June 17 Wonder to Alaska

[IBelieveInTheMagic]

Welcome!!! I see you are from NC - we are too!! We both have long flight times from the East Coast but it's nothing to complain about - after all, we are going to Alaska!! What day are you guys flying in? We are leaving at the crack of dawn on 6/15 and therefore getting in 2 days early, directly into Vancouver.


We'll be flying in on the day of the cruise. Air was arranged by Disney. I do kind of dread the long flight, but can't wait to be on board and meet everyone! We're flying out of Asheville, for this one.

Awesome!! Asheville is beautiful and just think - your long day of travel will have an awesome award waiting for you....US, on the ship with you! HA HA - just kidding we know it's all about the Wonder!

So I am totally late to the party on this, I saw the post and thought I had replied already....but I guess it was all in my head. We went on the Lighthouse, Totems and Eagles tour in 2011 and loved it. It was a smaller boat but very comfy. Run by a family. The captain brought his dog "Princess" who was the sweetest thing. Izzy just loved her. And he invited anyone who wanted to hang out in the wheelhouse to do so - I even drove the boat. All of the kids got a complimentary stuffed animal - Isabelle picked the wolf. It was great fun, awesome scenery and a great view of the totem park from the water. I have a few pics from 2011 on my pre-trippie if you want to have a look.

Aww - thanks! Gosh, that makes it so much more difficult because it really does sound and look amazing! We are doing the Disney exclusive Lumberjack show, for now - but who knows...things could change. I'm happy to hear the excursion had an awesome review from you!


Sounds like there will be a few of us on that train, that's the one we'll be on as well! As I said to my hubby, I will be there with a travel mug FULL of coffee, and a purse full of distractions for the 3 year olds. If they manage to stay awake on the rocking train.

Once everyone has made their plans we should make a page with excursion times and who is doing them, so we know who we'll be bumping in to

I love that idea!! It would be neat to see what everyone picked and where we are!
We're doing the 7:15 white pass and suspension bridge in Skagway, the 8 am whale watching and mendenhall glacier in Juneau and just shopping in Ketchikan.
Us too for Skagway, then also shopping in Ketchikan before the Lumber Jack show. I swear, I had to create my mini spreadsheet to keep track of these things

Somewhat unrelated, but being that many of us have growing kids and coats are hard to come by in the summer, I have discovered that ebay has a wealth of "Alaska gear!" I got Isabelle at puffy hooded jacket for $16, including shipping. And it fits! lol Of course now I need to get her a new semi-formal dress, because her Easter dress (which I was planning to re-use) is almost up to her knees - we tried it on today. Oops. She just keeps GROWING. Anyone else have that problem? I guess I can hit the after Easter sales next week...

Thanks for the suggestion! I ended up getting us our North Face jackets on clearance since they were out of season or the colors were changing. They still weren't "cheap" but at least I saved some! My DS is 9.5 and he is in another growing stage and it's about every 6 months now I have to completely change out his clothing - yikes. We actually just tried on shorts this weekend and they are "questionable" So, I know more shorts are in his future but going from a 10 to a 12 makes them too big which is what I miss when they were younger the sizes felt a little more precise.

My DS and I were watching videos on YouTube this weekend and really enjoyed it. We watched some on Vancouver, the Wonder, Alaska, etc. Great times!

Heather

 

[zweihund]

75 day mark!
I know this, because our newbie cruiser mates are FINALLY able to book excursions today
Let's hope they were able to get the same ones we did....where's the "fingers crossed" emoticon?

 

[LvCruzin]

Aloha Everyone.....
I am new to the DIS boards and sooo glad to find this. We are so excited to go on the Wonder to Alaska on 6/17. It will be my DH, DS-3 yr, myself and 2 friends with us. My DH and I have been on 3 other cruises to Alaska and just love it.

I heard about the fish extenders and hope we can be apart of that. That sounds like a great thing to do especially for the kids...

Hope to get other 3 year olds together since it will be just my son going with us. It will be great for him to make some friends around his age.

Also, I was disappointed that there will not be a pirate night. I was getting so excited about that but they are doing the Pixar pals instead. My DH said we should get a bunch of us together and do a pirate night anyways.....lol.

Much Aloha to you all......

 

[Linda67]

Aloha Everyone.....
I am new to the DIS boards and sooo glad to find this. We are so excited to go on the Wonder to Alaska on 6/17. It will be my DH, DS-3 yr, myself and 2 friends with us. My DH and I have been on 3 other cruises to Alaska and just love it.

I heard about the fish extenders and hope we can be apart of that. That sounds like a great thing to do especially for the kids...

