Can you upgrade to a padded room? or The Bestest First Disney Cruise Ever - Pretrip

[princesskayla]

How much extra would the DCL padded room cost? I am sure that my DH, coworkers and friends are probably thinking that right about now. Only 24 days, 11 hours and 2 mins til I am boarding that plane to whisk me away from this frozen wonderland and into the welcoming arms of the sun. Well okay, not only me but the rest of my family. I guess they can come. (However, I do not belive they can be upgraded to the padded room with me - that is reserved for the certified Disney obsessed--AKA me.)

I guess I should get on with the "official" introductions.

First, there is me. Yes, the one...the only, me. I am Joni and I eat, sleep, and breathe Disney. No really, I just got finished eating Mickey. In the form of a delicious Mickey carmel apple. Yum-o. My new favorite dessert. Well, just until I step foot on the Wonder I hear. I should have another new favorite shortly... I'll keep you posted.

Then there is my DH, Troy. He likes Disney okay. Now how you like Disney "okay" is beyond me. He tolerates my Disney scheming and goes along with my plans. Heck, he will even don matching shirts. I love him, aside from the evil stares and sighs whenever Disney is mentioned. Silly boy, doesn't he know what is good for him?

I have three kiddos that follow me around where ever I go. My babies are Kyler 9, Kayla, 8 and Kennedy, 2. They are being raised up in the good old Disney way. Nothing but magical dreams and pixie dust for those kiddos.

Kyler is my special kiddo. He has struggled with a severe speech delay that affects everything he does. He loves Disney World because he thrives on the excess stimulation of the senses. Everytime we go to DisneyWorld, he would advanced in his studies at school. I mean, I should have biannual WDW trips written into his IEP!

Kayla is my dreamer. She is so sweet and kind and loving. She is that girl who will do anything to make you happy. She is my Minnie.

Kennedy doesn't know her shapes yet...but she pick out a hidden Mickey from a couple hundred yards away. Smart kid. I am so proud. That's all that really matters right. School can teach her the unimportant stuff, like shapes and numbers. I get to teach her about Mickey and Minnie and the princesses.

Our back story...

Long ago, in a faraway kingdom named Georgia, a princess lived, no so happily. As her kingdom was many, many miles to the south. She dreamed of the day that her prince would whisk her away and return her rightful home. Well, that day came and her prince whisked her...the wrong way. Seriously. The farthest place you can be from WDW. Bethel, Alaska. There are not even roads that lead here. We gotta take a plane to get to our town. Oh - and it is cold. Very cold. So to make up for that injustice, my DH agreed, finally, to our first Disney cruise. I think it was worth moving to Alaska - just to hear him say: Yes, Joni, we can take that cruise...
(I have also talked him into the Hawaiian cruise on the Wonder - score 2 for Alaska!)

We are heading to Disneyland to start the vacation then we will board the Wonder and set sail for The Bestest First Disney Cruise Ever!!!!!

I am going to start with tales of daring and mystery about planning for The Bestest First Disney Cruise Ever! But that my friends, will be tomorrow's tale.

 

[princesskayla]

I started planning this trip when I realized that airfare to Orlando from Bethel was way out my range for 5 people. We had actually booked 3 nights at POP with 5 nights at Bonnet Creek in a 4 bedroom Presidental Suite. We were gonna finish the trip with 3 nights on the Disney Dream. Sooo...when I figured out that wasn't gonna happen, I went into major Disney Depression. This was the first year that I was not in my happy place for my birthday. So not cool. That will take the starch right outta your pants. (FYI-I am officially celebrating my birthday 2 months later--on the cruise, so there.) Anyhoo...I spent hours online trying to salvage what was left of my dream vacation. I finally found the Kids Sail Free offer to MR and I knew that was my chance. Plus I could take my kiddos to Disneyland...they have never been. Cool - 1st trip to Disneyland and 1st Disney cruise...all in one. We booked another date and got denied vacation time at work. Lucky, I am Disney crazy person, so I was able to fangle, deal and beg for time off for another week.

~a little better picture of me....

