13 Days of Fun and Fantasy

[ALMinVA]

I am a planner, in every sense of the word. Summer vacation is a cabin in New England where we do not have meals served to us or beds made for us, or room service a great family vacation but definitely the opposite of a cruise.
Second vacation is my pick, typically a cruise or WDW and definitely hotels.

I tend to do all the planning, as I am reading you do - and then at the last minute DH will jump in and change everything around leaving all my planning in utter chaos. He somehow forgets all the conversations we will have had up to that point.

Good luck to you, hope you have a great trip! We sail in May 2014. We also struggle with driving versus auto train (live in VA).
And best of luck with your weight loss - you look great

 

[tluvspluto]

Who thought planning where to eat dinner would be so stressful?

Last year we planned our Palo dinner for the last night of our cruise. This was a strategic decision since we had booked Palo brunch for Costa Maya Day and Remy lunch for the second sea day.

We requested a dining rotation that did not put us in Animator's Palate the last night (so we wouldn't worry about missing the animation show), we also requested a rotation that put us in either the Royal Court or Enchanted Garden for formal night because we liked the theme.

The downside was that our rotation put us in Enchanted Garden 3 times (my least favourite restaurant) and we only got to dine in the Royal Court once because our second rotation was on our last night.

Fast forward 9 months later and I am having the same dilemma. I originally requested whatever rotation put us in the Enchanted Garden on our last night so this would be the restaurant that we miss for Palo.

Lots of discussions have been happening today on our Facebook Cruise page about Palo and the different dining rotations. Someone has posted that the dining rotation options for our cruise are:

AERAEER, ERAERRA, RAERAAE

This would make our requested dining rotation RAERAAE
The good things about this rotation:
- only in Enchanted Garden 2x and 1 of those nights we will be in Palo
- Pirate night in Animators palate which is cool because we get to have the extra pirate theming on all the video screens
- First night is in Royal Palace which is a nice way to start our cruise

Downside
We will be in Animator's palate for both formal night and semi formal night and Animators is the least formal of the 3 restaurants.

Now some of you at this point may be thinking that I am completely insane and wondering why anyone would put this much effort or thought into deciding what order they eat in the various restaurants, but like I said in post 1, I love to plan and find it to be lots of fun. Also as a veteran WDW travelling I'm used to putting lots of thought and planning into our dining arrangements.

For anyone who has cruised on the Dream or Fantasy - if you have any recommendations for me they would be greatly appreciated. I am now going to spend some time doing the following: watching a new episode of Grey's Anatomy and playing around with different dining rotation options including the best day to go to Palo.

I'm with you on the planning and reseach. We take our first cruise Dec 2013, Fantasy on the western carribean route. Can't wait. I read you pre-trip dinning post with great interest. Hadn't even thought of asking about a rotation; just assumed that would be assigned. So, as a newbie to crusing, with a 'i'll tollerate disney for your birthday" husband; 13 and 14 year old girls - what do you suggest is the best experience for pirate night; formal and semi formal (once i work out the difference between the many different nights).. Plus we're there for Chirstmas day too!

 

[canadiandisneyfamof4]

I'm with you on the planning and reseach. We take our first cruise Dec 2013, Fantasy on the western carribean route. Can't wait. I read you pre-trip dinning post with great interest. Hadn't even thought of asking about a rotation; just assumed that would be assigned. So, as a newbie to crusing, with a 'i'll tollerate disney for your birthday" husband; 13 and 14 year old girls - what do you suggest is the best experience for pirate night; formal and semi formal (once i work out the difference between the many different nights).. Plus we're there for Chirstmas day too!

It's really up to you about what is important. Last year I really wanted to make sure we didn't have AP the night we booked Palo and wanted a fancier restaurant than AP for semi formal night, we ended up in the EG 3x and it turned out to be my least fav restaurant for theming although many love it. This year I want to have EG the last night bc it's our Palo night so that limited our options, but I am fine with that.

 

[Castillo Mom]

I'm really enjoying your pre-trip report, thanks for taking the time to post.

I can truly relate to the planning aspect, it's part of the fun and helps you pass the time, especially when you've booked way in advance.

Oh yes, the dining rotation. The bane of my existence, trying to ensure we're in Royal Palace on formal night and trying to coordinate both Remy and Palo without missing out on any of the MDRs. We're still over a year away from our trip and I'm already thinking about our rotation.

BTW, congrats on the weight loss, you look great!

 

[PaulG]

Hi,

I am staying at the Caribe Royale as well by the end of the month.

Can't wait after seeing your pics, many thanks for the report!