A ~Magical~ Adventure! Disney Magic 4/13/12

[tkell]

Anyone dinning during the main seating? We will just so the kids and eat a couple night with us especially in Lumiere's and Pirate night.

We have the late seating.

 

[hamm1207]

Gooooooood Saturday morning everyone!

We are looking at excursions. Does anyone have any plans? I know on St Marrten we will be at the beach watching airplanes all day! On St thomas we are looking at the turtle cove sail and snorkel. On castaway we are thinking about doing the kayak and nature hike.

 

[jwcosta]

The helmet dive excursion sounds intriguing...also would like to do one of the catamaran sails.. We’ll see. We’re first time cruisers, so we may not be getting our first choices....

 

[MGoerz]

I was checking out the butterfly adventure in St. Maarten, Coral Cove is St. Thomas and would love to Kayak at Castaway. Just need to check with the family. I am trying not to plan to much and just go with it but don't want to miss anything either. Any hints would be great!

 

[EAP'sDAD]

Haven't been on the site for a while but getting in the planning mode for the trip. I have booked the Turtle cove excursion for St. Thomas as it looks like a good full day activity. Figure we will not do any excursions on St Marteen and just go hang at the beach for the day. Want to do the Jet ski excursion on castaway cay. We are also on the late seating for dinner as my kids are slow at getting ready for anything. Really looking forward to the trip.

 

[2CME911]

Hey everyone. Great to see some increased traffic on our thread!

Our family is thinking for excursions:
St Maarten - Maho Beach for the airplanes landing, will prob just take a taxi, and a little shopping in town...my wife likes a place called Shoppers Haven.
St Thomas/St John - would love to do the diving adventure but not fair to poor DW...will be looking at the St John island tour or Eco tour.
CC - probably just the 5k then relax on the family beach!

MGoerz - I think I remember reading on the boards somewhere about the butterflies, try searching for more info. Some have suggested in the past to do it on your own b/o too many people in the tour group...butterflies not as active (?)

jwcosta - you are right, I'm worried about getting squeezed out of excursions too. Don't forget the opening date for first-timers like us: January 29 at midnight EST...I believe that's a Saturday night. Please someone correct me if I'm wrong.

Pete

 

[MGoerz]

Thank you for the info. I will check out more info on the Butterfly. What is the 5K on CC??? I am interested and I think my husband would do it also. I would love to burn some cruise calories. Is it a walk or run? Sounds fun!


Yeah this is my number 10 message finally able to PM.......

 

[2CME911]

Thank you for the info. I will check out more info on the Butterfly. What is the 5K on CC??? I am interested and I think my husband would do it also. I would love to burn some cruise calories. Is it a walk or run? Sounds fun!


Yeah this is my number 10 message finally able to PM.......

I found this thread helpful: http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=2832945&highlight=5k

There are others as well, but if you read through this one I think you'll get the gist.

 

[jwcosta]

Hi. Just want to ask everyone who has done this before....what is the best (and perhaps most economical) way to get to and from the cruise terminal in Port Canaveral? We are spending two nights/oneday at Disney World (4/11-4/13) before arriving at Port Canaveral for the cruise, and then we will be heading from Port Canaveral to Orlando airport (with everyone else) on 4/20. What has everyone done before? Taxi? Rental car? The Disney transfer (@$70 pp) seems steep to me.....

Would appreciate everyone's thoughts on this....especially those who have done it before. Thanks! Joe

 

[tkell]

It's really no problem! Anyone wanting to participate just needs to PM the following info:
Disname
Names
Stateroom number
number of adults/children
Ages and genders of kids
Any special info, such as diabetic, food allergies, etc
Any special celebrations

The cutoff date will be approx one month before the sail date.

Add us to the list. I will have to PM you later with our room # (January 29th). After looking at the actual extenders, WOW get out the sewing machine, and the gifts... some are so creative. What to do, What to do?? I may be more excited than the boys.

 

[hamm1207]

Hi. Just want to ask everyone who has done this before....what is the best (and perhaps most economical) way to get to and from the cruise terminal in Port Canaveral? We are spending two nights/oneday at Disney World (4/11-4/13) before arriving at Port Canaveral for the cruise, and then we will be heading from Port Canaveral to Orlando airport (with everyone else) on 4/20. What has everyone done before? Taxi? Rental car? The Disney transfer (@$70 pp) seems steep to me.....

Would appreciate everyone's thoughts on this....especially those who have done it before. Thanks! Joe

It is $35 perperson each way. We have used disney many times and love it because it's a guarantee to get to the ship. If you get stuck in traffic or something hapoens and you are using disney transpirtation they will make sure you get to the ship, whereas a taxi cannot guarantee that. It is just the 2 of us and we find it cheaper than taxi. 3 people is about the same. 4+ people a taxi is cheaper.

 

[hamm1207]

Add us to the list. I will have to PM you later with our room # (January 29th). After looking at the actual extenders, WOW get out the sewing machine, and the gifts... some are so creative. What to do, What to do?? I may be more excited than the boys.

