DisneyZell
Likes Adventures on the High Seas
- Joined
- Sep 28, 2004
Hi all! So we are just back from the 10/21 magic, and this is the beginning of our trip report. This is the first time I have done one of these, and don't think it's possible to be nearly as funny as many of the ones I have read...but either way I'll give you what I got, take it or leave it! I promise if you are not satisfied I will refund the full amount of admission.
A couple of side notes as I get going...
I have to give acknowledgement to other writers of trip reports. One that I particularly enjoy is Sleepydog25. His trip report can be found here:
Sleepydog25's trip report
Just to acknowledge now, in case I forget later, I will make use of various terms that have been coined by other writers. For example: Shub (not quite a shower, and not quite a tub).
I give credit to Grumpdude for Shub. When I read his trip report and came accross this term I almost ruined my keyboard with the soda that I spit out. Here is alink to his trip report, I highly recommend this one as well:
Grumpydude's Trip Report
To Grumpydude, Sleepydog25 and anyone else whom I may steal anything from, please don't take offense to my use of your terms, take it as a compliment. I will try my best to give credit when credit is due...but from my perspective, anyone who writes a trip report is my hero because I spent hours (and I really mean hours) reading them, and using them for tips for my cruise.
But I digress.
The Beginning...
To begin this adventure we need to go back in time almost exactly two years ago. At that time we had just moved to New England and before we moved we planned a Disney Cruise on the Magic with our former neighbors (Don't worry, this will all make sense shortly ). We had a blast. Sorry, no trip report. Either that section didn't exist, or more likely I didn't know there was such a thing as trip reports.
Fast forward to last May (2006). We had put our house on the market with every intention on relocating to Raleigh, NC. In May, DW and DN (Disney Neighbor ) were talking and came up with a grand plan to go on the Disney Cruise in October.
We thought this quite fitting given that the last time we moved we went on DCL with our former neighbors. Can anyone think of a better tradition???
And so we hatcher our evil scheme : we would plan the trip and not tell our children (ours: DS7, DS3 (he turned 4 in July) Theirs: DS9 and DD6). Our thinking was that we would have moved (it was May, our house had been on the market for 2 months...we figured by mid summer we would be in Raleigh), and that this would be a chance for the kids to see each other again (DS7 and DS9 are the best of friends).
So we picked a date. The last time we cruised we went two years ago during the worst hurricane season ever, and somehow managed to squeak between several hurricanes to get a good Cruise in. Being the risk takers we are, we figured we would try it again, shooting for 10/21. There was also that little thing called school to worry about
We kicked around who to book with, but finally just went directly through Disney. We tried a couple other places, but the prices were the same, so we figured why switch? (more on that later).
So let me tell you now that Deanna is about the best planner when it comes to Disney things. Add to that the fact that we had already done this whole shooting match once, and you get the picture. This was not one of those vacations where you book it and forget it until you get on the boat...nope, this was 5 months of planning, scheming, preparing and dieting.
oh yeah...about this time I decided it would be nice to not have all that extra weight to carry around with me. So the husband side of the neighbor family (Mike) and I decided to put together a contest. we would weigh in once a week and the winner each month would have a dinner cooked by the other neighbors (whatever the winner wanted). I actually did pretty well, dropped 20 pounds by the time of the cruise...needless to say I won the first month and someone decided he didn't want to play that game anymore...harumph!
So finally everything was set. Our DN's were going down a few days early to hit Disney, we were flying down on Friday afternoon. We decided to go to Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween Party (yes, we were one of the reasons it sold out!) before we got on the boat.
Note: A lesson learned from the first cruise. After our first cruise we thought it would be cool to stay on property and hit DisneyWorld for a couple days. Quite possibly the biggest mistake of our lives...and waste of money. it was hot, we were all tired, it was packed, and we didn't spend much time there. I don't remember which resort we stayed at, but the pool kind of stunk (it was cold), and generally that just wasn't good. I highly recommend you NOT go to Disney after a 7 day cruise...just get home!
