Disney Dream - April 3, 2011 - 4 nights

[WDWCrazyfromGA]

Crystal - those are awesome!!!

How slow do you think the next 2months will go by.......

 

[gavin'smom]

We are looking forward to sailing on the Dream April 3rd. With snowfall this year in Boston topping 70.7” (avg. 41.8”) I wonder if the snow will be here when we set sail on our cruise.

I am very impressed with this board and appreciate the tips the time and effort of many past cruisers to assist those that are less familiar with cruising.

We are flying into Orlando Saturday night where we will stay before renting a car and driving to port on Sunday morning. It appears that many are staying at a Raddisson Hotel (is this nearby the cruise terminal). Sounds like fun!

Do you know once registered and if we are using our own transportation (rental vehicle) are we able to schedule a time to get on the ship or is it first arrived, first on.

We are returning to Disney following the cruise for 3 nights. Anyone else doing this?

We are thrilled to be participating in the Fish Extender program. I have also received a few messages regarding favorite colors, characters and spelling of our names but regret that I can not seem to respond as I may need (10) messages before I can send a message. With being new, I do not have quite (10) but welcome anyone able to send me a message to get my number up to the required (10).

Are there any planned ‘meet ups’ once on the Dream. We are traveling with our 4 year old son and would welcome getting to know others with children his age.

I like the pillowcase idea. I would love to hear from GradysMommy (Tiffany) so that we can order one.

If it is all the same, I can respond here to the messages I have received that I am not able to directly reply to.

Disney on a Dime – Crystal, you were kind enough to ask for our favorite characters and the correct spelling of our names. John (Mickey), Patty (Minnie) and Gavin (Goofy). We do enjoy all of the Disney characters.

CADisneyMom – Sheila, thank you very much for asking about our favorite colors. Although John and I do not have favorites, our 4 year old son will tell you that his favorite colors are Red and Yellow.

Thank you.


Patty

 

[Disney On A Dime!]

Hi Patty! See my answers in red...

We are looking forward to sailing on the Dream April 3rd. With snowfall this year in Boston topping 70.7” (avg. 41.8”) I wonder if the snow will be here when we set sail on our cruise.

Is it supposed to snow again in Boston? I thought I saw something about this...Yes, you might still have snow in April!!!

I am very impressed with this board and appreciate the tips the time and effort of many past cruisers to assist those that are less familiar with cruising.

The DIS is a great place to learn about and plan a DCL cruise!

We are flying into Orlando Saturday night where we will stay before renting a car and driving to port on Sunday morning. It appears that many are staying at a Raddisson Hotel (is this nearby the cruise terminal). Sounds like fun!

The Radisson is about a mile or two from the port...very close...with a great pool and bar!

Do you know once registered and if we are using our own transportation (rental vehicle) are we able to schedule a time to get on the ship or is it first arrived, first on.

I would go into my reservation now and select a time to arrive at the port. It used to be first arrive, first on. But now they have implemented a system of arrival times. Many of us have been wondering, though, if they will stick to these times...or are they just to help disperse the crowds? Even with a rental car...coming from Orlando...the drive should only take a max of 1 hour...and the rental car drop and shuttle to the port should be relatively short.

We are returning to Disney following the cruise for 3 nights. Anyone else doing this?

Not us, but I think a few families are doing this...

We are thrilled to be participating in the Fish Extender program. I have also received a few messages regarding favorite colors, characters and spelling of our names but regret that I can not seem to respond as I may need (10) messages before I can send a message. With being new, I do not have quite (10) but welcome anyone able to send me a message to get my number up to the required (10).

I believe that you just need to post 10 messages to these boards...not the PM thing...you are almost there!

Are there any planned ‘meet ups’ once on the Dream. We are traveling with our 4 year old son and would welcome getting to know others with children his age.

