One of the best things about Disney is that it’s not all about the rides and the parks. It’s called the Walt Disney World resort because it has more to offer than just an amusement park. You can find plenty of things to do and see that aren’t located at one of the four main parks. Here are some highlights:

Downtown Disney

An area of Disney that’s free to enter, here you’ll find a wide variety of shops and restaurants, all with a Disney theme. You can spend the afternoon shopping around for unique Disney souvenirs and then get a delicious dinner at night. It’s also a good place to go if you’re looking for a little nightlife in Disney. This is the place where you’ll find the bars, many of which feature entertainment on the weekends. Downtown Disney is also home to La Nouba, the Cirque du Soleil show permanently located in Orlando. It’s definitely worth seeing if you can get a ticket.

The Water Parks

Disney is home to two water parks: Blizzard Beach and Typhoon Lagoon. Both are fun places to go on a hot day and have things for all ages. Blizzard Beach is themed after a ski resort that has melted, and it has some of the bigger slides and rides. Typhoon Lagoon has a large area for children, some family rides, some big slides, and even an area to go snorkeling.

The Resorts
Even if you’re staying on Disney property at one of the resorts, you might want to spend some time checking out what the other resorts have to offer. Many are themed in beautiful and unique ways, so if you want to see southern mansions or a Polynesian beach, you should check out the resorts. Another highlight is dining. Many of the resorts offer some of the best dining on property. So whether you’re looking to have a character meal to meet Mickey, attend a luau, or get a great view of the fireworks while dining, you can find what you want at the resorts.

Sports
Disney also has a sports complex and many options on property for those guests who are more active. They have some golf courses, including miniature golf courses for the children, a place to go fishing, horseback riding, and various boats and bicycles available to rent at many of the resorts. In addition, an exciting opportunity for racing fans is the Richard Petty Driving Experience. You can experience first hand the thrill of driving a NASCAR race car. If that seems a little too intimidating for you, you can still get the thrill by signing up to be a passenger in a car driven by a professional driving instructor.

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You might be surprised to learn that Disney World is not a very WIFI friendly location. That being said, new access points are being added every year. Here are you’re best bets for finding a free WIFI location in 2012:

First off, Disney did a lot to enhance their connectivity in 2011 when they announced that all Walt Disney World Resorts would offer WIFI by 2012. This includes the popular moderate and value resort properties. Guests are able to access this free service from the lobby areas as well as their rooms. Note that the Fort Wilderness Campground is not included on this list.

The more difficult search for WIFI begins when you leave your hotel room. There are no public access points available in the parks, so you’ll need a smart phone with data plan to get online there.

If you are staying off-site at any of the area hotels be aware that the majority of them charge a daily fee for Ethernet access. You can get lucky at some of the larger properties like the Marriott World Center that feature meeting and banquet rooms. Here you can often find an open signal in the lobby area coming from the event spaces.

For those of you who prefer a coffee shop setting to sit down with your laptop I found a handful of locations surrounding Disney World that advertise free WIFI…

Starbucks 8369
8200 Vineland Ave
Orlando, FL 32821

Panera Bread
8600 Vineland Ave
Orlando, FL 32821

McDonald’s
1596 West Buena Vista Drive
Lake Buena Vista, FL 32830-8401

Panera Bread
E Sandlake Rd
Orlando, FL 32836

Starbucks 13566
6075 Irlo Bronson Memorial Hwy
Kissimmee, FL 34747

PJ ‘s Coffee and Wine Bar
54 Riley Rd
Celebration, FL 34747

Oddly enough, none of the merchants in Downtown Disney list WIFI access as a feature. I have read unconfirmed reports that Fuego Cigar Bar & Lounge, Wolfgang Puck Cafe and Pollo Campero have free WIFI so those might be good places to check out.

Leave a comment below if you know of any other WIFI spots near Disney World.

Once the dust has settled from Christmas and New Year’s many families start looking ahead to their 2012 vacations. This is a good time to plan a Disney World trip since their reservation calendar for each year opens on January 1st.

