Disney Dream - April 3, 2011 - 4 nights

[jetskigrl]

I have ordered from them before and teh shipping is not too bad, especially with those prices. They also offer freebies a lot, so be sure to sign up for their email. They just sent em something for a slew of stuff free (you have to pay shipping though)

I am super happy with my totes, they are so awesome and they fold down so small they will be easy to pack!

Can you believe we're almost to the 6 month mark? If it was WDW we would start making dining plans!

I'm glad to hear that you guys like them. I'm going to try ordering mine this weekend. Have you ever used them for printing pictures? Their per-print price is really low and they have a great offer for new customers (like 1200 free prints). I think I might try them for all my WDW pictures.

Speaking of dining...did you guys see the post about the dining/show times? I was chatting with mjvans and we both checked ours and they are the same (second seating/7:00 pm show). I guess there will be three shows a night (5:00, 7:00 and 9:00) on the Dream because of the larger number of people.

 

[Disney On A Dime!]

Wow - that's interesting about the show times. I guess the early and late dining times will remain the same...and just give everyone a choice of which show to go to... The late folks could also go to the 5:00 show...but that is early...especially on port days. Also the later show at 9:00 is later than normal...isn't it usually at 8 or 8:30??? Anyhow...the shows are a big deal on Disney...so I know that they need to maximize how they move people.


UPDATE: I just emailed my TA and found out that we have the main dining with the 9PM show. Thank goodness! Also...I guess that there is no choice...you are assigned a time...so go and check your reservations or contact your TA to verify if the show time is the time that you want...


I just hope that they make the pools bigger! That's going to be a huge factor to affect whether we cruise with Disney again after this April sailing.


Crystal

 

[Kanga+2Roos]

We're main seating/9pm show too! That works for us--we're night owls. At least it will give the kids some time to run around before they have to sit at the show! Do they have a show in the theater on pirate night or is that deck party the big show? So much to learn....

TGIF!
Kathryn

 

[EcbLovesMickey]

Where is your show time listed, on the paperwork? I can't find it on my online itinerary.

 

[Disney On A Dime!]

If you booked through a TA, then the TA has to go into the website and find it. If you booked it on your own, then you should be able to see it....I believe...


Kathryn - Glad to see that you got the show time that works best for you all! If I remember correctly, we did have a show at the theater on pirate night. I am not sure how they will work it now...maybe make the pirate show on the upper decks later???


I hope everyone is having a great weekend! The rain has finally stopped here! Thank goodness!


Crystal

 

[odhrty]

Hello I don't know if anyone has shared this thread yet so I will do it just in case. These are some fairly current pictures of the ship. Enjoy. We're counting down in Washington state, Fall is here and we cant wait for Spring!!
http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=2564348&goto=newpost
Go to the beginning of the thread for the pictures

 

[kikids]

We have second seating, 5 PM show. Wouldn't have been my first choice. Oh well....

 

[Kanga+2Roos]

Love the new pictures of the Dream--DS8 & I were drooling over those yesterday! We were particularly checking out the pic of the raft for the Aquaduck--I like that they don't have a hole in the raft where you sit, especially for the sake of my ds5 who gets lost in the huge innertubes. I bet that's really going to fly!

KKids--you may want to give it a shot to see if they'll change you to the 7PM showtime. Since this is something new they may let you put in a request if you do it early enough. That's what we would have done anyways but we lucked out!

I'm still tearing my hair out trying to book airline tickets--I am seriously considering flying one way & driving the other. Nothing is coming together. Now I have to add to the mix that they are giving me a hard time pulling my ds8 (3rd grade) out of school for 3 days. I had no idea that it would be an issue! One thing I do know is I have to decide quick--it looks like the whole state of Michigan is on break that week. Prices are getting ridiculous!

Six months from today--total relaxation & no worries! Can't wait!

Kathryn

 

[EcbLovesMickey]

If anyone is staying at WDW before the cruise and wants to make dining reservations now is the time. The window is open through April 2nd right now. I am not 100% on our plans, but went ahead and made reservations just in case

 

[jetskigrl]

Love the new pictures of the Dream--DS8 & I were drooling over those yesterday! We were particularly checking out the pic of the raft for the Aquaduck--I like that they don't have a hole in the raft where you sit, especially for the sake of my ds5 who gets lost in the huge innertubes. I bet that's really going to fly!

KKids--you may want to give it a shot to see if they'll change you to the 7PM showtime. Since this is something new they may let you put in a request if you do it early enough. That's what we would have done anyways but we lucked out!

