book came out.

I love the pool. I keep going back to the pictures of our resort. Very exciting to look at it.

We've had a couple of years of Harry characters too. Ds made a great Harry. You made my day. Molly is my hero, she's the uber-mom. From the first howler she sent Ron to that glorious moment when she screamed at Bellatrix "Not my daughter, b*tch!", I heart Molly. Always loved Luna too, thought she'd be Harry's wife for a while there.

Nice to have a pool to look at and dream of, isn't it? Snowing here again, and March definitely came in like a lion last week.

[coastgirl]

(I just posted this info in the Cdn forum, so if you're on there too you've probably already seen this.)

Ooo, I've had a fun planning morning. I think it's fair to say many of us here are planners. I have a couple of versions of spreadsheets and tables to build plans, but I just stumbled on my new favourite online. There's a community/site called "The Dibb", which is primarily for UK lovers of Florida. They have their own crowd calendar, and other info resources and forums.

But the real gem is the vacation planner. It generates a trip plan easily, and has lots of menu drop-downs to fill in different vacation activities, as well as a notes field for things that don't fit in the other categories. You can even just move stuff from one day to another without having to delete and start over if, say, you don't get the res'n you want on the day you planned. I only have two complaints: took me a while to figure out the "Add Now" button was to save the current entry (e.g., if you'd entered an ADR or something). Also the pdf it generates for printing has a smaller font than I'd choose, but it's still pretty readable. It prints with a banner ad at the bottom, but that's a small price to pay.

I also love that it will pull park hours into your plan if you select a certain theme park for the day, and it uses the park logo in the margin so you can see at a glance what's planned. Now the Universal hours aren't yet up for our trip, grr, but when I selected Seaworld, I didn't have to cross reference to find the hours, it just pulled the opening and closing hours into the plan for me. It would be really cool if it cross-ref'd the parks with the prediction from their own crowd calendar, but I guess you can't have everything!

You can also make it public, but I haven't tested that out--not sure if public means anybody, or just other community members.

You do have to sign up to access it, but it's free and doesn't seem obnoxious. Start here http://www.thedibb.co.uk/index.php and look for the vacation planner tab across the top once you've registered. I remember years ago I paid for Tour Guide Mike, and tried that planner, but this free one is way better.

So now I'm almost ready to make an ADR or two!

[braddillman]

Subscribing.

I used to live in Windsor Junction, NS, and totally agree with you on everything, I'm also thrifty. In the past we've usually used aeroplan and flown from YHZ, but considered driving to NH as you said.

Now moved to Ottawa and planning to drive down for xmas 2013. We've done the 14 hr. drive between Ottawa and Halifax many times, so a 21 hr. drive Ottawa-Orlando is only 50% more. And gasbuddy.com says under $500 in gas round trip. We wouldn't drive for a 1-week trip, but we're planning to stay for 2 weeks NOT including drive time (we'll leave early, stay for 2 weeks, then leave, so say 2.5 weeks incl. driving).

Love the flexpasses. You don't feel as much pressure to make every minute count, I don't feel guilty about hanging out at the resort pool instead of being in a park. We got a timeshare on i-drive back in 1999 and have used it every 2-3 years since. Our plan is to go for 2 weeks every other year instead of a week/year (thrifty). Love the Fountains. Love a timeshare or house, dislike being jammed into a hotel room watching TV on the bed or hanging out in the lobby. I'd rather stretch out on the couch.

We went for 15 days in Feb 2011. In addition to 4 flexpasses for our family of 5, I got myself annual passes to uni and seaworld - they paid for themselves in free parking - back the, valet parking at that. Not sure this time around, the annual pass price went up again I think, need to re-do the calcs. Valet at uni was nice, saved some walking and got into/out of the park much quicker. It was certainly nice for no additional cost.

WWoHP is cool. My fav is Jurassic park. Short answer, uni beats disney unless you have kids < 9 or so.

Keep reporting, I can't wait.

[coastgirl]

Originally Posted by braddillman

Subscribing.

I used to live in Windsor Junction, NS, and totally agree with you on everything, I'm also thrifty. In the past we've usually used aeroplan and flown from YHZ, but considered driving to NH as you said.

Now moved to Ottawa and planning to drive down for xmas 2013. We've done the 14 hr. drive between Ottawa and Halifax many times, so a 21 hr. drive Ottawa-Orlando is only 50% more. And gasbuddy.com says under $500 in gas round trip. We wouldn't drive for a 1-week trip, but we're planning to stay for 2 weeks NOT including drive time (we'll leave early, stay for 2 weeks, then leave, so say 2.5 weeks incl. driving).

