February 27, 2011 - 4 Night on the Disney Dream!

[kbmo4444]

Sorry gang we are jumping ship per se. School calendar came out and they switched weeks on us. We are now on the 2/20/2011 sailing. It was nice getting to know you all. I will miss the stateroom tours Have a great cruise

 

[blossomz]

We'll miss you..sorry you'll miss the tour as well!

 

[two-foxes]

Well, it stinks we are losing one, but lucky you, you get on a week earlier! If you do a SR tour on your cruise, let us know how it is

Just want to let you all know that I am more than happy to organize a "who's sailing list" compiling SR numbers with names/ages of those sailing for the FE gift exchange, so if you want to be included, just PM me. I may not get going on the list right away, but I will keep the list current and update as time goes on here. (I am still planning our 2 week Sept/Oct trip, and gotta get through that, too)

Also, I will see if I can organize the stateroom tours....which may be nothing more than a list of folks who are willing to open their rooms and a time frame which it will be done. I am thinking an one hour on embarkation day (before my kids tear apart our room!) is reasonable, and hopefully won't detract too much from the days activities! We can meet at one central location and just head down the list of rooms.....

Not sure what is planned for those booked through mousefan for Lou's cruise, but as soon as we get some idea of stuff going on for that, we can specifiy times, etc.

And, I am sooooo bummed we still have so long to go, but it is under a year now

 

[Blanche_Neige]

Hi all

I have booked for this week as well Just waiting for DH vacation OK from his boss...

I believe we are on deck 7 ( I have to call them to confirm my computer crashed and I lost all the info)

This will be our first cruise Best part is the boys don't have any clue. They all think we are going to the beach

I'm so excited I cannot stop planning Now I have a dilema where to stay the night before

our option for a family of 5 with no car:

-Stay at the port (get a car service) hotel ???
-Stay at POR (no parks) go to DTD for some pre-cruise shopping & swimming.

what would you do?

 

[two-foxes]

Hi all

I have booked for this week as well Just waiting for DH vacation OK from his boss...

I believe we are on deck 7 ( I have to call them to confirm my computer crashed and I lost all the info)

This will be our first cruise Best part is the boys don't have any clue. They all think we are going to the beach

I'm so excited I cannot stop planning Now I have a dilema where to stay the night before

our option for a family of 5 with no car:

-Stay at the port (get a car service) hotel ???
-Stay at POR (no parks) go to DTD for some pre-cruise shopping & swimming.

what would you do?

I say option 3...

Well, I would rent a one way car rental with Budget or Alamo, head to port the day before, stay at the residence inn or Radisson, enjoy a nice day a Cocoa Beach (depending on weather in Feb) or check out Kennedy Space center, grab dinner at Grills, and have a nice leisurely morning at port, being only about 3 minutes away. One can take the car back to the rental company in the morning and take their shuttle back and another can take the kids on the hotel shuttle over.

I was helping a friend with this same question for her family of 4, and the cheapest transportation was the one way rental, although I think Alamo/Thrifty charges a one way fee, so you may want to check that out. It just will offer you a bit more freedom than being trapped at your hotel if you choose to go to port. Also, DCL transfers are crazy expensive, IMHO!

 

[NancyIL]

Well, I would rent a one way car rental with Budget or Alamo, head to port the day before, stay at the residence inn or Radisson, enjoy a nice day a Cocoa Beach (depending on weather in Feb) or check out Kennedy Space center, grab dinner at Grills, and have a nice leisurely morning at port, being only about 3 minutes away. One can take the car back to the rental company in the morning and take their shuttle back and another can take the kids on the hotel shuttle over.

Avis is in Cape Canaveral, but Alamo is not.

 

[two-foxes]

Avis is in Cape Canaveral, but Alamo is not.

Ooops! Actually I didn't mean either one of those...we used Thrifty/Dollar on one trip, and that is the one I meant
(need more coffee and sleep before throwing names out there!) But we have always had the best luck with Budget.

 

[NancyIL]

Ooops! Actually I didn't mean either one of those...we used Thrifty/Dollar on one trip, and that is the one I meant
(need more coffee and sleep before throwing names out there!) But we have always had the best luck with Budget.

I have used Avis 3 times and Budget once, and I prefer Avis. I haven't tried Thrifty/Dollar.

 

[blossomz]

Hey two-foxes...that would be great! Thanks for the offer to organize everything!!

 

[breakingd_awn]

Hi all

I have booked for this week as well Just waiting for DH vacation OK from his boss...

I believe we are on deck 7 ( I have to call them to confirm my computer crashed and I lost all the info)

This will be our first cruise Best part is the boys don't have any clue. They all think we are going to the beach

I'm so excited I cannot stop planning Now I have a dilema where to stay the night before

our option for a family of 5 with no car:

-Stay at the port (get a car service) hotel ???
-Stay at POR (no parks) go to DTD for some pre-cruise shopping & swimming.

what would you do?