So the cruise is on...Nov 6. I can't wait. The excitement is killing me. However, it is a a bittersweet excitement. I always know that the cruise blues will hit-hard. Maybe they should hand out antidepressants as a "See You Real Soon" gift!

The best part of the this cruise....my kiddos don't know! We are going to suprise them while we are at Disneyland. They know about Disneyland, so we can talk about the vacation. They just don't know the rest of the story......And that will be the topic of another day's post.

 

[ladypoo]

enjoying your pre trip report. had to laugh. We moved from way in South Georgia up further northwest alaska to Kotzebue. It is way different than georgia, that is for sure!!!! But we do love it here.

We are planning our next trip to WDW and DCL Fantasy cruise next summer.

 

[princesskayla]

enjoying your pre trip report. had to laugh. We moved from way in South Georgia up further northwest alaska to Kotzebue. It is way different than georgia, that is for sure!!!! But we do love it here.

We are planning our next trip to WDW and DCL Fantasy cruise next summer.

Wow- you are crazy like us. To be fair, I am liking Alaska too! Such a different way of life. I love the no traffic part. I am also very excited someone is reading my pretrip soon to be trip report.

 

[princesskayla]

We leave in 17 days for our Disney cruise vacation. I have got so much to do in that short amount of time. It seemed so far away once, now I am worried I will not get everything done that I want. It really doesn't help that I am 400 miles away -by airplane only- from the nearest Walmart or Target. No running out for last minute items. Ahhhh..what is a Disney crazy person to do?

I did let y'all know we moved from Georgia to Alaska. Well, in order to save space and money - not everything came with us. In my haste to get on the plane headed for Alaska, all of our bathing suits got left in the storage room in Georgia. As well as all of our pins for pin trading. Now we are bathing suit and pinless. Do you know how hard it is to find a bathing suit in October in Alaska. I think it is easier to find gold. We just got back from an overnight trip to Anchorage and nothing. Not even clearance bathing suits. Lucky, we found some at a local thirft store with tags still on them but we are still lacking a few swimsuits. Guess I will be shopping in Anehaim. Is there bathing suits for kiddos in Downtown Disney?

Then, we do not have our extensive pin collection. My DH is obsessed with pin trading. He will spend days sorting, cleaning, pieacing together collections of pins before a trip to Disney. It is really funny to watch! he is so upset that he does not have his pins. Guess I should budget quite alot of money to the pin replacement fund.

The other fun thing going on in my life is Halloween. I am starring in Rocky Horror Picture Show in our little community theatre. Scary..I am not the world's best singer, nor am I exactly qualified to be prancing around in underwear in public for 2 hours. Thank God for spanx is all I gotta say. So in the middle of getting ready for The Bestest First Cruise Ever, I am getting ready for a play. Here is one of the publicilty pictures.

That is me, being scared to death by two crazy people. That is not acting folks! They really did scare me. So I will let you all know how being Janet turned out. Maybe I will post some pictures, but this a family show.....

 

[princesskayla]

I am starting to get paranoid that no one is reading this PTR. Oh well, I will talk even if only one other Alaskan is listening.

Okay-my real Disney obsession is making clothes. Everyone in my family is required to wear matching outfits for each day of the trip. In fact, when we go to WDW, the outfits get changed numerous times during the day. One day we changed 4 times. I thought my husband was going to walk out naked just to see me lose it cause he wasn't wearing his required 'uniform'. This trip is no different. I have a plan. It's a great plan.

First, let's begin with checking in outfits. For those of you that do not know what a checking in outfit is - let me enlighten you. I promise you too will want one. It is an outfit made in the theme of the hotel that you are checking into that is worn upon first entrance into said hotel. This trip our hotel is the Disneyland Hotel. May I present to you...

The bodice

The side of the dress - gotta have those monorails!

The back

The two girls have dresses like this. The boy has a bowling shirt that matches. My husband and I have polo's with the castle embroidered on them.

That is the only picture that I have taken so far out of all the things I have made. I get done with the outfit and go straight to the next one. I suck at taking pictures of my outfits.

