FREE Disney Dining is back for 2009!

Yipee!

I just received this email from Pam at “The Magic for Less” travel:

Yep, we know this is the special that so many people wait for each fall, and it is back!!!  It is available today for Disney Visa Holders and will be available on 3/30/09 for the general public.

We are encouraging guests to fill out a quote form today even if they do not have a Disney Visa so that we can have their details and book this package when it is released on 3/30/09.  Please let your website visitors and community members know that as well.

Travel Dates: August 16, 2009 – October 3, 2009

Booking Dates:

Disney Visa Holders: March 26, 2009-June 21, 2009

General Public: March 30, 2009 – June 21, 2009

>>FREE Dining with Magic Your Way Packages for Disney Visa card holders<<

Special magic Your Way packages with FREE Disney Dining Plan are available for 8/16/09- 10/03/09 travel dates.  The Disney Dining Plan lets you choose from over 100 select restaurants throughout the Walt Disney Resort and is typically priced at 38.99 per adult (10 and over) and 10.99 per child, per night.  This is a substantial savings, and the numbers of rooms available with this special are limited.  A Disney Visa must be used for a deposit at time of booking.  This special must be booked by 6/21/09.

As a special bonus our EXCLUSIVE offers below can be combined with the Free dining package.

>>FREE Dining with Magic Your Way Packages for Disney Visa card holders<<

Special magic Your Way packages with FREE Disney Dining Plan are available for 8/16/09- 10/03/09 travel dates.  The Disney Dining Plan lets you choose from over 100 select restaurants throughout the Walt Disney Resort and is typically priced at 39.99 per adult (10 and over) and 10.99 per child, per night.  This is a substantial savings, and the numbers of rooms available with this special are limited.  A Disney Visa must be used for a deposit at time of booking.  This special must be booked by 6/21/09.

As a special Bonus, you can combine one of our EXCLUSIVE promotions with the free dining package.

FREE Minnie Pack- EXCLUSIVE Magic for Less Travel Offer

Our exclusive promotion CAN be combined with Disney released specials!

The Magic for Less Travel will offer a FREE Minnie Pack to all guests who book a new Magic Your Way package priced at $1500* or more. The Minnie Pack includes 2 neck wallets for you to use in the parks and resorts. Packages priced at $2500* or more will also receive your choice of a subscription to TourGuideMiKE’s Automated Vacation Planner, a copy of Birnbaum’s Walt Disney World guide, a copy of Kim Button’s Disney Queue Line Survival Guidebook or 2 autograph books. *The price of the vacation is based on the final price you pay for your vacation package after any discount and before any non-commissionable options like airfare are included. Pack contents are subject to change.  Book by 4/30/09

Deluxe Pixie Dust Pack & Gift Card EXCLUSIVE Magic for Less Offer

Our exclusive promotion CAN be combined with Disney released specials!

The Magic for Less Travel will offer a FREE Deluxe Pixie Dust Pack to all guests who book a new Magic Your Way package priced at $3500* or more. The Deluxe Pixie Dust Pack includes two neck wallets for your party, a $25 Disney gift card and your choice of a subscription to TourGuideMiKE’s Automated Vacation Planner, a copy of Birnbaum’s Walt Disney World guide a copy of Kim Button’s Disney Queue Line Survival Guidebook or 2 autograph books.

*The price of the vacation is based on the final price you pay for your vacation package after any discounts and before any non-commissionable options like airfare are included. Pack contents are subject to change. Book by 4/30/09

Have a Magical Day!

Last Minute Travel $1 Deal

Can it be true? Is it really possible to book a Disney vacation for only a $1 a night?

There are many people on discussion boards throughout the internet that say it IS indeed true and they have booked their Disney vacations (and other destinations, too) for only a $1 a night.  People on the famous Disney Discussion board — the Disboards.com have over a 100 pages of discussion on this promotion alone.   SlickDeals.com has an even larger thread going on.

What’s the catch? You can read all the details about LastMinuteTravel’s promotion by clicking here. Basically, the travel company is giving away hotel stays for a $1 day during ’secret’ segments throughout the day. The times are kept secret and there is no way of knowing for sure when the ‘window of opportunity’ will present itself.  Yet, according to the company’s website 928 lucky people were able to book vacations up to 7 days in length last week for just a buck a night.  And this coming week promises to be just as exciting.

Tons of Disney fans have sat at their computers this past week trying to ‘win’ a Disney vacation for a buck a night.  I must admit I got caught up in the frenzy too.  I stayed up to nearly 1 a.m. on Thursday evening only to find out that at 1:27 a.m. the window of opportunity had opened.  Ugh….

Now…. the real question is: Is this Last Minute Travel a scam?   I believe people are truly booking these $1 vacations.  The folks on the discussion boards listed above are ‘long time’ members that I have seen on the boards for years!  People I trust.  I know they are telling the truth.  They are indeed booking a vacation.   And from reading all the discussion boards it seems the winners are being charged the $1 a night — in some cases it’s just a pending charge and then the credit card is not charged at all.  Everything seems to be legitimate.

