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Planning Our Disney Vacation This Spring

March 15, 2016

I don’t usually create a schedule or put together a to do list when it comes to what we will do on our Disney vacations; but this year we are going during a time of year we never went before and I am a little nervous about it. We never go during school vacations because it’s school vacation time and the whole world seems like they are in Disney during that time of year (besides Christmas). But I did some research tonight and am printing out some information and getting my bearings to help make some decisions and plans.

We are also doing things a little different this time. My Star Wars Dark Side Challenge races conveniently fell during the same time we were taking this trip; so some of my park touring may be altered slightly to accommodate my early wake ups for the two races. But we also didn’t purchase an annual pass this year like we always due. Last October the price of the Annual Pass increased to an amount that just wasn’t going to work for us. When we went in January for marathon weekend we were able to purchase park passes with my Dad’s military discount. This time we are going to purchase multi-day park passes through an employee discount website so we can purchase as many days necessary and we will just factor in some non-park days to this trip. All in all we won’t lose much. We just won’t be able to hop on the monorail some nights to go for a spin around the park on the train and do some rides at night. But since we are staying in resorts on the monorail loop we will take advantage of watching the fireworks shows from the beaches.

There are things I would like to do on this trip that we have never done with the kids before. Surprisingly, we haven’t taken them to the following attractions. Don’t judge, there never seems to be enough time and they always want to do their favorites! So here are a few of the attractions that are a must do on the trip list this year:

Enchanted Tiki Room
The Country Bears
Enchanted Tales with Belle
Indiana Jones
Star Wars Launch Pad
Jedi Training Academy for Adrienne
The New Star Wars Symphony in the Stars: A Galactic Spectacular fireworks show at Hollywood Studios

And I would REALLY love to try to be at the Magic Kingdom for rope drop to see the welcome show. I also want to do a water park and this year I found some great discounted tickets for Aquatica. Since we have done Blizzard Beach twice in the past, I am not opposed to trying something different. Again, this trip is about being cost conscious. We will do our grocery shopping and stock up our room with the essentials, water and alcohol to save on the cost of drinks and food and pack our lunches for the parks and mainly eat our dinners in a park or resort. We have a few reservations for some restaurants that we know we want to go to for sure.

The Epcot Flower and Garden Festival will be in full bloom during this trip so I will be doing my research and posting on my blog some great resources for what is happening for kids this time of year at Epcot. I heard that there are a lot of great kid-centric activities going on this year. I also want to have the children go around to each country and have their name written in the language of that country to put into their journals.

I am also planning on participating in Dapper Day and dressing up for the Magic Kingdom. Diana and Mandy and I are going to get all dolled up in cute dresses after the 10K and take pictures in the Magic Kingdom. Dapper Day celebrates “stepping out in style”. There is no specific period of time that is recreated; but the looks are vintage-inspired. Active and retired military are encouraged to wear their dress blues or service uniforms. I have never been a part of this before so I am looking forward to seeing what everyone looks like!

One last thing that I am hoping we will get to see is the Rivers of Light Show at Animal Kiingdom. This show is debuting in April and rumor has it, that it will be opening on Earth Day , which is April 22. So I am keeping an eye out to hear more about it and how we can participate in this event when it starts showing. It would be so neat to be one of the first people to see this new show! I will also blog about this new feature separately, so stay tuned! Despite all of the construction going on in Hollywood Studios and Animal Kingdom, there is still enough for us to do in Hollywood Studios to keep us busy for a few hours that day and also allow us time to rest for the afternoon and then head to another park for the evening.

So as you can see, this trip is going to take a little bit of planning. I’m going to have to figure out which days will be park days, which days will be relax by the pool days and I also have to get to the Expo and fit my races into the vacation. It’ll all work out, this is nothing compared to Marathon Weekend in January! But I also do want the trip to be so busy with activity that it goes by in the blink of an eye either.

What else do you recommend we try on this trip?

runDisney Wine & Dine changes?

March 9, 2016

Tuesday, March 8 was supposed to be the early Annual Pass and DVC member registration date for the Wine & Dine Half Marathon taking place in November. March 8 was also the date that the NYC marathon announced who will be chosen from the lottery for the NYC Marathon, also taking place the same weekend of Wine & Dine.

I was concerned about registration for Wine & Dine because I didn’t know if I was going to be selected for NYC and if by chance I was, I didn’t know what time I would receive that email. Well, as of Monday runDisney had a “special update” that the registration was being pushed off for a week, and then later on that was changed to 2 weeks. The dates are now March 22 for AP and DVC members and March 29 to the general public.

This is the actual announcement:

“We are putting the final touches on the 2016 Disney Wine & Dine Half Marathon Weekend, which will now open to Annual Passholders and Disney Vacation Club Members on March 22 at noon ET and general registration will open on March 29 at noon ET. Also, registration for Avengers Super Heroes Half Marathon Weekend will now open for AP and DVC Members on April 5 at noon ET and general registration will open on April 12 at noon ET.”

So what is going on? Why are they pushing this date? According to all of the chatter going on in social media, the rumor is that they are extending the weekend to include additional races or an additional race. During the Wine and Dine race weekend which includes the Mickey’s Jingle Jungle 5K (which I did for the first time last year) on Saturday morning and then the Wine & Dine Half Marathon that Saturday night. People are always looking around just prior to registrations to get the early registration link from Active.com, and this image happened to circulate around social media. It came up prior to the announcement from runDisney so the rumor going around is that runDisney may be adding a challenge to the Wine & Dine race weekend. This would include the addition of a 10K to the weekend.

