Archive | Disney World

It’s Back- Disney Free Dining 2015 is here!

By MainStreetTales2 on April 27, 2015 in 2015, Dining Plans, Disney World, Fall Discount, Free, Free Dining

While other blogs are anxious to report rumors, we hold off until Disney announces an offer. There’s no reason to get all excited over what may come to be. BUT NOW DISNEY FREE DINING 2015 IS HERE!!! We are as excited as you are! When you use Trips To The Mouse as your travel agent, they have you covered on all offers so you don’t have to worry about the rumors. You sleep in and know they are hard at work for you!

The Disney free dining offer has a few twists this year. The first is the requirement you must have a park hopper or a water park & more park ticket for your stay. Excluded hotels are: Disney’s Polynesian Villas & Bungalows, The Villas at Disney’s Grand Floridian Resort & Spa, Bay Lake Tower at Disney’s Contemporary Resort, Disney’s Art of Animation Resort(only the Little Mermaid rooms), campsites, and all 3-bedroom villas. There appears to be limited availability and possibly exclusions for Disney’s Port Orleans French Quarter and Riverside as well as Disney’s All Star Movies as well. For value resorts you will receive the quick service dining plan and for moderates and deluxes you will receive the plus dining plan. You can upgrade as well if you want to go from the quick service to the plus or from the plus to the deluxe. It is reported you must have a six night stay but that has yet to be confirmed if it is being enforced. Honestly, we can’t imagine staying less than six nights anyhow so of course that’s a non-issue.

The promotion is for most nights arriving:

August 28-October 2, 2015

October 25-31, 2015

November 8-November 19, 2015

December 15-December 21, 2015

The availability for this promotion is extremely limited. We encourage you to complete a quote request form Trips To The Mouse and include as much information as you can so they can secure a courtesy hold on your booking. Please include all names of the travelers as well as the children’s ages and your preferred resort and dates. Remember when you book with Trips To The Mouse you get so much more service. They handle your dining reservations, your fast passes, and provide you with a custom itinerary.

Happy Monday everyone! Where will you be staying for Disney Free Dining 2015?

TWO Disney Discounts released today! Stay Play and Dine and Winter 2015 Offers!

By MainStreetTales2 on October 9, 2014 in Disney Discounts, Disney World, Uncategorized

Walt Disney World has released two Disney discounts today, the Play, Stay, Dine and Save offer and a Winter Room discount offer. Your travel agent will need to check both offers to see which is better for you.

The Stay Play and Dine offer is for December 14-20th, 2014. This is a package discount. It is not free dining, just an overall savings on an entire package.

Discount Requirements

Minimum 3 night stay
Maximum 14 night stay
Minimum 2 day park pass must be included in the package
Dining Plan must be included in the package
Guests staying at a Walt Disney World value resort must purchase the Quick Service dining plan or better
Guests staying at a Walt Disney World moderate, deluxe or deluxe villa resort must purchase the Disney Dining plan or better
Example of savings, up to $600 off for a family of four for a 5 night/6 day stay.

Offer excludes all suites, campsites and 3 bedroom villas have been excluded from this offer, as are the Little Mermaid rooms at the new Art of Animation Resort, Disney’s Polynesian Village Villas, Disney’s Bay Lake Villas and the new Villas at the Grand Floridian Resort.

This offer must be booked by December 29, 2014. Not all nights or resorts may be available. Availability is extremely limited, act quickly for best availability. Please note that you must check in by March 5, 2014 in order to qualify for the discount. If you check in March 5 or earlier, you should receive the discount for your entire stay, based on availability.

The Winter Room Discount Offer is for January 5-March 28th, 2015.

The number of rooms allocated for this offer is limited. Length-of-stay requirements may apply. Savings based on non-discounted price for the same room. Additional per-adult charges may apply if more than 2 adults per room at Disney Value, Moderate and Deluxe Resorts. Cannot be combined with any other discount or promotion. Advance reservations required. You can add dining and park tickets to make this a package and still save on the room.

