The Magical Maternity Leave Pre-Trippie

[krazy4crusing]

IMG]The Magical Maternity Leave Pre-Trippie

Dates: October 24th-October 31 2009

Cast of Characters:

[IMG]http://i973.photobucket.com/albums/ae216/krazy4crusing/P6280057.jpg


DH A wonderful easy going, hard working guy who tolerates Disney. pirate:
DW A planoholic who is loving this Disney Trip because it keeps her busy. She has loved the Magic of Disney since childhood.:hippie:
DS 5 years old and very knowedgable about all things Disney thanks to a 2 month summer break and mucho Disney movies and books to keep him informed!:yay:
DD 6 months and has no idea what she is in for!! :cutie:
DS 16 Terrified of flying and studying hard to get into University... so he is staying home. I hope our house is still standing when we get home!! :scared1:

Cruising History

1 other cruise: March 2008, Carnival Fascination. Excellent 4 day Western Carribean Cruise. (we were supposed to be skiing in VT but I broke my arm in a ski accident and so we booked this cruise last minute instead... not too shabby!!)

Booking the trip of a lifetime

I have been dreaming about a Disney Cruise for as long as I can remember but we could not justify spending the money on a Disney Cruise. You see I am an elementary school teacher :teacher: and the only holidays I get are Christmas, March Break and Summer, all very expensive or inopportune times to travel with DCL. We often looked at DCL but ultimately booked elsewhere for a vacation that was longer and cheaper in the long run.
After getting pregnant last summer I began to think of the possiblities that my upcoming Maternity leave may give us as a family. We are Canadian and moms have 1 year off work to spend with our new babies.:hug: One of the many wonderful things I love about Canada! This was a perfect opportunity (in my opinion) for a Disney cruise. All I had to do was convince DH that this was a great idea!!

Here are my top ten reasons for DCL:

You get free pop on board and save money
You can bring your own beer and booze on board and save money
There is a nursery for the baby so we can have alone time!
It is a good price! (He wasn't convinced)
Diaper Genie in the room
The only baby pool on the seas
Homemade baby food in the restaurants
Awesome kids programs
Castaway Cay
It's Disney!!!! (ok he wasn't all that impressed with that one)

:yay::yay::woohoo:After many hours of convincing he agreed!!! :cool1::cool1::banana:


We were looking at booking a cruise for the fall of 2009 but we weren't sure which itinerary to choose. I wanted St. Croix or Tortola and they were the same price but DH was stalling so we waited a few weeks and then the price went up!! so..... we booked the St. Maarten itinerary for a better price.

We booked a category 11, midship on deck 6 and we are pleased with our choice. We like an inside stateroom because we like the dark and use the money we save to spend on the spa, Palo, shore excursions etc... you aren't in the room much anyway right? (we have never had anything better or I may feel differently about that last statement).

As it turns out our itinerary and dates couldn't have been better because we found our Cruise meet on the DIS and I signed us up for the B.O.B. Bash on the Boat!! This is a very large group of cruisers who have cruised together before (Konked Kruisers) but we are just joining in the fun this time around. The BOBers are a really chatty bunch of people (27 threads and counting!!!) I am really looking forward to meeting them and playing DIS Tag-more on that later...

[jagmom]

Great title, lets here the rest! :)

[krazy4crusing]

Ok, so after a few weeks of searching the internet for information about this cruise :surfweb: I came accross some information about a fish extender. Like many newbies on the DIS I had no idea what they were. I read and read and read and finally figured it out. I excitedly told DH all about it... he thinks I am obsessed and need a new hobby. :lmao:

So now that I knew what an FE was I had to have one too!! My mother is an excellent sewer and so she got drafted to create our FE. After several trips to Fabricland, Walmart, Michaels, Bouclair etc... the fabric and design was chosen. As soon as it gets made I will post a picture!!

[krazy4crusing]

As I continued to familiarize myself with the DCL I came accross information on Cruise Magnets. OMG how cool is that!! :cool1: Personalized magnets that we can change up each day of our cruise! Ok this was too much fun! As I surfed around I realized that there were many amazing people online that can personalize magnets for you! This was nice but I hated bugging my fellow DISers so I tried to make a few of my own. Then I came accross photo bucket. Wow, what a cool website! I signed up and began spending some time creating personalized magnets but also some designs for our Fish Extender.