Hope to get other 3 year olds together since it will be just my son going with us. It will be great for him to make some friends around his age.

Also, I was disappointed that there will not be a pirate night. I was getting so excited about that but they are doing the Pixar pals instead. My DH said we should get a bunch of us together and do a pirate night anyways.....lol.

Much Aloha to you all......

Aloha
Welcome to the DIS and welcome to our little cruise thread!
Wow, 3 Alaska cruises already, that tells me what a great a destination it is!
It's getting so close now but at the same time seems so far away
Have you booked any excursions yet?
Be great to hear what your favourite things have been from your previous cruises
Lx

 

[IBelieveInTheMagic]

75 day mark!
I know this, because our newbie cruiser mates are FINALLY able to book excursions today
Let's hope they were able to get the same ones we did....where's the "fingers crossed" emoticon?

Awesome!! Did everyone get what they wanted? I sure hope so!

Aloha Everyone.....
I am new to the DIS boards and sooo glad to find this. We are so excited to go on the Wonder to Alaska on 6/17. It will be my DH, DS-3 yr, myself and 2 friends with us. My DH and I have been on 3 other cruises to Alaska and just love it.

I heard about the fish extenders and hope we can be apart of that. That sounds like a great thing to do especially for the kids...

Hope to get other 3 year olds together since it will be just my son going with us. It will be great for him to make some friends around his age.

Also, I was disappointed that there will not be a pirate night. I was getting so excited about that but they are doing the Pixar pals instead. My DH said we should get a bunch of us together and do a pirate night anyways.....lol.

Much Aloha to you all......

Welcome!!

It's getting closer I took the day off yesterday since my DS is out of school for Spring Break and we organized some things and got our "cruise container" ready. We put our lanyards, NorthFace jackets, small travel items, etc. in there so we feel we are getting prepared now.

Just curious - with this talk of Pixar Night instead of Pirate night - have you all decided you're not bringing any pirate items? Any suggestions for the Pixar night? I'm thinking my DS can just wear a shirt but that doesn't seem as festive and I'm not sure what, if anything, the adults might do? I'm betting we'll still see a bunch of pirates running around since DCL hasn't really reached out to let people know!

Heather

 

[Linda67]

I would have thought that DCL will make some kind of announcement about the Pixar themed night on the Alaska cruises before the first one sets sail in May

As you rightly say, if they don't, everyone will turn up with Pirate costumes!

I am guessing that there will be lots of Pixar characters roaming the ship

Perhaps we should all be modelling Mosters Inc University Ts and cheerleader pom poms

 

[808MauiMama]

Hi, my family will be on this cruise and just trying to get a feel of what to expect. This is our first DISNEY cruise! I'm soooo excited. I have a ton of questions so I'll be back with them a little later. Just wanted to say "Aloha" from Maui!

 

[50statesby50]

Hi everyone*waves*

First time cruiser and Disney adventures too! My DH has been on a Disney Cruise before. A little about our trip: we are going with 12 family members (my in laws) and will be traveling with our DD who will be almost 16 months when we set sail. We all love to have a good time, my sister in law is 11 and our cousin is ~12 everyone else are adults. Super excited! I am looking for fun ways to include everyone from gma to DD to the 21 year old.

 

[Jewell24]

Linda,
It was our first time staying at the Wilderness Lodge and we loved it. A new favorite!!

Anyone know if on the White Trail Pass and Trail Camp you get to see any of the Disney Characters still hanging around from the Exclusive port adventure?

 

[Jewell24]

Sadly I stayed up to midnight the night we were able to book excursions, and kept thinking to myself...I know I am up for a reason...then couldn't figure it out so I went to sleep. I woke up the next morning in a panic, because I remembered why and rushed to the computer. Luckily the excursions we were hoping for were there...whew.

 

[LvCruzin]

Hi, my family will be on this cruise and just trying to get a feel of what to expect. This is our first DISNEY cruise! I'm soooo excited. I have a ton of questions so I'll be back with them a little later. Just wanted to say "Aloha" from Maui!

Aloha....we are from Oahu going on this cruise too....So good to see other "locals" going.

This is our first Disney Cruise and are getting soooo excited. We definitely gotta hook up some time. What are your kids ages? WE have a son who is 3 1/2 and we will be traveling with 2 friends with no kids.

I'm just learning a lot on what they do on these cruises and it sounds so much fun. I hope a lot participate in the Fish Extenders...and that they decorate the doors too. Too much fun.

