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 In This NewsletterFrom the Authors: Site,
Surveys, and a Giveaway!
Travel Feature:
Priceline -- Is It For You?
Disney Feature:
Planning Your Park Days
Updates: What's New and Changed
Tips: Label Cameras, Second Parade, Resort Day
Q&A:
Grad Nights and E-Ride Nights
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Updates:
What's New and Changed
Disney-MGM Studios will
host Star Wars weekends again in May, starting on May 16. There should be lots of Star
Wars stars and characters, a "Jedi Training Camp" for kids, plus a special Star
Wars edition of "Who Wants To Be A Millionaire--Play It!" with movie questions
and guest star appearances. Get more info at http://www.starwars.com
You can now apply for the new Disney Visa Card, which promises rewards and benefits. If
you apply before March 24, you get a special pin and "Cardmember since Day 1"
embossed on your card. To apply, visit http://www.firstusa.com
The Orlando Sentinel reports that two sponsors are leaving Walt Disney World: FedEx is
leaving Space Mountain and GE is leaving IllumiNations.
Pleasure Island is celebrating the luck o' the Irish during a special St. Patrick's Day
celebration on March 14-17. Of course there will be green beer and booze, plus live music.
Owners of our new Disney Cruise Line guidebook: The chart on pages 74-75 needs some
updating! While it was based on as accurate information as we could get from Disney and
other sources, a few errors crept in. We will make a new chart available once we have
enough data! So if you've been on a Disney cruise, or have one booked, please fill out our
DCL Stateroom
Capacity Survey
(Our thanks to All Ears
Newsletter for alerting us to portions of this news. Be sure to subscribe to their
excellent newsletter at http://www.allearsnet.com)
>Things To Do: Hear some news? Send it to us at
news@passporter.com.
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Disney Tips:
From Fellow Readers
LABEL YOUR CAMERA
"We learned by experience that putting a return address sticker on your disposable
camera would save a lot of tears from a small child! And we probably would have received
our 'lost' camera in the mail from Walt Disney World when we got home. So label those
cameras before you go!" -- contributed by Elizabeth W.
GO FOR THE SECOND PARADE
"If there are two parades running in the evening, wait until the second parade. We
noticed most people do the first parade/fireworks and then leave. We usually grab a spot
on the curb on Main Street after the first parade/fireworks and you can literally watch
the people leave by the thousands! It is a great time to people watch. We stake out our
spots and then take turns looking in the shops, walking with the kids, and getting cookies
and ice cream before the parade starts." -- contributed by Jeri H.
PLAN A RESORT DAY
"If you are staying for several days, have at least one resort day. A lot of people
don't really take time to enjoy their resort. It makes your vacation so much better to
because you're not so exhausted when you get home." -- contributed by Stacey
>Notes: Send us
your tips! You may see them in this newsletter and win a copy of PassPorter!
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Q
& A:
With Jennifer and Dave
In this column we answer
your frequently asked PassPorter and Disney questions.
Tricia asks:
"Are Grad Nights only on Friday and Saturday nights? Also, I was wondering why Disney
does not have E-Ride nights in April and May?"
Dave replies:
"As we note in PassPorter Walt Disney World 2003, Grad Nights this year are April 25
& 26, and May 2, 3 & 9 (Friday and Saturday nights). These are late-night events,
so they don't take place on school nights. As Magic Kingdom will close at 8:30 pm on those
evenings, you might consider a visit to Disney-MGM Studios or Epcot instead -- both will
be open later than Magic Kingdom. However, public showings of Fantasy in the Sky fireworks
are still scheduled at Magic Kingdom for those evenings (at 8:30 pm).
Generally, there are E-Ride Nights in April and May (although Disney did cancel them last
May due to lower park attendance). Disney announces E-Ride schedules about two weeks to a
month in advance, so it's too early to know about April and May of this year."
>Send us your questions about PassPorter, Walt Disney World, and Disney Cruise Line and
we'll do our best to answer them!
E-mail: questions@passporter.com
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What Do You Think?
Give Us Your Feedback
Regular subscribers to
this newsletter may have noticed that we spiffed it up a bit with color and graphics. We'd
like to know what you think and if you have any suggestions for either the format or the
content. Please e-mail news@passporter.com.
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From the Authors: Site and Survey Now that the new 2003
guidebooks are out, we've spent some time sprucing things up at "home" -- our
web site, that is! We redesigned several aspects of our site to make it easier to get from
section to section, and to find popular/important pages within them. Check out the changes
at http://www.passporter.com.
Along with the redesign, we wanted to get your feedback on both our guidebooks and our web
site. So we put up a PassPorter Survey -- it's quick and easy to fill out. Best of all,
everyone who fills it out is eligible for a 25% discount off the list price of PassPorter
guidebooks purchased through us, and is entered in a drawing for a PassPorter Totebag
& Goodies giveaway! The survey, discount, and drawing ends in two days on March 1, so
don't delay. Fill it out at http://www.passporter.com/survey.htm.
