It's A WONDERful 2015 - Feb Cruise, May WDW grand tour, and France/DLP! NEW 10/25 Nice & End!

[TheMaxRebo]

Aside from spending extra time looking for restaurants where Aria will be welcome in France, our France planning hasn't really been too changed/derailed having her along on the trip. We are doing everything we want to do - maybe when she is older and has opinions on things to see in France that would be different, but I think for the most part the things we want to see (Chateaus, Disneyland Paris, etc) are on par with what she will enjoy. I can honestly say that even if Aria wasn't there, I wouldn't plan more than 3 hours for the Louvre. I am just not into art museums, and neither is Andrew. Anyway the point is that I am excited to experience it with her, and don't feel like having her there will in any way diminish our vacation.

Aw Peter needs a good growth spurt!! What is the RSR height requirement?? I told Andrew of my plan to go to Disneyland when Aria hits Indiana Jones height (46" lol) and he rolled his eyes a bit but didn't say anything as it is probably 2 years away. With sandals Aria is 39.5" so for France, I'll have to plan out her shoes well to hit the 40"-ers (haha) but she should be good for Feb for sure.

That makes sense how your trip will be similar to France with or without Aria. I am just picturing having our three there and it would alter things - we are museum people so between that and all the wineries we would want to hit, just not ideal with 3 young children - at least for us. Some day when they are older we would love to get them to Europe

RSR is 40" so unless he grows like 3" in the next 2+ months, it isn't going to happen. Hopefully he isn't too disappointed ... just ply him with sugar and go meet Mater and that should help - I hope at least

 

[hokieinpa]

That's great that Aria is such a great car napper - that makes life much easier!

Your experience at the Jungle Zoo-ish place does sound quite odd. Just hearing about that orangutan area makes me sad. And overall, just not worth the price.

Dinner and dessert both sound delicious, of course! And it seems like Aria did great - wonderful practice for your trip to France!

Very excited to hear about departure day!

 

[Imagineer5]

That makes sense how your trip will be similar to France with or without Aria. I am just picturing having our three there and it would alter things - we are museum people so between that and all the wineries we would want to hit, just not ideal with 3 young children - at least for us. Some day when they are older we would love to get them to Europe

RSR is 40" so unless he grows like 3" in the next 2+ months, it isn't going to happen. Hopefully he isn't too disappointed ... just ply him with sugar and go meet Mater and that should help - I hope at least

Okay taking into account being pregnant, I can see what you mean - although my original plan had included some winery visits (they generally have grape juice for the kids, plus are just really neat to visit for anyone IMO) and some bike winery tours which would have been fun for us all too. I scraped the full day bike tour because 1) not sure how stable I'll be on a bike + preggo belly and 2) not sure how fit I will feel for the tour and 3) the last thing I need after a day of biking is to not be able to enjoy all the wine tastings! BUT, it was on the plan with aria

If you can't tell, I'm big on the travel-with-kids aspect. My mom traveled a bit when I was younger, always leaving me with a relative. I still remember her France trip when I was 4. A couple years ago I found a letter she wrote me while I was stateside and she was in France, promising to take me there too. She never did, of course. ALl the travel I have done has been from my booking it, saving the $$ for it (even a Florida science program before my senior year of High School, and a week at WDW staying at the Yacht Club when I was 18).

I guess because of that, I want aria to see the world and get to pick and choose her favorite places as she grows up.

That's great that Aria is such a great car napper - that makes life much easier!

Your experience at the Jungle Zoo-ish place does sound quite odd. Just hearing about that orangutan area makes me sad. And overall, just not worth the price.

Dinner and dessert both sound delicious, of course! And it seems like Aria did great - wonderful practice for your trip to France!

Very excited to hear about departure day!

I just hope baby is the same way, nap wise. LOL yes the jungle place was odd. The "discounted" price was still steep IMO.

It was a very nice evening to our time in Miami though, I'm glad we went to some place VERY Miami Beach just to feel the vibe of it.

 

[Imagineer5]

Woohoo the day we've been waiting for - embarkation day!!

Now as I mentioned before, this was our first-ever cruise. I had scoured TR's looking for details - what exactly happens in the terminal and what exactly to expect. I still didn't feel fully confident in my knowledge after reading so many TR's but I did have a general plan for what I wanted to accomplish that day. Because of this, I will go into excruciating detail for how the day panned out, hope you don't mind!

First of all, we had an 11:15 port arrival time, and the port terminal opened at 11. Our plan was to arrive around 10:30, check our luggage with a porter, park the car and get lined up. From there we hoped to get checked in and be in one of the first few groups on, getting on the ship around 12 or so, make a quick stop at Port Adventures and Guest Relations for Character meet tickets and to drop off the mat to have the characters sign, then have a quick lunch and pool time before Aria naps in her stroller.

Oh, btw, I brought our City Mini along for this trip. For those that have read previous trips, you know I LOVE our City Select, and HATE our Maclaren. I generally despise the City Mini BUT with the recline Aria still naps in it, so that was our selection for this trip in hopes it would fit through our narrow stateroom door. I'll save you the suspense - it DID fit through the door

Anyway, from our PLAN, Aria naps 1-3 while we get into the stateroom, unpack, etc. Then we wanted to check out the Kid's club open house, the sail away party, dinner, shops once they open, mickey mania, and the all aboard show.

