We're doing what??? A Wonder-ful PTR

[NikkiLovesWDW!]

Joining in! Can't wait to hear all about your plans!! I love your Disney themed movie nights. So cute!

 

[lbuzz52]

That hotel looks like a great choice for DL. Thanks for sharing the info!

 

[stephielela]

Joining in! Can't wait to hear all about your plans!! I love your Disney themed movie nights. So cute!

Thanks Nikki! I can't wait to have some solid plans for DL... I haven't even really started yet so unlike me!

That hotel looks like a great choice for DL. Thanks for sharing the info!

Thanks, I will do an indepth review!

 

[stephielela]

For anyone who is interested, the Unofficial Guide to Disneyland 2012 will be released September 20. I have preordered it on Amazon fro about $13 including shipping. (2011 was $18 at Barnes before tax, so glad I returned it!)
Unofficial WDW 2012 will be released earlier in September, I think maybe the 8th?

I did go to the website, touringplans.com, and paid the $4.52 to add Disneyland onto the WDW suscription I already had...

 

[jenseib]

thats a great price on that book. I bought one a year or so ago, but it's outdated. Not sure what year. I am half tempted to buy this one too. ....just in case.

 

[stephielela]

thats a great price on that book. I bought one a year or so ago, but it's outdated. Not sure what year. I am half tempted to buy this one too. ....just in case.

Jen, I buy them just about every year. I know it's silly, since 97% of the book doesn't change, but there is just something about it. In the past couple of years I have read at least 2 cover to cover.

What makes me sad is I can't find a good book about DCL. We have a couple general cruise books, and there is a section of the WDW Unofficial guide, but all of them talk about Port Canaveral (which we are not sailing out of) and all of them have some incorrect info ($ for Palo etc).

 

[jenseib]

Jen, I buy them just about every year. I know it's silly, since 97% of the book doesn't change, but there is just something about it. In the past couple of years I have read at least 2 cover to cover.

What makes me sad is I can't find a good book about DCL. We have a couple general cruise books, and there is a section of the WDW Unofficial guide, but all of them talk about Port Canaveral (which we are not sailing out of) and all of them have some incorrect info ($ for Palo etc).

You are right. Heck this years issue was just released by passporters. It was supposed to be out in april

 

[princesskayla]

Nice pretrip report. I will be waving to you as you exit the ship. We are setting sail on Nov. 6. I would love to become a travel agent. I have booked 3 Disney trips in the last month for my friends - I should make a little dough, right? I like the movie ideas. We are working on seeing all the animated Disney movies before our trip. However, I live in a remote part of Alaska so that may be a little hard to get ahold of all of the movies.

 

[stephielela]

Nice pretrip report. I will be waving to you as you exit the ship. We are setting sail on Nov. 6. I would love to become a travel agent. I have booked 3 Disney trips in the last month for my friends - I should make a little dough, right? I like the movie ideas. We are working on seeing all the animated Disney movies before our trip. However, I live in a remote part of Alaska so that may be a little hard to get ahold of all of the movies.

I will probably be near tears if you happen to see us leaving! I hate the end of vacations, though since I have 2 days at Disneyland after, maybe the tears will wait Do you have netflix? I know they have gotten pricier, but they have lots of movies there... We work with what we can find, lol. It could always be a non Disney movie! Are you doing a PTR for your trip?

 

[stephielela]

Tuesday is my 75 day mark! I am ready to book Palo and port adventures! Right now I am aiming for a brunch at Palo on the 2nd sea day, but if I don't get it I won't be crushed... as for port adventures I am planning on doing the paradise beach adventure in Puerto Vallerta and the Harbor cruise with scenic stop in Cabo, both with Jack. I am also looking at either the coastal highlights tour or san Jose city and shopping tour. Whichever of those I do, i won't bring Jack, since he would be bored to tears. Any thoughts?

also I had been waitlisted for early dining and just got it! Stateroom still unassigned....

 

[twindaddy]

As a Disneyland regular, about 20ish trips staying nearly everywhere, you will love the Fairfield, it is my second choice of places to stay. The only negative for me is the exterior hallways.

Right behind the Fairfield is the Howard Johnson wwwo.hojoanaheim.com this is hands down, by far, no questions asked my favorite place to stay. Check out their waterslide pirates cove area, awesome. The friendliest staff on earth, and if you have an annual pass or an entertainment card, you can get rates south of $100. They also have family suites if you need that. Check them out next time you are in town. PM me if you have a Disneyland specific related questions, I have spent so much time there it is scary!

