The Last-Minute Super-Bargain Bonus Trip

Dugette · Aug 10, 2010

We are apparently pretty spontaneous WDW people. Our September 2009 trip and our January 2010 trip were both booked about 1-1.5 months out. We just booked another trip last night. We leave in 10 days!

Before telling you all about it, let me introduce the cast:

Me ("Dugette") and DH ("Dug"). I went to WDW a couple times as a kid and loved it. Dug had not been to WDW until September 2009. He liked it too! So, we decided to go back in January 2010 for a longer visit. And, on that trip, we upgraded to Annual Passes to kick off the Year of Disney. We went to Star Wars Weekends in June and have a trip booked for Food and Wine in November and the holidays in early December.

But those trips will have their own PTRs...at some point.

So, how did this trip come about? Well, having the Annual Passes just makes me feel like we should be able to jet away to WDW for the weekend. Unfortunately, we live in Minnesota, so it's pretty far away. Not something that can be done any old weekend. However, in order to squeeze in an extra trip, I'd saved up some money out of my "fun money" (usually used for clothes, lunches out, books, toys, etc.-basically anything that's not in our household budget). I could cover about a $750 trip.

Because airfare from MN to FL has been frustratingly expensive this year, we were starting to think that this money would end up being used to upgrade a planned trip, rather than adding an extra trip. Then I got an email from Sun Country. 25% off fares, must book by August 9th.

So, last night before it expired, Dug and I sat down to look at the possibilities. There were a couple of weekends where we could fly out on a Saturday, arrive at noon, and then leave the next day, Sunday, around noon for $199.40 total/each. Good rate, not great schedule. Delta has the good schedules (flights out on Friday nights), but they charge a lot more.

Not to mention that I've been having WDW withdrawal lately and want to get back ASAP. It seems like our November trip is SO far away! But, August fares have been VERY expensive, obviously since it's so last-minute.

I mentioned to Dug that I had found out about another airline on the Dis Transportation board. I had looked at Allegiant's website a couple of weeks ago and found that there were some deals to be had out of Des Moines, Iowa (4 hours south of us). So, Dug looked it up.

Airfare out on Friday 8/20 eve was $19.99! Returning Sunday 8/22 eve was $69.99. Total for the two of us, with all taxes and fees (and skipping all the Allegiant nickel-and-diming) would be $252.74! Even adding in the cost of gas to get to/from Des Moines (around $50) and parking at the Des Moines airport (around $12), it was still cheaper than Sun Country. And we'd have an extra night. Friday night, 8/20. The night with 3am EMH at MK!!!

Next up, we checked our AP rates on resorts. Apparently booking 10 days out on a busy weekend is not easy! We wanted Pop Century, but the cheapest thing that came up was Wilderness Lodge for $379/total for the two nights. We like WL, but this was a super-budget trip, so that wouldn't do.

So, we did the unthinkable and looked off-property. But only at the lone non-WDW hotel that participates in EMH: the Downtown Disney Hilton. Turns out, with our AAA rate, it's $89/night ($200.25 total for two nights, including taxes). We booked it. (Although, if Pop were to open up, we'd consider switching).

Since we'd be staying off property, there would be no Magical Express. So, we'd need a rental car. Enterprise had economy cars for $46.11 total for our stay. And we had a free upgrade coupon with them. Booked that.

We'd need to eat while we were there. We had wanted to go to Raglan Road on a previous trip, but hadn't gotten to it yet. So, we booked that for Saturday night at 9:45pm. Also planned to try to walk up for Via Napoli on Saturday for lunch (since it's in the soft opening, it's walk-up only until September).

All this was done somewhere around midnight last night. Can't quite believe it's real! So, now I have another Disney trip to plan for! And, since I am paying for this one, I get to do whatever I want (said Dug)! This will be fun!

I'll leave it at that for now. But there are plenty more details to plan! Stay tuned!

Dugette · Aug 11, 2010

So, what would a last-minute super-bargain trip be without a change in plans? I ventured to the WDW website today, intending to check park hours, but ended up checking AP rates for our weekend again. Pop still wasn't available, but All Star Music (Preferred Room) was. And it was only $157.20 total!!

