From WDW to DL With Love - January 06, 2011 part 2

[tiggrlady]

I booked disney's air travel and of course being so far out they don't have times yet. Anyone have experience with this and with whom they usually go through? Trying to budget for the luggage fees!!

 

[pahrumpgirl]

I am interested in doing a zip line excursion on this cruise- can anyone tell me what ports this is offered at based on prior experience? Is it a better experience at one port vs. another?

We did the Zip line in Puerto Vallarta and really enjoyed it. Having not done it in any other port don't know whether any others are better.

I booked disney's air travel and of course being so far out they don't have times yet. Anyone have experience with this and with whom they usually go through? Trying to budget for the luggage fees!!

We used Disney air in 2008 and they book air with all of this mind.

Carol

 

[poohs4me]

I have been trying to book hotel (or at least price hotel) for pre-trip stay at either Universal or WDW and the online reservations will not give me any information past December 31, 2010. How is everyone else doing it? Are you all DVC members, is that the difference?

 

[disfaninca]

If your air / car rental is fully refundable then you probably don't need to insure it.

Think of the "what if's" which is what trip insurance is about. What kind of risk are you willing to take if something happens.

What if someone in your group gets sick on the trip and you have to evac them to a local hospital. What happens then with your air fare? The cost of staying in a local hotel, the cost of getting back home.

What if a major delay on your inbound trip causes you to miss the ship?

What if you fall ill just before your trip and are unable to travel?

Check with your preferred insurer - if you don't include the cost of flights in your trip insurance, how would that affect the any claim you might have (would you effectively be under insured as you didn't include the cost of flights)

I don't get trip insurance for our regular trips to FL, but I do for the cruises.

-Kay

Thanks again. Now you have me thinking about covering more...LOL

I am interested in doing a zip line excursion on this cruise- can anyone tell me what ports this is offered at based on prior experience? Is it a better experience at one port vs. another?

Count us in too on the zipping! Not sure where to go though.

 

[aan1701]

Just saving us from page 2

 

[CruznLexi]

Just added another night at KV. We are now coming on Sunday night. It was just too early for us to get to the airport that Monday. If SW keeps the same schedule we will leave at 730pm. It will give us all day to get ready! We did Hawaii in 07 on RCI it was a nightmare getting off. Only 2 customs officers for 2500! We had first color and did not get off until almost 10am!

 

[ChipperMerlin]

I'm off to a big Shrove Tuesday dinner (Cajun gumbo & Pancakes) that is New Orleans' themed Mardi Gras...must do all that eating & imbibing tonight as tomorrow begins my 40 day "fast" for Lent! I told DD that I was 'giving up' 20 lbs for Lent...does anyone want it??? (sigh) I guess I'll have to actually put on the shoes & do the walking

I offered to give up cooking for Lent. You can guess how that went over with DH!

The idea of giving up some extra lbs sounds good - maybe I'll start with 10 lbs. Walking is good exercise - we did a 5K on Super Bowl Sunday and I practiced at Disneyland this past weekend. We have an 8K on Saturday. Gotta get in shape for the Royal Family 5K at WDW on 3/6. AuntLynne will be also be walking that morning.

 

[ChipperMerlin]

I have been trying to book hotel (or at least price hotel) for pre-trip stay at either Universal or WDW and the online reservations will not give me any information past December 31, 2010. How is everyone else doing it? Are you all DVC members, is that the difference?

DVC members can book at their "home" resorts 11 months out. So, on January 31st, I booked us into Jambo House from December 31, 2010 until January 6, 2011. On February 2nd, I called back and changed our reservations, starting on January 2, 2011 at the concierge club level. Yes, we'll have to move rooms, but there are a couple of activities that we want to do which are only available to club level guests.

 

[DisneyCruiser83]

Good morning everyone!
Alan, thank you for the customs heads up! I have only done it at PC, so it's good to know a little of what to expect in LA.
DH and I have stayed at Country Inn and Suites and really liked it. You can compare prices on their website for January. The lowest price room is listed as $139, but I know you can get it for less than that other places. Just to give an idea as to what is available.
I am too much of a wimp for the zipline, but I hope you all have a great time wherever you do it.
Have a great day everyone!

 

[aan1701]

Good morning everyone!
Alan, thank you for the customs heads up! I have only done it at PC, so it's good to know a little of what to expect in LA.

Your welcome. I know Disney has worked with the Customs people at PC. Now that they will be here for a few years, maybe they can work out some type of arangement as well.

 

[Bookwood]

Good Morning Cruisers!

About 10 days and I can make all our flight arrangements! Thanks for the heads up on the port problems at LA and the rehabing at DL (athough I kinda guessed that one- having been to WDW often in Jan.) I hpe you all have a great day today- oh and there's at least one person (2 if I can screw up the guts) who would like to zip line with the group.

 

[aan1701]

Good Morning Cruisers!

