Disney Dream April 19, 2012 - 3 Nights

[SFD998]

I didn't see a thread for this sail date yet so I figured I would get it started. I made the final payment for our 7/1/11 Dream cruise and immediately started looking for another date. This was the end result. It will be myself, DW, DS 9 and DS 6 (at the time of the cruise). We will be in room 9176. We were originally in 9674 the same room we are in on 7/1/11, but decided to move over one room.

 

[IrishCowboy]

I have added your thread to the cruise meet list

 

[SFD998]

Booked our Excursions and Palo yesterday for our July cruise. One step closer to our April cruise!

 

[pershing]

Hi

We were on the 4/17/11 4 day and am moving our cruise to this 3 day. It's presently being booked! Decided on a 3 day as we are inviting my son's female friend this time. A first for us as I'm a single mom with 3 boys DS 16, 14, 13. The DSF (Disney Son's Friend ) is 16 also.

We are not used to traveling with another girl so my sons are gonna have to learn how to be more circumspect, if you know what I mean.

We are doing WDW beforehand and maybe one day of after 2pm Universal. I'm still debating.

I'm also thinking of renting DVC for Boardwalk as the studios are bigger and I can put one child on an air mattress. We've never rented Boardwalk before.

Not sure what our cabin number is as it's being booked now, but we will be in a 4B with a verandah-another first! Portholes and Inside Cabins before now.

ROLL CALL ADDED TO FIRST PAGE AND KEPT UPDATED-Last update 2/14/12

April 19, 2012 3-Day Dream Roll Call

SFD998 [CT] Myself, DW, DS 9 and DS 6 Room 9176

pershing [MA] Sue, DS 17, DS 15 (autistic), DS 14, DSF (Disney Sons Friend also boy) 14 Room 8130

bahama*baby111 [MA] Heather, DH Bob, DS 15, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4 months. (Five DS's, One DD)

vedlin71 [KY] 8 people in 2 rooms

bandera69 [FL] 4 cabins 9 people

mdurette[MA?] Me, DH and DD 6

teach819 [NC] 3cabins - DPs Disney Parents , DB and fiance, and me, DH, DS 3

mousefan1972 [MA] spouse?, DD8, DS6

flawlessdreams[MN] and DFiance-getting married on the cruise! Woohoo!

1stDCL2012[?] me, spouse(DH), DS8, DS7, DD17months, MIL

tostygirl [WI] Me, DH, DD6, DS8

StaciMay[AL] and DS7

dmmdd[]DH, DD5, DS 6months

ProfMimi [KS]DH and DS

lawhit88 [GA] with DW (40th )

 

[bahama*baby111]

Hi everyone. Pretty sure we are booking this cruise soon. I have been trying to figure which cruise best fit in with what I want to do & school vacation week here in Massachusetts, and this one seems to fit the bill.

We have been on one cruise last year (April 2010) and LOVED it. That was Carnival, and since now I have 1/2 of my kids wanting to cruise again and the other 1/2 wanting Disney, we'll do this We'll probably we staying at Disney 5 days before the cruise.

I am hoping someone else will join that has a son around my sons age. He'll be 15 in October. I hope he can meet someone beforehand (via chat or facebook or whatever) that is also going on this cruise so he'll have a "friend" before we go and that way he'll get involved in the teen activities.

 

[pershing]

Hi everyone. Pretty sure we are booking this cruise soon. I have been trying to figure which cruise best fit in with what I want to do & school vacation week here in Massachusetts, and this one seems to fit the bill.

bahama*baby111 !

This cruise does fit well with vacation week.

I always wanted to end our trips with the cruise as I'm relaxed until we go back to the parks. We've tended to 'book end' our cruises with days at WDW.

I think you'll find Disney leaves Carnival in the dust! It may not have rock climbing walls or indoor skating rinks, but it's got alot of magic to it and the ship is gorgeous.

It'll be interesting to see how your kids compare it to Carnival.

Five boys!!!

Sorry my soon to be 15 year old has autism and really is at a younger level. But I'm sure there will be alot more teenagers on our cruise as the older the kids, the more parents stick to vacation week. Pulling them out of school is tougher in high school.

It's been 36 days since we were on the Disney Dream and I'm already waiting for next year.

I assume with six kids that you have 2 connecting cabins. That's a handful.

My mantra is,,,pack less and bring laundry detergent!

 

[bahama*baby111]

bahama*baby111 !

This cruise does fit well with vacation week.

I always wanted to end our trips with the cruise as I'm relaxed until we go back to the parks. We've tended to 'book end' our cruises with days at WDW.

