Avoid Disney Cruise Fuel Surcharges - book before 28th May....

Well, the global price of oil keeps going up, so we're seeing fuel surcharges everywhere we look these days.

Disney Cruise Line will be adding a fuel surcharge to their cruises shortly, but are at least giving us a month or so of "heads up" time. If you book your cruise before May 28th 2008, then you will not be charged the surcharges.

After that time the surcharges will be:

$8 per person, per day for the first two Guests in a stateroom and $3 per day for all other Guests. It is effective for new bookings only made on or after May 28, 2008. Additionally, the surcharge will be capped at $112 each for the first and second Guests in a stateroom and $42 each for all other Guests in the stateroom.

Eat free and one child flies free too!

Canadian tour operator Nolitours has a new Walt Disney World Resort offer available in which one child flies free with a Disney vacation booking, as well as the free Disney Dining Plan (mentioned previously).

The child flies free offer is available for bookings made by June 22 for travel Fridays and Saturdays May 2 to June 20 and Aug. 30 to Oct. 25. Nolitours features Montreal and Toronto departures only, at this time of year. One child flies free (ages 3-9) when travelling with two paying adults staying at a Disney Resort Hotel (the child pays taxes only).

The free Disney Dining Plan is valid with a seven-night stay at a select Walt Disney World Resort Hotel combined with a 7-Day Magic Your Way Base Ticket. Disney packages must be booked by June 22 for travel Aug. 24 to Sept. 20. Disney’s "Magic Your Way" packages include round-trip airfare from Toronto, seven-night accommodation at a Walt Disney World Resort, 7-day Magic your Way Base Ticket, Free Disney Dining Plan and transfers. Prices start from $699 per adult and $349 per child (ages 3-9) at a Disney Value Resort and only $949 per adult and $349 per child in a Disney Moderate Resort.

Some useful links for the Disney Dining Plan

As the Disney Dining Plan is very popular, and individual restaurants can be booked 180 days in advance, you are strongly recommended to book your dining in advance - the earlier the better!

As for helping out with making some dining plan decisions, here are a few resources that should be helpful...

For the calendars of events - invaluable in working out what is going to be on day-by-day at the various Disney parks - go to Disney World Park Overview page - choose each park in turn, and click on the "calendar" link (about a third of the way down the page on the right). This may be your first stop, in case it influences your location for dining...

Link to the document showing all the restaurants participating in the 2008 Dining Plan.

Complete list of Disney restaurants, menus and prices (unofficial website, but generally very accurate as it is updated frequently).

You can book all the restaurants through one central number 1-407-WDW-DINE.

Hope this helps.

It's Back!!! Free dining plan from Walt Disney World

The Walt Disney World Resort is launching a specially discounted Magic Your Way Package that includes a free Disney Dining Plan for stays most nights from Aug. 24 to Sept. 20, 2008.

For example, for a limited time only, you could purchase the five-night, six-day Magic Your Way Package for a family of four including accommodations and Theme Park tickets and get a free Disney Dining Plan included for as little as US$1,354 (price based on two adults, one junior and one child at select Disney Value Resorts in a standard room).

Other lengths of stay and resort categories are also available, but availability is limited.

This offer includes

• select Disney Value Resort accommodations,
  
• a Magic Your Way Base ticket (though you can add the Park Hopper and/or the Water Park Fun and More too if you want)
  
• the Disney Dining Plan.

With Disney's Dining Plan, you can choose from more than 100 participating restaurants. For each night of your package, you will enjoy: One (1) table-service meal; One (1) quick-service meal; and One (1) snack. The offer excludes gratuities and alcoholic beverages. Children ages 3 to 9 must choose from the children's menu if available.

Another nice feature this year, is that if you would like to upgrade to the "Deluxe Dining Plan" offering 3 table-service meals per day, plus 2 snacks, you can still get it on this special - you would just pay the upgrade cost of $30 per adult and $9 per child. FOOD-A-RAMA!!!!

This discount must be booked between April 10 and June 22, but if previous years are any indication the availability will likely be gone within a few weeks.

See More of the World for Less

This spring, let us help you plan a family vacation to some of the world's greatest destinations — and help you save money too.

For a limited time, Adventures by Disney is offering savings on select itineraries.

You can save up to $650 per adult and $600 per child off the regular rate on these select

• Grande Espana
• Backstage Magic
• Spirit of America
• Path to Pura Vida
• Imperial Cities and
• Taste of Tuscany.

Just be sure to book by May 31, 2008 and the world will be at your fingertips!

Free dining promotion? Coming soon?

We've heard rumours that Disney will be announcing their super-popular "Free Dining" promotion for travel in August/September 2008, soon - on April 10th, we think...

Watch this space!