The rest of the planning I won't bore you with, some may make it into the trip report as I go along.
Next up: Last minute preparations and the big fat white lie
A couple of side notes as I get going...
I have to give acknowledgement to other writers of trip reports. One that I particularly enjoy is Sleepydog25. His trip report can be found here:
Sleepydog25's trip report
Just to acknowledge now, in case I forget later, I will make use of various terms that have been coined by other writers. For example: Shub (not quite a shower, and not quite a tub).
I give credit to Grumpdude for Shub. When I read his trip report and came accross this term I almost ruined my keyboard with the soda that I spit out. Here is alink to his trip report, I highly recommend this one as well:
Grumpydude's Trip Report
To Grumpydude, Sleepydog25 and anyone else whom I may steal anything from, please don't take offense to my use of your terms, take it as a compliment. I will try my best to give credit when credit is due...but from my perspective, anyone who writes a trip report is my hero because I spent hours (and I really mean hours) reading them, and using them for tips for my cruise.
But I digress.
The Beginning...
To begin this adventure we need to go back in time almost exactly two years ago. At that time we had just moved to New England and before we moved we planned a Disney Cruise on the Magic with our former neighbors (Don't worry, this will all make sense shortly ). We had a blast. Sorry, no trip report. Either that section didn't exist, or more likely I didn't know there was such a thing as trip reports.
Fast forward to last May (2006). We had put our house on the market with every intention on relocating to Raleigh, NC. In May, DW and DN (Disney Neighbor ) were talking and came up with a grand plan to go on the Disney Cruise in October.
We thought this quite fitting given that the last time we moved we went on DCL with our former neighbors. Can anyone think of a better tradition???
And so we hatcher our evil scheme : we would plan the trip and not tell our children (ours: DS7, DS3 (he turned 4 in July) Theirs: DS9 and DD6). Our thinking was that we would have moved (it was May, our house had been on the market for 2 months...we figured by mid summer we would be in Raleigh), and that this would be a chance for the kids to see each other again (DS7 and DS9 are the best of friends).
So we picked a date. The last time we cruised we went two years ago during the worst hurricane season ever, and somehow managed to squeak between several hurricanes to get a good Cruise in. Being the risk takers we are, we figured we would try it again, shooting for 10/21. There was also that little thing called school to worry about
We kicked around who to book with, but finally just went directly through Disney. We tried a couple other places, but the prices were the same, so we figured why switch? (more on that later).
So let me tell you now that Deanna is about the best planner when it comes to Disney things. Add to that the fact that we had already done this whole shooting match once, and you get the picture. This was not one of those vacations where you book it and forget it until you get on the boat...nope, this was 5 months of planning, scheming, preparing and dieting.
oh yeah...about this time I decided it would be nice to not have all that extra weight to carry around with me. So the husband side of the neighbor family (Mike) and I decided to put together a contest. we would weigh in once a week and the winner each month would have a dinner cooked by the other neighbors (whatever the winner wanted). I actually did pretty well, dropped 20 pounds by the time of the cruise...needless to say I won the first month and someone decided he didn't want to play that game anymore...harumph!
So finally everything was set. Our DN's were going down a few days early to hit Disney, we were flying down on Friday afternoon. We decided to go to Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween Party (yes, we were one of the reasons it sold out!) before we got on the boat.
Note: A lesson learned from the first cruise. After our first cruise we thought it would be cool to stay on property and hit DisneyWorld for a couple days. Quite possibly the biggest mistake of our lives...and waste of money. it was hot, we were all tired, it was packed, and we didn't spend much time there. I don't remember which resort we stayed at, but the pool kind of stunk (it was cold), and generally that just wasn't good. I highly recommend you NOT go to Disney after a 7 day cruise...just get home!
The rest of the planning I won't bore you with, some may make it into the trip report as I go along.
Next up: Last minute preparations and the big fat white lie