I think you'll find Disney leaves Carnival in the dust! It may not have rock climbing walls or indoor skating rinks, but it's got alot of magic to it and the ship is gorgeous.

It'll be interesting to see how your kids compare it to Carnival.

Five boys!!!

Sorry my soon to be 15 year old has autism and really is at a younger level. But I'm sure there will be alot more teenagers on our cruise as the older the kids, the more parents stick to vacation week. Pulling them out of school is tougher in high school.

It's been 36 days since we were on the Disney Dream and I'm already waiting for next year.

I assume with six kids that you have 2 connecting cabins. That's a handful.

My mantra is,,,pack less and bring laundry detergent!

Thanks for the welcome

Yes, we will get two connecting cabins, that is what we did on our last cruise and it worked out well. Our baby will only be 15 months old so that'll be interesting as I have never cruised with a baby before BUT I am sure there will be plenty to do with him so I don't think it'll be too bad. He was our souvenier from our last cruise
I was thinking it would be nice to end the hustle and bustle of the parks with the cruise

 

[pershing]

Thanks for the welcome

He was our souvenier from our last cruise

Too funny!

Alot of diser's stay at the port the night before. Either at Radisson or Country Inn and Suites. Both have free shuttle to the boat, but the sign up for the shuttle gets filled quickly.

We stayed at Radisson last time and Country Inn and Suites the time before. I liked Country Inn better and it was less money with a continental breakfast.

I usually use Hotwire to get them. And we usually get to the terminal by ten am.

A great tip is to dress your kids in bathing suits upon boarding as the best time to use the slides is right after boarding. (You don't have your luggage until around 2 or 3, so those without their bathing suits can't swim) When you board, the crew direct you to one of 2 buffet areas. I ask to go to Cabanas on topside and then I find a table nearest the family pool. The kids swim instead of doing the buffet because they know the pizza, hamburger places open shortly after 1 or 2. I go to the buffet and then leisurely eat while watching my kids have a ball. My eldest rode the Aquaduck 4 times the first day.

This will be our 6th Disney Cruise. Our first trip was in 2003. I believe my kids were 5,6 and 8 then. Oh, how time flies!

We've done the Wonder twice, the Magic twice and the Dream once.

The teen clubs luckily have become great while my kids were growing up. They used to have nothing for teens. Then they gave them the stack on the Magic and Wonder, and now on the Dream they have their own area with a secret door and pool.

I never saw my eldest son last trip. He joined me for dinner once and was a lump in the bed past midnight.

He said the counselors for the teen area were great! This from a child who is usually in a permanent sarcastic sulk!

 

[pershing]

Just checking in.

I guess maybe the 3 day cruise threads are quieter than the 4 day. We were on a 4 day this past April (4/17), granted it was Easter vacation, and the cruise thread was chatty the entire year before.

Right now I'm killing time waiting for Priceline to give me an answer on name your price for a rental car. Of which, rental cars, are atrociously expensive for our time period next April! At least, at this point.

The problem is, we want to fly down on the Friday or Thursday of the 12th or 13th of April and that is the tail end of Easter vacation. So until the end of that week, say on the 15th Sunday or 16th Monday, hotels, rental cars etc. are in the expensive Easter zone.

I hope that won't include airfare.

We will probably be using Southwest again and I will probably be sitting at my computer at 5am, again, in September or October or whatever morning the schedule opens up to April, bleary-eyed and pressing refresh a million times!

Yes, I am an obsessive vacation planner. It is my hobby during the year, waiting in anticipation for the vacation to come, tweaking it to make it the best inexpensive vacation of all time. Although, I think this past April was my masterpiece. At least, according to the kids! We had alot of fun and budget-wise were not planning to go back in 2012. Especially not with an extra person in my son's 17 year old friend, who's a girl.

One thing I'm gonna change from last time-I'm gonna pack light! As in 3 or 4 outfits each child and a bag of quarters, laundry detergent, and dryer sheets!
I did way too much shuffling of suitcases this past trip.

I had one suitcase for non-cruise parks WDW and Universal, and one for the cruise. Not next time! One suitcase for both, do laundry before the last day of parks and cruise.

That's my plan!

Ahhh...back to priceline. Any lurkers at there???? Please check-in.

 

[pershing]

Another week gone. Too little housework done.

My mind is whirling with the catch 22 of planning this vacation. I won't be booking Southwest airfare until the schedule opens up September or October.
And not knowing whether we'll be arriving Thursday April 12 or Friday the 13th night is affecting my ability to plan and book rental cars, hotels, rent DVC etc.

