Disney – Your Mileage May Vary

A Choice Of WDW Tickets, Shrinking Carry-On Bag Size, The Newest IHG Offers & More

Welcome to the weekend, y’all! Here are the articles we wrote this week, in one convenient place.

Joe wrote about:

AAA membership provides more than roadside assistance – they save you money on travel!
His wondering if Chase is giving better rewards to less expensive cards.
The arrival of the latest IHG Accelerate offers.
His wondering if Americans are less hospitable or if it’s just us?

And Sharon wrote about:

The airline that’s shrinking the size of carry-on bags they allow on board.
How to override hotel thermostat settings.
Walt Disney World tickets vs. an annual pass – which should you get?
That time when a celebrity live tweeted about the plane passenger from hell.
Our national parks: a week of celebration and a super rare hotel offer.
A great little gadget so you’ll never be stuck with a low phone battery again.

Don’t forget to join our Facebook Group, where we talk and ask questions about travel (including Disney parks), creative ways to earn frequent flyer miles and hotel points, how to save money on or for your trips, get access to travel-related articles you may not see otherwise, etc. We’d love to see you there!

Like this post? Please share it! We have plenty more just like it and would love if you decided to hang around and clicked the button on the top (if you’re on your computer) or the bottom (if you’re on your phone/tablet) of this page to follow our blog and get emailed notifications of when we post (it’s usually just two or three times a day). Or maybe you’d like to join our Facebook group, where we talk and ask questions about travel (including Disney parks), creative ways to earn frequent flyer miles and hotel points, how to save money on or for your trips, get access to travel articles you may not see otherwise, etc. Whether you’ve read our posts before or this is the first time you’re stopping by, we’re really glad you’re here and hope you come back to visit again!

How To Override Hotel Thermostat Settings

As we wrote a while back, modern hotel thermostats are, in a word, a pain. Well over a decade ago, we noticed the kind of thermostat where you were supposed to put your room key into a slot to keep the air conditioning (and sometimes the electricity!) running, which meant when you were out of the room, your A/C wouldn’t run and when you got back, the room would be uncomfortable. That one was easy to override because just about ANY card worked in the slot ;).

As modern technology got more advanced, they started building motion sensors into hotel thermostats, which meant that not only did you have to be in the room for the A/C to work, you had to be moving around…so if you were sleeping and woke up in the middle of the night, the room could be uncomfortable because unless they were sleepwalking, no one had moved around in several hours.

And then there are the thermostats that have upper or lower limits that you can’t bypass so the room won’t get warmer or colder than the hotel wants. Oh great, that way we can be uncomfortable in our room while we’re wide awake, too!

Fortunately, electronic-savvy travelers have made it their business to figure out how to override these nuisance thermostats so we can be in our hotel rooms more comfortably. Here are some hacks for some of the most popular brands at some of the more popular hotels:

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How Disney Workers Feel About Their Jobs, Google’s Messing With Travel Software & More

It’s been a busy week in the world of travel and particularly in regards to points and miles. The Daily Getaways sales are happening, well daily. Hotels are launching their promos for the next few months and a huge announcement from Marriott and SPG about the future of their programs is imminent.

Here’s what else happened this week that caught my eye:

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“Disney Snubs History & Art”: When They Altered An Historic Magic Kingdom Icon

Seth Kubersky, Arts Journalist of the Orlando Weekly, posted a link to an article regarding Disney’s “snub to history and art” by altering an attraction that, not only has been a staple at Walt Disney World since its opening day in 1971, but is over 100 years old and has an historic past in its own right, including being the only WDW attraction Walt Disney saw before his death in 1966. Written by the person who worked on refurbishing the attraction in the mid-1990s to early 2000s, you can read the article if you click on
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The Latest on Disney Character Meals, How Joe Saved $400 On A Hotel Room & More

Happy Saturday y’all and welcome to the weekend! Here are the articles we wrote this week, in one convenient place.

Joe wrote about:

How it pays to have a guide to take you around Pike Place Market.
The new offer for 1000 easy Chase points – if you were lucky enough to get the offer (neither of us were).
How he finished his IHG tasks and received his reward (What, Joe? A geek? Nah…)
How Silvercar is our favorite rental car company that we never get to use.
How he saved his father $400 on a hotel room.

And Sharon wrote about:

The company that’s saving lives with leftover hotel soaps.
A guide to every Disney character meal in the U.S.A. (Walt Disney World, Disneyland and Aulani Resort)
How to kill time in an airport and not spend money (or at least not much).
Humorously translating the English of the U.K. and the U.S.
Universal Orlando’s introduction of its first two Value Resorts.

A Guide To Every Disney Character Meal In The U.S.A. (WDW, DL & Aulani) (Updated 04/18)

The first time I ever went to a character meal at a Disney park was Walt Disney World, in February 1979. At the time, WDW had 1 park, 2 hotels, a shopping area and a campground. That’s it. I know we went to Minnie’s Menehune Breakfast at the Polynesian during that trip but still and all, character dining options were pretty limited. Although I didn’t make it to Disneyland until the mid-1990s, I know the same story hold true; it was years before there was a variety of character meals to choose from.

Times have changed since then and there are nearly 20 character dining options at WDW alone, to the point that if you have a particular character you want to have breakfast with, you practically can (*cough* especially if you want to eat with princesses or one or more of the Fab Five *cough*).

Here are the current character meals available at Disneyland (California), Walt Disney World (Florida) and Aulani Resort (Hawaii). Remember that all character appearances are subject to change.

(List updated 04/1/18)

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The Company That’s Saving Lives With Leftover Hotel Soaps

Have you ever wondered what happens to the bars of soap that get left behind after you leave your hotel room? I always figured the open bars went to the garbage dump and the wrapped bars were left for the next guest. Well, that’s not necessarily the case, and in this society of trying to replace waste with recycling, that’s a great thing! It turns out there’s a company IN MY OWN FLIPPIN’ BACKYARD that’s collecting bunches of those soaps, melting them, and turning them into new bars of soap to give to people and countries in need.

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