11/06/11 Dream 4 Day

[Troop o' Goofs]

74 Days and Counting!!! Newbie Activity Booking Day!​

 

[mybeachbabies]

Hello! I'm new to this post but have been planning our cruise since December. I just got done booking our Blue Lagoon Dolphin excursion, Palo, a couples massage and some nursery time for our littlest one. Our port arrival time is 11am. The only thing I couldn't book that I wanted to was a cabana on Castaway Cay.

We are so excited Nov 7 is my son's 4th birthday so he is getting quite the present! I'm looking forward to cruising with all of you!

 

[Joysnote]

WOW! You're totally living my dream!!!! Can you tell me about your move, finding a house, your neighborhood, why you moved, jobs, how it is visiting WDW every other day, etc? I just want to live vicariously through you a little

>>

Thanks, well my husband works for Darden for over 15 years, so we knew he would get transferred to Orlando eventually, I am from Southern California and grew up going to Disneyland all of the time, but been going to Disney World too since 2000. Florida is not as great as California, hot and humid here but cost of living is so much better. We used a great Realtor that some other friends from Darden used so if you move down here I could give you her name. She knew all about schools, crime, best places to live etc. The Florida resident AP rates are great, so we got those before we even moved in, you can get them with your contract on your house. Windermere is just north of WDW and nice lakes and natural area. So far, the kids started school yesterday and enjoyed them, lots of new kids move here all of the time so they weren't the only ones. Being able to visit WDW whenever I want is great, I looked on touring guides and there are some days like Sunday where the parks are less than 1 for crowds so looking forward to that!! The only slight drawback is it isn't exactly the same not staying in a Disney resort and the whole 24/7 magic thing, but we will always go to Disneyland and stay in the resort there each year and combine it with seeing family.

 

[goofystitchfan]

Hello! I'm new to this post but have been planning our cruise since December. I just got done booking our Blue Lagoon Dolphin excursion, Palo, a couples massage and some nursery time for our littlest one. Our port arrival time is 11am. The only thing I couldn't book that I wanted to was a cabana on Castaway Cay.

We are so excited Nov 7 is my son's 4th birthday so he is getting quite the present! I'm looking forward to cruising with all of you!

Welcome. We had the dolphin excursion booked too, but ended up going back with the sea lions. We did that last year (sea lions) and it was the most amazing thing ever.

 

[bellebud]

So I slept on the livingroom couch last night, in hopes I'd wake up at 3am to check in. I woke naturally at 3:08am, went to get on-line, and realized I had read "have everything ready when you do this... passports, etc". SOOO, I had to be very quiet sneaking around the house getting our passports, without making our dogs bark (it's a surprise for the kids, so I didn't want them waking up and asking what I was doing). Got everything together, checked in, got 11am boarding (that's the earliest available, right?) I didn't see anything earlier, but didn't know if there was one and it was filled.

So, in anyone's opinion, I should keep the 11am port time and hire a private car to take us there from Orlando? Would we get there any earlier if we went to MCO super early and checked in there and got on the first bus to the port? I'm thinking we may get an earlier 'get on the ship' number if we do it there, since we actually check in there, correct? Opinions?

I was going to try for a cabana, but when I explained them to dh, he wasn't thrilled and said he really wants to be in the water a whole lot, so it would be kind of wasted. Then when I realized they don't have bathrooms, I decided it wasn't for us. If they had private bathrooms, I'd love one, but without them, it's not as appealing (for the money). I think they're all booked anyway, but I won't try to wait-list us now. If they had bathrooms, I would.

So I getting very excited now!! I'm thinking of doing Gifts by Shirley for our cabin. I've read mostly all good things about her. Anyone know, how exactly does she get these baskets to your cabin before we can even board? That's amazing! I think it would be better than the room gifts disney offers. I told my dh about surprising the kids w/ baskets in the room, and he was like "the cruise itself isn't surprise enough?????"... he's right, but I just love surprising them and can't help myself!

Now to think about packing. I looked at the packing cubes yesterday in a luggage store, and have been looking on-line, and while I love things like that, I'm not seeing a huge difference in using gallon zip baggies (especially for undies and socks). Then I looked at the 'folders' for shirts, and I'm torn. When we've cruised before, we've used our garment bag (an old but good one, it doesn't roll or anything), but holds a good amount, and I put all of dh's and ds's dinner shirts/pants on hangers in there, and mine and dd's sundresses, nice shirts, etdc). I love the convenience of already having it all on hangers (I use thin wire ones, and will put about 4 shirts on one hanger). It all fits well. But I think we'd have to check that though, and we love to do carry-on only. So, I was looking at new pieces of luggage on-line (which I totally don't need!), and I'm soooo tempted to get new luggage. Such cool pieces out there!! I feel them calling to me... I swear!!