Since it's on property, we can take the Magical Express and will not need to rent the car. So, we will probably do this. I reserved the ASMu room, but we haven't cancelled the Hilton or the car yet. Between not having to pay for the car, gas, tolls, Hilton parking, and the Hilton room, we'll save about $145. Which would be good, as I'd prefer to keep this trip's total in the $600's.

More later!

jc040404 · Aug 11, 2010

Hooray for more Disney, and sooner than you expected! :woohoo:

I love all the last minute budget work. This is how I run our weekend trips to WDW, crunching numbers in a poor attempt not to spend hundreds of bucks on disney every month. :rotfl:

Too bad that Pop isn't available, but I'm loving that off property rate + EMH. That wasn't bad. ASMu does look way better with all the extras you'd have to cover though!

Hope you get into Via Napoli. I sooo wanted to try it on our last weekend, but I thought I needed to book it in advance. We totally skipped an Epcot day based on that. Silly me. I should've been reading the DIS and I would've known to just try to walk up!

Can't wait to read about it all!!

Disneymoon09 · Aug 11, 2010

wooohooo! I'm trying to convince DH to take a trip in Dec. not as last minute as this one, but close! I just cannot wait until dec 2011. i might explode if i do! Following along!

And we stayed at AsMO last year, but were actually closer to everything at music and we liked it! The food court was great and had pretty good selection, and the bus service wasnt too bad either!

Tnkrbelle565 · Aug 11, 2010

You guys are SO fun to just book a trip 10 days in advance! Can't wait to hear all about it!

Dugette · Aug 11, 2010

all! Happy to have you here! :goodvibes

jc040404 said:
Hooray for more Disney, and sooner than you expected! I love all the last minute budget work. This is how I run our weekend trips to WDW, crunching numbers in a poor attempt not to spend hundreds of bucks on disney every month. Too bad that Pop isn't available, but I'm loving that off property rate + EMH. That wasn't bad. ASMu does look way better with all the extras you'd have to cover though!

Hope you get into Via Napoli. I sooo wanted to try it on our last weekend, but I thought I needed to book it in advance. We totally skipped an Epcot day based on that. Silly me. I should've been reading the DIS and I would've known to just try to walk up!

Can't wait to read about it all!!

I love the budget stuff too. It's fun to do lots of Disney for cheap!

Yeah, I was getting excited about the Hilton, but ASMu really saves us a significant sum, with dropping the car rental. We'll see what we decide, but I think it will be ASMu (well, unless something else opens up! :rolleyes1

)

I really hope we get to try Via Napoli! We love Italian food! Of course, we do have ADRs for it on both our Nov. and Dec. trips if this doesn't work out. I'm sure you'll find a way to get there soon!

Disneymoon09 said:
wooohooo! I'm trying to convince DH to take a trip in Dec. not as last minute as this one, but close! I just cannot wait until dec 2011. i might explode if i do! Following along!

And we stayed at AsMO last year, but were actually closer to everything at music and we liked it! The food court was great and had pretty good selection, and the bus service wasnt too bad either!

Good luck with convincing your DH to go! In my case, offering to take him to WDW at no cost to him was pretty convincing! :rotfl:

That's good to know that you liked ASMu. We haven't been to any of the All Stars and are somewhat Pop-loyal. But it seems like ASMu has pretty positive reviews and we'd love to wander around and check out the All Star resorts!

Tnkrbelle565 said:
You guys are SO fun to just book a trip 10 days in advance! Can't wait to hear all about it!

Thanks!

It's totally one of those, "Did we really do this?" kinds of things! I'm sure we'll have a great time, though. And hopefully I'll be able to wait more patiently for our November trip after this!

Dugette · Aug 11, 2010

Friday morning, 8/20, we'll probably be dropping our dog off at my dad and step-mom's house. I'm so happy they agreed to watch her! They love having her (unlike Dug's family, who seems to have something against our cute little dog!), but they are out of town so often themselves that this is only the second time they've been able to take her for us. This also works well for our super-bargain-style trip, as our other option would have been to pay Dug's best friend to stay at our house (since he lives in an apt. that doesn't allow dogs). That would have probably been $50 (still cheaper than the kennel, though). So, free dog-sitting!