Now WDW tickets prices are going up and I'm torn between feeling like I should buy them now and save money for airfare or renting an Animal Kingdom Value Studio.

I've given up on trying to priceline or Hotwire this early. The port hotel is not hitting at all and rental cars are still outrageous.

It's funny, but the 3 days on the cruise is about the only thing settled. So simple- a cruise. Get the kids aboard and let them do their thing while I sunbathe by the adult pool. Ahhh... I want to bring our snorkel gear again for Castaway Cay. That was fun. And I want to do the Castaway Cay 5K this time and not blow it off again. And also, go to Serenity in the afternoon for lunch and adult time.

The rest of the cruise planning is old hat now after 5 cruises. I have my black dress pants and shoes with 3 different tops for dinner. My 2 bikinis that I never wear cause I'm too embarrassed and my 2 faithful miracle bathing suits that I wear instead... It's all academic.

I don't book Palo as I've done it once each on the Magic and Wonder with friends, but I won't go by myself. (Even though it's sooo worth the money!) The last 2 cruise threads had no other single moms to hook up with.

And this cruise thread doesn't seem to have any other people period! Never mind single moms! Oh well, so the obsessive planning continues, no matter how aggravating this vacation seems to be over the others:

~continuing to observe Southwest prices for Thurs, and Friday nights from Providence, Hartford and Manchester to Orlando or Tampa. Mondays and Tuesdays from Orlando home. So far, Orlando beats Tampa handsdown on Southwest.
~continuing to try different days and times around 4/13 to 4/23 for rental cars at different locations. So far, MCO Orlando Airport still is cheaper than other Orlando spots. Rates have dropped slightly.
~continuing to look for AKV DVC renters on the rent board for AKV value studio at 11 months availability. But I will wait for 7 months out and will go with Boardwalk at 7 months if AKV value is gone.
*I'm booked at Country Inn and Suites at the port for $77 with Gold pointsplus or Carlson Club as it's now called, but may try to priceline it later.
*I will Hotwire MCO Hyatt for the night arriving if need be and the night before leaving in the spring.
*I will continue to save for WDW tickets and all of the above, not to mention paying off the cruise, weekly. This week I took advantage of a Shaw's Grocery store deal that gave you a coupon for $20 off your next grocery store order if you bought $100 in Gift cards. I bought 2 $50 Disney Gift cards to go toward paying off the cruise. Only one coupon per Shaws card or I would've done more. Bummer was, the coupon is only good for 7 days.
*I will continue to stick to biking to work to save gas in addition to my treadmill workout and using my fitness pal on my phone in order to maybe feel confident enough to wear at least one of those bikini's next April!

Until next week!

 

[vedlin71]

hopeing to book 7-1 there will be 8 of us in 2 rooms i am the only one that has been on any cruise let alone a disney cruise

 

[pershing]

hopeing to book 7-1 there will be 8 of us in 2 rooms i am the only one that has been on any cruise let alone a disney cruise

vedlin!

I checked in a day early and was so happy to see a new post!

8 people!! Family reunion at sea?

I gather you will be playing the role of expert and person to go to with any questions. That can be stressful on a vacation.

When were you last on a Disney Cruise?

The Dream was a big change for us as we had the Magic and Wonder memorized.

I think we can officially start a list now for this thread. Woohoo!

List of Dis'ers Cruising on the April 19, 2012 Disney Dream

SFD998-myself, DW, DS 9 and DS 6 (at the time of the cruise) Room 9176
pershing-myself, DS 17, 15, 14 and DSFF (Disney Son's Female Friend ) 17. Room 8130
bahama*baby111- 5 DS
vedlin71-8 people 2 rooms

 

[pershing]

My week, vacation-wise, was spent marinating over rental car prices. I searched July and August this year for car rental prices and realized they are just as bad.

So I made a Budget rental for a compact using my USAA number for $426 from 4/13 to 4/23....still wicked high if you ask me but w/o the discount in the $600's.

There's a thread on the transportation board regarding a website called Autoslash. I think I'm gonna try it 'cause it's free.

You put in your membership codes for the car companies they have, your times and dates and book it no matter how high the price is. They will, then, continue to apply discounts and coupons as they come along to make it go down.

Kinda like they are doing what I'm doing by checking different sites and codes and stuff. Though I'm still gonna Hotwire and Priceline as we get closer. If Autoslash remains the lowest, I will go with them.

Other than vacation planning, I'm attending end of school meetings (lots of them) for my sons. They all had a tough school year this year, and I'm ready to kill them all. Who said teenage girls are harder than boys?? It's not true!

