Did You Know that Mickey is also a Ship Captain? Wonder PTR **update8-18***

[Jackiemarie21]

Hello and to my first ever Disney Cruise Line PTR!​

I will start with a little background as to how this trip came about. Last July my DH and I took our then 2 year old on her first trip ever to WDW and it was amazing! You can check out the TR in my signature if you want to hear all about it. That was the trip that turned my DH from someone who tolerates hsi wife's obsession, to a Disney lover! That wonderful and amazing trip prompted my DH to give me the biggest surprise of my life! He started saving extra money in secret and gave me a trip to WDW in May 2014 for Christmas Everything seemed great until we had a nasty snowy winter with tons of snow days (DH is a teacher). As the week between the end of school and the start of trip was taken away with each snow day I was confident the trip would still be a go until the 6th snow day which was officially the first day of our trip, then the 7th and with that the trip was off! DH told me not to worry we would make it up. We decided on a Sept. 2014 trip. My DH would take a few personal days and we would couple that with a weekend and the trip would be on. As we get closer and closer to Sept. my DH felt less comfortable with taking days off school and then the spring weather hit our house and hit it hard! You can read all about it in the PTR for the trip that never happened here So, a trip in Sept was not happening. I was devastated and so was DH He had worked very hard to give me that gift and mother nature and life just kept getting in the way. We did not want to totally cancel our trip so we started looking at other options. We basically had the choice of Christmas break or spring break, both super crowded! Christmas break did not really seem like the best time to take a trip. Both DH and I have large families so there are always tons of gatherings we have to attend. So, we started to think about Spring break. I was a little apprehensive about that time in the parks since it is so crowded, but a cruise would not be so bad, the crowd is controlled by the capacity of the boat. I proposed the idea to DH and he said lets do it! We went on a DCL for our honeymoon and he said it was the best trip of his life. He has been begging me to do another one every since! He also loves taking a trip over spring break (I used to be a teacher also and our Spring breaks never matched up), so this would be perfect!



So the March 2015 trip plans were set into motion!


What can you expect from this PTR? Well, I will go into tons of detail of our plans, tons of customs outfits for my DD, our movie nights we have to get us in the Disney spirit for our trip and I am sure other fun randomness I decide to include!

Up next, the cast or crew if you will!

 

[Jackiemarie21]

Chapters:

Our Crew!

So you are going on a cruise...which one?

A Little Off Topic, A Little On...

 

[Jackiemarie21]

The Crew:
Staring with me, Jackie:

I am a 31 (32 at sail date) year old Disney loving stay at home mom. I love everything princess! In my pre-kiddo life I was a Family and Consumer Science Teacher (formally know as Home Ec) my specialty was sewing. So, as you might imagine I fill my free time up with sewing, and my favorite type of sewing is Disney sewing! I have been to WDW 6 times, DL once, and on one Disney cruise, the Wonder June 2007. I love to plan every aspect and moment of our Disney trips and I love a go go go type of vacation!

My DH, Bob:

Bob is a 37 year old High School Social Studies teacher. He is also Stu-co sponsor, department leader, after school supervisor and an adjunct college professor. So, basically he works ALL. THE. TIME. Which I really appreciate but, vacations are so important to us, because it is really the only time DH is all ours. Even then sometimes we have to remind him to turn off the phone and join us. (Yet another reason a cruise is so appealing...totally being disconnected from the real world!) Bob has been to WDW 5 times, DL once and one Disney cruise on the Wonder. Bob is a recent Disney lover, but still prefers a slower paced vacation. Our first Disney Cruise was a part of our Honeymoon and he loved it so much, it was his favorite trip ever! Bob is also an avid STL sports fan loving the Cardinals and the Rams almost as much as I love Disney, almost!

My DD, Charlotte:

She was 2 here on our last WDW trip, this was a dream come true moment for her.

Here is a more recent pic:

Charlotte is now three and will be almost 4 at the time we sail. She has been to WDW once and never on a cruise. She loves all things Disney. Her favorites are the Beast, Stitch, and Doc McStuffins. She had a great time on her one trip and asks every day when we can go back to Mickey's house. We just recently told her we would not be going back to the Mouse house, but on his ship instead. She is pretty excited to be going on vacation with Mickey.

We also have two fur babies although they will be going to Memaw's (my mom) during the trip they still are a big part of the family:

Sebastian

Daphne my princess loving doggie or at least she tolerates me dressing her
up!
Up next, which cruise should we take?

 

[Denovagirl]

I'm here!!!

Yay, new PTR!!!

