The Beck’s Bounce Back Bash! UPDATED 10/5

[Alice_on_WONDERland]

Fifty days from today, the Beck’s (that’s us) are headin’ back down for some Florida fun & sun as well as our SECOND Disney cruise!

Here are the Beck’s:

Shawn, DH – 32, my Prince Charming. This guy treats me like a Disney princess on a daily basis (hence, two Disney cruises in one year!)

Harmony, aka “Alice” – 30, that’s me, the mama of the group. Although I love being treated like a princess, I relate more to Alice. My daily life truly is a Wonderland, full of zany characters and quirky environments.

Jackson, DS – 5, Phineas and Ferb fanatic, busy preschooler, awesome dancer, and all-around-cool kid.



Earlier this year we embarked on our first Disney cruise journey. Each family member instantly fell in love with Disney Cruise Line! In our opinion, this is the perfect family vacation for families with younger children.

To prepare for our first journey I relentlessly scoured the DIS boards to learn as much as I possibly could about our future family vacation. I truly enjoyed and gleaned invaluable information from trip reports written by some of my favorite writers: Tri Circle D, zwiehund, anewmac, and nenner1.

However obsessive-compulsive trip planning has one major drawback: over-planning. I over—planned and over-scheduled every minute of our time that I forgot to relax and have FUN! My tidbit of advice for all you newbies out there is to take time to enjoy yourself! (However, by the time I stepped foot on the beaches at Castaway Cay, that Caribbean sun seemed to mellow me out a bit, and I finally chilled out!)

So here’s what we have planned for our NEXT trip!

Tuesday, Nov. 10th – drive to Detroit; spend the night at an airport hotel (we got a great deal on airport parking by booking this)

Wednesday, Nov. 11th – hop on a flight from the cold Midwest to sunny Orlando, pick up rental car and head to Old Key West!

Thursday, Nov. 12th – drive to Port Canaveral and board that beautiful ship!

Friday, Nov. 13th – Nassau Day! Spend the day at Atlantis Aquaventure!

Saturday, Nov. 14th – chill on Castaway Cay, mon!

Sunday, Nov 15th – disembark the Wonder, pick up rental car, and head to Animal Kingdom Lodge!

Monday, Nov. 16th – lounge around the resort pool until last possible minute, then head to the airport and fly home

This trip will mark each of our first trip to Walt Disney World! Although we do not have enough time to enjoy the parks, we will certainly get our fill of Disney magic. We do plan to visit Downtown Disney and shop our, okay MY, little hearts out. We’re still tossing around ideas for where to eat each night. DS would like to eat at T-Rex, and DH & I are still discussing our options.

We made some great friends on our last cruise (Hi Sue & Wendy!) and we’ve created new friendships through our Dis Meet on these boards. We’re participating in the FE exchange this time around too.

I think this is going to be a great trip, how about you?

[seashell724]

I'm excited to read more, I liked your last TR.

[anetnmike]

Hooray! Pre trippie!!
dancing on your pre trippie too Harmony!
50 days to go! We are going to have such a great time! I love your trip reports!
Annette

[Alice_on_WONDERland]

Originally Posted by seashell724

I'm excited to read more, I liked your last TR.

Originally Posted by anetnmike

Hooray! Pre trippie!!
dancing on your pre trippie too Harmony!
50 days to go! We are going to have such a great time! I love your trip reports!
Annette

Aww, shucks, your kind words are making me blush! Thanks for the compliments. I LOVE my DIS friends!

[LynnF0513]

Whooop Whooop Go Harmony...Girl you know I am subscribing can't wait to read more

[SCQ86]

Hi Harmony! 49 days to go!!! Just need to book my return flight.

[Alice_on_WONDERland]

Update coming this weekend!

[Alice_on_WONDERland]

When we cruised this past February we stayed in Port Canaveral the night before embarkation. While it was very convenient to stay there, this time we have something a little different up our sleeves.

