Disney offers a "no-expiration" option for all of their tickets.  This means, if you have unused days on your tickets (you bought 7 days, but only used 4), those remaining days on the ticket will not expire.  Otherwise, you would just lose those unused days on your tickets, resulting in a loss of money.  The no-expiration option allows you to "lock in" your ticket price.

Usually, getting the no-expiration option on a Disney ticket does not make sense.  You plan your vacation for 4 days, you get a 4 day base ticket, and use all 4 days.

However, sometimes it makes sense to get the no-expiration option.  As I noted, it allows you to "lock in" your ticket price.  As you may know, Disney often raises the price of their tickets over the course of just one year, so you may choose to add the no-expiration option to a Disney ticket that includes more days than you'll need on your single vacation.  This way, on your next Disney vacation, you've already paid for your tickets (using those un-used days from the non-expiring tickets) and can save hundreds of dollars on the vacation.

How do you get a Disney Deluxe resort room for the price of a Moderate resort?

Well, it's a bit of a trick we like to use for longer vacations at Disney World.

If we're staying on property for an extended period of time, say 7 nights or more, we like to split up our stay between two resorts to save money and live like kings at Disney World.  For the first few nights, we stay at a Value resort, like our favorite, Disney's Pop Century.  Then, we end our vacation at one of Disney's Deluxe resorts, like Disney's Wilderness Lodge or Contemporary.

By doing this, we significantly reduce our resort costs while ending our vacation with a bang!  You "suffer" (staying at any Disney resort is never suffering!) through a short stay at the Value resort and then enjoy all the luxury and convenience of a Deluxe resort.  What a difference this makes and you get a Disney Deluxe resort for roughly the same cost as staying at a Disney Moderate resort for your whole vacation!

Most of the rooms at the Walt Disney World Resort do not accommodate large families, so there are often special concerns for larger families.  Do I book two rooms at a Value resort?  Is it worth the expense to book a larger room at a Deluxe resort?  What about Disney Vacation Club (also called Disney Deluxe Villa Resort) rooms?

These are common and valid concerns for your Disney World vacation.  Obviously, the advice applies to what you need or want for your vacation.  Most often, we recommend one of the two following options.

1. Book two rooms at a Value or Moderate resort.  Oftentimes, you can book two rooms at a Moderate resort for less than a single, large room at a Deluxe Disney resort.  The Moderate resorts offer many of the amenities of the Deluxe resorts, such as a sit-down restaurant, but you sacrifice convenience, such as not being "on the monorail loop."  If you don't require an on-site sit-down restaurant, go for two Value resort rooms and you'll save lots of money versus a single large room at a Deluxe resort.  Our favorite is Pop Century.
2. Book a Disney Vacation Club villa.  Many people believe that the Disney Vacation Club rooms are reserved for Disney Vacation Club members.  Not true!  Anyone can book a Disney Vacation Club room, just like any other Disney resort room.  They can be more difficult to get, so you need to book them as early as possible.  The Vacation Club villas include a kitchenette or fully equipped kitchen, one of the best parts of the rooms.  With the kitchenette or kitchen, you can make your own meals in your room and save hundreds of dollars on meals during your vacation!  The Vacation Club rooms are also usually part of the Deluxe resorts at Disney World, so you're essentially staying at a Deluxe resort and getting a kitchen/kitchenette and more space thrown in for about the same cost as a room that will accommodate a large family at the same resort!  Our favorite: the new Bay Lake Tower at Contemporary.

Now, the Value resort called Disney's All Star Music Resort has a larger room called the Family Suite, but they often book very early.  If you're an early planner, you may be able to go for this option.  That gives you a bigger room at a Value resort price.

Be sure to contact our travel partner, DestinationsInFlorida.com to get an accurate quote and the best rate possible for your large families magical Disney vacation!

Value Resorts

• Disney's All Stars Resorts
• Disney's Pop Century Resort

Moderate Resorts

• Disney's Caribbean Beach Resort
• Disney's Coronado Springs Resort
• Disney's Port Orleans French Quarter Resort
• Disney's Port Orleans Riverside Resort

Our Disney ticket partner, the Official Ticket Center, is featuring a deal on 3-Day Disney tickets, right now.

When you buy a 3-Day base ticket (base means you can only go to one park per day) or a 3-Day Hopper ticket (Hopper means you can "hop" from park-to-park on the same day), the Official Ticket Center will give you the 4th and 5th days free.

Nearly a buy one get one free deal, you pay for 3 days and get 2 days free!