Let's see how it really panned out!

We all slept okay overnight, but Aria woke up with a bit of a cold - this happens on every trip and I've gotten wise to bring a whole arsenal of kid's meds (though there isn't much you can give a 3 year old). She is strange and loves medicine, so I started with some cold medicine this morning. Through the many colds she had that winter (thanks, daycare), we were trying to get her to cough up phlegm vs swallow it, but if you have kids you'll know this doesn't go over so well. Remember this later

We finalized packing, lugged all the bags downstairs (had 1 large bag of stuff we were leaving in the car), called the valet and sat. And sat, and waited. It was literally 40 (YES FORTY) minutes before our car finally came. It was absolutely ridiculous. The lobby was jam packed with people and the line for cars was just out of this world. But we had our car and were soon on our way.

Our first view of the beautiful ship!! It was absolutely GORGEOUS!! Andrew was SO excited too, which made me happy to see how excited he was to be trying something new!





After a quick drive over, we arrived about 10:45 and noticed two very long lines before closed doors, so at least the terminal hadn't opened yet. We stopped at a porter and checked the bags, then I took Aria in the stroller and our carry on rolling bag with alcohol to get in line while Andrew went to park the car.

BTW, we opted to park at the terminal at a rate of 20/day. I found much better rates outside the terminal, but all required an additional shuttle to get to the ship and I chose convenience over $$.

I was texting back and forth with Andrew once he parked, but before it was 11, the terminal doors opened and our line was quickly moving forward. Hmmm. I had all our passports and information and wasn't sure what to do - Andrew didn't make it to me and so when I got to the first check point I asked the lady what my husband can do and she said he *shouldn't* be separated from us but she would let him in when he shows up, so I had to text him who to talk to to get inside (WHY I didn't just wait IDK).

This was while I was waiting outside:


In the shuffle, Aria started choking on some apple peel (or phlegm, sorry that is gross) and threw up on her stroller tray.

LOL what a morning! I took the elevator upstairs and waited by the photo op which was just before the security line and I didn't want to go through security and the scanners by myself.



Oh I also was looking for a bathroom because I needed to clean Aria's tray before folding up the stroller for security, but there wasn't one anywhere in this area. Thankfully a few minutes later Andrew was let inside and joined me - AND had two napkins in his pocket! Phew. We hopped in the security line and were quickly through (Aria's milk cup had no issues getting in, btw) and soon made it to the main terminal.

Here it was a sea of people already and we had a couple lines to get in - first was the main check in line which moved quickly and we had our table assignments (I hadn't requested anything other than the early seating) and were told to get into the kids club registration line if Aria was going to be going to the club. We got boarding group 6, which I was pretty happy with all things considered!

In all my planning I didn't read there was this other line, but we still had time and it didn't look like Mickey or Minnie was even out yet, so we got in that line and soon Aria had her cruise magic band and was all registered for the kids club.

Next up was another line - this time for Minnie though! The kids club line took about 15 minutes and during that time Mickey came and went. But we got to see Minnie coming down and Aria was very excited to see her!





We also had a neat view of the ship



And soon we were meeting Minnie







And we even got a nice family pic



After the meet we found some spots on the floor near the elevator and waited. And waited.

Let's just say it would have been nice to have a restaurant IN the terminal for when things malfunction and they don't open the gangway for 1.5 hours after you anticipate it...

 

[TheMaxRebo]

As someone who may do a cruise at some point I do appreciate the detail - like you said the terminal opened at 11 but you dropped the bags off at 10:30 - not knowing I would think you couldn't do anything until 11

I assume you did get the early dinner - I am surprised how late the late dinner is on a Disney cruise as you'd think there are so many families they would move things to be a bit early, but I guess it is what is has to be. And maybe some families just eat later than ours does but I can't imagine my family waiting until the late dinner to eat.

Oh no! that must have been the worst after she threw up and you kinda not being able to do anything - thank goodness Andrew had napkins. Guess another tip is to have wipes on hand given lack of bathroom

Wow, that sounds like a crazy wait - though guess it was do to something going wrong out of the ordinary, but still!

 

[schmass]

Poor Aria - I hope she started to feel better soon!

I'm glad that she was able to meet Minnie, especially since it sounds like you had quite the long wait in store...

 

[cindianne320]

Yikes! I'm sorry the port wait was so long! Hope Aria felt better quickly!

 

[Dugette]

I don't think I would know what Wolfgang Puck looks like! Too funny

I think I had seen him on TV shortly before that and he was a fairly recognizable guy.

Because of this, I will go into excruciating detail for how the day panned out, hope you don't mind!

If there's anyone that loves excruciating detail, it's me!

