Playtime and a shock to the system – Part 1
Posted by Rich on 16 Oct 2009 at 07:53 am | Tagged as: General
“I need a vacation”
Those were the words I heard back in the Spring that started it all. Go visit family, Diamond mine in Arkansas, some random place on a map? Then, being me, I checked how much it would really cost to go to Disney World. In fact, it wasn’t bad. Booked.
Somehow, we got a really good deal and I played all the cards right. The free Disney Dining plan was running for late Summer again. The rest of the details….
Disney Value resort. Cheapest one there. Really, who spends time in the room while here? Out of the All-Star resorts…sports had nothing to do with Disney, the Music resort didn’t catch my fancy. Movies, giant Toy Story and Dalmation decorations. At least it said “Disney”
Free Dining plan. Consisted of 1 snack, 1 counter service meal, and 1 sit down meal – per person – per day.
Park Tickets. The trip was for 7 days, but arriving at 4pm and leaving at 7am, you don’t need a 7 day pass. Thanks website. Trimmed that to 5 and removed the park hopper option. We will plan on staying at certain parks, all day and plan around any special events.
Free Disney Magic service. What’s that? Well you drop off your luggage at the airport, Des Moines, fly there, get onto a Disney bus, pickup your room key and get to your room. Oh did I mention the luggage again….nope…it shows up a short time later. After we got there, we went out for dinner and found it in our room when we came back.
Airfare….the only bummer. Then you get charged $15 a bag. This added up to about half of the entire package.
Another secret. I have a Chase Disney rewards card. $275 “Disney Dollars” saved up. Works like a gift certificate. Cashed that in for food, drinks, and spending.
Ah Disney….We had a few hours left on arrival day. So we went to Downtown Disney. Crowded, but saw the massive Disney store, the Lego store, and tried to find a place to eat. There was a Wolfgang Pucks in the back that had no line, so we ate. The first ‘free’ meal would have cost $120. I had it in my mind to see how much we would claim on this deal.
We finally started planning which parks on which days as we found the weekly guide to shows and which park was open early or late each day.
Let me tell you those snacks and meals are enough for two people.
Snacks as big as your head. I’m serious and I have pictures.
And even though somethings are not on there…like funnel cakes…it doesn’t hurt to ask…my mother and daughter got funnel cakes on the plan just by asking for them.
And they make sure that you get your meal, side, drink, and desserts. We ended up bringing 2-3 extra pieces of fruit from breakfast with us everyday to use as snacks later.