April 23, 2009 Wonder...who else is going?

[pixiepower1971]

Just bought plane tickets this evening. $130 round trip per person. Couldn't pass it up when I saw $54 one way tickets. Now I just need to finish paying off the cruise itself, book a room at the Hyatt and at Disney for afterwards, and decide on ground transportation. Before I know it I'll be packing to leave.

I know the Disney parks have a free ticket on your birthday. Is the Disney cruise doing anything similar? My oldest DD will be turning 13 on the Saturday we are on the cruise.

Great price! That would seriously tempt me to fly vs drive. We have decided to add a day or 2 in the parks before and after so I think with ground transportation we would be at least at a break even though. I will have to price everything out.

I haven't heard of anything that the cruises are doing for birthdays. We are hitting the parks right in the middle of my birthday and both of my DDs...no extra shopping money for us:-(

My DD turns 13 a week after the cruise. She is excited to be able to go to Aloft- is your daughter going to try it out too?

 

[Chess]

She wants to go. Of course I told her she had to be 13 in order to go so she thinks she can only go on Saturday night.

This being our first cruise with the kids we are not sure how much freedom we will give them. We'll need to see how we feel once we are onboard.

 

[momto2inKC]

Hey everyone Was just giving our thread a little bump
So how is all the planning coming along for you guys? We're checking out excurstions right now to see what all is offered. My son is very interested in the sting ray one.

We booked our hotel for the night before the cruise. We'll be staying at Animal Kingdom Lodge!!!! We cannot wait!!!

I'm thinking that since Easter is right before our cruise, that I will do an Easter basket of things the kids will be able to use on the trip. I did that for our first trip to Disney and they loved it! I thought i'd buy them some snorkle gear, new beach towels and swim suits, sunglasses, flip flops, hats, etc...

 

[lumpysluck]

Can not wait!!!! We are actually heading up to Sugar mountain for the long weekend. My DD6 has never even seen a snowflake. The high is supposed to be about 5 degrees! On a new note DH is now booked as well- he changed his mind.

 

[jibby]

Hello, I can't wait we booked our first Disney Cruise. It will be myself (41), DH (39) and DS (8). My birthday is on Friday so that will be a special day!!! We live in Florida so will be driving to Port Canaveral. I can't wait......

 

[wonderwickham2]

Well, we are teetering here in Texas! I happened to see this kids free promotion and was able to snag a cat 12 room with eveything coming out for us parents and our 4 yo daughter at $795!!!! Of course I reserved it. NHow we have until final deposit day to see if it will all work out! To make it more te3mpting, I just found $80 each way from Austin to Orlando that I need to book today by 3:30!!!!

Only issue is that we are going to WDW 2/21-2/26 via spirit air on a $18 each way for each of us. Then another trip a couple months later is tough to squeeze in when you have your own business!!!! Anyhow - it would be nice to join you all!!

How do the ground transfers work? Is it worth it to pay Disney and how much do they charge? We just declined insurance and tranfers when we booked, I didn't look at it too much! I did notice that our ship seems to be fuller looking at the reservation page for the 4/23 sail date!!

Thanks everyone for any hints or ideas you can share!

 

[momto2inKC]

Can not wait!!!! We are actually heading up to Sugar mountain for the long weekend. My DD6 has never even seen a snowflake. The high is supposed to be about 5 degrees! On a new note DH is now booked as well- he changed his mind.

How did she like the snow? It has been so cold here! We actually had temps in the negative which really made me ready for the cruise

My husband just will not give me a definite answer UGH I ask him every couple of days and he keeps saying i'm not sure yet. I told him to just tell them he will be gone those days, period

 

[momto2inKC]

Hello, I can't wait we booked our first Disney Cruise. It will be myself (41), DH (39) and DS (8). My birthday is on Friday so that will be a special day!!! We live in Florida so will be driving to Port Canaveral. I can't wait......

Hey, another first timer What a great way to spend you birthday!!! My sons birthday is the day before the cruise leaves, so we're letting him celebrate it during the cruise, he's quite excited

 

[momto2inKC]

Well, we are teetering here in Texas! I happened to see this kids free promotion and was able to snag a cat 12 room with eveything coming out for us parents and our 4 yo daughter at $795!!!! Of course I reserved it. NHow we have until final deposit day to see if it will all work out! To make it more te3mpting, I just found $80 each way from Austin to Orlando that I need to book today by 3:30!!!!

Only issue is that we are going to WDW 2/21-2/26 via spirit air on a $18 each way for each of us. Then another trip a couple months later is tough to squeeze in when you have your own business!!!! Anyhow - it would be nice to join you all!!

How do the ground transfers work? Is it worth it to pay Disney and how much do they charge? We just declined insurance and tranfers when we booked, I didn't look at it too much! I did notice that our ship seems to be fuller looking at the reservation page for the 4/23 sail date!!

Thanks everyone for any hints or ideas you can share!

Hello! Hope you all decide to come! Those are some good deals on airfare! I'm having a heck of a time finding decent fares for the trip home on the 26th.

We are renting a car to get back and forth from the port. It's only costing us $100 for 5 days. Plus we're coming in a day early so we'll use it to putter around Disney that day.

