AffordableDisney-Trip Reports
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John and Donna Gross "The Full Mickey - At a Discount!" The Wall Street Journal
Renea visited WDW in June, 2004: "Hello John: In your newsletter "Kim" reported that while on her trip she went to Downtown Disney via a boat? Which boat is she speaking of? >> She must have been referring to the boat from Port Orleans to Downtown Disney. It's one of our favorite rides. I would like to tell you and your readers about our trip to Disneyworld in June. We stayed at the Hotel Royal Plaza on a travel zoo special for only $69 per night with a free upgrade to a tower room. I usually stay at the Grand Floridian my entire stay usually at Thanksgiving time. We split the week up by staying at the Plaza some nights and the Floridian the other nights. We only took carry on luggage. We found last year this works much better then checking bags because it take too much time waiting in line for your luggage when you get off the plane. We want to start our fun as soon as we arrive! >> Disney has solved that problem with their new Magic Express service that delivers your luggage to your hotel while you start having fun! Of course, you must be a WDW resort guest. We rented a full size car with a free upgrade to a premium car with the coupon found in the Entertainment book." >> Renea is referring to the Orlando Entertainment Book. It's full of coupons on travel, groceries, shopping, movie tickets, and more! For a limited time, get $10.00 off! For details, click here. Renea's trip report continues below. |
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Renea continues her trip report: "When we arrived at the Avis counter in MCO (Orlando International Airport) the registration went well. We went downstairs to the garage to get our car. The gentleman was taking a very long time to get our car for us. Eventually he was entering data into the computer again. He came over with the keys, apologized that he couldn't find our car and asked if another upgrade to a Lincoln Continental was o.k. We grabbed the keys and ran! This car was pure luxury, leather inside, plenty of room for 6 people and drove like a cloud. I recommend Avis, they have great service and nice cars. We checked in at the Hotel Royal Plaza around 7:00 p.m. They upgraded us yet again to a whirlpool tub room. The room was on the 16th floor with really nice views of downtown Disney and the fireworks at night. When I asked the clerk if children ate for free like next door at the Holiday Inn, she said they stopped that promotion but she had coupons left over and gave me one for our entire stay. There is also a coupon in the entertainment book for a free dinner. We got 3 dinners and 2 kids meals and only had to pay for 2 adult meals! We did eat breakfast next door at the holiday inn because it was much less $ for the adults to eat there and kids also eat for free. The room was o.k. but could of been spruced up. The hotel staff was extremely nice and the maids kept the room nice. There was a basket of goodies on the desk (way too expensive). There was also free coffee and tea (no cream though). Keep in mind Disney charges for coffee in their rooms. The pool was nice and the Jacuzzi was small. they also have a small outside bar there too. >> Disney is now equipping the Deluxe and Moderate resorts with coffee makers and providing free coffee and condiments! We would stay again if we did another unexpected, quick trip to Florida. I hear they are closed now, maybe it will be a crown plaza. it could use the renovation! They offered transportation to the parks via the bus. We arrived 5 days later at the G.F. This is my favorite resort in Disneyworld. We have stayed at the All-Star resort, the Caribbean beach and the Polynesian. Our room wasn't ready yet, but about 1/2 hour later it was. We stay in the sugar loaf building which is a concierge building with food and beverages all day long. we stay and pay the extra because there are 3 children in our family and it cost too much $ to eat out all of the time. when we stayed at the value resort 4 years ago we did bring a suitcase of snacks with us, but we won't do that again. this is very convenient for us. It was 95 degrees everyday so the 2 pools are great to sit in! i ordered room service the last night i was. the prime rib at this resort is great. if you can stay at this resort, i would do it. it is close to the magic kingdom. it is nice to see the fireworks from the magic kingdom at the beach or the dock from this resort. they also have a electric water parade that goes to all the resorts by barge. the kids really like this. we didn't have any problems during our stay to report to you. we stayed in a tower room which is larger with a sitting area, sofa (we ask for a sleeper sofa for more room to spread out), and 2 t.v.'s. we stay on a floor that has a balcony. the last day we were there i went downstairs to get my breakfast on a tray and sat on my balcony watching the maintenance men use a machine that looks like street sweeper to clean the sidewalks! the resort is kept spotless with beautiful flower arrangements everywhere. it is even more beautiful at thanksgiving time when they have all of the Christmas decorations up. they have a 55 foot tree in their lobby with over 75,000 lights on it and a full size, hand made, eatable gingerbread house! the chef shows you how they make it and you can get a free sample as well. The G.F. is a must see if you can't afford to stay there. You can catch the monorail upstairs in the main lobby to the magic kingdom, it is great to keep the kids amused. we flew out of Tampa at night, big mistake. the lightning was so bad that the plane couldn't come to the gate and we had to wait almost 2 hours for the storm to cease so they could get the people off the plane, clean it and board us. everything was closed and it was very difficult to keep 2 small children amused for that long period of time. it would of been better to get stuck in MCO where there is much more to do! Well that is it for this trip. Take care."