Value resorts 15-20% savings
Moderate resorts 20-25% savings
Deluxe and Deluxe villa resorts 25-30% savings

This offer must be booked by December 29, 2014. Not all nights or resorts may be available. Availability is extremely limited, act quickly for best availability.

Ready to plan your trip? Contact our friends at Trips To The Mouse and request a quote here! Happy savings!

Free Dining and Other Disney Discount Rumors

By MainStreetTales2 on July 30, 2013 in Disney World, Free Dining

I get asked daily if Disney’s Free Dining for October-December is released yet. Disney rumors fly around on the internet and people claim to have inside sources. I’ve never been one to get all excited over the Disney rumor mill. There’s a lot of people to claim to have “inside” information. Maybe they do, maybe they don’t. Either way, I’ve seen some of the most popular “insider” claims to be proven false. Those people usually delete their prior prediction posts or alter their blog entries so there’s no trail of how many times they were wrong.

The reality is Disney tends to release a discount close to the time a current discount is expiring. (Current discount is expiring July 31st.) I could throw a bunch of dates at you and get you excited and then pull those dates back as they come and go. The most recent rumored dates have ranged from July 1st all they way to August 1st. Clearly most of those rumors were wrong. I take a different approach. Instead what I do is check bright and early on any day I think a deal might be released. No stress for my clients-I take care of it all! They just wake up one morning with an email saying I’ve rebooked them and how much money I saved them. I have not missed a single discount deal release morning yet with my approach. And in the mean time I haven’t gotten a lot of people hopeful for something that may or may not happen.

What has Disney told us about the upcoming discounts? Absolutely nothing. What do I know from educated research and trends? Disney is cutting back on discounts which means that I expect there to be fewer dates included and fewer rooms overall as part of the discounts. The current PIN code offers are consistent with this theory. This is normal as the economy improves, discounts and deals go down a bit. It’s the same across other industries too. There might even be a different kind of discount. Will Disney visa card holders get the first dibs like the past? I honestly don’t know. There’s some strong indications that they won’t but I certainly wouldn’t count on it one way or the other.

So what can you do to make sure that you are in the know for all Disney discounts? Simple-work with a travel agent(preferably me of course) that is going to look out for YOUR reservation. When looking make sure you choose someone who is going to go that extra mile. Generally the day a discount is released I don’t get my email alert from Disney until mid afternoon. I’ve already rebooked by clients well before lunch time and have contacted anyone that is interested in the offer with their quote and/or a courtesy hold placed for them. I also post the deals as soon as I can on my facebook page. My existing clients take priority over this but I get it up as soon as I possibly can.

If you like getting excited about the potential dates, by all means read the rumor mill. Around here we’ve found the Magic 8 ball sometimes knows the answer too. But if you want to just know someone else is taking care of it while you go about your business, email me and I’ve got you covered.

Keep Looking Up, Cause That’s Where It All Is

By MainStreetTales2 on July 29, 2013 in Disney World, Kidd’s Kids

I promise there is a bit if Disney in this post if you hang in there with me. If you know that phrase, you know what this post is about. Kidd Kraddick passed away this weekend. He was a DJ in Dallas but his show was heard in other cities. He was so much more than just a DJ though. I grew up listening to Kidd back when he had a show on at night. When he went to KISS FM I was in high school. I drove 30 miles to school every morning and the only show I listened to was Kidd Kraddick’s. I stayed in Dallas for college and continued to listen to him, then post college he was my companion on the way to work every day until I moved to Austin. It was actually really hard not being able to listen to his show on the commutes here in Austin especially when I was so homesick. I was ecstatic when the show was syndicated and aired here though I am sure some of the Dallas humor was lost on some parts of the nation. I remember when Jocelyn White left the show and Kelly Rasberry came on board. She took some warming up to but it’s hard to picture Kidd without her now. So you get it, I listened to him a huge portion of my life. I eventually stopped commuting and stopped listening but the news of him passing away struck a nerve.

