09/05/09 LABORless MAGICal Meanderers

[ibela]

Got a little panicky that I had booked a connecting room RIGHT by the elevator and worried it'd be noisy. I called and asked if they could just shift me down a few b/c of my concerns and they did to 6050! I briefly considered asking to switch sides of the ship too so I could have a view off CC when docked but didn't want to press my luck b/c I wasn't being charged a penalty and we plan on being off the ship for the whole day anyway.

My WDW trip is less than a month away!!

 

[Tymatt]

Hi everyone!
I am a newbie to this, so bear with me please lol! A lady at my son's diving practice told me about this site and I haevn't really gotten the feel for it yet. It's just my 2 boys and I going on this Cruise (I'm a single Mom). My boys will be 7 and 11 by the time this Cruise rolls around. We just did the Eastern Caribbean in Nov/07 and loved it so much, that I booked another 3 days into the sailing! We've been to Disney World every year for the last 12 years...stayed on site 3 times. Planning on going to DW again in August for 12 days (staying on site). Disney is the best - they do everything right!

 

[ibela]

Hi everyone!
I am a newbie to this, so bear with me please lol! A lady at my son's diving practice told me about this site and I haevn't really gotten the feel for it yet. It's just my 2 boys and I going on this Cruise (I'm a single Mom). My boys will be 7 and 11 by the time this Cruise rolls around. We just did the Eastern Caribbean in Nov/07 and loved it so much, that I booked another 3 days into the sailing! We've been to Disney World every year for the last 12 years...stayed on site 3 times. Planning on going to DW again in August for 12 days (staying on site). Disney is the best - they do everything right!

Welcome! This site is an amazing wealth of knowledge (Disney and beyond, countless vacation tips on this board), I'm sure you'll love being on here!

 

[NYCDisneylovers]

Welcome Tymatt

 

[aussieinvasion]

Welcome Tymatt!! Great to have you join our little group Sounds like you have a wealth of info yourself. You are lucky to be going in August!! Im so jealous. Did you get free dining and are you staying onsite?? Love to hear all the details

Hope everyone is good. Been a bit quiet lately. I guess everyone is busy working to pay off our trip

 

[ibela]

Hope everyone is good. Been a bit quiet lately. I guess everyone is busy working to pay off our trip

Btw, WE LEAVE FOR WDW IN LESS THAN 3 WEEKS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

This time 3 weeks from now, um, we'll probably still be in the car driving. But by the evening we'll be there for sure!

 

[NYCDisneylovers]

Btw, WE LEAVE FOR WDW IN LESS THAN 3 WEEKS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

This time 3 weeks from now, um, we'll probably still be in the car driving. But by the evening we'll be there for sure!

Do you have any room in your suitcases because I want to go too

 

[kasidak]

Hi,

Just wanted to say hello and join this group. We will be sailing along with you. We booked this onboard in February and can't wait to be back on the magic!

 

[UGAFan0829]

Hi everyone!
I am a newbie to this, so bear with me please lol! A lady at my son's diving practice told me about this site and I haevn't really gotten the feel for it yet. It's just my 2 boys and I going on this Cruise (I'm a single Mom). My boys will be 7 and 11 by the time this Cruise rolls around. We just did the Eastern Caribbean in Nov/07 and loved it so much, that I booked another 3 days into the sailing! We've been to Disney World every year for the last 12 years...stayed on site 3 times. Planning on going to DW again in August for 12 days (staying on site). Disney is the best - they do everything right!

Hi,

Just wanted to say hello and join this group. We will be sailing along with you. We booked this onboard in February and can't wait to be back on the magic!

Wow, our little group is getting bigger and bigger!! Welcome, tymatt and kasidak..Glad to have y'all here!

 

[aussieinvasion]

Hi Karyn!!!
Welcome, welcome!! Great to have you join. Which itinerary did you do last time? The Eastern or the Western??? Did you manage to get a good saving by booking onboard? I bet you did, you lucky thing!!

Irene you must be sooo excited by now. I cant remember where you are staying but would love to hear all of your plans and ADR's if you want to share. Do you have your days set out or do you like to be a bit more spontaneous ?? I see you are still driving. Im sure it will pass quickly enough. Wish I could come with you.... is there room in the car for me ??

 

[kasidak]

Hi Karyn!!!
Welcome, welcome!! Great to have you join. Which itinerary did you do last time? The Eastern or the Western??? Did you manage to get a good saving by booking onboard? I bet you did, you lucky thing!!