This means you can make reservations for any trip between January through Christmas 2012 beginning on the first of the year. In fact, you can already find discounts on resort stays between February 21 to March 31 and April 13 to June 14 if you book before January 22 and February 28 respectively. Discounts include…

Save 20% for Value Resort stays at Disney’s All Star Sports Resort, Disney’s All Star Music Resort or Disney’s Pop Century Resort.

Save 25% for Moderate Resort stays at Disney’s Coronado Springs Resort or Disney’s Caribbean Beach Resort.

Save 30% for Deluxe Resort stays at Disney’s Yacht and Beach Club Resorts, Disney’s Boardwalk Inn or Disney’s Wilderness Lodge

Save 30% for Deluxe Villa stays at Disney’s Saratoga Springs Resort or Disney’s Old Key West Resort.

As the year goes on you’ll find similar deals like this posted for summer, fall, and spring. The only catch is that you have to make your reservation after each promotion goes live but before the posted booking deadline. Usually you get about 45 days to take advantage of room rate discounts.

Now if you are searching specifically for the best deals then you’ll want to visit during the off-seasons. As you would expect, these are the time periods throughout the year where kids are in school. This makes it hard for some families, but if you are traveling to Orlando for business during the school year it might be worth it to save money and beat the crowds. You can read more about the best times to visit Disney World here.

Two of the most popular times to visit Disney World are Halloween and Christmas. For Halloween, you should consider waiting until mid-August to book. This is typically when the final details are posted for “Mickey’s Not-So-Scary Halloween Party.” This special event runs approximately 3 times a week (mostly on Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Fridays) beginning mid-September and ending on November 1st. For the past two years Disney has offered free dining packages and room discounts to coincide with the Halloween booking season. This should be enough incentive to wait until late summer to book your fall trip.

Planning for your 2012 Christmas trip should be completed around the time school begins. Oddly enough, the dates for “Mickey’s Very Merry Christmas Party” are often announced before the Halloween party dates. Festivities are held from 7pm to Midnight four nights per week (mostly on Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday, and Sunday). Last year the Christmas events ran from November 8th through December 18th. Free dining packages were offered for trips booked between November 26 – Dec 1 or Dec 10 – 15.

Beyond public promotions and special events, you can also qualify for special rates through Bounceback Offers and PIN Codes. There are also discounts for members of the Military and AAA members. In each of these instances you will have a certain booking window available to take advantage. The bottom line here is don’t get too anxious when reserving your vacation dates as there are plenty of hot deals left to be released through 2012.

Happy New Year from DisneyVacationSpecials.com

With 2012 right around the corner, many of us are planning our Disney World vacations for the upcoming year. Disney World is also busy marketing the different packages and PIN codes available to lure tourists to their properties.

If you have never received a PIN code before, they are very similar to the coupon codes used at many online retailers. Disney sends them out to targeted audiences through emails and postcards. Some PIN codes are created for the general public, and these are often advertised on television commercials and the Disney World website. Generally speaking though, the most valuable codes are sent directly to the qualifying individual.

There are several potential offers and discounts tied into PIN codes. The most prominent offers are for free dining packages and resort room discounts. Codes can be redeemed by booking your vacation online or by calling the reservations line at (407) 939-7675.

So how can you get on the PIN code notification list? Obviously there is a lot of interest surrounding any sort of Disney World discount offer, and not everyone will gain access to a personalized PIN code. However, there are several strategies to improve your odds of getting one…

Register on the Disney World Website
The idea here is to show Disney that you are in the early stages of planning a vacation. Ideally this will prompt them to send you a code. Register here and follow the steps to build out your vacation preferences (date, resort, etc) and request a free vacation planning DVD. If you are within the calendar year of your trip then you might also want to request a trip quote.

Register Your Spouse Separately
This is an easy and legitimate way to increase the odds your family will be included in a PIN code offer. You don’t need to request a DVD or quote through your spouse’s registration, just complete the simple form with a different email address from the one you used for yourself.

Follow Up
Give your registration a good 30 days to propagate through all of the marketing channels. Then, if you have not received a PIN code, go ahead and call the reservation line. Ask them if there are any codes attached to you or your spouse’s account. If nothing comes up then simply tell the agent you read about these special codes and you were wondering if you qualify for one. Sometimes being courteous and honest can be enough to get you on the list!