I only had the pleasure of meeting him a few times personally but listening to him you really got to know who he was. He loved his family, especially his daughter. He was real when he got a divorce and owned it and his mistakes. The thing that was evident though was he knew he was meant to be part of something bigger than just himself. Radio personalities have egos no doubt, and Kidd did too but he used his for good. He founded Kidd’s Foundation that is the charity that sponsors Kidd’s Kids. They are like a home grown Make a Wish Foundation but better in my opinion. They send terminally ill kids to Disney World. I loved hearing about the trips on the show. They would charter a plane(eventually www.southwest.com jumped on board as a sponsor) and load it up with as many families as they could and off to the most Magical Place on Earth they went! Kidd went too and he had so much fun with these kids. He gave them the opportunity to just be a kid and have fun with their families.

In his own words :

I founded Kidd’s Kids in 1991 with the hope of making a difference in the lives of terminally and chronically ill children. Each year, Kidd’s Kids offers five amazing days of suspended reality to children whose lives have been ravaged by disease. Kidd’s Kids children and their families are given the chance to experience the exuberance of being “normal.” That is the gift that you and I can offer by supporting the Kidd’s Kids organization.

Signed,

Kidd Kraddick

I know Kidd touched so many lives. He helped so many children and families experience a trip of a lifetime. He also was a constant in so many lives. He was funny but not mean. He respected people and himself. Kidd really cared about his listeners. He cared about his colleagues. He was so much bigger than just a morning radio show. There are a lot of lonely people in this world and he made them less lonely. There are people hurting every day and he made them smile. His voice will be missed. I have never been so attached to a morning show in the way I was to Kidd Kraddick In The Morning.

If you share my sentiments, please consider donating to Kidd’s Kids. All of the words in the world won’t bring Kidd back but his charity can live on and do the big things it is intended to do. You can text KIDD to 52000 to donate $10 and the funds go straight to Kidd’s Kids. The 2013 trip is going forward and the publicized plan is the foundation will continue on. I think this is the biggest way you can thank Kidd for being there in your life and making you smile.

You know I love Disney and think every trip is magical but there is really something special about the trips for kids that are dealing with so many health concerns and physical barriers. It is a real escape from reality. I feel beyond blessed that I get to help people every day make their Disney dreams come true but this organization makes dreams on a much bigger scale come true.

You can check out the actual donate site here but do know the website has been up and down today. http://www.kiddskids.com/donate/text-to-donate/ or you can also check out their facebook page here https://www.facebook.com/kiddskids .

Keep looking up, cause that’s where it all is.

Mama Monday : Sweet Treats Tour

By MainStreetTales2 on April 22, 2013 in Animal Kingdom, Disney World, Epcot, Hollywood Studios, Magic Kingdom, Mama Monday, Sweet Treats

Hi Mamas, Today I am taking you on a picture tour of my favorite treat(s) in each park. Come along and let your mouth start to drool!

First stop-Animal Kingdom. Mickey Ice Cream Bars can be found just about everywhere at Walt Disney World. But my favorite place to have one is at Animal Kingdom Park.

This was my oldest son’s very first Mickey Mouse Bar that we let him have all on his own. His little cheeks are full because he couldn’t believe it was ALL his! Take note of those pudgy fingers gripping the ice cream!

Next Stop is Hollywood Studios and there’s just something about that place that makes me want popcorn. I am sure it is all the movie paraphernalia. I especially love the popcorn stands here.

At Epcot I couldn’t choose just one, so you get a bonus. Lefse can be found in Norway. It is a cinnamon sugar potato cake that resembles a tortilla rolled up. They don’t charge nearly enough! I tried to make these one time at home.

And how can you pass up this caramel deliciousness in Germany? I will take one of each please.

My most recent favorite treat can also be found multiple places but I like having one at Magic Kingdom after seeing Wishes-a Mickey Mouse cake pop! I prefer the chocolate covered ones and not the sprinkles or sugar coated ones. The dots at the bottom of the stick let you know what flavor. My personal fave is Red Velvet!