Irene you must be sooo excited by now. I cant remember where you are staying but would love to hear all of your plans and ADR's if you want to share. Do you have your days set out or do you like to be a bit more spontaneous ?? I see you are still driving. Im sure it will pass quickly enough. Wish I could come with you.... is there room in the car for me ??

We did the Eastern in February. It was a blast!

I totally recommend rebooking on board. We did save a ton - this cruise will be over a $1000 less for two categories higher! I booked the Feb cruise at only seven months out so that is part of it. Booking so far in advance is wayyy cheaper. I went on with the intention to rebook on board, just had to convince DH. He enjoyed himself so much and saw how much cheaper it would be he agreed. I hope to rebook again.

 

[NYCDisneylovers]

Welcome aboard Kasidak

 

[ibela]

Hi,

Just wanted to say hello and join this group. We will be sailing along with you. We booked this onboard in February and can't wait to be back on the magic!

Irene you must be sooo excited by now. I cant remember where you are staying but would love to hear all of your plans and ADR's if you want to share. Do you have your days set out or do you like to be a bit more spontaneous ?? I see you are still driving. Im sure it will pass quickly enough. Wish I could come with you.... is there room in the car for me ??

Do you have any room in your suitcases because I want to go too

I sure am excited!!!!!!! We leave exactly 1 week from today!!

Also, I sure am still driving! That's OK though because yes, we have room for 1 (or 2) more! (My mil almost came with us . . , fortunately I knocked some sense into dh before she could get *too* excited about coming.)

I kinda have a schedule. My mornings are pretty set, afternoons are flexible. Not sure how much we'll be able to do with dd, I don't want to exhaust the poor thing too much at age 2.

We're staying at Saratoga Springs. I have ADRs for Crystal Palace lunch (on a MK AM EMH day, so I figured after lunch we'll be ready to collapse anyway), Chef Mickey late breakfast, Tusker House breakfast (before park opens), and my Mother's Day dinner will be at California Grill. No other ADRs for us since we plan on eating most of our meals outside the park, although I'm sure we'll hit a few CS places.

Oh, and on our first night I'm planning on us attending the campfire sing-along with Chip and Dale because I figured that'll be a nice, low-key start to our trip. The movie schedule was just posted and that night is Little Mermaid which I think will be perfect for us.

Have I mentioned HOW EXCITED I AM?!

 

[aussieinvasion]

Hi Irene,

I bet you're excited now I wouldnt be able to sleep! LMAO about the mil, too funny!! Happy Mother's Day for sunday, hope you have a great time at the California Grill.... love to hear all the details and reviews when you get back!!

Have a great time

Mel

 

[ibela]

Funny thing is, about 65% of the time dh kept saying how he likes the Disney cruise much better and can't wait to go back!

I'll be brief for now because I need to get back to work!

Drive: I was miserable. Dh and dd didn't mind so much, they had fun. I just wanted to get there (and back) already.

Crowds: AWESOME! Aside from a 45 minute wait for Dumbo on a day of EMH (but at 10am), our longest wait (using fast passes as well) was 10 minutes.

Weather: HOT!! How the heck do people go in the middle of the summer?! At 9pm at night, it was 90 degrees!

Photopass: LOVED it! Pre-purchased and ended up with over 200 photos (82 of which were from our private photo session).

Meals:
California Grill was a disappointment. It may have been a combination of dd being super cranky (she missed her nap that day) and that we had a big lunch so weren't that hungry but I couldn't pass up ordering an appetizer AND entree. Having the privilege of going to some really good and fancy restaurants in NYC, this totally didn't stack up at all. We thought our food ok (but didn't justify the price tag) and our service was slow (they said he was overbooked). The waiter was very nice thought and we did leave him a 20% tip because dd made a mess (they sprinkled pixie dust on the table, nice thought but bad day to do that, sorry waiter ) and he was patient with us/her.

Crystal Palace: I thought was just OK as well (some dishes were really good). Character interaction was pretty good.

Tusker House breakfast: Food pretty good but character interaction was just OK.

Chef Mickey's: Food pretty good and character interaction was great. DD wore her Minnie Mouse costume, her ears/headband fell off so Minnie got it and put it back on for her, talk about a cute photo!

