Booking Dates: November 28 – December 23, 2008

Here’s the perfect way for you to surprise your loved ones this holiday season. From November 28 to December 23, 2008, when you book a 2009 Walt Disney World Resort vacation package for your family, Mickey Mouse will call you on Christmas morning to deliver the big news.

Here’s how it works:

• Book a 2009 Walt Disney World Resort vacation and save the reservation number – it’s needed to schedule the call.
• Begining Nov. 28 until 9:00pm (EST) on Dec. 23, 2008 you can visit mickeyholidaycall.com to schedule a call from Mickey Mouse.
• Complete the easy steps listed on the Web site, remembering to include the reservation number received at the time of booking, along with the best phone number to reach your family on Christmas Day.
• That’s it! Your family will hear the big news with a special greeting from Mickey Mouse on Christmas Day (December 25).

While this is technically not a discount, this a great perk for anyone thinking about booking a Walt Disney World vacation. There is no cost for the phone call, and your family will love hearing from Mickey, a great way to surprise them with a fun trip to Disney World.

To be eligible to receive the phone call, we suggest you book through a Disney only travel agency. We suggest Mouseketrips, they can even set up the call for you if you wish.

Walt Disney World announced an increase in ticket prices that will increase the cost of a one day/one park pass to $75 for adults and children age 10 or older. The price of a basic ticket for children ages 3-9 will rise to $63.

Walt Disney World also raised the price of its “Magic Your Way” multiday-ticket packages, by 3 percent to 8 percent. The longest ticket available, a 10-day adult Magic Your Way ticket, now costs $237, or $23.70 a day, up 5.3 percent. The Park Hopper add-on, which allows ticket holders to move among any of Disney’s parks, will increase $50 for up to 10 days, a $5 increase. The Water Park Fun & More add-on option remains $50, despite the loss of Pleasure Island.

Price increases are slated to take effect start on Sunday, August 3. Any park passes or Magic Your Way package purchased before August 3 will still be at the old price.

Universal and Sea World have yet to announce an increase in their park passes, though they usually follow a few days behind, so it should be coming shortly

Disney’s Magical Express is a free service for Disney World resort guests. Simplified, it is a shuttle between Orlando International Airport (MCO) and your Walt Disney World resort. In reality, it is much more than that, and a huge money saver.

Requirements for Disney’s Magical Express

Disney has very few requirements that you must meet to use the Magical Express:

• You must be staying at a Disney World resort
• You must have an advance reservation for the Magical Express

That is it! A few points of clarification might be in order:

• The Magical Express is only available if you have a reservation at a Disney resort, so if you are staying at the Swan, Dolphin, Shades of Green or any of the Downtown Disney resorts, you are not able to use the Magical Express. Just one of the many perks or staying on Disney property.
• The Magical Express only serves MCO. Many people fly into Sanford airport, but the Magical Express does not go there, so you are on your own.

That is it. Just make sure your reservation is booked well in advance. Either your travel agent or Disney can make the reservation for you when you make your Disney reservation, or you can call the Magical Express directly at (866) 599-0951. It is very likely the Magical Express folk will tell you to contact your travel agent, so try them first.

How to use the Magical Express

The Magical Express is a fairly painless, easy to use system. Just make sure your reservations have been made.

About 3 – 4 weeks before you travel, you will receive your Magical Express documents in the mail, either from your travel agent or from Disney directly. Inside the documents will be some instructions on how to use the Magical Express, where to pick it up, and some special yellow luggage tags. Make sure you read through all the instructions carefully, they are important. You will also want to confirm the information printed in the documents to make sure your names and flight information is listed correctly, and update Disney if it is not.

When you arrive at your home airport, put one of the yellow luggage tags on each suitcase you plan on checking with your airline. No need to put them on any checked luggage. These luggage tags do two things: they let Disney know that they need to be picked up once they arrive in Orlando, and second, they tell Disney where you are staying, so your luggage makes it to your resort, and eventually, your room. Once the yellow luggage tags are attached, you can check in your luggage with your airline.

