Disney Fantasy June 6, 2015

[2fuzzypugs]

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[DCL4us]

Please add us to the roll call. We will be traveling as a family of 4 with 2 teenage girls aged 17 and 18. Cant wait to meet everyone!

 

[DCL4us]

Forgot to add that we will be doing FE.

 

[CrusinLattas]

We are a family of 4, loyal wdw Orlando vacationers (annually 5 years running) but first-time cruisers. Would love to do FE. Mom, dad, boys aged 8 & 11. We are moving house at moment, and cabin # lost in moving detritus (will find and forward shortly). Would love advice on early vs late dinner seating for families w/ kids this age.

We love late seating (My kids are currently 8 & 10) because of the Dine and Play and earlier show time. It also doesn't feel as rushed to get ready for dinner on days at port. We tend to stay up later at night too so eating late is not a big deal. With 8 & 11 yr old you can have them with self check in at the clubs so Dine and Play is not as big a deal - but usually they serve the kids faster at 2nd seating because of this program so they can eat and leave sooner - the dinner is a bit long for kids. We will be linking some reservations together for late dining too if you want to join a group of us at dinner.

Just PM me with your cabin number when you find it. I'll put you on the FE list.

 

[CrusinLattas]

Please add us to the roll call and we'd like to do the FEs. Will be traveling with hubby, DD (13) and her BFF also 13 at time of cruise. Additionally traveling with my parents (retired). This is our 2nd cruise ever but first time for Disney and We are very excited!!!

Question.....do teenagers typically do the FE too?

Also....we'll be driving down from GA the day before (9hrs! ). and staying overnight. Any suggestions on where to stay and how to handle boarding next day?

(Thought I had successfully posted this a few days ago but now cannot find it...so if I missed it and I'm repeating myself..please forgive me)

You are added. I think people of all ages enjoy the FE. We have traveled with teenagers and they really enjoyed it.

As for pre stay and boarding. Pick the earliest boarding time possible - you can always get on late but often can't get on earlier. We like the Radisson and they offer some great rates on parking there. The other popular spot pre cruise is the Country Inn and Suites.

 

[mysanchez]

Thanks for adding us to the roll call. The boys love Edge and Vibe. They are so looking forward to this cruise.

 

[tnbeth1972]

You are added. I think people of all ages enjoy the FE. We have traveled with teenagers and they really enjoyed it.

As for pre stay and boarding. Pick the earliest boarding time possible - you can always get on late but often can't get on earlier. We like the Radisson and they offer some great rates on parking there. The other popular spot pre cruise is the Country Inn and Suites.

I just booked a room at the Country Inn and Suites. It looked like the Radisson only had double beds left and I am not sleeping in a double bed! We can cancel by June 3 if we decided to drive down during the night. I don't want to do that, but Hubby may.

***Here is another question: Where can we find out what time we said we'd board? Or have we done that yet?

 

[jdtill]

We are a family of 5. 3 children ages 8, 4, and 1. We have been on 15 cruises, but are excited to be taking our first Disney cruise!

 

[supermomwannabe]

Hello all! First time Disney cruisers, but veteran WDW travelers. This will be our first family vacation in 15 years (with my side of our family) and we're celebrating my dad's retirement after 40 years on the Denver Fire Department (and our 11th wedding anniversary).

In our group (4 rooms) we have: myself, DH, DD (8), DS (5), my mom, my dad, my two brothers, SIL, brother's girlfriend, and niece (9 months).

My hubby, kids, and I have cruised Royal Caribbean before, but it was a crummy experience for a plethora of reasons. VERY excited for this Disney cruise that I know will be magical and amazing! My daughter has already been to WDW 5 times and Disneyland twice, so we're big Disney fans.

I'm trying to decide if we should participate in the fish extenders group. Can anyone give me pros and cons for doing it?

 

[2fuzzypugs]

As for pre stay and boarding. Pick the earliest boarding time possible - you can always get on late but often can't get on earlier.



We have been booked by our (non Disney) travel agent for a boarding time of 1:00pm. What is typically an "early" boarding time? She is telling us no one gets on earlier than that....and if there are earlier times would we be able to change that ourselves by calling DCL directly? We will be anxious to get on early as possible and go get some pool time in that first day.

 

[jmendez070]

Hello everyone!!!!

We will be celebrating my daughters 5th birthday in our very first Disney Cruise. It will only be DH, my then 5 year old daughter and myself. We live in Ft.lauderdale and are annual pass holders to WDW, we go at least once a month, so we are very familiar with everything Disney World.
My daughter is supper excited to be going on the "Mickey Boat" and I'm hoping she enjoys it to the fullest.

I was wanting to partake in the Fish extender and as a first timer I have some questions. How far ahead of the sailing do you know how many people are you purchasing items for and what rooms are they located in? Do you drop off the gifts whenever you like? Is there a list that indicates how many boys, girls, men, and women?

Sorry for the many questions!

Excited mommy and wife,
Jane

 

[supermomwannabe]

What excursions would you recommend, specifically for our group??