I'm still tearing my hair out trying to book airline tickets--I am seriously considering flying one way & driving the other. Nothing is coming together. Now I have to add to the mix that they are giving me a hard time pulling my ds8 (3rd grade) out of school for 3 days. I had no idea that it would be an issue! One thing I do know is I have to decide quick--it looks like the whole state of Michigan is on break that week. Prices are getting ridiculous!

Six months from today--total relaxation & no worries! Can't wait!

Kathryn

Sorry to hear about the flight woes. I was worried that I booked my flights too early but even after Southwest opened up their flights for that time, there was still nothing better than what I already had. Sadly, our flights in April are $500 more than I paid for our flights for our WDW trip last August (plus I will have to pay another $200 in baggage fees). I sure hope you can find something that works.

Also, just FYI, you might want to check your DS5's height. The Aquaduck will have a 48" height requirements (it is being discussed right now on the main board). I don't know how tall your DS is, but my DS at 7 just hit 48" in the last few months (luckily, just in time for our trip to WDW in August). But my DS is on the small side for his age so if your DS is tall, he might be OK.

I do have a feeling that there are going to be quite a few dissapointed kiddos when they find out they can't ride it because they aren't tall enough.

 

[EcbLovesMickey]

If the Southwest/Airtran merger goes through maybe you won't have any baggage fees



I talked with my TA and our show time is 5pm. I also made us some pre-cruise dining reservations at WDW. Not sure if that's our plan yet, but we all know how crazy ADR's get, so I figured I would book now to avoid being disappointed later.



And on a side note, our Atlanta Braves are in the playoffs! We blew some of our fun money on playoff tickets, and if (or should I say when) they get to the series the remainder of that might be blown to get World Series tickets. Oh well, one less bottle of mango rum for me I guess... ok, well maybe not... can't skimp on the necessities

 

[Kanga+2Roos]

Okay, I'm jealous--not only does your team go to the playoffs but you get to go to a game too? Somethings are just worth it! Unfortunately the Tigers fizzled out on us at the end so our team is done for! Hope they go far--that would be so cool to go to a World Series game too!

I didn't realize that they had a 48 inch height requirement--looks like DS5 is out of luck; he's tall for his age but not that tall! Of course he's the daredevil of the two--he will be hugely disappointed whereas DS8 wouldn't care!

Still fighting my airline ticket issues--my agent went into the system to reserve our seats & got all the way thru the process (including seat assignments) only to get a system error. When she went back in later the price jumped up $60 each ticket! Right now she's trying to argue with Airtran but told me to not hold my breath. Ooh, I hate this! Keep your fingers crossed that she finds someone with a heart! I'll let you know what happens!

Kathryn

 

[jetskigrl]

Oh man, sorry the airline woes continue. It is almost like they do that on purpose, LOL. I checked one of my flights on one day, and it was $70 higher the next. Then I got worried so I booked it anyway and of course it went down the next day

Oh well, luckily it happened the reverse with the other flight (I booked it on a day when it was lower and then it went up the next day). So I probably came out even, LOL.

ECBLOVESMICKEY - thanks for the info on the tote bag. I had a great time designing one. I just ordered it so hopefully I will still like it when it arrives, LOL. I copied your idea for the bottles (it took me a while to figure out how you did that, LOL).

 

[mjvans]

In case anyone is interested I started a "group" on Facebook. http://www.facebook.com/#!/group.php?gid=132483806799239&ref=ts

I am on FB a lot more than the Dis boards, and thought maybe we could recruit a few more folks over there to join in our merriment who have never been introduced to the DIS way of life (oh the horror!)

Just joined! Let's get this party started!!

 

[mjvans]

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UGH!! I had been watching a one way flight on Jet Blue from Orlando to Seattle for April 9,2011 for weeks (We already had our fare to Orlando with Alaska using points. ) This jet blue flight had always been 239.00 and I checked daily to see if it had gone down. Well, about a week ago it went up to a mere $508.00 one way!!!!!!!!! WTH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I was shocked! What is happening that day to increase it by nearly double? I was soo bummed Sad day for sure! Then last week, I got a SW ding stating that flights were open for travel through midApril! News to me! I thoughts those dates opened up 10/5. When I got to their website, the cheapest flight was 199.00 with 2 stops and one layover! Um, ya, dont think so! The next cheapest flight was $214.00 one layover and really nice flight times. Southwest was not my first choice but they were the cheapest choice so we booked it! Now that same one way flight is $360.00! I have never spent that much on a rt ticket from seattle to orlando! Wow!! I am soooooo glad we got our tickets purchased cause that was a workout. Now I can just lay back and think about my mango rum! Ah, and speaking of runs....just did my first half marathon this past weekend! 2:11.37 Yippee! That is finally something I can cross of my bucket list for sure!! Michelle

 

[EcbLovesMickey]

ECBLOVESMICKEY - thanks for the info on the tote bag. I had a great time designing one. I just ordered it so hopefully I will still like it when it arrives, LOL. I copied your idea for the bottles (it took me a while to figure out how you did that, LOL).

