O'CanaDis! Calling all Canucks for DLR tips

[jory29]

I put this on the first post. I like Roam Mobility, though, because for about $4 a day you get unlimited free calls and text to U.S. and Canada plus 1G data, voicemail and caller i.d.

I'm going to look into the google phone thing, since I can never remember my Roam phone number that they gave me.

You are doing a great job monitoring and editing your thread!!

 

[deanimal]

We live close to the Sumas border crossing and have gone to Disneyland five times now, always flying Alaska Air through Bellingham or Seattle. The AA Mastercard is a great deal, but the $99 companion fare is best used for other routes. We've never paid more than $100 to fly out of Seattle to Anaheim or $120 for Bellingham. Last trip we paid $59 each way from Seattle to Anaheim! ($630 total round trip for four!). We used our $99 companion fares to save $700 on our flights to Orlando last year and $900 on Hawaii in March!

We usually stay at the Doubletree Seattle Airport when we fly out of Seattle. The shuttle is friendly and reliable and runs every 20 minutes and there's always lots of parking; Sometimes we find our car left in the uncovered parking in front of the hotel and sometimes in the multilevel garage to the side. We don't have a preference, but they may let you request. The hotel is nothing special but it's fine for a night before the trip. Hotel and parking together usually comes to about $150 for a week and $200 for two weeks which is a pretty good deal considering parking usually costs at least $10-12 per night. And the kids love the free cookies.

I have a co-worker who always stays at the Red Lion, which is directly across the street from the main airport entrance. He has older kids and he has a great system for when he gets home. He lets his wife and kids wait for the luggage while he walks across the street and gets the car. He says that he usually drives by the airport entrance just as his family emerges from the airport with the bags. Our kids are still a bit to young to manage with one parent and the luggage, but it would work well with an older family.

 

[Aladora]

We usually stay at the Doubletree Seattle Airport when we fly out of Seattle. The shuttle is friendly and reliable and runs every 20 minutes and there's always lots of parking; Sometimes we find our car left in the uncovered parking in front of the hotel and sometimes in the multilevel garage to the side. We don't have a preference, but they may let you request. The hotel is nothing special but it's fine for a night before the trip. Hotel and parking together usually comes to about $150 for a week and $200 for two weeks which is a pretty good deal considering parking usually costs at least $10-12 per night. And the kids love the free cookies.

I have a co-worker who always stays at the Red Lion, which is directly across the street from the main airport entrance. He has older kids and he has a great system for when he gets home. He lets his wife and kids wait for the luggage while he walks across the street and gets the car. He says that he usually drives by the airport entrance just as his family emerges from the airport with the bags. Our kids are still a bit to young to manage with one parent and the luggage, but it would work well with an older family.

Thanks for the hotel recs, this trip we are driving to Seattle and leaving the car so this post is perfectly timed for me!

 

[Mjmdiva]

We live close to the Sumas border crossing and have gone to Disneyland five times now, always flying Alaska Air through Bellingham or Seattle. The AA Mastercard is a great deal, but the $99 companion fare is best used for other routes. We've never paid more than $100 to fly out of Seattle to Anaheim or $120 for Bellingham. Last trip we paid $59 each way from Seattle to Anaheim! ($630 total round trip for four!). We used our $99 companion fares to save $700 on our flights to Orlando last year and $900 on Hawaii in March! We usually stay at the Doubletree Seattle Airport when we fly out of Seattle. The shuttle is friendly and reliable and runs every 20 minutes and there's always lots of parking; Sometimes we find our car left in the uncovered parking in front of the hotel and sometimes in the multilevel garage to the side. We don't have a preference, but they may let you request. The hotel is nothing special but it's fine for a night before the trip. Hotel and parking together usually comes to about $150 for a week and $200 for two weeks which is a pretty good deal considering parking usually costs at least $10-12 per night. And the kids love the free cookies. I have a co-worker who always stays at the Red Lion, which is directly across the street from the main airport entrance. He has older kids and he has a great system for when he gets home. He lets his wife and kids wait for the luggage while he walks across the street and gets the car. He says that he usually drives by the airport entrance just as his family emerges from the airport with the bags. Our kids are still a bit to young to manage with one parent and the luggage, but it would work well with an older family.