Love the flexpasses. You don't feel as much pressure to make every minute count, I don't feel guilty about hanging out at the resort pool instead of being in a park. We got a timeshare on i-drive back in 1999 and have used it every 2-3 years since. Our plan is to go for 2 weeks every other year instead of a week/year (thrifty). Love the Fountains. Love a timeshare or house, dislike being jammed into a hotel room watching TV on the bed or hanging out in the lobby. I'd rather stretch out on the couch.

We went for 15 days in Feb 2011. In addition to 4 flexpasses for our family of 5, I got myself annual passes to uni and seaworld - they paid for themselves in free parking - back the, valet parking at that. Not sure this time around, the annual pass price went up again I think, need to re-do the calcs. Valet at uni was nice, saved some walking and got into/out of the park much quicker. It was certainly nice for no additional cost.

WWoHP is cool. My fav is Jurassic park. Short answer, uni beats disney unless you have kids < 9 or so.

Keep reporting, I can't wait.

welcome! I think I recognize you from the Cdn board?

Watching tv on the bed--yep. Our last onsite vacation was at Coronado, and while I liked the resort--it was two weeks of watching tv on the bed when we got home from the parks, and sitting on the floor in the bathroom so I could use my computer after the kids were asleep! I agree, longer and less frequent works for us. Getting there is a significant investment of time and/or money, so I like the longer stay to amortize that! We have toyed with driving too. Dh and I would totally be up for it...one of our last pre-kid trips was from Tampa to Lafayette Louisiana round-trip. But it does add time, and the kids might revolt. I really want to drive NL-BC with them someday, so I should save up that road trip mojo.

Funny you mention the APs. We have been playing with the math, trying to figure out if it's worth it to save on parking! Very unlikely we'd be back inside the year--we did that once with Disney but, you know, the kids are getting closer to college!

You should post a report--are you making plans for the drive yet? I'd be interested in the details to be sure.

[braddillman]

Yes, that's me from the Canada board.

A flexpass is $294. Universal Orlando annual passes are either $260 or $400 (premier). Seaworld+Aquatica annual pass is $179. Parking is $15/day I think.

So annual passes for 1 person (only need 1 for the parking) would be $260+$179=$439 or $145 more. So based on 10 days of parking = $150 that's a break even. The annual pass will get you discounts on merchandise and dining (probably 5% to 10% again you only need 1 person with the pass), but that might not add up to much if you're thrifty. Say save another $25 or $250 spent.

So I guess the regular annual passes are a small savings, but they don't come with valet anymore. Another $140 would get you free valet - but you're still expected to tip $1 or $2 each pick up. So you should decide, is $160 worth it for a treat for valet? Or would $160 be better spent on another treat (Mythos?). Mythos is pretty good and should be < $160.

I'd say consider the annual passes (but not the uni premier); do your own numbers, don't take my word.

I've been often enough I don't think I'll write a PTR. We're looking at 3 options:

a) 11 days at The Fountains and EITHER uni or dis,
b) a) plus add 3 days at the other park - this probably means mostly dis and adding 3 days of uni because 3 days is MUCH cheaper at uni than 3 days at dis, plus if we stay those 3 days at uni resort we'd get front-of-the-line, but not with the 3 days added at dis, or
c) a) plus a short cruise, e.g. Carnival (joke away!). We could hit a beach in Mexico maybe.

If you know someone with RCI membership you could price a timeshare condo vs. renting a house. Those are the 2 best options for thrifty people, IMHO. We prefer the timeshare because a resort makes us feel more like we're on vacation than a house, but we still have way more room than a hotel room (1,200 sq. ft., full size kitchen, our own private laundry machines, 2 bedrooms sleeps 6, 8 in a pinch). Not as good as a whole house, but everything we need to feel comfy on vacation.

I haven't driven down i95 but once, back in the early 90's when I was fresh out of university. Never with kids. Not sure how it'll work, but the kids want to go and have solemnly sworn to be good (not like the Weasleys). Not sure they can deliver, though.

[coastgirl]

Originally Posted by braddillman

Yes, that's me from the Canada board.

A flexpass is $294. Universal Orlando annual passes are either $260 or $400 (premier). Seaworld+Aquatica annual pass is $179. Parking is $15/day I think.

