Alaska ~ 8/13/12 ~ Midnight Sun Mouseketeers!

[tinkerbelltwins]

Hey Midnight Sun Mouseketeers -- we sail for Alaska in less than 23 weeks!

 

[tinkerbelltwins]

Hi everyone, I read in a thread that the brunch day offerings will be on the sea day, Tracy Arm day and Victoria day. So add that to your planning!

Beth

 

[TiggerAllie]

Hi everyone, I read in a thread that the brunch day offerings will be on the sea day, Tracy Arm day and Victoria day. So add that to your planning!

Beth

Those should also be the character breakfast days, right?

 

[Hallfamily2011]

Hi Everyone!

We're new to the board and are excited to be joining the August 13th Alaska cruise! Our group includes me (Carey), DH (Dave) and DS (Zach). Zach will be 12 at the time we sail. This is our second Disney cruise -- we were on the Med cruise in August 2011 and loved it! We didn't try the fish extender exchange for the Med cruise (too much to pack!), but we'd like to give it a try on this cruise. Counting the days until we sail . . .

 

[OC_stacylace]

Hi Carey! Welcome to our cruise and thread. It's been quiet for the most part, but I'm sure as the time approaches it will get busy. We have a son who will be 13 on the cruise, and his name is Dylan. Let me know if you want to exchange info for our boys to talk and meet before we cruise in August.

As for brunch, I plan on making a reservation for our first sea day for around 11. We did the brunch at Palo on our last cruise to Mexico. It was absolutely amazing, and I dream about the blue cheese and grape pizza and chicken parmesean. Best meal of the cruise, hands down. I hope to add a dinner reservation as well. I have been looking online and trying to figure out the dining rotation for the week. I am assuming that they will offer the special Taste of Alaska menu instead of the Pirate menu, but can't confirm what days these meals fall on. Has anyone else had luck on finding out what menus are what days, and when formal nights happen?

 

[tinkerbelltwins]

Hi Everyone!

We're new to the board and are excited to be joining the August 13th Alaska cruise! Our group includes me (Carey), DH (Dave) and DS (Zach). Zach will be 12 at the time we sail. This is our second Disney cruise -- we were on the Med cruise in August 2011 and loved it! We didn't try the fish extender exchange for the Med cruise (too much to pack!), but we'd like to give it a try on this cruise. Counting the days until we sail . . .

Welcome Aboard! You've been added to our Roll Call!

 

[Disnylvr77]

Well I'm too hoping to get a Palo brunch ressie for Alaska.

This will be our 5th disney cruise and I've not experienced Brunch yet! *GASP*

Everyone talks about how great it is so I hope to experience it soon.

We have a Western Carb cruise with Disney later this month but Palo is all booked right now. I'll report back if I get one once on board.

Stephanie

 

[tinkerbelltwins]

Stacy's right, the blue cheese with grapes pizza is to die for! Serious Yum.

If anyone finds out the rotations and when the various nights are (semi formal, pirate, formal) please post here and I'll put it over on the first page.

Fun news in my family....we are flying to San Diego and headed to Disneyland over spring break! It will be great getting reacquainted with Disneyland since most of our recent trips have been down to WDW.

 

[Jack'sGirl5]

Hi Beth,

Here is the dinner schedule that they had posted on another thread based on what they experienced last year -- I think I read that it is the same for 2012.

Menus/Themes:

Day 1: The restaurant menu (Island Dinner for Parrot Cay, French
Dinner for Triton's and Show Dinner for Animator's Palate). Dress is Cruise Casual.
Day 2: (At Sea) Formal Night, with the Golden Mickeys menu.
Day 3: (Tracy Arm) The restaurant menu, Cruise Casual.
Day 4: (Skagway) The new Taste of Alaska Menu, Cruise Casual.
Day 5: (Juneau) Restaurant menu, Pirate Attire or Cruise Casual.
Day 6: (Ketchikan) Captain's Gala menu, Semi-Formal attire.
Day 7: (A Sea) 'Til we Meet Again menu, Cruise Casual.

Also, wanted to let you know that I was just up on the Disney site and it looks like they have adjusted our port time for Juneau a little bit -- we are in at 6:30 now.

Have been just pouring over the shore excursions -- I think we are pretty set on Musher for a Day in Juneau, Bering Sea Crab Fishing in Ketchican and Ziplining in Skagway. Hard choices! Anyone else got theirs planned yet??