We are a family of 6 (with no car) and on our recent 4 day we this is what we did:
from airport(mco) rented a van from Budget drove from mco to Country Inn and Suites . We ended up just relaxing at the hotel because of the long day at airports and we have a toddler. The next morning we dropped off the van at Budget and took the Budget shuttle to the port. Very easy total cost of pre-trip was:
van 97.00
gas 10.00
pizza 28.00
hotel 170.00 = 305.00

 

[luvmyredheadboys]

I am feeling so bummed that the cruise is still so far away..I wish it was sooner oh well it will be here soon enough. I am worried that I am going to have only 5 months after having the baby to fit in some clothes before the world/cruise trip BUT it is great motivation now to watch what I eat now so hopefully I won't have to starve for 5 months. I am still feeling so sick that I haven't started back to my exercise routine yet but next week I am going to force myself out of the bed/couch and get back to work!! NO EATING FOR 2!!! I have to pace myself so I stay healthy. So enough about me how is everyone else doing?
We want to do the cabin tour if you need a family stateroom with balcony mine should be available.
We have been having 60 degree sunny days! it has been so nice outside! And I quit my job!! So I am now a stay at home mom!! First time ever!! I have worked for 17 years (since I was 15) at the same place...but no more April

 

[Blanche_Neige]

We are a family of 6 (with no car) and on our recent 4 day we this is what we did:
from airport(mco) rented a van from Budget drove from mco to Country Inn and Suites . We ended up just relaxing at the hotel because of the long day at airports and we have a toddler. The next morning we dropped off the van at Budget and took the Budget shuttle to the port. Very easy total cost of pre-trip was:
van 97.00
gas 10.00
pizza 28.00
hotel 170.00 = 305.00

Renting a car is not an option for us. That is why we are looking into a car service or DCL transport (more$$)

 

[two-foxes]

Renting a car is not an option for us. That is why we are looking into a car service or DCL transport (more$$)

We used Happy Limo once....the driver wasn't the friendliest around, but not rude, just not nice! But, they served their purpose very well, getting from port to MCO superquick with no hassle!

Good luck on whatever you decide!

 

[blossomz]

We always use Basik shuttle dot com. Good price and great service! Look them up and get a quote

 

[two-foxes]

NO EATING FOR 2!!! I have to pace myself so I stay healthy

I was so never able not to eat for 2 during both my pregnancies. Now that I know lil Reagan James is our last one, I have been going full force with training for a 10K and the half relay at WDW in Oct...but I am still yet to get my diet in line! I am sooooo still outta practice on eating well for just one.

 

[kdun]

We live in Laconia too. We just got back from the Western on the Magic last week, so I'm finally checking back in here.

We're doing back to back on the Dream, so we'll be doing the 3 night after this 4 night. I ended up switching us to an inside (want to check out the new virtual porthole) and was able to get the same room for both dates.

We had a great day at Castaway Cay last week, lets hope for the same kind of day next year!

That's great you could get the same room on a back to back! We went with a verandah. We had one last year and were totally spoiled by it!!
I bet the virtual porthole rooms are going to be pretty neat. Disney is always thinking!
Glad to hear you had a good trip!! When we were at Castaway Cay last year we also had a great day. Our kids had a blast there! Was the new water structure open yet?

 

[blossomz]

Can you just leave all of your things or do you have to pack up and re=unpack when you do that and get the same room?

 

[two-foxes]

Can you just leave all of your things or do you have to pack up and re=unpack when you do that and get the same room?

Waaay back in 2004, we did back to backs and kept everything in our room. When our hostess got to our room to clean, we left to explore the empty ship and she did a deep clean around our stuff. At that time, we were allowed to stay on the ship during the turn around, but now I think you need to disembark and reboard....but you can still leave your stuff in your room, I believe.

I am so jealous of back to backers! It is the best time!

 

[Billinaz]

Since we are in the same room, we can leave everything like we were doing a 7 day. We dont have to do anything special as far as our stuff in the room goes.

The last time we did a back to back we stayed onboard. Now you have to leave at about 9 to go thru customs, and then go right back up and check in again then get back onboard. This is all done before anyone comes into the terminal.

I will be very busy exploring the ship and taking photos!

 

[two-foxes]

Since we are in the same room, we can leave everything like we were doing a 7 day. We dont have to do anything special as far as our stuff in the room goes.

The last time we did a back to back we stayed onboard. Now you have to leave at about 9 to go thru customs, and then go right back up and check in again then get back onboard. This is all done before anyone comes into the terminal.

I will be very busy exploring the ship and taking photos!

That will be the BEST to explore the Dream nearly empty! Those are my favorite pics from the Magic when we did our B2B. LUCKY!!!!