My dh was doing the same math this evening! I think we are leaning toward the passes, because (a) he loves to find a way to get a deal and (b) personally it's less painful in one chunk than "nickel and diming" us for the parking every day. We already have CAA, which gets us the same discount at USO that the pass will--not sure about SW. We may find other deals...or it may make him easier to convince to do that turnaround in under 12 mos! (Wives are devious. At least I am!)

I've been often enough I don't think I'll write a PTR. We're looking at 3 options:

a) 11 days at The Fountains and EITHER uni or dis,
b) a) plus add 3 days at the other park - this probably means mostly dis and adding 3 days of uni because 3 days is MUCH cheaper at uni than 3 days at dis, plus if we stay those 3 days at uni resort we'd get front-of-the-line, but not with the 3 days added at dis, or
c) a) plus a short cruise, e.g. Carnival (joke away!). We could hit a beach in Mexico maybe.

Yes, they do make it hard to do both, don't they? And I agree with your logic, easier to tag Universal on. I think our Disney trips have been amazing, but so darn busy...I am happy to have one or the other. And I doubt we'll ever go again without WWoHP, so that's bad news for Disney.

We did a Disney cruise a few years ago, and the best day I think was the beach day. Good luck with the cruise, I hope you find something you like.

If you know someone with RCI membership you could price a timeshare condo vs. renting a house. Those are the 2 best options for thrifty people, IMHO. We prefer the timeshare because a resort makes us feel more like we're on vacation than a house, but we still have way more room than a hotel room (1,200 sq. ft., full size kitchen, our own private laundry machines, 2 bedrooms sleeps 6, 8 in a pinch). Not as good as a whole house, but everything we need to feel comfy on vacation.

We have done a condo a couple of times, and it's a revelation after a hotel room. This is our second villa vacation in Orlando, and we've also rented houses in Tennessee, PEI--oh yeah, and Ireland! The space + the private pools you can find in the Orlando market is the height of decadence for us. We are renting from an accountant in Oakville for about $120/nt.

I haven't driven down i95 but once, back in the early 90's when I was fresh out of university. Never with kids. Not sure how it'll work, but the kids want to go and have solemnly sworn to be good (not like the Weasleys). Not sure they can deliver, though.

Ha! Get it in writing. It might get you some leverage for something else. "Remember the meltdown in Virginia? Daddy doesn't want to go to McDonald's tonight, I choose Thai. You owe me." Yeah, that'll work.

[braddillman]

Wanted to add I'm a Potter fan as well. Dressed as Mad-eye for Halloween, kids didn't want to stand anywhere near me they were so embarrassed. My DS and I had some nice quiet time in the Hogs' Head, he on a butterbeer and me on an ale, while the girls were on dragons (DS was a little afraid).

But I'm not sure we need to return so soon. Kids are more attracted to Despicable Me, and I'm waiting for Transformers. Maybe dis this time, and wait for 2nd half of WWoHP to complete for a future trip.

I just made a little chart to verify my suspicions. Most rides in USF/IoA have some equivalent in dis somewhere. Sometime the Uni ride is better, sometimes dis. But there were only a few without peer: HPFJ, Transformers vs Lights Motors Action, Illuminations, Fantasmic and the AK safari. Not sure how to interpret that yet. Does it mean we'd have a fine time either way? Or does it mean we should pick the one with the most 'winners' in a smackdown?

Hope you enjoy legoland. I wonder how my own DS would like it? He'd probably prefer disneyQuest I expect.

It'll be hot at the end of August. Make sure you get into Popeye's barges! Our family fav bar none. When you go in Sept/Oct it's still plenty warm, but not so busy. We've gone around 5-7 times without getting off some visits. Loads of fun to hear the occasional person ask "Am I going to get wet?" after the boat has left the dock. I guess people are oblivious to the people exiting the ride.

[DryCreek]

Originally Posted by coastgirl

Oh, Pas, I hear you! I wish we could do a few days at Disney without it costing a fortune, but they really price it to keep you in their clutches longer rather than encouraging shorter visits. Seven tickets--I get hives paying for 4!

Depending on where you're located (East Coast/Central/West) it may not be that much more for you to look into Disneyland as an option. With only two parks located within walking distance of each other (closer than the walk between IoA/US) and tons of reasonable, decent lodging just across the street, a DL trip can be had for about half of an onsite stay at WDW. Of course, you'd have to trade off the cost of tickets if you are coming from the East side of the U.S. or Canada, but there are often sales that can get you pretty cheaply into LAX or SNA. Last year we stayed at the Best Western Plus Park Place Inn. It was right across the street from the park entrance. It was a five minute walk from our room at the back of the hotel to the center plaza between the two parks. Three minutes of that time was waiting for the light to cross Harbor Avenue. In fact, it was a shorter walk than what we had the first time we stayed at the Alligator Bayou rooms of the POR to the main lobby and bus stop. That may be an option to get your Disney fix in four days and not break the bank!

