August 12, 2011 Disney Dream Meet Link Here

[tdmathews]

Wow, wish I was going tomorrow!! I would book airfare as soon as possible. I don't think it will go down and since it is so close to schools starting I think it will not get a lot better, but just my opinion.

I think since it is so hot that we will be spending a lot of time at the pool. That is my main reason for Wilderness Lodge VS POP. We are planning on going to the parks early and then swimming and going back to the parks in the evening.

 

[Gary Pinkos]

We will be staying at Bay Lake Tower for 6 days after the cruise. I have always stayed at Old Key West, but excited about this change.

Thinking about driving down from PA......haven't done that in years, but we have 4 drivers now and every day the air prices seem to get higher & higher.

Wish I would have booked flight down a few months ago, but southwest didn't have return dates yet, now the rates to orlando are like $50.00 or $60.00 pp higher X 5 of us............ouch.

Looking forward to the cruise........need it bad!

Gary

 

[tdmathews]

I understand about the airfare! I was so torn when I booked. I just decided to pay the bucks. For four of us from BWI direct to MCO non-stop on Airtran we paid about $850.00, which is more than we usually pay. If I flew out of DC it would have been less airfare, but BWI is only 15 minutes from my house. I keep checking and the flights we booked have already gone up $250.00 total, it is crazy!!!

Bay Lake Tower looks beautiful. Wish we could stay there too, but most likely Wilderness Lodge. I am just happy to be going. We leave Saturday on the last flight out. The kids start school on Tuesday so they will have a few days to relax.

 

[Gary Pinkos]

How many cruises have you been on......how many Disney?

This is our third Disney cruise, the first two were on the Wonder.

One other cruise .....many many years ago, went to Bermuda, don't even recall the ships name......we did leave from NY

 

[tdmathews]

We have three Disney all on the Wonder.

3 on NCL: Alaska (NCL Star), Bermuda and Bahamas (NCL Gem).

3 on Royal Caribbean: 2 times to Bermuda (Grandeur) and 1 time Bahamas (old ship).

We have gone out of New York this past Thanksgiving week. Baltimore, Port Canaveral and Seattle were other ports.

All of the cruises except to Bermuda have been smooth sailing. Bermuda was always rough waters.

The last Disney was January 2010 B2B. It was wonderful. My girls knew about the first cruise and we surprised them with the second. Disney Cruise did a great job keeping it secret! They were so wonderful. It was the best cruise EVER.

 

[levisfam]

Hello All:

First time cruisers here... Very excited and would love any advice/help/tips....

Looking forward to chatting with anyone that might be on our cruise. We are arriving on the 11th, and then after the cruise will be staying at Wilderness Lodge until the 24th. We've been DVC members since 2008, but have never been on a cruise.

Jamey
Steve
DS (11)
DD(6)
Dnephew (10)

Oh yeah, we might be interested in participating in the Fish Extender as well

We were thinking of doing the seahorse snorkeling at CC, and were wondering if anyone has ever done that? We are a little nervous because DD hasn't been swimming for long and thought maybe 45 minutes in the water might be a bit too long for her

OK hope to talk to you all soon!!!

 

[lexandme]

Welcome Levisfam

Trip to WDW was great! Very tired and the feet are sore but well worth it. "The Magic, The Memories and You" show at the Magic Kingdom is beautiful and is on before and after "Wishes". I recommend it! I stayed at POP Century again and have decided we need to try another place for the cruise. Have decided we'll do AKL. We enjoyed staying there for one night prior to our last cruise and DH and DS want to spend a little more time there.

This will be our third DCL trip. First was a 4 night Wonder in 05, then a 7 night western in 08. DH and I renewed our wedding vows (20 years!!!) on the Wonder. That was a lot of fun. The ceremony was in the Cadillac Lounge while we were docked in Nassau. Capt. John officiated, and after the ceremony we all drank a lot of champagne, went to the lobby for pictures with Mickey and Minnie then to Palo for dinner.
We have never cruised on any other cruise line. We're considering a trip out of New Jersey or New York just to eliminate the air fare.

 

[tdmathews]

Glad you are coming Levisfam! I think we are staying at the Wilderness lodge also!! We are very excited.