Oh the fun!! :banana::banana:

[krazy4crusing]

As first time cruisers we had to wait until August to make our Palo ressies. I stayed up until midnight so that I could book as soon as our window opened. :surfweb:

When I got online all the brunch and tea ressies were gone.:eek: We could get a dinner reservation but we decided that we only wanted to have brunch as dinner is family time :grouphug:and we really want to eat dinner with the kids each night.

Soooooo that leaves us to board as early as possible on the day of the cruise and then hope for a brunch reservation. I booked the babyprincess: into Flounder's for 3 hours on 1 of our Sea Days and I hope that we can get a ressie for that day. If not then DH and I will have to entertain ourselves elsewhere that morning!! :)

[captchris]

Looking forward to reading your pre trip report for the same cruise as us.

Subsribing! :thumbsup2

[Scouter]

Yay! Another trip report for our cruise!

And I finally get to see who you are:thumbsup2

[KSFrogge]

:yay::yay: Glad to see a fellow newbie Disney cruiser posting experiences! :thumbsup2

I'm the same with the magnets and FE obsession... DH thinks I've lost my marbles!! :rotfl:

Looking forward to seeing your designs, and meeting you on the cruise!! :)

[Karen Mouse]

Another Bobber subscribing! - not long now!:cool1:

[GOS]

I'm here as well. Looking forward to reading more.

How about a picture of your FE?

[krazy4crusing]

Ok It is finally finished! We bought the fabric back in June but it took until now to finally get the time to get it done. We used the directions we found here in the FE thread. Ours is sewn together rather than glued but we used the dimensions mentioned in the thread. We ironed on the designs that we made using transfermation paper.

When the fabric was cut I couldn't believe how small the FE was!! After looking at everyone elses Fish Extenders online I really thought it would be much wider and longer but alas I followed the directions and 8 inches wide is the right size! I can't wait to see it hanging on the fish next month.

Here is a picture:

http://i973.photobucket.com/albums/ae216/krazy4crusing/P9220001-1.jpg

On to the T Shirts next!!

[krazy4crusing]

Our Bob T Shirts for the cruise are ready. They are black, DHs favourite colour so I know that he would wear it!! :rotfl2: sooooo sneaky!!! :lmao:
There is a design on the back and our names on the front. I hope that they will look good when they are on! There will be lots of Bobers on board so I am sure we will match with the rest of the group!!:thumbsup2

Here is the back:
http://i973.photobucket.com/albums/ae216/krazy4crusing/P9230003.jpg


And here is the front:
http://i973.photobucket.com/albums/ae216/krazy4crusing/P9230004.jpg

We opted for a bib for the babe:

http://i973.photobucket.com/albums/ae216/krazy4crusing/P9230005.jpg

I am also making shirts for our WDW trip too. I have made a Mickey Swirl shirt that I read about here on the DIS. I just used glue to make a design, let it dry and then sprayed it with fabric paint. The fabric paint didn't show up at all so DH just sprayed it with real spray paint and we washed it 4 times so that the paint washed out as much as possible. It looks pretty good but the 2009 at the bottom was a bit runny so it looks a bit wonky!


http://i973.photobucket.com/albums/ae216/krazy4crusing/P9230001.jpg

There will be more shirts to come... I hope but I haven't made them yet.

[krazy4crusing]

Ok, I wasn't sure what to do about this but I came accross a really cute costume for the baby and then I had to buy one for DS. Here are the pics of the costumes.

http://i973.photobucket.com/albums/ae216/krazy4crusing/P9230010.jpg

http://i973.photobucket.com/albums/ae216/krazy4crusing/P9230009.jpg


This is my pirate costume, much more home made than the kids versions :)!

http://i973.photobucket.com/albums/ae216/krazy4crusing/P9230013.jpg

[Timon]

LOL, I love the baby BOB bib!!! :lmao::rotfl2::thumbsup2 :goodvibes Too cute!! :cutie:

[GOS]

Ok It is finally finished! We bought the fabric back in June but it took until now to finally get the time to get it done. We used the directions we found here in the FE thread. Ours is sewn together rather than glued but we used the dimensions mentioned in the thread. We ironed on the designs that we made using transfermation paper.