Beth, our travel agent, spent Memorial Day weekend, 2004, at WDW with her family. She writes: "We arrived in Orlando about 11:15 Saturday morning and checked into the first hotel. After roaming around a bit we decided to head offsite for lunch. My husband is addicted to Perkins salads, so we went to the Crossroads location and had a nice meal. We then hopped across the street to Downtown Disney and the Ghirardelli Chocolate store where we put my Entertainment coupon for a free hot fudge sundae to use. So my first reminder to everyone is this: Don't forget to check for ONLINE coupons if you're an Entertainment Book person. This particular coupon is available only online, not in the book, and it has to be used within 14 days of printing. The regular price of a hot fudge sundae is $6.50 - a bit pricey for what you get if you ask me; but TWO for that price is a nice deal. ------------------------- A reminder from John: Using just one of the Entertainment book's coupons can pay for the price of the book itself! For details, click here. ------------------------- My second bit of advice is regarding Pleasure Island. I've been to Disney World more times than I can count, but never to Pleasure Island. I guess it's mostly because I'm not the club-hopping type AND because over the last six years or so I've had a child in tow for nearly every trip. It never seemed to make sense to me to pay all this money to just go in and wander around, so I've always skipped it. With the admissions fees now waived for the summer it seemed the perfect time to check the place out for myself, though. So after doing several other things (which I'll report on later), we thought we'd pop into DD before heading back to the hotel. Wrong! As far as I know, there wasn't any special concert going on Saturday night, and yet it took nearly 10 minutes in the turn lane just to get into the parking lot. And then for the next 20 minutes (no exaggeration) we drove up and down aisle after aisle looking for a space. It was pushing 10:00 by this time and we were all getting tired, not to mention frustrated. So we left. Advice: If you're staying at a Disney hotel, don't drive there. Take the bus. (Live and learn!) We went back to the hotel after the hot fudge sundaes for a swim and a nap. Then we headed over to Wide World of Sports. My husband is very much the athlete, so I was anxious to hear his impression. We got some little glimpses into the stadium where the Atlanta Braves train, and it looks very nice - but it was locked up so we couldn't really explore without chancing getting arrested. So we went into the Milk House and spent about 20 minutes cheering on the kids in an inline hockey tournament. (Trying to stay impartial, we cheered for both sides.) Then we wandered around outside a bit more, observing more youth soccer matches than one might believe possible. What we were looking for is the area where you can try your own hand at your favorite sports. We didn't know what it was called, but figured it couldn't possibly be all that tough to find. Wrong again. We stopped at this huge directory and couldn't find anything listed that sounded remotely correct. We visited every building and saw only sports in progress. So we asked the cast member at the turnstile. He pointed down past the Milk House and said that it was in a tent beyond the building and over the hill.And it closed at 5:00. (It was about 5:30 at this point.) Figures. Seems to me that people at Disney are often looking for non-park things to do in the early evening, so that would be a great time for it to OPEN, not close. As I've said before, if only they'd let ME run Disney! Anyway, we did get to stop in the Cafe, but we didn't put our Entertainment coupon to use there. We just used the bathrooms and scoped the place out. Looks nice, and my husband deemed it one of the best sports bars/restaurants he's seen as far as the ambiance is concerned. Then we set out for the Winter Summerland miniature golf course. I've played the Fantasia Gardens before and found it to be a very difficult course, particularly for kids. I also found that one to be seriously in need