Oh, btw, I brought our City Mini along for this trip. For those that have read previous trips, you know I LOVE our City Select, and HATE our Maclaren. I generally despise the City Mini BUT with the recline Aria still naps in it, so that was our selection for this trip in hopes it would fit through our narrow stateroom door. I'll save you the suspense - it DID fit through the door

Glad it worked. I think we had our stroller under the bed for the entire cruise. We had good intentions of using it, but Izzy was pretty anti-stroller this trip. (and a bit anti-nap too, which is when we thought she'd use it)

She is strange and loves medicine, so I started with some cold medicine this morning.

Izzy is rather fond of medicine too, but hasn't needed much, thankfully. Hope Aria isn't too sick!

It was literally 40 (YES FORTY) minutes before our car finally came. It was absolutely ridiculous.

That's just ridiculous! You guys must have had a decent time buffer to still get there when you did, at least.

Our first view of the beautiful ship!! It was absolutely GORGEOUS!! Andrew was SO excited too, which made me happy to see how excited he was to be trying something new!

I suppose this makes perfect sense - a big boat for Andrew and Disney for you (and Aria) - something to make everyone happy!

BTW, we opted to park at the terminal at a rate of 20/day. I found much better rates outside the terminal, but all required an additional shuttle to get to the ship and I chose convenience over $$.

Smart move. Our rental car shuttle experience was beyond frustrating on our arrival day.

In the shuffle, Aria started choking on some apple peel (or phlegm, sorry that is gross) and threw up on her stroller tray.

Oh, poor kiddo!

Thankfully a few minutes later Andrew was let inside and joined me - AND had two napkins in his pocket!

Glad he had them! It always seems like I need them most the one time I don't have any sort of wipes on hand.

So cute!

Nice family picture. Our equivalent is a blurry picture of me and Mickey. Dug and Izzy waited in a long line for Minnie and it swapped to Mickey just beforehand. She was NOT happy. Refused to go see Mickey and was basically a heap of tears on the floor. I got there around then, so went up to make Mickey feel better and get some kind of picture.

Let's just say it would have been nice to have a restaurant IN the terminal for when things malfunction and they don't open the gangway for 1.5 hours after you anticipate it...

Well, that doesn't sound good. Sorry you had to deal with a delay.

 

[disneygirl2785]

Hi! I'm back again! You aren't going to believe this... We actually added on a day to our trip... to the beginning, not the end!!!!!!!!! I can't tell you how crushed I am that we're going to miss each other by so little! But we actually saved $250 (total) by flying to MCO on Tuesday instead of Wednesday and we had exactly 16 points left to add a Poly Studio night for us.

Jan 29th - 1 night in a Poly studio (our first poly stay)! We fly in at 9:30 AM and the plan is just to enjoy the Poly this day. Pool time, Trader Sam's mid-day, Ohana for dinner, more pool time, etc. Probably Wishes from the beach.

FYI: Trader Sam's doesn't open until 4pm and kids are allowed from 4-8pm and its adults only from 8pm-12am!

Afternoon at Downtown Disney and dinner at the Boathouse (Andrew and his dad will definitely get a kick out of this place, I might even use a ride on an amphibious vehicle as a Christmas present if it can fit us all in there)

We are planning a meal The Boathouse, too! Caleb, being the fisherman that he is, is looking forward to drooling over the boats, as well! I just heard on a YouTube video of an Amphicar (Spelling?) ride that all those boats are the private collection of the owner of The Boathouse, who also happens to be the owner of Rainforest Cafe and T-Rex!

I am assuming the new Adventureland restaurant will not be open yet for this trip?

I haven't heard a date on this yet either. However, I do have room on our last full day at MK to add an ADR here, if that should become available!

ALl the travel I have done has been from my booking it, saving the $$ for it (even a Florida science program before my senior year of High School, and a week at WDW staying at the Yacht Club when I was 18). I guess because of that, I want aria to see the world and get to pick and choose her favorite places as she grows up.

That's pretty impressive, girl! My parents definitely tried to give me the childhood they never had, and I certainly want to be able to do the same for Camryn!

I will go into excruciating detail for how the day panned out, hope you don't mind!

Excruciating detail is the best kind!

She is strange and loves medicine

Ummm...Camryn does too. Zyrtec, Tylenol, Advil...sucks it all right down!

 

[Imagineer5]

As someone who may do a cruise at some point I do appreciate the detail - like you said the terminal opened at 11 but you dropped the bags off at 10:30 - not knowing I would think you couldn't do anything until 11

I assume you did get the early dinner - I am surprised how late the late dinner is on a Disney cruise as you'd think there are so many families they would move things to be a bit early, but I guess it is what is has to be. And maybe some families just eat later than ours does but I can't imagine my family waiting until the late dinner to eat.

Oh no! that must have been the worst after she threw up and you kinda not being able to do anything - thank goodness Andrew had napkins. Guess another tip is to have wipes on hand given lack of bathroom

Wow, that sounds like a crazy wait - though guess it was do to something going wrong out of the ordinary, but still!

The early dinner is still later than we eat at home! I can't imagine the late dinner either, but I think it would be *ok* on the cruise with later bed times and all that. It wouldn't be a deal breaker if we got a last minute deal on a cruise and could only get a late dinner. But yes we did get the early dinner.

