The Little Disney trip that kept growing Magic Western 01/24/2009 COMPLETED 04/19

[Sophie_2003]

Soooooo...I wasn't sure about posting my PTR, however I am spending so much time (and $$$) planning this cruise I may as well write about it. Plus I love reading these things so I thought I would contribute!!! Here goes!

An intro: we are a small family of 3: DH works for the airlines, I like to say I married well, because we get good vacation deals. DD is 4 ½. She is quite the spirited one with a great passion for life in general and anything Disney in particular. I am Sophie, and I recently left my job to be a stay-at-home mom to my DD for the last year before she goes to school.

Our very first family Disney trip was a trip to WDW in October 2007. We have since gone back several times for a few days at a time, including a hop to DLR in Anaheim, which we surprisingly enjoyed.

A bit more background: this began as a family trip to WDW, with my sister and her family (DSis, DBIL and 2 girls, age 8 and 11). They were staying a week, we were going to join them for 5 days. However, I started getting the Disney cruise bug a while back. But I couldn’t bring myself to pay THAT MUCH for a cruise…we usually cruise Carnival (I know, I know ) , which for us is about half the price of a Disney cruise. We're cheap.

So we came back from our Carnival Mex Riviera cruise on November 16, and I immediately checked to see if the Disney cruise prices had dropped…and they HAD! After much discussing, cajoling and convincing, DH agreed to book the cruise on the Magic, 1/24/2009, which means 4 days at WDW at the Wilderness Lodge, and a great 7-day cruise to top it off!!! Here is a pic of us with our servers on the Carnival "gasp" cruise. yes, we managed to have fun!!!

next: the beginning of the planning stage...what the heck is an FE?

 

[Sophie_2003]

So I get DH to call and book our cruise. As I said we are cheap . Our last Carnival cruise for 7 days ended up being less than $1,100 for 3 of us with a balcony. I can’t resist adding a pic of my beautiful redhead on our balcony.

This Disney cruise started as a Cat 12. Then DH is on the phone with the nice lady at DCL who mentions Cat. 10 are at the same price. Woo hoo. Deluxe interior. We decide to book a guaranty, hoping the upgrade fairy will maybe perhaps grant us a small small porthole…pretty please?

Next dilemma: dining. We always eat early with DD. Seriously early. The kid would have dinner at 3pm if she could (she only watches TV after dinner, maybe that’s why…notice she is watching TV on the balcony pic above? ) Now this late dining is worrisome. Until I ask the nice folks here and they suggest 1) there are ways to get early dining even of you don’t get early dining 2) late dining is not so bad cause the show is before. Now DD is pretty adaptable, so we figure maybe we will be ok. In either case, getting to the port early becomes a must.

Did I mention we’re a bit cheap? We already figured the DCL transfers are not the cheapest option to go from the Wilderness Lodge to the port. So DH booked a car at Hertz. $40 all taxes in, drop at the port. We can therefore get to the port by10am, get in early and make our way to Rockin Bar D to see the maitre d’. I totally would agree to bribe the man as someone suggested. DH is deadset against it. No surprise here. Maybe I can sneak to Rockin Bar D without him... And his one request on embarkation day: stopping somewhere at a Walmart supercenter so he can shop around. He loves Walmart. We do have Walmarts in Canada, just not SUPERCENTERS!!! I’ll wait in the car…

Next I found my cruisemeet thread. It’s a nice bunch of people, not crazy busy, but with a fair amount of people looking to join the “FE exchange”. The what? Fish extender…oooookkkkkk. A quick search on the disboards, I get all caught up, and I start obsessing about it. I start talking about it to ALL my friends. They’re nice people. They all pretend it’s REALLY interesting . Sure. Or the honest ones look at me like I have gone over the deep end. Case in point, a good friend and I went to Toys r Us to get some xmas shopping done, and right at the entrance were very appropriate FE gizmos (which will remain a secret, in case my thread mates come on over) and I feverishly started going thru the bin looking for a lot of these. Like it’s food and I have been at the Biggest Loser ranch for a few weeks (btw, I would love to go to the Biggest Loser ranch. But I am Canadian, there is no such thing here). But I disgress.

That’s it for now. Back to snowy, cold reality. See what we are doing for fun these days???

And our yearly Santa Claus visit. I thought about asking him for early dining and Palo brunch availability...

Next up: excursions, spa treatments…RASUL, what is that! And my passporter arrives

 

[jagmom]

Great start!

 

[Sophie_2003]

Great start!

ooohhhh, my first reader!!! Thank you for the reply!!!

 

[cyndik1111]

ooohhhh, my first reader!!! Thank you for the reply!!!

Here's some more attention..... Thanks for the report, tell your DH we all want to hear what you have to say.

 

[Sophie_2003]

Here's some more attention..... Thanks for the report, tell your DH we all want to hear what you have to say.

Hey Cyndi!!!