When the fabric was cut I couldn't believe how small the FE was!! After looking at everyone elses Fish Extenders online I really thought it would be much wider and longer but alas I followed the directions and 8 inches wide is the right size! I can't wait to see it hanging on the fish next month.

Here is a picture:

http://i973.photobucket.com/albums/ae216/krazy4crusing/P9220001-1.jpg

On to the T Shirts next!!

That is just wonderful. Great job.

[GOS]

Ok, I wasn't sure what to do about this but I came accross a really cute costume for the baby and then I had to buy one for DS. Here are the pics of the costumes.

http://i973.photobucket.com/albums/ae216/krazy4crusing/P9230010.jpg

http://i973.photobucket.com/albums/ae216/krazy4crusing/P9230009.jpg


This is my pirate costume, much more home made than the kids versions :)!

http://i973.photobucket.com/albums/ae216/krazy4crusing/P9230013.jpg

Sweet.

[Karen Mouse]

Our Bob T Shirts for the cruise are ready.

Here is the back:
http://i973.photobucket.com/albums/ae216/krazy4crusing/P9230003.jpg


We opted for a bib for the babe:

http://i973.photobucket.com/albums/ae216/krazy4crusing/P9230005.jpg.

Brilliant!:woohoo: love the bib:cutie:

[Dyerneeds]

mikey/ underdog checking in.:thumbsup2:thumbsup2

love the FE. way better than Angies.:laughing:
just kidding angie.:rolleyes1

[cntkg1]

MG also checking in here. WOW....this is going to be awesome. At least 3 trippies to read involving the BOB cruise!:woohoo:

[gstroop28]

http://i973.photobucket.com/albums/ae216/krazy4crusing/P9220001-1.jpg

On to the T Shirts next!!

Can I just say......

:worship::worship::worship::worship::worship:

You are a Fish Extender Queen!!! Can't wait to fill it up with goodies!!

[OurOhana]

Great report, and I really love the fish extender and shirts. Very creative. Can't wait to read more.

[krazy4crusing]

Can I just say......

:worship::worship::worship::worship::worship:

You are a Fish Extender Queen!!! Can't wait to fill it up with goodies!!


I will have to let my mom know... she actually made it. I was just the consultant :rotfl2:

She is awesome!! :worship:

[krazy4crusing]

Wow, as of August 31st (I think) We can book extra Flounders time. So now we have booked a couple of extra evenings out and also some extra time at Castaway Cay.

We are hoping to go to the different night clubs and check them out in the evenings.:cool1:

We are also going to have dinner together alone one night, even though I originally said dinner was family time. We will still have family time but it will be at the buffet instead. That way DH and I can have a nice dinner to ourselves. I am sure the kids wont mind! ;)

When at Castaway Cay I am hoping to go snorkelling with DH and mabye DS5 while DD is at Flounders. :beach:

We have also booked off on Pirate Night pirate: so the fireworks don't scare the baby. It also gives us more time to EAT EAT EAT at the pirate buffet without any distractions... I love me some desserts! :lmao:

Originally we only had babysitting on a few afternoons and now we have a couple of hours or so each day. That will make the trip more relaxing and give us an opportunity to expore more things on the ship sans enfants!

I think that this extra time might convice DH that DCL was a good idea afterall!! (The old girl knows what she is talking about... sometimes!!:rolleyes1)

[krazy4crusing]

Ok so there is sooooooooo much more to this trip than just the cruise.


We are staying at POP with the DDP for 1 week before the cruise. We have a 4 day PH WP&M pass too. We are really looking forward to every part of this trip and I cant decide what makes me happier... the food, the resort, the rides, or.... who am I kidding? We are really looking forward to the look on DS face when we get to the parks and he sees how magical everything is at Disney.

POP

When we started planning this part of the trip we gave DS a brochure with all the resorts in it and told him to tell us which one he thought was the best. He picked Pop Century because of the bowling pin pool! DH was happy because it was a value resort! I tried to talk him into Coronado Springs but he was sold on Pop. I am really excited about it now and looking forward to seeing all the special things that POP has to offer. The hustle, the big wheels for the kids to ride, the splash pad, the Ice cream sundae at the food court:rotfl2:, walks around the pathway with the baby to burn off the calories etc...!!