I think Andrew had napkins bc of Aria's runny nose or something, it isn't something he normally carries around but it was a lifesaver right then! I put wipes, paper towels, and hand sanitizer all on my to-pack list for France.

Poor Aria - I hope she started to feel better soon!

I'm glad that she was able to meet Minnie, especially since it sounds like you had quite the long wait in store...

She gets worse before she gets better

Yes the Minnie meet was great - I wanted to catch Mickey too but we never did that day

Yikes! I'm sorry the port wait was so long! Hope Aria felt better quickly!

Thank you! The port wait was very unexpected

I think I had seen him on TV shortly before that and he was a fairly recognizable guy.


If there's anyone that loves excruciating detail, it's me!


Glad it worked. I think we had our stroller under the bed for the entire cruise. We had good intentions of using it, but Izzy was pretty anti-stroller this trip. (and a bit anti-nap too, which is when we thought she'd use it)


Izzy is rather fond of medicine too, but hasn't needed much, thankfully. Hope Aria isn't too sick!


That's just ridiculous! You guys must have had a decent time buffer to still get there when you did, at least.


I suppose this makes perfect sense - a big boat for Andrew and Disney for you (and Aria) - something to make everyone happy!


Smart move. Our rental car shuttle experience was beyond frustrating on our arrival day.


Oh, poor kiddo!


Glad he had them! It always seems like I need them most the one time I don't have any sort of wipes on hand.


So cute!


Nice family picture. Our equivalent is a blurry picture of me and Mickey. Dug and Izzy waited in a long line for Minnie and it swapped to Mickey just beforehand. She was NOT happy. Refused to go see Mickey and was basically a heap of tears on the floor. I got there around then, so went up to make Mickey feel better and get some kind of picture.


Well, that doesn't sound good. Sorry you had to deal with a delay.

Oh no on the Mickey photo!! That is terrible! And your shuttle experience. I looked into two rental cars as well, but it was cheaper and WAY more convenient to just keep the rental car for the entire time instead of getting two weekend ones.

Yes I don't actually remember why we left so early, except that we were probably just bored and wanted to go, so thankfully we had some extra time to kill anyway but waiting for a valet was not how I envisioned wasting that time!!

We used the stroller every day but one I think - at Castaway Key, one day during a stroller nap, and then this day. All that storage space under the bed was amazing though right?!

Hi! I'm back again! You aren't going to believe this... We actually added on a day to our trip... to the beginning, not the end!!!!!!!!! I can't tell you how crushed I am that we're going to miss each other by so little! But we actually saved $250 (total) by flying to MCO on Tuesday instead of Wednesday and we had exactly 16 points left to add a Poly Studio night for us.



FYI: Trader Sam's doesn't open until 4pm and kids are allowed from 4-8pm and its adults only from 8pm-12am!



We are planning a meal The Boathouse, too! Caleb, being the fisherman that he is, is looking forward to drooling over the boats, as well! I just heard on a YouTube video of an Amphicar (Spelling?) ride that all those boats are the private collection of the owner of The Boathouse, who also happens to be the owner of Rainforest Cafe and T-Rex!



I haven't heard a date on this yet either. However, I do have room on our last full day at MK to add an ADR here, if that should become available!



That's pretty impressive, girl! My parents definitely tried to give me the childhood they never had, and I certainly want to be able to do the same for Camryn!



Excruciating detail is the best kind!



Ummm...Camryn does too. Zyrtec, Tylenol, Advil...sucks it all right down!

Awww well you get an extra Disney day so that is nothing to be sad about - but that is too bad it couldn't be at the end of your trip!! Thanks for the tips on Trader Sam's, I plan to go around 4 before dinner time. We aren't late nighters anyway

Interesting about the Boathouse and the amphicars! I am looking forward to that one and am glad to have found one evening to spend at DTD and check out all the new things open. I still can't believe they closed DisneyQuest.

We'd have room for an Adventureland restaurant, so I'm really hoping they do open that up. MK needs more restaurants, I have no interest in returning to Tony's or the Plaza, and LTT doesn't work for me for dinner, so options are fairly limited.

My mom was a single parent until she married my step-father when I was 14, so not a lot of extra $$ to spend, but I always wanted to do so much traveling and just wasn't able to until I made that happen myself. We are thinking of a week in Lake Como for our 10 year anniversary though, just the two of us. I just feel bad for baby because I worry that Aria has had a LOT of traveling and we won't be doing as much with baby for a while since we are also saving up to move.

 

[Imagineer5]

So after that little cliffhanger, let me elaborate on what was going on. We took our seats on the floor (it was absolutely packed with people at this point) around 11:40 assuming boarding would be pretty soon. Aria had a couple snacks. 12 came and went. We were getting restless and I was fiddling on my phone and went to the Facebook cruise group for our cruise. Around 12:20 someone posted that they overheard a CM talking about the gangway malfunctioning. Given the time I decided to put Aria down for her nap then and rework our plans. Thankfully she'd have enough snacks she wasn't starving (I was!) and went to sleep pretty quickly.

