August 16, 2011, Disney Dream - Part 3

[jenanderson]

This will be the first time that we have gone on a cruise and flown down. I'm a little concerned because I'm used to having the entire back of a SUV when we drive down to Disney and then when we get on the cruise we leave half the crap in the back. I have no idea how to pack for multiple vacations without having the luxury of using one set of bags for each leg of the trip. I even pack overnight bags seperately for the ride home. Can I do it? We shall see. We might be the ones that wear the exact same thing the whole cruise.

Terri - Lately we have been driving as well and I am having the same fears! I feel lucky we will be on SW and can take 2 bags each for free but I am still worried because we don't really know how to pack "light" I am going to try to pack as few clothes as possible to save room for all the other junk, things we buy and all the other goodies!

Everyone might recognize your family and my family since both of them might be wearing the exact same thing the whole time!

 

[Woobie]

Hey New Englanders-
Does anyone live near Springfield, MA? Just saw a tornado touched down about 1/2 hour ago. We're under Tornado watch right now, but it looks like the storms will miss us.

Crazy weather! Stay safe everyone!

I live closer to Boston, but we just had one of those emergency broadcasts. Ya know when they do the "this is only a test" followed by the annoying beeps. It wasn't a test. I guess we now have a tornado warning. I'm not worried, though. I think it will die down before it gets here. I'm just expecting lots of rain, thunder, lightning & wind.

My hubby and 2 boys went off to Lacrosse practice!! He's crazy!!! It's thundering & lightning out there. Guess I should probably get off the computer.

 

[gfolchick]

I live closer to Boston, but we just had one of those emergency broadcasts. Ya know when they do the "this is only a test" followed by the annoying beeps. It wasn't a test. I guess we now have a tornado warning. I'm not worried, though. I think it will die down before it gets here. I'm just expecting lots of rain, thunder, lightning & wind.

My hubby and 2 boys went off to Lacrosse practice!! He's crazy!!! It's thundering & lightning out there. Guess I should probably get off the computer.

I just dropped my son off at soccer practice, but I'm 2 minutes away if I have to jump in the car to get him.

We were in Waltham/Needham this past weekend for a soccer tournament.

 

[TiggerAllie]

Watching the news now--sounds like the greater Boston area is just looking at thunderstorms coming soon, but western MA is where the bad storms have been--Springfield and Worcester and Westfield. We've got the TV on the in background keeping track. Only thunder and lightening here so far.

 

[Minniemouse07]

This will be the first time that we have gone on a cruise and flown down. I'm a little concerned because I'm used to having the entire back of a SUV when we drive down to Disney and then when we get on the cruise we leave half the crap in the back. I have no idea how to pack for multiple vacations without having the luxury of using one set of bags for each leg of the trip. I even pack overnight bags seperately for the ride home. Can I do it? We shall see. We might be the ones that wear the exact same thing the whole cruise.

We are driving/taking the Auto Train and my dh is balking at leaving ANYTHING in the back of our minivan while it as parked at CS&I.

I've been slowly talking him into leaving some non-perishable breakfast stuff (cereal, etc. for our WDW stay) and some other minor things. We will be staying w/ the ILs locally our first and last nights in Florida so we can leave the dual screen dvd player w/ them for the duration.

Has anyone had any bad experiences leaving items in their vehicles while parked at one of the hotels?

 

[eyes4mickey]

I live closer to Boston, but we just had one of those emergency broadcasts. Ya know when they do the "this is only a test" followed by the annoying beeps. It wasn't a test. I guess we now have a tornado warning. I'm not worried, though. I think it will die down before it gets here. I'm just expecting lots of rain, thunder, lightning & wind.

My hubby and 2 boys went off to Lacrosse practice!! He's crazy!!! It's thundering & lightning out there. Guess I should probably get off the computer.

We just got back from my sons Lacrosse game which was called due to lightning. There was terrible hail and 2 of my friends now have broken windshields and dents all over their cars. We were just lucky to have pulled out just in time!!

 

[sdchickie]

We are driving/taking the Auto Train and my dh is balking at leaving ANYTHING in the back of our minivan while it as parked at CS&I.

I've been slowly talking him into leaving some non-perishable breakfast stuff (cereal, etc. for our WDW stay) and some other minor things. We will be staying w/ the ILs locally our first and last nights in Florida so we can leave the dual screen dvd player w/ them for the duration.

