A Day of Discovery, Dreaming Disney Style and a Little Merry Magic

[dthogue]

Welcome to our trip report...

Cast of Characters:

my DH - Doug
me, Tammy
DD, Brenna - 13

Our trip dates are November 4th to November 14th

Our trip includes one day at Discovery Cove, Back to Back cruises on the Disney Dream - 4 nights, 11/6 to 11/10 and 3 nights, 11/10 to 11/13. One night at WDW Caribbean's Beach resort and Mickey's Very Merry Christmas Party on 11/13.

We booked the first portion of our cruise while we were onboard the Wonder back in Feb 2010. Then we added the 2nd portion of the trip in Feb 2011. We have been planning ever since. I hope you enjoy reading about our adventures.

We have one week til we leave for our trip. I am about as ready as I can be at this point. I have the basics packed and ready to go. We will do some packing this weekend, but will do the final packing next Thursday night.

Stay tuned...

 

[LuvEeyore]

Joining in to hear more.

 

[HermanTriplets+1]

Sounds like FUN!!! Where is Discovery Cove? I'm not that up to date on Florida stuff other than WDW! Have a great time and take lots of pictures and notes for those of us waiting to hear...

 

[dthogue]

Sounds like FUN!!! Where is Discovery Cove? I'm not that up to date on Florida stuff other than WDW! Have a great time and take lots of pictures and notes for those of us waiting to hear...

Discovery Cove is near Sea World - the highlight of the park is swimming with a dolphin.

 

[dthogue]

One More Week ​

One week from today we will be boarding the Disney Dream. We have been looking at the web cams, it's neat to see the ships in port.

Today was packing day - everything that can be packed has been packed and ready to go. All that needs to be added is last minute stuff that needs washed on Thursday.

DD and I got pedicures today - I picked a hot pink color, that yells - I'M GOING ON VACATION

Let's hope the next 4 days go fast - we are leaving Friday Morning, I'm ready to go now!

 

[vmedisneymom]

Nice! Looking forward to seeing you on the boat and reading along Maybe I will get inspired to write a report too

 

[LuvEeyore]

Cant wait for the trip report. Hope you all have a blast

 

[dthogue]

2 MORE DAYS ​

til we leave. 2 more days to work - hope they go by quickly.

I must admit that right now I am so excited for our day at Discovery Cove! I was talking to a co-worker of mine yesterday who just returned from Orlando and went to Discovery Cove. She was so excited about their visit and was telling me how wonderful their day was. This is a surprise for DD and I know she is going to be so excited

 

[dthogue]

Nice! Looking forward to seeing you on the boat and reading along Maybe I will get inspired to write a report too

looking forward to meeting you too - it won't be long now!!!

 

[dthogue]

Well the day is finally here - after many, many months of planning our trip is about to begin.

The suitcases are all packed - boy did I have trouble with that. We are flying Airtran and only checking one suitcase and doing carry ons for everything else. I tried to pack lightly, but I don't think I was too successful. My FE gifts for the kids are in my checked bag and weigh a ton. Anyway, I have everything packed, I just don't know where anything is. I'm going to have to regroup when we get to the hotel tonight and reorganize everything. We have 3 carry on suitcases and 3 personal bags - hopefully we'll be able to find overhead bin space, wish me luck.

We are leaving for the airport about 8:45am. We have to stop on the way to drop off our doggie at grandma's.

Stay tuned, I'll try to come back tonight and recap the day!

 

[jenandjuice]

joining in to follow your journey!

 

[LuvEeyore]

Hope you have a great cruise. We watched the Magic sail away today. You were at mickey's very Merry Christmas Party, werent you? Cant wait to hear more!!

 

[SoCaOC-Mom]

Checking in, I hope you love your trip.

 

[heaven2dc]

Can't wait to read all about your trip! It seems that we plan so long for these Disney vacations and think the time will never get here and then all of a sudden, it's time to go! Hope you are having a blast!

 

[dthogue]

Quick Summary for the day...

Flight at 2:20 on Airtran out of Baltimore Washington International

Breakfast on the way to the airport was at Chick Fil A

Long Term Parking - Airport FastPark Blue lot - shuttle to the terminal.

Airtran - checked in online, but had to wait about 10 minutes in line to check our bag.

Security - no problems, maybe 10 minute wait

Flight - boarded and left on time - the crew seemed very disorganized, but overall the flight was fine

Luggage - waited what seemed like forever for our one suitcase, I think it was the last piece off

Rental Car - we used Budget this trip, my rental total was $57.00 for a mid size car, we had a Nissan Altima (great car by the way) that we would be returning to Port Canaveral on Sunday before the cruise. Yes, they did put a hold on my credit card for $200.00 - I was told by others that they didn't do this, but for me they did.

The drive to Lake Buena Vista took about 20 minutes and we headed directly to the hotel.

Hotel - we stayed at the Clarion Inn on Palm Parkway for 2 nights. I booked the room for $40.00/night on their website. The hotel was nice, although our room faced the highway was nosiy. In the room we had 2 double beds, a micro and fridge in a divided room. For what we wanted, it was perfect.

Dinner - we went to House of Blues at Downtown Disney for dinner (using a restaurant.com gift certificate). Boy did we love this place - the atmosphere was so fun, the food was excellent and we had terrific service.

After dinner walked around DTD for a little bit, then back to the hotel to call it a night.

Day 2 - Discovery Cove

 

[LuvEeyore]

Sounds like day one was a good day!!

 

[heaven2dc]

Your first day sure had its ups and downs! Great price on the car rental and the hotel room Can't wait to hear about Day 2!

 

[jedijill]

I'm in! Can't wait to hear all about it.

Jill in CO

 

[shezfrombermuda]

I am joining in and eager to hear all about Discovery Cove (your cruise too!)