[coastgirl]

Originally Posted by braddillman

Wanted to add I'm a Potter fan as well. Dressed as Mad-eye for Halloween, kids didn't want to stand anywhere near me they were so embarrassed. But I'm not sure we need to return so soon. Kids are more attracted to Despicable Me, and I'm waiting for Transformers. Maybe dis this time, and wait for 2nd half of WWoHP to complete for a future trip.

Mad Eye...cool. I think my dh could pull that off. Yeah, I want to see the expansion too, it sounds like the Gringott's ride is going to be fabulous, but it'll have to wait a few years.

Does it mean we'd have a fine time either way? Or does it mean we should pick the one with the most 'winners' in a smackdown?

I go for "fine time either way". Hey, it's Florida, and people have put a lot of effort into making you happy.

It'll be hot at the end of August. Make sure you get into Popeye's barges! Our family fav bar none. When you go in Sept/Oct it's still plenty warm, but not so busy. We've gone around 5-7 times without getting off some visits. Loads of fun to hear the occasional person ask "Am I going to get wet?" after the boat has left the dock. I guess people are oblivious to the people exiting the ride.

We really enjoy water rides, but didn't do that one on our first trip. Will make sure to hit it this time, thanks for the recommendation. It was February, after all, and the first week at least it was cool. (Like, May or June at home!) We really enjoyed "Journey to Atlantis" at Seaworld, besides FJ that was probably our favourite ride of the trip.

I much prefer true off season--like warmth but not melting heat, and hate crowds--but with ds in middle school now I don't feel good taking him out for more than a few days of class time. Our first trip with the kids was May/June and we just turned into little puddles of Canuck. So the August heat isn't my first choice, but I hope the crowds will be thinner at least, as so many US schools go back in August. Plus because we have the luxury of time, I don't plan for long days full of must-dos.

Originally Posted by DryCreek

Depending on where you're located (East Coast/Central/West) it may not be that much more for you to look into Disneyland as an option. With only two parks located within walking distance of each other (closer than the walk between IoA/US) and tons of reasonable, decent lodging just across the street, a DL trip can be had for about half of an onsite stay at WDW. Of course, you'd have to trade off the cost of tickets if you are coming from the East side of the U.S. or Canada, but there are often sales that can get you pretty cheaply into LAX or SNA. Three minutes of that time was waiting for the light to cross Harbor Avenue. In fact, it was a shorter walk than what we had the first time we stayed at the Alligator Bayou rooms of the POR to the main lobby and bus stop. That may be an option to get your Disney fix in four days and not break the bank!

I haven't done much research on DL, but it sounds in many ways to be a nice alternative. We haven't yet made it to CA, and we will someday I suppose, but it's nice to see it's more "doable". It must be weird, because I understand the parks are similar and different at the same time...if you've been to both, it could be a little confusing!

As far as our planning goes, it looks like we'll probably buy one set of APs to Sea World and IoA, to test that out...it's pretty much a wash on cost if it covers our parking. Also we want to "Dine with Shamu" and we can get a discount on that with the SW AP. (The AAA discount isn't as good at SW.)

Legoland plans are up in the air. We are definitely going. Ds would revolt if I took that away. (We have thousands and thousands of dollars of Lego all over the house. He has two of those eight-bin toy storage racks, all filled with Lego. Several other containers with different organizational functions. Plus two big rubbermaid totes. He dabbles with video games and other toys but he's been a Lego freak since he was about 6. It's now into the realm of "socially inappropriate" for his age and he doesn't talk to his peers about it! But it's not going away any time soon!)

Anyway, the issue with Legoland is our pup, Miss Adorable. The Legoland kennel is "not staffed". "Not staffed", how does that even work for little critters in searing heat? The building is a/c I know that much, but I guess that means there is no access to outdoor runs. Is it like a bigger version of park lockers, put in your coins, drop the "parcel" and walk away with a key? I am very uncomfortable with the idea that there's no one keeping an eye on her if we are to be away for several hours. Just read a TR that someone had spent about 9 hrs in the park with their kids, and that could totally be my kids. So we are looking for options for the pup. Maybe a doggie daycare in Winter Haven (prefer not to leave her "all the way back" in Orlando). But not having any luck finding something. So the best we've come up with is that dh will drop me and the kids at the park and spend the day driving around with the dog. I don't love that option either. And I don't know how many tickets to buy. Sigh.