Thanks for the info. We usually fly from Bellingham to DL, the last few times our flight from BLI-SEA has been cancelled due to fog. We are flying from SEA tp florida for my families first WDW trip in November. We are looking at hotels with the parking package, this info is appreciated. Thanks.

 

[DenaRox]

roam experience, I used a roam sim in nov when i went to vegas. my tip is to online search the set up instructions and print it out just in case. lol. i used it on my unlocked but in use rogers iphone 4s. just took my rogers sim out and stored it and popped in the roam one, good to go. (i had issues but not mentioning them as it was rogers issues not roam issues). it worked great and i LOVED having phone/internet whenever i wanted. For those with locked phones or contracts they are unsure of voiding, roam also sells cheap cellphones for 49.95 that come with the sim card. I too just add my roam number to my contacts. comes in handy lol. Also to note, with the sims, they do expire if not used in one year frame i believe. Still worth it to me, to top it up for cheapest plan (3.95).

question - does anyone own or have experience/thoughts on the WestJet RBC World Elite MasterCard. I currently have the airmiles mastercard from BMO and depending on what Sobey's does with our local store I may or may not be shopping for a new card. I would love the Alaska airlines one but the closest airport they service is 5.5hrs away. the RBC westjet card has a 99/yr fee BUT it also has the 99$ companion offer that alaska air does. Would love all thoughts on the best cards for someone n Sask.

 

[DenaRox]

oops double post

 

[asc72]

Another thing we are looking at to save some money is how we use our credit cards. We are looking at getting a Chase Amazon Visa. It has no foreign exchange fee, so it saves the 2-2.5% most cards charge. We would use our other card for car rentals for the insurance coverage and the chase card for things like food and gas.

 

[becki567]

roam experience, I used a roam sim in nov when i went to vegas. my tip is to online search the set up instructions and print it out just in case. lol. i used it on my unlocked but in use rogers iphone 4s. just took my rogers sim out and stored it and popped in the roam one, good to go. (i had issues but not mentioning them as it was rogers issues not roam issues). it worked great and i LOVED having phone/internet whenever i wanted. For those with locked phones or contracts they are unsure of voiding, roam also sells cheap cellphones for 49.95 that come with the sim card. I too just add my roam number to my contacts. comes in handy lol. Also to note, with the sims, they do expire if not used in one year frame i believe. Still worth it to me, to top it up for cheapest plan (3.95).

question - does anyone own or have experience/thoughts on the WestJet RBC World Elite MasterCard. I currently have the airmiles mastercard from BMO and depending on what Sobey's does with our local store I may or may not be shopping for a new card. I would love the Alaska airlines one but the closest airport they service is 5.5hrs away. the RBC westjet card has a 99/yr fee BUT it also has the 99$ companion offer that alaska air does. Would love all thoughts on the best cards for someone n Sask.

Can you please tell me what the issues were? I am also with Rogers and have received the roam SIM card in the mail. We are headed to disneyland in 5 days but no one said anything about a code I would need. I called and had the phone unlocked for $50 and they said that was it.

 

[DenaRox]

Can you please tell me what the issues were? I am also with Rogers and have received the roam SIM card in the mail. We are headed to disneyland in 5 days but no one said anything about a code I would need. I called and had the phone unlocked for $50 and they said that was it.

Rogers does not give the code, they input it on their end i assume. What happened in my case might only be an iphone issue. when i got into the states the roam sim was not found by my iphone. Long story short i had to take it to the nearest apple store and the lovely apple genius bar guy took it and did a restore to my most recent icloud restore. The rogers rep who talked me through the unlocking did not tell me i had to restore to recent backup, she told me i had to restart my phone. so if you have an iphone and did the backup before unlocking like you are supposed to and then restored after the unlocking you should have zero problems. once the apple guy did the restore my phone worked perfectly. i talked, texted and facebooked like a maniac

 

[MICKEYFIL]

Haven't rad through everything but here are a few more we have used.