 

[808MauiMama]

Hi LvCruzin!
Yay, more locals on board! We are traveling with a group of 10, the only kids we have are my nieces who are 13 and 10. Mine are 18 and 21. We have another friend from Maui who is traveling with her DS - 6 and DS -2 and another niece and nephew around the same age. I am just learning about Fish Extenders and decorating the door and find that quite fascinating and fun! I think my DD and DS are too old for that, but sure sounds like fun! We should definitely keep in touch and meet up on board! These next couple of months are going to be so exciting with all the planning and packing!

 

[808MauiMama]

Ok, so here's my first question - how do families with little ones deal with formal and semi-formal nights? Do all the main dining rooms require the dress code and even the little ones. I also read that regular dress code is no shorts, so the little ones also cannot wear shorts? We live in shorts here, so its a whole new wardrobe for us! lol I'm also guessing that we are not realizing how cold it will be.....

 

[ScottFamily2005]

Awesome!! Did everyone get what they wanted? I sure hope so!

Welcome!!



Heather

Yes! I did. I have driven myself crazy, but I booked it all. Palo brunch for our first sea day, and Palo dinner on day six. Also got my spa appt and our excursions.

Now I'm trying to prepay some stuff like hotels. I'm drawn to the idea that I could get on a plane and not worry about money or budgets for ten days.

Welcome to our new additions!

 

[ScottFamily2005]

Ok, so here's my first question - how do families with little ones deal with formal and semi-formal nights? Do all the main dining rooms require the dress code and even the little ones. I also read that regular dress code is no shorts, so the little ones also cannot wear shorts? We live in shorts here, so its a whole new wardrobe for us! lol I'm also guessing that we are not realizing how cold it will be.....

We are just bringing DD holiday dresses - her Christmas one didn't look Christmasy -and I might pick up another on sale. I suspect the evenings will be too cold still for shorts, so on the other nights DD will wear jeggings and leggings with a cute top. We live in the Bay Area and are used to freezing in the summer.

 

[808MauiMama]

We are just bringing DD holiday dresses - her Christmas one didn't look Christmasy -and I might pick up another on sale. I suspect the evenings will be too cold still for shorts, so on the other nights DD will wear jeggings and leggings with a cute top. We live in the Bay Area and are used to freezing in the summer.

Thank you!

 

[zweihund]

Aloha Everyone.....
I am new to the DIS boards and sooo glad to find this. We are so excited to go on the Wonder to Alaska on 6/17. It will be my DH, DS-3 yr, myself and 2 friends with us. My DH and I have been on 3 other cruises to Alaska and just love it.

I heard about the fish extenders and hope we can be apart of that. That sounds like a great thing to do especially for the kids...

Hope to get other 3 year olds together since it will be just my son going with us. It will be great for him to make some friends around his age.

Also, I was disappointed that there will not be a pirate night. I was getting so excited about that but they are doing the Pixar pals instead. My DH said we should get a bunch of us together and do a pirate night anyways.....lol.

Much Aloha to you all......

You just officially replaced me as the Alaska cruise expert on this thread - I've only been on ONE! lol I told someone last night who had been twice that I feel I could do this itenerary at least three or four more times and not get tired of it. So much to see and do in every port!

We will have two 3 year olds in our party - my daughter Izzy and her little buddy Paige. We'll have to meet up in the kids' club or something so they can all hang out! Though my husband has a strict "no dating until she's 35" ploicy...

Awesome!! Did everyone get what they wanted? I sure hope so!

Welcome!!

It's getting closer I took the day off yesterday since my DS is out of school for Spring Break and we organized some things and got our "cruise container" ready. We put our lanyards, NorthFace jackets, small travel items, etc. in there so we feel we are getting prepared now.

Just curious - with this talk of Pixar Night instead of Pirate night - have you all decided you're not bringing any pirate items? Any suggestions for the Pixar night? I'm thinking my DS can just wear a shirt but that doesn't seem as festive and I'm not sure what, if anything, the adults might do? I'm betting we'll still see a bunch of pirates running around since DCL hasn't really reached out to let people know!

Heather

They did, for the most part. Palo is always tricky with parties of four or more, especially when the parties span THREE DIFFERENT CC CATEGORIES. So we decided we are all going to Palo on Tracy Arm night, just at different times. It's officially "date night"

Brunch will be a bit trickier but I think if we keep watching every day it will work itself out. Worst case scenario, we go to Palo when we board. I've never not been able to fix brunch so all parties sit at the same table.

All excursions are good! We are booked! Now we wait....won't be long now, will it?

Ok, so here's my first question - how do families with little ones deal with formal and semi-formal nights? Do all the main dining rooms require the dress code and even the little ones. I also read that regular dress code is no shorts, so the little ones also cannot wear shorts? We live in shorts here, so its a whole new wardrobe for us! lol I'm also guessing that we are not realizing how cold it will be.....

