yoopermom
Come join Bravo by the fire...
- Joined
- Sep 27, 2000
Cast:
Me, Terri the Yoopermom, turned 35 during the trip, trip planning fanatic
Yooperdad, 39, would rather be in a national park than a theme park
Yooperson, 7, thrill seeker and animal lover extraordinaire
(and joining us later )
DM, who loves WDW, but hates to fly (WDW wins out, I promise)
DSF (whose age enabled us to get a great rate at HIFS)
Pre-trip report/Planning
I swore, after being at WDW for the millennium party in Dec. 99/Jan. 00, that wed never do Disney at Xmas again. Silly me! I had started planning last spring, and, when I found out that the schools had off for two weeks over Xmas (Im a teacher, DS is a student), the decision was made. In July I snagged a Delta flight from Milwaukee-Orlando for $134/each (all fees included) for Dec. 26-Jan. 5. The times were horrible (getting in at midnight, leaving at six a.m.), but this was pre-Sept. 11, so I didnt know yet about the possibility of having to get there two hours ahead of time. I got an EA reservation for the same time period for $188 for ten days, using the DC code and coupon. All I wanted for my birthday was to spend it at the Hard Rock Hotel, but they had a four night minimum stay over the holidays, which was definitely not in our budget. Through hotelkingdom.com, I picked up two nights at $143 (all fees incl.) each, which were nonrefundable, due to the holiday season. Knowing what I know now, I would never again make a nonrefundable reservation for the first night, but were not very good early morning people, and I thought itd be better to check in late, and then sleep in. For the rest of our trip I booked HIFS at the rate of $134/night. I called about our old park hoppers, and found that they had two regular days, and three plusses on each, which saved us a tremendous amount of money. (I wonder how many people toss them not knowing that the days never expire?) AAA offered a special in late summer on passes to Universal: buy two days/get one free. I was really feeling pretty with-it and organized and then Sept. 11. I cant tell you how many times we almost postponed the entire vacation in those next few weeks. It just seemed like such a time of mourning. By early Dec. we had come to the final decision that DH just didnt want to be gone that long, so I called Delta to see about changing his return flight. The only day he could return on for only the $100 flight change fee was Dec. 29, which wouldnt give him much of a vacation, but any other change would have been tremendously expensive. DM and DSF stepped up to the plate and agreed to come down Dec. 30-Jan. 4 so DS and I would have some company for the second half of our trip. I used Priceline for the first time ever to procure a room in a hotel near the airport so DS and I wouldnt have to get up at 5:30 a.m. to take DH to the airport. I also used it to find a room near Sanibel Beach for the next night. I changed our HIFS reservations to the senior rate, which saved an immense amount of money. I had already planned on doing Universal first, when it would be crowded, but we would have FOTL access since we were staying onsite. We hoped that by putting WDW off until the new year that the crowds would have subsided somewhat. I spent many hours haunting this site, putting together information, and filling a three-ring binder with all the necessities. It was really fun to plan, and the countdown to the actual trip went so fast!
Me, Terri the Yoopermom, turned 35 during the trip, trip planning fanatic
Yooperdad, 39, would rather be in a national park than a theme park
Yooperson, 7, thrill seeker and animal lover extraordinaire
(and joining us later )
DM, who loves WDW, but hates to fly (WDW wins out, I promise)
DSF (whose age enabled us to get a great rate at HIFS)
Pre-trip report/Planning
I swore, after being at WDW for the millennium party in Dec. 99/Jan. 00, that wed never do Disney at Xmas again. Silly me! I had started planning last spring, and, when I found out that the schools had off for two weeks over Xmas (Im a teacher, DS is a student), the decision was made. In July I snagged a Delta flight from Milwaukee-Orlando for $134/each (all fees included) for Dec. 26-Jan. 5. The times were horrible (getting in at midnight, leaving at six a.m.), but this was pre-Sept. 11, so I didnt know yet about the possibility of having to get there two hours ahead of time. I got an EA reservation for the same time period for $188 for ten days, using the DC code and coupon. All I wanted for my birthday was to spend it at the Hard Rock Hotel, but they had a four night minimum stay over the holidays, which was definitely not in our budget. Through hotelkingdom.com, I picked up two nights at $143 (all fees incl.) each, which were nonrefundable, due to the holiday season. Knowing what I know now, I would never again make a nonrefundable reservation for the first night, but were not very good early morning people, and I thought itd be better to check in late, and then sleep in. For the rest of our trip I booked HIFS at the rate of $134/night. I called about our old park hoppers, and found that they had two regular days, and three plusses on each, which saved us a tremendous amount of money. (I wonder how many people toss them not knowing that the days never expire?) AAA offered a special in late summer on passes to Universal: buy two days/get one free. I was really feeling pretty with-it and organized and then Sept. 11. I cant tell you how many times we almost postponed the entire vacation in those next few weeks. It just seemed like such a time of mourning. By early Dec. we had come to the final decision that DH just didnt want to be gone that long, so I called Delta to see about changing his return flight. The only day he could return on for only the $100 flight change fee was Dec. 29, which wouldnt give him much of a vacation, but any other change would have been tremendously expensive. DM and DSF stepped up to the plate and agreed to come down Dec. 30-Jan. 4 so DS and I would have some company for the second half of our trip. I used Priceline for the first time ever to procure a room in a hotel near the airport so DS and I wouldnt have to get up at 5:30 a.m. to take DH to the airport. I also used it to find a room near Sanibel Beach for the next night. I changed our HIFS reservations to the senior rate, which saved an immense amount of money. I had already planned on doing Universal first, when it would be crowded, but we would have FOTL access since we were staying onsite. We hoped that by putting WDW off until the new year that the crowds would have subsided somewhat. I spent many hours haunting this site, putting together information, and filling a three-ring binder with all the necessities. It was really fun to plan, and the countdown to the actual trip went so fast!
