First Trip Report for Our First Cruise. Disney Wonder California Coast Sept 16th 2012

[SamandWill1921]

Introductions:

Hi everyone! Welcome to our first trip report for our first Disney Cruise. As my title says we will be heading out on our "Wonder"ful adventure on September 16th. We are very excited about this trip, and I'm trying really hard not to plan every single detail. I know some people don't really like pre-trip reports so if you want to come back and just read about the trip, that's ok. We are major foodies so I will post a lot of food porn for your enjoyment.

Meet the Fowlers:

Samantha (me) 20: Planner of the vacation, and lifelong Disney lover. As of today (7/27/12) I have about a month left of nursing school. This trip is in part to celebrate the fact that I made it through an accelerating LPN program. This has been the craziest year of my life. But I know it will all be worth it, nursing is where I was born to be.

William (DH) 21: In charge of booking our flight, and that is all . Always enjoyed Disney but caught the bug when we went to DLR last October. He is a Computer Science major and will graduate in May, 2013. He is the Computer Whisperer, I don't know how he does it...

A little about our life:
We live in Denver, Colorado but both grew up around Boulder. We love rock music, Doctor Who, crime shows, and of course DISNEY. We met in High School and have been very happy together for nearly 4 years.

Here is us while still in High School:


Us on our Wedding Day. May 17th, 2011:


In addition to my graduation from nursing school, this vacation is also to celebrate our 1st anniversary that was in May but we didn't get to celebrate it much.

So in order to pass the time while I get ready for our trip I thought some of you might like to tag along for what will hopefully be the ride of our lives. Oh and I almost forgot to mention, after the cruise, we are doing a few days at DLR so I'll add all that into this TR.

Pre Trip Report Stuff:
Cruise Docs, Airlines Tickets, Hotels, FEs, and Finals on the rise...
Our General Plan. Let's hope it goes accordingly
Fairly boring update
!!!!!! I PASSED !!!!!!

 

[Pocogrumpy]

Can't wait to hear about your cruise we are going on the same cruise Oct 7. Can you post the personal navigators so we can see what is going on while on the ship.

 

[SamandWill1921]

Absolutely! I will try to get navigators up as soon as possible after we get back.

 

[LoveMM]

Absolutely! I will try to get navigators up as soon as possible after we get back.

Wow you live in Denver? We live at the USAF Academy. We're like neighbors!

 

[nunzia]

I'm on this cruise too and it's also my first cruise..reading along

 

[Escape2Disney]

We're thinking of doing this cruise next year! Subscribing...

 

[ADandBsmommy]

We are doing this cruise on Sept 23rd and are so excited! Cannot wait to read about your time on board. And congrats on nursing - my husband just finished up his BSN program and just got a job. I totally know how stressful it is!

 

[LoveMM]

Can't wait to hear about your cruise we are going on the same cruise Oct 7. Can you post the personal navigators so we can see what is going on while on the ship.

Hi there! I'm on the Oct. 7th cruise too. Are you on our dis thread or facebook page?

 

[SamandWill1921]

We got our cruise documents yesterday! I know this is exciting whether this is your first cruise or your 101st but we were pretty ecstatic. We didn't get a upgrade as of yet but I've heard of them doing it up to the night before the cruise so I stay hopeful. As of now we are in Stateroom 6633 Aft which is really close to the stairs and elevators so I'm happy even if we don't end up with a pixie dusted porthole.

I am SO happy about our airline tickets and hotel for the night before the cruise. Frontier airlines was having a sale, and so we looked into it since Denver is frontier's home hub. Well we also then checked Southwest just to be sure, low and behold the southwest tickets were $98/per person/per way. Then Southwest had a 3.5 star hotel that we could bundle with our airline tickets that was about $85 for the night. So we got the tickets AND hotel for what I was planning on spending for tickets only. That adds a nice little $200 boost to our cruise/port shopping budget as well as food at Disneyland. Needless to say we are thrilled.