I sat and wrote out my new plans not knowing when we'd actually get on the ship - but we still had to stop at Port Adventures and get the character meet tickets (they had three - Anna & Elsa, Princesses, and Disney Junior characters), drop off the photo mat to be signed, grab some lunch and get to the room and unpack. Wake up Aria around 2:15 so we can go to the pool then go to the kids club open house 3-3:30 before the muster drill. Go to the sail away party at 4:30, dinner at 5:45, then our original plans would follow suit. At least now it didn't matter too much what time we boarded since Aria was already asleep.

Around 1:25 they finally started calling numbers and the gangway was fixed - woohoo! They called 5 and we headed to the elevator to board and there was a CM there who allowed us to board then. Once we showed our boarding card we took the ramp onto the ship!

Andrew wanted a photo of the lifeboats.





And soon we were announced to the ship and were able to see the beautiful lobby area. It was so much smaller than I envisioned! Beautiful though and overall we really loved the size of the ship.





We entered on Deck 4 and had to go to 3 for the Port Adventures desk so I ran down the stairs while Andrew took the elevator. There was a short wait and soon I had tickets for Anna & elsa and the princesses for the next day, but we found out that the Disney Junior characters tickets were only available during our brunch at Palo, so we couldn't get those. Oh well, I would pay attention to the Navigators and look for them to meet another day. By then Andrew had gone to guest services and they'd directed him to Port Adventures as well with the photo mat so he ran that up to me and I took care of that as well.

From there we headed to Parrot Cay for lunch. I had read to avoid BBB on the pool deck because it'd be jam packed. After the obligatory hand wipes outside, we were seated quickly and they found us a nice table with a good spot to park the stroller holding a sleeping Aria inside.



We ordered some drinks (I think just waters at the moment so we could just leave without dealing with a bill, and I was SOOOO thirsty) and then took turns going up for food.

My plate -



Loaded with carbs, just how I like it. They had potatoes, pasta, focaccia bread, a chicken salad mini roll and chicken fingers. There wasn't anything that was stand out amazing but it was fine and nice to eat quickly.

A stroller shot:


Andrew's plate, I know they had quite a bit of seafood and meat for him to choose from along with a nice salad bar. I am a semi-vegetarian who doesn't like salads though.



The waiter said that we could make up a plate for our daughter and he could bring a lid and silverware for us to take - wow! - so we did that for Aria to have lunch when she woke up. We were able to fit that securely under the basket of the stroller and we headed out to find our room.

I believe Parrot Cay was in the aft of the ship, and our room was on deck 8 forward, so we started the process of understanding the layout of the ship as we meandered our way to the forward elevators (they have Aft, Mid, and Forward elevator shafts). Soon we made it to our room! I had booked a Family Verandah stateroom for some extra space and the verandah and the location on Deck 8 just 1 deck below the pools.



For Aria's birthday I had ordered the birthday decorations package along with a Cruise pillow and markers. I think the total was $75 for both packages and I think they were totally worth it. Plus we brought the banner home with us and can reuse it.

I got some photos since our luggage was not there yet.







Separate toilet area. Honestly I'd prefer 1 big bathroom vs 1 with a shower/sink and 1 with a toilet/sink but that's just me.



The living area. We were impressed with the size of the room, and I love how they have curtain dividers. SO nice! The couch back flips over to make a twin bed - so easy and that is where Aria slept. There is also a twin that pulls down as a bunk overhead, and I believe there is another that is like a murphy bed behind the chair.




Light detail



LOL I got all these pics while Andrew stood in the hallway with Aria. He needed my help to fit the stroller through the doorway but I wanted photos before the room got cluttered.



Soon Andrew was allowed inside and we managed to get the stroller into the room and wedged it next to the door. Then we checked out the balcony. We both agreed no cruise would be complete without a balcony!



Pretty soon we heard shuffling outside and peeked out and saw our bags were there! So we pulled them in and quickly unpacked - there was so much space for everything to be nicely put in all the drawers and hanging space and to store the empty suitcases under the bed with space to spare. I loved that about the room!

Coming up - Aria wakes up and we get to see the ship! Pool time is first!

 

[TheMaxRebo]

wow, that seems like a long time to have to wait and did they every inform the group why the wait or only if you were part of that Facebook group and read the rumor?

Sounds like a good call for lunch - seems much more relaxing so makes total sense in general but especially with Aria sleeping. That is really nice that they gave you a cover to take food for Aria

Too bad she was asleep and didn't get to walk in and see the birthday decorations, but I am sure it will be fun when she wakes up to them. The banner on the best is pretty nice!

Soon Andrew was allowed inside

- how very gracious of you

Agree about the balcony - just having that option to sip a glass of wine on during the night when out at sea sounds wonderful

BTW - I had seen they are doing away with the ability to drop off items to be signed by the characters on cruises. Apparently it got too well known and they couldn't handle the demand. I believe it is effect for sailing post August 10th or so. Was bummed to hear that as it seemed like it would make things much easier to not have to carry something around to all the meets

 

[Imagineer5]

I feel like life is just blowing by right now. With the gorgeous weather summer has been slipping by, and with France coming up in just over 5 weeks I haven't even focused on being pregnant. With that said, I hope you'll allow me to switch gears for a moment and talk about our France plans!

