February 27th 2011 Mexican Riviera aboard the Wonder

[pekollie]

Very happy to have found this thread! We are also booked for this trip and are very excited! It will be our first cruise and honestly, our first real vacation in a long time. I would like to make it extra special for my daughter, who will be 4 at the time of sailing, and for my husband, who will still be old at the time of sailing (haha). Any suggestions from you seasoned Disney cruisers would be appreciated!

Welcome! We hope you join the FE thread ... We are so glad to have you aboard this trip! Make sure you sign up your 4yr old into the Oceaneer's Club. Cant wait to see you aboard!

 

[IndianaPrincess]

I think my parents may cruise with us!!! They are putting in a deposit "just in case" they decide to come!

 

[disneygirlinphoenix]

It looks like we've got a pretty good group in the making! I am excited, and looking forward to meeting all of you!

Rachel

 

[Ladyshopper]

Can someone give me some ideas of things to do and places to stay beforehand? Don't really want to do the disney park, trying to keep costs down, and have done Florida and will obviously get a disney fix on the cruise!

Would like to do Universal studios, and also show the kids the Hollywood sign. Any other must do cheapish activities?

Am thinking of flying out on maybe the Tuesday the week before, so got plenty of time to do things and get settled in. Have some priority points I can use for hotels.

Main thing for me is how to get around, if I hire a car what do I do with at the port, will it be cheaper to pay for hire and parking whilst on cruise and return car to airport, or do I return it beforehand then get some kind of transport to port and then back to airport?

Any suggestions most welcome!!

 

[lauraleigh9mm]

Can someone give me some ideas of things to do and places to stay beforehand? Don't really want to do the disney park, trying to keep costs down, and have done Florida and will obviously get a disney fix on the cruise!

Would like to do Universal studios, and also show the kids the Hollywood sign. Any other must do cheapish activities?

Am thinking of flying out on maybe the Tuesday the week before, so got plenty of time to do things and get settled in. Have some priority points I can use for hotels.

Main thing for me is how to get around, if I hire a car what do I do with at the port, will it be cheaper to pay for hire and parking whilst on cruise and return car to airport, or do I return it beforehand then get some kind of transport to port and then back to airport?

Any suggestions most welcome!!

You will have to rent a car, it is just too far. There are a lot of hotels near the port that will let you park for free for the week!

 

[Ladyshopper]

Which ones have free parking please?

 

[lauraleigh9mm]

most of them have some sort of "park and cruise" rate.

We like the Doubletree.

 

[SoCal Susie]

I'll take a Capecod please!

We are booked and took advantage of the KSF deal.

DS will be 5 at sailing and DD will be 3 at sailing.

We've cruised before on RCCL and Carnival but this will be our first Disney cruise.

Live in the LA area and are Disney freaks! Have annual passes to Disneyland and hit up the part a couple of times a month, if not once a week.

7 months seems soooo far away!

 

[Twinkledust]

Just wondering if any of you are planning excursions at this point? I'm thinking of whale watching in Cabo. I have done it here in OC but have yet to see a whale (seen tons of dolphins though!).

And I agree with you Susie...7 months seems like a long time! Is it wrong that we are so excited?

 

[disneygirlinphoenix]

OOOh, our group is growing! Love it. Can't wait to meet y'all and have a drink! And best of all, share the love of Disney! So since we have 7 months, I thought we could start a get to know you game.... Everyone play along!

The ABC's of me:

A- "awesome adventure" you've done or would like to do on this cruise?

B- Breakfast. Yum! what's your favorite.. on or off ship.

C- Children.. Tell about your young'ins.

D- Disney. (of course) what is your favorite Disney memory.

E- Embarrassing moment. Everyone has one.. come on, do tell.

F- Fish extenders. Ok as a newbie, if you've cruised, tell the best gift you've received or what would you like to see in that pocket outside your door?

G- Guilty pleasure. Do tell.....



Ok, I will start. My name is Rachel and I am a proud Disney-aholic.
A-This is my first cruise, so I am excited for everything. My husband and I are planning to renew our vows on the beach in MX, so we are excited about that. We are looking into ziplining, and although I am afraid of heights... (side note, ask Laura or Meri- also on this thread about me falling down a mtn.) I am excited to do it.. hope it fits "squishy peeps"

B-I love pecan and banana pancakes.

C- Mackenzie, 15 Taylor, 12 ( girls) and Jarrett, 8. They don't know yet, but they will be so excited. They love Disney too.. I am planning a scavenger hunt soon to tell them, yeah!

D- I have been to Disneyland many times, and I love it each and every time. I love it more as a mom, to watch the excitement through my kids eyes. I think that, last Sept we went to DL at halloween time and my Taylor LOVES nightmare before xmas, she met jack and sally, that was her priority, she was So excited she practically cried. They took pics with her, talked with her, really made it feel special. It was amazing.

E- Oh lord, where to begin. In high school, I was so enfatuated with a boy, and wouldn't you know it, I tripped up the stairs right in front of him.

F- Guess I would love something homemade, and something that would invoke great memories of our cruise.

G- So I am like a tween at heart. I love watching Disney channel with my kids, love Phineas and Ferb, love cartoons, and I LOVE CHEESECAKE! especially cheesecake factory!



