Ash the Shubman/DISAddict dares to Dream of a Double Dip

[ashman]

Just when you thought it was safe to go back onto the Dis, heeeeeeee's BAAAAAAACK! The fam and I are Florida bound for the 5 Night Double Dip on the Dream. This time I'm waiting til a bit closer to start the PTR (that's pre-trip report). For those who may be wondering, "Who the heck is this nutjob?", my name is Ashman and I like to write Trip Reports (*in sing song voice*) "HI Ashman!". I wrote about my family's first trip with Disney here, our second trip with extended family here, and even *GASP* a trip report on another cruise line here. Although *in hushed whisper voice* I never really finished that one!

So heading back to DCL this time on the dream for TWO trips to Castaway Cay. Well before we get to all the great pre-trip goodness, let's meet the cast one more time.

 

[ashman]

When we went on the first Disney cruise my oldest (I'll refer to her as SweetChild) was 7, here's a pic:

And my youngest (aka MiniMe) was 5:

And here they are ages 9 and 7 before our second cruise:

And another shot going back on the Wonder (I love the Cast member hamming it up in the back ground!):

And here is a shot of them last summer on a cruise my folks took us on:

Now let's take a closer look at them.......

 

[ashman]

Here is a shot of Sweet Child dressed up as Molly Pitcher for her School Project:

She is 11 now and just finished fifth grade. UUUGGGGGHHHH! I have a middleschooler now, how did that happen so fast?!?!?!?

That said, she is still a GREAT kid and lives up to her nickname!

Here is a shot of MiniMe roasting some Peeps at a campout:

She is now 9 and just finished 3rd grade.

 

[ashman]

The grownups don't change as much (except my wife is better looking these days I think!) but here I am prior to the first cruise

and my wife MommaNurse

and some shots before our second cruise of me:

and the missus:

Family shot during our first cruise:

Us on St. Thomas last summer, we were on RCCL but notice the DCL pirate bandanas!

My lovely ladies on a hike we took last summer:

Now that you are reacquainted, let's get down to the nitty gritty of the PTR!

 

[abitagirl916]

Hi Ashman!!! Loving your pre-trip report already, and you're just getting started. I think I will enjoy this report the most out of all of your reports, because my DD and I will be on the same cruise as you and your family!! Looking forward to getting on the ship!!

 

[Steven41782]

subscribing....we'll be on this cruise too!

 

[ewinme]

Us three looking forward to meeting you in just under 2 weeks!!!

 

[KSFrogge]

Ashman I was hoping you would start a report! The others are so great.

Our kids are the same age - and get this funny tidbit: My DD Rhiannon (Rhee) also dressed up as Molly Pitcher for HER school project this year!

Keep the pre-trip coming! See you in a week and 5 days!!

 

[ashman]

Okay I have a great travel agent. I consider her a good friend and would never hesitate to recommend her to a friend. That said we have a fun little teasing war that goes on when it comes to Disney Cruises. She likes to give me a hard time because I like to book in advance, WAAAAAAAAAAAYYYYYYYYY in advance! Some call it crazy, some call it OCD, I call it being "DISsavvy!"

This cruise is no different. I booked this cruise back in October of 2009! Practically two years from the trip date!

"You're mad, you're crazy to book so far out" She would tell me, I would tell her nevermind just book it! I got an email from her a few weekes ago, here is a snippit:

"I have had so many people call me about the Dream for June, July and August and it is sold out all summer. I used to make fun of you for planning 14 years in advance, but now I consider you brilliant. "

Thank you DIS! We may be a bunch of nut jobs here but we know Disney Crusies!

Now booking the cruise is one thing, telling the kids is another. Just because I know the trip is coming in about 1.75 years doesn't mean I need to tell the kids now. That is just plain crazy talk! . So I'm gonna wait to tell the kids. I'm gonna tell you how I did it in the next installment. If you want a hint just scroll down a bit.



















See you in the next installment!

 

[Bashful in TN]

I'll be on your cruise too! Can't wait to meet everyone in person!

 

[ashman]

Okay it is 2009, and my wife and I are planning on taking our kids on a cruise. We have done the "wait until a few months away to tell them" route (see DCL cruise one) and the "tell as soon as possible route" (see DCL cruise two [AGAIN NOT OUR IDEA!]) and we definitely like the short time away route. One day I would love to pull the "get out of bed and get dressed kids, we are going on a DCL cruise today" route but I don't think I could hold it in!


So that year, 2009 remember, at Christmas my dad asks me if he can take the whole family on an RCCL 9 day cruise. I am very grateful and say sure. So he tells the kids as part of their Christmas he is going to take them on a RCCL cruise in June.


My kids try to put on the brave face and say the right things but they aren't that thrilled about it. My dad presses them for a reason and they finally say "Weeellllll, it's not a Disney Cruise". My dad then proceeds to list a bunch reasons why an RCCL cruise is just as good as DCL cruise. My kids (7 and 10 at the time) shoot every reason down. My 7 year old puts the cherry on the sundae when she says, "On a Disney cruise, they shoot off fireworks from the ship, they are the only ships who can do that you know!"


I don't know whether to cry or to laugh. I try to let my dad down easy. I point out to him that he has never been on any cruise line other than RCCL and the kids have only done DCL. Both cruise lines become the lens that others are viewed by.