Hollywood and Vine: Ended up getting a walk-up at 6pm for a 7pm ADR. Service was great and food was surprisingly good too, they were literally replenishing at least 3 dishes any time I was up there so the food was always hot and fresh. I would definitely book the Fantasmic package next time. HS was empty that day, 5 minute standby the whole day for every ride, but then 35 minutes before Fantasmic we went to the theater and it was 90% full! I seriously think people came from other parks that day just to watch the show because there's no way there were in the park that afternoon . . .

Overall really good time but exhausting!

By the way, saw Wishes from the Contemporary and since it was our first time I wish we would've watched by the castle so we could see the narration (you see that, right??) and we thought Fantasmic was AWESOME!

 

[UGAFan0829]

Just wanted to check in on my fellow cruise-mates. Hope everyone is doing well!!! It has been awful quiet here!!
I'd love to hear more about your trip, ibela!!!

 

[ibela]

In fact, I'm thinking to change my sail dates cuz you guys just don't seem fun! Just kidding on the reason, but I am cosidering postponing the trip a bit although dh wants to keep it as is. (I just thought this was a funny icon I hadn't noticed before.)

My brother is now planning a trip to WDW this July. Well, HE'S not planning it, I'm planning it for him because I like obsessing and planning trips and he's not. He has no problem following my itinerary, especially since I scared him into saying how the DIS always says July gets so crowded and he'll have to wait forever on every line. So he plans on being at the parks at rope drop but I need to list for him which rides to go on first because he's worried he'll end up "at some sucker ride that never develops a line" because he didn't know to go elsewhere. I immediately thought of him going on Living with the Land with the family instead of Soarin' . . .

Anyway, how is everyone else's planning going? NYC- when's your other cruise?

 

[ibela]

Just wanted to check in on my fellow cruise-mates. Hope everyone is doing well!!! It has been awful quiet here!!
I'd love to hear more about your trip, ibela!!!

Anything specific you're interested in?

Btw, I got my Photopass CD in the mail and LOVE IT!!

 

[UGAFan0829]

Anything specific you're interested in?

Btw, I got my Photopass CD in the mail and LOVE IT!!

Nothing in particular. It'd be cool to see some pics, if you're willing to share!!!

 

[ibela]

Nothing in particular. It'd be cool to see some pics, if you're willing to share!!!

I'll post some pics as soon as I upload them. HOW HORRIBLE AM I??

What's everyone else up to these days?

I think my favorite ride of the trip was Haunted Mansion. I couldn't go on any roller coasters or "wild rides" (I'm pregnant) but dh went on them while I stayed on kiddie rides with dd. Aquatica was his favorite park, I really like MK and HS. The shows at HS were soooooo good. I loved Beauty & the Beast (saw with dd while he went on RnRC and ToT) and thought Little Mermaid was good too. Did I mention we just loved Fantasmic?

We thought AK was too spread out for us to deal with in that heat. We spent 2 mornings there and still only did about 1/2 of what I wanted to. We did do the safari 2x though, that was pretty cool. And the Lion King show was great! I thought Epcot was just OK, we did walk around the World Showcase but didn't do much there except catch just a few shows. Soarin' was really cool though, I liked it a lot and it was probably my 2nd favorite ride of the trip.

I had read on here all about the Dream Team so I initially told dh to help me scope them out, but once we saw them I didn't want to stalk them or anything so since we didn't do anything, we stopped looking for them. I saw people walking with dream ears and fast passes but I never once saw them being given out. I had also read on here that sometimes they give prizes out to people sitting on the bench so if we saw them standing around, we'd park our butts for a minute - never got anything though. It didn't impact our trip but I did really want the ears (fast pass really wasn't necessary) for dd!

We didn't go back to our room midday like I planned to, instead we'd park hop and let dd sleep en route and walk with her sleeping in the stroller to the park from the lot instead of taking the tram. The extra time she slept let us look at the map and kinda plan out our afternoon. (And dh managed to sneak in some rides while I stayed with dd.) The pool at our hotel was really nice so it's a shame we only used it 1x. We were going to go a 2nd time but he said he preferred going back to Aquatica instead so we just did that (15 minutes from the hotel and we had free admission and parking). I stayed by the wave pool there which was more fun than the regular hotel pool and he and dd went on water slides and stuff. We had considered getting a babysitter and having an adult night out but we were so exhausted every day that we didn't do that. Mother's Day we had dinner at Contemporary Grill and then she fell asleep (we had the stroller with us) so we went to MK which have PM EMH that day and everything was a walk-on so that was a nice, kind of adult night out, lol.

Definitely had a blast and we're definitely going back . . . in 2010!