We have not done the seahorse snorkling, we have only done the snorkling at CC. Don't know if that is the same. Anyway my girls were all excited until they saw a fish swim up next to them and then they did not want to do it anymore!! LOL

They go in the water but do not snorkle now. They are 11 and 12.

My oldest used a raft and went out to the playground in the water (don't know what you call it). She had a blast. This is the first time we will be at CC in August. All the other times we have been there in January and the water is cold. Hope that helps, personally we will only book our excursions on that day at CC. When we were there in January they had openings on all but I know this will be a much busier time so I am rolling the dice but we never know what the weather is going to be like.

 

[CareBear05]

Got some pixie dust sprinkled on our group today! We, the last minute planners, decided on Saturday to use my family's DVC points to get a Grand Villa for two nights before the cruise. We had banked points from last year that we were going to lose so, why not? The chances of booking a GV 5 months out in the summer months...slim to none, so my hopes were not high. Well, called this morning and it's official..... we'll be living the high life at BLT in a GV from the 10th-12th!!!!!!!!! I'll be sitting on the balcony enjoying a cold beverage and watching Wishes on my birthday!!

Gary, I feel your pain on the airfare. I have to book too and Southwest held me up while waiting for return flights. I posted awhile back that I found a rate for $230 on Airtran, now it's up to $350. It's just going to get worse with oil prices going up. I'm pretty sure everyone in our group (except for myself) are driving down from PA, smart people. I just don't have the patience for that long of a car ride, especially not when it involves getting to Disney.

Has anyone done the parasailing on CC? It looks amazing, but I'm not sure how I would do with being that high up.

 

[Gary Pinkos]

Got some pixie dust sprinkled on our group today! We, the last minute planners, decided on Saturday to use my family's DVC points to get a Grand Villa for two nights before the cruise. We had banked points from last year that we were going to lose so, why not? The chances of booking a GV 5 months out in the summer months...slim to none, so my hopes were not high. Well, called this morning and it's official..... we'll be living the high life at BLT in a GV from the 10th-12th!!!!!!!!! I'll be sitting on the balcony enjoying a cold beverage and watching Wishes on my birthday!!

Gary, I feel your pain on the airfare. I have to book too and Southwest held me up while waiting for return flights. I posted awhile back that I found a rate for $230 on Airtran, now it's up to $350. It's just going to get worse with oil prices going up. I'm pretty sure everyone in our group (except for myself) are driving down from PA, smart people. I just don't have the patience for that long of a car ride, especially not when it involves getting to Disney.

Has anyone done the parasailing on CC? It looks amazing, but I'm not sure how I would do with being that high up.

We did book on Airtran on Saturday (it was killing me every time the prices on Southwest went up). Used American Express rewards, not driving into PHL, instead flying from Allentown......closer and cheaper to park. Did save some money, we will see how much after we get done with bag fees......but I am booked....and have stopped the worry over increases.

 

[mickeymyfavorite]

Count us in!
Just booked a 4 day cruise on the Disney Dream for August 12,2011
Myself and my 16yr old son cannot wait.
This will be our 1st Disney cruise.
We are from Long Island, NY
We both are really looking forward to this cruise on the Dream!

 

[Gary Pinkos]

Hi mickeymyfavorite:
Congrats on signing up for the cruise & welcome to the boards!

My name is Gary, my wife Janet.....and three daughters 21, 17 & 16 will be along on the August 12th cruise. This will be out 3rd cruise......we just love it.

 

[lexandme]

Welcome mickeymyfavorite ºoº

Carebear - My DH has done the parasailing at CC and at WDW. He loves it and says that once you start going up you forget about being scared because it's so amazing. He also said you are very secure. They ask if you want "dipped" and if you agree they bring you down and have you skim the water. He also does the jetski tour. It's very fast and you get bounced around a lot.
I remember you said you work on the Southside. Are you with UPMC by any chance? I'm at 24th and E.Carson at Veterans Leadership Program. Perhaps we could meet for lunch in the future?

 

[CareBear05]

Welcome mickeymyfavorite ºoº

Carebear - My DH has done the parasailing at CC and at WDW. He loves it and says that once you start going up you forget about being scared because it's so amazing. He also said you are very secure. They ask if you want "dipped" and if you agree they bring you down and have you skim the water. He also does the jetski tour. It's very fast and you get bounced around a lot.
I remember you said you work on the Southside. Are you with UPMC by any chance? I'm at 24th and E.Carson at Veterans Leadership Program. Perhaps we could meet for lunch in the future?