Mom & Dad (us, 30's...adventurous)
Girl - 8 -- has discovered a love of snorkeling
Boy - 5 -- not a great swimmer
Grandma & Grandpa
2 aunts and uncles (30's)
infant

 

[rickandcindy23]

We are the parents of supermomwannabe, and we are so excited to go on our first Disney cruise June 6th! It's going to be a wonderful celebration of Rick's retirement!

How dressed up do we need to be for the more formal nights? I would like to wear pants and not a dress. I am not a dressy sort of person.

 

[supermomwannabe]

F/E Group - a spreadsheet with details will be provided to those involved after the cut off date of May 6th, 2015.

What info do you need from us to sign up?

 

[JCRoth]

How do we get signed up for the FE?

I tried to DM the name listed but I didn't have 10 points so I couldn't.

 

[CrusinLattas]

I just booked a room at the Country Inn and Suites. It looked like the Radisson only had double beds left and I am not sleeping in a double bed! We can cancel by June 3 if we decided to drive down during the night. I don't want to do that, but Hubby may.

***Here is another question: Where can we find out what time we said we'd board? Or have we done that yet?

Glad you booked your hotel stay. I have heard good things about Country Inn. You select your boarding time when you are able to book online excursions - so if it is your first cruise it is with your final payment date - if you are a past DCL cruiser they have a tiered system depending on how many cruises you have been on as to when you can do reservations for your cruise. I always advise folks to pick the earliest time available since they will let you on after your time but not always before your time.

 

[supermomwannabe]

How do we get signed up for the FE?

I tried to DM the name listed but I didn't have 10 points so I couldn't.

We also want to make sure we're signed up; posted here and sent a message. We're new to this.....is there a way to get an idea now of ages and how many to buy/make gifts for?

 

[CrusinLattas]

We are a family of 5. 3 children ages 8, 4, and 1. We have been on 15 cruises, but are excited to be taking our first Disney cruise!

I have added you to the list. When you get a chance if you could PM me your first names and cabin number that helps with delivery and if someone wants to personalize gifts. Thanks!

 

[CrusinLattas]

As for pre stay and boarding. Pick the earliest boarding time possible - you can always get on late but often can't get on earlier.



We have been booked by our (non Disney) travel agent for a boarding time of 1:00pm. What is typically an "early" boarding time? She is telling us no one gets on earlier than that....and if there are earlier times would we be able to change that ourselves by calling DCL directly? We will be anxious to get on early as possible and go get some pool time in that first day.

I'm thinking your non Disney TA may just be giving you a time and has not booked it. Disney does those times when you do the online check in and planning and you can't do that until closer to time of travel. The earliest time you can pick is 11 AM. Unfortunately some TAs would rather give you an answer they do not know than find out the correct answer. I had that experience on my first DCL cruise. By the end of that trip I was educating my TA, but not sure how much she listened and learned. Good luck getting your earlier boarding time and double check all the info your TA gave you in case this is not the only answer they made up! You should be able to see all your cruise details on the Disney cruise website when you log in and put in your reservation information. You can do your boarding time there when you are able to reserve a time.

 

[CrusinLattas]

Hello everyone!!!!

We will be celebrating my daughters 5th birthday in our very first Disney Cruise. It will only be DH, my then 5 year old daughter and myself. We live in Ft.lauderdale and are annual pass holders to WDW, we go at least once a month, so we are very familiar with everything Disney World.
My daughter is supper excited to be going on the "Mickey Boat" and I'm hoping she enjoys it to the fullest.

I was wanting to partake in the Fish extender and as a first timer I have some questions. How far ahead of the sailing do you know how many people are you purchasing items for and what rooms are they located in? Do you drop off the gifts whenever you like? Is there a list that indicates how many boys, girls, men, and women?

Sorry for the many questions!

Excited mommy and wife,
Jane

First of all, Don't be sorry for questions! That is why we all end up on here in the first place - to get answers. You are going to love going on the 'Mickey Boat'!

We have a cut off day for signing up for the F/E by May 6th, 2015 so that we can all have time to finish them and have the right amount. I am creating a spreadsheet with everyone's information and keeping the count updated on our first post in this thread. I will include all the information people have given me so hopefully it will be enough information to personalize gifts if you would like. Depending on the size of the F/E group we may decide to split the list. It started out pretty small but we are now up to 23 cabins so if the growth continues we may, as a group, decide to split it into two. (I will be updating that first post as soon as I finish updating my list) There may be folks that want a big group and others that do not so there may be folks in both split groups - we will just play that by ear as the cut off date approaches. Inevitably we will have someone who books the cruise or finds the DIS boards close to sailing date that wants to participate after the cut off. Usually what we do with those is tell them they can unofficially participate but that some folks may not be able to do something for them last minute. For that reason I usually do a few extra gifts that are not personalized, but don't feel like you have to do that - I'm just letting you know what I have seen in the past.

You can drop off your gifts whenever you want to during the cruise. Usually after the first day and before the last day because on those days not many F/Es are out due to luggage situations. You will see most of them delivered on sea days. We split ours up by deck and do them at different times as our schedule allows.