Going Outside My Comfort Zone

[jenseib]

I also forgot to mention I got one other peice of mail when I got home from my DL trip....our cruise docs are here as well. I can honestly say I have yet to look them over. I have been so busy and today I took a lazy day and watched a movie most of the afternoon. I just needed a little break as i seem to be working non stop most days lately.

So on to the WDW trip. I don't remember everything I have told you all so far, so I will recap and add to that.

We fly down on Friday, March 21. I have been debating on making Claire go to school for 2-3 hours that day, but now I think I will just let her sleep in. The plan is to have my sister Gail take us to the airport, but I am not sure if Mom has asked her yet, so I better double check with that. And then I need to see if Skip will run us to her house with all our luggage.

We arrive at 5:08ish and then we are getting 2 cars. Claire and I will be getting it from Dollar (as you all know I am not a fan, but the price was the best I could find...by quite a bit) and my parents from Hertz. We then will head off to Port Orleans French Quarter. This is a place on my bucket list, so I am super excited to get at least 1 night there now.
I have 2 co-workers who are going to be at WDW for that week for a conference and it ends that day, but both are planning to stay at least another day or so, so the plan is they will drive over to POFQ after their dinner that evening. I actually think one is staying there as well.
The one I had actually met on my Nov. 2012 trip...Ellen...podsnel on Dis...and at that time she was not a co-worker, but things just fell into place and she is now one of "us". Katie is the other one, and I know she has a Dis name, but I can't for the life of me remember what it is.
Anyways, my plan was to just hang out at POFQ that night and it will be nice to meet up with them and have a little chat.
Claire, I am sure will be swimming, as that is always a top priority with any vacation.

On Sat., March 22, we will be getting up fairly early and heading to Epcot. I have to pick my ticket up at guest services. I was able to purchase one through my work, but it's only will call...which sucks, but nothing I can do about that.
I was told that all the fastpasses I made for Claire can be copied to me without issue and that better be true.

We have FP+ for Test Track, Figment and Turtle talk. Honestly, I hate this new system and I wish I could get one for both Soarin' and Test Track, but I guess we will try to get there early enough to get in stand by for Soarin'.

We have lunch that day at 2 Pm at Via Napoli, which was a favorite of ours last trip. It will be for all 4 of us. I know my parents and I doubt they will stay very late in the park and today is our check in day for the Marriott Grand Vista, so I expect they will leave not long after lunch to do that.
I however have no plans to leave early.
I also made an ADR at Beaches and Cream for dinner, but it will probably be more of a junk food dinner. Basically the only thing I know I have to have is the No Way Jose with vanilla ice cream. We'll see how hungry we are on whether we get anything else to eat with that.

After dinner, we'll see how we are doing. We may go in and watch Illuminations, or we may head over to MK, which is open till midnight that night. Or if we are tired, we will head over to the Marriott. I am going to play it by ear. I don't see us having super late night, but you never know. I do have to keep in mind that Claire needs more sleep than I do and I have a lot of things packed into this vacation already.

Sunday, March 23, we will have breakfast at 'Ohana with my cousins. After that, we'll probably spend the day at MK. I might go over to one of the parks first and then MK, but we have a FP+ for around 2ish ,so we'll play it by ear. MK is our favorite park anyways and we do like to spend the most time there.
At 7:10 we have a Be Our Guest ADR. My mom is excited to try this out and I am excited to finally go with the full real deal. Last time we went, it was still just a preview. I have not looked at menus in a long time, so i haven't even kept up to date on what they offer currently, but I am sure I will find a few things to keep me happy. I just had soup and dessert last time, so I do want to try a meal this time....and dessert!

Again, the park is open till midnight....then evening EMH...which we cannot partake in because at this point we are offsite.....that really sucks. But I will just have to get over it...and it will make us get a little more sleep, which is probably good in the long run.

 

[jenseib]

Ohh...and here is a little teaser for my Disneyland TR which will not be started till I get back from WDW.

 

[Poolrat]

Again, the park is open till midnight....then evening EMH...which we cannot partake in because at this point we are offsite.....that really sucks. But I will just have to get over it...and it will make us get a little more sleep, which is probably good in the long run.

f I remember correctly they were just checking bands for EMH soooooo..... maybe if you have your band on they will just wave you through? Just a thought

 

[dolphingirl47]

Your plans sound great. I have only ever had lunch at Be Our Guest and I still have to make it to Beaches and Cream. I may even be the tiniest bit jealous that you will get to have breakfast with a certain little blue alien.