Has anyone had any bad experiences leaving items in their vehicles while parked at one of the hotels?

In December we were at CS&I and left all kinds of stuff in the car, suitcases from the disney part of our trip, christmas presents from my aunt, food in grocery bags, ect. No one touched anything in my car but I did luck out and got the parking spot right in front of the lobby. I was a little leary about leaving my truck parked out back, but in the morning when the cruisers came back in I was able to move my truck. That's the key, to move it in the morning. Half way through my cruise I started thinking did I even shut my passanger door? The van pulled up as I was unloading so I ran to get my stuff onboard and to get the kids situated in a seat. Luckly the door was shut and locked when I got back, still don't know if I did it or a really nice person.

 

[kritter]

Good luck! I hope you are able to get some tickets. I think my DS and DH would love to see KSC....DD - not so much!





Still feeling sad about lack of formal night. I will be picking something as dressy as I dare wear without feeling out of place for the dress up night.

I am actually having part of our FE gift sent directly to port because I fear having to pack it!



I have never sent things to port. Kristin has and it has worked for her. I am really worried about it but am still going to do it because there is NO WAY I could pack the gift. Lets all cross our fingers that it works out!!!

I have sent stuff down for the last two cruises and it worked out just fine!!

Hey New Englanders-
Does anyone live near Springfield, MA? Just saw a tornado touched down about 1/2 hour ago. We're under Tornado watch right now, but it looks like the storms will miss us.

Crazy weather! Stay safe everyone!

The tornadoes were soo bad here a guy that works for Bruce had to leave work earlier today since the tornado had touched down in his neighborhood!!


I too, was thinking of shipping my FE gifts, but maybe to Beach Club or Country Inns for our pre-stays. I am afraid of things not making it... We're flying Delta this time around so there's a $25 per bag fee but even with roundtrip luggage costs for 4 the tickets were still less (at the time we booked) than JetBlue or Southwest. Kristin's been having awesome luck with her flights coming down and getting Southwest credits.

 

[kritter]

Anyone interested in doing a Grand Gathering with Jen and I? We were thinking after the cruise any day for the Tony's breakfast. I will be calling on Friday morning to set it up!!

 

[Minniemouse07]

Anyone interested in doing a Grand Gathering with Jen and I? We were thinking after the cruise any day for the Tony's breakfast. I will be calling on Friday morning to set it up!!

The only way we could do it schedule-wise, would be Thursday the 25th...but I haven't spoken to dh yet so don't hinge it on us!

 

[sdchickie]

Do any of you DVC owners have points that you would like to rent out? I need a place before the cruise and the value resorts are $125 a night. That's just crazy, I've never paid that much for a Value before that's what I usually pay for a Moderate!

 

[jenanderson]

Everyone who is having storms tonight....stay safe! We have had so many storms here lately so I totally feel for you all!

Anyone interested in doing a Grand Gathering with Jen and I? We were thinking after the cruise any day for the Tony's breakfast. I will be calling on Friday morning to set it up!!

This is going to be a blast!!!! Tell Hope & Hanna that I can't wait to spend time with on the cruise AND at WDW!

 

[kritter]

Do any of you DVC owners have points that you would like to rent out? I need a place before the cruise and the value resorts are $125 a night. That's just crazy, I've never paid that much for a Value before that's what I usually pay for a Moderate!

Hi Terri, My brother might have the points where do you want to stay?

 

[kritter]

Everyone who is having storms tonight....stay safe! We have had so many storms here lately so I totally feel for you all!



This is going to be a blast!!!! Tell Hope & Hanna that I can't wait to spend time with on the cruise AND at WDW!

This is going to be such FUN!!
The girls will be soo excited to see everyone again!! And to meet new friends too!!

We now have Tornado Watches here until 11:00 pm..,!!

 

[sdchickie]

Hi Terri, My brother might have the points where do you want to stay?

Thanks, I just PM'd you with the info.

 

[tinkerbelltwins]

Hi everyone,
Looks like everyone is really starting to get their plans in high gear for August. I was going around and around about what to do in Nassau (should we do Atlantis as I had a great rate at the Comfort Suite to get the aquaadventure wristbands), or do the DCL Blue Lagoon Beach day excursion (that had its appeal too).

