What happens if you get sick at Disney?

Last year we planned a family trip that included my parents. The first day at the parks, my mom started feeling poorly. She was having shortness of breath and seemed to have symptoms of low blood pressure. Eventually, she decided she should go to the first aid station just to make sure it wasn't something serious (like a heart attack or something).

The cast members at the first aid station were not able to do much more than check her blood pressure and do an EKG, but they recommended that she go to the hospital to have things checked out.

It was a pretty scary start to our vacation to say the least. However, I was so impressed with Disney's response. Not only did they pay for her ambulance ride to the hospital, they added a day back onto my parent's tickets so they wouldn't lose a day of admission. They did this even though it was early afternoon before they went to the first aid station. That was exceeding expectation, which I realize is something Disney always strives to do.

Everything turned out ok and my mom was fine, although they decided to go home right after she got out of the hospital rather than finish their trip. It was sad that they weren't able to enjoy more time with their grandkids, but Disney's simple gestures really helped ease the pain some.

Disney World with toddlers, Where to Stay?

I came across this article to day about where to stay when visiting Disney World with toddlers. Having done this several times, I was curious about what the author would recommend. Their only recommendation was to stay on-site. Why? Because of the convenience factor.

Wow! I was shocked by that because it is so contrary to our own experience. We found that the sprawling resorts were difficult for toddlers unless you take your stroller everywhere not to mention waiting in line for buses. The last thing my kids wanted to do was walk more and wait in more lines. I honestly just don't understand why everybody finds driving to Disney so difficult. Granted it costs $12/day but you save more than that staying off-site. Our experience has been that it's much easier to get in our car and drive than wait in line, try to find seats on the bus and go from stop-to-stop before getting where we actually wanted to go.

Aside from those factors, we found that having to go to the food court to eat breakfast was a huge time sink. Also, going to the pool was a whole involved process of getting everybody ready, walking (again) to the main pool which was often crowded with older kids who disregarded our toddlers. Contrast that to staying in a nearby pool house. Everybody has their own room, you can eat a normal relaxed breakfast, going to the pool means stepping outside.

I guess I just don't get it.

DVC experiencing record growth

Disney Vacation Club (DVC) is Disney's version of a "timeshare". There are some nice aspects of it, but I've never been able to buy into the concept because of the annual maintenance cost is more than I typically pay for similar accommodations off-site. However, if you normally stay on-site at moderate or deluxe accommodations and you go at least every other year, it can be a good deal. Evidently a lot of people have been convinced that it's a good deal. According to the press releases for the new Bay Towers and Tree House Villas, DVC membership has doubled since 2004 and there are now over 350,000 members!

One person I came across at MouseOwners.com is actually trying to accumulate enough points to be able to rent a studio for a full year for their retirement. They have 4000 points that they are renting out in 2009 as a result. Quite an interesting goal, I thought.

If you are not convinced you want to buy in, you can always rent mouse points as a way to give it a try or just to get deluxe accommodations for less. The person with 4000 points, for example, has extra points that they are selling.

Why in the world do I like to stay off Disney World?

While staying on-site has become very popular since Disney has added thousands of moderate and value resort rooms there is still a case to be made for staying off-site like most of us humble folks did for years-and-years when staying on-site was reserved for the upper crust. Staying on-site has some advantages:

• Resorts themed as only Disney can do, including some of the most outstanding pools and food courts known to civilized man
• Extra Magic Hours (EMH) - There is some controversy whether EMH is worth it or not but it something that is only an option if you stay on-site.
• The Dining Plan - Love it or hate it, again it's only available if you stay on-site. (Personally, I'm not a big fan. I wish I didn't have to make reservations 6 months in advance - but that's another rant)
• Transportation - Many guests park their vehicle and never use it or they fly in and never need a car. Disney's transportation system is quite good...depending on which resort you are at and the time of day.
• Package pickup - I love being able to purchase items in the park and just have them sent to the resort rather than carry them around or wait until the end of the day to purchase them.

There are lots of ways to stay off-site. Our favorite way to stay off-site is rent a pool house. So, when I say off-site that's what I'm referring to.

