Ahoy, Kids! Scrap the Summer Plans...We're Sailing with Mickey to Alaska! (Upd 9/8)

[Nicole786]

As a 20 something I couldn't imagine sitting down to eat at 10pm EST, much less your kids! I hope your request gets honored

 

[Chilly]

Well of course your tablemates were lovely if they were from England

Hope you were able to adjust to the new time zone quickly.

 

[MickeyMomTo2]

As a 20 something I couldn't imagine sitting down to eat at 10pm EST, much less your kids! I hope your request gets honored

It's funny how different people are. Our tablemates were from DC and on EST, and they were completely fine with late dining. They said they eat late anyway and didn't want to change. Their kids seemed okay, too. That first night was especially difficult for us, and I also don't like eating a big meal right before bedtime. Stay tuned!

 

[MickeyMomTo2]

Well of course your tablemates were lovely if they were from England

Hope you were able to adjust to the new time zone quickly.

My daughter is still trying to talk with a British accent after hanging around the girls all week. They loved watching the footage of Kate and William yesterday because they sounded like our tablemates! DD is ready for a trip across the pond!

 

[PrincessJo]

I am truly enjoying your trip report so far. The mention of lobster macaroni REALLY made my mouth water

 

[Plucker001]

Enjoying your report. I have a hoarder too She loves to collect the streamers and confetti from the floor as well!

 

[brookmey]

Looking forward to reading the rest of your report! We have also decided to postpone a trip to CA for an Alaskan cruise in August 2014.

How did your kids like the youth clubs on the Wonder compared to the Dream? My kids LOVED them on the Dream, so their expectations are very high. I'm a little nervous that the clubs on the Wonder won't measure up to the Dream.

I can't wait to see more pictures and to hear about your Alaskan excursions!

 

[MickeyMomTo2]

I am truly enjoying your trip report so far. The mention of lobster macaroni REALLY made my mouth water

It's a tubular pasta with a cream sauce and lobster. We really liked it.

Enjoying your report. I have a hoarder too She loves to collect the streamers and confetti from the floor as well!

One of my worst WDW moments was when I pushed my DD in her stroller down Main Street towards Dumbo while she was screaming because I didn't let her pick the streamers up after the "Good Morning" show. Now I try to loosen up, quit rushing, and let her collect things like this (she also picks up Mickey glitter off the pathways). They've stopped using the streamers at the end of the show, so that's helped, too.

Looking forward to reading the rest of your report! We have also decided to postpone a trip to CA for an Alaskan cruise in August 2014.

How did your kids like the youth clubs on the Wonder compared to the Dream? My kids LOVED them on the Dream, so their expectations are very high. I'm a little nervous that the clubs on the Wonder won't measure up to the Dream.

I can't wait to see more pictures and to hear about your Alaskan excursions!

My kids didn't really mention anything they liked less or more about the clubs. The only thing missing that's visibly noticeable is that fancy lighted floor on the Dream, but neither of mine mentioned that. Many of the activities are the same: Flubber, cooking school, etc..., so I am sure your kids will have a blast.

The only thing I noticed is that the Club and Lab are not connected from inside. So...kids had to be moved from one to another by a counselor or parent (unless they are self-check and can move themselves). Not a huge deal since the counselors could do it, but you might wait in line to pick up at the Lab, only to find out they had moved to the Club. I am sure this is a hassle for the CM's, and they probably learned from this when making the Dream and Fantasy.

Overall, I'd say my DD had just as much fun as she did on the Dream. My DS is at an in between stage (11). He went to the club and Edge some, but preferred to just go play basketball.

 

[Grumpy's Wife]

Hi, joining in . I've always wanted to go to Alaska and hope to get there one day. I'm looking forward to hearing all about your adventures.

 

[MickeyMomTo2]

Hi, joining in . I've always wanted to go to Alaska and hope to get there one day. I'm looking forward to hearing all about your adventures.

Welcome, and thanks for reading!