We are just bringing DD holiday dresses - her Christmas one didn't look Christmasy -and I might pick up another on sale. I suspect the evenings will be too cold still for shorts, so on the other nights DD will wear jeggings and leggings with a cute top. We live in the Bay Area and are used to freezing in the summer.

I totally second this. The dress code technically *is* no shorts, but I have seen people in the dining room ON FORMAL NIGHT in jean shorts and t-shirts. The only place I've ever seen anyone turned away for dress code was Palo - a woman was sent to change because she was wearing jeans. They were dressy jeans, but clearly jeans nonetheless. She was very gracious about it.

We usually just grab something from the closet for Izzy but this year she totally sprouted up and nothing fits her now! So we decided, because her Belle dress from our first go-around in Alaska is too small, we are going to buy her a new princess dress onboard for formal night. I got a dress on clearance at Target for semi-formal. I'm not worried about any of the other nights, because her regular clothes should suffice - leggings, tutus, jeans and cute tops, etc.

Hope that helps!

 

[LvCruzin]

You just officially replaced me as the Alaska cruise expert on this thread - I've only been on ONE! lol I told someone last night who had been twice that I feel I could do this itenerary at least three or four more times and not get tired of it. So much to see and do in every port!

We will have two 3 year olds in our party - my daughter Izzy and her little buddy Paige. We'll have to meet up in the kids' club or something so they can all hang out! Though my husband has a strict "no dating until she's 35" ploicy...



They did, for the most part. Palo is always tricky with parties of four or more, especially when the parties span THREE DIFFERENT CC CATEGORIES. So we decided we are all going to Palo on Tracy Arm night, just at different times. It's officially "date night"

Brunch will be a bit trickier but I think if we keep watching every day it will work itself out. Worst case scenario, we go to Palo when we board. I've never not been able to fix brunch so all parties sit at the same table.

All excursions are good! We are booked! Now we wait....won't be long now, will it?





I totally second this. The dress code technically *is* no shorts, but I have seen people in the dining room ON FORMAL NIGHT in jean shorts and t-shirts. The only place I've ever seen anyone turned away for dress code was Palo - a woman was sent to change because she was wearing jeans. They were dressy jeans, but clearly jeans nonetheless. She was very gracious about it.

We usually just grab something from the closet for Izzy but this year she totally sprouted up and nothing fits her now! So we decided, because her Belle dress from our first go-around in Alaska is too small, we are going to buy her a new princess dress onboard for formal night. I got a dress on clearance at Target for semi-formal. I'm not worried about any of the other nights, because her regular clothes should suffice - leggings, tutus, jeans and cute tops, etc.

Hope that helps!

By all means, I am not the cruise expert. We haven't really done much of the really expensive shore excursions. Coming from Hawaii where its mostly summer all year 'round we just love the "change" of scenery. We love snow and just love the beauty of Alaska. We could do this cruise over and over and never get tired of it. (plus I am an independent travel agent)

I just love your husbands policy. I read the 35 first and then saw the inches....that was very cute. We definitely need to get together, especially at the kids club.

Do you know how to start the FE...we need to get that going soon huh? I am willing to take charge but I have never done it before so if anyone can give me some guidance...maybe I should've started another message on this one?

 

[zweihund]

By all means, I am not the cruise expert. We haven't really done much of the really expensive shore excursions. Coming from Hawaii where its mostly summer all year 'round we just love the "change" of scenery. We love snow and just love the beauty of Alaska. We could do this cruise over and over and never get tired of it. (plus I am an independent travel agent)

I just love your husbands policy. I read the 35 first and then saw the inches....that was very cute. We definitely need to get together, especially at the kids club.

Do you know how to start the FE...we need to get that going soon huh? I am willing to take charge but I have never done it before so if anyone can give me some guidance...maybe I should've started another message on this one?

Actually his policy is 35 years old....she's about 39 inches tall
I am only 5'3" but my husband is 6'1" so I figure by the time she's 8 I'll be standing on a stool to scold her.

Someone else mentioned fish extenders....I don't think we'll be doing them this time, just to save on luggage space. But they are lots of fun.

 

[LvCruzin]

Actually his policy is 35 years old....she's about 39 inches tall
I am only 5'3" but my husband is 6'1" so I figure by the time she's 8 I'll be standing on a stool to scold her.

Someone else mentioned fish extenders....I don't think we'll be doing them this time, just to save on luggage space. But they are lots of fun.

I like the 35"....we are almost similar. I am 5'2" and my husband is 6'1.

Bummers that you won't be participating in the FE. I'm looking forward to it, I hope someone will help me organize it though.

Just finished my online check in....boy do they ask a lot of ????