Tks. I also caught up on the thread that confirmed Jay was moving on to the Magic. We're trying to see if we could possibly leave DD at OC while we run our 5K.

I should have more updates tomorrow; pesky everyday life is takng up my time today:

 

[cyndik1111]

/Users/greg/Pictures/iPhoto Library/Originals/2008/ymca:buffalo turkey trot 2008/PB270007.JPG
Sophie,
Here's a picture of Jill. She just turned five and is looking forward to meeting your DD. She has already seen your pictures. We too are cheap or a frugal as you like to call it. We are bringing our own wine. We are going to the terminal early also (10am) to see if we can get spa and Palo. We'll look for you. If Jill and Elsa hit it off, we can leave them (together) in the OL while we all run the 5 K.

BTW that is a picture of Jill waiting for me at the finish line for this year's 8K Turkey Trot. Poor thing had to wait a looong time. Mommy is a very sloooow runner. And it was cold- after all it is Buffalo , but thankfully no snow that day.

 

[cyndik1111]

OK, I give up. I don't know why the picture didn't post. I'll try it a different way.

 

[cyndik1111]

http://s496.photobucket.com/albums/rr329/cyndik1111/?action=view&current=PB270007.jpg

 

[cyndik1111]

 

[Sophie_2003]

She's adorable! Very patient too! And there is no shame in being slow (the first marathon I did...let's say Dh finished, went to the hotel, showered, changed and came back to the finish line in PLENTY of time to see me finish!) everytime I bumble on the treadmill I tell myself 99% of people in North America cannot run a mile.

Elsa ran her first 1k fun run this September:

I also struggled to post pics when I started this. Now I am post-happy!

I hope they hit it off. Elsa is a shy one, though, and will probably be hiding behind my legs when we introduce them!

 

[anewmac]

i love pre trip reports with tons of pics.. Im hooked cant wait to read more!

Oh and we must have the same friends as they can not see WHY I need a f/e what its for or for that matter why I want to go on another DISNEY cruise... LOL

 

[javaj]

Great Pre-Trip so far! We also have only cruised on Carnival before (just once though!). I thought we got a great deal when we got our Carnival 8 day cruise with a balcony for about $2000 with the military rate, back when we only had 1 child. I need lessons in how to get a 7 day for about $1100! I'm guessing you had an interline rate?

 

[Sophie_2003]

Great Pre-Trip so far! We also have only cruised on Carnival before (just once though!). I thought we got a great deal when we got our Carnival 8 day cruise with a balcony for about $2000 with the military rate, back when we only had 1 child. I need lessons in how to get a 7 day for about $1100! I'm guessing you had an interline rate?

yes interline, + an extra 15% off because we had "issues" on a prior Carnival cruise. There was an awful noise in our cabin and prevented us from sleeping 3 nights in a row. And that was before there was a fuel surcharge! I don't think we could get that again. Anyway after Disney I think it may spoil us for future "cheaper" cruises!

 

[javaj]

Anyway after Disney I think it may spoil us for future "cheaper" cruises!

I'm afraid of that too! I'll let you know in about a month

 

[Sophie_2003]

I'm afraid of that too! I'll let you know in about a month

Please let us know! And those boys are too cute!!!

 

[Sophie_2003]

I may have forgotten to mention we are planning a MAJOR kitchen renovation starting mid-February. Major as in rip out the counter and cupboards, rip out the floor, throw out the appliances and buy new ones…rip out the light fixtures, etc etc.

The best part: we were partially paying for this with my employee stock from the publicly traded company I worked for, which shall remain nameless, because you could look up the stock symbol and be worried I will steal your money when you are not looking because the darn stock TANKED in the past 2 months. I know, like every other stock.

So as you can imagine our plans were somewhat downsized, Sears no-interest plans started looking VERY interesting and maybe our lighting would be ok as is. Maybe we could live without the winerack, spice drawer and stainless steel finishes…

Back to how this actually belongs in a trip report. We are doing a lot of shopping for contractors, appliances, flooring, etc. Very expensive items. And what do I bring up as a topic at the dinner table: “Honey, I found this lady on ebay who can make us a really kicking Fish Extender”…or “Hey, we may get our fuel surcharge back…I think I want to parasail on Castaway Cay”…or “Can you swing by the dollar store and get me more magnet paper so I can continue working on door decorations’. That is why I am writing a trip report…you all understand right??? Right???

All right, excursions. We are pretty seasoned cruisers, even if we are Disney Cruise virgins. Besides Castaway Cay, we’ve been to every island on this itinerary. DH and I used to love excursions like hiking, mountain biking, rafting, diving and ziplining. And now we have a 4 year old. You know how you don’t want them to grow up? Well for our cruising needs I am kinda looking forward to her being 8. So many places are “8 years old and up”.

Key West: right now the plan is between stay on board and swim, send DD to OClub and chill out…or just go out and take a walk. There is a National Park (Ft Zach Taylor) and some kind of marine exhibit that DD might enjoy. I have read so much about Key West being a bit trashy…so we’ll see, nothing set for now.