 

[MickeyMomTo2]

We woke up on Tuesday about 6:30. DH went to the fitness center, and I went to run/walk on Deck 4. I absolutely loved doing this on most mornings during the cruise. It was very refreshing in the cool temperatures, and the scenery was amazing. We left the kids in the room watching Disney something and told them not to kill each other or make noise as most people were probably still sleeping. Who knows what happened while we were gone, but they were both still in one piece when we returned.

At 9:00, DD and I went to the atrium to see the Incredible Diaper Dash. This was cute and fun to watch. There were three babies participating. Of course, they were clueless, but the parents were all hoping to win! The winner did get a nice medal. I guess that would be a fun souvenir to take home! (Baby on the left took the first heat, but baby on the right was the overall winner. Middle baby was very laid back and didn't really care. )


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At 10:00, we had our character breakfast in Parrot Cay. I had heard that this experience was very rushed, and that we should have the kids ready for the pictures. We, along with our tablemates, seated our children so that the characters could just walk up behind them for a quick photo. It was more rushed than a WDW experience, but not as bad as I expected. I wondered if this was because we were second seating, so they didn't have to get us out as quickly.

Mickey came by first...


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Goofy followed soon after...


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At some point during the characters, we felt the ship was moving more than it had been. The kids both asked for Dramamine at this point. For some reason, the two times we really felt the ship moving were in Parrot Cay and Animator's Palate. Both are on the back of the ship, one on top of the other. Not sure if this was coincidence or not. Either way, it didn't ruin our fun. The medicine kicked in quickly, and the kids were fine.

Minnie was up next...


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Then, it was time for some napkin fun!


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Finally, Pluto stopped by.


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We enjoyed our character breakfast. Since I thought it was going to be super rushed, I was pleasantly surprised, but it was good to be prepared and have the kids camera ready. As others have mentioned before, I wish the characters would be in their Alaskan costumes during breakfast, but we would have the opportunity to see those costumes later!

Coming Up...Making a Fool of Myself at Sea!

 

[Mndisneygirl]

I'm glad to hear that you enjoyed your morning run/walk around deck 4, because I'm hoping to do that some mornings. Well, not the RUN part, just a nice brisk walk!

Cute pictures from character breakfast - I hope we're not too rushed -we have early dining. Do you know what time the early dining had for their breakfast?

 

[MickeyMomTo2]

Just a few extra tidbits I forgot in my latest update:

Look at the yellow dining tickets in your stateroom. They tell your dining rotation, but they also tell your assigned day for the character breakfast. If we had left dinner early on Monday night due to fatigue, we would have missed our server telling us that our character breakfast was the next day (they give info after the meal). I saw it on the dining tickets, so we were good either way.

I did laundry on Tuesday morning after my walk. I needed to clean the lava explosion off DD's dress from the night before, and we had some hoodies and jackets that needed to be washed after wearing them for a few days in Seattle. Early morning is a great time to do laundry. Later in the day, and later in the week, the laundry room gets much more crowded. I brought travel packs of Tide and some dryer sheets (which also helped keep clothes in the suitcase smelling fresh), but you can purchase detergent in the laundry room. It's only $1.00 to wash and $1.00 to dry, and you can charge it to your room key. Pay attention to the settings. I put the dryer on the highest setting, and my load was dry, but I heard others say they had to do more than one cycle because they didn't adjust the temp.

I've been updating daily, but I'm taking my kids and one friend each to Holiday World Amusement Park in Indiana tomorrow. We have to hit the road at 6:30 AM and won't be home until after 11:00 PM, so I won't be on the Dis tomorrow. Getting up before six is going to be fun! We are still not completely back on central time--even though we've been home over a week!

 

[MickeyMomTo2]

I'm glad to hear that you enjoyed your morning run/walk around deck 4, because I'm hoping to do that some mornings. Well, not the RUN part, just a nice brisk walk!

Cute pictures from character breakfast - I hope we're not too rushed -we have early dining. Do you know what time the early dining had for their breakfast?

I don't know, but I would guess 8ish. Walking on the deck was great! You might need a jacket or sweatshirt to start off, but I often took mine off after I got started. So peaceful and quiet in the mornings!

 

[Chilly]

We didn't find our character breakfast was rushed but we were also second seating so I think that does make a difference.