Well... since Steve and I were just at Atlantis and after seeing those incredible slides I realized I wasn't quite ready for my first graders to experience them. So, after mulling it over, we have finally decided to do the Day Pass to the British Colonial Hilton. So Kim, (eyesformickey) looks like we'll see you pool-side and at the beach and thanks for giving me the heads up about the Hilton Day Pass! The benefit for us is that it is a nice hotel, within a reasonable walking distance to the cruise ship, and gets us off the boat for a small adventure in the sun.

It does seem like it is a really good deal $50 per adult (included in that price is a $30 drink and meal voucher) and $25 per child (ages 6-12, with a $10 meal and drink voucher). Children 5 and under are free. You have to make a 20% deposit (in my case it was $30). If anyone else decides to join us there, after you make the reservation (I did it through bahamasexcursions.com) make sure to bring a copy of your confirmation with you to the Hilton as they only accept cash and travelers checks when you check in. Kim and I used the same company (Island Marketing) last October in Cozumel at Nachi Beach (our Dis meet group ended up renting out the entire beach -- over 100 of us were there!). There was one friend of ours at Nachi who had left his confirmation paper at home -- and he had to go through several hoops with the management at Nachi...something no one wants to do while on vacation!

Since I'm having so much fun posting pictures (that's what happens when I learn how to do something new!) I thought I'd post a picture of the Nassau Colonial Hilton taken from the Dream on 5/20.

 

[sdchickie]

tinkerbell, what was your rate for the Comfort suites and how did you get a great rate there? I was looking into this option for us and it was $475 with all the extra fees they charge!

 

[Minniemouse07]

I have finally decided what we are doing in Nassau as well..

Plan is to stay on the ship in the morning (hoping everyone else gets up and off!) to hang at the pools and partake in the AquaDuck! Eat lunch on the ship and then head out.

The PassPorter cruise guide has a great walking tour of Nassau that is only about 2 hrs...hits the high spots of the fort, staircase, pirate museum, and straw market.

I think the two days at CC will be enough beach time for us!

 

[tinkerbelltwins]

The rate I had for a family of four (2 kids that are seven) was $225 and with the tax and the housekeeping fees (even though you check in and out at the same time) it would have come to just around $300. I knew that this rate was a lot cheaper than the DCL sponsored Atlantis aquaventure and if you book at that hotel you do get the Atlantis wristbands. There were quite a few threads about the ins and outs of this on the main cruise board. I made that hotel reservation before Christmas and a short time later I saw the rate rise.

Before I cancelled the reservation this evening, I even called the hotel and asked if I could transfer the reservation to someone else (figured that someone on our cruise board might want it) but the hotel person I spoke to told me no.

 

[kritter]

Hi everyone,
Looks like everyone is really starting to get their plans in high gear for August. I was going around and around about what to do in Nassau (should we do Atlantis as I had a great rate at the Comfort Suite to get the aquaadventure wristbands), or do the DCL Blue Lagoon Beach day excursion (that had its appeal too).

Well... since Steve and I were just at Atlantis and after seeing those incredible slides I realized I wasn't quite ready for my first graders to experience them. So, after mulling it over, we have finally decided to do the Day Pass to the British Colonial Hilton. So Kim, (eyesformickey) looks like we'll see you pool-side and at the beach and thanks for giving me the heads up about the Hilton Day Pass! The benefit for us is that it is a nice hotel, within a reasonable walking distance to the cruise ship, and gets us off the boat for a small adventure in the sun.

It does seem like it is a really good deal $50 per adult (included in that price is a $30 drink and meal voucher) and $25 per child (ages 6-12, with a $10 meal and drink voucher). Children 5 and under are free. You have to make a 20% deposit (in my case it was $30). If anyone else decides to join us there, after you make the reservation (I did it through bahamasexcursions.com) make sure to bring a copy of your confirmation with you to the Hilton as they only accept cash and travelers checks when you check in. Kim and I used the same company (Island Marketing) last October in Cozumel at Nachi Beach (our Dis meet group ended up renting out the entire beach -- over 100 of us were there!). There was one friend of ours at Nachi who had left his confirmation paper at home -- and he had to go through several hoops with the management at Nachi...something no one wants to do while on vacation!

Since I'm having so much fun posting pictures (that's what happens when I learn how to do something new!) I thought I'd post a picture of the Nassau Colonial Hilton taken from the Dream on 5/20.

Thanks, for the info. I just told Bruce about it we will think about it!!