Once you arrive at MCO, head directly to the Magical Express Welcome Center, located on the B side of the terminal, down on level 1. If you are familiar with the Orlando airport, you know that the terminal is long and skinny. Most domestic flights exit near the Hyatt hotel, where the big fountain is right outside security. Of course, this is the wrong side of the airport, so don’t go to level 1 just yet, use the moving walkways to get to the other side of the terminal, then head down to level 1 (remember, B side), it should be right in front of you as you exit the elevators.

Check in with the Welcome Center. You will need your blue documents, as your vouchers are located in there. If you happen to be flying on one of their partner airlines (more below), you just need to check in. If you are not on a partner airline, you will need to tell the Cast Member how many bags you had checked in, so they can go find them.

Once checked in, you will be guided to the bus loading area, and will put on the bus headed for your resort. Most buses serve 2 or 3 resorts, so you may be the first stop, or the last, but there will never be more than three stops before your resort. The bus will deliver you right to the main entrance of your resort, where you can debark and check in for your Disney World stay.

Your luggage will magically show up at your resort, and will be delivered to your room. You do not need to be present to get your luggage, so you can head straight to the parks, your luggage will be there when you get back.

The entire process, from stepping off of your plane until you are checking into your resort usually takes about 60 minutes, though it could be a bit longer depending on traffic, the resort you are staying at or just about anything else that could slow you down. I have never had it take longer than 75 minutes, so still pretty quick.

Returning home on the Magical Express

Remember the talk about partner airlines above, here is where they really come into play. Disney has partnered with several airlines, and possibly could add more in the future. The current partners are:

• AirTran
• Alaska Airlines
• Continental
• Delta Air Lines
• JetBlue
• Northwest
• United Airlines
• US Airways

If you are not flying on one of these airlines, then you are not on a partner airline.

Disney resort guests who are returning to MCO, and flying on one of the partner airlines listed above, can check in for their flights at their resort, including checking luggage and receiving any boarding passes. Check in can be done the day of your flight, not before. Please note with the change in excess bag fees at most airlines, including all the partner airlines, we strongly suggest checking with the Resort Check In desk a few days before your departure to confirm policies and to make sure that there are not any additional steps you may need to take.

If you are not on one of the partner airlines (Southwest, for instance), you will not be able to use the resort check in, so no need to worry about it.

The night before you are scheduled to depart for home, you will receive a Magical Express letter in your office, with information on your return bus time, and where you should meet it. Your return should be scheduled for about three hours before your flight time. Whether you used the resort check in or not, make sure you are a few minutes early for your time. If you did not check in at the resort, Disney will put your luggage on your Magical Express bus, and you will fetch them as you get off at MCO.

Why should you use the Magical Express

Well, to save time and money, of course. That is why you are here at MouseMisers, isn’t it? The Magical Express is efficient, convenient, and most important, free. Any tales of lost luggage or long delays have long been resolved.

Alternatives to the Magical Express

There are times when the Magical Express just does not work. There are a few alternatives:

Town Car: Think Limo, but cheaper. A town car company will provide a car and driver for you, and will pick you up at MCO luggage claim and help you out to the car with luggage. Most will also make a stop at a grocery store for you if needed. A town car is great if you want a more personalized service or need the grocery stop. A town car will run you about $100 – $150 for the round trip, more if you want a limo or a 10 passenger van. If you are looking for a great town car service, we highly recommend Quicksilver, we have personally used them many times.

Rental Car: a rental car is great if you want flexibility, whether you plan to visit anything off Disney property (people voluntarily leave Disney?) or if you have a split vacation with a stay outside of Orlando. Rental cars used to be cheap in Orlando due to the volume, but that is not really the case any longer. It is tough to find a rental car for under $200 for a week, much more for anything other than a compact car. We used to rent a car each trip, but we went two trips in a row where our car never left our resort parking lot. I was paying $500 each trip to have the car just in case we might need it, and I found out I was much better off not having one. The Disney bus system is fantastic, so unless you plan on driving off property quite a bit, a rental car probably isn’t your answer.

