I booked our Disney trip, and again, there was somewhat of a failure in getting what I hoped for. Right now it's looking damn near impossible to visit MSP next month because the airfare is insane. $800 for the two of us on a weekender is not cool. Sigh. No Renegade or Spongebob with Minnesota's tallest ambassador.
For Disney, I was hoping to stay in a monorail property, and really do it right, since Diana has never been to Disney. I was hoping for the Contemporary or Grand Floridian. Both are booked pretty solid, except for little pockets in the middle of the week. So the more I thought about it, the more I figured there was no reason to stay in the nice places if it wasn't on the monorail route.
So I relinquished to the old standby, Pop Century. It's perfectly adequate and (relatively) clean, so why not. I was originally gunning for Animal Kingdom Lodge, but when I realized it was just as far away from everything but AK as Pop Century, I figured screw it. I suspect we won't be doing much other than sleeping there anyway. The hotel snob in me will compromise.
We are going to do the dining plan for both of us, for the whole eight days, and with that and the room, we clocked in around a grand. Considering how much good food that includes, I'm really pleased with that deal. We still had to get her park hopper, but I have my annual pass. Overall I feel like it'll be pretty reasonable, and we won't have to worry about how much we're spending on food since we did it up front.
The only thing left is to book restaurant reservations and find a car for the two days I have to go to IAAPA. We will likely sneak off to Universal for part of the day on Monday, and come back to eat either at Downtown Disney or in whichever park is open late that night. The dining plan lets you stack all your meals into one day if you want, so that's no worry.
I'm pretty excited. I'm pretty easily sucked into Disney once I'm there. I ordered a small camera bag today so I can cart around the 5D without the bulk of the backpack and other lenses. I'm going to document a vacation in high quality for once!
Beth & I bought the dining plan last year. Correct me Jeff if any of the following is wrong.
On top of your daily ticket price, you drop another $30+? which gives you one snack, one counter service meal, and one sit down meal.
Stuff :
I'm really simplifying it but I would encourage everyone to look into it if you think you'll eat regular meals. It isn't for everyone but it certainly made it feel like more of a vacation for Beth & I. I know I certainly wouldn't have ordered veal at EPCOT if I was the one paying for it!
Yeah, what Tyler said. It's around $37/person/day I think, but it was a little less for me because I was a passholder (as was the room rate). Having had $20 plates at pretty much any Epcot restaurant, I think you easily get your money's worth, especially since it includes dessert.