dizneeat
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Apr 9, 2006
So, here we go again
.
another trip report.
Well, at least for this one it was easy to find a title.
We, that would be my dear brother Tom, who works for the Austrian postal services and loves everything and anything Disney and goes along with my vacation planning.
And then there is me, Karin, teacher by day and planner of Disney trips by night and every other moment I am awake.
We usually spend our summer holidays in the US. We started out in 1992, went to Disneyland and fell in love with it. Ever since, our vacations have had a Disney element in them. In 2009 we wanted to go on a once in a lifetime cruise with Disney, being sure that cruising was not for us. Well, despite some odds, by day two on the wonderful Disney Wonder, we were rebooked and have been cruising every summer since.
For the last few years we have been sailing on the Disney Dream and Fantasy, mainly doing back to back cruises, with a stay at Disney before and after the cruises.
As everyone well knows, Disney is not a cheap vacation destination, figuring in that we have to travel at the height of the season because we have to stick within school vacations and Transatlantic flights are not cheap either.
So in 2012 we decided to have a cheaper
vacation and stay in Europe in 2014. Yes, I do plan that far ahead, at the moment I am trying to figure out what to do 2016. Oh, and I could not have been more wrong about this being a "cheap" vacation. 
When Disney released their Med cruises, we were all for one that was leaving from Venice and going back to Barcelona. I quickly used one of my dummy cruises to secure it and we started going from there. But the more we started thinking about it, the more obstacles started to pop up. One of them being that the itinerary was mostly Greek Isles, another one the different departure and arrival ports. We were discussing all the pros and cons and then decided that we wanted to have a look at other Disney Med cruises that visited more different countries.
So about 2 months after the original booking we decided to switch to the cruise following the Venice to Barcelona, which was another 12 night cruise visiting France/Monaco, Italy, going through the street of Messina, Turkey, Greece and Malta. The price had already gone up a bit, but it wasnt too bad, given, that the whole 12 night cruise put us back quite a bit.
Once we had finally decided on the correct cruise I started planning what else to do that summer. So I added a few days in Barcelona before the cruise, changing our accommodation ever so often, added a day after the cruise,
then decided that instead of going straight to Paris/DLR, we would return home for a few days to do some laundry and relax before heading out to Paris and Disneyland Paris for another 9 nights.
In retrospect, there are a few things I would do differently if I had known what I know now, but all in all it was a fun vacation with a lot of great highs and a few lows thrown in for good measure.
Interested? Then come along for the ride ..
And to make matters worse I am merging this TR with the planning for our upcoming trip in March - a Western Caribbean cruise on the Magic, and 3 half days at WDW. 
another trip report.
Well, at least for this one it was easy to find a title.
We, that would be my dear brother Tom, who works for the Austrian postal services and loves everything and anything Disney and goes along with my vacation planning.
And then there is me, Karin, teacher by day and planner of Disney trips by night and every other moment I am awake.
We usually spend our summer holidays in the US. We started out in 1992, went to Disneyland and fell in love with it. Ever since, our vacations have had a Disney element in them. In 2009 we wanted to go on a once in a lifetime cruise with Disney, being sure that cruising was not for us. Well, despite some odds, by day two on the wonderful Disney Wonder, we were rebooked and have been cruising every summer since.
For the last few years we have been sailing on the Disney Dream and Fantasy, mainly doing back to back cruises, with a stay at Disney before and after the cruises.
As everyone well knows, Disney is not a cheap vacation destination, figuring in that we have to travel at the height of the season because we have to stick within school vacations and Transatlantic flights are not cheap either.
So in 2012 we decided to have a cheaper
vacation and stay in Europe in 2014. Yes, I do plan that far ahead, at the moment I am trying to figure out what to do 2016. Oh, and I could not have been more wrong about this being a "cheap" vacation. When Disney released their Med cruises, we were all for one that was leaving from Venice and going back to Barcelona. I quickly used one of my dummy cruises to secure it and we started going from there. But the more we started thinking about it, the more obstacles started to pop up. One of them being that the itinerary was mostly Greek Isles, another one the different departure and arrival ports. We were discussing all the pros and cons and then decided that we wanted to have a look at other Disney Med cruises that visited more different countries.
So about 2 months after the original booking we decided to switch to the cruise following the Venice to Barcelona, which was another 12 night cruise visiting France/Monaco, Italy, going through the street of Messina, Turkey, Greece and Malta. The price had already gone up a bit, but it wasnt too bad, given, that the whole 12 night cruise put us back quite a bit.
Once we had finally decided on the correct cruise I started planning what else to do that summer. So I added a few days in Barcelona before the cruise, changing our accommodation ever so often, added a day after the cruise,
then decided that instead of going straight to Paris/DLR, we would return home for a few days to do some laundry and relax before heading out to Paris and Disneyland Paris for another 9 nights.
In retrospect, there are a few things I would do differently if I had known what I know now, but all in all it was a fun vacation with a lot of great highs and a few lows thrown in for good measure.
Interested? Then come along for the ride ..
And to make matters worse
I am merging this TR with the planning for our upcoming trip in March - a Western Caribbean cruise on the Magic, and 3 half days at WDW. 
And three half days in WDW in March 2015...hmm...what will you be doing the rest of those three days? Sounds interesting for sure. 
I always love reading your reports. Count me in.
Christine!
But it was a great vacation all in all, with a lot of awesome places to visit. 
Hope this won't disappoint.
I'm already pretty excited, I don't need any help with that!
. Can't wait to read it, love all the pictures. I can't wait until March, because we will be in the same cruise!!!!