 

[tinkerbelltwins]

Hi Beth,

Here is the dinner schedule that they had posted on another thread based on what they experienced last year -- I think I read that it is the same for 2012.

Menus/Themes:

Day 1: The restaurant menu (Island Dinner for Parrot Cay, French
Dinner for Triton's and Show Dinner for Animator's Palate). Dress is Cruise Casual.
Day 2: (At Sea) Formal Night, with the Golden Mickeys menu.
Day 3: (Tracy Arm) The restaurant menu, Cruise Casual.
Day 4: (Skagway) The new Taste of Alaska Menu, Cruise Casual.
Day 5: (Juneau) Restaurant menu, Pirate Attire or Cruise Casual.
Day 6: (Ketchikan) Captain's Gala menu, Semi-Formal attire.
Day 7: (A Sea) 'Til we Meet Again menu, Cruise Casual.

Also, wanted to let you know that I was just up on the Disney site and it looks like they have adjusted our port time for Juneau a little bit -- we are in at 6:30 now.

Have been just pouring over the shore excursions -- I think we are pretty set on Musher for a Day in Juneau, Bering Sea Crab Fishing in Ketchican and Ziplining in Skagway. Hard choices! Anyone else got theirs planned yet??

Thanks Liz! I've moved that info and added the Palo brunch days to our first page post two. I also adjusted the time for Juneau -- yay they are adding more time to the schedule.

Let's all remember that DCL can change things up (and they often do!), so if you see anything adjusted differently as we move closer, please post your intelligence here.

 

[Disnylvr77]

Jack's Girl5,

Where did you find the adjusted port times??? I still leaving at 2pm.

We haven't figured out which excursions we are doing yet. I think we are going to do one of the Bear excursions since it will be bear season but not sure yet which one. Everything is so pricey and unique.

We are passing on the dog sledding on the glacier adventure due to price but I'm sure we will find something just as fun.

Stephanie

 

[Disnylvr77]

How exciting.

We've been to DL 10+ times in the past 9 years. We last went Nov 2010 it was great!

You will have a blast! TOTALLY Different than world. They've made some good changes in the past few years.

Stephanie

 

[Jack'sGirl5]

Jack's Girl5,

Where did you find the adjusted port times??? I still leaving at 2pm.

We haven't figured out which excursions we are doing yet. I think we are going to do one of the Bear excursions since it will be bear season but not sure yet which one. Everything is so pricey and unique.

We are passing on the dog sledding on the glacier adventure due to price but I'm sure we will find something just as fun.

Stephanie

Hi Stephanie,

Yep, we are still leaving Juneau at 2 by we now get into port at 6:30am instead of 7:15. I WISH they had moved our departure time back that far but no such luck (yet anyway). So they gave us only a little more time.

I know what you mean about the cost on the musher for a day . It was the one thing that my dd requested if we went on the Alaskan cruise so we will be there as long as it does not get cancelled (fingers crossed).

Some of those bear excursions look awesome by the way -- there were some really cool pics someone took on a bear excursion over on the port adventures site.

 

[Jack'sGirl5]

OOPs, hit send on my last before I was ready. Also meant to say that to see the adjusted port times go onto the Disney cruise site and select the 7 day Alaskan cruise. When the itinerary options come up just select Itinierary B (ours) and it will display the port times.

 

[tinkerbelltwins]

I also clicked onto the DCL site onto our cruise date and then onto the itinerary button and can see the earlier time of 6:30am that we arrive into Juneau. We are a family of early risers so the earlier the better as far as we're concerned!

I need to do some serious studying of the excursions this weekend. At first glance ,we like the Best of Juneau family adventure that has the whale watching and the Orca Point Lodge salmon feast. In Skagway, We are interested in doing the White Pass railroad with youth activity. Maybe the totems and lumberjack show in Ketchikan. So that might mean we'd do the 3-port package for families to combine it all. Victoria, we'll just walk around, I think.

Beth

 

[OC_stacylace]

Here are our top 3 for excursions:

1. 4x4 Mule ride in Skagway: These are like oversized golf carts which you ride in groups of 4, perfect for our family, up a mountain trail, with stops at a lodge for cookies on the way up, and lunch on the way down.