Yes, we are planning a DISmeets for the first day...we do not have a time or place yet...we were waiting to see what other Dream cruisers have been doing. A lot of us will see each other at the port, too. And we have a "Mango Rum Run" planned for day 2 at Nassau. It's really no run...just a walk with our families into Nassau. We plan to meet at 10AM (The ship docks at 9:30AM) and go into Nassau...stop at Hard Rock Cafe...walk around...and purchase some rum. Then some families have excursions to go on...and some of us will just return to the ship...or shop in Nassau...or whatever...

I like the pillowcase idea. I would love to hear from GradysMommy (Tiffany) so that we can order one.

To get a pillowcase made...go to ebay...and search pillowcase cruise. Gradysmommy sells the pillowcases for $10.99. You can look at her auction...and I like to look at her other items because she shows many different characters and such that can be done. Then just order off of ebay.

If it is all the same, I can respond here to the messages I have received that I am not able to directly reply to.

Thanks for the reply!

Disney on a Dime – Crystal, you were kind enough to ask for our favorite characters and the correct spelling of our names. John (Mickey), Patty (Minnie) and Gavin (Goofy). We do enjoy all of the Disney characters.

CADisneyMom – Sheila, thank you very much for asking about our favorite colors. Although John and I do not have favorites, our 4 year old son will tell you that his favorite colors are Red and Yellow.

Thank you.


Patty

Let us know if you have any other questions...someone on here will have the answers!


Crystal

 

[Disney On A Dime!]

Crystal - those are awesome!!!

How slow do you think the next 2months will go by.......

Too slowly! However, baseball season starts up the first week in March...so things will start hoppin' around that time!


I am already looking at next year's Spring Break. I really want to cruise on the RCI Oasis or Allure...but the prices are crazy! We might just sail on the Freedom of the Seas out of Port Canaveral...but right now their prices are high. We have gotten such great deals in the past that paying higher rates is hard! The search continues...


Happy Saturday!
Crystal

 

[Disney On A Dime!]

"Let the Dream Begin!"


I am posting this piece written by a fellow DISer that WDWCrazyfromGA and I cruised with back in April of 2009 named Deb T. This posting is sort of a DCL "Boot Camp" where you can begin to prepare your crew for the upcoming cruise. If you have cruised with DCL before, you will really get a chuckle out of her writing...those that have not cruised yet...get prepared...it's definitely a Disney adventure coming your way!


In true David Letterman style, here is Deb T's "Top 10 Things to Do to Help Your Family Prepare for a DCL Cruise!"


10. Start serving all breakfasts and lunches buffet style.

9. Every Tuesday evening, make everyone dress in full pirate gear for dinner. After dinner, dance around while talking like a pirate. Arrrrrrgh!

8. Set your children's artwork out on display in the living room, set up folding chairs for everyone to sit on, and then auction off each piece of artwork to the highest bidder.

7. Step outside and lean on a porch or deck railing, gaze wistfully out at your landscape, and comment on how amazing it is that the ocean is spread out before you for as far as you can see.

6. Start checking your children in and out of their playroom. If your children want to leave the playroom before you come to get them, they must stand in the doorway and make beeper sounds until you arrive.

5. Draw the DCL logo on tall plastic cups and drink your favorite alcoholic beverages out of them.

4. Every night, perform a turn-down service for everyone. Place a small chocolate bar on each pillow and leave a schedule of the next day's events and a towel animal on each bed. Oh, and don't forget to set chocolate chip cookies and a glass of milk on the nightstand (from Room Service, of course!)

3. Every evening at 6:00PM (For those of you with main dining) or 8:00PM (For those of you with late dining), make your family line up outside the dining room door to wait for dinner to begin. Before they are allowed to enter, make sure the table is set and their favorite drinks are poured and waiting for them. Oh, and of course, have a 4-course dinner prepared to serve.

