I think the last one was slow to book up because the itinerary was terrible. IIRC it was a basic Caribbean cruise and didn't stop at the new island.
Just checked our itinerary and you are correct that it stops in Cozumel and CC but not LP. Very odd decision to skip
Lighthouse Point, you’d think they’d want to show it off to Disney superfans.
I do think pricing was a factor. We are 2 adults and 2 kids and I believe we paid 10k for a 5 night sailing in a verandah room….which is at least a thousand more than we typically pay for a 7 night sailing on
DCL in the same category.
It’s always nice when Disney penalizes family’s with children from going to things.
Special cruises right after school starts… The only Moonlight Magic in California on a weekday school night in February….
In fairness, as best I can tell, the member cruises really are more geared towards Disney adults (perhaps teens would appreciate too, but a lot of it is sitting through extra lectures and visiting art exhibits)— I don’t expect my kids to be too excited for most of the programming, but maybe they will do a bit more for families this year with it being during summer break?
True true forgot about Starview but even so.. it's a pretty steep price difference for those cokes and animal crackers. Which extras did you get at Aulani aside from the popcorn and shiny wristband? We went to the member celebration and I didn't realize how much of the focus was on selling more points.. I probably won't bring anymore family/friends to the celebration because IMO it was a bit much..
Starview is a fantastic place to decompress for 30-45m while waiting on a fastpass window or during a hot/cold day for a break from the elements. My family will (kids eat snacks but grownups won’t) often have a soda in the lounge and take one to go— it’s not paying for direct point premium quickly, but it’s maybe $30 of value 10-20 days a year, depending on the year.
Re: Aulani, if you reserve casabellas or cabanas it can add up pretty quickly— I want to say we saved about $300 just on reserved seating options over the course of a week.
Discounts on reserved seating, spa, dining, merchandise, etc. The Welcome Home week stuff was going on when we were there in 2024. We also enjoyed the sushi&saki and champagne¯ons classes that are DVC-Y exclusives.
Oooh, forgot about the poke and sake event— we loved it, high quality tuna and educational (I won’t even really drink the sake and I still thought it was worth it)— hoping to do champagne and macaroons on the next trip.
you're going to love the new blt, the studios were big compared to others we stayed at
