Disney Dream January 3, 2012

[lillygator]

HAPPY MONDAY, EVERYONE!!!

WOW, got my pot of gold over the weekend!!

03 nights pre-cruise at the Fairfield Inn Universal Studios = FREE ( on credit card rewards)

01 night post cruise at the Hyatt Orlando Airport = FREE ( on credit card rewards)

Car Rental Pre Cruise- started quotes at about $ 350.00 Booked with National at an AMAZING $103.56 after taxes and fees.

My next quest is for discounted Sea World tickets! ( Not doing Disney parks this time)

wow, you got some deals!!

I am really ready for this cruise!

 

[dawne577]

Finally attached a countdown ticker and it makes the cruise seem so much sooner! Between a daughter getting married this summer and my MIL terminally ill we're going to be staying close to home until next December.
Booked three nights at ASMovies pre-cruise and even though I don't think we'll be arriving on NYE I wanted to get the space reserved. I can always drop a night later. Besides airfare is much cheaper leaving on New Years' Day.

 

[lillygator]

8 months does not seem far away at all!!

 

[Theresa-MI]

Finally attached a countdown ticker and it makes the cruise seem so much sooner! Between a daughter getting married this summer and my MIL terminally ill we're going to be staying close to home until next December.
Booked three nights at ASMovies pre-cruise and even though I don't think we'll be arriving on NYE I wanted to get the space reserved. I can always drop a night later. Besides airfare is much cheaper leaving on New Years' Day.

Congratulations on your daughter's wedding, and our prayers to your MIL!

Here goes another tip I want to share... I've been buying restaurant gift cards since January. I try to buy $ 50.00 worth of them every month. By doing this, I will practically have all of my meals covered by the time we get to Orlando on the 31st! ( Got Starbucks, Olive Garden, Chilli's... It's like building your customized dining plan! )

 

[Theresa-MI]

8 months does not seem far away at all!!

Hey, Lilly!

How's the weather in beautiful Florida?

Here in Michigan it has been raining non stop and chilly!!! I need some sun and warm weather!!!

 

[tawnia2007]

Here goes another tip I want to share... I've been buying restaurant gift cards since January. I try to buy $ 50.00 worth of them every month. By doing this, I will practically have all of my meals covered by the time we get to Orlando on the 31st! ( Got Starbucks, Olive Garden, Chilli's... It's like building your customized dining plan! )

That is a terrific idea! My daughter's ballet studio sells gift cards as a fund raiser, too...I'll have to look up what chain restaurants are near our rental house and start buying!

 

[Theresa-MI]

That is a terrific idea! My daughter's ballet studio sells gift cards as a fund raiser, too...I'll have to look up what chain restaurants are near our rental house and start buying!

I am happy you liked it Tawnia!!

 

[lillygator]

the weather here is beautiful...
my daughters softball team came in first place for the season and last night was game one of the tournament...they won, so now they just need to keep on winning! (supposed to have a travel tournament on Mothers day...not too thrilled about that)

 

[Theresa-MI]

Happy Mother's Day!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[lillygator]

Hope everyone had a wonderful Mothers Day and weekend...the weather was simply gorgeous here.

DH and the girls got me a pandora bracelet....with two spacers, three beads and 4 orange and blue large beads....I told DH you build up as other holidays come along!! I got a pumpkin (samantha was born on Halloween), hearts (haley was almost a Vday baby) and a pineapple (thats DH and my thing), two are clear with orange hearts and two are blue (those are for the gators). I was so shocked - we rarely do gifts for each other - we like to take trips so we usually use the money for that....I love it though!!

Samantha did great this weekend...friday was the championship, they came in second but she played awesome! Sunday they played 3 games (for the travel team)...won one and lost two, but again she played really well. We had great weather and everyone had coolers full of picnic fare so we had a great time...really needed a day to recover though...since we were at the ball park all week and the weekend...now maybe we can head over to WDW one of these weekends!!

Lookign forward to the cruise....we are already in to May....my girls will be out for summer soon....I need to finalize our new years plans and get this thing paid off!

 

[Theresa-MI]

What a thoughtful gift, Lilly!!! That was so cute!

My daughter Anna saved her allowance and went to the Disney Store with my husband, she got me a Minnie mug with a small Minnie plush. So cute! I love it!

We are into May!!!!

I also need to finish paying for the cruise! Last month we bought the airline tickets, so this month I'll have to pay double for the cruise

( We made monthly a payment schedule and I skipped last month to pay for airline tickets)

We agreed to no eating out this month, so we should be able to accomplish the double payment!

We are so anxious for this cruise!!!!!!!!!!!! I've been reading a lot of reports on the Dream and that is making us really excited!!!!!!!!!!!!

Have a great week, everyone!!!

 

[lillygator]

I'm anxious for the first 5 day cruise so we can read about it!! Should be coming up I think.

 

[NAB]

I have been reading trip reports too.

Think I am going to be so confused on the decks since we have only done the Magic. One Resturant is on deck 2 and the Vibe thought I saw it was on deck 5 now by the deck plans that we got when we booked.

Well be like a whole new experince.

But can't complain about our weather here lately , nice and warm with sunshine. The spring flowers are up , trees are getting there leaves. Soon I will be complaining it is too hot.

 

[lillygator]

I think we'll all be ok finding our way around...just look for the signs!!

I just need our cabin, the aquaduck, the pool bar and I'll be good!

 

[Theresa-MI]

I think we'll all be ok finding our way around...just look for the signs!!

I just need our cabin, the aquaduck, the pool bar and I'll be good!

I'M WITH YOU ON THAT ONE, LILLY!!!!

AT LAST the weather is just b-e-a-u-t-i-f-u-l here in Michigan!!!! The sun is out, the trees are green , the apple blossoms full of flowers!!!!!!!!!!!!

I've been on a 5 night cruise on the Magic with a double dip at CC, and I can tell you nothing feels better than knowing by the end of your first day at CC you still get another one!!!!

 

[lillygator]

was just checking the dcl site for reservations for this cruise...

2a/3c nothing
2a/2c nothing
2a/1c age 6 ov and verandah
2a inside, ov and verandah


pretty interesting....I know they limit the children's club to x number in each age group...that must be what is going on here.

 

[Theresa-MI]

I'm telling you, this will be a mega full sailing...

 

[HappyPeach]

I'm telling you, this will be a mega full sailing...

I think all the Dream cruises are mega full. That's part of why the prices are so high and climbing higher. There's not much inventory!

My DH and I decided to leave our ds with the grandparents and do a small get-away this summer; we cannot find anything on DCL that works date-wise and is under $4500 -- for a 3 or 4 day cruise. We are now looking at RCCL, CCL and even NCL -- we can get a "grand suite" on any of those for half the price of what's available on the Dream.

 

[Theresa-MI]

I think all the Dream cruises are mega full. That's part of why the prices are so high and climbing higher. There's not much inventory!

My DH and I decided to leave our ds with the grandparents and do a small get-away this summer; we cannot find anything on DCL that works date-wise and is under $4500 -- for a 3 or 4 day cruise. We are now looking at RCCL, CCL and even NCL -- we can get a "grand suite" on any of those for half the price of what's available on the Dream.

Sad to say but true.......... the Dream cruises are really overpriced!

 

[cmclaura]

I just checked reservations this morning and there are some 11As and 11Bs open. But, yes, the price has gone up. In the 5 months since we made our reservation it's now over $1,000 more!

I have always heard that the price increases the closer to the date, but I didn't imagine it was by this much. Glad we booked when we did.