A special request from Jennifer: I'll be enjoying a WDW/DCL trip with my Mom starting
Monday, March 3, while Dave stays behind and holds the fort. Please be nice to Dave while
I'm away -- he's going to be very busy doing the work of two people for a week. Sympathy
notes and flowers would not be amiss. (Just joking!)
Jennifer and Dave
PassPorter Travel Press
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Did You Know? New Books In Store For You!
Our PassPorter Store bookshelf is growing! Beyond the new 2003 guidebooks for Walt
Disney World and the Disney Cruise Line, we've added three more guidebooks that we feel
are great companions to PassPorter.
Our favorite is the Hidden Mickeys guide, which sports six scavenger hunts in the parks
and resorts. And with the book's official publication date in April, we're one of the
first to offer it! Also available is Universal Orlando (for those going to Universal
Studios and Islands of Adventure) and The Other Orlando (for all the other fun stuff to do
in the area). We highly recommend each one to our readers.
And don't forget that we're still giving away free bottle straps with every order! Our
thanks to MouseEarVacations.com for making this possible for our readers!
Learn more and place an order at:
http://www.passporter.com/store/ |
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Travel Feature:
Priceline: Is It For You?
by Jennifer Watson
OK, 'fess up!' Have you used Priceline? I'm willing to bet that a good number of you have,
but many more are afraid to try it or perhaps aren't even familiar with it. I've used
Priceline successfully, most recently for an upcoming trip with my mother. While I'm no
expert on Priceline, I'd like to share my research and experiences with you.
First, just what is Priceline? In essence, it's an online consumer clearinghouse of excess
travel inventory -- hotel rooms, flights, packages, etc. Priceline.com is located at http://www.priceline.com. Big discounts are very
possible through Priceline. But there's a catch to those big discounts. Unlike other
travel discount programs where you browse through availabilities and pick the one you
want, Priceline requires a commitment to a particular category and price before you even
know what's available. That's right. With Priceline you pick your category, location, and
class of travel, name the price you want to pay, dole out your credit card info, and then
commit to irrevocably accepting whatever Priceline finds within your parameters. That's
just a tad scary when you aren't sure what you can end up with. But with some knowledge,
research, and a bit of confidence, Priceline can do wonders for your vacation budget.
Next week I'm going on a "Mom and me" trip -- we're staying at Walt Disney World
and going on a Disney cruise together. Airfares were pricey on the day we wanted to
return, so we decided to stay an extra day to get a lower fare. That meant we needed to
find a low-priced hotel room in order to make it worth the effort. Yet we wanted to stay
on Disney property or nearby, and in a reasonably nice hotel. We called Disney to check on
a room at All-Stars -- it would have been over $100/night, even with the Disney Club
discount. Ouch. So I suggested we try Priceline for our hotel room. And then the fun
began.
Before I rushed over to Priceline.com and bid on a hotel room, I did some research. First
I visited MouseSavers.com (http://www.mousesavers.com/nondisney.html)
where I'd seen a bunch of great tips on using Priceline for hotels near Walt Disney World.
This is required reading for anyone contemplating Priceline for a Disney trip. Then I
visited AllEarsNet (http://www.wdwig.com/priceline.htm),
which offers an excellent primer on how to bid on Priceline -- even though I'd used
Priceline before, it gave me a great refresher on how it works. I also highly recommend
this. My next stop was DisneyDollarless.com, where I searched the messages for recent
experiences with Priceline -- reading other's success (or failure) stories is very
helpful. My last stop was BiddingForTravel.com (http://www.biddingfortravel.com),
which is an active site devoted to bidding strategies and experiences with Priceline. They
have a number of highly useful FAQs and, best of all, a forum dedicated to Orlando/Walt
Disney World bidding. Through this forum I learned about recent successful bids and the
strategies used to get them.
This column is too short for a thorough examination of the ins and outs of bidding for a
hotel room on Priceline, but let me share a few tips:
* BiddingForTravel.com has a list of the Orlando hotels that are available of each of
Priceline's hotel quality classes -- from 1 star motels to resort hotels. While new hotels
may show up on Priceline at any time, this list will give you a great idea of what is
possible. If you can accept staying at any of the hotels in the class you're planning to
bid for, then you'll be okay. If not, don't do Priceline.
(In our case, we wanted the Resort class, and we were happy staying in any of the hotels
available in that class -- Swan, Dolphin, Hilton, Marriot World Center, Gaylord Palms, or
Wyndham Palace. Of course, we really wanted the Swan or Dolphin, and the Hilton was our
third choice, but all were okay with us.)