Meanwhile the summer is gearing up and more and more cars are clogging the roads here on the cape. You know its summer when you can no longer take a left turn in the center of town! ha ha.

Seriously though, I hope its a packed summer with lots of people, bringing lots of job security for us throughout the winter.

I'm vowing now to make it to the beach at least once a month this summer.

 

[pershing]

A week later. Checking in to see if there are any new posts.

...and there's not. This is becoming more like a journal than a cruise meet thread and still I can't help but post.

I ended up getting 6 $50 Disney Gift Cards at Shaw's and therefore $60 worth of groceries free. I wish I could have done more but the mortgage is due.

Many diser's on the Budget Board do the Sam's Club deal with Disney Gift Cards. Apparently, they cost $98.87 for $100 card at Sam's with a$10 Disneystore Gift card thrown in for free. Budget Diser's buy hundreds of them to payoff their cruise or trip and then use the Disneystore gift cards to buy Christmas or Birthday gifts. They use their Disney Visa to buy the gift cards and get Disney Rewards for that also.

It's alot of work, I imagine. I don't have a Sam's Membership and it would cost me the savings I would make on it- $40. My kids aren't little enough anymore to buy Christmas presents on Disneystore.com buuuutttttt those print and black Mickey luggage suitcases are quite nice.

I wish this deal would come to BJ's. I have a membership there.

I also joined Thrifty's, Dollars and Enterprise's membership programs in an attempt to have access to better discounts. Still planning on doing Autoslash, although most of the car companies are lesser known ones now.

I also bought a 2011 Entertainment Book Membership Card on ebay to see if it's true that their rental car coupons are good until well into 2012. It was 99 cents so well worth the gamble.

I rode my bike to work 6 out of the 7 days this past week! My tank still has gas in it from 2 weeks ago, so I am definately saving money there.

I have a new issue with DSFF (Disney Son's Female Friend) who's coming with us. Turns out she's from a troubled home and her and her sister were removed by whoever for abuse.

My agreement with my son was when I put her on the reservation, it was with the understanding she would have a raised seal birth certificate and her mother would sign Disney's non-custodial child permission slip form (yeah, I don't know the real name of the form, but that's the gist).

Now I'm wondering who can sign the form? Will she be back with her mom by that time?

I don't want to drop her just because she's unfortunate enough to have an abusive mom. She is actually a really nice and responsible girl. One of the first in my son's group to have gotten a summer job. Gets good grades. Is a good influence on my lazy son in general. I'm hoping everything works out. There must be somebody who can sign the form for her.

Well I gotta stop and start .

Felt sorry for the tourists this week. Weather was crappy and unseasonable cold. Good for biking, bad for beach-going. Yesterday was the only nice day.

This weeks goals are:

~get multiple seasonal things on ebay to sell like the outgrown kids' pristine bikes in the basement, outgrown snorkel fins, bike helmets, skateboard helmets and pads, and my renaissance dress,
~recycle old cellphones and playstation 2's and games for Swagbucks. Working towards a $50 Southwest Gift Card.
~decluttering closets and drawers is my major summer project. I want to get rid of what we don't use and make spaces more functional so I'm less during the school year.

I can't wait to sit on my very own verandah on the Dream! I think that's my favorite thing to look forward too. I'm curious about the circular tub in the cat 4's also, but the verandah beats that.

~Be back next Sunday~

 

[pershing]

It's next Sunday...and still no new posts Here's hoping for new posts next Sunday.

It was a busy week, work-wise. Lot of huffing and puffing and lugging stuff up stairs to be sold. I'm constantly surprised how much candy and chocolate tourists will be buy when it's in the shape of a shell or lobster or whale or it just says Cape Cod on it somewhere. Although, everything I own has Mickey on it somewhere so why am I surprised?

I received the Entertainment Book membership card and looked on their website for rental car discounts and coupons. They couldn't beat USAA's discount but they had awesome coupons good until June 2012!!! One coupon for Budget gave me $40 off a 10+ day rental!

I noticed Southwest's website matched USAA's discount, which is the lowest discount I've found so far for Budget. However, they achieve the same total with a coupon code of their own, so no $40 off with a coupon.

I took pictures of my stuff to sell on ebay but that's it so far. The house needs some major cleaning attention. Especially the bathrooms.

Not much else this week. Still daydreaming about the cruise. My only time of the year where I can relax and soak up the sun like a princess.

My new hobby is reading websites like Couponing to Disney and Couponing101. Haven't done any of the coupon combinations yet because I'm on no spending extra budget. It's amazing how they match up coupons with sales to get items for very little money. They don't appreciate the extreme couponers though...seems that the show is affecting the way coupons are being put out.