Was there anything we missed? If you have any questions, please let us know in the comments below.

The best way to get a great savings on your Disney Cruise is to book your cruise while on board. Granted, this does not work for first time cruisers, of those who have already been on the cruise, and don’t have another one planned. However, if you have a Disney Cruise coming up, or happen to be on a Disney Cruise while you are reading this (you lucky ducks), you can take advantage of this great offer. So, what exactly is this great deal, you may be asking?

10% discount off of the prevailing rate for the cruise of your choice. This applies to all staterooms category 4 – 11, so suites and category 12 staterooms do not apply. So, by booking it on board, you save 10% off of what the price would be if you were to book your cruise the day after you get off the cruise.

On board stateroom credit. You will get a $100 onboard credit with every 3 or 4 night cruise, and a $200 credit for every 7 night or longer cruise or land/sea package you book. The credit can be used for any charges made to your stateroom during your cruise, but cannot be used to pay for your cruise itself.

The great thing about booking your Disney cruise on board is that the reservation is very flexible. Once home, you can change your cruise dates, based on availability, and your pricing may change, but you maintain your 10% discount and onboard credit. So, for example, we try to cruise every other Spring with our family, but as of right now, Disney has not released their rates for 2010 yet, so we booked a 7 night cruise for sometime during the Fall of 2009, and we will move our dates once 2010 dates are released, but we have locked in our discount and credit, which should save us over $1,000.

There are a few requirements:

Your cruise must be booked and the deposit paid while you are on the cruise. The deposit is $200 per person for a 3 or 4 night cruise and $250 per person for a 7 night or longer cruise.

The deposits are subject to standard Disney Cruise cancelation. The great thing is that outside of 75 days before your cruise, your deposits are fully refundable, so if you book on board, and then get home and decide you can’t go, you will get your deposit back.

You can still work with your travel agent who booked your original Disney Cruise. Just make sure you check the Travel Agent box when making your reservation. There is not additional cost to you, and you will get the same great service you got the first time around. They are also great help if you need to adjust dates or staterooms.

For most people, you should plan to book an upcoming cruise while on board, and adjust as needed once you are home. If things work out, you end up saving a bunch of money, and if not, you can get all your money back, so it hasn’t cost you anything. Plus, it makes it so much easier to get off the boat knowing you will be coming back soon.

For more information about booking your first Disney Cruise, so you can get on board to get the savings for your second Disney Cruise, contact our fantastic sponsor Mouseketrips.

Everyone loves getting a room upgrade, whether it is on a Disney Cruise or at Walt Disney World. While it happens from time to time on the Disney Cruise, don’t ever count on it. When booking your Disney Cruise, I usually suggest to book the cheapest stateroom that you can live with on your cruise. If you must have a veranda on your cruise, then book a veranda room. If you don’t really care about your stateroom, then book the cheapest one available for your cruise.

Many of the Disney Cruises do not sell out, though many do. If you are lucky enough to be one one that is not full, not only will the ship be a little less crowded, but you have a chance at getting a stateroom upgrade. Make sure you arrive at the cruise terminal early, sometime around 11 AM should be fine, and check in as soon as you can. First thing you need to say is that you want a stateroom upgrade, and if any are available, they will offer them to you. It is very unlikely that they will just give you an upgrade (it has happened, but it is rare), but what they will do is offer you an upgrade for a price. So, let’s say you booked a category 11 stateroom, and the price difference to book a category 8 stateroom, one with a window, was about $1,000 at the time of booking. You don’t really care much about your stateroom, but you thought a window would be nice, but it wasn’t worth $1,000. So, at check in, they may offer you an upgrade to a category 8, but instead of the price difference being $1,000, it may be $200. You can at that time decide if it is worth the extra $200 to upgrade or not.