Oh no, you should have sent me a message! It really is a decent editor once you get the hang of it. I have a bunch of "kits" in my inventory. The thing to do is check periodically and see if there's anything you might like in future. I got the pirate one a long time ago knowing we would be doing a cruise eventually

My DS7 today said he wished we could do a cruise again, but he guessed we'd have to wait until DS2 was 4 like he was on our last cruise... Heheh it is going to be the most awesome Xmas surprise ever!!!

 

[BishopFamily]

I just booked our flights for the cruise. We are in Washington State also, but fly out of Portland Oregon. We are only 15 minutes from the airport (vs a three hour drive to seattle). We are flying the day before and plan to stay at the port (probably CI&S). After the 2 cruises (b2b),we are staying at WDW for a few days (yes, the kids will miss those days of school which they will have to get homework to make up...).

Yeah, I don't post often, but I do try to follow this thread. Lets see, Nancy is interested in the Mango Rum Run with the group. DS12's birthday is the week after the cruise. And, DD7's birthday is the week after the cruise.
They are 1 day apart. We will be at WDW for both of them. They know we are going on a cruise but not much of the details or that we are going to disney afterwards. DD7 is finally over 48" so this will be the first trip where she can go on rock-n-roller coaster (and now she will be able to go on Aquaduck too). Her favorite ride had been Tower of Terror ever since she has been tall enough to go on it.

We are also on the fish-extender list, I think. This will be only the second time we have done a FE and we haven't started looking for gifts yet...
I haven't checked with our TA yet as to our dining/show schedule, but we have usually done the late dining in the past. I'll probably book Palo when we can but I think Remy is too pricey for us ($75pp). All the restuarants will be new to us, so we can wait for another cruise if we want to try it. I'm not sure which show time would be best. On the Magic/Wonder, they usually have a family show or other family activity after the first show and before the second dining time. I wonder if they might have multiple times for these also.

More on flight plans. I went with southwest as they are much cheaper than anyone else out of portland to orlando and you get the bonus of no baggage fees. No airlines offers a non-stop out of portland but there are flights with one stop and no change of planes. This is pretty nice as you can usually get a better seat for the second flight before any new passengers board at the stop. Roundtrip fare was $385/pp. I consider anything under $400 to be a good deal for portland.

Richard

 

[jetskigrl]

Just joined! Let's get this party started!!

Darn, I went to check out the FB link and realized that I can't join it yet. Most of my friends on FB don't know about the cruise and I'm pretty sure it will show up on my wall. So I guess I have to wait until after Christmas to join, so someone in my friends list doesn't accidentally spill the beans, LOL.

 

[jetskigrl]

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UGH!! I had been watching a one way flight on Jet Blue from Orlando to Seattle for April 9,2011 for weeks (We already had our fare to Orlando with Alaska using points. ) This jet blue flight had always been 239.00 and I checked daily to see if it had gone down. Well, about a week ago it went up to a mere $508.00 one way!!!!!!!!! WTH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I was shocked! What is happening that day to increase it by nearly double? I was soo bummed Sad day for sure! Then last week, I got a SW ding stating that flights were open for travel through midApril! News to me! I thoughts those dates opened up 10/5. When I got to their website, the cheapest flight was 199.00 with 2 stops and one layover! Um, ya, dont think so! The next cheapest flight was $214.00 one layover and really nice flight times. Southwest was not my first choice but they were the cheapest choice so we booked it! Now that same one way flight is $360.00! I have never spent that much on a rt ticket from seattle to orlando! Wow!! I am soooooo glad we got our tickets purchased cause that was a workout. Now I can just lay back and think about my mango rum! Ah, and speaking of runs....just did my first half marathon this past weekend! 2:11.37 Yippee! That is finally something I can cross of my bucket list for sure!! Michelle

Congratulations again Michelle on the marathon!!!!
Now we all know who is going to be in the lead on our Rum Run, LOL. Oh wait, you are the one that knows where we are going anyway, right?? So you have to lead

 

[Michele325]

We are still having issues booking our flights as well. We are waiting for allegiant but their flight will probably go out of MCO at 11:50, and we can't decide to risk it or not. The other flights are so high is price, it is probably that or drive (from MI). Unfortunately I missed a really really good deal and am still kicking myself over it. And our flights in Dec got all screwed up and we paid more than we needed to. UGH!!! In Dec my dd (11) is dancing at half time in the Orange Bowl in Miami, so that will be fun!

Can't wait for the Dream to start cruises so we can see navigators and menus for the cruise! Only a few more months.