• Cost. Three years ago we found a 5 bedroom house with it's own pool, a full kitchen, big screen tv, grill, washer/dryer, free Internet access, and free long distance phone for 2 weeks for slightly less than what our 1 week accommodations at Port Orleans, Riverside cost. Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying the two places were in anyway comparable. They were very different. Both were very nice, just different.
• Dining. Staying off-site gives us a lot more options when it comes to dining options. Having a kitchen allows us to fix some of our meals if we want to. We usually eat breakfast at "home" to get an early start, then eat a counter service meal at the parks. Dinner may be on-site, off-site or back home if we want a quiet evening.
• Relaxation. One of the things we realized about staying on-site is that even spending a day at the resort isn't all that restful because you end up packing up the kids to go to the pool or arcade or food court. The nice thing about a pool house is that it's all right there. If the kids want to swim they can change in their own rooms and go for a swim.
• Privacy. There is nothing like having your own room. We have 3 kids - a 5 year old boy, a 9 year old girl and an 11 year old girl. We generally have different bed times for the 5 year old than the girls. Having different bedrooms is really nice for that. And while I'm on the subject, it's also nice to have a queen or king sized bed for the adults rather than the full sized bed you get at the moderate/value resorts at Disney.
• Transportation. OK, when staying off-site is mentioned this always comes up. I can understand this being an issue for the 50% of guests who fly into Orlando (according to NY Times 50% of guests drive) but if you are driving in and have a car anyway this shouldn't be all that intimidating. The house we stayed in was off I-4/27 and took us between 20 and 30 minutes to be at any of the parks. That's no worse and often better than the times we had getting to the parks from Port Orleans using Disney transportation. The only real downside IMO is paying the $10/day for parking.

Like anything else different things appeal to different people. We really enjoyed staying on-site but didn't feel like it was worth the additional cost and we did not enjoy eating out that much. We really like being able to fix our own breakfast, especially. While we really enjoyed the themed pool at the resort, we decided we would be willing to give that up in favor of the simplicity of walking out the door to a private pool. Finally, we really missed having some privacy during our vacation. Given that we can have all the advantages of staying off-site for less money, it's not a hard choice.

If you would like to see what kind of rates are available on houses, take a look at my post listing web sites that have been recommended by fellow Disney fans by clicking here...

Affordable On-Site Accomodations for More than Four?

Having lived in the Orlando area in the past, our family usually stays off-site when we visit Disney. However, on our last trip we decided to take advantage of the free dining offer that Disney offers in the fall. Since we have 3 kids we cannot stay in the typical Disney room which seems to assume a family of 4.

If you use the Disney web site to look for rooms you won't turn up one option that is available to you as a larger family and that is the value resort suites. There are only about 200 of these suites so they book up fast and they actually cost more than getting two rooms in the value suites. So why would you bother? Well, you get a queen bed (which you don't get in the other rooms in a value resort or at Port Orleans, Riverside in the rooms that accommodate 5 for that matter). You also get a kitchenette of sorts. And you get a connected, but separate room so the kids can go to bed earlier than the adults.

So what does all that cost? About $169-$259 depending on the season.

In the end we decided to save the money and stay at the moderate Port Orleans, Riverside which has rooms which sleep 5. It only has full beds which would be a problem if you have 5 large people. Our kids are still small so, that's not a problem. I'm big (6' tall and 230 lbs) but didn't find the smallish bed uncomfortable. With the money we saved, we treated the kids to a night at the Sandcastle Kids Club while my wife and I had dinner without the kids at Chefs de France. We felt the upscale resort and the night out was worth the loss of space, given the limited amount of time we were actually in the room.

Of course, after all was said and done, we really felt like we will go back to staying off site. But that's another story...

For more on the value resort suites:
http://www.mousesavers.com/allstarmusicsuites.html
http://www.wdwinfo.com/wdwinfo/resorts/asm-suite-review.html

Need to bring that Disney resort feeling to your home?

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They have everything from Princess and Pirate beds (shown right) to towels, bath robes and even those cute little Mickey soap and shampoo bottles.

An example of outstanding Disney customer service

"Walt Disney World is known the world over for its excellent customer service.But every now and then you hear a special story that makes you realize that the company is more than polite and courteous; that they go above and beyond people's expectations.

"The Karen and Paul Campanale, and their family were on vacation at the Walt Disney World Resort. While packing and straightening up their villa at Disney's Wilderness Lodge, Paul Campanale threw out a cardboard bowl containing his wife's, engagement, wedding and five-year-anniversary rings. When the couple discovered what had happened, they informed the staff at the Wilderness Lodge, and headed for the airport. The staff informed them that it would be a long shot, but that they would try and find her rings.

"Drew Weaver , executive housekeeper at the Wilderness Lodge, said that he realized that they garbage from the couple's villa was not taken to the compactor yet, and along with seven other volunteers, decided to get on their protective clothing, and search for the jewelry. Remarkably, they did just that. 'That's not the first time we've gone through trash - oh, no,' Weaver said. 'We don't always find things. Many times we come up empty. But we didn't this time.'

"Weaver called the Campanale's, and personally met up with them to bring them the rings. The Campanale's were shocked but ecstatic that the rings were located."

from http://www.magicalmountain.net/WDWNewsDetail.asp?NewsID=1875