That's great to hear! I think the security thing is what had me worried, I'll be ok if I don't feel like I'm gonna fall out! I've seen some photos from people while they were up in the air and they look stunning. Now my next decision is camera or no camera. I am down on the Southside, but I'm on West Carson towards the West End Bridge. I work for Concentra in long grey "warehousey" looking building by the bridge. I'd love to do lunch and meet a fellow cruiser before we set sail! In the meantime I'm off to clean, do laundry and spend too much money on airfare. Sigh...

 

[lexandme]

I have a question for all of you DVC members. I have been seriously considering membership. We have been going to WDW every year for the past 8 years, staying at least 7 days each trip. We have done the cruise twice. I don't see an end to these trips in our future (yea!). Have you found joining the DVC a real savings? Is it a hassle or is it easy to book. How many points do you recommend? Resale or directly from Disney? I know - a lot of questions! I have received the sales pitch from Disney but wanted to know what real people think!

 

[clairelly]

Hello from the UK!!

This will be our first ever cruise!, me, DH and DS aged 13 and sooo excited!!

 

[CareBear05]

For any of the people from the 'Burgh - I was online today and saw a huge drop in airfare prices. Last I looked they were $350 and today they were down to $199 on Airtran. Southwest had a significant drop as well, but still is $70 more than Airtran's price.

I know a lot of people have booked already, but I know that some airlines match a price drop on a flight already booked so I thought it was worth passing along!


PS - How 'bout them Pens!!!

 

[3smithboys]

Hello from the UK!!

This will be our first ever cruise!, me, DH and DS aged 13 and sooo excited!!

Glad to see you will be joining us! My DH, Nick, is from the UK as well! We also have a son who will be 13 at the time of the cruise. (We also have twin 8 year old boys as well.)

I also wanted to get back on the thread to let everyone know that the Dream is awesome! Nick and I had an amazing time! I will post some pictures in a bit. The pools in the kids areas did get very busy on the 3 day - we are hoping that they are not quite so bad on the 4. It seemed that people used the Nassau day as a sea day and did not get off the ship (just as we did as well!) The Quiet Cove was very nice - but it is used as a main walk through area...so if you can get around that one issue, it is enjoyable!

Our servers were awesome! We actually requested our server again for August. Cabanas buffet was wonderful... and I liked being seated by the CM and not having to hunt for a seat. We got there pretty much when it opened for lunch and never had to wait for a table. The 3 restaurants were also great - we didn't try Palo or Remy...I think we are going to try for a Palo ressie this time, and I don't think we will ever be brave enough for Remy.

We only went on the Aquaduck one time because we had to wait 30 minutes for it. I think we will have to be more strategic in our planning when we ride. I think early in the am and later in the evenings will be our best bets.... we thought that even coming back around 3 from CC would be a good time to grab another ride - nope - a line out the wazoo!!!

We visited the kids clubs to have a look - and they look amazing!!! I sure hope my guys like going there. They never have been big on going... if these clubs don't interest them, I don't know what will!

If you have any questions....ask away!!!

 

[leesoninva]

Hi everyone - I just found this board! We're from the Washington DC area and I'll be on the cruise with my mother (who's actually from Cincinnati) and my 2 children. It would be great to find some kids that are similar in age to mine (see below). We've been on one Disney Cruise before in 2004, so it's been a while. I think my kids will get a lot more out of it this time.

We'd love to participate in the FE! It sounds like fun and I'd never heard of it before. Here's our info:

Jean
Andrea
Ethan (11)
Natalia (9)

Cabin 6540

See you soon!

Andrea

 

[lexandme]

Welcome Clairelly!!

Big changes with my group. DH and DGS will not be able to join us so I have invited DH's girlfriend. It's going to be a graduation gift for them. We will be staying at AKL from the 10th to the 12th. Because Ian will have Chelsea with him I plan on being on my own a lot!!
I'm heading off to the TA this afternoon to finalize everything and pay off the balance.
Carebear: I noticed the drop in airfare also. I plan on booking our flights this afternoon as well. Gas prices go up and airfare goes down. Go figure!!!

Go Pens! Lord Stanley's comin' back to the Burgh.