Corinna

 

[jenseib]

f I remember correctly they were just checking bands for EMH soooooo..... maybe if you have your band on they will just wave you through? Just a thought

I had wondered that too, but I heard from people in Jan that they were scanning them...at least at Epcot.
I also heard they are sometimes waving people with bands on through for parking too without paying. I'll be prepared to pay and will be happy if I don't.

Your plans sound great. I have only ever had lunch at Be Our Guest and I still have to make it to Beaches and Cream. I may even be the tiniest bit jealous that you will get to have breakfast with a certain little blue alien.

Corinna

I am really not a fan of 'Ohanas at all, but since my cousins were wanting to go there and my parents kind of wanted to try it out and see them, I made it for all of us. if it was dinner there would be no way I would go. That food was NOT good at all to Claire and I.
I should call and see if we can get rolls without coconut as Claire and I both didn't care for those at all.

 

[dolphingirl47]

I am really not a fan of 'Ohanas at all, but since my cousins were wanting to go there and my parents kind of wanted to try it out and see them, I made it for all of us. if it was dinner there would be no way I would go. That food was NOT good at all to Claire and I.
I should call and see if we can get rolls without coconut as Claire and I both didn't care for those at all.

We have never had dinner there and in 2010, the food at breakfast was nothing to write home about, but in December it was hot, fresh and delicious. I cannot remember any coconut on the rolls this time round. One had raisins in it and the other was kind of a sticky pineapple bread, which was awesome.

Corinna

 

[jenseib]

We have never had dinner there and in 2010, the food at breakfast was nothing to write home about, but in December it was hot, fresh and delicious. I cannot remember any coconut on the rolls this time round. One had raisins in it and the other was kind of a sticky pineapple bread, which was awesome.

Corinna

Yes, the sticky pineapple one has coconut in it as well...and many people tell me they cannot taste it...but both Claire and i did...ewwww!

 

[JKSWonder]

We don't really like O'Hana either, for breakfast or dinner. And even though we are staying at the Poly this summer, I have made no O'Hana reservations for us. We like Kona Cafe much better. Food was good and prices fairly reasonable by Disney standards.

 

[jenseib]

We don't really like O'Hana either, for breakfast or dinner. And even though we are staying at the Poly this summer, I have made no O'Hana reservations for us. We like Kona Cafe much better. Food was good and prices fairly reasonable by Disney standards.

I did have a Kona breakfast for one day later in the trip, but I canceled it as it would be too much running around for me that day. Plus I decided to have less ADR's before the cruise so I could eat all I wanted there. LOL

 

[jenseib]

I am just crazy busy here and on top of that Claire has had 2 days off of school.
But I had to pop in and say we are at single digits! I leave 1 week from tomorrow!!!!

I think my ticker is off by a day. I might have it set for the 22 as that was our original day to arrive.

 

[dizneeat]

Yeah, for single digits!!!!!!!!!!​

 

[jenseib]

Yeah, for single digits!!!!!!!!!!​

It's really coming fast!!!!

 

[jenseib]

I left off with Sunday, March 23 our Magic Kingdom day.

Monday, March 24 is another Magic Kingdom day for us.
If all goes well, we will go to the MK early. But I know my daughter and she most likely will need a little extra sleep today.
We do have a reservation at 10:30 today at the Grand Floridian so my guess is this will be the first stop of the day.
Claire and I will be doing the My Disney Girl Perfectly Princess Tea Party for the very first time today. I have wanted to take her to this for a few years, but it is so pricey. But I figure we are at the end of her time enjoying things like this and I took the plunge and booked it for this trip. I am thinking I will valet park my car there for the day and just leave it there and we'll head to MK after the party. We will be getting a doll with this experience and I really don't want to carry it around, so I will have to see about being able to put it in the car later. I might just park in the visitor lot if this is going to be a problem.
Claire is very excited about this party and we have a special dress we borrowed from my wonderful friend Janet!

After the party we will head over to MK and we have a FP to meet Rapunzel around 1 I believe. We also got a FP for the new parade. I really didn't use FP+ for many rides at MK this trip, but I did them for things I thought Claire would like and we can change them if the lines aren't long (which I am sure it will be as the crowd levels are predicted high).
Our last FP+ of the day is for an Ariel meet.
We also have dinner with my parents today again at Be Our Guest. I believe today it is at 5:05. I actually booked this one not that long ago. They opened a bunch more in Jan and I snagged it. I normally do not eat at the same place twice like this in one trip, but I really want to see if I can work on getting better pictures this time around. Plus it is fun and cheaper than CRT.