DS is super excited about going on Hollywood Tower of Terror. He is tall enough and he insists that it isn't scary. Keep in mind he is only 5. We have watched the video on youtube so he has seen how the preshow and the ride work. I guess time will tell. All summer he has been going into the garden shed and pretending it was the elevator. He loves imagine that he is on the ride. He is a bit of a dare devil but you would think that he might be afraid of it... Oh well, there is always the chicken exit if he decides to bail before we ride the elevaor and that would be fine with me...

We have ADRs at

Hoop de do musical Revue
Ohana Friends breakfast
Crystal Palace Dinner before MNSSHP
Chef Mickeys Dinner
Coral Reef Dinner


The best surprises of this trip::woohoo:

MNSSHP (I didn't even know this existed until we joined the DIS)pirate:
Food and Wine Festival (see MNSSHP):thumbsup2
DDP (I got a PIN code just before we booked so this sealed the deal!!)popcorn::

To do item:[/U]

Use the monorails and friendships and walking trails to travel between MK, Epcot and DS. I had no idea we could do this when we were there in 2004 so this is something I want to try. I will include the info in my TR

The Itinerary


[U]Saturday: Get Car Rental, Head to Walmart for Breaky items and Baby items, spend the day at POP swimming in the pool and visiting DH friends.
Have a nap because we are heading to HDDMR at 9:15 pm... yikes:scared1:
We got good seats though so they talked us into the late show.

Sunday: Hollywood Studios so DS can ride his favourite ride. The rest of the day will consist of what ever he wants to do. Our meals may include Backlot Express and Starring Rolls for DS and S.

Monday: Breakfast at Ohana and then off to Epcot DS wants to go to the Golf Ball today so we will oblige and in return Mom and Dad will get to indulge in the Food and Wine Festival. Ireland, Barcelona and Norway are a few of the places we want to check out. We will probably use up several Snack Credits today as we much our way around the World. We may head over to MK tonight because they have extra magic hours.


Tuesday Water Park of DS choosing. We will head back to Pop and have a rest before heading to MK for dinner at Crystal Palace and then MNSSHP.

After reading all the tips here on the DIS here is our plan of attack for the party party:

4 pm Arrive
Walk around and get some pix
Ride a few rides
Have dinner
See the characters--especially near the Dole Whip place, there are extra good treats there
Dance Party
Face Painiting (maybe)
Ride the Liberty Belle
Ride the rides
Trick or Treat
Watch the Fireworks
Watch 2nd Parade
Villain Show 11:15
Trick or Treat


Bring list

Big bag for treats as the one Disney gives are small
Small flashlight to read the map
Glow Bracelets


Wednesday Sleep in a little bit and head off to the other water park we didn't do yesterday. Dinner at Chef Mickeys. Then check out DTD and maybe Disney Quest although I am not sure it is all that great for our DS. We will be checking out Goofy's Candy Shop to use up some Snack Credits.

Thursday Animal Kingdom in the morning and Magic Kingdom in the afternoon/evening. We are not big fans of AK and will probably be done by shortly after lunch. Animal Kingdom snacks: Zebra Domes, Magic Kingdom: lunch at Cosmic Rays and Snacks at Bakery, Aloha and Confectionary

Friday: Leaving for Port Canaveral to get ready for 7 days on the Magic!! This trip can't get any better! We are going to the beach today and checking out the Ron Jon Surf Shop. We will be heading to the pool in the afternoon before grabbing dinner somewhere in the area.


When we return from the cruise we will be heading back to WDW for another day. At this point we will have 1 theme park ticket and 1 water park ticket left so we can check out the parks 1 more time before we head home.


I hope you enjoyed the plan... lets see if it all comes to fruition!:wizard:

[Dyerneeds]

LOVE THE PLAN!:thumbsup2

you'll love pop century.:wizard: its a lot of fun.:wizard:

see ya in 2 weeks.:yay:

[GOS]

LOVE THE PLAN!:thumbsup2

you'll love pop century.:wizard: its a lot of fun.:wizard:

see ya in 2 weeks.:yay:

Excellent plan. We'll see you too in two weeks time.

[cntkg1]

Sounds like a busy couple weeks Jennifer. Enjoy!! :yay:

[JOANNEL]

Where are you staying friday night?

[Mich123]

Love the plan! Great pre-trip report!