Yesterday was a big day for me...I made the final payment to the TA for our WDW trip in September!!!
We'll be headed to the world Sept 17th to Sept 22!
First...a little background. Hubby and I went to WDW for our honeymoon way back in Sept 1993. Loved it! In May 2000, we decided to do a trip with his family. Me, Hubby, Hubby's mom, Hubby's 2nd youngest brother's (now ex-)wife and her 7 year old daughter (Niece #1), Hubby's youngest brother and his 6 year old daughter (Niece #2), Hubby's Sister and her 6 year old daughter (Niece #3). The girls were at such a great age to fully enjoy what WDW had to offer. We had such a blast that trip that we decided to do Disney every 7 years. Unfortunately, when we were supposed to do our next family trip in 2007, no one in Hubby's family could afford a vacation. So we went by ourselves...and still had a blast! Well...here we are 7 years later. We started planning our family trip around Thanksgiving last year. Niece #3 went and married a total loser and can't afford/doesn't want to go. (Hasn't been married a year yet and already talking divorce...but that's another story.) Niece #2 has a boyfriend (at the time he was a boyfriend, now he's a fiance!) that goes to school year-round. The only time he has off is in June. Hubby & I don't want to do Disney during the peak summer season. That's why we travel in Sept. The Niece #1 and her fiance wanted to go with Niece #2. Mom & Niece #2's dad wanted to go with the girls. Can't blame them. Niece #2's dad backed out about 2 months ago. Mom also backed out because she didn't want to be a 5th wheel. So Niece #2 & #3 are there now with their fiances enjoying every minute. I told them I want a complete trip report when they get back.
Anyway, at the end of December, we went to the TA and booked our trip- 5 nights at the Wilderness Lodge, Woods View Room, 4-day Park Hopper Tickets (we're going to Universal for 1 full day and figured we'd save a little money by getting Disney tix for 1 less day), and 5-day Deluxe Dining Plan. The trip had to be paid off by June 17th. I calculated that $300 every payday had to go towards our Disney Vacation. Wow! That's a big chunk of change, but we made it work. Every payday I was at the TA giving her $300. About a month later I get an email with a room discount or free dining PIN. I called the TA. She crunched the number. The discount for Wilderness Lodge was 35%, which would save us $635. That was a better deal than the free dining since it was only Standard Dining and we'd have to pay to upgrade to Deluxe. She called Disney and got my 35% discount applied to our reservation! (I love travel agents! 
) This also lowered my payment to $250 every payday. And yesterday I paid it off!!!
We'll be flying out of Atlantic City on Spirit Air. We normally fly out of Philadelphia, but my husband's a member of Spirit's $9 fare club. Even with having to pay for checked bags, carry-on bags and seats, we still saved about $200 each over any flight out of Philly. We'll be spending the night before at Harrah's casino in Atlantic City. We both have their Total Rewards card, so our room is free, but any money we saved on airfare will probably be lost on gambling in the casino. Who knows though...we just might win some extra spending money. 
(but I doubt it). I rationalize it by telling myself that my vacation is starting when I get to Atlantic City instead of when I get to Disney, 16 hours sooner.
Since Hubby likes to golf, we'll be renting a car instead of using DME. Plus, like I said, we're going to Universal for a day. The car will come in handy for that also.
We don't do a whole lot of pre-planning so I don't know what parks we'll go to on which days. The only exception to that is Universal. We're going there on Fri, Sept. 19th.
Our dinner reservations are as follows:
Wed, Sept. 17- California Grill. Hoping to catch Wishes while we're there.
Thur, Sept. 18- Victoria & Albert's. This is our actual 21st anniversary.
Fri, Sept. 19- I have no clue where we'll be eating on this day.
Sat, Sept, 20- Be Our Guest
Sun, Sept. 21- Yachtsman Steakhouse
That's all I have planned for now. I'll add to the report when more plans are made.
~ Barb ~
A wonderful stroke of pixie dust that you got the room discount~ !!!!!
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