 

[chattadisser]

Joining in on your TR! I’m currently where I think you started before this TR, just in the research phase so that I can understand the whole cruise thing. We have never been on a cruise but we all want to go on an Alaskan one! I never knew there were “last minute specials” so to speak. I’m a big planner too so that definitely would have put me out of my comfort zone. I love the research phase.

The scenery is beautiful! Big bummer on the second seating for dinner. We would be in the same boat although I have a feeling my kids would have adjusted better than me!

Is the confetti/streamer thing a girl thing? Both of mine are the same way and are absolutely dismayed when they don’t last forever! Good to know, get a seat in the lower part of the theatre for streamers.

Christine

 

[RweTHEREyet]

I've been updating daily, but I'm taking my kids and one friend each to Holiday World Amusement Park in Indiana tomorrow. We have to hit the road at 6:30 AM and won't be home until after 11:00 PM, so I won't be on the Dis tomorrow. Getting up before six is going to be fun! We are still not completely back on central time--even though we've been home over a week!

I, too, had read that the character breakfast was very rushed and because of that some people had been skipping it and dining elsewhere.

Hope you had a fun day at Holiday World. Still enjoying your report and looking forward to the next installment.

 

[Ellester]

Holiday World! Boy, does that bring back the memories. When I was little my grandparents would take us there (it was Santa Claus Land then) when we would visit them in Kentucky. I remember the booths where you would put in a quarter and a chicken would come out and dance or play the piano or some other goofy thing. Good times!

Enjoying the report! We are on the last sailing in Sept. and my middle two kids are about the same age as yours (dd will have just turned 12, ds is 9). My son is a baseball addict as well. All he ever wants to watch on TV is Quickpitch on MLB Network and the Braves. Fall Ball sign ups are in two weeks, hard to believe. Our local 11-12 team is still in the running for the LL World Series (our league won it in 2006 and made the finals in 2010) and the mania around town is building. We change planes in Toronto and he was disappointed we couldn't catch a game on our layover!

 

[MagicMe]

Loving your trip report. I took this cruise in 2011 and loved every minute!! I would do it again! We actually flew into Vancouver and spent a couple of days there. For those planning on spending a bit of time in Vancouver - it's a wonderful city and the people are so friendly. We took the HOHO bus around and spent some time in each of the sections.

The scenery you will see (especially going up the fjord to Tracy Arms) is spectacular!!

Oh and I LOVE John Charles!!! He's been on three of my seven cruises (thre of the four 7 day or longer cruises) and I've enjoyed him every time. There are some things he repeats (mostly because people bug him to here them) but he keeps it fresh enough that you can enjoy it each time.

 

[MickeyMomTo2]

Joining in on your TR! I’m currently where I think you started before this TR, just in the research phase so that I can understand the whole cruise thing. We have never been on a cruise but we all want to go on an Alaskan one! I never knew there were “last minute specials” so to speak. I’m a big planner too so that definitely would have put me out of my comfort zone. I love the research phase.

The scenery is beautiful! Big bummer on the second seating for dinner. We would be in the same boat although I have a feeling my kids would have adjusted better than me!

Is the confetti/streamer thing a girl thing? Both of mine are the same way and are absolutely dismayed when they don’t last forever! Good to know, get a seat in the lower part of the theatre for streamers.

Christine

Disney occasionally offers last minute guarantee rates (on all cruises, not just Alaska). They are most often offered after the paid-in-full date, so anytime from 75 days before the cruise to right before the cruise. We booked ours 31 days out. The offers may be available for days or only a few hours, so you have to be willing to jump on them. Our was called a VGT, which means Verandah Guarantee. We couldn't pick our room, but we were guaranteed to have a varandah. There are also OGT (outside/oceanview guarantee) and IGT (inside guarantee). These rooms are usually significantly discounted, but you do have to have the ability to be flexible. We had a vacation to California planned, and it would have been a wonderful trip if the VGT rate hadn't come up, but all of our California plans were able to be cancelled without penalty, so we changed to Alaksa. We almost waited to see if one of the later weeks in July had VGT rates offered, but I'm glad we didn't because none of them did! The only cruise after ours to have a VGT rate is the September cruise, which is the last one.