DH & I have never been to WDW, so we decided for our next cruise we would stay on-property the night before this time around. Because this cruise is our bounce back, we had decided to make it somewhat of a “budget” cruise and not splurge too much (mostly because we splurged quite a bit back in February, and come on, TWO cruises in one year is quite the indulgence! )

So I began to research the various resorts at WDW, and became intrigued by the POP. That place just looks so cool! I decided to book a room…but then…

A DIS’er on our meet thread mentioned that she and her daughters had rented enough points to stay at WDW in a DVC resort before the cruise. I had heard a little bit about DVC and their resorts, I even went to their on-board presentation on our last cruise. Slowly, the idea of renting points and staying at a DVC resort rather than the POP took root in my head. With the help of my friends on our meet thread I found a great DVC member that rented me the points we need to stay at OKW the night before! Needless to say, I cancelled the room at the POP. We’ll just have to check that place out another time.





Then, as I was looking at airfare to book our flight back home, I noticed how much more expensive it is on a Sunday versus a Monday. To save a little money on airfare, we decided to stay on vacation one more day and head back to WDW after our 3 day cruise. This time we’ll stay at AKL!




Due to the time limits, unfortunately we won’t be able to visit the parks. We won’t arrive at WDW until 1:00 p.m. at the earliest before our cruise, and after the fun and sun of the cruise, we plan to just chill at the resort. However, we will visit DTD for sure!

[Alice_on_WONDERland]

A while back I found the Pay-It-Forward Postcard thread. Here's a quick link:

http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=2205646

Check it out - it is so worth doing!


My DS Jackson received a postcard in the mail today from Pluto (or rather a very special DIS board member who helped Pluto write a postcard to him!). The look on DS's face when I read the postcard to him was priceless! He was shocked that Pluto remembered meeting him on our last cruise in February, and even more surprised that Pluto knows he's coming back next month! My DS has been asking me all evening how Pluto knows we'll "see him real soon".

Participating in the pay-it-forward thread has added to the excitement of our fast-approaching cruise. Plus, it's a little extra pixie dust for my sweet DS.

[anetnmike]

I LOVE that! I can just imagine the look on his face when he got the postcard! I love when the little ones are totally into the magic!
It won't be long for us now....

[jedijill]

Hey Harmony!

Just checking in...can't believe that its only 2 1/2 weeks away at this point! Didn't realize you guys were staying at AKL after the cruise...I'll be there too!

Can't wait to me you guys! BTW, Jackson is a cutie!

Jill in CO

[Alice_on_WONDERland]

Hi Jill!

Yes, we are going to have a BLAST! This trip is coming so fast. We're leaving in 17 days!

Have fun at MVMCP. I've been trying to convince DH, but it just isn't working.

[anetnmike]

maybe some time with Mickey this trip will convince him that more trips will be necessary in the future...

[Alice_on_WONDERland]

Oh yeah - we will DEFINATELY be back to WDW someday. We're planning a full week-long trip within the next few years. I'm sure when we go here soon I'll be hooked!

Plus, one of my life goals is to stay at EVERY DVC resort AT LEAST once!

We've been tossing around the idea with my parents of taking a family trip with my siblings down for Christmas one year, and just have the trip replace our traditional Christmas celebration. I'm all for that!

And Shawn and I both agree that we want to do an adults-only trip down for the Food & Wine Festival, which just so happens to be during our anniversay.

And then we just need to go just to go!!!

[anetnmike]

My wonderful DH and I have taken 2 trips without the offspring and it has been so much fun. Both were for a specific event held in one of the parks in the evening. The last time we went we spent the whole day before the event wandering around the resorts that ring Cresent Lake ( Beach Club, Swan and Dolphin, Yacht Club etc.) Not to mention the Boardwalk and all of the shops! It was a blast! I love going with my kids but going alone with just Mike is heaven! It's like the most fun date ever!