2. Every evening at 5:00, 7:00 or 9:00 (Showtimes), have everyone sit in front of the TV to wait for that evening's show to begin. Actually, if you'd really like to enhance the cruise, I suggest you have the children watch Cinderella, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, 101 Dalmatians, Sleeping Beauty, Tarzan, Lion King, Beauty and the Beast, Aladdin, The Little Mermaid, and Pinocchio. Now, back to my silliness: On Sunday night's watch something with the ocean and ships, On Monday night's watch something classic from years ago, On Tuesday night's watch something with evil villians, and On Wednesday night's watch something enduring from Disney.

1. And the number one thing to do to help your family prepare for your cruise...In the mornings, make a 3-tone chime noise, then make the following announcements in your best British accent, "Ladies and Gentlemen, Girls and Boys, in 2 minutes time the forward door will open for all guests to disembark for school. The weather today is going to be (insert your weather) so be sure to take your (insert necessity) when you leave the house. And remember, all aboard is at (whatever your curfew is). Have a magical day!


Aren't these great? In researching my show days and such...I think that this is the show/night schedule for the 4-night cruise...If someone else has anything different let us know...I could be wrong!


Day 1:
Sail Away Party
Welcome Aboard Show
Cruise Casual Dress

Day 2:
Nassau, Bahamas (Port)
Golden Mickey's Show
Dress-Up night (Not too dressy on a 4 night cruise)

Day 3:
Castaway Cay (Port)
Pirate Night
Villians Tonight Show

Day 4:
Sea Day
Disney's Believe Show
Cruise Casual Dress


Enjoy!
Crystal

 

[kikids]

Happy weekend everybody!

gavinsmoms: getting up to 10 public posts on the boards is what you need - try to check out the community forum board - people talk about all kinds of stuff, not Disney related necessarily, and it's a good way to get your post numbers up.

flights: got 'em, finally!!! No direct flights under $400 each way! So we'll have layovers and long flights but at least it's done!

our pre/post plans: our family hasn't settled on a decision yet. We will arrive on Friday and I have reservations at a beach hotel, the Radisson, and Sea World. Not sure which reservation we will keep! As much as we love the Disney parks, we tried SeaWorld for the first time last December and it was a rough experience, it was so cold and wet that most of the rides were closed and we left the park early. I told my girls we'd go back when it was warmer and really experience SeaWorld so that's what they'd like to do. Although I hate to miss the Rad party on the way to the port! It's bad enough I'm not on deck 7! After the cruise, sadly we go right to the airport and back home to the Michigan arctic. Hope the snow has melted by then!

Sell out: So my sister has been on several Dis cruises and since we've been talking about the Dream she called her her travel agent last week to book a cruise sometime in the future. Her travel agent told her that the new tv ad campaign has been so successful that the Dream is more or less sold out until August 2012!

Now, onto FE stuff - I don't want to ignore the earlier posts about delivery time and vandalism. Allowing people to make deliveries at their convenience is probably best - I know we all have so much we want to do on board and I wouldn't want to restrict people to getting their deliveries done at a certain day/time. But I do understand if some people want to bring their FE in at night. So if we'd like to say people should avoid deliveries between 10pm and 8 am as some FE's might not be out, that might work. Thoughts??? As far as things that don't fit in the pockets, we did have that issue last time and things were left on the floor under our FE and never tampered with. It's risky - you hope people walking by would be courteous but.....you never know.

Cindy

 

[jk8]

I have our port arrival time of 11:00 - 11:30 squared away.

We are arriving in Orlando Thurs night and staying 3 nights on points at Bay Lake Tower. I'm really pumped to try out BLT for the first time. We will have 2 days at the parks and then take a towncar to the port. We did the DCL bus for the first time last year and I just hated it. Waiting around, roudy kids hitting eachother while the parents did nothing. Surely bad luck on our part, but I'll pay a bit more for a peaceful trip with just our family.

We don't fly out until 5:45 the following Thursday so I think we are going to do a Disney miniature golf we never have the time to try or check out the Boardwalk. We have a car rental for that day. Last year we did the same thing and did DTD so that is an option again as well.

I'll tell you I've had it with this winter! Can't wait!!!!

 

[EcbLovesMickey]

I have our port arrival time of 11:00 - 11:30 squared away.

