How about MAY 2011

[saraheeyore]

3rd - 17th (i think) we've got 2 weeks booked and we fly on 3rd. we've paid deposit on ours

 

[tleager]

This will be our first trip without our daughter in twenty years. Planning on returning to the YC, its been fifteen years since we've stayed there, we tend to stay at POFQ or AKL. We plan to splurge and purchase the deluxe dinning since we enjoyed the regular dinning package on our previous vsist.

I can't wait to actually begin making ressiesand I'm hoping the AP rates remain at the 40% discount. Our dates will be May 15 to the 25, which is pretty much the same time we visit each year, it covers both mine and my husband's birthday. The crowds are managable, except when the school trips are there, then we just go to a different park. Only ten months to go!!!


POFQ '09
AKL '08
AKL ?
POFQ ?
CB ?
YC '95

 

[janischa]

Am signing on as well
We'll be going 10-20th May, the first time making such a huge trip with our little girl (who will be 2.5 years by then) and super super excited, as well as slightly addicted to this board Who figured you could do soooooo much of planning for a holiday ????

So how far in planning are you guys ?

So far, we've already booked our stay (via the uk website, which allowed us to enjoy free dining and 14 day entrance tickets for the price of 5 days) and I've more or less set up a tentative list of restaurants i want to do. Still to go: book our flights (for who's flying in from the UK, which airlines will you be using ?), maybe pre-order some costumes for our DD, maybe get a disney basket welcome set up. We'll be staying in OKW as we had a fabulous deal for it, and we're with 5 adults, one kid, so space is a luxury

 

[saraheeyore]

Am signing on as well
We'll be going 10-20th May, the first time making such a huge trip with our little girl (who will be 2.5 years by then) and super super excited, as well as slightly addicted to this board Who figured you could do soooooo much of planning for a holiday ????

So how far in planning are you guys ?

So far, we've already booked our stay (via the uk website, which allowed us to enjoy free dining and 14 day entrance tickets for the price of 5 days) and I've more or less set up a tentative list of restaurants i want to do. Still to go: book our flights (for who's flying in from the UK, which airlines will you be using ?), maybe pre-order some costumes for our DD, maybe get a disney basket welcome set up. We'll be staying in OKW as we had a fabulous deal for it, and we're with 5 adults, one kid, so space is a luxury

i'm also in uk and flying with virgin with 2 kids one will be 4 and one 20 months. we took my daughter when she was 2 and it was fab but it may be a lot harder with 2. i'm making some clothes for the kids to wear so they can have characters on them but not be quite so hot as princess costumes although she will probably have a couple

 

[michelleiada]

Am signing on as well
We'll be going 10-20th May, the first time making such a huge trip with our little girl (who will be 2.5 years by then) and super super excited, as well as slightly addicted to this board Who figured you could do soooooo much of planning for a holiday ????

So how far in planning are you guys ?

So far, we've already booked our stay (via the uk website, which allowed us to enjoy free dining and 14 day entrance tickets for the price of 5 days) and I've more or less set up a tentative list of restaurants i want to do. Still to go: book our flights (for who's flying in from the UK, which airlines will you be using ?), maybe pre-order some costumes for our DD, maybe get a disney basket welcome set up. We'll be staying in OKW as we had a fabulous deal for it, and we're with 5 adults, one kid, so space is a luxury

How did you get free dining? I have not seen that offered for US Residents...strange! We will be there May 5-15th and staying at Beach Club Villas. I can't wait!

 

[Dismom55]

I too would be interested in learning about free dining, but have heard nothing for the US folks yet.

I did read something from mousesavers that some specials for the rest of this year and into 2011 were due to be released soon.

So if anyone hears anything let us all know as I will be waiting to hear, always good if I can save some $$$$.

 

[saraheeyore]

i'm in the uk so i got free dining with our booking so i am guessing the previous poster did the same. unfortunitly for us though its the flights that are soooo expensive

 

[saraheeyore]

I too would be interested in learning about free dining, but have heard nothing for the US folks yet.

I did read something from mousesavers that some specials for the rest of this year and into 2011 were due to be released soon.