 

[STLMickeyMom]

holy cr@p, lady! you miss a few weeks on the dis and people change all their plans! while i'm super sad that we won't be at Disney together this fall (seriously over here!) I am SSOOOO excited about your cruise (and possible baby news to come)! yay!!! I think, whether you're pregnant or not, the cruise will be the perfect relaxation you'll all need after this crazy spring/summer.

of course, i'm in for this PTR! i'm going to need to steal all the cute cruise stuff you come up with for ours next fall!

let me know if you need any help/someone to watch charlotte/some mom time out to distress--you've got a lot going on!

 

[Jackiemarie21]

I'm here!!!

Yay, new PTR!!!

Yay! So glad to have you along!

 

[Jackiemarie21]

holy cr@p, lady! you miss a few weeks on the dis and people change all their plans! while i'm super sad that we won't be at Disney together this fall (seriously over here!) I am SSOOOO excited about your cruise (and possible baby news to come)! yay!!! I think, whether you're pregnant or not, the cruise will be the perfect relaxation you'll all need after this crazy spring/summer.

of course, i'm in for this PTR! i'm going to need to steal all the cute cruise stuff you come up with for ours next fall!

let me know if you need any help/someone to watch charlotte/some mom time out to distress--you've got a lot going on!

I know it's crazy right? DH feels so much better about this plan. He was really dreading being away from his class for three days.

Yes, I can totally test the cruise waters (see what I did there, I am so funny) for you!


Thank you so much Lori you are a great friend! To top it all off, Charlotte and I went to visit a friend in AR earlier this week and she came down with a fever. My poor baby is sick in the summer! it's true when it rains it pours!

 

[Jackiemarie21]

Oh and as if everything else that has happened wasn't enough... On wed I was leaving my friends house ( the one we were visiting in AR) I was so flustered because Charlotte had 102 fever and I had to drive 5 hours to get her home. I backed right into my friends husbands brand new truck! Seriously I can not make this stuff up! In the last month I have made my first ever claim on my homeowners and car insurance !

It can only go up from here right?

 

[Tinker326]

I'm here too! Looking forward to following along.

I have backed into my hubby's car TWICE coming out of my garage. I feel your pain.

 

[STLMickeyMom]

ok, that is seriously enough! you've had your allotted amount of bad luck. quota filled! all pixie dust and magic from here on out!! hope charlotte is feeling better!

 

[AprilRenee]

Oh my goodness! Jackie you're just having the worst time! I'm so sorry!!
Is Charlotte feeling any better?

On a happier note, your about me pic is adorable and I can hear your cheerful bubbly voice just looking at it.
Charlotte has changed so much since your first trip! She looks so young in that pic!!!

 

[Jackiemarie21]

Oh my goodness! Jackie you're just having the worst time! I'm so sorry!!
Is Charlotte feeling any better?

On a happier note, your about me pic is adorable and I can hear your cheerful bubbly voice just looking at it.
Charlotte has changed so much since your first trip! She looks so young in that pic!!!

ok, that is seriously enough! you've had your allotted amount of bad luck. quota filled! all pixie dust and magic from here on out!! hope charlotte is feeling better!

Thank you both so much! Seriously I totally lucked out when I met you guys on here! I feel so lucky to have you all as friends!

Charlotte seems to be feeling better. But, I have come down with it, I guess thats what happens when you are a human tissue for three days I am just hoping I am better by Wed when we leave for the big wedding in CO!

On a much happier note, Bob, my dad and our amazing next door neighbor made a ton of progress on the trees in the back yard, and got the awesome swing set I scored on Craig's list down the hill in our back yard! So, things are staring to look up!

 

[AprilRenee]

Good grief! I hope you're feeling better ASAP!!

But yay for progress on the yard and yay for a new swing set! (and yay for Craigslist!)

 

[Jackiemarie21]

When I last left off we had decided to turn our land trip into a high seas adventure!


Now that we knew we wanted a cruise we had to choose a ship and itinerary. This will be our second Disney Cruise our first was on the Wonder in 2007, a 4 night Bahamanian, with stops in Nassau and Castaway Cay.