 

[dfsc]

I've been lurking for a few weeks to see if anyone mentioned a FE exchange. I joined one on my last Disney cruise and now my kids think it is part of the "Disney" cruise experience versus something their mom had to orchestrate!

Fish Extender details:

Post if you are interested and I'll keep a running list. Also post the ages/gender of your children to keep Princess' from receiving Prince Charming gifts and vice versa.

Once you have your room number, please post and I will add it to the list.

Find something that you will be able to hang outside your cabin door on the fish hook that will hold small gifts- this is now your fish extender. You can search fish extender ideas on the board and find lots of information.

Some of the items that we received: stickers, items that represent the state the giver is from - food, postcards, magnets, etc. lots of magnets since the DCL doors are magnetic, Disney colors and coloring books, candy for the theatre, glow stick necklaces, pirate items for pirate night, cards and other travel size games, etc.

My nieces and nephews are traveling on this trip with me, so I'm going to include their room in the exchange.

Okay here we go with the start of the list:
dfsc room 1 - dd (9), ds (5) room # currently unassigned
dfsc room 2 - dd (4) ds (11)

Thanks everyone I hope you join the exchange. dfsc

 

[momto2inKC]

I was wondering if anyone on our cruise was going to do this. I was actually reading the fish extender thread here on Dis just this afternoon I think it would definitely be fun and i'd love to join in!

Here's our info-
(10) and (12) No room # yet

 

[jibby]

I have been reading about these....it sounds fun. Put our family in for the FE also

one DS (8) --we have a gty room so no number yet....

I can't wait....

 

[lumpysluck]

Yes loved the snow- we got 6 " while there- almost did not make it home. We were 5200 ft up and could not get to our cabin the 2nd night- we had to leave our car at the bottom and ride up. My husband said- I am not a snow guy- more like 85 and sunny. So i told him about the deal i got and he was excited!

 

[momto2inKC]

My husband said- I am not a snow guy- more like 85 and sunny. So i told him about the deal i got and he was excited!

That worked out well

 

[momto2inKC]

Just a heads up for anyone looking to book thier airfare....Southwest is having a good sale right now! I just booked our flight down, 3 non stop tickets for $265! Airtran is also having a pretty good sale too. We'll probably fly back Airtran since I have a credit with them I need to use up.

 

[dfsc]

Welcome jibby and momto2inkc to the Fish Extender exchange.

Okay here we go with the start of the list:
dfsc room 1 - dd (9), ds (5) room # currently unassigned
dfsc room 2 - dd (4) ds (11)
jibby - ds (8)
momto2inkc - dd (10) ds (12)

Anyone else interested in joining?

Read post #70 for more information.

 

[lumpysluck]

So i just paid my balance Planning has begun- Where are you guys staying the night before? I am debating on somewhere at the port or a night at Pop in DW. I guess we should all get to know each other better. My husband and I enjoy fishing (he does) I like TV and we both enjoy a cold beer- DD(11) is a barn girl, has a horse and competes in shows- in fact we have a show the weekend before the cruise. DD(6) loves dogs, camp rock and High School Musical and only likes the Princess Aurora. We are not booking any excursions as we are going to enjoy the ship the day in Nassau. How are you guys coming- we will have to plan a meet

 

[momto2inKC]

Hey everyone
Well, I stayed up late just so I could book our excursions since at midnight it was our 75 day mark!!! We ended up booking the stingrays for Castaway Cay (we actually got the one that has the bike rental, snorkle equipment and floaties included). Then for our Nassau day we booked the Ardastra Gardens and city tour.
Did not book Palo. If it was a longer cruise we would've.
Everything is done and paid for!!

We've also made some changes to when we're getting in and what we're doing before the cruise. The kids and I are flying in Tuesday night and staying at Pop Century. Wed morning we'll check into Animal Kingdom Lodge, then head to Magic Kingdom for the day (it's ds birthday). Then Thursday we'll head to the Port. Sunday our flights don't leave until the evening so we're probably going to go to Gatorland then Downtown Disney.

 

[dfsc]

My husband and I are going up early with another couple and taking advantage of some kid free time. We are staying at the Animal Kingdom Lodge - our first deluxe resort stay! The kids are flying in Wednesday night with Grandma and the rest of our 14 person hippie: . We are spending that night at a hotel near Downtown Disney so the teenagers can have a "fun-late" night before we leave for the cruise. I hope to take the little ones in our group to play a round or two of minature golf. We've always talked about doing this but have never given up park time to give it a chance.

My husband just bought my two kids horses for their upcoming birthdays. I believe my daughter would sleep in the barn with them if we would let her. My son loves toys and Disney. I think he loves Disney so much because he gets to pick out a toy before we leave.

My husband was not the Disney fan until we started taking the children. After his first trip he was hooked. This pre-cruise trip will be our second time to go without our children.

I'm know as the Queen of Disney trip planning. I love planning our trips and helping anyone else who shows an interest.

This is our second time to cruise with DCL. We learned form our last 3 day cruise to not overbook. We weren't going to book any excursions, but we might join our family for a day at Atlantis.

75 days and counting!

 

[lumpysluck]

Wow another barn mom. What type horses- my daughters is a paint. Well it looks like a lot of people are using the spa on this trip- i tried to book a massage but they were filled except early in the morning- no thanks. In other news if DH goes to Costa Rica this month looks like he will not be going and it will be a girls vacaction.