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It's been 8 months since my last trip to Disney and I've been thinking about going back ever since.
I've written about our plans for our next Disney vacation; an anniversary cruise on "The Dream". But I'd also love to go back to the parks as well.
In a perfect world I'd vacation in WDW every year. But of course the cost to go makes that almost impossible. Unless you want to put yourself into debt and charge the trip on a credit card (making the cost of your trip even more because you pay interest); you have to plan and save to pay for the vacation up front.
The main reason we went last September was because of special hotel discounts and free dining plan that was offered by Disney on dates that included my birthday.
Yesterday I heard the news that Disney is offering the dining plan free between August 24 and September 24. Again, those dates include my birthday. I couldn't help myself. My heart started beating a little bit faster and the Disney fanatic in me immediately asked, Is it possible I could find myself looking out over the bowling pin pool at the Pop Century resort on my 51st birthday like I did on my 50th (see picture above)? "Could this discount be enough to get the wife to agree to go to Walt Disney World again this year?"
Sadly the answer is "no." The only way she would go again this year is if the entire trip was free and included airfare. She wouldn't pass that up. This is why I enter every Disney vacation giveaway sweepstakes that I see or hear about. But like they say on commercials aimed at kids on Saturday mornings: "Millions enter, few win." But I digress.
Take my reaction to the news of the free dining offer at Walt Disney World and multiply it by millions of Disney fans all over the country and throughout the world. This discount is going to result in thousands of families deciding to come to Disney World because it "saves them money". This is the motive behind the promotion and it will work.
Like I said, I could never convince my wife to spend our vacation money on going to Disney World again this year. But that doesn't mean I wouldn't be willing to, at least, plead my case with her if there the cost was the same or less than going somewhere else. The late summer "free dining" promotion pushes the cost in that direction...but not anywhere near enough.
So thanks for the momentary rush of excitement, Disney Travel Company. You got me thinking about coming back to "Mickey's house" much sooner than realistically possible. But you've also got me doubting the "across the board" validity of one of Walt's most infamous quotes: "If you can dream it, you can do it." Well, in some cases that's not true; especially when you did it last year.