A quick overview - we have an overnight flight from Boston - Paris, then 4 nights in Paris, 4 at Disneyland Paris, 3 in the Loire Valley, 2 in Beaune (Burgundy), 2 in Provence (outside Avignon) and 3 in Nice, then we fly home from Nice.

Day 0 -

This day I will most likely telework and hope Andrew can at least leave work a little early. With Boston traffic we'll need to leave home around 3:30-4 because we have a 7:30PM flight. We will probably get dinner at the airport before boarding. On our last overnight flight I remember they kept the lights on until past midnight and didn't serve dinner until around then, and I was fuming having an 18 month old who needed to sleep. So this time we'll eat dinner beforehand and cover her up with a blanket. Maybe I'll put a blanket over my head too haha. Besides an ipad, I don't plan on needing many toys or entertainment for her, she should sleep all night in her car seat.

Day 1 - We arrive in Paris at 8:30AM. I am sure we will be tired (I need to look into whether I'm allowed to take those No Jet Lag pills?) but the plan is to stop at an ATM for some Euros, go to the Tourist desk for 4-Day Museum Passes, and then head to pick up our rental car. We have a compact 4-door car (looks like a hitchback) and the next size up is about $250 more so I am hoping we can make this work. A 2nd car seat and we'd definitely need a bigger car, but at least for now I can put a suitcase or two on the seat next to Aria.

From here, we are heading to Monet's Gardens in Giverny.

Here we can tour his gardens along with his house

I am really excited for this. Again I know we'll be tired but I think some fresh air will help us adjust. Here we'll grab some lunch and when we are ready to leave we'll make our way to Paris. Without traffic it should take about an hour, so Aria should get a good nap in now since I'm sure it'll take about 2 hours with all I've read on driving in Paris!

Around 3-4PM we'll pull up to our Paris rental apartment. I am very excited for Aria to go out on the balcony and see the Eiffel tower. She points it out whenever we see it in pictures or movies so I think she'll be thrilled to have it right outside.











After getting settled, we are actually heading back out. Andrew's aunt and uncle from Holland - here is a photo of them from our Europe trip in 2013 -

Are celebrating their anniversary this weekend and will be in paris at the same time we are! So our plan is to meet up with them this evening for a stroll and dinner in a café somewhere. If something goes awry, I also have a walking tour of Paris from Rick Steves to follow that will take us into the historical district.

And the night isn't over yet, after saying goodnight to Marina & Erik, tonight we have our Eiffel Tower tickets! Much like booking Disney ADR's, except much harder!, this was the only time I could get Eiffel tower tickets - 9:30PM! It will make for a very long 1st day but I think it will help us fully adjust to the new time zone and we'll be all set to go for the trip.

Day 2 -

After hopefully a good night's sleep, we'll be up around 8AM and head out for the day. Our first stop is the Louvre - I read that if you have a stroller you can access the museum via the handicap security line which is much shorter. We will activate our Museum Passes here. We plan to spend about 2.5-3 hours here, but with the Museum Pass you can revisit any museum so we can always go back if that just isn't enough time and Aria has had enough. I do plan to bring an ipad and headphones for her though. We read a book on the Mona Lisa so I think she'll enjoy maybe an hour of museum-viewing before wondering why we are still there.

Once finished up at the Louvre, we'll meet up with Marina and Erik for lunch and then go to the Shakespeare and Company bookstore which is famous for their collections, and hopefully will have a nice children's selection. Then a visit to the Notre Dame (Museum Pass!) and Crypt then we'll put Aria down for her nap. While napping we will take turns going into the Conciergerie (museum pass) which is where Marie Antoinette was imprisoned.

From there we'll walk around, ending up in the Luxembourg Gardens where there are mini boats you can race, a carousel, play areas, etc and we'll spend a good amount of time there after Aria wakes up to enjoy the park.

Nearby, there are the Rue Vavin shops - children's clothing! EEK! Hoping to pick up a few sister sets and maybe a new toy for Aria for being so good at the Louvre (ha ha).

Around 5 we'll bid adieu to M&E and head to the apartment for a few, then we are going to a really nice restaurant that our apartment owner knows the Chef/restaurant owner and she is going to make us a special table. It's rated very highly on Trip Advisor and while in Paris I really wanted to enjoy some good meals, but they are sure hard to find that accommodate children. Dinners are also much later (7:30) than we are used to, but hopefully that late night Eiffel Tower visit will have helped skew our clocks a bit.

After dinner I hope to see the Eiffel tower's twinkling lights while sipping some fun non-alcoholic drink on the balcony after Aria goes to sleep

Day 3 -

Today we are staying a bit closer to the apartment and also have a later start. The first museum doesn't open until 10, so I may go out in search of a Patisserie for some pastries and drinks. A chocolate croissant will be in order.