New Disney Special for the Spring

How about a wonderful springtime visit to the Walt Disney World Resort in Florida? There’s so much going on with The Year of a Million Dreams celebration, Mickey’s Pirate and Princess Party, the Epcot International Flower and Garden Festival, the new Block Party Bash and more!

Now you can save on accommodations at select Disney Value Resort hotels with this limited-time offer.

• From $84 per night, plus tax
  
• at Select Disney Value Resorts
• for stays most Sunday through Thursday nights
• April 20 – May 21, 2008
• in a standard room.

Hurry! Book by April 19, 2008. At these rates this offer is likely to go fast.

Package discounts (based on the same room discount) are also available, with or without the Disney Dining Plan, or Disney Deluxe Dining Plan.

Contact us for details...

Another short sweet Westjet sale...

Today only!
Westjet are advertising Orlando flights "from" $109 each way plus tax... again.

Why not check out your dates, and see if you can find space at this great rate. Couple it with a nice strong Canadian dollar, and an ongoing Disney World special and you could find a really nice price for a Disney World vacation...

If you need someone to help plan and book everything - you can contact me!

Cheers!

A busy day of saving my clients' money...

I believe that I have now researched all of my clients that potentially could benefit from the new Disney special announced the day before yesterday - see previous post.

I was able to swap over every one of the files that I worked on today!! Guests saved, on average, nearly $100 per person. It took a long time to do, so I have not contacted most of my clients yet - indeed it make take a few days to get around to everyone - so in the meantime, if you are one of my clients and you think you qualify for the special, drop me an email and see if I got it for you...

If you have already paid in full, you will see a refund from Disney. If you have not yet paid your final balance, the final amount will be reduced.

Have a magical weekend!

A Disney World Offer So Good You'll Have to Take It For A Spin!

Just announced... Free Park Hopper and Water Park Fun & More ticket upgrades when you purchase this 5-night / 6-day package including Theme Park Tickets. Now you can come live out more Disney dreams because The Year of a Million Dreams celebration is continuing for one final year. And with this special package you can do it all with FREE upgrades to the Park Hopper Option and Water Park Fun & More Option. Enjoy enchanting new entertainment, fantastic new attractions and the dream-making magic Disney Cast Members create for Guests every day. It’s the best way to experience all the magic the world has to offer. Select Disney Value Resort hotels in a standard room. Available for stays most Sundays through Thursday nights 3/30/08 – 4/6/08, 4/10/08-4/20/08 and 4/27/08-5/21/08. Hurry! You must book by March 21, 2008! *The number of rooms allocated for this offer is limited. Tickets and options must be used within 14 days of first use. No group rates or other discounts apply. Water Parks subject to seasonal and weather closures. ©Disney (Source Disneytravelagents.ca)

Westjet Vacations - Parents Fly Free!

Yes, it does say "parents", just for a change!

For selected dates, every child taking their parent to Disney will get a free ticket for their parent. So two kids can get 2 free parents. Taxes are additional, of course, as well as the accommodation, passes and all the rest of the goodies. Still, it should be several hundred dollars in savings.

Travel dates are advertised as being from March 30th through May 21st, though this may be a little misleading, as the only dates that they outline in the detailed web page (linked below) are in April... if I can clarify that later, I will.

For full details of the new special please please click - "Parents Fly Free Special"

So what's the use of having a blog if you don't actually blog?!!

Yes...

Well I knew that I had not been adding posts much lately, but I didn't realise that it was nearly 3 months since the last one!!

For many of my clients you will know that the months of December and January are our busiest months of the year at the office. Those same clients will hopefully understand that blogging was not my priority at this time!

Plus, there have not been any "specials" as such to tell you about for Disney World in the last 3 months - I would have made sure that I added that to the blog.

Today, though Westjet Vacations introduced a special on their flight-inclusive packages.

There are also various items if Disney-travel news that I will be catching up with, as I can - such as the new cruise destinations for the Disney cruises, Pirate and Princess parties back at Walt Disney World, some operational updates on various Disney World hotels etc.

Hopefully I will be a bit more visible online in the near future!

Happy New Year! Ha ha!

Mickey set to make house calls

Families booking a Walt Disney Parks and Resorts vacation between now and Dec. 23 will get a personal call from Mickey Mouse announcing the good news on Christmas Day. Parents can plan their trips and have Mickey Mouse call their house and give the “magical surprise” to their kids on Dec. 25. They can also select the greeting that Mickey gives their families -- either “Merry Christmas” or “Happy Holidays.”

“Many families purchase Walt Disney World vacations as Christmas gifts for their kids,” said Walt Disney World president Meg Crofton. “The call from Mickey is a creative, personalized way to bring magic into homes on Christmas morning and to get kids excited about their incredible gift.” www.disneyworld.com/holidaycall

Last year a number of our clients got calls from Mickey Mouse at Christmas, and they really enjoyed receiving them. Last year there wasn't a restriction based on "booking date" - anyone travelling in Jan or Feb could get the call - maybe Disney will add that option a bit later, for those of you that have already booked...

