*Dreamy Spring Double-Dip* March 13, 2012

[krishouse]

Happy Canada Day to my fellow Canadians!!
And Happy Early 4th of July!
I hope that everyone is having a wonderful restful summer.
Kristin

 

[HerrQSmee]

Booked this cruise last Thanksgiving on the Magic but haven't had time to focus on this cruise until now. With 100+ temps outside, decided to think about cool tropical breezes. Add another Texan to the list-live near DFW airport. Sailing with me is DH and 2 DD's (16 and 13, time of cruise). Participated in FE's the last 2 cruises- so much fun! Will have to make a new FE- last two over Thanksgiving so it has a turkey theme. Been on the Wonder, twice on the Magic and can't wait to see the Dream!

 

[jfis1020]

We just booked last weekend for this cruise. This will be our fourth DCL trip. We did the Western in 2003, Mexican in 2006, and Tortola in 2009 all on the Magic!

It will be myself, Jenny; DH Mark, DS14 Marshall (will turn 15 March 18th), and DD13 Mallory (at time of sailing). Our DS18 will not be joining us.

We live in Indiana, so this is our spring break. Originally my DH had booked us in January and with my being a teacher and the kids' school schedules, I just couldn't do it.

So glad to be "back in the planning saddle"!

 

[aamove]

Less than 8 months to go

 

[jenerra11]

Still watching the prices on the airfare. If these prices doesn't fall, we might have to back out.

 

[jfis1020]

Still watching the prices on the airfare. If these prices doesn't fall, we might have to back out.

They are ridiculous! I cannot believe how high they are!

 

[Cruellafan]

I just booked (August 29) Jet Blue from LaGuardia in NYC to Orlando for $375, including trip insurance.
Best price I've seen to MCO for a while.
However, I;m leaving on Thursday, March 8, and spending a few days at DW. Flights on March 12 or 13 might be more expensive, as it's Spring Break.

 

[Cruellafan]

I'm REALLY looking forward to traveling on the "Dream!" As awesome as the other two ships are, this one seems to take Disney Cruising to a new level.
Of course, I still love the "MAgic" and look forward to taking the lengthier Caribbean cruises on her.

 

[Pinkocto]

Joining in for the fun! This will be our first cruise ever. I'm treating my Mom to a, hopefully, awesome fabulous trip of a lifetime! This trip will be right between both of our birthdays, so that makes it even more special for us. Will be staying at WDW after the cruise, I'm hearing from some people that that's not too good an idea? My thought was I didn't want to get off the boat and know our vacation was over... We're from Maryland, Southwest still hasn't posted their flights so I'm not sure how much they'll be yet, hopefully not too bad.

So glad to have found you guys, it makes it even more exciting (if that's even possible!)

 

[Queen of Oakville]

It's been months ... but I'm back.

Just got off the FOTS and now I'm ready for DISNEY! The Dreamworks characters were great; but I can't wait to see how Disney does it! If anyone has questions about the Dreamworks cruise, let me know!


Where did we leave off with the FE gift exchange? Were any decisions made?

 

[Queen of Oakville]

BTW - Southwest flights have no openned up .... was getting a pretty good deal on a flight this morning ($1320 for the 4 of us) but had trouble booking with DH's reward number (turns out they had his first and middle name together). I'm not sure why/how that happened because I've never had a problem booking before.

By the time they got it fixed .... the flight went up by $100. Oh well, at least with SW, you get a credit if the flight goes down.


For anyone considering Direct Air. .... we just flew them to Lakeland, and it was a reasonable (about 90 minute) drive to port. THey have a voucher deal on right which gives you a return flight (any two destinations) for $169. Pretty good deal ... but they nickel and dime you (no complimentary drinks, and they charge for all checked luggage). I like the comfort of flying into MCO (more options for car rental), and I just really like SW.

 

[sparty7798]

Hi all,
We now have our new addition, Will, he was born on June 10th so he will be joining us on his 1st Disney cruise with big brother Jack who will be 5 at the time of sailing!

I am so excited about this trip as I booked it on the 1st day in October of 2011 so it is a long time coming.

I am looking forward to the FE exchange!

 

[Pinkocto]

Queen of Oakville, THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU!!!!! Just bought tickets. I was actually on their website yesterday looking for prices for my December trip, and didn't even notice they had extended the bookable window! What a bummer about the price going up That's true though, I love that you can get a credit if the price goes down. We also really like Southwest, when I have to fly with others because SW doesn't go to the destination I'm reminded why we like them. So easy, everyone is so nice, and no baggage fees!

sparty7798, congratulations on the new addition! So exciting!