It's just my husband and me, and i really get into the FE stuff! I didn't make our FE, but that's because i have no artistic or sewng abilities! 3 months and 3 days to go! I better start planning my FE gifts and packing list!

 

[jwcosta]

It is $35 perperson each way. We have used disney many times and love it because it's a guarantee to get to the ship. If you get stuck in traffic or something hapoens and you are using disney transpirtation they will make sure you get to the ship, whereas a taxi cannot guarantee that. It is just the 2 of us and we find it cheaper than taxi. 3 people is about the same. 4+ people a taxi is cheaper.

Good points. We are staying at Disney for a couple of days before the cruise, so we need a transfer from WDW to the cruise terminal. What time do they typically get you to the terminal? Are they multiple stops along the way? Are there long lines once you get there?

My only thoughts about renting a car are that: 1) we could get there on our own time frame (i.e. even earlier than the bus would get us there; 2) we could stop along the way and pick up beer/wine, etc to bring with us on the cruise.

 

[hamm1207]

Good points. We are staying at Disney for a couple of days before the cruise, so we need a transfer from WDW to the cruise terminal. What time do they typically get you to the terminal? Are they multiple stops along the way? Are there long lines once you get there?

My only thoughts about renting a car are that: 1) we could get there on our own time frame (i.e. even earlier than the bus would get us there; 2) we could stop along the way and pick up beer/wine, etc to bring with us on the cruise.

I believe pick up at disney begins at 9, so you start getting to the terminal around 10-10:30. They will stop at one or two hotels on property before heading to the terminal. If staying at the value resorts, i think they stop at 3 of them. The pickup from the airport starts at 9 and buses leave every 15 or so minutes, and those are first come first served. The buses from the hotels- you will be given a pick up time and you meet in the lobby approx 15-30 min prior to departure.

There will be lines at the terminal, generally they aren't too bad. The first line is getting into the building-going through security, which is much less painful than airport security. Then there is a line for check in, where you will check in, give them your cruise documents and passports, get your key to the world (room key), etc. Then they board based on a boarding group number. Platinum cruisers and concierge are given group 1, and i believe the rest are given randomly (there has been much debate over this). You just wait for your boarding number to be called, then you board the ship.

If you have kids, you can sign up for youth activities at the terminal as well. There are also characters walking around every once in a while, and cartoons are playing for your enjoyment.

We like to get to the terminal as soon as we can. I'm not sure of the terminal opening time, or when check in actually begins. Sorry!

 

[2CME911]

Good points. We are staying at Disney for a couple of days before the cruise, so we need a transfer from WDW to the cruise terminal. What time do they typically get you to the terminal? Are they multiple stops along the way? Are there long lines once you get there?

My only thoughts about renting a car are that: 1) we could get there on our own time frame (i.e. even earlier than the bus would get us there; 2) we could stop along the way and pick up beer/wine, etc to bring with us on the cruise.

Joe you are now so hosed! I'm messaging you all the stuff I need you buy at the packy's!!!!

 

[jwcosta]

I believe pick up at disney begins at 9, so you start getting to the terminal around 10-10:30. They will stop at one or two hotels on property before heading to the terminal. If staying at the value resorts, i think they stop at 3 of them. The pickup from the airport starts at 9 and buses leave every 15 or so minutes, and those are first come first served. The buses from the hotels- you will be given a pick up time and you meet in the lobby approx 15-30 min prior to departure.

There will be lines at the terminal, generally they aren't too bad. The first line is getting into the building-going through security, which is much less painful than airport security. Then there is a line for check in, where you will check in, give them your cruise documents and passports, get your key to the world (room key), etc. Then they board based on a boarding group number. Platinum cruisers and concierge are given group 1, and i believe the rest are given randomly (there has been much debate over this). You just wait for your boarding number to be called, then you board the ship.

If you have kids, you can sign up for youth activities at the terminal as well. There are also characters walking around every once in a while, and cartoons are playing for your enjoyment.

We like to get to the terminal as soon as we can. I'm not sure of the terminal opening time, or when check in actually begins. Sorry!

Thanks very much. Great info!

 

[hamm1207]

Better start packing...exactly 3 months until we set sail! Walking into the hockey game last nighy, in the middle of our snow storm/blizzard, i just kept saying "three months until we're in the caribbean!"

 

[EAP'sDAD]

Me and my daughter were talking this morning that today is friday the 13th we leave in 13 weeks and it will be friday the 13th when we leave.

 

[hamm1207]

Current temperature is -18! The caribbean cannot come fast enough at the moment.

To revise my originally posted pick up times. The first bus leaves MCO at 9am, and my husband corrected me-he thinks the pick up time at WDW is 11am.

 

[2CME911]

You got us beat, Sarah. +27 and sunny right now in Southern Maine after our first significant snow fall 2 days ago! Sorry to hear you guys are getting pounded with cold and snow!

By my count exactly 90 days to go!!!! Better get the FE ordered and start coming up with some ideas!