But … HOW is Last Minute Travel company doing it?   Some posters on the Disboards have booked vacation at the Polynesian Disney Resort CLUB level for seven nights — that’s a retail value of about $5,000.  Who’s paying for it?  According to LastMinuteTravel’s blog 928 people won a basically free vacation — even IF each of those vacations is valued at only $1000 that would be $928,000 total — nearly a million dollars!      AND … they plan on doing it again next week:  Monday through Friday.

Some more questions to ponder:   Have you ever heard of LastMinuteTravel before this promotion?  I certainly never did.     Of course, the purpose the promotion may be to gain more recognition — that much does make sense … but it’s an awful lot of money used to do that.  Will they get return business after this?

If the hotels are also sponsoring the promotion then I can understand how this is working — perhaps.  But it doesn’t seem to be the case.  Wouldn’t the sponsoring hotels want the recognition on the website?  Afterall, this is a BIG ad campaign — can’t believe they would be willing to just provide the ‘goods’ without the advertising benefits.    People on the discussions boards are booking vacations in Paris, Cancun, Disney — all over the world. Did the folks at LastMinuteTravel.com get all those hotels WORLDWIDE to participate in this campaign?

I’m still unsure about the legitimacy of the program.   And, I’ll admit I have no idea about the inner workings of travel agencies and their profit margins, etc.  I’m just stating my doubts and concerns.  I do WANT it to be true!

I, myself, have tried to book a vacation but haven’t been able to catch the 15 minute window of opportunity. And, I will probably go back next week and try again to catch the opportunity.  The skeptical part of me is very unsure of this promotion.  Will people who booked these vacations find themselves ‘without’ a vacation when they show up at the hotels — or a very large bill to pay?  Will this lastminutetravel.com go bankrupt doing this?  Then what happens?

Doing a bit of research I did find this information from the Better Business Bureau in Central Florida. It’s not particularly good news … but not exactly proof that this company is doing anything wrong  –  maybe not the best with customer service, however. Here’s the link to read the details at the BBB yourself:

Better Business Bureau report on Tourico Holidays (aka LastMinuteTravel)

It sounds like a lot of fun and excitement to be able to book one of these $1 vacations — be sure to proceed with caution.  I wouldn’t cancel a vacation you may have already booked until you receive some definitive feedback that this promotion is valid and worked for someone else (i.e. they booked for a $1, arrived at the hotel, and went home happy with only spending a $1 a night on their vacation).   I don’t think anyone can ignore the fact that this is a very expensive promotion for any company and the question remains:  How can LastMinuteTravel.com afford to do this?  It seems a bit too amazing!

For a limited time Amazon is offering their PRIME Shipping for FREE.

I’ve had a Prime membership for nearly two years now.  Prime Shipping is so convenient — and it was great around the holiday season.

Prime Shipping allows customers to order products and have them delivered to your doorstep in 2-days for FREE.  You don’t need to meet any minimum orders …. I’ve often looked up an inexpensive paperback book on Amazon for my children’s schooling and press the order button and it’s at my door the next day in some cases — often faster than I can get to the store to buy it myself.

Stop by Amazon and give it a trial run.

Last summer (July 2008) we traveled to Disney World in Orlando via the Auto Train from Lorton, Virginia.  You can read my review of the autotrain experience by clicking here (Part 1) and here (Part 2).

As you can see, I wasn’t very excited about our experience on the autotrain.  It now being seven months since our trip I can see that with a little planning and knowledge the trip could have been a better experience.

Here are some tips I’d recommend for anyone planning to take the Amtrak auto train to Orlando, Disney World.

1.  Bring a comfortable pillow and blanket — maybe a few pillows — they can always be stored in your car when you are finished with them.

2.  Wear very comfortable clothing — layered so that you can adjust according to the train temperature.

3.  Bring plenty of snacks, water, and whatever else you might enjoy for the long trip.

4.  Plan on being late in arriving at Disney World.

5.  Bring earplugs — or something that will shut out the noise of banging doors on the train and others who like to stay up through the night.

6.  Plan on tipping the staff in the dining car.

7.  Don’t expect much for the movie — bring your own portable dvd player and/or laptop to view movies.

Enjoy your trip … and if you haven’t already done so … request a Disney World Planning Trip DVD by clicking the banner.

Are you still looking for a Wii Fit?  I finally found Wii Fit online at Walmart.com this past week.

I had asked for this as a Christmas gift but every store was sold out.  I thought for sure that after the holidays the stores would be restocked but I’ve been searching online for Wii Fit since Christmas day and no one had them in stock.

Then magically this week Walmart.com had the bundle with the accessories for $128.00.  I figured I would probably wind up buying the accessories eventually so I purchased the bundle.  I received my confirmation email today that it has shipped.  I was going to do the ship-to-store option for free — but I didn’t want to stand in that long line at my store …. and it’s freezing out there.  Besides, the shipping was quite reasonable.

If you are still looking for a Wii Fit be sure to check out Walmart.  I have also heard that Amazon has the Wii Fit with Balance Board in stock from time to time — you have to keep checking throughout the day.

Save on Top Brand Electronics at Walmart.com!