I have four pages of Disney themed outfits for the entire family for the entire trip. I have tried to keep it under control because I have to pack all this in suitcases bound for the airport. I have never been constrained by airport luggage requirements before. So, regretably, there may be some outfit repeats. I promise, all outfits will be properly photographed and documented in my TR.

So how do I keep the cruise outfits a secret from the kiddos....I told them I was making them for two girls that are going on a make a wish trip. (That is not too far off. I have in the past and will contuine to make outfits for these special people, just not this time ) The oldest one thinks that they got shipped off in the post office, instead they went in the luggage!

I still haven't talked about how we are going to tell the kids. That will be later.

 

[HermanTriplets+1]

Keep posting! We're reading!

 

[marhs]

I want more outfit pictures! And can't wait to read more!!!!

 

[princesskayla]

Keep posting! We're reading!

Yeah! You just made my day.

I want more outfit pictures! And can't wait to read more!!!!

Ohh...thanks. Okay- you twisted my arm. I will try to take more pictures tomorrow and post them. I made an outfit for Animator's Palate that changes colors, just like the room. I am very proud of that one. I will take a picture and post it tomorrow.

 

[princesskayla]

I should probably fill y'all in on the details of the trip and let you in on the massive suprise for the kiddos. Kennedy (the 2 yo) knows about the Disney boat...but I told her not to tell the older ones.

First, my husband is blessed to be working at an airline company. That means we have great flight benefits. That also means we will be flying standby. I tried to pick a time of year that would be good for standby flying. I hoped I picked correctly. I have no less than 15 plans for us to get to Anahiem in less than 24 hours. I really hope the first one pans out. I might have to take some Xanax for anixety about the plane situation - but it is what is. As long as we get there before Sunday....

We are leaving this little town on Wed. If everything goes according to plan, we will be at the hotel by noon on Thurs. We are staying at Disneyland Hotel. That was a hard decision for me. I went to Disneyland at the beginning of Oct and saw DH. It was covered in blue walls to hide the construction. That made me very sad. I was not sure I wanted to pay higher prices for that view. We also had HoJo's booked as a back up plan. I finally decided that I want to sleep under the fireworks and I didn't want to ruin the magic of Disney for the entire trip. Somehow, walking across the street (into the real world) to HoJo's does not fit within my magical thinking. I would rather stroll through Downtown Disney to get the resort. Blue walls and all. (my husband does not know this. He thinks we are saving $150 a night and staying at Ho Jo's. I should probably tell him ) Hopefully, we actually make it Thurs into Anaheim and are not stuck at an airport in Seattle or Portland. That would really stink to pay DH prices for the room we did not sleep in!

The plan is to discover Disneyland on Thurs afternoon and eat at Rainforest Cafe that night. I am so excited ~ my kids, nor my husband has been to Disneyland before. I hope they are not too disappointed.

Friday is DL day with hops over to CA. I want them to see Aladdin. That is got to be one of Disney's best stage shows ever. Love the genie!

Sat is parade taping at DL. And, why yes, I DO have matching Christmas outfits that scream Disney for us to wear. Thank you for asking. Those are still in construction phase. The pieaces are cut out and waiting for me to sew as soon as I get time. So if you see some crazy family dressed head to toe in Christmas gear in CA, feel free to say howdy. It will be us. I might convice everyone to sing Christmas carols and stroll down the street arm in arm.

Then Sunday is the day that I have been waiting for.........the beginning of The Bestest First Disney Cruise Ever. Today will be the day that the kiddos find out. We have reservations at Minnie's Breakfast in DL. My kids will never know what will hit them. I am going to enlist the help of as many charactors as I can to help tell them. Mickey, bless his heart (the good way ~ we all know that can mean many things), has written a letter to the kids letting them know that we are going on a cruise. It has instructions to pack up the things and go to the hotel entrance. We have limo scheduled to pick up us and take us to the port. I have never been in a limo. I am a little excited over that one! I hope, hope, hope I get a good reaction from them. I kind of want everyone in the room to look at us and be pea green with envy. We are finally gonna go on Disney cruise, and I want everyone to know it. I know that is a little immature of me. It's just that I have watched that DCL bus drive off without me so many times. ----It's payback. (Ummm, is that padded room ready for me yet? )

 

[vmedisneymom]

Although we will be on different coasts - we head out the same day on the Dream! We hope to hit MR in 2013 and do DL, CA and the carsland! I will be following along and sending pixie dust for a great trip for you and your family!

