Hi all, I'm back! Arnold, I stole your opening report format ;)
Kelly OConnor Feb/Mar 2013 Saratoga Springs Resort, Port Orleans French Quarter Resort
Travel Dates: February 23 to March 2, 2013
Travel Method: Plane, Magical Express
Resort: Disneys Saratoga Springs (1 night), Disneys Port Orleans French Quarter (6 nights)
Accommodations: One Bedroom Villa, Standard Room respectively
Ages Represented: Male Adults 25-42
WDW Experience: 9th visit since 1996 & First time for one
Comments: First time booking as a DVC Member, but then using Free Dining for the remainder.
Cast of Characters:
Kelly, 42 (trip reporter) 9 WDW Trips since 1996 and countless Disneyland vists as a local
Jaime, 25 (boyfriend) Second trip to Florida (see my last trip report); First time at WDW other than 1 night at MNSSHP in 2012
Advance Planning:
This trip had been in the works since early 2012. I didnt like any of the dates WDW was offering for the Free Dining promotion that year, so I held off on booking until it was too late. But then, friends with DVC offered us their living room at Animal Kingdom Lodge, so we decided to go in September 2012. However, for Jaimes first time ever, I didnt think that sleeping in someone elses living room qualified as a very grand introduction to the whole WDW vacation experience, so I suggested we go anyway, but NOT hit the Disney parks and instead explore all the others. We did that (see my last trip report) and had a great time, but now it was time to do WDW properly.
Free Dining offers were released for 2013 and I quickly chose some dates near the end of the promotion. I didnt want to go too soon after our last trip, but also wanted to go early enough so as to miss the upcoming Spring/Summer heat. Our last trip in September was miserable as far as the weather, so I was hoping for a big improvement for the next one.
After playing with dates and checking for any special events at WDW that would cause major spikes in attendance (I cant recommend doing this ENOUGH to any prospective guest) I settled on February 23 thru March 2. I figured 6 nights and 7 days would be plenty to explore all 4 parks. Ive stayed up to 9 nights in the past and while Ill never complain about being at WDW, I felt that was a little bit too long, plus, there were issues at home with trying to evict my roommate, so I wasnt really comfortable leaving at all, but in the end, decided to go ahead and leave the house under the watch of my cat sitter and Jaimes best friend.
February 23 and 24 were the dates of the Princess Marathon, but I figured wed arrive late on Saturday so only Sunday would be a Park Day where wed have to worry about crowds left over from the marathon. I was willing to chance it and figured, Disney only offers Free Dining on the dates they know will be lightly-attended, so how could I go wrong? More on that later.
The first red flag for me that this was NOT going to be the case shouldve been when I was booking. These dates are considered Magic Season which is the second-to-most expensive dates at least as far as DVC points go. As past readers will know, Ive been saving and saving to purchase a resale DVC for years now, and had finally hit the amount I needed late last year. So, I made offers and lost deals but finally got one for Saratoga Springs. I didnt know if my points were going to load in the system by the time this trip came around, so I wasnt planning to use them at all this time.
The thing was, as I played with dates using the WDW website and Free Dining, I found that by using Saturday 2/23 as an arrival vs. Sunday 2/24, I was looking at almost $350 more total. That just seemed ridiculous, especially since wed be arriving around 7pm and wouldnt be doing Parks that day. However, since I wanted to get full use out of Sunday starting fresh in the morning, and wed already passed on flying by RedEye due to higher fare prices, I thought why not try to use new DVC points for that first night? As it turned out, they loaded into the system just a week before our departure :geek:
The only thing resortwide that was available was a One Bedroom unit at Saratoga Springs. Now, Saratoga was actually a perfect choice since that first night, all wed planned to do was walk around Downtown Disney. That single night was going to cost more than 3 times what a studio in the slower season would cost, but my purchase came with lots of free 2012 points, so I figured why not. And thus, the reservations were made for the arrival night in a beautiful villa at SSR, and then 6 more nights at POFQ with the Free Dining included. Cost of package was $2148 a hefty increase of over $300 since the last time Id booked a Moderate with Free Dining for 6 nights. That was rather disappointing, but I know if theres one thing you can count on in this life, its that Disney will raise prices every single year.
I'm trying posting separately for each day this time, so I'll be back soon with Day 1.
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Kelly O'Connor - Feb/Mar 2013 - Saratoga Springs Resort, Port Orleans French Quarter
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