2. Historic panning for gold and salmon bake in Juneau: This looks neat because you actually get to pan for gold in a real creek bed, rather than the constructed ones as in Liarsville. Have to have salmon in Alaska, right?

3. Lumberjack show in Ketchikan: Never seen anything like this in person, other than on ESPN and it looks crazy. It's a short excursion which leaves us time to walk around town and hopefully find some crab legs somewhere.

Like you guys, I would love to do the dog musher for a day or any of the helicoptor tours, but with our family of 4, it would cost too much money. Maybe when it's just the 2 of us, we can do things like that! By then we'll be too old we won't want to! lol

Thanks for posting the menu rotations. I'm sure they will be similar to last years, and I didn't even think to look at 2011 to see what they did.

I may want to skip the Till We Meet Again menu, as that wasn't our favorite. The baked alaska was okay, but not worth the whole meal. Golden Mickey's was alright. Will have to think about this one for palo dinner...

Is anyone thinking of buying cold weather gear on sale at the end of winter? I may need to invest in gloves and hats for us thin blooded Californians.

 

[OC_stacylace]

Fun news in my family....we are flying to San Diego and headed to Disneyland over spring break! It will be great getting reacquainted with Disneyland since most of our recent trips have been down to WDW.

How fun!! When is your spring break? Maybe we could meet up at DTD for some ice cream. BTW, they are finally putting in an Earl of Sandwich at the DTD out here which makes me so happy!

 

[tinkerbelltwins]

Stacy, We'll be there on April 4. If you are around, we'd love to meet you at DTD for ice cream.

Now I'm off to go look up the mule riding adventure as I don't remember that one. There are so many options to choose from -- I'm actually glad that lots of them don't allow kids under a certain age (mine are eight), as that means I don't have to investigate those options any further. I don't really care what we do because just being in Alaska sounds so different and wonderful.

Beth

 

[Jack'sGirl5]

I also clicked onto the DCL site onto our cruise date and then onto the itinerary button and can see the earlier time of 6:30am that we arrive into Juneau. We are a family of early risers so the earlier the better as far as we're concerned!

I need to do some serious studying of the excursions this weekend. At first glance ,we like the Best of Juneau family adventure that has the whale watching and the Orca Point Lodge salmon feast. In Skagway, We are interested in doing the White Pass railroad with youth activity. Maybe the totems and lumberjack show in Ketchikan. So that might mean we'd do the 3-port package for families to combine it all. Victoria, we'll just walk around, I think.

Beth

I wish we were a family of early risers -- I think the time my dd views as appropriate to wake up rises in direct proportion to how close she gets to the teenage years! I did manage to get her up and moving early at the trip we just took in February to Disney World so that we could take advantage of the short lines and she seemed to be OK so hopefully I will have the same luck on the cruise. Maybe I will just lean over her and chant "sled dog, sled dogs, sled dogs" -- that should do the trick.

We were thinking that we would probably just walk around Victoria too or take the horse drawn trolley tour. We are there for such a short time and I think our bags need to be outside the door that eve so if we do anything it will be short.

We had a tough time choosing excursions. That White Pass railway looked good to us too -- DD is too old for the one with the chirldrens activity but if she was younger we would have probably gone with that.

That other thing I would really, really like to do is the lumberjack show -- if we can fit both it and the ziplines into the same day then we will do that too.

I don't know if you had a chance yet to look at the Alaska excursion thread but I actually read through the whole thing over the last few days to help us pick excursions -- it was super helpful. We had originally selected a rafting excursion but changed our mind after reading other cruisers reviews. One thing I wanted to mention to you about the Best of Juneau adventure is that there were several reviews that did not like it because they said the boat was so big (100 passengers I think ). They felt they could not see much because of it and mentioned that there were other adventures that had a smaller boat that were better for actually being able to see the whales -- just something that you might want to check out.

 

[Jack'sGirl5]

OK, I have to admit that I am a little jealous of you guys all talking about Palo -- it sounds great! Since it is just dd and I though, I will have to opt out. Being a single mom is like most other things, some good stuff and some not so good. The good news on this trip is that since it is only two of us I can afford some of the pricier adventures but the bad news is that I need to opt out of some of the "adults only" stuff. I will just have to vicariously live through you guys on the Palo thing -- you'll have to give me food details later!

Beth --Congrats on your Disneyland trip! Although we do the World more often, we have been to the Land a few times too and love it just as much for totally different reasons. Have a ball!