 

[Queen of Oakville]

Queen of Oakville, THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU!!!!! Just bought tickets. I was actually on their website yesterday looking for prices for my December trip, and didn't even notice they had extended the bookable window! What a bummer about the price going up That's true though, I love that you can get a credit if the price goes down. We also really like Southwest, when I have to fly with others because SW doesn't go to the destination I'm reminded why we like them. So easy, everyone is so nice, and no baggage fees!

sparty7798, congratulations on the new addition! So exciting!

lol you're welcome, you're welcome! glad it worked out for you!

I was really worried about missing the "open" window. I emailed SW before leaving on our last trip, and unfortunately, the bookign window openned before we returned.

 

[Pinkocto]

Hope you had a great vacation! I'll be curious to see what you think or Disney. I've read tons of people who say they've cruised with other companies, but once they go Disney they don't go back Looking forward to excellent service all around. Regarding the FE, Kathy, username 'kap@abq' has kindly offered to organize. She's going to get things started in November.

Trips seem more 'real' once you've bought tickets! HOORAY!

 

[Queen of Oakville]

Thank you! We did have a great holiday .... we did the Dreamworks cruise through Royal, so we had characters from Madagascar, Kung Fu Panda, and Shrek. it was good, but I'm expecting Disney to do better!!!!!


We actually folled Dream around .... in port on embarkation day, she was right before us .... we followed her out to sea, then we docked near her in Nassau, and then pulled in behind her back in PC. I took lots of pictures!


What are everyone's plans? We're flying in on the 12th and staying at the Wingate that night. Booked through the Windham website and got a rate of about $90 including breakfast. Hotel reviews look great. On the way back, we are staying at the same Wingate again and got an even better rate for about $80 including breakfast. Also got cars booked for the drive in and the drive out.

We normally stay in PC ... but the drive is so short, and hotels were much more expensive. We just stayed at the Radisson for $97, and on March 12 it goes up to $150.

We've been to PC a few times now .... If anyone has questions, I can try and help.

 

[BrennaM]

Been awhile but I thought I would check in! Welcome to all the new arrivals and congrats to Sparty!!!

Hey Queen of Oakville...did I ever tell you I used to live in Oakville? Before I got married I lived in Glen Abbey for 10 years.

Anyways our plans are as follows. We will be staying in AKV from the 8th till the 13th where my brother and sister in law will be staying with us. (We have a 2 bdrm suite through DVC) From there we will be parting ways with them and we will head onto the Dream.

btw I have to re-iterate that if we do a cruise meet we should either make it later in the evening or the following day if we want everyone to have a chance to make it. My last cruise meet was at 3:30 on departure day and we didn't even get on the boat until that time. We would have loved to have been earlier but we had to wait for the Disney transport and they were running late that day.

After the cruise we are heading back to Animal Kingdom and staying there (through our DVC once again) for another 2 days before we head home.

Time seems to be flying around here and I can't believe how much closer we are to living a dream on the Dream!

btw do we have a name for our cruise at all? Just wondering if I plan on doing some personalized stuff for the FE's.

 

[Queen of Oakville]

Brenna! Cool! I used to live in West Oak Trails (near Loyola).

A name for our meet and greet sounds great!

I'm really looking forward to seeing the "lists" and the ages of the kids sailing.

What kind of dinner ressies did you guys ask for? We asked for a private table, but now I'm wondering if we should have let Disney magic pair us up with another family?

I'd read stories on the main board about kids with atrocious behaviour, and the last thing I wanted was to be paired up with one of "those" familes.

I've recently been hearing stories about friendships formed at dinner and how nice it was for the kids to have playmates.

Now I'm second guessing myself.

The TA did warn me that private table are very hard to come by, so I maybe I will jsut let fate work its course.

 

[Pinkocto]

Greetings everybody!

We'll be flying in the morning of the cruise (8:30 a.m.) and paying for the transfer to the port, I know a lot of people like to be there the day before, but I'm hoping everything will be fine. Then after the cruise we'll be staying at AKV Jambo House, studio, until Wednesday, so a good four days post cruise. I'm not sure if there will be any Spring Break crowds, but if so we can just enjoy the hotel, we fell in love with Animal Kingdom Lodge this past January which actually convinced me to buy DVC.

Since this is our first cruise I'm going to just let the cards fall where they may reguarding table mates. We're pretty outgoing so it should be fun. I've heard Disney does a really good job pairing up parties, if you're a family they'll pair you with a family of similar aged children, and if you're just adults they'll pair you similarly. Should be great fun. Planning to go to Palo and Remy, so if we don't like the table mates we'll only see them three times

I'm totally fine with a cruise meet later in the evening or another day, we'll be there early but definitely don't want to miss anybody.

 

[Queen of Oakville]

First sea day is generally a good time for a meet. I'm not sure when our first sea day is though?

On HAL, .... we did it on debarkation day, but it conflicted with the sail away party and early dinner.