The Grand Fiesta 10th Anniversary Trip - Pre-trip Final Update 8/10 About This Page:

[christiejay]

This sounds great, Marnie. I wish I could stay that long, although like you, I don't know how I'd manage to get over to Universal. Isn't that like treason or something? [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/grin.gif[/img] The ticket deals do make it tempting, though. [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/082502yes_prv.gif[/img]

[ilovedisney0_0]

Wow [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/eek.gif[/img], you are going to have such a magical trip!! [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/fairy2.gif[/img] that the hurricanes stay away! [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/grin.gif[/img]
Amy

[pparm]

Sounds like you've got a great trip planned!
Enjoy

Paula

[Cam22]

Your plans look fabulous! I'm excited now for you all to go and let us know how everything went! Not too much longer!

[SharonK0527]

What a fantastic trip you have planned Marnie!! You are going to love the cruise, especially with the verandah. That's the only way to go.

I can't wait to hear more about it!!! [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/grin.gif[/img]

[kimkdmm]

Wow Marnie...you have some great plans [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/grin.gif[/img] I'm so excited to read all about your trip soon!!

[Steph A]

Sounds like a wonderful trip. I can't wait to hear all about it when you return.

Have a great trip!
Steph A

[LuvMinnie]

[img]/ubb/images/graemlins/toast.gif[/img] Great pre-trip update...everything sounds perfect!
I can't believe your time is so close either. I remember seeing 500, 400, 300 days to go! [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/eek.gif[/img] DH is really into this trip (excellent training Marnie) [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/rofl2.gif[/img] [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/rofl2.gif[/img]

The deal at Universal is great, I saw it & they still have a nice one. The front line excess is worthwhile, the lines get pretty long (like Disney) We stayed at Portofino (GF) and HardRock (your kids would like this one) both are beautiful Deluxe Hotels if you change your mind.
Great planner & financial wizard, can't believe how much you've already paid off. It's going to be Fantastic trip![img]/ubb/images/graemlins/woot.gif[/img]
Well, like everyone else said, keep the details coming![img]/ubb/images/graemlins/toast.gif[/img]

[Colexis Mom]

<font color="blue">Pre-trip: Update #3

Par for the course, Disney thru a wrinkle into our plans! All of a sudden they are announcing FREE DINING [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/hungry.gif[/img] And it would be available when we were traveling [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/woot.gif[/img] That never happens to us [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/082502no_prv.gif[/img] I got all flustered and started crunching numbers all weekend long. Should we? Shouldn’t we? What to do? The stress was killing me! We have 3 separate reservations which is not conducive to any package plan [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/zcry.gif[/img] I crunched and crunched (fitting since it was tax season), talked it over with Maureen and decided to give the dining plan a try. This meant we’d have to do some re-arranging on our hotel plans. We’d get the most out of the dining plan when we were at the BC since I had most of the ADRs booked for then. Four nights wasn’t going to be enough though to really break even, since I now had to buy one day passes and lost my AAA discount on the room. I chopped a night off at AKL (shhh! Don’t tell Colin) and changed it to 3 nights, and added a night onto BC to make that one 5 nights. That should give us enough time to make the most use of our dining credits. I would have rather extended the AKL stay, but since free dining didn’t’ kick in until our 3rd day there, it wouldn’t have worked. [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/082502no_prv.gif[/img] Maureen was able to make all our changes [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/thanx.gif[/img] This also meant I’d have to rearrange some meals I had already reserved. I moved PSB from Sunday to Tuesday so that it would be covered under the plan. I added Concourse Steakhouse to our list for dinner. I’m trying to get the biggest bang for my buck out of the plan, and we’ve never eaten there before. I’m hoping the monorail will help to entertain the kids, just like it did for Kiara in Nala’s report! I also had to move our Garden Grill back a day or two, but that was fine as I might cancel it altogether.

Well, the whole trip is planned, right? Not so fast [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/shameonyou.gif[/img] Where oh where is the airfare?? Was Southwest ever going to release dates into August? Apparently they were considering not to, as they waited until April 19th to do so [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/mad.gif[/img] The airfare costs us $285 per person, round trip. [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/ouch.gif[/img] Never have we paid so much. I guess that’s what you get with high oil prices. Hopefully there is a Ding in my future. We take the last flight out at night, and the first flight out in the morning, so I figure if anything is going to be discounted, it should be those. Keep your fingers crossed! I guess I should consider myself lucky, as Delta wanted $320 and USAir wanted $500 [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/eek.gif[/img] [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/eek.gif[/img] [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/eek.gif[/img]

Finally everything seems to be set. I booked a rental car thru Alamo (first time using them) 6 months in advance to get a cheap rate ($288 for a mid-size SUV for 17 days – not too shabby). I’m having second thoughts that we can fit all our stuff into this car, and of course second thoughts because it is Alamo after all! We normally get a fullsize Impala, which has a huge trunk. So I’ve been on the prowl for a new rental car ressie, but everything right now is going to cost $500. We’ll make it fit into the SUV if we have too! Hopefully as we get closer, Alamo and preferably National will put out better deals. I added dinner at ‘Ohana, as the food is so good there, and hopefully we can get a stop in at the Kona Café as well. I want to try the Tonga Toast.

As it was getting closer to the 90 day mark, I was getting nervous. I wanted to try and get an IllumiNations cruise! Would I be successful?

Coming Up next………….I was supposed to call when???</font>

[chezp]

How [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/cool.gif[/img] that you'll be able to take advantage of the free dining, but my goodness those airfares! [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/jawdrop.gif[/img] Honestly, it doesn't cost much more to fly from here to Orlando than US Air wanted! [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/eek.gif[/img]

[lonereb]

Love the TR. Sounds like you are going to have alot of fun. More please!!!

[SharonK0527]

That's great Marnie that you will get to try the dining plan. It sounds like you were able to rearrange your plans nicely. I know what you mean about Southwest. They are normally the cheapest airline out of Columbus and lately the fares have been going up.

Good luck and can't wait to hear more!! [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/grin.gif[/img]

[disneydani]

Thanks for the update....
[img]/ubb/images/graemlins/fairy2.gif[/img] [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/fairy2.gif[/img] [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/fairy2.gif[/img] [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/fairy2.gif[/img]
....for a Ding!

[Tara O'Hara]

Marnie, I can't wait to see if the dining plan works out for you guys! Thanks for the update! [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/woot.gif[/img]

[DrDolphin]

Wow Marnie - how great you get to take advantage of free dining!!