How do you all pack?

 

[Joysnote]

So I slept on the livingroom couch last night, in hopes I'd wake up at 3am to check in. I woke naturally at 3:08am, went to get on-line, and realized I had read "have everything ready when you do this... passports, etc". SOOO, I had to be very quiet sneaking around the house getting our passports, without making our dogs bark (it's a surprise for the kids, so I didn't want them waking up and asking what I was doing). Got everything together, checked in, got 11am boarding (that's the earliest available, right?) I didn't see anything earlier, but didn't know if there was one and it was filled.

So, in anyone's opinion, I should keep the 11am port time and hire a private car to take us there from Orlando? Would we get there any earlier if we went to MCO super early and checked in there and got on the first bus to the port? I'm thinking we may get an earlier 'get on the ship' number if we do it there, since we actually check in there, correct? Opinions?

I was going to try for a cabana, but when I explained them to dh, he wasn't thrilled and said he really wants to be in the water a whole lot, so it would be kind of wasted. Then when I realized they don't have bathrooms, I decided it wasn't for us. If they had private bathrooms, I'd love one, but without them, it's not as appealing (for the money). I think they're all booked anyway, but I won't try to wait-list us now. If they had bathrooms, I would.

So I getting very excited now!! I'm thinking of doing Gifts by Shirley for our cabin. I've read mostly all good things about her. Anyone know, how exactly does she get these baskets to your cabin before we can even board? That's amazing! I think it would be better than the room gifts disney offers. I told my dh about surprising the kids w/ baskets in the room, and he was like "the cruise itself isn't surprise enough?????"... he's right, but I just love surprising them and can't help myself!

Now to think about packing. I looked at the packing cubes yesterday in a luggage store, and have been looking on-line, and while I love things like that, I'm not seeing a huge difference in using gallon zip baggies (especially for undies and socks). Then I looked at the 'folders' for shirts, and I'm torn. When we've cruised before, we've used our garment bag (an old but good one, it doesn't roll or anything), but holds a good amount, and I put all of dh's and ds's dinner shirts/pants on hangers in there, and mine and dd's sundresses, nice shirts, etdc). I love the convenience of already having it all on hangers (I use thin wire ones, and will put about 4 shirts on one hanger). It all fits well. But I think we'd have to check that though, and we love to do carry-on only. So, I was looking at new pieces of luggage on-line (which I totally don't need!), and I'm soooo tempted to get new luggage. Such cool pieces out there!! I feel them calling to me... I swear!!

How do you all pack?

>>

We got the 11 am board too, I think it is earliest. Glad you got check in!
I usually over pack, this time, 2 pairs of slacks for the guys, and skirts and blouses for my daughter and me so we can have 2 skirts and 4 blouses each to mix and match for dinner. We seem to wear swim suits and cover ups more than anything else on DCL during the day so I am going to cut down on day outfits too.
We usually did the rent a car thing and left it at port on our other cruises, but I am a control freak This time since we live here now I will just drive over in the morning. We had always come in the night before our cruise and either stayed at WDW or the hampton inn at cocoa beach and drove over. So no help with you there, unless you do just want to wait for the disney cruise bus from airport and maybe change your check in time?

 

[Troop o' Goofs]

I'm a little confused . I booked everything through DCL, including airfare and transfers. When I complete the On-line Check-in it does not tell me a boarding time, like I have read others discussing. It says "As you are Pre stay guest, you do not need to pick the arrival time as Disney staff will escort you to the Cruise." What does that mean?

 

[Joysnote]

I'm a little confused . I booked everything through DCL, including airfare and transfers. When I complete the On-line Check-in it does not tell me a boarding time, like I have read others discussing. It says "As you are Pre stay guest, you do not need to pick the arrival time as Disney staff will escort you to the Cruise." What does that mean?

Are you staying at WDW resort before your cruise, like a land & sea package? Then they probably already have you on bus to come out to port with others, so will assign your time etc according to how many people in each resort, what time to leave etc, kind of like the DME airport service but for coming over to the port.