Our first cruise on the Wonder

We were so impressed with our DCL experience we took another cruise the following year on another cruise line. After the grandness of the DCL, we were very disappointed in our experience on the other cruise line. So we never considered any cruise line besides DCL this time! So, our time frame in March was the 13-22. We had three options at this time:
7 Night Caribbean on the Fantasy
5 Night Caribbean on the Wonder
4 Night Bahamanian on the Dream

As much as we would love to do the 7 nighter, the price tag, was wayy out of our budget! Plus, two of the teachers Bob works with did that same cruise last spring break, and they said the getting there and getting home made them feel very rushed, so that was out. We then had to pick from the ship we did before or the Itinerary we did before. My first thought was to go for the 4 nighter on the Dream. I really wanted to check out the new ship! The 4 nighter was about $100 more than the 5 night trip on the older ship. I was all set to book the 4 night on the dream and the price went up another $100! Not a huge increase but it got me thinking. So, I decided to come to the cruise section of the DIS and ask them if the new ship was really worth $200 more for one less night. I mean when you think about it, its one less night of food, lodging and entertainment, so it comes out to being wayyy more $200 more. Plus, four nights just feels so short! The dis cruise forum all confirmed I was thinking, go for the longer cruise on the older ship. After all, on our first cruise, I was thrilled with the Wonder, it really was amazing! I would not miss all the bells and whistles of the new ships, since I have never been on them! Bob even did some independent research and came to that conclusion as well. It was kind of funny, actually one night as we sat down to dinner he said lets talk about our cruising options and I said I wanted to do that as well. We both had the same idea, lets do the wonder!

So we booked the 5 night on the Wonder sailing on March 15! Going to Cozumel and Castaway Cay. Another exciting aspect about this choice, is that it sails from Miami. Bob and I have never been to Miami so we are excited to check out a new city! This is the MOST excited I have ever seen Bob about a vacation! He actually researches and talks about it more than me, which is a total first!

Up next, the plan for getting to Miami!

 

[Jackiemarie21]

Good grief! I hope you're feeling better ASAP!!

But yay for progress on the yard and yay for a new swing set! (and yay for Craigslist!)

Thanks! I just hope my DH or parents don't get this yucky stuff, we have a long drive ahead of us this week!

I am pretty excited about the new swing set and the fact that our yard can be mowed again!

 

[STLMickeyMom]

Boo to being sick but yay! For tree removal and Craigslist swing set!

I love the picture of you and Bob--so young!!

I think your plans sound great. Can you really go wrong on any Disney ship? They all look awesome to me.

What did you think about Nassau? We're doing a stop there (unless a trip with two castaway stops opens up) and I haven't heard a lot of good things.

 

[STLMickeyMom]

Oh, almost forgot, love the new title!

 

[Tinker326]

Yhea!!! Congrats on picking a ship and itinerary.

The longer you can do a cruise, the better.. .and since the 5 night is actually cheaper than the 4- I say go for it!

I'm not actually sold that the new ships are better than the old. There are some aspects that probably are better but you could find things for the opposite as well (some things are better on the old ships vs new).

It's Disney. It's got Castaway. It's gonna be awesome! And that is ALL that matters!

 

[Denovagirl]

Whoop for 5 nights! I'd have chosen that too!

Glad you found a swing set and the trees are getting taken care of!

 

[Jackiemarie21]

Boo to being sick but yay! For tree removal and Craigslist swing set!

I love the picture of you and Bob--so young!!

I think your plans sound great. Can you really go wrong on any Disney ship? They all look awesome to me.

What did you think about Nassau? We're doing a stop there (unless a trip with two castaway stops opens up) and I haven't heard a lot of good things.

Thank you! It's hard to believe that was 7 years ago! It still feels like yesterday.

Nassau, well we got off the ship to say we had been there, but we got right back on the ship. I think we were there a total 30 minutes, it was not for us! I have heard its nice if you do an excursion, but we did not book one. It's not the type of place you can just walk around in. Castaway Cay on the other hand, AMAZING! If you can do a double dip, go for it! Castaway is totally worth it!

Oh, almost forgot, love the new title!

Thanks! I was putting off starting this PTR because I had the hardest time coming up with a title, then I remembered that was what we told Charlotte when explained we would no longer be going to WDW. She was pretty excited to find out Mickey would be her ship captain so we went with that .

Yhea!!! Congrats on picking a ship and itinerary.

The longer you can do a cruise, the better.. .and since the 5 night is actually cheaper than the 4- I say go for it!

I'm not actually sold that the new ships are better than the old. There are some aspects that probably are better but you could find things for the opposite as well (some things are better on the old ships vs new).

It's Disney. It's got Castaway. It's gonna be awesome! And that is ALL that matters!

That's pretty much what everyone said. More cruise time is better than less, and the Wonder gets great reviews, the best of all the ships actually. You are right, as long as it is Disney with a stop in castaway, it will be amazing!
Plus it seems like Charlotte will be to young for most of the new things in the new ships.

Whoop for 5 nights! I'd have chosen that too!

Glad you found a swing set and the trees are getting taken care of!

It's a no brainer really, more cruise time and less money, win - win.
I am feeling much better about our yard, finally!