 

[mousetravel]

I'm joining in on your TR! I especially love to hear about single parent trips!
My DD and I love to travel together by ourselves. But we didn't get started on it until she was a little older. Can't wait to hear more! And I love the Disney themed nights!

 

[stephielela]

As a Disneyland regular, about 20ish trips staying nearly everywhere, you will love the Fairfield, it is my second choice of places to stay. The only negative for me is the exterior hallways.

Right behind the Fairfield is the Howard Johnson wwwo.hojoanaheim.com this is hands down, by far, no questions asked my favorite place to stay. Check out their waterslide pirates cove area, awesome. The friendliest staff on earth, and if you have an annual pass or an entertainment card, you can get rates south of $100. They also have family suites if you need that. Check them out next time you are in town. PM me if you have a Disneyland specific related questions, I have spent so much time there it is scary!

Thanks for joining!
I will have to check that out!!! It sounds awesome! I will be PMing you shortly!

I'm joining in on your TR! I especially love to hear about single parent trips!
My DD and I love to travel together by ourselves. But we didn't get started on it until she was a little older. Can't wait to hear more! And I love the Disney themed nights!

Thanks for joining in! I really enjoy my trips with Jack, it's our chance to be away from all our day to day boring stuff. I love doing the Disney nights, it just makes me happy I'm not sure if we will continue them after the trip, probably not with as much frequency as the holidays tend to be busy.

 

[stephielela]

The other night I happened to still be awake when my 75 day mark started so naturally I hopped on my phone to see if I could book... and I could!! So I managed to get Palo brunch, Palo dinner, the Paradise Beach Adventure in Puerto Vallerta, the Harbor Cruise and Scenic Stop in Cabo, and the Coastal highlights tour in Cabo. That last one is just me, I don't think Jack will appreciate it, so he can stay and play on the ship. I was surprised at the amount of availability for Palo. I could have dinner practically any day/time I wanted.

And I learned something new! With Carnival, when you book shore excursions, you pay up front, so I didn't realize I wouldn't have to with DCL! Such a nice feature!

 

[Leshaface]

The other night I happened to still be awake when my 75 day mark started so naturally I hopped on my phone to see if I could book... and I could!! So I managed to get Palo brunch, Palo dinner, the Paradise Beach Adventure in Puerto Vallerta, the Harbor Cruise and Scenic Stop in Cabo, and the Coastal highlights tour in Cabo. That last one is just me, I don't think Jack will appreciate it, so he can stay and play on the ship. I was surprised at the amount of availability for Palo. I could have dinner practically any day/time I wanted.

And I learned something new! With Carnival, when you book shore excursions, you pay up front, so I didn't realize I wouldn't have to with DCL! Such a nice feature!

The bolded makes me relieved. DH and I want to dine at Palo when we go in December and were worried about availability. And we'll be able to book 90 days out so i'm pretty happy right now!

And yep! The excursions will show on your stateroom charges bill once you're on the ship! Nice to not have to pay on the spot!

 

[photographymom517]

I cannot believe I didn't find this until right NOW!!!

Next time, message me on facebook or text me!

I had a feeling you would switch over to the DCL boards from the WDW boards but I have been so busy, I just didn't notice until now. I'm sadly ashamed of myself . . .

I haven't been to Target in over a week & am in withdrawal!!! I know, its a terrible sickness we both have!

I just had to tell someone this & I knew you'd appreciate it!!! I got a $10 Target giftcard when I purchased a combo pack of ink for my printer AND I got a $50 Target giftcard from my PayPal rewards!!! Needless to say, I was thrilled!!!

Ok, back to the cruise!

I'm sooooo excited you booked your excursions & dining reservations! I can't wait to see pics of Palo & of all the delish food!!!

I'm also very interested to hear about the Oceaneer Club & how Jack likes spending time there. As you know, I'm nervous about leaving Luke anywhere without us. He's used to being with me pretty much 24/7 -- but I think I would be ok with it for a few hours a day. It may take some convincing with my DH though, so I want to gather all the info I can before we decide to cruise!!!

I loved the Beauty & the Beast movie night!!! One of my absolute favorite Disney movies!!!!

