August 12, 2011 Disney Dream Meet Link Here

[lexandme]

Welcome leesoninva

Paid off trip, booked WDW AKL for two nights prior to cruise and booked air. It's a good feeling to be done with that but it's hard to write those checks knowing how long I've been saving!
We're flying AirTran. Got nonstop flights, RT from Pgh for 598.00 for 3. When I started looking in January it was almost 1,000.00. That's a considerable savings.

It's hard to imagine we can all start booking activities and dining in a little over a month - May 14

 

[lexandme]

Ok, 3smithboys - here go the questions!

How was the Aquaduck (besides the long line)? Well worth the wait?

I know the ship is 40% bigger than the Wonder or Magic, but did you think it felt crowded? I'm wondering about the pools and Castaway Cay family beach. It's tough to get a spot on the smaller ships!

Are they still using H2O products? (I love the body lotion)

Good to hear they seat you in the buffet. That would be an advantage as well.

A friend went to Remy and said it was wonderful. I saw her pictures and I don't think I could do it. Pigeon? They can call it any beautiful French word they want but I still get a visual of a bird in the park!

 

[3smithboys]

Ok, 3smithboys - here go the questions!

How was the Aquaduck (besides the long line)? Well worth the wait?

The Aquaduck was fun, but not worth a 30-40 minute wait IMO. BUT we don't wait for anything in the parks for that long either! We are park commandos - get there at opening and use Fastpass, etc. We are going to figure out how to get on that thing at the best times. It seemed to always be busy, though. It was open during Pirate Night a bit later... if the kids want to go on it then I think I will have them ready to go!

I know the ship is 40% bigger than the Wonder or Magic, but did you think it felt crowded? I'm wondering about the pools and Castaway Cay family beach. It's tough to get a spot on the smaller ships!

The family pools seemed crazy crowded, but when we walked through the area if we wanted seats by the pool we could have gotten 2 together. The adult area was nice. We really enjoyed it. Castaway Cay was beautiful!!! They did a great job with the expansion. We didn't think it was any more crowded than before. We went to the Serenity Bay for the first time in the morning, and it was heavenly!!! Then we went to the family beach in the afternoon so Nick could go snorkeling (the water was still too cold for me!!!) We were able to find chairs together even in the afternoon. It wasn't an issue.

Are they still using H2O products? (I love the body lotion) YES!!!

Good to hear they seat you in the buffet. That would be an advantage as well. It was so nice not to have to search for a seat!

A friend went to Remy and said it was wonderful. I saw her pictures and I don't think I could do it. Pigeon? They can call it any beautiful French word they want but I still get a visual of a bird in the park!

We are right there with you!

 

[jlwatkins]

Welcome Clairelly and leesoninva

We're from the UK too.
This is our second cruise.

There's me (Lindsey), DH(Jason) and DS (Luke) who's 10 and will be nearing his 11th birthday at the time of the cruise. Like you hope that Luke is able to find friends of a similar age. He had a blast at the kids clubs last year.


We have a cat 8A GTY reservation so we don't know our stateroom number yet.

Glad you enjoyed your recent cruise 3smithboys. Not long to the next one!

Which was your favourite restaurant?
How do the new eating and show times work out?

 

[3smithboys]

Welcome Clairelly and leesoninva

We're from the UK too.
This is our second cruise.

There's me (Lindsey), DH(Jason) and DS (Luke) who's 10 and will be nearing his 11th birthday at the time of the cruise. Like you hope that Luke is able to find friends of a similar age. He had a blast at the kids clubs last year.


We have a cat 8A GTY reservation so we don't know our stateroom number yet.

Glad you enjoyed your recent cruise 3smithboys. Not long to the next one!

Which was your favourite restaurant?
How do the new eating and show times work out?

I can't say that we had a favorite restaurant because we enjoyed things about all of them. We are having a difficult time deciding which one to skip for Palo on this cruise! AP food was probably our least favorite, but we loved the atmosphere. EG was probably our favorite food, but there was nothing exciting to us about the restaurant... (could have been where we were seated too...)

The seating and show times worked out just fine. We were 2nd seating and went to the show before dinner. In Aug, we are 1st seating. We've never had 1st seating before..... They are back to just 2 shows per day and no assigned show times. We had no problem finding seats... (there was a 4pm show one day...) We liked all of the shows... except we thought Villains Tonight was a bit corny. There were many jokes that we didn't particularly like...but for others we heard it was their favorite show! It's not that we wouldn't go see it again - it just wasn't our favorite.