We both plan to work a half day on Friday and leave at lunchtime. We'll hit the road down I-35 to Des Moines after work. It's about a 4 hour drive. I figure we'll stop for a quick fast-food dinner on the way, as long as we're doing okay on time.

Seems pretty crazy to drive 4 hours to a small airport, but the rate difference sure is significant!

We'll park in the economy lot and take the shuttle to the terminal. Check in and wait for the flight at 6:55pm. We plan to travel carry-on, since we won't need much for a weekend trip. I'm hoping to each just have a duffel bag/backpack that will fit under the seat in front of us.

I was a little nervous about flying Allegiant Airlines, since I hadn't even heard of them until recently, but reading reviews on the Dis (and elsewhere) has comforted me. Seems that most people had a good experience. I'm a little bit of a nervous flyer, so I'm happy to see that they have a good safety record. I'm also glad that they fly into MCO when you come from Des Moines (a lot of their flights go into Sanford). So, Magical Express will be waiting (assuming we stay at ASMu).

We arrive at 10:40pm. We'll go to the resort, check in (to get our EMH access), drop off our bags, and head to the MK. My goal would be to get there by around 12:30am. It's open until 3am! We have loved the 2am evenings we've had at MK (no lines!), so we're hoping that we can get a lot done this late night. Including, if we're hungry, trying some Casey's Corner Corn Dog Nuggets. And we wouldn't mind snacking on a Dole Whip.

I'm sure we'll get back to the resort at some insanely late time and crash quickly. And maybe sleep in the next day...I'm still thinking about our game plan for Saturday.

That's it for now!

Dugette · Aug 14, 2010

A week from now we'll be enjoying our first (and only) FULL DAY at Disney!

But I want to go back to that 3am Friday night at the MK! In no particular order, here are the things I'd like to do:

Pirates
Haunted Mansion
Peter Pan
Splash (if it's still warm enough)
Buzz Lightyear (still working on getting that 999,999 score!)
TTA (if open)
Winnie the Pooh
PhilharMagic (maybe, time permitting)
Maybe more, if there's time...

Also, I've never tried Casey's Corn Dog Nuggets, so I'd love to pick some of those up. And we're anxious to have another Dole Whip Float from Aloha Isle.

Anybody know if the Main Street Bakery is open late? If so, it might be nice to pick up some things there for breakfast the next day.

In general, I hope to be able to soak up the atmosphere and just enjoy ending our day at the Magic Kingdom. Maybe seek out some of the things in our Hidden Magic book, we'll see.

Can't wait!

Dugette · Aug 14, 2010

Also, we got the Hilton and the rental car cancelled today. So, we're planning to go with All Star Music. That $145 savings is worth it. Plus, we won't have the added stress of dealing with new things like staying off-property, renting a car, and navigating on our own. We're spoiled by having Disney take care of all the logistics for us, I think.

Dugette · Aug 15, 2010

So, this being the quick weekend trip that it is, we only have one full day at WDW. Being that we will likely not make it back to our room until 4am the night before, we will probably need to sleep in. (The commando-touring part of me is screaming, "No, no, you need to be at a rope drop!!!")

We're currently thinking that we sleep in as long as we need to. Then, have some breakfast (either stuff from the Main Street Bakery if we were able to obtain anything the night before or something from the ASMu food court). Then we explore the All-Star resorts. Check out all the theming and take pictures. Given how crowded the parks will likely be mid-day, this seems like a good use of our time. I suppose we could swim too, we'll see.

Then, we'll head over to Epcot. We are planning to keep this a 2-park trip, just MK and Epcot. We have no burning desire to hit AK this time. And TSM is closed, so there's not as much incentive to hit DHS either.

