Hi and welcome to our group Lumpysluck. We are cruising with me, DH, ds9 and ds5. It's our 3rd
Disney Cruise. We have always stayed at WDW before our cruise so I can't personally recommend a hotel/motel. I do know a lot of people on these boards rave about the Radison. It has a shuttle to the port too.
My parents stayed in La Quinta Inn or something close to that name near the port before our May cruise on
DCL and said it was loud and dirty (a school group was there and hanging out on the balconies all night...they said the sheets were stained and carpet hadn't really been vacuumed).
My favorite tips when cruising are the following: read everything possible on Disboards. Make sure that your kids are wearing their swim suits when they board so they can swim if they want to while the pools are least crowded. Go on board as soon as you can board. Carry a camera and autograph book at all times because you never know who'll you'll run into. Bring a highlighter so you can highlight activities you and your family are interested in listed on the navigator. You may want to bring a couple of colors to tell who is interrested in what activity. If you are dressing up on pirate night, buy pirate costumes before the cruise because they are much cheaper than what you will buy on board (on our first cruise ds9 then age 7 spent all his spending money on a Captain Hook costume for $50 or $60 and we found the exact same one for ds5 last year for $20). Leave plenty of space in your luggage for souveneirs. We always overpack and I always vow to take half out but it never seems to happen. I refuse to do laundry and would rather have more than not enough clothes. I have found that rolling the boys clothes and sticking them in gallon size ziplocks cuts down on wrinkles and lets them choose something that matches each day. Zipoff pants are great for boys that time of year for any kind of weather. Bring a travel size of Downy wrinkle release. Take lots and lots of pictures. Don't wait until the last minute to go to Shutters (picture shop) because everyone else does. You can buy a picture package and exchange a new picture for a previously chosen one later on the cruise. If you like DCL merchandise in the DCL gift shops or on
Castaway Cay, buy them there because you won't find them anywhere else. Don't wait until the last night to pack up. Try and pack a little every day. If you go to the Till We Meet Again event the last evening, you can get loads of pictures and autographs. Make sure to check your kids into the club/lab well before and check them out well after the Celebrate the Journey/DSeaU graduation. Bring some zip locks. They come in handy for snacks if you order from room service and want to bring them to movies, etc. Bring plenty of sunscreen, batteries for cameras, etc. and buy underwater cameras before boarding. They are outrageously priced at CC and on board. We ordered baskets for the boys from Shirley at the Perfect Gift on our last cruise so we wouldn't have to pack sand toys. We were on a 7 day and hitting a lot of beaches. They worked out great and they had snacks and drinks galore. On our first DCL cruise (a 4 day) we didn't bring any sand toys and borrowed some from the kid's club at CC.
We have had early dining on our other 2 DCL trips and it worked out great but we are trying late dining this time around.
The only things I have found that didn't work for us were bubbles at the Sail Away party on our 1st cruise (I was so worried someone would slip on the spilled bubbles) and a forward stateroom. We had a room 4th from the front with a port hole in May and felt a lot more movement than when we had a midship room in 2/2005. I am very prone to sea sickness, but we thought we'd try it out. I got very sick (even with wearing the patch) the 2nd sea day and spent the evening in my parents room mid-ship. Then again, we also had a lot more sea to travel before reaching a port than what we will have on the 3 day.
In 2/2005 we did the Blue Lagoon Dolphin Encounter and loved it. We've also done the one in Cozumel and Anguilla and hands down liked the Blue Lagoon the most. This time we are going to the pirate museum and spending as much time on the ship as possible. At Castaway Cay we've snorkeled and ds9 and I parasailed. DH and DS9 did the banana boats too. We bought all of us snorkel gear at Costco and it was great to use and easy to pack. I wanted to be sure we had a tight seal on our masks and am not keen on using pre used snorkels (I know they wash them well, but still don't care to use them). DS9 and I LOVED the parasailing. If you parasail, remember to take your regular camera and a waterproof camera with you. Bring the waterproof one in the air and ask someone on board the boat to take your picture when you are in the air with the regular camera. DH and DS9 didn't really care for the banana boats, though most of the people I have spoken with love them.
You are going to have a GREAT time!
glad to see our thread is getting more 
active! Welcome to all the newbies! 