After the leisurely morning, we'll head to the Army Museum where Napoleon was entombed. I see us sticking around for about an hour before heading to the nearby Musee Rodin which has some nice gardens (and nice area for aria to run around), then we'll head to the Musee de Plans-Reliefs which has these maps and models of various areas used in a few wars. Thought that'd be neat esp for Andrew. We'll find some lunch and maybe go back to the apartment to relax.

Around 4 we can head back out and visit another museum such as the Orsay for a short visit. Tonight we might try to do a Seine River Cruise - I looked into a dinner cruise but they are going to cost around 250 euros and we'll be out until 11PM and that just doesn't sound like a good idea! Or I can also see us holing up in the apartment for the rest of the day!

Day 4 -

Another later start morning, then we'll head to the Jardin d'Acclimation where they have a small zoo, some rides, train etc. Aria will have fun. This is near the Arc de Triumph so we'll visit that and climb to the top. From there we'll listen to the Rick Steves Champs Elysses walking tour - along the way there is a well known bakery so we'll stop for some Macarons. Then walk to the Tulieres Gardens and make a brief stop at l'Orangerie to see Monet's Water Lilies. There is a well known Hot Chocolate shop nearby so we may stop there for lunch.

In the afternoon I wrote down two other museums to possibly visit - a Marine one (for Andrew) and one that takes you down into the sewers.

Tonight we'll have dinner with Marina & Erik at Le Souffle which, as the name suggests, has soufflés for every course. I've made a cheese soufflé, and a spinach one, and of course chocolate, so I definitely have a love of soufflés and am excited for this meal.

This is our final evening in paris - tomorrow we head out for Versailles then Disneyland Paris! That next section will come up shortly.

Thoughts are appreciated! Writing this out always helps me realize how packed our days are planned, and I know we may miss a number of these visits, but all we *really* want to do is walk around Paris, eat, and people watch - the rest just gives us a destination to walk to!

 

[mousehappync]

I would try and add a visit to Saint Chapelle in there somewhere. It's a once-in-a-lifetime experience-- my most memorable moment in Paris came entering the chapel. The Holocaust memorial was also unbelievably moving (and does not take long.) Just FYI, the river cruise we took (a dinner cruise with GALLONS of wine served) spun the boat around at the end of the meal. It was horrible! Don't know if that's standard but I would never repeat that!

 

[Imagineer5]

wow, that seems like a long time to have to wait and did they every inform the group why the wait or only if you were part of that Facebook group and read the rumor?

Sounds like a good call for lunch - seems much more relaxing so makes total sense in general but especially with Aria sleeping. That is really nice that they gave you a cover to take food for Aria

Too bad she was asleep and didn't get to walk in and see the birthday decorations, but I am sure it will be fun when she wakes up to them. The banner on the best is pretty nice!

- how very gracious of you

Agree about the balcony - just having that option to sip a glass of wine on during the night when out at sea sounds wonderful

BTW - I had seen they are doing away with the ability to drop off items to be signed by the characters on cruises. Apparently it got too well known and they couldn't handle the demand. I believe it is effect for sailing post August 10th or so. Was bummed to hear that as it seemed like it would make things much easier to not have to carry something around to all the meets

We were typing at the same time

You are correct, there was never an announcement (maybe around 1 they announced something). I was thankful to the facebook group for the info, and once I knew that I talked to a CM nearby a couple times for updates and it was sound info.

Lunch was a great stop esp since we weren't rushing to the pool right away. I know, I was sad that she was asleep but at least our room was still perfectly put together for when she woke up. How funny to fall asleep in a terminal and wake up in a room on a cruise ship.

I am really sad to hear that!! @Dugette got that baby onesie made that way. We actually still used that pillow w/ markers for autographs and I need to come up with something for French autographs bc Aria really enjoys that aspect of character meets, but I wouldn't want to carry around a photo mat!

I would try and add a visit to Saint Chapelle in there somewhere. It's a once-in-a-lifetime experience-- my most memorable moment in Paris came entering the chapel. The Holocaust memorial was also unbelievably moving (and does not take long.) Just FYI, the river cruise we took (a dinner cruise with GALLONS of wine served) spun the boat around at the end of the meal. It was horrible! Don't know if that's standard but I would never repeat that!

Thank you for the info. Sainte Chapelle is included in the Museum Pass as well so I added that to our list for the day. The holocaust memorial is also nearby and it looks like we could stroll through there with Aria asleep in the stroller, so we will try to do that (not sure how much more we can fit in before 1-2PM haha! Thank you for the tips!

Oh boy the dinner cruise sounds interesting!! I wouldn't be able to enjoy the gallons of wine but typically I would not be sad about that prospect If we do a seine cruise it'd just be a sightseeing one, hopefully no crazy turns involved.

 

[wiscbugs]

Holy cow...that apartment in Paris has a great view!!!

 

[TheMaxRebo]

Don't really have any advice as never been to Paris but the plans sound good. Not sure how you/Andrea/Aria do with jetlag and time changes but sounds like for most things there is enough flexibility to adjust as needed - other than the dinner and the Eiffel Tower visit (too bad they only had that one slot available)

I like that you are going to a lot of gardens that inspired artists - definitely makes sense. Are you able to see any of the scenes Toulouse-Lautrec painted?