About 10 days and I can make all our flight arrangements! Thanks for the heads up on the port problems at LA and the rehabing at DL (athough I kinda guessed that one- having been to WDW often in Jan.) I hpe you all have a great day today- oh and there's at least one person (2 if I can screw up the guts) who would like to zip line with the group.

On the DL rehab work. Remember their will be a lot of work at DCA going on as well. Also I would not call it port problems. Just I guess that is the difference between PC and, one of the largest ports in the U.S., Los Angeles. I think Homeland Security feels that it needs to be way stricter her than in PC.

 

[JenKatt]

We've only done one cruise into LA (05 Repo) and really had no problem with it. Yes it was slower than PC, but it moved. And since we were the first there we kinda expected it to be slow and not as wonderful as PC is. We were really happy with how it went.
I'm thinking though, since the Wonder is permenant out there now, that Disney will have "fixed" a lot of the flow issues. Customs is customs, nothing is worse than flying into NYC area airports international with an influx of planes all getting off at once. That will take you forever to get through! (And that's with having experienced LAX customs too - LAX just sucks, customs or no customs!)

 

[glindamood]

Good morning! How did it get to be Ash Wednesday already? I will say I am pleased that it is hump day though.

No measurable snow to report but the sun is also not shining. Until we can really book, I don't know what I will do with airfare. I am really thinking AirTran as their luggage fees are less than Delta but that means we have to fly out of Flint which is further. We shall see how it all goes.

So everyone have a great day.

 

[WDW Princess 71]

On the DL rehab work. Remember their will be a lot of work at DCA going on as well. Also I would not call it port problems. Just I guess that is the difference between PC and, one of the largest ports in the U.S., Los Angeles. I think Homeland Security feels that it needs to be way stricter her than in PC.

Thanks Alan for the heads up. Just curious, do you or anyone else know how they assigned the colors to get off? Does late seating and late breakfast therefore mean a later color? Obviously even if its a nightmarish experience it still wouldnt change my mind about the trip, but I am a very curious person so I just wanted to ask this question to see if anyone knew. That and the fact that I am planning to do a short stay at DLR afterwards, so depending how much of the first day is "wasted" waiting to get off the ship, I may change how many nights i book accordingly.

 

[LindaBabe]

Good Morning, everyone!

Sorry to hear that debarking is not a wonderful experience. (Especially since, assuming I managed to get down on the floor, it would take a crane to get me up again.) My fingers will be crossed for a better experience on our trip.

We finally had a measurable snow yesterday. 4 - 5 inches. The world looks much prettier now than when it was all grey and grungy looking. And it's 30 degrees F, so no complaints there. Went to the gym and pool already, so it's time to start the day.

Happy Day all!

 

[Tami0220]

As I understand there are zip lines in Costa Rica and PV. I plan on PV as DH wont do it, but they have a non rider fee of $20 and he can hang out at the tequila bar. Someone early on told me to look up Los Veranos Canopy Tour in PV and it looks great to me.

 

[Poohbug]

I would LOVE to zip line over the rain forrest.

I am really unsure right now about the excursions. It will just be me and the boys and I am not sure about leaving them in the clubs while I am off the boat. I know that most excursions tend to have a minimum age and that will mean that I probably will not be doing much off the ship.

I would also love to visit DL. I have never been. Again just a little worried about transportation to parks and airport. We would be looking to stay at an off-site hotel and having no experience at all with DL and the area-it makes me nervous.

 

[WDW Princess 71]

As I understand there are zip lines in Costa Rica and PV. I plan on PV as DH wont do it, but they have a non rider fee of $20 and he can hang out at the tequila bar. Someone early on told me to look up Los Veranos Canopy Tour in PV and it looks great to me.

Thanks so much for the info, I checked out their website and it looks great! Sounds like a reasonable price and a lot of fun. I would love to also hear if anyone has done it in Costa Rica so that I can compare the two. Part of my decision will also be what else there is to do in both ports, so that I can judge that as well. Is there anything else worthwhile in PV other than the zipline? Only thing I've heard is the disappointing Wal-Mart building right at the port

I would LOVE to zip line over the rain forrest.

I am really unsure right now about the excursions. It will just be me and the boys and I am not sure about leaving them in the clubs while I am off the boat. I know that most excursions tend to have a minimum age and that will mean that I probably will not be doing much off the ship.

I would also love to visit DL. I have never been. Again just a little worried about transportation to parks and airport. We would be looking to stay at an off-site hotel and having no experience at all with DL and the area-it makes me nervous.

Don't be nervous! DL is so small, and the offsite hotels are literally right there within walking distance or <5 min shuttle to the parks. The parks are just literally right next to each other, might take you all of 2 mins to walk from one to the other, and Downtown Disney right next to that, another <5 min walk. That's really all there is to DL, you can do it! And I would be happy to answer any questions you might have, I've been there so many times and I'm sure other DL veterans here would love to help any newbies plan as well!

 

[JenKatt]

The important thing to remember about Disneyland is it would fit in WDW's Magic Kingdom parking lot. And DCA can (and did) fit in Disneyland's parking lot.