 

[Troop o' Goofs]

Are you staying at WDW resort before your cruise, like a land & sea package? Then they probably already have you on bus to come out to port with others, so will assign your time etc according to how many people in each resort, what time to leave etc, kind of like the DME airport service but for coming over to the port.

Not that I'm aware of, LOL. Unless Disney is paying for it.

 

[vakamalua]

Welcome. We had the dolphin excursion booked too, but ended up going back with the sea lions. We did that last year (sea lions) and it was the most amazing thing ever.

We booked the sea lion excursion also, it will be us two grown-up 'kids.'

I'm a little confused . I booked everything through DCL, including airfare and transfers. When I complete the On-line Check-in it does not tell me a boarding time, like I have read others discussing. It says "As you are Pre stay guest, you do not need to pick the arrival time as Disney staff will escort you to the Cruise." What does that mean?

We are staying at BCV with DVC points the night before but added transfers to the ship. It asked us for a check-in time; I guess we should double check that they have the transfer info...

Andrea

 

[Joysnote]

I know there are a lot of VA posters here, hope everyone is okay. After earthquake

 

[vakamalua]

All well with us in northern VA, I was in the car and didn't feel a thing. When I got to Target, everyone was running out and they asked people to stay outside for about 10 minutes. My husband was home, he felt the shaking and heard boxes fall in the basement storage room and things on the walls rattling.

We'll be on the west coast for 10 days in September; hope this wasn't a rehersal!

Thanks for your checking

Andrea

 

[ibouncetoo]

Hello! I'm new to this post but have been planning our cruise since December. I just got done booking our Blue Lagoon Dolphin excursion, Palo, a couples massage and some nursery time for our littlest one. Our port arrival time is 11am. The only thing I couldn't book that I wanted to was a cabana on Castaway Cay.

We are so excited Nov 7 is my son's 4th birthday so he is getting quite the present! I'm looking forward to cruising with all of you!

WELCOME. I'll add you info to page one when I get home tonight.

(11/7 is my birthday too!)

So, in anyone's opinion, I should keep the 11am port time and hire a private car to take us there from Orlando? Would we get there any earlier if we went to MCO super early and checked in there and got on the first bus to the port? I'm thinking we may get an earlier 'get on the ship' number if we do it there, since we actually check in there, correct? Opinions?


So I getting very excited now!! I'm thinking of doing Gifts by Shirley for our cabin. I've read mostly all good things about her. Anyone know, how exactly does she get these baskets to your cabin before we can even board? That's amazing! I think it would be better than the room gifts disney offers. I told my dh about surprising the kids w/ baskets in the room, and he was like "the cruise itself isn't surprise enough?????"... he's right, but I just love surprising them and can't help myself!

I'd just take the private car to the port. Many of the services will include a grocery stop also, if you need to pick up any last minute supplies or beverages.

Shirely does wonderful work! We're considering a basket for the great neices this trip. The baskets are delivered to the ship in the morning and brought on board just like all the other supplies they are loading onto the ship.

I'm a little confused . I booked everything through DCL, including airfare and transfers. When I complete the On-line Check-in it does not tell me a boarding time, like I have read others discussing. It says "As you are Pre stay guest, you do not need to pick the arrival time as Disney staff will escort you to the Cruise." What does that mean?

Are you flying in the day of the cruise? When you come in on DCL transportation, everyone of the bus is escorted into the terminal as soon as the bus arrives (from the resorts or the airport).

.

 

[Troop o' Goofs]

Are you flying in the day of the cruise? When you come in on DCL transportation, everyone of the bus is escorted into the terminal as soon as the bus arrives (from the resorts or the airport).

.

Yes we are flying in the morning of the cruise. So, I shouldn't be worried that I don't have a boarding time? I'm still a cruise noob, so I was curious.

 

[bellebud]

So I still have a question about boarding numbers... just say you're staying at MCO Hilton the night before, and have disney transfers to the port. You go down to the mco desk at 8am, check in (I've read you get your pic taken there, cabin door card, and ship boarding group number). Then at around 9am you get on the disney bus and get taken to the port.

Since we'll be at an Orlando hotel (not disney, but only a few miles from MCO), as I posted this morning, I checked in on-line at 3am and picked 11am for a check-in time. So that's when we're allowed in the port gate. Then we get in line w/ all the other 11am people, and get checked in there (pic, cabin door card, boarding group number).

