April 18th, 2009! - PATRIOT'S OF THE CARIBBEAN - Western Magic!

[castlegazer]

I really highly recommend the Hyatt - right in the airport. It is so nice, convenient, and then the next morning they will take your bags right from in front of your room down to the DCl buses and put them right on - you just get up and walk down to check out and then to the bus transfers.

You can get great prices on the rooms too.

I get prices from Hyatt.com and Priceline, and Hotwire.

We always stay here if we get in late. This trip we are not because we get in mid day.

As for transfers, we rent cars, but you can do as I described above and purchase bus transfers through DCL and it's super easy. They go right from the airport out to the port - or they also go from certain Disney World resorts right out to the port.

Navigators are posted here on the DIS.

Let me go get the link......

 

[castlegazer]

You should probably start here: http://www.wdwinfo.com/wdwinfo/cruise-new/cr-overview.htm for info on transfers, etc.

and then go to the navigators here:
http://www.wdwinfo.com/Photos/DCL-Navigators/2-24-07/index.htm

The link to the most recent navigator for the western itinerary doesn't work - so this is the best one and its way back to 2/07. But it gives you what you may need.

Remember that we will be cruising after the dry dock, so I am looking forward to the navigators that will be posted after October!

 

[cctimmom]

is this the right Hyatt?

Hyatt Regency Orlando International Airport
9300 Airport Boulevard
Orlando, Florida, USA

 

[castlegazer]

Oh, by the way, my spreadsheet also has that sunset is 7:50 pm at that time of year in Key West! But I am going much more laid back with the spreadsheets this year!

OK - I am off to book an excursion........ No, seriously, I need to book a private charter in Grand Cayman for our party! WooHOOOOO!!!!

 

[castlegazer]

is this the right Hyatt?

Hyatt Regency Orlando International Airport
9300 Airport Boulevard
Orlando, Florida, USA

Yes!

It's totally awesome!

It works great for us when renting cars too. I get up early in the morning and go get the car prior to the crush of passengers and then bring it around to the hotel parking and it's ready to go when my family gets up.

 

[cctimmom]

I just booked the hotel... he he he... checked off the list

It's showing as $229/night. Through my company, I just got executive/concierge service for $2 more. I hope that was a good deal... lol


So... tell me how you deal with a rental car vs. the Disney bus. On our RCCL cruise, I thought we were told that you could take a rental car up to the port... is there are rental drop off location at the Disney port? Is it a specific rental agency that you can use, or can you use any of them?

Thank you soooooooooooooooooooooo much for answering all of my questions. I like to know what to expect and what I should do and not second guess afterwards that I should have done it differently... lol

 

[cctimmom]

ok... next question of the day.

What are the sleeping arrangements for a family of 4 ON the cruise? Anyone have any pictures?

(My 12 years old does NOT want to sleep in the same bed with her little brother... we're already having a who-ha over the fact that the Hyatt only has double beds and won't allow a rollaway bed in the room due to fire hazards... oh boy! )

 

[castlegazer]

I posted a huge response and lost it when posting - I HATE IT WHEN THAT HAPPENS!!!!!

Ok - In response to your questions I have several links for everyone to check out:

Here is a really great compilation of all things one needs to know when cruising DCL http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=1002071

Here is a link for all things one needs to know about traveling to the port: http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=1520273
Shirley is an angel and puts everything you can think of in this thread and updates it often. There is a HUGE portion of this dedicated to rental cars.

She goes and checks out the managers, companies, everything prior to reocmmeding them on this thread.

I usually get about $199 for the Hyatt but haven't booked it in a year or so, so I think you did very well.

As for sleeping arrangements, I will see if I can post a picture of the cabins for you to see.

As for kids sleeping at the Hyatt, there is an awesome roof top pool, and yu can tell them you'll buy them something downstairs in the airport shops - which are soo awesome - if they'll suck it up for one night! LOL!!!

 

[castlegazer]

You see how over the couch there are some knob thingies, well these are where the pull down bed is. I have aphoto of it all deployed, but I don't think I will post it as my kids are sitting on the floor and in the bed. The couch slides out to be a flat surface - comfy by the way - and the bed comes down from the ceiling and has a rail on it. It was pretty comfy for us sleeping - no idea about teenagers, though.

 

[castlegazer]

There's a cool virtual stateroom tour thread going on right now:
http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=1025732

This is posted by SeaSpray and she has a couple of BIG teenagers:

 

[castlegazer]

 

[castlegazer]

Konk Kooler!!!! Mine looked a lot more ornage than this I thought, but nevertheless - here is a pic!!! My absolute favorite thing in the world to drink while on a cruise!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[castlegazer]

OK - this is more like what I remembered! And exactly how I was drinking mine! This is Christi though, not me.

 

[castlegazer]

and to keep up the good mood today on our thread - here is a Bahama Mama:

 

[castlegazer]

Oh man I am on a roll!!!!

 

[castlegazer]

and for coffee fanatics like myself and my husband!

 

[castlegazer]

OK - should I now post a question of the Day?

I can't think of any - my brain has gone sloshy with these pics...

Sorry - feel free to post your own

 

[aljsdad]

OK - so I'm sure you can tell who I'm attached to by the user name

My question is, What are our options for the kids when we go to Palo's

 

[castlegazer]

Hey there!!!

It was the pics of the drinks, wasn't it, that got you posting??!!! Admit it!!!

Ok, now in all seriousness, I had to go back and check the ages of your kids.

You know I heard of someone actually sending their kids, about your kids' ages, to dinner at the restaurant and then letting them go off to the clubs.

They let the servers know they would be doing that and it worked out great and their kids had the BEST time. They were treated like royalty and pampered by the servers.

But the clubs do serve dinner to the kids - they take them up to Topsiders for dinner. So, you send them to the club and off you go to Palo!

We had the worst scenario on our cruise trying to do this because my daughter was in Flounders Reef Nursery at the time.

We were struggling to get them fed prior to us heading to the spa and then to Palo - we ended up being late to the spa, then rushing and not relaxing through the whole treatment and then rushing off - all oily from a massage, to Palo. It was not relaxing at all. But Palo was very very nice when we finally sat down, relaxed, had a drink and began to enjoy ourselves.

So I say, do whatever it takes to be as calm and carefree about the children as possible.

 

[cctimmom]

I think the Konk Kooler is going to be my new BFF! Thanks for posting not only the pics, but also the pic of the descriptions!