All right, I think it might be safe for me to start up a trip report thread for this year’s Deluxe bonanza.
Previously, on LOST
My last trip was the infamous Miami - Orlando trip in August of 2021 where I both scored one of the last known Hotwire hidden deals at Coronado Springs for $155 and had my car’s airbag jacked while visiting my Mom and sister in Miami.
I will be avoiding any parts-jacking by taking my entire family down in flying tubes for the first time, and have been practicing my moves in case I encounter any Florida Death Almonds.
Massive Points Flex
Each trip I like to find some sort of unusual deal (as we all do here) to make me feel good about life. Besides the $155 CSR last time (where we ended up in the bestest preferred room with some pixie dust), one of my other favorites was the 2017 trip during the CBR refurb.
At the time Disney seemed to panic that once word got out how big resort construction was going to be that people wouldn’t book rooms - so they offered a $75/night room credit on top of any discounts. We ended scoring a room only rate of $150, so the net price was $75/night over all!
That trip I also ran a couple of my first real credit card points scenarios - having both DW and I getting shiny new Disney Visa cards and some juicy BarclayCard Arrivals - all which had some great sign up bonuses.
Long story short: after all the points and Disney cashola the week’s trip should have cost us over $3,500, but we ended up something well less than $1,000 out of pocket, all in.
This year’s flex: Last year I decided to hit the points cards hard. In just over a year we’ve earned over 1.3 million points, as well as a Southwest Companion Pass.
The Bookings
First thing: We are moderate people. Probably in temperament - but I’m talking about hotels. Deluxes are so darn expensive and we’ve chosen to emphasize the experiences.
With points? Out the window, baby.
Flying the 4 of us on Southwest on some apparently unicorn non-stops out of Islip, NY to MCO, all on points + free companion.
Southwest Flight Cost: About $45 total round trip for the federal fees. (which were paid using a Sapphire Preferred card so that we get travel protections in case any of the flights get delayed or cancelled.)
Taking a 3-night pre-cation Thursday - Sunday at the Hyatt Regency Grand Cypress, which by all accounts is a pretty awesome location. Scored a VIP Suite with 2 bathrooms, ginormous living area and kitchen, plus a separate king bedroom, 3 balconies. Good chance we’ll have a view of fireworks for a couple of parks form those balconies.
Hyatt Hotel Cost: $0. All points, transferred from Chase Ultimate Rewards to Hyatt - plus Hyatt doesn’t charge resort fees on points stays. Bazinga.
Renting a car for this 3 day Hyatt stay to make hitting Disney Springs and shopping easier. (EDIT: So, that will add about $60 in parking charges to our stay.) Picking up car at MCO and dropping in Kissimmee before our move to…
The Swan! | WL tour, on the roof 1995 |
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Staying Sunday - Friday, Our first WDW deluxe resort stay since my pre-wife and I stayed at the WLon our first trip together in 1996 |
Stealing a photo from the SwanDolphin site.
Using 3-free night certificates earned through a Marriott Boundless credit card sign up bonus, plus some points transferred from Chase.
Swan Hotel Cost: $225, because stoopid Marriott charges resort fees for points stays.
Also: Hoping my Marriott Gold Elite status might get me a slightly better room view, because the points bookings are the “no view” rooms, which I believe look over an abyss of used towels and discarded t-bones from Shula’s.
SIDEBAR
There’s a funny story to those free-night certificates: I planned on getting the card when it had a 100K Marriott points sign up bonus then use those points plus more transferred from Chase or Amex to book a 5 night stay.
I asked someone for a referral link so they could earn some points, and by the time I used it 2 days later the bonus changed to 3 Free Night certificates for $3,000 spend in 3 months. I sighed and went for it anyway, even though it would cost me more points now. Approved immediately - THEN 2 days later they changed the bonus again to FIVE FREAKING FREE NIGHT CERTS for $5,000 spend.
I tried several times to get Chase to honor that higher bonus, but they would not.
So, I leaned in and earned the bonus I was given and saw my 3 free night certificates show up.
Then, later that day I went in to start booking the Swan room with them and saw ANOTHER 3 free night certs. As of today, those bonus bonuses are still on my account, so fingers crossed Marriott doesn’t wake up.
Rounding it Up
Our flight home is on Saturday, so I have a Sunshine Flyer booked late in the day Friday and another all-points stay booked at the Hyatt Regency at MCO. Figure we can decompress Friday night and have a nice convenient commute to the flight in the morning.
Hyatt Hotel Cost: $0.
Have about 56 day count down right now!