It is true that Save on more points can be used for flights, but for my money it is much better to use them towards actual vacation packages. For 25,000 points you can get $100 Gift Certificate to be used towards Alaska Vacations. This means that you need to book both flight and hotel. Considering you can fly for as low as $69 from Seattle to Anaheim, it seem ridiculous to use your points for just a flight. This leads me into the absurdity of the companion ticket for Alaska Air credit card. Don't get this unless you plan on travelling somewhere that actually costs you a bit of money. Paying an annual fee and $99 just to get a flight seems a bit weird to me if you are using to fly to California from Washington State.

Secondly, if you want a card to get you somewhere get a Starwood Credit card through American Express. I am not a high spender but I have so far received 3 free rooms for two weeks in Thailand, completed three trips to Disneyland at the Sheraton Park Hotel for free, Whistler twice for free and Indonesia once for free. If you can do it right you can find the card for the first year free and a whack of bonus points. Trying to accumulate points through hotel stays is useless. Only by using the AMEX card can you get real value. Also as a Canadian they recently changed the rules and now give the same point ratio as Americans get.

 

[Rubygoose]

Considering you can fly for as low as $69 from Seattle to Anaheim, it seem ridiculous to use your points for just a flight. This leads me into the absurdity of the companion ticket for Alaska Air credit card. Don't get this unless you plan on travelling somewhere that actually costs you a bit of money. Paying an annual fee and $99 just to get a flight seems a bit weird to me if you are using to fly to California from Washington State.

For us, the companion ticket is very useful. It costs us $200 to get on and off the island by ferry and an additional $150 or more for park and fly at a hotel in Seattle. Add in gas and an extra day of travel with little ones. Flying from Victoria is just easier for us, and the companion fare really help. Flights can be from $210 each way up to $400 in very busy times. For our upcoming trip, we're flying from Victoria and are only paying $825 by using one companion fare and miles for the other two. Without these, our airfare would cost about $2000. Many of my friends who have the card like to use the code to travel from Victoria to Hawaii.

Also, if you cancel the Alaska Airlines MC and enroll again they will give you the 25,000 bonus miles again! The Alaska Miles program is separate from the credit card, so you don't loose your miles or companion code if you cancel the card.


Thanks for the Starwoods info. Will add it tomorrow.

 

[disneymath]

Has anyone been researching DL tickets recently? Seems to me that currently, even with the exchange rate (used 12.5%), disneyland.com is coming up cheapest. These tickets already include tax, right?. If anyone has suggestions for discounts please share - with 8 of us, even small discounts add up. (I've checked the ones mentioned in the first post.) We're looking at 3 or 4 day tickets, debating between PH or not. First time to DLR this August, but many trips to WDW (where we don't usually hop).

 

[SplashMtn40inches]

Has anyone been researching DL tickets recently? Seems to me that currently, even with the exchange rate (used 12.5%), disneyland.com is coming up cheapest. These tickets already include tax, right?. If anyone has suggestions for discounts please share - with 8 of us, even small discounts add up. (I've checked the ones mentioned in the first post.) We're looking at 3 or 4 day tickets, debating between PH or not. First time to DLR this August, but many trips to WDW (where we don't usually hop).

I posted earlier in this thread but check out Flight Centre. You pay in Canadian funds. They quote you a price, taxes in.

If you purchased through a US site, there would still be the extra 2.5% conversion fee you have to pay for using your credit card. This would be on top of the currency exchange. I do not think disneyland.com is the best rate. They are full rate.

If I recall, buying a 5 day PH from Flight Centre is currently the best option for Canadians. A 4 day PH is cheaper through MouseSaver/Ares, even with the rates and fees. I'm unsure of 3 day PH or non-PH.