 

[Hollywood Glitter]

Hey

I just found your pre-trip report ... how exciting... I can't wait to meet your family on the cruise ... Were you able to get the bathing suits for the kids? I wish you had told me I could have stopped at target or walmart to help you out. I live in Anaheim right by Disneyland. Both stores are by Disneyland if you need. The walmart around there is not the best but it does have some disney stuff. The target is much better but no disney clothes. Anyways if you need anything last minute or helping finding something out here let me know.

By the way I luv the outfits you make ... I have seen them on the boards for your polls.

 

[princesskayla]

Although we will be on different coasts - we head out the same day on the Dream! We hope to hit MR in 2013 and do DL, CA and the carsland! I will be following along and sending pixie dust for a great trip for you and your family!

Thanks for following along! I will be sending bon voyage wishes your way too! That is so cool that we can connect across the country and have a common link for that day. I hope your cruise is magical!

Hey Kayla

I just found your pre-trip report ... how exciting... I can't wait to meet your family on the cruise ... Were you able to get the bathing suits for the kids? I wish you had told me I could have stopped at target or walmart to help you out. I live in Anaheim right by Disneyland. Both stores are by Disneyland if you need. The walmart around there is not the best but it does have some disney stuff. The target is much better but no disney clothes. Anyways if you need anything last minute or helping finding something out here let me know.

By the way I luv the outfits you make ... I have seen them on the boards for your polls.

You know, I never thought of asking for your help. I will keep that in mind, as I am sure I will figure something I will need that I can't find in Anchorage. Do they still have swimsuits for sale there? Also, does that Target by DL have alcohol? We gotta stock up before we go the port. It makes much more sense to buy in Anaheim as opposed to Alaska. We were planning on taking a quick trip to Target to get some things on Friday or Sat. I was hoping that will be our only stop. Thanks for the compliments on the dresess. You get to see them in person!

 

[Hollywood Glitter]

Thanks for following along! I will be sending bon voyage wishes your way too! That is so cool that we can connect across the country and have a common link for that day. I hope your cruise is magical!



You know, I never thought of asking for your help. I will keep that in mind, as I am sure I will figure something I will need that I can't find in Anchorage. Do they still have swimsuits for sale there? Also, does that Target by DL have alcohol? We gotta stock up before we go the port. It makes much more sense to buy in Anaheim as opposed to Alaska. We were planning on taking a quick trip to Target to get some things on Friday or Sat. I was hoping that will be our only stop. Thanks for the compliments on the dresess. You get to see them in person!

They don't have swimsuits anymore but the 2 targets by Disney have a pretty good grocery section including alcohol.

 

[princesskayla]

They don't have swimsuits anymore but the 2 targets by Disney have a pretty good grocery section including alcohol.

That's good to know!

 

[princesskayla]

I will try my hardest to get pictures of my dresses up here soon. I work at night 12 hour shifts and it takes me all day to "recover" at home and I get nothing done on the days I work. Thank goodness that Wed. morning I will be off work for 3 weeks! Can't wait. Only 2 more nights to work. Oh yeah...and
Two more weeks til I am hitting the waves.

 

[princesskayla]

Only 9 more days til I am in Disneyland. Single digit dance
So with this countdown comes the realization that I have very limited time to get everything I want to get done completed. The kid's school know that I need schoolwork packets for the week. I need to finish my massive sewing list. I have to clean my house (yuck). I have to print out magnets. I have to finish my FE gifts.

FE gifts. That has got to be one the more exciting aspects of a Disney cruise. How cool that random people get together and spread pixie dust to their fellow cruisers. I have spent many months thinking about what to give, should I make something, buy something, get gifts for every day of the cruise? Luckly, our cruise has a smaller group of cabins. I think that is a blessing. I can be a little more extravagant with my gifts. I am trying to mix it up with some homemade things, things from my home state, and some cool things I have found in the last few months. I hope my fellow cruisers like it.