Oh...hey, I just thought of something. I have a friend who lives in Orlando, we have already arranged to spend time with her and her family. Maybe Feliz would be happier spending the day there. She has two German Shepherds (each of whom has a head that weighs more than my whole dog), and Feliz is very shy...so she might hate that. But even if she spends the day hiding in her crate there, she might be better off than the alternatives. Hmm.

22 weeks today! Tomorrow makes it exactly 5 months! Next week is March break here, and it kills me to see everyone else flying off to warmer climes, but my son especially is looking forward to doing nothing for a week. (Middle school is hard!) And it'll be less crowded in August!

[DryCreek]

Originally Posted by coastgirl

I haven't done much research on DL, but it sounds in many ways to be a nice alternative. We haven't yet made it to CA, and we will someday I suppose, but it's nice to see it's more "doable". It must be weird, because I understand the parks are similar and different at the same time...if you've been to both, it could be a little confusing!

I would encourage you to look into DL. It was good to go there again after not having been there for 20 years. The last time we were there, our son was very young (4 or 5?), and we were having to deal with the crowds for the opening of Mickey's Toon Town. It's hard to believe it was that long ago!

The greatest part about it is that you feel that you know the place, but there are intriguing little twists in the layout. The whole New Orleans Square area is really great, and the subtle differences between the rides make it refreshing and exciting like the first few times you visited WDW's Magic Kingdom. The California Adventure park is pretty good, not to the level of EPCOT, but well worth the visit. And now, with the construction ended for the new Buena Vista Street and Carsland, it should be wayyy better than when we visited during construction. I must say, their version of The Pirates of the Caribbean is measurably better. I also think that the Matterhorn Bobsleds ride makes up for the lack of a TTA and a useful attraction in the old Carousel Of Progress building.

To top it off, the nice King bed semi-suite room we had was a bargain. My wife has a frequent-stayers type account with Best Western, so a direct call to the hotel yielded us a great rate of only $79 per evening! Included a free continental breakfast too.

[coastgirl]

Just got Legoland tickets for $22, not sure why!

So I am posting this deal all over the internet I'm so excited about it. So you may have already read my excited little rant.

We were talking over breakfast about Legoland, and whether dh will come with us or not. So I started looking at tickets again. We have a loyalty program in Canada called AirMiles (which allowed me to purchase our flights for this trip). They had a link to a discount for the tickets. Through February it had a buy-an-adult-get-a-child-free 1-day pass deal--but this morning that offer had disappeared. But the adult tickets were a good deal, and I could still get the adult+kid deal through a different link...If dh goes, we need three adult tickets plus one kid.

So, I put two adult tickets in the cart for $58 each, and got ready to get them. Well! The price once they were in my basket was $22 per adult! I have no idea why.

Once I saw it I adjusted my plan, and got 3 adult tickets and one kid through that link, for $127, all in. The cheapest I was previously able to get in a number of searches and discount combos was $224 (and I don't think that included tax, now that I think about it).

I purchased while signed into my AirMiles account, but I logged out to see if I could do it without being logged in (i.e., if others could do it without an AirMiles account), and it seemed to pull me through the same way, and the price still came out to $22 per adult. So, fingers crossed, give it a go if you are interested.

https://secure4.gatewayticketing.com...nd=LandingPage

So now that the tickets are so cheap, it's worth it to have a ticket for dh, even if it's so we can do an "adult swap" and I can go sit in the car with the dog for a while! But we had a look at the park video and park map together, and I think dh is in. It's NOT a thrilling park and it's heavily weighted to little kids, but with a couple of Lego fans, I think we'll have a lot to do. I'm also looking forward to seeing what's left of the old Cypress Gardens.

That's my exciting morning, saving $100 for no apparent reason.

[coastgirl]

Originally Posted by DryCreek

The greatest part about it is that you feel that you know the place, but there are intriguing little twists in the layout.
To top it off, the nice King bed semi-suite room we had was a bargain. My wife has a frequent-stayers type account with Best Western, so a direct call to the hotel yielded us a great rate of only $79 per evening! Included a free continental breakfast too.

Sounds neat, DryCreek, and you got a good deal to boot!