So if anyone hears anything let us all know as I will be waiting to hear, always good if I can save some $$$$.

love the banner thingy. you will be arriving 2 days before us

 

[janischa]

yip, we booked via the uk website. I also checked with a US travel agent i had a good contact with, and she let me know that at that time (i think it was about a month ago) she didn't have access to such promotions yet. According to her, US prices were released later and promotions released often more gradually as well.
But i though i had read somewhere in the dis updates or somewhere here on board that US was also about to announce free dining (i think rumors were today).
By the way, one of the surprising things i learned while doing my 'disney research' is that some of the travel agents (the US ones) can get you MUCH !!! better rates than booking directly with WDW. I found this out when i was looking to potentially still go this year. But as i said, for may 2011, she wasn't able to book me yet at that moment and as it was a great promotion, i didn't want to miss out.
I guess you could also book via the UK site, but you have the risk of exchange rates and a much more strict cancellation/modification policy. cheerios guys.

 

[janischa]

sarah, i'm getting your pain... those airfare tickets are killing me !!! and for us there are no direct flights... bummer....

 

[DisneyWitch]

Just a heads up, fellow May 2011 vacationeers:

The Disney discounts have been posted and it looks like us May travelers have been all but forgotten. Unless you're traveling May 27-June 2 (Memorial Day week), there are no May 2011 discounts. My TA seems to think that this may be just one round of several discounts that Disney will be offering and that more May dates may be included in later discounts. Some discounts end in February, so she thinks that more months will be added. I hope she's right, but after my disappointment this morning, I'm less optimistic now than I was this weekend.

As far as I'm concerned, this means we will not have as big of a financial buffer as we had hoped for - which may make this a "Once in a Lifetime" trip, rather than a "First of Many". BUT...Much as I would have loved free dining, I think this could be a great boon for us - just think how low the crowds will be!

 

[janischa]

maybe you guys should try to check the official uk WDW site and calculate your promotional package there ? and if it's interesting, simply already buy those pounds in advance. i live in euroland, so that's what i will be doing, the deposit has already been deducted from my visa account and i will be buying the remaining pounts soon and store them on my bank account. Of course, it means incurring exchange rate costs, but hey, if i see how much disney will be costing me in total, it don't seem much
it also meant accepting i wouldn't be able to take advantage of any better offers coming (unless they are 300 pounds cheaper since that's my cancellation price, even further than 59 days out).

Really strange though that WDW would offer free dining in the UK and not in the US....

 

[janischa]

Just a question, for those from the UK or euroland, did you book directly with disney or via a travel agent ? did the travel agent offer a better deal relative to booking directly ?

 

[saraheeyore]

sarah, i'm getting your pain... those airfare tickets are killing me !!! and for us there are no direct flights... bummer....

were u planning on flying from. we have a 2 hour drive to get to airport

 

[saraheeyore]

Just a heads up, fellow May 2011 vacationeers:

The Disney discounts have been posted and it looks like us May travelers have been all but forgotten. Unless you're traveling May 27-June 2 (Memorial Day week), there are no May 2011 discounts. My TA seems to think that this may be just one round of several discounts that Disney will be offering and that more May dates may be included in later discounts. Some discounts end in February, so she thinks that more months will be added. I hope she's right, but after my disappointment this morning, I'm less optimistic now than I was this weekend.

As far as I'm concerned, this means we will not have as big of a financial buffer as we had hoped for - which may make this a "Once in a Lifetime" trip, rather than a "First of Many". BUT...Much as I would have loved free dining, I think this could be a great boon for us - just think how low the crowds will be!

i'm sure it won't be your only trip even if it takes a few years. we are going about once every 3 years at the moment but i really can't see us being able to afford another trip in 3 years after this one as its gone up so much since last time but i don't want this one to be the last and we will save up eventually

 

[nursesandy]

Booked our 3rd for May 27th through June 10. 14nights/15days. After trying every which way I could think of, free dininig was the only was we could get ahead. Good luck to everyone.

 

[saraheeyore]

congrats

 

[Miriade]

but I would loooove to have a DisneyMoon next May! My wedding will be on the 05/14; not a grand event but I am trying to see if I'll have the money to buy this trip as a surprise wedding gift for my fiancee (soon to be husband)! May is not a value season and oh, it's pricer than I thought it would be b/c I wanna stay on property
I am talking about planning a second trip to WDW even before we get there for the first time this September!

 

[Dismom55]

love the banner thingy. you will be arriving 2 days before us

With the release of the free dining dates, we are thinking about rescheduling our trip for May 29 thru Jun 9. Seems silly to be going and just about the time we leave free dining will kick in. Would rather save that money.

 

[saraheeyore]

With the release of the free dining dates, we are thinking about rescheduling our trip for May 29 thru Jun 9. Seems silly to be going and just about the time we leave free dining will kick in. Would rather save that money.

its well worth saving the money