QueenEleanor
Earning My Ears
- Joined
- Dec 26, 2012
Christi,
I'm fine with Feb 28 closing for FE. Gives us a month to procrastinate -- oops, a month to prepare/purchase some FE gifts!
Misty,
(Really, we have a Christi and a Misty? How fun!)
Bring a highlighter on the trip with you.
When you arrive in your cabin, you will find a "Cruise Navigator" which will have the special events of the trip, ie, which nights are Formal or Semi-Formal, which is Pirate's Night, and which "shows" are when. You might also find this information online when you check your itinerary, but sometimes it can be elusive.
Look at the Cruise Navigator to give yourself, and your kids, an idea about which nights you might go to the shows, and which might be an earlier bedtime/quieter evening, which some of our younger cruisers (and us oldies!) need too, and which movies are playing in the Buena Vista.
Then, every night when your room is made up for the evening, you will get a "Personal Navigator." The PN has a grid, with activities listed for each age group of under 18s, like Dancing with Belle or making Flubber etc. It's a nice part of your bedtime routine (or first thing in the morning) to highlight what looks fun. This is also a great way to invest the kids into going into their group; when they know what to expect, and more than that, have helped to choose what events they want to go to. Don't forget to look under the family activities too! It's a family vacation, which we sometimes forget in our rush to eat at Palo and spa visits! And there might be a family activity (can you say Mickey 200) that sparks your children's interest.
The PN also lists when the characters will be out and about. (You can also ask guest services in advance.) If there is a special character for your child, you don't want to miss getting a hug and a photo. If there's no one special, then don't worry. Somebody is always in the atrium around dinner time.
So much depends upon your family's needs. With young kids you might not want to be out late every night. There are shows every night, but not all are Disney. Some will be magicians or jugglers. You might decide just to do the Disney shows, in order to maintain some bedtime.
Generally there are two shows each evening; an earlier show for the late dining rotation and a later show for the earlier dining rotation.
Allthough your dining rotation remains the same (check whether you have requested early or late), and everyone would recommend that you not deviate, at least for the first three nights until you have rotated through them all and seen what there is to see, you might skip the sit-down dinner in preference for a quicker bite, either pizza, burgers, or the Topsider buffet.
Then you can catch the early show and still put the little ones to bed at a reasonable time, if they are early to bed kind of kids. Don't forget also that you might skip dinner in the rotation one night, eat pizza or burger or Topsider, and have the pool almost entirely to yourselves!
Also on the topic of your family needs, some people want to make sure that their kids get some exercise or reading time or a nap, and it's great to get the kids to help schedule this too. Look for a block of time on your PN that doesn't hold anything interesting, and involve the kids...should we swim? play board games? Play shuffleboard? Handy dandy highlighter to the rescue!
As someone has already said, character breakfast timing, and I think princess tea too, are dependent upon your dining rotation. Don't forget your camera at Character breakfast!
Okay, so maybe you told your kids a bit early, but closer to the date of sailing, you might want to have Mickey call your home and say how excited he is that you are sailing. You can do this online under your reservation...I think it's called "Character calls" or something like that.
When you arrive in your stateroom, you can use the phone to schedule wake up calls. That also is Mickey saying "It's going to be a wonderful day!" or something like that, and even if you use it as soon as you come in, it will excite the kids. (Like they need more exciting, ha ha ha ha!) That is, it doesn't have to be only for waking up in the morning but can be a phone call at any time, coz you set the time on the phone, if I'm making any sense.
Hope this has helped!
I'm fine with Feb 28 closing for FE. Gives us a month to procrastinate -- oops, a month to prepare/purchase some FE gifts!
Misty,
(Really, we have a Christi and a Misty? How fun!)
Bring a highlighter on the trip with you.
When you arrive in your cabin, you will find a "Cruise Navigator" which will have the special events of the trip, ie, which nights are Formal or Semi-Formal, which is Pirate's Night, and which "shows" are when. You might also find this information online when you check your itinerary, but sometimes it can be elusive.
Look at the Cruise Navigator to give yourself, and your kids, an idea about which nights you might go to the shows, and which might be an earlier bedtime/quieter evening, which some of our younger cruisers (and us oldies!) need too, and which movies are playing in the Buena Vista.
Then, every night when your room is made up for the evening, you will get a "Personal Navigator." The PN has a grid, with activities listed for each age group of under 18s, like Dancing with Belle or making Flubber etc. It's a nice part of your bedtime routine (or first thing in the morning) to highlight what looks fun. This is also a great way to invest the kids into going into their group; when they know what to expect, and more than that, have helped to choose what events they want to go to. Don't forget to look under the family activities too! It's a family vacation, which we sometimes forget in our rush to eat at Palo and spa visits! And there might be a family activity (can you say Mickey 200) that sparks your children's interest.
The PN also lists when the characters will be out and about. (You can also ask guest services in advance.) If there is a special character for your child, you don't want to miss getting a hug and a photo. If there's no one special, then don't worry. Somebody is always in the atrium around dinner time.
So much depends upon your family's needs. With young kids you might not want to be out late every night. There are shows every night, but not all are Disney. Some will be magicians or jugglers. You might decide just to do the Disney shows, in order to maintain some bedtime.
Generally there are two shows each evening; an earlier show for the late dining rotation and a later show for the earlier dining rotation.
Allthough your dining rotation remains the same (check whether you have requested early or late), and everyone would recommend that you not deviate, at least for the first three nights until you have rotated through them all and seen what there is to see, you might skip the sit-down dinner in preference for a quicker bite, either pizza, burgers, or the Topsider buffet.
Then you can catch the early show and still put the little ones to bed at a reasonable time, if they are early to bed kind of kids. Don't forget also that you might skip dinner in the rotation one night, eat pizza or burger or Topsider, and have the pool almost entirely to yourselves!
Also on the topic of your family needs, some people want to make sure that their kids get some exercise or reading time or a nap, and it's great to get the kids to help schedule this too. Look for a block of time on your PN that doesn't hold anything interesting, and involve the kids...should we swim? play board games? Play shuffleboard? Handy dandy highlighter to the rescue!
As someone has already said, character breakfast timing, and I think princess tea too, are dependent upon your dining rotation. Don't forget your camera at Character breakfast!
Okay, so maybe you told your kids a bit early, but closer to the date of sailing, you might want to have Mickey call your home and say how excited he is that you are sailing. You can do this online under your reservation...I think it's called "Character calls" or something like that.
When you arrive in your stateroom, you can use the phone to schedule wake up calls. That also is Mickey saying "It's going to be a wonderful day!" or something like that, and even if you use it as soon as you come in, it will excite the kids. (Like they need more exciting, ha ha ha ha!) That is, it doesn't have to be only for waking up in the morning but can be a phone call at any time, coz you set the time on the phone, if I'm making any sense.
Hope this has helped!