More ABC's later....

 

[DisneyZell]

Hi everyone,

We just got back from being in California for 3 weeks. I can't believe how fast vacations go! We went to Calif. Adventure on my DS's 8th b-day and had the best time. We were even chosen as the family to open up the park! Absolutely loved World of Color! I think that is my favorite show at any of the disney parks.

I am looking forward to seeing the excursions for this cruise...anyone have any idea when they will show up on the website?

 

[mom2aidanNpiper]

Hey everyone!

Life just calmed down enough for me to wander back to the boards and find the cruise meet section

I booked this cruise when I was on the June 18th Wonder (I had such a fantastic time and even though we did Universal and WDW for 10 days before/after all the kids could talk about was being back on the boat!).

It will be myself, my boyfriend (who did not come with us the last cruise so he is extra excited), my DS Aidan (9) and my DD Piper (5). Both will be close to their next birthday though.

Last cruise we did participate in the FE though I think we are going to opt out this time, but would still love to get to know everyone. It was also nice for kids to have some built in friends. My DS is autistic (high functioning but still has a hard time socially) so it really was great to have friends so quick!

 

[randc01]

Where in SoCal?? We should definitely do a Disney day or two?? Liike I said we go quite a bit....I assume you also have passes yes? how old are yours?? Did I miss that on the message? Probably I'm sure...we just have 1 girl age 5 when we cruise and have friends traveling w/1 DS age 8!
Oh I'm so dying....cannot wait!!

We just have one, a 6 year old girl. Our passes actually just expired on her birthday. Just waiting for the right time to renew.

 

[DisneyZell]

Hi everyone...I just got our mail and was very excited to find something from Disney Cruise Lines! Nothing too exciting, but a brochere on the Mexican Riviera. It makes me excited just to be reading about the cruise! I know it's the little things.

 

[SoCal Susie]

We were even chosen as the family to open up the park!

That is awesome! Can I ask how that happened for you guys?

 

[DisneyZell]

That is awesome! Can I ask how that happened for you guys?

I think there were a couple of things working for us. 1 - we got to the gates a little before 9:00 am (park opened at 10) so we were one of the first families in line. 2 - I made tye-dye mickey shirts for us all to wear so we were those matching familiy members. We noticed one of the cast members behind the gate pointing at us and then he left to do something. He came back out of the gates with Honorary Disneyland Citizen buttons and asked if we wanted to open the park.

The matching shirts is what did it for us, I'm sure. Whenever we go to DL or WDW I now make different shirts...it is so much easier keeping track of everyone too. The last time we were at WDW in Animal Kingdom we were picked to ride on a float for the parade...again, I think the shirts make all the difference.

 

[DisneyZell]

We just signed up for the F/E. Now I am busy looking for things to put in everybody's. We are starting to look at airfare as well. We are thinking of flying into Orange County...I like that airport so much more than LAX! I am looking at Jet Blue into Long Beach, but of course they have flights available on the 25th, but they haven't opened up their flights for march 6. I hate when they do that! It doesn't look like Jet Blue will be the way to go anyway with their one way tickets as much as they are. Our plan is to fly out on Friday b/c you just never know what the weather will be like in February. Anybody else have their flights yet?

 

[SoCal Susie]

I think there were a couple of things working for us. 1 - we got to the gates a little before 9:00 am (park opened at 10) so we were one of the first families in line. 2 - I made tye-dye mickey shirts for us all to wear so we were those matching familiy members. We noticed one of the cast members behind the gate pointing at us and then he left to do something. He came back out of the gates with Honorary Disneyland Citizen buttons and asked if we wanted to open the park.

The matching shirts is what did it for us, I'm sure. Whenever we go to DL or WDW I now make different shirts...it is so much easier keeping track of everyone too. The last time we were at WDW in Animal Kingdom we were picked to ride on a float for the parade...again, I think the shirts make all the difference.

Wow! That is awesome! Sorry to be so nosey but they let you guys in earlier than 10am or were you guys just the first ones in the park? I've never heard of that...very very cool.

 

[DisneyZell]

Wow! That is awesome! Sorry to be so nosey but they let you guys in earlier than 10am or were you guys just the first ones in the park? I've never heard of that...very very cool.

They had us come in at about 9:20 am and we waited just past the turnstiles for 9:30 when they let everyone in. We then did a 10 second countdown and said "Come on in" (or something like that). We were also told to get out of the way of the mob that would be rushing to get in line for the WOC fastpasses...which we already had b/c we did the dinner at Wine Country Trattoria. We were just in a rush to get on Soarin so that we could do that before official opening and get to Toy Story when they dropped the rope. I never even knew they opened Soarin a half hour before the rest of the park until I went searching on the Disneyland forum. These boards have the best information! It still blows my mind that CA does not have fast passes for Toy Story yet in Orlando they do I have a very competitive family and we love going on that ride to try to beat each other!

 

[anglovesdisney]

Hello - My boyfriend and I booked this cruise last week. We've been on the Wonder before over a year ago for a 3 day trip to Nassau & Castaway Cay. I'm looking forward to the trip.

Angela & Rakesh