Disney Special still on, and extended to March!

The specials that I posted about last time, still apply, see below, subject to availability (book by Dec 15th) and there are some new dates to take advantage of. Travel dates now extend to March 15th - which even includes Ontario March Break! However, flights are pretty expensive now for that time, so what you save on the special, you'll more than spend on the airfare...

New Disney Special - FREE upgraded tickets

Hi again,
At the end of last week Disney announced another new special for travel in January and February 2008.

For package vacations - meaning Disney resort and tickets purchased together - (though availability is limited, and is not at all room types at all resorts) you can pay for a "Base Ticket" and get an automatic upgrade to include the "Park Hopper" and "Water Park Fun and More". This is a value of almost $100 per person.

This special is available with or without any of the dining plans.

There is a Canadian version of this special, (call me and mention "ZWD" or "ZWE", "ZWF", "ZWG" or "ZWI"), but there is also an American version (for bookings made by Visa) and likely will also be an other special code (not needing to be paid by Visa) announced next week. All of these offers are sharing the same inventory of space, so if you are interested, you need to move quickly as the space will likely sell out shortly.

Travel dates are 1st-17th of January and 20th January - 13th February. Travel must be booked by Dec 15th.

Incidentally, I was able to find space on this special for almost all of my booked clients that were eligible, and they have already been swapped over to it; and all have saved significantly...

Disney World Fall Special - last few days

Just a reminder that Disney World has a discounted room special for travel from 21st October to December 23rd, that is still on until October 20th (or if booking with our travel agency, October 19th).

The rates save approx 10-15% the room portion of the package, so are a reasonable, if not stellar saving. However, availability is very limited, and there are blackout dates around US Thanksgiving.

Disney's Oct to Dec "Holiday" special

Oops, I am a few days late posting this one. Sorry...
(I'm not sure exactly why I am so very busy these days, but it must have something to do with the 3 wedding groups that I am working on... I am a few days behind with a lot of things, including updating this blog!)

It's not the greatest special that has ever been seen - it is a reduced room rate as part of a package - but it is still better than nothing. Click here to see a flyer.

You must pay with a Visa card to get the rate. As with many of Disney's fall specials, availability is very limited. This is by no means a "blanket" discount across all resorts and dates. It could more accurately be described as a "mopping-up" special, trying to sell off some unused days during the quieter months in the fall.

Check in dates are:

• 30th September 2007-19th November 2007,
  
• 24th November 2007-28th November 2007 and
  
• 8th December 2007-23rd December 2007.
  

The package must include at least a minimum stay of 3 nights and at least a 1-Day Magic Your Way ticket, and the discount may be applied to a "Magic Your Way Package" or a "Magic Your Way Package Plus Dining".

It must be booked by the 26th September 2007.

Disney's New Deluxe Dining Plan

For those that thought that 'Disney's Dining Plan" was too limited, but know the Premium or Platinum Packages are, shall we say, rather expensive, you may be interested in the new "Deluxe Dining Plan".

• $69.99/adult (US) and $19.99/child per night (US).
  
• Each guest will receive 3 meals and 2 snacks per night .
• You can choose from table service or counter service for each meal (so you might as well eat all table service meals - if you are organized enough to make that many reservations, and if you can eat that much food!!).
• The table service meals include appetizer (yes, really! - this was just removed from the standard dining plan - see my previous post), entrée, dessert and non-alcoholic beverage.
• "Signature Restaurants and Dinner Shows" still count as 2 table service meals with this plan.
• There is one other extra - a souvenir refillable mug per person, which can be used at your resort.
  

Another Change

Walt Disney World 2008 Package Changes continued...

Also starting in 2008, season changes/nightly rates will be handled differently. In a move that is arguably "fairer", and relatively "price-neutral", you will now pay the going rate for rooms based on the season (and the day of the week, with weekends being higher), not just the date that you check in.

In the past, if you checked in on the last day of value season, you would get the value season price all the way through your stay, even if the second day onwards was peak season (as you were able to do for Christmas...) Or if you were unlucky enough to have to check in on the last day of peak season, you would be paying peak rate for the duration of your stay, even if the next day the price went back to value season.

Starting in 2008, if you have a season change on the second day, you will pay the going rate for the first night and a different rate for the the next 6 (or two different rates, weekday and weekend). The price will not be "broken down" for you - it will still be a "package" price - but it will have been calculated in a different way in the background.

All this means that some of the "jumping through hoops" that we used to have to do for clients will be eliminated, but it also means that you will not be able to snag those sneaky good deals for travel near Christmas as of 2008.

