While most people are making resolutions to eat less, I'm making plans to eat more - at Disney World! My December Disneyland trip is behind me and it's time to start looking toward the next big stop, which will be Disney World in September. My goal with the blog this year is to share each step of the planning process with you and give additional advice along the way.
Let me start by showing you a checklist of what I've completed already:
Disney's Contemporary Resort booked (dates: 9/16-9/23) and deposit ($200) paid
Best Western Orlando Gateway hotel booked (dates: 9/23-9/26) with no deposit required
Disney's Contemporary Resort was available to me at a special discount through the Disney travel agent rate.
I found the Best Western hotel on a "secret" price deal through hotels.com - the fine print indicates that the $254.45 is for a King bed suite and includes all resort fees and taxes. This hotel is located 1.3 miles from Universal Orlando.
I also took the plunge and applied for the Disney Premier Visa card. The perks include 1% back on all purchases and 2% back at gas stations, grocery stores, and most Disney locations. The rewards are offered in two forms: as a statement credit toward airfare purchased on the card or as Disney Dream Reward Dollars. For a frequent Disney traveler, the Disney Dream Reward Dollars can be added to a reloadable card and used, dollar for dollar, at the parks. I received my Disney Premier Visa in October and have been using it for all of my daily purchases in order to accumulate rewards for my trip! I will be writing a blog post dedicated to the Disney Visa card options in the near future.
So let's re-cap: Disney World hotel, Universal Orlando area hotel, and Disney Premier Visa card. Yup, those are the three things I've accomplished so far. I am currently creating a spreadsheet of dining options for each park, complete with prices of the options we would most likely choose, so that I can compare the cost of the Disney dining plan with the actual cost of the meals we would eat. I'm still on-the-fence about the Disney dining plan for couples. I absolutely see the value in using it for families because it offers snack options and fast dining but I'm a bit of a foodie when I visit the Disney parks and I don't like to be restricted with the options of where I can eat. I'll give an update on my progress with this task in the next month or two.
Nine months prior to the Disney World vacation is what I consider the "grey zone". There isn't much I can do at this point because airline schedules haven't been released, which also means most car rental agencies don't have updated pricing available either. I can't make dining reservations for Disney until 180 days (6 months) so I'm stuck in planning mode for a while longer. I'm taking this time to read reviews on restaurants and the new additions to Disney World and Universal Orlando. I am super excited to see progress on the Pandora expansion at Animal Kingdom and try out the new Skull Island: Reign of Kong experience at Universal's Islands of Adventure! Stay tuned for more planning updates :)
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