BUT, if people have been checking in from the Hilton since 8am, won't all the early group boarding numbers already be gone with the people coming in on the disney cruise bus, since they've already been through the whole check-in process already?

What it comes down to is... I'd love the earliest boarding number we can get, since we'll be in Orlando already. I'd have us take a cab from our hotel to MCO at 7am, and just wait at the Disney cruise terminal desk until it opened, and check in there and get a ship boarding number and take the disney bus over.

So if anyone knows how the boarding numbers work (how they're given out at MCO really), I'd love any advice on that.

For surprising our kids, that would be a cool way to do it too... they'd think we're going to MCO to get on a plane to go home to NY, but we'd be getting on the Disney Cruise bus. That would be fun!

AND... so how do you all pack? Cubes?? Garment bags?? Regular luggage??
Come on, let's talk about packing... my dh doesn't want to hear it anymore

 

[iankh]

AND... so how do you all pack? Cubes?? Garment bags?? Regular luggage??
Come on, let's talk about packing... my dh doesn't want to hear it anymore

Cubes, folders and rolling duffle bags. Again, still not sure why people don't talk about the folders? I learned about them from someone who does a lot of cruising and I think they are invaluable for the button front camp shirts.

Suits and tuxes go in a folding garment bag.

 

[dthogue]

Fish Extender Participants...​

Last week I sent out an updated participant list to everyone. I have not heard back from the following DISer's:

HopeSparkles
Mstree7832
Joysnote
LSmommy
Cinnamon_girl
mickeytwins

Please check your email and make sure that you received the email and confirm with me that you are still planning on participating.

If you did not receive the email, please email me at dthogue5@verizon.net and let me know.

The cut off date for signing up will be September 25th! So far we have about 55 participants.

 

[dthogue]

So I still have a question about boarding numbers... just say you're staying at MCO Hilton the night before, and have disney transfers to the port. You go down to the mco desk at 8am, check in (I've read you get your pic taken there, cabin door card, and ship boarding group number). Then at around 9am you get on the disney bus and get taken to the port.

Since we'll be at an Orlando hotel (not disney, but only a few miles from MCO), as I posted this morning, I checked in on-line at 3am and picked 11am for a check-in time. So that's when we're allowed in the port gate. Then we get in line w/ all the other 11am people, and get checked in there (pic, cabin door card, boarding group number).

BUT, if people have been checking in from the Hilton since 8am, won't all the early group boarding numbers already be gone with the people coming in on the disney cruise bus, since they've already been through the whole check-in process already?

What it comes down to is... I'd love the earliest boarding number we can get, since we'll be in Orlando already. I'd have us take a cab from our hotel to MCO at 7am, and just wait at the Disney cruise terminal desk until it opened, and check in there and get a ship boarding number and take the disney bus over.

So if anyone knows how the boarding numbers work (how they're given out at MCO really), I'd love any advice on that.

For surprising our kids, that would be a cool way to do it too... they'd think we're going to MCO to get on a plane to go home to NY, but we'd be getting on the Disney Cruise bus. That would be fun!

AND... so how do you all pack? Cubes?? Garment bags?? Regular luggage??
Come on, let's talk about packing... my dh doesn't want to hear it anymore

I don't really have an answer for you on the boarding numbers - I do know that we have always arrived at the port when it opened and we were always assigned a boarding number in the first few groups.

As for packing, I'm stumped with this trip. We usually fly Southwest and no fees for checked baggage - I am a total overpacker and haven't had to worry about it. This trip I think we are taking Airtran with the $20/bag fee. I am going to try to pack the 3 of us in one checked suitcase and 3 carry ons. Problem is, I don't have carryons, so I either need to buy them, or just pay more to check the bag. I did look into the packing cubes, but really don't get their benefit - I also looked at the space travel bags online, I would like to see them in person before I buy!

 

[dthogue]

Tammy-heard from my friend today, so I will email you today!!! How many people do we have so far? My group will be 2 cabins, 8 people - 4 adults, 4 kids total. But I will email you all the details.

Leslie

Looking forward to hearing from you - glad you decided to join us! We have 55 participants at this point in 18 cabins.

 

[bellebud]

I also looked at the space travel bags online, I would like to see them in person before I buy!

the bags that you roll the air out of?? If it's them, I thought of them too, but then thought that I'd have to do the same to our dirty clothes at the end of the trip to fit it all back in. I don't want to have to do that. They do look neat though - gets a lot in there.