One of the few constants in life is taxes; and as most of you know today is the deadline to file your taxes with the Internal Revenue Service (oh joy!).  Some of you will be getting tax refunds and most of us will be getting a nice $600 check from Uncle Sam pretty soon.  If you’re like me, money has the very bad habit of burning a hole in your pocket.  You have the urge to spend money immediately it is received and your intentions for your refund check is no different.  If this sounds like you, then this article is for you; as we’ll be looking at my top four ways to part with your money in Walt Disney World.  And for those of you more fiscally responsible than myself, feel free to stick around…after all, everyone should splurge every now and then, right?

4.         Seeing All the Tours Offered by Disney:  Having been fortunate enough to go to Walt Disney World several times, I always find myself trying to experience new things during each visit.  Some of the things at the top of my list are the tours offered by Disney.  There are a number of tours from the Behind the Seeds tour in the Land Pavilion to the three theme park Backstage Magic Tour.  There are three in particular I would really enjoy trying.

The first tour is the Wilderness Back Trail Adventures, which allows you to take a Segway X2 Personal Transporter to view the scenery of Disney's Fort Wilderness Resort & Campground and Wilderness Lodge.  I can only imagine how fun it would be to tour the wilderness in style. Second, the Backstage Safari tour looks at the ways that Disney is meeting challenges in areas such as conservation, animal nutrition and medicine, animal care and behavioral studies.  According to the tour info, highlights include visits to: backstage animal housing areas to meet some of our keepers and learn how we care for our animals on a daily basis; the Animal Nutrition Center, where all of our animal's diets are prepared; our state-of-the-art Veterinary Hospital and Animal Programs Administration to learn how we are constantly seeking new ways to ensure our animal's health and well being.  And finally, the one I’d most be interested in is “Undiscovered Future World.”  In this tour, participants learn about the history and creation of Epcot and the legacy Walt set forth for the Walt Disney World Resort.   “The tour examines how each pavilion in Future World celebrates human accomplishment and presents the challenge of the future.”

While a tour like the Behind the Seeds tour only costs about $15, higher end tours can cost upwards of $200!  So for a complete-ist like myself, I would need quite the bankroll to see all the tours I was interested.  Of course, I could always rationalize the expenditure as “research.”

3.         The Chef’s Table at Victoria and Albert’s.  I believe that Walt Disney World has an excellent selection and variety of restaurants; some of which are probably the best in the country.  One of the top restaurants on property is Victoria and Albert’s at Disney’s Grand Floridian Resort and Spa.  If you’re looking for fine dining – look no further.  Victoria and Albert’s is also the home of the very exclusive (and very expensive) Chef’s Table.   Should you decide to drop your refund check here, you'll have your own private table in the kitchen area, where you can watch (and interact with) the chefs as they work. You'll be served from the regular menu, but at the Chef's table, you won't be limited by choices--you can have anything and everything.  Dining at the Chef’s Table is a 3 hour long dining experience with seven courses, and they have one seating each evening--at 6:00 PM.   The price for the Chef's Table is $150 per person.  And if you choose to have wine pairings, it could cost you up to $250 per person (ouch).  But hey, good food isn’t cheap, right?

2.         A Getaway at the Polynesian Resort: Disney's Polynesian Resort is an 847-room resort located on the shores of Seven Seas Lagoon. It is situated directly south, and two monorail stops, from the Magic Kingdom. The Polynesian occupies 39 acres and is styled as a South Pacific paradise, complete with beaches, tropical landscaping, waterfalls, and bamboo tiki torches. The Great Ceremonial House is the center of the resort, serving as both lobby and focal point of the area.  The Polynesian is a Disney Deluxe Resort, and one of the originally constructed resorts on property.

The resort consists of the aforementioned Great Ceremonial House and eleven smaller buildings which contain the guest rooms. All of the outbuildings that house guest rooms are unconnected to the main building, except by outdoor paths.  The guest room buildings are all either 2 or 3 floors high. The rooms on the second floor of the three story buildings do not have balconies.  Only three of the eleven guest buildings are actually on the lagoon, but most of the other buildings have at least some rooms with a view of the water.  The Great Ceremonial House contains all the restaurants and shops for the resort, as well as the monorail station and bus stops.

What better way to spend your hard earned tax refund then pampering yourself at one of Disney’s most luxurious resorts.  Of course, the only problem with this option is that because of the very hefty price tag per night – whatever you do get back from Uncle Sam will be quickly taken away by Mickey Mouse. 

1.         Star Wars Weekends Big Figs.  If I pride myself on any one thing, it is my ability to be incredibly nerdy.  So this final item should be of no surprise to anyone…If I could choose what I would get with my refund check, it would purchase the 2008 line of Star Wars Weekends Big Figs at Disney’s Hollywood Studios.  I have yet to go to a Star Wars Weekends, so I have missed out on Jedi Mickey, Darth Goofy, and Storm Trooper Donald.  Ahh, but not this year.  When I make way to the never-ending line during Weekend One, with my money in one hand, and faux lightsaber in the other, I will buy whatever they have to offer (with the exception of Jar Jar Goofy…*shudder*). 

            Because I don’t have near the experience of these wonderful little monuments to geekdom – I would like to cite a blog entry over at sww.studioscentral.com, this site’s Star Wars Weekend Blog.  Colin, a.k.a The Dark Lord of the Sith on the forums, wrote an excellent post on his experience with Big Figs, and his problem with this year’s set. 

Here is an excerpt:

“Now we find ourselves approaching SWW 2008 and the rumor mill wastes no time in presenting me with a problem.  At least four Big Figs are thought to be coming this year with the minor threat of a fifth.  Mickey as Anakin, Minnie as Queen Amidala (I hope the globes in her dress light up!), Donald as Darth Maul and Goofy as Jar Jar Binks.  There is even a Stitch as Yoda, pictured like the others as a small plastic collectable that could be in the mix.

Four more…. at least.  Let me be the first to say that I am not loving the Goofy as Jar Jar piece.  That isn’t my biggest problem though.  To date, I have managed to get all of them, the complete SWW group.  I rarely achieve a complete set of anything these days.  To make this even more of a problem, the rumor is that the price is going up on them by $25 each over last year.  Early in the year I guessed incorrectly they would only introduce one this year after the slow sales of this relatively expensive collectable in 2006.  I was prepared to purchase at least one, but was keeping an open mind that two might be a possibility. 

Four more and I not only am having a coronary over the cost of each of them, but also I have no idea where to display them!  They are in fact BIG Figs.  Cannot someone adhere to the Sith rule of Two!?!  What happened to “always two, no more, no less”?  Oh and the kicker to the rumors is that this will be the last year for the Star Wars Big Figs.  So here I am, like last year looking at what I like and what the family likes.  My daughter has said that we simply have to get the Queen Amidala Minnie.  My wife really likes the Darth Maul Donald.  I am anxious to see the final look of the Anakin Mickey… and then there is Jar Jar Goofy.  I can’t even comment on that yet except to hope for the development of Yoda Stitch."

You can read Colin’s full blog post here.

So there you have it – the top four ways I want to spend my rebate check.  Of course, I’d like to hear some of your ideas on how you want to spend your refund check on property.   Feel free to drop me a line, or head on over to post in our forums.  And if you are ever hesistant about dropping your hard earned money on things like Segway tours, or big figs, just remember, by spending your money you’ll be doing the county a service by helping to stimulate the economy.  Err, yea…that’s ticket.

Until next time!