We are arriving in Orlando Thurs night and staying 3 nights on points at Bay Lake Tower. I'm really pumped to try out BLT for the first time. We will have 2 days at the parks and then take a towncar to the port. We did the DCL bus for the first time last year and I just hated it. Waiting around, roudy kids hitting eachother while the parents did nothing. Surely bad luck on our part, but I'll pay a bit more for a peaceful trip with just our family.

We don't fly out until 5:45 the following Thursday so I think we are going to do a Disney miniature golf we never have the time to try or check out the Boardwalk. We have a car rental for that day. Last year we did the same thing and did DTD so that is an option again as well.

I'll tell you I've had it with this winter! Can't wait!!!!

Bay Lake Towers looks amazing! I would love to stay there sometime.

We love the mini golf at Disney. I recommend the Winter/Summer land course. It is so much fun and you can get some awesoem pictures there. one side is all snowy and the other is beachy. Plus you get a souvenier golf ball when you leave

 

[rcraw45425]

Hi Robin - We are in Augusta - clear across the state

I know Augusta pretty well! DH went to MCG from 87-91. I was there for the last two months of Medical School, we lived at Forest Hills Racquet Club off Walton Way! I used to love Augusta Mall!

 

[WDWCrazyfromGA]

I have our port arrival time of 11:00 - 11:30 squared away.

We are arriving in Orlando Thurs night and staying 3 nights on points at Bay Lake Tower. I'm really pumped to try out BLT for the first time. We will have 2 days at the parks and then take a towncar to the port. We did the DCL bus for the first time last year and I just hated it. Waiting around, roudy kids hitting eachother while the parents did nothing. Surely bad luck on our part, but I'll pay a bit more for a peaceful trip with just our family.

We don't fly out until 5:45 the following Thursday so I think we are going to do a Disney miniature golf we never have the time to try or check out the Boardwalk. We have a car rental for that day. Last year we did the same thing and did DTD so that is an option again as well.

I'll tell you I've had it with this winter! Can't wait!!!!

BLT is our DVC home and we had our first stay there last November. My family loved it!! It's awesome being able to walk to MK just to grab a Mickey waffle I want to try all the DVC resorts - but DH and DD said they never want to stay anywhere else Luckily, I am the planner and take care of the reservations - so we are trying VWL in April and have a split stay in May for AKV and BLT - I have the power

We are also putting the golf on the schedule for our May trip - we're trying to see what 'other' things there are to do outside of the parks.

 

[EcbLovesMickey]

I found a picture from the golf we did on one of our trips

It is such a cute course. I can't wait to try the Goofy Golf on the dream. It looks like so much fun!

 

[jetskigrl]

DISigns...did someone say...DISigns???


Okay...these are for the party we are going to have on our way to the port and at the port! We can't board until 11:45 or after...so many of us will be there together!

Have a great evening!
Crystal

Ohhh, those are too cute!!! Yeah, I think a lot of us will be hanging out at the port before we can board, LOL. Is there a good meeting spot where we can gather? It would be great for the kids to start getting to know one another even before we get on board

I just got some of my FE stuff delivered at work today.. woo hoo! When are we planning to finalize our list? I don't want to assemble everything until I know our list if finalized.

I'm still worried about how I'm going to get everything to FL. I'm thinking I will just bring an extra carryon (I was trying to keep us at one bag a piece for carry on). Oh well, I will probably need it to bring back stuff anyway, LOL.

 

[gavin'smom]

Hello All -

Just curious as we begin to create and come up with ideas for our FE (not as creative as some of our fellow passengers). I am thinking of creating magnets for everyone but someone also mentioned the need/interest in lanyards. I was able to find some that zip and can hold ID/etc.

Any thoughts/suggestions are appreciated.

Thanks again -

Patty

 

[Disney On A Dime!]

Hi Patty! I think that either the magnet or the lanyard sound great! Some of us here collect pins and such...the lanyard would definitely get used (Oh, and for your key card and such.) The magnets, too, would also get used. Sorry I am no help! I like either idea!