So now the challenge, another Inaugural event! If I keep joining in on these firs time events in hopes of being a “legacy” runner with these events, I am going to go even more broke! Well, I didn’t get into the NYC marathon and now I have to wait and see what runDisney announces for Wine & Dine weekend. Add to it, the fact that my kids have that Monday and Tuesday off from school and now I want to make this a family trip! But with the recent increase in price with the park tickets, we just can’t afford to go as a family of 4 to the parks. But we could make a weekend of it and enjoy the local attractions, perhaps a water park and being out of CT for a weekend. Decisions, decisions…..

Will you be participating in a new event if runDisney adds a challenge?

Disney Released Tiered Pricing Structure Or “Seasonal Pricing”

February 28, 2016

I am a Disney lover, you should know that about me by now. But I am not a lover of the higher prices it is now costing us to take a trip to my favorite place. Unfortunately my husband is more angry about the pricing increases that have been going on at Disney World than I am. Enough so that he is mentioning skipping our annual trip and considering going every two years instead. We are still in discussions about this. Mind you, we got married in Disney, we are DVC members and have taken our children since they have been born. When it gets to this point, it must be serious. The bottom line is, it’s becoming too expensive.

Effective Sunday, February 28 at 6 a.m., Disney will have special pricing for value season, regular season, and peak season. As I watched the announcement on the news, the reason that was mentioned was to help control the crowds during the usual peak seasons, to better spread out visitation throughout the year. Last Christmas the Magic Kingdom reached its capacity by 10:00 a.m. and had to close the park to additional guests.

It is important to note that this pricing is for one day passes only. It does not affect annual passes and multi-day tickets. However, multi-day pass prices will rise starting today. Four-day tickets are increasing from $305 to $325. Ten-day tickets are increasing from $365 to $400. When does the price increase stop? Are we at the point now where we will push back and not attend? I’m kind of there. I hate to say it. But we are finding alternatives to purchasing our tickets. Instead of purchasing an annual pass for all four of us; we are considering a multi-day pass and now we won’t go to the parks every single day on our vacation. We are going to plan in some resort/pool days and do other activities such as mini golf, a water park. or perhaps Disney Springs (a movie or the balloon ride).

I always try to find the silver lining and find the best, most affordable way to make our Disney trips possible and I will still do the same to try to get the most bang for my buck. We will shop at Target or Wal-Mart when we arrive to get our groceries to use in our room so we can eat breakfast and pack lunches to bring to the park. We also save a lot of money on water, drinks and alcohol by purchasing it off property and having it in our room to bring to the pool and parks.

Here is a breakdown of the new rates:

Magic Kingdom one day ticket (no park hopper)

Value Season – the current rate of $105
Regular Season – $110
Peak Season – $125

Epcot, Animal Kingdom and Hollywood Studios

Value Season – the current rate of $97
Regular Season – $102
Peak Season – $114

The dates for each of these seasons can be found on Disney’s website. Here is a breakdown below:

Photo by Attractionsmagazine.com

Has this new pricing structure affected your decision on planning your next vacation to Disney? Will you change dates to a different time of year to avoid the higher price?

There Is Always Something Being Built At Disney

May 25, 2014

On my recent trip to Disney we saw the new construction going on at the Polynesian. It seems like every May when we vacation, Disney is re-imagining their resorts. This is the third hotel on the monorail loop that is adding Disney DVC rooms to their location. The Polynesian resort is also changing its name to Disney’s Polynesian Village Resort. We rented the small boats to ride around the lakes and I had the opportunity to take some pictures of the new construction.

View from the Seven Seas Lagoon on the small water boats

The Polynesian is expanding the DVC villas with 20 bungalows right on the water. It is a nice feature but is changing the look of the resort for sure. The bungalows are not going to be exclusive to DVC members. If the space is available, non-DVC guests can rent the space for their vacation. I believe I heard on the DIS Unplugged podcast that the bungalows were going to be two bedroom only.

View from the monorail

The volcano pool area is being renovated with a water play area for children and a hot tub overlooking the Seven Seas Lagoon. Also new, will be a Pineapple Lanai kiosk with the ever-popular Dole Whip!

There will also be major changes to the lobby. As you are used to seeing the waterfalls now, the space will be more open, similar to the look of Alani where you look through the hotel lobby to the waterfront.

Polynesian lobby concept art

Another big enhancement coming to the hotel in 2015 is Trader Sam’s Grog Grotto! Trader Sam’s will be themed with tiki cocktails served in souvenir mugs just like the bar that is very popular in Disneyland. Trader Sam’s will reside in the Polynesian Ceremonial House and will provide a nice relaxing place for guests to hang out. Another great addition to the monorail bar hop!

The children’s activity center formerly known as the Never Land Club is also being re-branded as Club Disney and plans to open in June at the Polynesian. This center is available for children ages 3-12.

Within the next 6 months you will learn more about when you can start to plan your stay at these awesome bungalows!

WDW Today’s Lou Mongillo has a great video with the changes you can expect to see at the Polynesian. Check it out!

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wTtXnrTZD0c?list=UUnp2k_FBdUOmwb05LDNv34w&w=560&h=315]

Tag: DVC

Planning Our Disney Vacation This Spring

runDisney Wine & Dine changes?

Disney Released Tiered Pricing Structure Or “Seasonal Pricing”

There Is Always Something Being Built At Disney