I'm also thinking about shutting off the cable. No one seems to watch TV anymore. And if they do, it's online. So why am I paying $60 a month, $720 a year for something none of us use anymore?

~Until next Sunday~

 

[SFD998]

Just got back from our 7/1 - 7/5 Dream cruise. We can't wait to go back.

We stayed in the room next to the one we will be staying in on this cruise. We made the right call by switching rooms. We were originally booked for the same room, but saw pics of the room next to us and realized how much bigger the balcony is. At least we have a November trip to tide us over.

 

[bandera69]

Hello everyone, we just booked this cruise and are already excited. Big family trip with wife's family to celebrate her sister's 15th birthday. 4 cabins, 9 family members.

 

[mdurette]

Count us in! We went on this 3 day last year - same week. Looking forward to it. Hoping someone starts a FE!!!!

 

[teach819]

We booked our Disney Cruise last month. My parents will be celebrating their 40th wedding anniversary in April and I thought a Disney Cruise would be a perfect family celebration. My parents have been on two Disney cruises. This will be our first Disney cruise, though I have taken two cruises before (Carnival and Royal Caribbean). We have three cabins - my parents, my brother and his fiance, and me, my husband, and our son who will be 3 at the time of the trip.

We are doing two days at WDW prior to the cruise. I cannot wait to experience the magic of Disney with my son!

Any suggestions on what toddlers can do on the cruise?

 

[pershing]

Hello everyone,

Count us in! Hoping someone starts a FE!!!!

We booked our Disney Cruise last month.
Any suggestions on what toddlers can do on the cruise?

Wow, nice to see posts! As you can see, it was like a one person journal for awhile.

I got waylaid with a unbelievable out of the blue health situation (a heart attack at 46 ) and have been taking stock of my life lately-offline.

But I'm really looking forward to our April Vacation now that spending time with my DS's have gleened new meaning for me. Not sure what rides I'll be doing at our WDW portion of the trip. I know Mission Space won't be one of them as I don't like that one anyway. However, TOT and Aerosmith's RRC has always been a tradition for me and my eldest DS.

We have a roll call change of our own. My eldest DS's friend can't go so my youngest DS's friend is going instead. It's a he and he's 14 also.

I did add a Roll Call to my first post on this thread. Here's a copy so far:

April 19, 2012 3-Day Dream Roll Call

SFD998 [CT] Myself, DW, DS 9 and DS 6 Room 9176

pershing [MA] Sue, DS 17, DS 15 (autistic), DS 14, DSF (Disney Sons Friend also boy) 14 Room 8130

bahama*baby111 [MA] Heather, DH Bob, DS 15, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4 months. (Five DS's, One DD)

vedlin71 [KY] 8 people in 2 rooms

bandera69 [FL] 4 cabins 9 people

mdurette

teach819 [NC] 3cabins - DPs Disney Parents , DB and fiance, and me, DH, DS 3

I doubled spaced it to look like more people lol.

I'm game for a FE. We did one on our last cruise.

teach819 Check out this thread for toddler suggestions http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=2591966&highlight=toddlers

I started Disney Cruising back in 2003, but my DS's were already in grade school by that time. And it's funny how Disney Cruise Line has grown with my kids. Just as my oldest was becoming a teen, they turned 'the stack' on the Magic and Wonder into a teens area. And just as my youngest was a tween, the Dream came out with a way to keep my oldest and youngest separated lol.

Unfortunately, they are all in the same grouping this time. Although I don't think my oldest realizes this yet. He wanted to do one more cruise before he ages out.

My airfare is all booked and I got what I wanted to get. I'm flying out of Hartford, actually. As I was tracking airfare for the past 6 months or so and noticed Southwest was running lower prices in Hartford than Providence and Boston. I booked JetBlue for the way back at $99 base on Tues. 4/23 BEFORE Southwest's schedule opened up on 10/3 and lucked out with Southwest also $99 base on 4/13 (Friday the 13! ) at 6:30 in the morning. I leave the Cape at 11 PM the night before and save on hotel. You can do that kind of stuff with teenagers. They are up at that time of night anyway. I'm usually the one sleeping.

We rented DVC points for a AKV studio from 4/13 to 4/18 and then are staying at Country Inn and Suites at the port the night before.

I'm still unhappy with my rental car price though. $413 is way more than I have EVER paid for a rental car! If we didn't enjoy eating off site so much at those Southern places not available in New England, I would've done Disney Transportation all the way this trip!

When is everyone else heading down? Well, except bandera69 whose- huh already there.

(Ok, enough blathering Sue! Don't scare away the new people!)