Hi jetskigrl! Yes, we definitely need to have a meeting place at the port. Any suggestions? My kids are so shy...that it will take them some time to meet n mingle. My husband on the otherhand...has the most outgoing personality in the family...and he is a bunch of fun! About the closing date for the FE list...that should be coming like in the first or second week of March. Cindy (kkids) has the exact date. It would be nice to get things in the final stage!


EcbLovesMickey - Love the golfing pic! Wouldn't it be great to be at WDW right now playing mini-golf! My crew also likes the course over near the boardwalk. It has a section that is almost like real golfing, but in a smaller scale. We were no good at it...but it was fun!


Happy Monday to everyone...Has anyone ventured over to the regular cruise boards and read through the Dream discussions...good and bad stuff? It sounds like a lot of little things...that could add up for some. From having cruised several ships...anything can happen. And even on some of our past DCL cruises...sometimes the dinner service took forever...other times...it was quick. I don't know...it's a vacation...it's a cruise...it will be fun! At least there will be no snow!!!


Crystal

 

[gavin'smom]

Hi All - Wonderful, please count on me to come up with something creative for the lanyards. I love the idea of a pre meet - - I am excited and eager to meet everyone. We are very outgoing and I think that is where Gavin gets his outgoing personality at the tender age of 4.

I do like the lanyards I found with the zippered pouch. Lets see how I can jazz them up and add a bit of personalization. Thanks for the comment.

How many weeks are we at? 8? I am not sure I am going to make it 8 more weeks at the gym......Chat soon!

 

[gavin'smom]

A comment regarding the reviews and posts......I am in love. Some people have gone to great lenghts to take photos and share online. For that, I am truly thanful because it has been quite insightful.

Regardless of the comments, everything sounds wonderful. I am a nerd, I have been looking at the layout of the ship and studying. It sounds absolutely fabulous. Sure, there might be minor issues here and there, long lines or wait for service but we are on vacation....lets just enjoy this beautiful ship.

Besides, the way I see it is by the time we get on board, Disney will have all the glitches and kinks worked out.

Are we still at 8 weeks out???

 

[disneytraceyl]

Hi everyone. I am finally getting into the cruising mode. Sewed mine and my parents fish extenders today. Now I just need to add some bling. Getting excited for the cruise. Started buying stuff for the fish extenders.
Reading a lot up the Dream. A little nervous, hopefully most of the kinks will be out by April. Excited to see the beautiful ship.

 

[EcbLovesMickey]

Crystal, I have been reading a lot of the posts too, I think a lot of it boils down to other guests. It seems like a lot of the issues arise because of guest's bad behaviour. I am completely shocked to think people spend thousands of dollars to act rudely.

 

[Disney On A Dime!]

Crystal, I have been reading a lot of the posts too, I think a lot of it boils down to other guests. It seems like a lot of the issues arise because of guest's bad behaviour. I am completely shocked to think people spend thousands of dollars to act rudely.

You ought to go on a cruise sailing out of Miami! With all the international travelers. Our Christmas cruise in 2009 was insanely expensive...so most people had money (Or that would be the thought)...and they were the rudest people ever! From elevator courtesy, to buffet etiquette, to even lining up in lines...it was horrible! However, it was a learning experience...and we completely enjoyed seeing how other people acted. Apparently in other cultures it is completely okay to fill an elevator to the top...and then add in some more...but it's their way...and they had no problems with it. We, on the other, would have liked our little space...you know...no one touching! It's all about how you look at things...glass half-full or glass half-empty.


I am not sure about the 8 weeks, but I think that that is correct?!?


Crystal

 

[EcbLovesMickey]

Is it just me or are the cruise forum posts getting mean and rude. Someone says something and the next post is someone ripping them a new one... I am not talking about this thread, but several on the main cruise forum board. With the sick little one at home I have been reading a lot more and am completely shocked!