These are not the non-expiring tickets, however.  It only applies to the 14-day expiration ticket, so if you want to use all 5 days, be sure to plan for using them within the 14-day expiration.

What does the 14-day expiration mean?  These tickets will expire 14 days after the first time you enter your first park.  It's kind of like breaking the seal.  They're good until you break that seal, then you have 14 days to use them up.

The 3-day Park Hopper ticket is a great ticket for the Disney parks -- there are four parks, but you can probably get through Animal Kingdom and Hollywood Studios together in one day.  This leaves you one day, each for Magic Kingdom and Epcot.

With this promotion from the Official Ticket Center, you get two extra days for free to go back and check out the stuff you missed at any of the parks.  Also, because of the free days, you can save a little more money by getting the base ticket, visiting one park per day and having a clean-up day left over!

Run over to the Official Ticket Center and check out this deal.  It's about half way down the page under Disney Ticket Special.

This past weekend, I had the opportunity to try out Tony's Town Square Restaurant.  Tony's is located right in the town square of Main Street, USA at Disney's Magic Kingdom.  It's in the first building on your right, as you enter the park.

It can actually be a little confusing, as the restaurant is part of a larger building and you actually enter what looks like a store entrance to get to Tony's Town Square Restaurant.  The host/hostess stand is located just to the left after you enter the big, double main entrance doors.  If you miss it, don't worry -- there's an outdoor host/hostess stand with Goofy sitting on a bench to greet you and direct you into the restaurant.

Tony's offers typical Italian cuisine, including one of my favorites, tomato and mozzarella salad -- although I must admit that Tony's was a bit bland.  Tomatoes were just OK and the sauce really didn't add much to the flavor.

In addition to the tomato and mozzarella salad, we tried the pumpkin soup, toasted cheese and garlic bread, minestrone with orzo pasta, and the baked ziti.

The pumpkin soup was delicious, however it was too sweet for my palate.  I loved the soup, don't get me wrong, but I just couldn't finish a whole cup, due to the sweetness and richness of the flavor.

I could not understand why they brought us two spoons for the pumpkin soup.  Although we were sharing everything amongst the entire table, this was the only item that came with two utensils.  Notice anything different about this view of the cup of soup? (Hint: HM)

Although called Toasted Cheese and Garlic Bread on the menu, this item was really more like bruschetta on toasted cheese garlic bread.  It was amazing!!

The Minestrone with Orzo Pasta was the better of the two soups (only two are available at Tony's Town Square -- the minestrone and a seasonal; pumpkin for our visit).  Deep, rich flavor and the orzo added bulk and texture to a fantastic soup.

The baked ziti was the best dish of the meal!  Amazingly flavorful marinara sauce, lots of pasta and meat -- it was more than I could finish and that's saying something.

I did not particularly like the crostini you see pictured with the ziti.  It was VERY hard (crispy) and didn't add any flavor or dimension to the dish.

The restaurant provides a very comfortable environment without a whole lot of fancy decorations.  Pretty simple and plain, overall.  There was a beautiful fountain in the center of the restaurant.

The "Lady and the Tramp" theme carried throughout the restaurant, even to the restrooms.

The restaurant also looks out over the "Town Square" at Magic Kingdom with a great view of the park and you could see part of the parade, if you're eating during one of the parades.

While we visited, they had the restaurant decorated for Halloween, which really added some needed flair to the restaurant.

Here's a pic of a booth seat in the restaurant.

Overall, the food was very good at Tony's Town Square.  Would I go back?  Not to say never, no, but it's not likely.  It's good Italian food, but nothing real out-of-the-ordinary.  It's all stuff you could get at pretty much any decent Italian restaurant and probably for much less money.  If I'm going to pay Disney prices for dining, I expect something I couldn't just cook up at home or get at the local "mom-and-pop" Italian joint.

Disney also has a ton of superb restaurants that would make my list long before Tony's.  Also, the ambiance, design (or lack thereof), and character needs a little updating and pizazz.  It's a bit plain and dated.  I feel like the Imagineer's sort of stopped midway through the plan.

If you're in the mood for Italian in the Magic Kingdom, I'm sure you'll love Tony's, just don't expect much more than an average Italian restaurant.  If you want some really good food, interesting dishes, and better theming, try Mama Melrose in Disney's Hollywood Studios.

What's better than free?  Seriously, I know it sounds too good to be true, but Disney is trying to push it's 2010 Adventures By Disney packages and as a result, they're giving away free Disney cruises if you book a 2010 Adventures By Disney itinerary.

What is Adventures by Disney?