Looking for a way to earn some extra cash for a Disney World vacation?  Online surveys provide a means to earn a little extra cash — maybe just enough to buy those few extra souvenirs at the Disney Theme Parks.

Dollar Surveys is a great way to earn a little extra cash completing a survey each day.   There’s no cost to join — and plenty of chances to earn the Disney cash.

Back in May 2008 I wrote about how sad my children were that Virtual Magic Kingdom (VMK) was closing down.  Well, it closed down as scheduled several months ago. The kids survived … but they still wish it would return … but I doubt it will.

A new online game from Disney has opened:  Disney’s Pixie Hollow.  So far my daughter is really enjoying it.  It’s a lot like VMK but as she says … even better.  One unique feature with this game is that you can collect charms — real charms — which you can wear on a necklace and/or bracelet — while at the same time there is a ‘box’ in which you can connect to your computer via a USB cable and your online fairy also receives the same charms — virtually.

Actually, it’s a bit complicated explaining how it works.  The kids understand it better than I do.  However, it seems like a safe place — and a fun place — for the kids to hang out online.   My daughter wants the Disney Fairies Pixie Hollow Clickables Starter Set and Fairy Charm Set for her birthday.  The picture on the left leads you to Amazon where you can get a better idea of what it’s all about.

She’s also looking for additional charms for the starter set.  These are on her birthday list — which is coming up next week.

My daughter’s birthday is coming up later this month.   She’s going to be a teenager!  I can’t believe it — where did the last 13 years go!

She still enjoys playing with her American Girl dolls and accessories.  This year she’s asking for a lot of items for Samantha — since the American Girl company is retiring this doll later this year.  Once they retire a doll it is almost impossible to get any of her items — except on eBay for crazy prices.

Here’s the first item on her list:

And this is one of the accessory items for Samantha — a tea set:

Luckily, I was able to find a promotion code to save $10 off a $30 purchase.  Here’s the code if you have an American Girl lover in your family: 153302 (just copy/paste it in the promotion key box when you place your order).

Disney is doing it again.  Back in 2003 they had what was called the “Fairytale Package.”  Under that package you could book 4 nights room and tickets package — and receive a 7 night vacation!  That’s right, 3 full nights and tickets FREE!

For 2009 they are doing it again!  Must be the poor economy!  The Free Nights Package Offer runs from January 4, 2009 through June 27, 2009 (with April 5-18th blacked out).

Here are the details:

* Buy a 4-night/4 day vacation package — get a 7-night/7-day package. That’s 3 FREE nights and 3 extra days on your theme park admission tickets!

* Travel between January 4 and March 29 and you will also get a $200 Disney Gift Card, redeemable for dining, souvenirs and more at Walt Disney World! (Travel after March 29 does not include the Gift Card.)

You can also book the dining plan under this promotion!

You must book this special package by 12/20/08.

What are you waiting for?? Call Disney Reservations now because these prices are not going to last long.  Be sure to tell the cast member you want to book the 7 night package at the 4 nights price!

President-Elect Obama ran on a platform of change.  Before the election he alluded to the fact that Americans should ’serve’ their country more.  I’m all for that.  Our family does quite a bit of volunteer activities.

However, I’m not happy about something I read today.  According to the Change.gov website Obama plans on REQUIRING community service from kids as young as middle school.  Here is the direct quote:

The Obama Administration will call on Americans to serve in order to meet the nation’s challenges. President-Elect Obama will expand national service programs like AmeriCorps and Peace Corps and will create a new Classroom Corps to help teachers in underserved schools, as well as a new Health Corps, Clean Energy Corps, and Veterans Corps. Obama will call on citizens of all ages to serve America, by developing a plan to require 50 hours of community service in middle school and high school and 100 hours of community service in college every year. Obama will encourage retiring Americans to serve by improving programs available for individuals over age 55, while at the same time promoting youth programs such as Youth Build and Head Start.

So … what exactly does this mean? Who defines ‘community service’? And why middle school kids — they are only 12 and 13 years old — isn’t that really community service for the parent? How will this be monitored? What about homeschoolers and private school kids?

I don’t think this is the change people were looking for. Isn’t this government stepping over the line?

EDIT to ADD: Interesting update to this. Since posting this the other day I’ve been informed that the change.gov website has changed the wording of what I quoted above. It now appears the word ‘required’ has been taken out — and more of an ‘optional’ tone to the community service — and with some benefits for college.  Nice to see someone somewhere is keeping this president-elect inline. Here is the new wording:

The Obama Administration will call on Americans to serve in order to meet the nation’s challenges. President-Elect Obama will expand national service programs like AmeriCorps and Peace Corps and will create a new Classroom Corps to help teachers in underserved schools, as well as a new Health Corps, Clean Energy Corps, and Veterans Corps. Obama will call on citizens of all ages to serve America, by setting a goal that all middle school and high school students do 50 hours of community service a year and by developing a plan so that all college students who conduct 100 hours of community service receive a universal and fully refundable tax credit ensuring that the first $4,000 of their college education is completely free. Obama will encourage retiring Americans to serve by improving programs available for individuals over age 55, while at the same time promoting youth programs such as Youth Build and Head Start.