Now, all these figures are just examples, and availability of upgrades will depend on how full your cruise is, and what stateroom categories are left available at the time you are checking in. Disney already has you booked, and it doesn’t matter to them which stateroom you stay in, and they aren’t booking any new customers for a cruise that leaves in a few hours, so it is in their best interest to get a little bit more money out of you and upgrade your room. Feel free to ask what upgrade options are available to you.

Please note that it is completely possible that your cruise may be completely full, and there may not be any options available to you at check in. That is why you need to book the stateroom you will be happy with, and don’t ever count on getting an upgrade.

For more information about the Disney Cruise, please contact our great sponsor Mouseketrips.

Are you looking for the cheapest Disney cruise available? If you have a party of four, and you don’t care where your stateroom is on board, here is a great way to get a great price, depending on availability of course.

The category 12 staterooms on board are all located down on deck 2, in the very front of the ship, and are many times $500+ less than a comparable category 11, which are located up higher on the ship. With a party of four, Disney will allow you to book a category 12 stateroom for your Disney Cruise. The trick is that as a party of 4, you can’t actually stay in a category 12 stateroom, as the category 12 stateroom will only sleep 3. So, you are thinking, great, one of us will be sleeping on the floor, what is so great about that? Here is the deal. Disney will automatically upgrade you to a higher stateroom, most of the time, to a category 11 stateroom, but sometimes you get an even better stateroom.

So, as you can see, you save money, you get a better stateroom than you paid for, and you get to go on a Disney Cruise. Please note, as I mentioned before, you will not get to choose your stateroom location if you go with the category 12, so if you are ultra picky, this trick may not work for you.

For more information about the Disney Cruise, please contact our great sponsors Mouseketrips.

Prior to 2005, when Disney World introduced the Magic Your Way packages, Disney didn’t really offer a dining plan for it’s many restaurants in the theme parks and resorts of Walt Disney World. Yes, of course, they had the Silver, Gold and Platinum plans, but very few people could afford them, as they included all your meals, as well as entertainment, tours and other events. They never were meant to be a money saver, more of a convenience for those who wanted everything covered in their package, and didn’t really care what the cost was.

With the 2005 introduction of the Disney Dining plan, and the 2008 release of the Disney Deluxe dining plan, Disney World has two true dining plans that cover your meals while at Disney World, while not being forced to pay for anything else that you might not want. So, great, they offer a dining plan or two, but I thought MouseMisers was about helping me save money on my Disney vacation! Just read on to find out how you can save money on your Disney vacation by purchasing the Disney Dining plan.

So, what exactly is the Disney Dining plan?

Walt Disney World has over 125 restaurants spread out between 4 theme parks, 2 water parks, 25+ resorts and Downtown Disney. The Disney Dining plan gives you access to just about all of these restaurants, along with their full menus. So, what exactly is included? For each night of your stay, each person in your party age 3 and older will receive:

• One table service meal per person
• One counter service meal per person
• One snack per person

What does that all mean?

A table service meal would be any character meal or restaurant that offers a buffet, or where you order from a menu at a table. When ordering from a menu, your meal would include an entree, dessert and drink for each person in your family. You are free to order basically anything onon the menu, your waiter will explain if anything is excluded (many restaurants offer a dessert that is a sample platter, which is usually not included). Please note that gratuities are not included, so please remember that as you plan and dine.

The table service meal is available to use at most sit down restaurants. There are a few restaurants that Disney has deemed to be “signature” restaurants, and you can still use the dining plan there, but instead of paying one table service meal “credit” per person, it is double the cost, two credits per person. The list of all table service and signature restaurants can be found on the brochure below.

A counter service meal is where you walk up to a counter, and order your meal, similar to a fast food restaurant if you wish. Each counter service meal would include an entree, side, dessert and drink for each person.

A snack is typically a bottle of coke, an ice cream bar or popcorn. Many restaurants offer other items that can be considered a snack, just look for the square purple and white dining plan logo to tell you if it is included or not.