of refurbishment, so my hopes for Winter Summerland weren't high. I have to say that I was pleasantly surprised. We played the Winter course because I've heard it's easier, and it was, in fact, easy enough for my 6-year-old to play without getting too frustrated. My husband and I were both below par, but still enjoyed it. The sun was still out, so we didn't get to really feel the full flavor of the Christmas decorations and lights. I'm sure it's lovely at night. We did sing many a holiday tune as we putted our way through the course, and we also found out that the rumors about the "hole of the day" are true... They choose a different hole each day, and if you ask them to check your scorecard on your way out and they find that you got a hole in one on that hole then you get a free beverage. We had several holes in one, but none on 16. Maybe next time. Anyway, a good time was had by all and I'd play there again. We arrived about 11:15 in the morning and completely expected to be checked in and promptly sent away until our room was ready - but we were pleased to find that it was already cleaned so we were able to head to the room right away... after the obligatory roam around the lobby, of course. It's a very pleasant, bright place - and big - but not what I'd call spectacular. Just nice. Caribe Royale is a huge place, so we moved our car over to the tower we were assigned to. There were plenty of parking spaces right near the door, and a nice woman greeted us from behind a desk when we entered the building. (I think she was pushing timeshare visitations, but we didn't stick around to find out.) Our room was on the first floor. It was convenient, but there were bushes growing half way up the windows so we didn't have a good view at all. I think if we'd been up higher we'd have had a nice pool/waterfall view. There was a strange odor in the room that we decided was maybe new carpet smell. The room was long and narrow, with a sort of living room first, a bathroom and sink area in the middle and the bedroom on the far end (which could be completely shut off for privacy). The room had a pull-out sofa in the living room, a TV, an honor bar, a small microwave, and a sink. There was also a chair and coffee table, and then a small dining table with two chairs. The living room isn't large or glamorous, but it's more than you get in a standard hotel room and it was fine for our needs. The bedroom was also very basic, with two queen beds, a closet and some drawer space as well as a second TV. Comfortable, reasonably clean, and very quiet. We didn't dine in any of the restaurants, but there are several on site. We chose to go out for both meals we were there for since there are many good places near by. The pool was a huge hit with our 6-year-old, though. She was wide-eyed the first time down the water slide, but couldn't stop after that. And she loved the waterfall and being able to go behind it as well. There was a toddler pool as well with neat squirty things, but my child deemed it "for babies" and wouldn't have anything to do with it and that was fine with us... Nothing like a dip in the pool after a long day running around Orlando! Bottom line: The Caribe Royale isn't nearly as fancy as the name or the website would have you believe, and I'm glad we weren't paying $200 a night for it; but it has a great location and you get plenty of space there. If you can get it for a decent rate (under $100 a night) then go for it. If it's under $150 it might still be OK, but at some point I'd start looking at condos and small houses instead. By the way, gas prices on Disney property are GREAT! The onsite gas stations recently changed over to Hess stations, and this weekend they had regular unleaded for $1.95 a gallon. That's as much as 16 cents under prices we saw on our way up from Naples, and about 12 cents under what it is in the immediate Disney area at off-site places. Hess is in the perfect position to really stick it to park go-ers, but instead they're giving vacationers a break so please let them know you appreciate it if you stop there."
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