 

[Dahly]

Hi Everyone...haven't been on the boards much lately, ( I posted way back on page 2).

We would like to participate in the FE -
Leslie (me)
DS Raymond - 13
#6502.

My mom, stepfather, and my Sis and BIL and 2 nephews are also booked, but not completely 100% sure they are going to be able to go. they may be interested in the FE, but wlll have to wait until PIF date before we add them to the list.

thanks!

Leslie

 

[mominva]

Hi everyone - I was wondering what others might have done about insurance for the trip? I've been reading the post recently on another part of the board where someone didn't buy insurance, then missed their cruise because their flight was canceled. That sparked a whole new set of posts about different scenarios and what insurance would and wouldn't cover. Anyway, I got DCL's insurance - I had compared prices and it seemed comparable and certainly easier. But I didn't think about if there were a medical emergency in the Bahamas or out at sea. I don't think DCL's insurance is helpful in that case. I'm wondering if I ought to purchase a supplemental or something different all together. Any thoughts?

Andrea

 

[tdmathews]

Hi All,

Just wanted to let you know that we have booked a room at the Country Inn & Suites in Port Canaveral the night before. It is on a 48 hour sale and we got a suite for $126. It includes breakfast in the morning. The shuttle is $4 a person unless you book a park and cruise package and then it is included.

We are going to the Kennedy Space Center for the day on the 11th. We got the free tickets from our Congressman. So after we arrive we will check in and then go over to the Kennedy Space Center for the day!

Just checking on everyone elses plans!!

 

[3smithboys]

We are also staying a CIS but could not take advantage of the 20% discount.... I called them today to see if we could, but we need an XL suite to fit 3 adults and 3 children - plus the cruise package. So, we can't get the discount. Oh well. At least it got me to look at the reservation again to realize that they messed it up and didn't give me the cruise package the first time I booked it!!! (So now it's even more $$$!!!! ) Oh well, at this point who cares - it's only money!!! I'm ready to go now!!!

 

[Momtotwogirls]

FE Group Updated

Dave (zuperdaave), Chylynn (Momtotwogirls), Rebecca (DD6) and Emily (DD3)
Cabin #5152

Lori (Mom2CJ&Kitty), Chris, CJ (DS9), and Kitty (DD7)
Cabin #6538

Tracy (tdmathews), George, Taylor (DD12), and Hanna (DD11)
Cabin #2000

Rae (pittsburghgirl), Ray, Eleanor, Trevor (14), Melina (11)
Cabin #2021 and #2023

Jean (leesoninva), Andrea, Ethan (DS11), Natalia (DD9)
Cabin #6540

Leslie (Dahly), Raymond (DS13)
Cabin #6502

Please let me know if I am missing anyone. I think lexandme is also on the list,but I did not add you for some reason. Let me know! DH and I have been MIA because we almost had to change our cruise due to a possible relocation to Atlanta. Now that we have decided to remain in Florida, I can happily get back to our cruising plans!! Yay!!

Welcome all new cruisers that I have missed!

 

[tdmathews]

Well, at least you checked the rate and will not be surprised when you check-in. The hotel looks nice! I bet your room is gonna be beautiful!!

 

[3smithboys]

Well, at least you checked the rate and will not be surprised when you check-in. The hotel looks nice! I bet your room is gonna be beautiful!!

That's true - Nothing like a bad surprise upon check in...lol!!! I'm sure the room will be great, and the hotel does look nice! I wonder if anyone else is staying there???

 

[mominva]

FE Group Updated

Andrea (mominva), Jean, Ethan (DS11), Natalia (DD9)
Cabin #6540

Please let me know if I am missing anyone. I think lexandme is also on the list,but I did not add you for some reason. Let me know! DH and I have been MIA because we almost had to change our cruise due to a possible relocation to Atlanta. Now that we have decided to remain in Florida, I can happily get back to our cruising plans!! Yay!!

Welcome all new cruisers that I have missed!

Thanks so much for doing this! I made a correction to ours (shown in the quote above) - I changed my user name shortly after posting here the first time. Also, I'm Andrea (mominva) and my mother is Jean. Thanks again!

 

[mominva]

We're driving (!) down from DC and will be getting in the night before. I wanted to use my Hilton Hotel points, so we're at the Doubletree in Cocoa Beach. It's a little farther away, but at least I get the hotel points and we're right on the beach. As far as I can tell, they don't offer any sort of cruise package, so I've made a reservation to park at Park N Cruise for about $6/day. They have a free shuttle over to the terminal, so hopefully that will all work out OK.