Once we arrive at Epcot, we'll see if there are any Fast Passes worth attaining at that time. Then, we'll make our way over to World Showcase and stroll around to Italy. Check to see if we can get in at the new Via Napoli. I'm thinking it will be kind of a late lunch time at that point, so hopefully that will help. Here's what I think I'd like to have (we'd split things and use Tables in Wonderland discount):

Arancini - (fried saffron risotto balls) with mozzarella and meat ragu $10

Quattro Stagioni - eggplant, artichokes, prosciutto, mushrooms $17 (individual size pizza...not sure if we want this kind yet, still debating our options)

Coppa Di Brutti Ma Buoni - Amarena cherry and vanilla gelato sundae with cookies $10

Zeppole di Catarina - ricotta cheese fritters with whipped cream and chocolate sauce $10

Yes, that's two desserts! I can't decide and have seen good reviews on both.

After lunch, I'm thinking we have some relaxed time at Epcot. Not sure exactly what that would consist of, but here are some possibilities:

*Kim Possible mission(s)

*Wandering World Showcase

*Maelstrom and Mexico boat ride

*Spaceship Earth

*Living with the Land

*The Seas with Nemo

*Innoventions exploration

*Club Cool

*Soarin' (if we got Fast Passes earlier)

*Disney Visa Character Meet & Greet

There is the possibility of hopping over to MK if we missed something important the night before. However, I'm hoping we avoid that, as I'm sure it will be very crowded mid-day.

I'd love to catch Illuminations at 9pm, but with a 9:45pm ADR at Raglan Road, I'm not sure that can happen.

So, we'll probably have to leave through the International Gateway and walk/boat over to the Beach Club to take a bus to Downtown Disney.

Eat and enjoy the entertainment at Raglan Road. Then, with whatever time we have left (if any), we can wander around, maybe visit some shops over in the Marketplace (if we make it over there). I wouldn't mind creating some more treats at Goofy's Candy Company (to be eaten later, most likely). We're also intrigued by the sundaes at Ghirardelli, if we still have room for more food.

When Downtown Disney is closing down, we'll take a bus back to ASMu. Get some sleep before our last day.

jc040404 · Aug 15, 2010

This all sounds like so much fun! I wish dh and I had done Disney more before we had kids. I'd love to be able to stay out at MK that late! I cannot wait to hear about the food. Hope you take lots of pics!! I love that you're planning two desserts!Your plans sound great right now and it's only a few short days away! :yay:

Dugette · Aug 15, 2010

jc040404 said:
This all sounds like so much fun! I wish dh and I had done Disney more before we had kids. I'd love to be able to stay out at MK that late! I cannot wait to hear about the food. Hope you take lots of pics!! I love that you're planning two desserts!Your plans sound great right now and it's only a few short days away!

I hope it will be fun staying out that late! With any luck, maybe we can catch a nap on the plane. I can't wait for the food myself (and the two desserts)! I'm sure we'll have plenty of pictures. I can't believe we're going to WDW this week!!! :cool1:

Dugette · Aug 15, 2010

I completely forgot to mention one of our "must-do"s for Epcot! Assuming that it's still playing, we have to go see Captain EO. I saw this as a kid back in 1990, but I don't remember anything about it. So, something "new" to do!

Dugette · Aug 17, 2010

First off, we have an additional activity for Day 2 now. We just saw that the "seasonal" (i.e.-never open) attraction "Sounds Dangerous" at DHS will be open during our visit. We know that everyone says this is an awful attraction, but it is something new to us, so we'd like to hop over to DHS (only a nice boat ride away from Epcot) to check it out. Too bad that TSM is closed, though!

On to Day 3, Sunday, our last day. Epcot has Extra Magic Hours starting at 8am. So, we'll head back to Epcot and do whatever we didn't get in the previous day. I'm not sure what we'll do for breakfast. For lunch, though, we have a plan. There are a number of baked goods from France and Norway that we have wanted to try, but never had a chance to. Now's the time!

We'll probably need to return to the resort by around 1pm for the Magical Express. Our flight is at 4:10pm. We return to Des Moines around 6pm, then have a 4 hour drive home. If my dad and step-mom are still up, we'll pick up our dog. If not, in the morning.

Then work on Monday!

Such a short trip, but I can't wait!!! Only three more days!