 

[becstr]

I posted earlier in this thread but check out Flight Centre. You pay in Canadian funds. They quote you a price, taxes in. If you purchased through a US site, there would still be the extra 2.5% conversion fee you have to pay for using your credit card. This would be on top of the currency exchange. I do not think disneyland.com is the best rate. They are full rate. If I recall, buying a 5 day PH from Flight Centre is currently the best option for Canadians. A 4 day PH is cheaper through MouseSaver/Ares, even with the rates and fees. I'm unsure of 3 day PH or non-PH.

I am looking in flightcentre.ca but do not see any links for ticket sales. Do you know where I can find PH on their website? Or do I need to go to a flight Centre store?

 

[Aladora]

Has anyone been researching DL tickets recently? Seems to me that currently, even with the exchange rate (used 12.5%), disneyland.com is coming up cheapest. These tickets already include tax, right?. If anyone has suggestions for discounts please share - with 8 of us, even small discounts add up. (I've checked the ones mentioned in the first post.) We're looking at 3 or 4 day tickets, debating between PH or not. First time to DLR this August, but many trips to WDW (where we don't usually hop).

disneyland.com is usually the most expensive way to go. I have always seen better prices going through way.com, 5 day hoppers are 300.00 and 279.00 from Disney and 275.00 and 259.00 on way. (adult and then child price)

Flightcentre is quoting 326.00 and 303.00 CAD, Disney and way.com are both in US$ but using current exchange converters this is what I find for the 5 day hoppers in Canadian funds.

Adult:
Disney: $330.54
Way.com: $302.99
Flightcentre: $326.00

Child:
Disney: $307.40
Way.com: $285.37
Flightcentre: $303.00

 

[Aladora]

I am looking in flightcentre.ca but do not see any links for ticket sales. Do you know where I can find PH on their website? Or do I need to go to a flight Centre store?

It's a bit hidden.

flightcentre.com
go to travel specialists
go to Disney Travel Agents
click on Disneyland
scroll down to the ticket of your choice to see prices
Then call the number or go in to a store.

Not the most user friendly site!

 

[Rubygoose]

Has anyone been researching DL tickets recently? Seems to me that currently, even with the exchange rate (used 12.5%), disneyland.com is coming up cheapest. These tickets already include tax, right?. If anyone has suggestions for discounts please share - with 8 of us, even small discounts add up. (I've checked the ones mentioned in the first post.) We're looking at 3 or 4 day tickets, debating between PH or not. First time to DLR this August, but many trips to WDW (where we don't usually hop).

For a 4 day park hopper from flight centre, it's $319 for an adult. On way.com it's $260USD and when I put it into a converter and then add 2.5% for credit card exchange fee, I get $293.10. Way.com will e-mail you an e-ticket, so you don't have to pay for shipping. You do have to phone them, though, and they don't have a toll free number.

 

[Rubygoose]

I am looking in flightcentre.ca but do not see any links for ticket sales. Do you know where I can find PH on their website? Or do I need to go to a flight Centre store?

http://www.flightcentre.ca/vacations/disneyland

 

[Rubygoose]

I've updated the 1st page again. Please pm me and let me know if I've forgotten to add anything that has already been mentioned. I've started my online course, so I'm really not supposed to be on Disboards right now! DS asked me if he could play on the computer and I said "Not right now, I'm doing my homework!"

BTW did anyone watch the Air Canada video on Youtube of them dropping the gatechecked baggage about 10 feet!

 

[DenaRox]

BTW did anyone watch the Air Canada video on Youtube of them dropping the gatechecked baggage about 10 feet!

I saw that and was not shocked at all. You should see how wrecked my luggage was after my trip to vegas in November. have heard horror stories of what goes on with the luggage behind the scenes, but think this might be a first for right out in the open. Dude must have forgot planes have windows!! Although, looking at the size of those bags being tossed, ***!! kind of HUGE for carry on, no???