One more thing -- the rooms at the Fairfield Inn look great! I like how they're Disney themed. I noticed in the first picture -- the one of the outside of the hotel -- that they have Disney banners!!!! Nice touch!

 

[stephielela]

I cannot believe I didn't find this until right NOW!!!

Next time, message me on facebook or text me!

I had a feeling you would switch over to the DCL boards from the WDW boards but I have been so busy, I just didn't notice until now. I'm sadly ashamed of myself . . .

I haven't been to Target in over a week & am in withdrawal!!! I know, its a terrible sickness we both have!

I just had to tell someone this & I knew you'd appreciate it!!! I got a $10 Target giftcard when I purchased a combo pack of ink for my printer AND I got a $50 Target giftcard from my PayPal rewards!!! Needless to say, I was thrilled!!!

Ok, back to the cruise!

I'm sooooo excited you booked your excursions & dining reservations! I can't wait to see pics of Palo & of all the delish food!!!

I'm also very interested to hear about the Oceaneer Club & how Jack likes spending time there. As you know, I'm nervous about leaving Luke anywhere without us. He's used to being with me pretty much 24/7 -- but I think I would be ok with it for a few hours a day. It may take some convincing with my DH though, so I want to gather all the info I can before we decide to cruise!!!

I loved the Beauty & the Beast movie night!!! One of my absolute favorite Disney movies!!!!

One more thing -- the rooms at the Fairfield Inn look great! I like how they're Disney themed. I noticed in the first picture -- the one of the outside of the hotel -- that they have Disney banners!!!! Nice touch!

I knew you'd make it here eventually! You have a lot going on with your own trip right around the corner! And I will need many FB live updates and texts to keep me from being sad

I am actually getting ready to go to Target today (a sickness, I know) because I have some returns and a friend of the family gave me a gift card for helping out with their dogs. I am planning on buying some large plastic tubs so I can start organizing my overflowing basement! I want to have one just for Disney night supplies

As far as food pics from the cruise, I am a little worried my tablemates will think I am crazy, but maybe if I explain I am a TA and this trip is research... I will get some Palo pics, I promise!

I will totally give you the full review on the Oceaneer club. As you might remember, Jack was NOT in love with Camp Carnival on our last cruise, so hopefully he will have a much better time on this one. You will want Luke to get to go play with other kids so you can have some quiet time with DH. Plus with the new baby, I bet Luke is going to be much more independent. I'm telling you, Jack is like his own person right now. We will be eating at a restaurant and he will say he needs to go potty and act like he is going to go all by himself! (which of course I wouldn't ever let him do) He is starting to complain about having to go in the girls potty all the time too. These kids grow up fast!

Anyways, I am off to go run errands! Jack is a his first day of preschool and Zsa Zsa is still at the puppy hotel (we had a party last night for my mom's 50th) so I am a free woman today!!! This NEVER happens. Of course, it's not like I can relax all day I have tons of work to do in the house

 

[stephielela]

The bolded makes me relieved. DH and I want to dine at Palo when we go in December and were worried about availability. And we'll be able to book 90 days out so i'm pretty happy right now!

And yep! The excursions will show on your stateroom charges bill once you're on the ship! Nice to not have to pay on the spot!

I was shocked at the amount of availability! Some people on the cruise critic boards had me thinking I was outta luck. I am thinking our cruise must still be pretty empty... which I am hoping means a little upgrade to our GTY room!

It is nice not to have to pay for all the stuff up front, though I will probably put the money on a gift card just so I know I have the $$ available ButI like that if I decided to cancel something tomorrow, I wouldn't have to worry about getting the money back! I will cross my fingers for you and your DH!

 

[lbuzz52]

I'm another with the Target sickness!

How did Jack do this morning?

 

[stephielela]

I'm another with the Target sickness!

How did Jack do this morning?

Target really got me today. Right after I walked in, the heavens opened up outside forcing me to spend about an hour and a half wandering around...

Thanks for asking! Jack did great today! He was a bit sleepy and reluctant, but I got him there only 20 minutes later than I planned. I picked him up around 4 and he said he had a great day, but he cried at naptime because he was wanting me to come get him, and he was mad at me for not sending him with sunscreen. He also told the woman who was supervising them outside that he was very frustrated that I wasn't there yet... That's my 3 year old for ya! We are getting ready to head to T-Rex for "first day of school dinner", we are super lucky and have what I believe is the only one outside of DTD in our town... It's our little slice of Disney