* Once you know what hotels are possible within the class of hotel you plan to bid for, do
some research on their going rates. Not only do you want to be sure you can't get a better
deal on your own, but you need a starting point for your bid. Find out what others have
bid in the past by reading DisneyDollarless.com and BiddingForTravel.com.
(We learned that the Swan and Dolphin had been successfully bid at $70-72/night, on
average, with the Hilton going a bit lower and the other resorts going higher. Since we
had our hopes on the Swan and Dolphin, we decided to start our bid at $71.)
* You're only allowed one bid in a 72-hour period, but you can re-bid if you change at
least one parameter, such as your zone or quality level. This is significant when you're
bidding at the Resort level for the Orlando/Walt Disney World area because (at the time of
writing) all the resorts were located in the Walt Disney World area only. This means you
can add in other zones in Orlando on a re-bid without worrying that you'll actually get a
hotel outside of the Walt Disney World area.
* Read the Priceline web site thoroughly before you place your bid. Make sure you read the
terms and conditions carefully, and get well-acquainted with each of the screens. Double-
and triple-check your vacation dates. This saves you from the "oh no, did I forget to
check that thing?" feeling you can get right after you put in your bid.
In the end, I took a deep breath and put in a bid for $71/night for a Resort class hotel
room in the Walt Disney World category. Then I waited, and waited. I will admit my heart
was beating just a tad faster during this pause. And then, at least, a result -- my bid of
$71/night had been accepted! Hooray! Alas, no, it wasn't for the Swan or Dolphin -- we got
the Hilton. But you know what? We're very happy with it! Not only do we get to stay just
across the street from Downtown Disney at a great rate, but I now have the opportunity to
review the Hilton for you in our next newsletter. Now is that a deal or what?
Priceline is not for everyone -- you have to relinquish some control and do some research
-- but it does work for many. I would use it again and recommend it to anyone willing to
put in the research time and accept the outcome.
Good luck, and happy bidding!
PS Be sure to read the next newsletter on March 13 for our experiences at the Hilton at
Downtown Disney, and some other cool surprises from my "Mom and me" trip!
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Disney Feature:
Planning Your Park Days
"Which day should I go? Which day should I go?" This is a question I ask myself
for every Walt Disney World trip. Even with bare-bones planning, determining which park(s)
to visit on which day is incredibly helpful in determining what to do, where to eat, and
even how long to stay. Park days may be the only thing I plan in advance (besides my
airfare and hotel), but it makes a big difference in how I enjoy my trip.
Before I begin, let me say upfront that my method of determining park days relies more on
preferences and pleasure than on commando-style touring. So this article focuses on you
and your needs more than what everyone else is doing and how to avoid them.
OK, so how do you decide your park days? Here are several questions to ask yourself -- the
answers will point you to your park days schedule.
1. How long is my trip? If you're visiting for just a day or two, you'll need to decide
which park(s) you absolutely must visit. If you're lucky enough to have a week or more,
you may visit one park over several days, or do a lot of park-hopping.
2. What is my favorite park, or the park I'm most looking forward to visiting? Write it
down, then ask yourself this question: Do I want to start the vacation with a bang, or do
I want to save the best for last?
3. Do I have young kids? Most little ones will like Magic Kingdom the best, and compare
all other parks to it. If you suspect this is the case, save Magic Kingdom until later in
your trip.
4. Do I want to take advantage of Extra Magic Hour? Every day, Disney resort guests can
get into one park an hour earlier than everyone else. If this is important to you, the
Extra Magic Hour schedule will be key in determining your park days (see page 32 of
PassPorter Walt Disney World 2003). If you aren't an early riser, this schedule is also
important because you'll want to avoid the parks that have Early Magic Hour on any given
day (they'll be more crowded).
5. Do I want to take advantage of special shows (such as fireworks), special events, or
longer park operating hours? If yes, check Disney's web site for dates, parks, and hours
and schedule around these key days.
6. Do I want to plan an R&R (rest & relax) day into our trip? On longish trips (5+
days), one day to just bum around the hotel or visit a water park really makes a
difference in how much you enjoy your vacation. Consider it if you have the time.
7. Do I really want to avoid the crowds? Stay away from the Magic Kingdom on Saturday if
you can help it, avoid the park with Extra Magic Hour, and try to visit in the off-season.
Beyond that, I personally don't find a huge difference in crowds.
By this point, you should have a good handle on your park priorities and preferences. If
you've got a copy of PassPorter Walt Disney World 2003, you may have noticed the little
chart at the bottom of page 197. This is the park day calendar grid. Use this to sketch
out your park days. When you're satisfied with your choices, write the parks you plan to
visit on the corresponding daily PassPockets and on the Vacation At-A-Glance page. The
rest of your vacation decisions (where to eat, what to do) tend to fall neatly into place
once your park schedule is chosen... almost like magic!
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