We're on spring break this week, and I'm going to see if I can find material for our FE this afternoon! My job for the day!

Andrea

 

[lexandme]

Please let me know if I am missing anyone. I think lexandme is also on the list,but I did not add you for some reason. Let me know! DH and I have been MIA because we almost had to change our cruise due to a possible relocation to Atlanta. Now that we have decided to remain in Florida, I can happily get back to our cruising plans!! Yay!!

So glad you are still on board!!!

Because our "family unit" has changed and I will not be sailing with a little one (or my DH!) but with two 18 year olds, we won't be participating fully. We will bring FE gifts for everyone but won't be hanging a FE ourselves. I'll still need the complete list however in order to plan and distribute.
I know my DS and his girlfriend will enjoy helping me plan and get a kick out of walking the ship and dropping gifts off.

Is it time to leave yet?

 

[mominva]

Thought you all might like this thread about getting post cards before the trip. Looks like fun.

http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=2205646


Andrea

 

[lexandme]

Hoping everyone has a wonderful Easter.

 

[Momtotwogirls]

Fish Extender List updated 4/28/11

Dave (zuperdaave), Chylynn (Momtotwogirls), Rebecca (DD6) and Emily (DD3)
Cabin #5152

Lori (Mom2CJ&Kitty), Chris, CJ (DS9), and Kitty (DD7)
Cabin #6538

Tracy (tdmathews), George, Taylor (DD12), and Hanna (DD11)
Cabin #2000

Rae (pittsburghgirl), Ray, Eleanor, Trevor (14), Melina (11)
Cabin #2021 and #2023

Andrea (mominva), Jean, Ethan (DS11), Natalia (DD9)
Cabin #6540

Leslie (Dahly), Raymond (DS13)
Cabin #6502

Any other takers for the FE? It is a lot of fun to participate in and the kids get a kick out of searching in the Fish Extenders whenever we go back to our room. It just adds that much more excitement to the cruise (not that we need that!).

Also, are we going to try to meet up with each other in the beginning of the cruise?

We are able to make reservations next month, right? DH and I have done Palo in the past, so we won't be heartbroken if we are unable to do it again. I just want to make sure I get my head scalp massage again. I can remember how fabulous it was two years ago!

Let's start getting this thread active.

Question of the day:What activites are you all planning on doing? Certain excursions or are you just planning on remaining on the ship?

I'll start. I am planning on staying on the ship in Nassau. I did it last time just because it was so much easier with my just turned 1 yr old. This time, we are also planning on staying on, but I know the ship will be a lot busier than last time since most people want to check out every inch of the ship.

We will be getting off at Castaway Cay and checking out the splash pad and the beach. Nothing planned. Last time I went parasailing and while it was fabulous, it is not something I feel I need to do again. Anyone else???

 

[mominva]

It was so nice to see a new post today! I'm planning on staying on the ship in Nassau also. We walked around Nassau the last time we were in port and since I'm not a shopper, I lean towards just relaxing on the ship this time. In CC, I'm seriously thinking about the parasailing, but it would just be me, DS (11) and DD (9). I think neither of them are old enough to go by themselves, so I wonder if I'd have to pay for myself twice so that I could go with each of them? In which case, it gets kind of pricey. We went to Palo when we were on the Wonder, and I don't really need to go again.

It would be fun to plan a meetup, particularly so the kids can meet each other and have a familiar face in the clubs. We're up for anything! Can't wait for our trip!

Andrea

 

[lexandme]

I check this thread every day hoping there will be a new post with some exciting news! Would love to see more activity - especially since it's getting closer!

DS, his girlfriend and I got together last night for a planning session. We picked our restaurants for the WDW portion (Coral Reef-DS favorite and Cape May Cafe). As for Nassau, we decided to walk around town and hit the Straw Market. Chelsea has never been to Nassau and Ian doesn't have anything special he wants to do. I don't think we will spend much time there.

CC is another story. Chelsea wants to do the stingray snorkel and rent an aqua trike. They both want to rent snorkel gear for the day and perhaps do the jet ski tour. Chelsea will be 2 weeks away from her 18th birthday so I don't know if they will allow her to pilot her own jet ski. I also think we may run out of time! They have a few weeks to make a final decision. I plan on laying on a float in the ocean and laying on the beach. I don't plan on exerting much energy that day.

Last cruise we took we all met just before the sailaway party.

And anyone from the South, please be careful in regards to the weather and the latest outbreak of tornados - BE SAFE!