Fast forward to summer of 2010, we do the RCCL cruise. I loved being with my family and going to the Caribbean, but DCL has spoiled me. I was nice but it wasn't Disney.


But there I go again, not getting down to the details. You guys know me, I like to give more back story and details than a James A Michener novel! Besides I've 10 days to my trip starts so I have to string it out a bit!

 

[dbenlee]

String it out Ashman, we're listening. I think many of us readers are also waiting those 10 days out to join you on this cruise. Great start to a pre-trip report!

 

[ashman]

My wife and I started a new tradition about 5 years ago. Instead of getting the kids something for Christmas (big present wise) we instead reveal what big trip we are taking that year as a family. I like this because the kids remember the trip far longer than the stuff. We did a big scavenger hunt for our first DCL cruise and it was a blast. So we decided to go for the similar type of Christmas "reveal"!

Wait a second mister!!! I thought you said you didn't like telling the kids to far in advance! Well, that is true, when we did the first Christmas reveal, it was for a cruise that was only 45 days away, this one was going to be a little over 5 months. That said we figured the kids could handle it being a bit older now.

So my ever thrifty, bargin shopping wife found these awesome red and black rolling bag suitcases with a Mickey shillouette. We got the girls' name put on them and had delievery scheduled for mid week when the kids were at school. So easy, what could go wrong?

Well I'm sure you know better than that! the day of delievery, my wife had an appointment she couldn't get out of. Okay, okay no big deal. One of my kids gets sick and has to stay home! WITH ME! So what to do, what to do?

Well I decided to play as straight as I could with my kid. She is very sharp so she would probably see right through whatever on the spot, non spouse approved ruse I could come up with. So I told her, "Honey, something is coming today, you can't see it. When I tell you, go to to your room, don't come out until I tell you otherwise! Got it!?"

Thankfully she did and didn't push it. So the delivery guy comes and they are in HUGE boxes!. I ship my kid off to her room. Drag the stuff back to my room, dump a bunch of stuff out of the closet, stuff the boxes in, cover it up and lock up the room. I then go get my kid. She opens the door with a smirk that says "Dad you are a goober!" and says to me, "Dad you are weird", and I am thinking, "Kid you have NOOOOOO idea!"

So we get the bags in the house, now we gotta get them wrapped, get rid of the GINORMOUS boxes that have DISNEY splattered all over them, and get them under the tree. But that of course will have to wait for another chapter!

 

[jedijill]

Yay! Another Ashman TR!!!!!!

Great start.

Jill in CO

 

[Tink rules]

Thank you DIS! We may be a bunch of nut jobs here but we know Disney Crusies!

who?? Us???


welcome back Ash!

 

[Scouter]

Present!

 

[mousetravel]

I'm here too! Can't wait to see you and all the other "nut jobs" on this cruise!!

 

[abitagirl916]

C'mon Ashman, don't keep us hanging too long!!! I'm anxiously waiting for another segment!

 

[LuvEeyore]

OK Ashman!! Hurry up with another installment or I'll have to cross the VA /NC line and hunt down the installment.

 

[ashman]

So here was the plan, We got what looked like gigantic trash bags with Mickeys all over them to put the new roller bags in. We made home made cards and put them in envelopes attached to the outside of the bags. Inside the card was the following poem:

"This present isn't at first what it seems,
to figure it out you must work as a team.
So work hard, but don't hurry rush or dash
some pieces are clues and others are trash
Put the letters together without error or slip,
to find out where we will take our next trip!"

We then took eight pieces of blank printing paper and wrote out T-H-E-D-R-E-A-M and put half in one bag and half in the other. After that, we filled the bags up with old tests, quizzes, homework assignments. You know, the myriad of paperwork that comes home from school? Well it provided ample fodder for this project!

We had been priming the pump as well because right about this time was when DCL was releasing all the videos of the Dream. You remember the ones with the cruise director taking you on tours of different part of the ship? Well my youngest caught me looking at one and asked what it was. I told her, and the girls went crazy! Seemingly everyday they asked permission to borrow the computer to see if there was a new video to see. They would ask "When can we go?" I would tell them that this is the sort of thing you have to book a long time out. It was December and even if there was space still available on the ship, the prices would be too much for next summer. If we ever get to go, we will have to book a long ways out!

What what? What is that look for? I didn't technically lie to my child! Every thing I said true, maybe a little heavy on misdirection but it WAS TRUE!

Anyway, we put the bags out under the tree and enjoyed the guessing! We travel each year for Christmas. One year, my folks, the next year, my wife's folks. So we normally don't put stuff under the tree for the kids. Well we did this year, and I loved their conversations:

Child 1: It's another cruise!
Child 2: No dad, said it had to be booked along time ago
Child 1: Well maybe he did and didn't tell us!
Child 2: But they've already done a cruise at Christmas
Child 1: SO?
Child 2: They aren't doing it again!
Child 1: So what is it?
Child 2: We are going to Disney World!
Child 1: You think?


You get the picture. Some say we are cruel for stringing the kids along like that. I say it's fair game! I've had to sit on this for over a year at this point, I'm going to have some fun with it!

Next installment........ CHRISTMAS MORNING!!!!!