Do people in Paris just not take kids out to restaurants or just to only more casual places? Seems like a place that families would go out to eat a lot

 

[khertz]

I love love love the room decorations! Too bad Aria slept through the big reveal, but I'm sure she was still excited when she did finally see it! I'm glad getting on the ship wasn't too stressful after the longer than expected wait. Hopefully the rest of the afternoon fell into place too!

The Paris plans sound really amazing. It's going to be such a fun trip going to so many different cities! The view from that apartment is insane. I'm not really any help as far as what else to do or not do, but it looks like you have a lot of great stuff planned so far.

 

[cindianne320]

It's so fun to see the Wonder, since we will be sailing next June! I love the Birthday decorations- what a fun room to wake up to!

Paris sounds wonderful! My best friend just got back from there, and their apt. had a similar fantastic view!

 

[Dugette]

I looked into two rental cars as well, but it was cheaper and WAY more convenient to just keep the rental car for the entire time instead of getting two weekend ones.

Interesting. I had looked at keeping ours longer, but I had such a good deal on the two days ($30/day) that nothing could compare.

All that storage space under the bed was amazing though right?!

It was! Definitely helped keep the room uncluttered and easy to walk through.

We are thinking of a week in Lake Como for our 10 year anniversary though, just the two of us.

That sounds fabulous!

Given the time I decided to put Aria down for her nap then and rework our plans.

Good call!

I sat and wrote out my new plans not knowing when we'd actually get on the ship - but we still had to stop at Port Adventures and get the character meet tickets (they had three - Anna & Elsa, Princesses, and Disney Junior characters), drop off the photo mat to be signed, grab some lunch and get to the room and unpack. Wake up Aria around 2:15 so we can go to the pool then go to the kids club open house 3-3:30 before the muster drill. Go to the sail away party at 4:30, dinner at 5:45, then our original plans would follow suit.

Wow, that sounds like a lot! But I know our plans were similar - so many things to check off the list right away!

We entered on Deck 4 and had to go to 3 for the Port Adventures desk so I ran down the stairs while Andrew took the elevator. There was a short wait and soon I had tickets for Anna & elsa and the princesses for the next day, but we found out that the Disney Junior characters tickets were only available during our brunch at Palo, so we couldn't get those. Oh well, I would pay attention to the Navigators and look for them to meet another day. By then Andrew had gone to guest services and they'd directed him to Port Adventures as well with the photo mat so he ran that up to me and I took care of that as well.

Sounds like you got all of this taken care of quickly, so that's great!

A stroller shot:

Binder blankie clips!

The waiter said that we could make up a plate for our daughter and he could bring a lid and silverware for us to take - wow! - so we did that for Aria to have lunch when she woke up. We were able to fit that securely under the basket of the stroller and we headed out to find our room.

How nice! We asked for our desserts to go one night and they did the same - very cool.

and the location on Deck 8 just 1 deck below the pools.

Funny - we were on the Dream's Deck 8, but that's a few levels below the pools. I wasn't thinking about the size difference in the ships, so thinking your location was the same.

Separate toilet area. Honestly I'd prefer 1 big bathroom vs 1 with a shower/sink and 1 with a toilet/sink but that's just me.

Yeah, it has its pros and cons. It came most in handy if one of us was using the bathroom or showering and the other needed to wash hands or clean something (thermoses, etc). I like double sinks. But the rooms were pretty small.

LOL I got all these pics while Andrew stood in the hallway with Aria. He needed my help to fit the stroller through the doorway but I wanted photos before the room got cluttered.

Well, you've gotta have priorities!

We both agreed no cruise would be complete without a balcony!

Agreed! It would be hard to take a cruise without one.

Pretty soon we heard shuffling outside and peeked out and saw our bags were there! So we pulled them in and quickly unpacked - there was so much space for everything to be nicely put in all the drawers and hanging space and to store the empty suitcases under the bed with space to spare. I loved that about the room!

Wow, they showed up quick! And I agree about the excellent storage space. Much better than most cruise lines, I think.

With that said, I hope you'll allow me to switch gears for a moment and talk about our France plans!

Of course!

Are celebrating their anniversary this weekend and will be in paris at the same time we are!

How great is that?! Hope you have fun visiting with them!

Thoughts are appreciated! Writing this out always helps me realize how packed our days are planned, and I know we may miss a number of these visits, but all we *really* want to do is walk around Paris, eat, and people watch - the rest just gives us a destination to walk to!

I think your plans sound great, but I don't know a lot about Paris. I think it's good that you aren't dead set on doing absolutely everything on your list, as it does seem like you have pretty aggressive plans. I'm sure you will get plenty of walking, eating, and people-watching in, though!

I am really sad to hear that!! @Dugette got that baby onesie made that way. We actually still used that pillow w/ markers for autographs and I need to come up with something for French autographs bc Aria really enjoys that aspect of character meets, but I wouldn't want to carry around a photo mat!

That's a bummer - I didn't know they were discontinuing the perk. It was a really cool treat that set DCL apart from other lines and, though small, helped justify paying a premium.