Don’t Get Discouraged
Keep in mind that PIN codes are only one of many ways to get a cheap Disney World vacation. You might even receive a code that doesn’t apply to your families needs…so don’t think of them as a magic bullet. Be sure to browse through our discounts section to find other deals that may work better for your family.

Disney World might well be the best place to celebrate your child’s birthday. Where else can you combine the usual birthday traditions with amazing rides and your favorite Disney characters? But DW is more than just a great backdrop for your child’s special day, if you plan ahead you can enjoy some great freebies as well.

The “Couponing to Disney” Blog wrote a fun article sharing some of the perks one special girl has received on her annual birthday trip to the Magic Kingdom. Here are some of the highlights…

- A special birthday button created by a cast member.
- Free dessert from one of the table service restaurants.
- Resort room decorated with a birthday card, balloon, and picture from Minnie Mouse.

You can read the full article here.

Here at Disney Vacation Specials we get a lot of questions about the expired free birthday admission promotion. As far as I know there are no plans to renew this special offer, but if you plan ahead and let Disney know you are bringing a special guest then you are sure to enjoy a fun treat or two!

One of the first things prospective Disney World visitors look for when planning their trip are coupons to help them save money. If you are familiar with using the internet to find discounts then you will likely come up with at least a handful of Disney vacation specials. These can apply to everything from park tickets to hotel rooms and even free dining plans.

But even though the internet is filled with coupon codes for traditional online retailers, Disney World has a unique operation for releasing coupon offers. Here is an overview of how their system works…

Does Disney World offer coupon codes?
Technically the answer to this question is “no” because they do not call them coupon codes. The official terminology used by Disney World for their invitation discounts are PIN or PIN-CODE.

A PIN is a sequence of numbers that grants access to a special offer. A PIN-CODE includes an additional sequence of three letters that you must give to your WDW agent in order to unlock the discount offer.

Now this is where it can be confusing…depending on what offer you get from WDW, you might receive the discount in either format (PIN or PIN-CODE).

If you only get a PIN number, then you don’t need to worry about the CODE portion. Your booking agent will be able to bring up the special discount on their computer. If you receive a PIN-CODE then you will need to supply both sequences in order to qualify.

When does Disney World send out these special coupon codes?
In most cases PINs and PIN-CODEs are sent out in the first quarter of each year. January through March seems to include the highest frequency of offers. This makes sense as Disney is likely trying to fill their dates as early in the year as possible.

How can I get my own discount code?
Unfortunately no one outside of WDW seems to have an answer to this question. If you read through any of the Disney World forums (like the one at http://disboards.com) you will notice that the pattern of distribution is very sporadic.

The best thing you can do now is get on the email list at the Disney World website. Some people also suggest ordering a free Disney World planning kit. It stands to reason that your odds will improve by opting-in to any promotional communication streams that Disney World throws at you.

How do I know if I have a discount code?
These coupon/discount codes are distributed through email or postcard to one of the addresses Disney World has on file for your name. The postcard or email will tell you what the code entitles you to and how long it is valid for. In short, if you don’t receive anything that has the terms PIN or PIN-CODE then you likely did not make the list this year.

Are these discount codes transferable?
In most cases no, so don’t waste your time or money trying to find or buy a code from someone else. While there are a handful of public PINs released each year, they usually do not represent a savings any more valuable then the standard Disney World discounts. Each PIN-CODE is assigned to an individual family member. Unless you can prove you are this person than forget about trying to use it.

How do I redeem my discount code?
All discount codes must be redeemed through the Disney Reservation Center by calling 1-407-W-DISNEY. Tell your booking agent that you received a code by mail or email and they will review with you the terms of the offer and assist you with making a reservation.

So to summarize all of this, Disney World coupons do not officially exist. However, some individuals will be lucky enough to receive a PIN or PIN-CODE via postcard or email which will provide them with exclusive discounts. Even if you are not included in the chosen few who get these special discount codes, there are still plenty of other ways to save money on your Disney World vacation. The only difference is that you will just have to dig a little deeper in your research