Once again, the rest of 2007 is unaffected.

Disney Dining Plan - Now "Value-Reduced"!!

We have been a little bit dismayed to learn of some changes to the Disney dining plan - for 2008 - which may help to slow down the run-away usage of this super-popular dining plan...

Specifically, the "table-service" meal dining plan:

• is $1 cheaper than in 2007 - (yay!)... but...
  
• no longer includes an appetizer (apparently people complained that there was "just too much food"!!), and no longer includes gratuities (apparently many people were tipping as well, even though gratuities were included before...)
• So now they are charging essentially the same amount of money for less food and people have to tip on top. To our eyes, that's no improvement...

As far as we know, there is no change to the counter-service meal or the snack.

The dining plan is still better value than buying the same food "off-plan", but for some families the dining plan was "borderline" value before (if you don't need to have a proper "sit-down" dinner every day, for example, or if your kids are 10 or 11 and would prefer the food on a kids menu still). This latest change may end up taking the Dining Plan right off the menu for those people... It will be something to think about, certainly.

Dedicated Disney-watchers will note that this is the only "bad news" that I have posted on this blog. Generally-speaking I am very supportive of the Disney World product and experience as I believe it is one of the best travel experiences that many families will ever have, and is very good value for the fun that you will have. This is the first material change to a package that I can remember Disney introducing, which I think is a clear reduction in value. Hopefully Disney will forgive my negative comments... Or, better still will re-think the change!!!

Please Note: coverage for the rest of 2007 is unchanged

Walt Disney World ticket prices increase

As of Sunday, August 5 single-day tickets went from $71.36 to $75.62 (including tax). All multi-day tickets increased in price. Click here to see a chart of the new prices.

The following additional changes apply:

• No more advance purchase discounts on 4-Day and longer tickets. This makes the increase on 4-Day and longer tickets even bigger.
• The "No Expiration" add-on has increased in price by $5 plus tax. The Park Hopper and Water Park Fun & More add-ons cost the same.
• When purchasing your tickets directly from Disney, the number of Water Park admissions included in the Water Park Fun & More add-on is now tied to the number of days on the ticket, for tickets of 2 days or more. So a 2-Day Ticket with Water Park Fun & More will include 2 Water Park admissions; a 5-Day Ticket with Water Park Fun & More will include 5 Water Park admissions, etc. For some tickets this means fewer water park admissions than before; for others it means more.
  

Source: Mousesavers.com

Disney Packages for 2008 now available

Finally - we have been waiting for this for a while - we are able to price and book Disney World packages for 2008. So bring me your uninspired, your bored, your befuddled masses, longing to be Disneyfied...!

I'm back! and WestJet has a US seat sale...

I am back in the office after my paternal leave.

One of the first things catching my attention when catching up with my emails was notice of a new seat sale with Westjet. But it's not going on for long...

Book by July 10, 2007 at 11:59 p.m. MDT.
Travel until September 5, 2007.
Flights may not operate on certain days.

Orlando flights are available from $169 each way plus all the taxes etc. which actually isn't all that spectacular! But it's not bad, either...

A new arrival

Some of you may know that I am on paternity leave right now (though still, strangely, working every day for the travel agency!....) as my wife gave birth to our 3rd child in the early hours of last Monday morning - 11th June.

We named him Orlando.

And because this is my Disney news blog, and I am a Disney Specialist, and because there are a number of potential possible Disney links to that particular name!, I wish to explain our choice...

1. He is not named after the location of Disney World! (Nice though that city may be...)
2. He was not even conceived there, (though we calculate that he has been there in utero. He must have been about as big as a pin-head, so likely does not remember it much!)
3. He is not named after Orlando Bloom, star of Disney's Pirates of the Caribbean movies. (Nice-looking though my wife may find him...)

So why "Orlando"?

1. The name has been in both sides of our families for several generations.
2. My wife who is part-Venezuelan wanted a Spanish-sounding name to offset my English-sounding last name (Robinson).
3. We both like the name, it's a little unusual and we felt that somehow, it suited our son...

So there you have it. Much more information than you could possibly have wanted!

Two Disney offers expire soon

Hello Disney fans!

This post is really a reminder that two of Disney's travel specials come to a close within 3 weeks or so... If you are thinking of getting away, Disney style, maybe you should consider these.

"Adventures by Disney" - kids travel for free - on selected tours. Check out my original posts for details, a large pdf flyer and a link to the "Adventures by Disney" website... must book by June 30th...

And don't forget the FREE dining offer - still going on for travel 26th August through 22nd Sept. My original post has the details. This very popular offer can save a family of 4 as much as $1100 US for a week! Well worth it, even if otherwise you would not have considered the dining plan.