The great thing about the dining plan is that it is very flexible, when you check into your Disney resort, you are given all of your credits at that time, and your room key acts as a sort of debit card each time you eat, deducting each meal or snack from your pile of credits. After each meal, you will get a receipt showing you how many of those types of meals/snacks you have remaining, and it is your job to make sure you use all of them before you head home, you can’t take them home with you. So, if your kids (or you) want to eat all of their snacks the day you arrive, technically, it is no problem.

The cost of the 2008 Disney dining plan is $38.99 per night per adult (10 and older) and $9.99 per night per child (3 – 9), and is based on the number of nights you are staying. Please remember that each person in your room must be on the same dining plan (or no dining plan at all), you cannot pick and choose who will be on it. There is no cost for kids under the age of three for the dining plan, but be aware that you will not get any food for them at the restaurants. The only exception is restaurants that are buffets, they will be allowed to have their own plate and own food if you wish. If an item is not included in the plan, or you want to order something extra such as an appetizer, you will be billed for them along with the tip at the end of the meal.

That sounds good, but what does the Deluxe Dining plan include?

If you don’t think the Disney dining plan will be enough food for your family, consider the Deluxe dining plan. For each night of your stay, you will receive:

• Three meals per person
• Two snacks per person

The meals can be either counter service or table service meals, it doesn’t matter how you use them, it is totally up to you. Disney does not keep track or regulate how many of each type you use. The same rules apply for table service, counter service and snacks under both plans, and gratuities are not included under the deluxe plan either.

Many people who choose to the deluxe dining plan opt to eat at quite a few of thee signature restaurants during their stay, and with each signature meal taking up two of the meals, that leaves them one other meal and two snacks to use for breakfast and lunch.

The 2008 deluxe dining plan is $69.99 per night per adult (10 and above) and $19.99 per night per child (3 – 9), and again, everyone in your room must be either on the plan or not.

These seem a bit expensive, can I really save money with the Disney Dining plan?

For most people, the answer is yes. Just ask yourself this question:

Do I plan on doing one table service meal each day while at Walt Disney World?

If your plan is to eat as cheaply as possible each day, by either doing just counter service restaurants or sneaking in your own peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, then the dining plan is not for you. You will not be saving money.

If you are like most park guests, and do a character meal with the kids or a nice sit down dinner, the dining plan is perfect for you. Here is a sample day for a family of four (both kids are in the 3 – 9 age range):

Lunch – Tangierine Cafe, Epcot

Chicken & Lamb Schwarma platter – $13.99
Lamb Meditteranean Wrap – $9.99
2 soft drinks – $2.09 each
2 desserts – $2.50 each
2 kids meals – $6.95 each
Total cost with tax: $50.12

Snacks – 4 Mickey head ice cream bars ($2.50 each) – $10.65

Dinner – Le Cellier, Epcot
Le Cellier Mushroom Filet Mignon – $29.99
Herb crusted Prime Rib – $24.99
2 soft drinks – $2.99 each
2 desserts – $5.99 each
2 kids meals – $7.99 each
Total cost with tax: $94.70

Total cost for the day: $155.47. The cost of the dining plan for this family is $95.96 per night, so just this one day, they saved nearly $60 on their food bill. I purposely did not choose the most expensive items on the menus, so the savings could be more. It could also be less, depending on which restaurants you choose.

How do I make sure I save money when I buy the Disney Dining plan?

There are a few tips that can ensure that you get the most out of the dining plan.