Cayman: we’ve been to 7-mile beach a few times and loved it. I keep reading about Rum Point and that sounds interesting but it’s also a lot of travel time. Kiddo likes animals, so maybe Turtle Farm, but again I hear it’s not so exciting. Hell? BTDT. Sent a postcard. Noone was that impressed, really. I think a cabride to 7-mile beach at a resort (that I can’t think of at the moment) will do it for Cayman. Besides, I want to save some $$$ so I can go to the spa. Here is a pic of DD at her first visit to 7-mile beach (just for the sake of putting up pictures…because I can!)

Cozumel: We have been there at least 6 times. The place gets bigger and bigger and more crowded with each visit. The best time we had there involved extremely large glasses of margaritas at Carlos n Charlies . Not an option this time! Thankfully we have no pics of that, and to think of it my memory of the whole afternoon is a bit spotty. We may try Paradise beach where there is supposed to be water toys and a good beach with decent food (found that on some other boards). We also heard good things about Nachi Cocom…, but that involves a charge per person, and I cannot handle more than 1 drink in the sun, so I never end up ahead at these places where it’s all you can drink.

Next up: Castaway Cay plans and the SPA!!! And my passporter book

 

[Sophie_2003]

All right, we are done with excursions for our first three stops..sorta. Next is Castaway Cay. I cannot wait to go there . I found a couple of threads and read up on it. At first I really just wanted to beach it. But DD won’t snorkel, and she times out on the beach after a couple of hours. Then the fuel surcharge thing happened (if oil is below $70 a barrel on Dec.18, we will get our $130 back as OBC). Of course this was just an excuse. We were gonna spend the $$$ anyway, but that’s like free money! Right? So I went ahead and booked myself for parasailing. I would really like to do this with DH or DD, but she is too young and I think the 2 of us (DH and I) together would exceed the weight limit (it’s 350lbs I believe…would be close anyway).

I signed up for 3:30 because I figure by that time DD will want to be back on the boat and DH can chill and drop her off at the club (that’s another thing…on our last cruise we barely saw the kid she spent so much time at Camp Carnival…). Here she is with Funship Freddy (is that a dirty word here???)

We were on a pristine quiet beach in Mexico (see pic below...that's Stone Island in Mazatlan.) and DD was just begging to go back on board to go to Camp Carnival. And she is Disney-obsessed, so if the activities are Disney-related we may not see her all week! Look at that beach, she only wanted to go back to the ship!

Also found on these wonderful boards that there is this guy “Jay” who organizes a Castaway Cay 5k run. At first reports were that he was on the Wonder…and we just found out (tks Cyndi!) he was switching to the Magic . So our next mission after Rockin Bar D for dining change will be to find out if Jay has a 5k planned. DH (who has run 20+ marathons) and I (who has run 3 marathons, will never run another one, but I do like the occasional run; I ran the Minnie Epcot 5k last year) may try to get in on this. We’ll see. That’s the first thing DH got really intrigued about! Some people drink, some people are computer-addicts, my DH is run-addicted. Not a bad problem, I guess…

One quick note about the Passporter. I was disappointed . There, I said it. I ordered it online the second we booked the cruise. I waited and waited for 3 days for it to show up in the mailbox. I read it…and found it to be sort of a DCL cheerleader . Some interesting info, but most of it I had already found out on the Dis. I am an “Unofficial Guide to WDW” fan, and I guess I missed the critique and the sarcasm!!!

Last up was the Spa reservations. Again with the cheap thing, I was looking for a good deal. And I saw this Rasul thing, and it looks like fun! So I booked it. That’s the 2nd thing DH got intrigued about . I may treat myself to some pampering, but most of it I can get here for a fraction of the price…

Next up: we are going to WDW first, remember that little tidbit?

 

[roxy84]

I am loving your Pre-TR. I think your family is going to have a wonderful time!

Just wanted to give you a heads up regarding your 3:30 parasailing time. The club actually moves to castaway for the day but closes down around 3-3:30 usually as they need to shut down their place on the island and then open back up on the ship (at 4). Don't worry about your time - you will just need to speak to a CM as they accommadate spa/excursions. They will probably ask that you drop her off at the spot on the island (scuttles cove it is called) and they will take her back to the ship when they close down.

 

[Sophie_2003]

I am loving your Pre-TR. I think your family is going to have a wonderful time!

Just wanted to give you a heads up regarding your 3:30 parasailing time. The club actually moves to castaway for the day but closes down around 3-3:30 usually as they need to shut down their place on the island and then open back up on the ship (at 4). Don't worry about your time - you will just need to speak to a CM as they accommadate spa/excursions. They will probably ask that you drop her off at the spot on the island (scuttles cove it is called) and they will take her back to the ship when they close down.

Tks a lot. That is good to know. It's nice that they accomodate!