Adventures by Disney was created especially for families, with breathtaking guided group vacations spanning six continents - from Alaska to Australia, and from Costa Rica to Canada. With Adventures by Disney, you’ll meet enthralling local experts. Enjoy backstage access, VIP treatment and other exclusive experiences difficult to arrange on your own. And discover incredible adventures for everyone, including special thrills just for kids. You and your fellow travelers are hosted by two Disney-trained Adventure Guides. Best of all, Adventures by Disney will handle the details. So you can spend your time having the time of your life.

Adventures by Disney is Disney's version of a "tour" vacation.  They offer many itineraries, all over the world and of course, you're taken care of in Disney fashion!

You can see a list of 2010 itineraries, here. <--- clicky, clicky

More importantly (because not all itineraries are included with this promotion) here is the link to the actual promotion, showing which trips qualify for the free cruise, as well as when you would have to take the cruise.

You'd better get crackin', though, because the Adventures by Disney do tend to book up fast and will go even faster with a promotion like this.

Did I get your attention?  Well, I hope so, as that was the point....

I don't really mean it...well, mostly....

If you're planning to go to Sea World in Orlando and maybe only a day or two at the Disney parks, you may consider staying at the "Sea World" Renaissance.  While not owned by Sea World, the Renaissance partners with Sea World and is located just a hop, skip, and a jump from the entrance to Sea World.

We've stayed there many times, but most recently for a conference (IZEAFest) hosted by Sea World.  The resort provided a great location, close to the conference with fantastic accommodations.

The Renaissance offers both a self-parking option and valet.  Self-parking is $12/day and they just add it to your bill, if you're driving.  No need to hang onto a ticket or even a need to use your room key to get in and out of the parking lot.  Valet is just $4 more at $16/day, but don't forget to add in the tips when picking up and dropping off your car.

There are two bars and one restaurant in the atrium area, as well as a Starbucks coffee (mmmm, Starbucks...).

Sea World themes permeate the resort from a huge mural of Shamu in the atrium to a squirting Shamu in your tub.  The main bar in the center of the atrium has a huge aquarium to continue the "sea" theme.

The rooms facing the atrium have beautiful balconies, giving those rooms a much larger feel and option to open the doors and let in the sounds of the lobby.  The other real nice thing I found about those rooms is that you can pick up the free wi-fi in the lobby right in your room -- eliminating the need to spend $15/day on wi-fi access.

Although I had a free breakfast included with my stay at the restaurant, I did not try the food, so I will have to get back to you on that.

Rates are a bit high -- comparable to a Deluxe resort at Disney, obviously, varying with the season and holidays.

What are you doing tomorrow, Tuesday, October 27th, 2009?  Well, if you're in the central Florida area, you may want to go watch the first launch of NASA's new space vehicle, the Ares.

The launch is scheduled for 8am-noon, tomorrow.  Channel 13 News has a good article about where to see the new rocket launch.  They are currently reporting that it could change and that weather may play a factor, so stay tuned to the news, if you plan to go to the launch.

Did you know Magic Kingdom at Disney World has 182 pumpkins on Main Street for the Halloween holiday?  They do and if you watch the video, below, you can pause it and copy some of those 182 designs for your jack-o-lantern, this year!

To customize your pumpkin, you'll want to sketch the design on the pumpkin, first.  Also, be sure to pick up some of those small pumpkin saws that are available at almost any grocery store for all the detail work on your pumpkin pattern.

Here are some other places to get some pumpkin carving patterns.  They may not be Disney themed, but they're better than the old squares, triangles, and circles.

• http://www.dltk-holidays.com/halloween/mpatterns.htm
• http://www.zombiepumpkins.com/patterns.php -- these require a paid membership, but they have some AMAZING patterns!
• http://www.pumpkinlady.com/pattern.htm

Hope you enjoy customizing your family pumpkins and have a happy Halloween!

We get this question quite frequently -- I think we've even talked about it, before.  How do I get from Disney World to Universal Studios?

Even though we've answered the question, before, we thought it would be beneficial to make a video that walks you through each of the three options.

1. Car rental
2. Taxi
3. 1 Day/2 Park Pass with FREE shuttle transfers

In the video, we'll walk you through the cost of each option -- showing you exactly how we come to each price and how to get the free shuttle service from Universal Studios.  You'll see that a taxi costs nearly $75 round-trip!  That's almost enough to buy a ticket for one of your children!

Please note: In order to get the free shuttle from Universal, you must purchase the 1 Day/2 Park Pass with Shuttle Transfers.  There is a 1 Day/2 Park Pass without shuttle transfers (same price, just doesn't include the shuttle).