We are closing in on completing the FEs. We have 19 cabins and over 50 people. I'm also doing something pretty much handmade per person. I will do a big reveal in my actual TR but for now just know that I'm pretty proud of it, it's something practical with a Disney flair, and it was a LOT more work then I anticipated at first.

School is testing my limits these days, how dare they give me 2 days of clinicals followed by 3 tests when I'm trying to prepare for my vacation! The never of these people . Anyway it's been a rough couple of weeks and it's going to be a few more rough ones. But the light at the end of the tunnel gets a little brighter with each test passed, and each 12 hour clinical day completed. I officially have 11 school days left then I can really focus on packing and such.

I'm trying to write this for all of us who love the dirty details as well as those of you who could care less about our personal story and just want me to get to the vacation stuff. I'm also trying to write this as a TR I would want to read. Thanks to all who stuck it out to the end of this novel.

 

[SamandWill1921]

Saturday August 15th:
We will drop our dog Ariel off at my Grandma's house we love her so much, and we have never left her overnight before let alone for 12 days. But there is no better candidate to care for her then my Grandma. Then my Dad will take us to Denver International Airport where our flight to LAX leaves at 1:30pm. If all goes well we will be in Los Angeles by about 3:00pm.

Then we will take the airport shuttle to our hotel the Best Western Airport Plaza Inn. After that we don't have many plans for the night. I have never eaten at In-n-Out Burger (none on Colorado) and i have always wanted to so we will probably find one to eat at for dinner and get there via cab or bus.

Sunday August 16th. CRUISE DAY!
We will take the airport shuttle back to LAX and then catch the DCL bus transfer from there to the port. My DH Will wants to get to the port as early as possible. He would rather be at the port starting to soak up the Disney magic then sitting in a hotel room.

In San Francisco:
We are there for 2 days and we haven't booked any excursions. We figure that we don't have to worry about missing the boat and we don't have kids so we can just kind of, explore.
Must do's:
Ghirardelli Square
Fisherman's Wharf
Cable Cars
Walt Disney Family Museum - Only open on Wednesday
Chinatown
Fog City Diner (My Dad said he would pay for us to eat here if we brought him a menu or pics of the menu. He's a food guy for fun now, but it use to be for a living)

In San Diego:
Relax on the Beach
Do a little shopping

In Ensenada:
If we get off the boat at all it will be to shop for an hour or 2.

Sunday Sept 23rd:
Sad to disembark the wonderful Wonder but we will be excited to head to Disneyland. We'll take the DCL bus to LAX and from there catch the Disneyland Express to the Castle Inn in Anaheim. We are hoping to get to the parks by about 1:00pm. And from there enjoy the resort.

Wednesday Sept 26th:
Flight leaves out of SNA at 6:15ish :'( and we head home.

 

[Meganyvemarie]

Sunday Sept 23rd:
Sad to disembark the wonderful Wonder but we will be excited to head to Disneyland. We'll take the DCL bus to LAX and from there catch the Disneyland Express to the Castle Inn in Anaheim. We are hoping to get to the parks by about 1:00pm. And from there enjoy the resort.

We did this on our last cruise back in January and we were at the hotel a little before one. We were a little stressed about not getting there early enough though so I think this time when we do it we will request an early debarkation time on embarkation day (as we had the last one last time). This way we get more of the day in DISNEYLAND!

Subbed! I'm on the 30th Sept sailing on the Wonder and can't wait!

 

[SamandWill1921]

We did this on our last cruise back in January and we were at the hotel a little before one. We were a little stressed about not getting there early enough though so I think this time when we do it we will request an early debarkation time on embarkation day (as we had the last one last time). This way we get more of the day in DISNEYLAND!

Subbed! I'm on the 30th Sept sailing on the Wonder and can't wait!

You can request early disembarkation? I did not know that. I just thought we would have to wait until 9:30 like everyone else. Thank you SO much. I will be doing that for sure! Who do I talk to about that?

 

[Meganyvemarie]

You can request early disembarkation? I did not know that. I just thought we would have to wait until 9:30 like everyone else. Thank you SO much. I will be doing that for sure! Who do I talk to about that?

