Hello again. Yesterday I mentioned that I would provide more information on our family
trip to Disney last year and I am here to deliver. This may be a little lengthy so I might
have to break it down into more than one post but we will see how it goes.
I took Jenny for her first trip there on our honeymoon in 2003 and we had a GREAT time
so this place has a special place in our hearts. The following year we went back and this
time took her sister Chrissy (15 at the time) for her first visit as well. Both of those trips
were for only 2 days which were both spent in the Magic Kingdom park. We also stayed
off of Disney properties with each of these trips. The honeymoon was part of a timeshare
presentation that we had to sit through in order to get 2 free tickets. DO NOT EVER
DO THIS! That timeshare wasted a good half day of our honeymoon. During that trip
we stayed in a hotel called AmeriSuites. The hotel was nice in itself; the only complaint
I had was that our room overlooked the indoor pool area which had Karaoke until after
12AM! For the next trip with Chrissy we stayed at a hotel called the Clarion Maingate
on US192 in Kissimee, FL, which is literally only 1 mile from the main entrance to
Disney. This was a pretty good place to stay and we had no complaints at all. Besides,
for $55/night you couldn’t beat the price. I must say that after these trips I was in love
with Disney. There is just something about the place that feels magical. Something
inside of you changes when you see Cinderella Castle in the distance getting larger and
larger as you approach. Standing on Main St. USA looking directly at Cinderella Castle
is a feeling like no other. Regardless of your age you will feel like a child again.
Now that you have a little history as to my love for Disney I will move on to 2010. After
getting our income tax refunds back last year, me and Jenny were toying with the idea of
taking the kids to Disney World but had not decided yet. I began doing some research
looking at prices on the DisneyWorld.com website for different packages (staying at
Value hotels vs. Moderate hotels vs. Offsite hotels, etc…) In doing this, I created an
account on DisneyWorld.com and saved several different options to it, changed some
of them a few times, etc… A few days later I checked my email that I had registered on
the Disney site with and found that I had an email from Disney. As I read I discovered
that this was a PIN Code email. What this means is basically that Disney sent me a
coupon that could be used when booking a trip through the Disney website. These PINs
don’t come to everyone nor are they all the same. Some PINs are for up to 40% off of a
room only, Free Dining Plan when booking a package, etc… The PIN code I received
was for “Free Quick Service Dining Plan” when purchasing a package (hotel & tix) for
at least 4 nights. After comparing the cost of this package to how much it would cost
staying at a cheaper hotel offsite but having to pay full price for tickets, having to spend
the money for food in Disney & paying for parking each day worked out basically even.
There are also so many advantages to staying on Disney property that are intangible.
After a little more research into the different Disney resorts and room types at each,
we decided to spend a little extra to splurge on a room at a moderate level resort. We
wouldn’t have made this decision had we not seen that some of the rooms had just been
remodeled to “Pirate” rooms which we thought the kids would love. Thus, our decision
to take the kids to Disney World was made. We would be spending 7 days / 6 nights in a
Pirate room at the Caribbean Beach Resort!
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