I have been on the disboards like crazy the last few months in anticipation for this trip. I am trying to relax and enjoy these last few days of anticipation before the trip. I really love the planning that comes with a Disney trip. However, this time I am not nearly as organized. Usually I have a colorful book with everything I found out, printed out maps, dress codes. I really couldn't do that this time cause my kiddos would figure out the cruise suprise.

Kiddo update - my two year is becoming a princess!!!!!!!!! (Can you tell I am excited.) She has been moving away from Mickey and starting to pick out the princesses in the toy chest. She can name all the princessess. (oh yeah, she can name her shapes too. guess she is just a smartie.) Her favorite is Snow White. Guess who now has to make a Snow White dress? If you guessed me, you are correct. 10 bonus points for you. Course, the 8 year old found out I am going to make a Snow White dress and has now requested a Belle dress. Cause Belle loves horses. I have a feeling I am not going to sleep for a few nights.

I am at work so I don't have any pictures to leave you with. I will do better next time. I hope.

 

[princesskayla]

Short and sweet update - I finally got my cruise documents in the mail! They are addressed it to my home address and up here in the boonies - we don't have home delivery. Soooo, my TA - love ya Dorothy- had to get my address to them correctly. I had both address in the system, guess they couldn't decide which one to sent it to. .

I also got the kids formal gowns and a tux in the mail. I let them try it on. They are adorable. I can't wait to see them on the ship wearing it. I had gotten a great pattern and great material to make the formal gowns, but I ran out of time. Instead I got a get deal on Ebay for the 3 dresses, tux and shipping. Works for me.

We watch the cruise video, again (anyone else watch it, like a billion times?) I teased the kids about going on Mickey's boat. Told it wasn't happening any time soon. If they only knew......

 

[princesskayla]

As promised, I have more outfit pictures...

These are for Toy Story night.

The Front

The Back

I also have a polo embroidered with Bullseye for my husband and a green and blue dress I found on clearance at Kohls that I want to add an Alien to - don't know if that will get done. It is the last one on the list. I gotta get sewing. Still have many, many ore outfits to make.

PS - My first Rocky Horror Show is tonight. Wish me luck!

 

[Plaid Sheep]

I am starting to get paranoid that no one is reading this PTR. Oh well, I will talk even if only one other Alaskan is listening.

Okay-my real Disney obsession is making clothes. Everyone in my family is required to wear matching outfits for each day of the trip. In fact, when we go to WDW, the outfits get changed numerous times during the day. One day we changed 4 times. I thought my husband was going to walk out naked just to see me lose it cause he wasn't wearing his required 'uniform'. This trip is no different. I have a plan. It's a great plan.

First, let's begin with checking in outfits. For those of you that do not know what a checking in outfit is - let me enlighten you. I promise you too will want one. It is an outfit made in the theme of the hotel that you are checking into that is worn upon first entrance into said hotel. This trip our hotel is the Disneyland Hotel. May I present to you...

The bodice

The side of the dress - gotta have those monorails!

The back

The two girls have dresses like this. The boy has a bowling shirt that matches. My husband and I have polo's with the castle embroidered on them.

That is the only picture that I have taken so far out of all the things I have made. I get done with the outfit and go straight to the next one. I suck at taking pictures of my outfits.

I have four pages of Disney themed outfits for the entire family for the entire trip. I have tried to keep it under control because I have to pack all this in suitcases bound for the airport. I have never been constrained by airport luggage requirements before. So, regretably, there may be some outfit repeats. I promise, all outfits will be properly photographed and documented in my TR.

So how do I keep the cruise outfits a secret from the kiddos....I told them I was making them for two girls that are going on a make a wish trip. (That is not too far off. I have in the past and will contuine to make outfits for these special people, just not this time ) The oldest one thinks that they got shipped off in the post office, instead they went in the luggage!

I still haven't talked about how we are going to tell the kids. That will be later.

Want this dress in MY size!! The cutest thing ever!