There are 6 tags which are all associated with a color and a character and they indicate the time you disembark the first one is Ariel at 7ish and the last is goofy at 9.30ish if I remember correctly. Just make sure you go to guest services early on day one so the have enough time to make the change. Not all requests are granted as we can't all leave the boat at the same time but they will do everything they can to help you. Disney staff are awesome like that!

 

[ORDisneyfans]

There is an In and Out Burger right by the airport! I am sure your cab driver will take you there on your way to your hotel! It is always super busy! Hope it doesn't cost a fortune to wait inline! LOL!

 

[SamandWill1921]

Only 17 sleeps until we leave EEK! We are getting more and more excited every day. DH Will is back in school now and doing his best to get his work done so he can miss 1.5 weeks of classes. He is in his last year and is very ready to graduate.
Friday Aug 31st is a BIG day for me. I have to pass a comprehensive computerized test that mocks my state boards in order to graduate. So I'm studying like a mad woman and trying my utmost not to freak out, it's not working very well. To be honest I haven't given much thought to packing just yet, I have to get through the next 4 days first. Gotta graduate. And to an over planner like me this whole not planning, focus on school only thing is driving me crazy. But I can't believe I'm finally almost done! I will update everyone again once this life sucking, pit of despair they call nursing school is over.

 

[anc876]

Congrats on being almost done with nursing school! What a great way to relax and reward yourself afterward. =)

We are booked on the same cruise and also doing DLR the next 3 days. Can't wait! Haven't done Disney since 2006, and we get to introduce our DS2 to all things Disney!

 

[kdn hawaii]

Congrats! Enjoy your cruise! We are planning to book a last minute cruise on the 7th of Oct! Looking forward to hearing about your experience!

 

[nunzia]

Saturday August 15th:
We will drop our dog Ariel off at my Grandma's house we love her so much, and we have never left her overnight before let alone for 12 days. But there is no better candidate to care for her then my Grandma. Then my Dad will take us to Denver International Airport where our flight to LAX leaves at 1:30pm. If all goes well we will be in Los Angeles by about 3:00pm.

Then we will take the airport shuttle to our hotel the Best Western Airport Plaza Inn. After that we don't have many plans for the night. I have never eaten at In-n-Out Burger (none on Colorado) and i have always wanted to so we will probably find one to eat at for dinner and get there via cab or bus.

Sunday August 16th. CRUISE DAY!
We will take the airport shuttle back to LAX and then catch the DCL bus transfer from there to the port. My DH Will wants to get to the port as early as possible. He would rather be at the port starting to soak up the Disney magic then sitting in a hotel room.

In San Francisco:
We are there for 2 days and we haven't booked any excursions. We figure that we don't have to worry about missing the boat and we don't have kids so we can just kind of, explore.
Must do's:
Ghirardelli Square
Fisherman's Wharf
Cable Cars
Walt Disney Family Museum - Only open on Wednesday
Chinatown
Fog City Diner (My Dad said he would pay for us to eat here if we brought him a menu or pics of the menu. He's a food guy for fun now, but it use to be for a living)

In San Diego:
Relax on the Beach
Do a little shopping

In Ensenada:
If we get off the boat at all it will be to shop for an hour or 2.

Sunday Sept 23rd:
Sad to disembark the wonderful Wonder but we will be excited to head to Disneyland. We'll take the DCL bus to LAX and from there catch the Disneyland Express to the Castle Inn in Anaheim. We are hoping to get to the parks by about 1:00pm. And from there enjoy the resort.

Wednesday Sept 26th:
Flight leaves out of SNA at 6:15ish :'( and we head home.

OMG I'd forgotten I'd eaten there my last trip..way long ago..

 

[Cheryl726]

Congrats on nursing school, and have a great cruise!

 

[SamandWill1921]

I passed my predictor test today! In fact I got the highest score in my class of 18! I feel like a HUGE weight has been lifted off my shoulders and I can finally relax and focus on this vacation. Being done hasn't quite sank in yet. I think it will when I get to sleep in on Monday morning. 16 days and counting until our celebration vacation.