1. Plan early. Make sure you plan as early as possible, many of the restaurants, especially those that are great deals on the dining plan, fill up months in advance. Dining reservations can be made 180 days in advance of the day you check in for your vacation by calling 407-WDW-DINE, or if you are lucky, your travel agent will do it for you. Do not wait to make reservations, once you know you are going to Disney World, get the reservations made, and adjust later on if needed.
2. Eat your table service meal at dinner time. Many of the table service restaurants offer lunch, but the portions, and costs, are smaller.
3. Use your counter service meal at lunch time. Breakfast tends to be a lot cheaper than lunch at many restaurants, and many people can just grab something quick for breakfast, and that doesn’t work as well for lunch.
4. Look around for snack options. As mentioned before, many restaurants and food courts offer snack options in addition to the standard bottle of Diet Coke or popcorn.
5. Avoid character meals. While fun, character meals are a fairly poor use of the plan. I usually plan on doing one each trip, it is enough for my kids to enjoy the experience, but not get bored with them.
6. Understand what is included. The Disney dining plan can be confusing, don’t be afraid to ask your waiter what is or is not included. They deal with the plan all day long every day, and know exactly what you can or cannot do, and are usually very helpful in helping you get the most out of the plan.
7. Read the brochure. Disney has a great brochure all about the dining plan, including all the restaurants on the plan, how to use it, etc. Take the few minutes to read it before you start your planning. There is a link below to download the brochures.
8. Use all your credits. If you leave for home with a bunch of credits still on your room key, you probably didn’t save much money by purchasing the dining plan.

What about the Deluxe Dining plan, will I still save money?

For most people, the deluxe dining plan is overkill, too much food, too much time required to eat all those meals, etc. Under some circumstances, the deluxe dining plan may work better for you, depending on what your dining plan looks like. Imagine the example above, where the cost for two meals and a snack was around $155. With a nightly cost of about $180 for the family on the deluxe plan, and one more meal and snack to use, it doesn’t take much to break even and start saving money. Before upgrading to the deluxe plan, make sure it works for you.

I like saving money and all, but are there other reasons to do the Dining plan?

For me, the money savings is great, and one of the main reason why I do the dining plan each trip. However, there are a few other reasons why I choose to pay for my meals in advance:

1. Budget – I know going in roughly what my total food costs are going to be for my entire trip. There aren’t going to be any big surprises, and I am not going to run out of food money half way through the trip.
2. Pre-paid - It sure is nice to have all your meals pre-paid, before you even get to the parks. You don’t have to worry about what you are going to order once at the restaurants. Without the dining plan, you may really, really want the $30 steak, but you end up ordering the $12 pasta instead to save a bit of money. Plus, now I don’t have to fight the kids over what they order, whether it is macaroni and cheese or a steak with lobster, it doesn’t effect my cost.
3. Convenience – The dining plan is very easy to use, and I don’t have to worry about carrying around a bunch of cash or credit cards, just my room key.
4. Nicer Restaurants – what typically happened before the dining plan existed is that we would have plans to eat at a nice restaurant for dinner, and then I start thinking about the enormous cost for our family just for dinner, and how much cheaper it would be to eat hamburgers instead, so we would go with the hamburgers. The dining plan allows you to eat at nicer restaurants than you normally would.

Where can I get more information about the Disney Dining plans?

Disney Dining - great website with up to date information about the Disney dining plans, where the best restaurants are to eat at to get a great deal, and all the restaurants included on the plan.
Disney World Menus – full menus of all the restaurants at Disney World, a great way to start your planning
Disney Dining Plan brochure – this is the official brochure, be warned, it is a big download (PDF file)
Deluxe Dining Plan brochure – again, a bit larger than the standard plan brochure, so it might take a while (PDF file)

To book a Magic Your Way package with the Disney Dining plan, or Deluxe Disney Dining plan, contact our great sponsor Mouseketrips.

Our friends over at Disney Top 10 have just posted a great article full of their top 10 tips to helping you plan your Disney vacation.

Disney Top 10 Tips to planning your WDW vacation

So, what is our favorite tip?

#6: Plan and Book Early – Make sure you start your planning as early as possible. Planning early allows you time to figure out where you want to stay, gives you the best opportunity at getting the resort and room type you want, and get discounts on your reservation. You will also then have plenty of time to make dining reservation and any other plans you need. We usually plan 12 months in advance for our trip.

Planning early allows you plenty of time to watch for future discounts (hello MouseMisers!). It is always good to give yourself plenty of time in planning, a rushed Disney vacation is better than a week at work for sure, but given time, you can make your Disney vacation just that much better. Take some time to check out their site, they offer some great tips for your Disney vacation.