Again, the park is open till midnight tonight, so we'll see how long we can last!


Tuesday, March 25.
Today we are going to Sea World. I debated this off and on and decided we needed to go back. Our one and only time we had gone before was a very short day and I wanted to see more of the park and the new things as well. Also I have 2 free tickets, so the cost wasn't an issue for me. (just pay for parking). My parents are coming here this day as well. I did tell them not to feel obligated to come with us, but they wanted to see more as well. My Dad has always enjoyed Sea World in Ohio and he seemed to have a good time at the one in Orlando when we went in 2011. He loves to watch shows, so this place is right up his alley.
The park is open 9-9 today and I am not sure how late we will stay, but I think Sea World has fireworks at night, so if we are doing good, we may stay for them. if not, then back to the resort to enjoy the pool. I have a feeling that the pool will win out for Claire.
Which is fine. I know we will be very busy and our pool time is going to be limited, but I do want to at least have a chance to let her swim here a little bit.

Wed, March 26 will be a Hollywood Studios day for Claire and I. My parents only got 3 day park hoppers to Disney and they will be done with the parks by now. They may possibly be visiting my Aunt (Dad's sister) and Uncle on this day. They often go every time they visit florida for a day and this would be a good day for them. I am not sure if they have set it up yet or not though.
I plan to be at DHS by no later than 10. Earlier if we can, but with my slow poke with me, it doesn't always work that way.
We have FP+ for Star tours and TSM this day. I also have one for the Great Movie ride, which we have not ridden in years.
I did not make any ADR's for this day. I decided we are getting close to cruise time and i should not gorge myself as much so I have room to do so on the ship. LOL. But I do plan to go to starring roles and have a wonderful cupcake with Claire. She is all for this too.
We'll play it by ear and eat when we are hungry. Again, we may hop over to MK before the day is done. I think a lot of the touring will depend on crowds. I am hoping for the best, but I keep hearing how crazy busy the parks have been this month. And Easy WDW has them being 9's all week, while touring plans is better with 6,7 and 8's.

We only have one more park day after this, so we need to make the best of our time there.

 

[dolphingirl47]

Your plans sound wonderful. I hope that Claire will enjoy My Disney Girl Perfectly Princess Tea Party. When you go to SeaWorld, you have to make sure to see Blue Horizons. This is the most amazing show I have ever seen.

Corinna

 

[jenseib]

Your plans sound wonderful. I hope that Claire will enjoy My Disney Girl Perfectly Princess Tea Party. When you go to SeaWorld, you have to make sure to see Blue Horizons. This is the most amazing show I have ever seen.

Corinna

I am sure we will. We saw Blue Horizons last time we went and it wasn't a favorite of ours. I actually was fighting sleep. LOL Since we have seen it already and missed so many other things, I think we will do other things. Really the only repeat for me I want to do is the Sea Lion show.
Shamu Stadium is getting Maintenance so we won't be seeing that show either.

 

[jenseib]

Thursday, March 27 is our last park day.
We plan to go to Animal Kingdom this day. There is one important thing we HAVE to do today and that is to see the parade. It will be ending this summer and this is my favorite parade. I am so bummed about this. They took Spectro away and now this one. Both have great music and honestly none of the other parades I have seen at the parks come even close to these and this was my last favorite left......booo hooooo!!!
Hopefully I'll fall in love with MK's new parade.

We have FP+' s for Expedition Everest, the safari and Finding Nemo. We have yet to ever see Nemo, so we decided to give it a shot.

We will play it by ear on where we eat today.
If everything goes well, then we may hop over to the MK for a little bit before we have to leave.....yes we have a time restraint today, but it's not super bad.
Skip will be arriving in Sanford airport tonight at 9 PM. Claire and I have to go and pick him up. It will take about an hour to get there, so my thinking is we can stay in the parks till around 7-7:30 depending on if we want to stop off at the hotel or not before going to get him.
Let's pray he makes it OK. I will leave his packed suitcase for him and I hope he doesn't get in it and mess things up (Like take things out) and that he arrives at the airport on time so he doesn't miss the flight. He is very good at being last minute and I won't be there to push him to get going. If he misses the flight, he is basically out of luck as Allegiant only flies a couple of times a week.

We will bring him back to the Marriott with us where we will spend the night on last time.

Friday, March 28

Today is the day! We will be sailing today! Skip's first Disney cruise!
We have a port arrival time at 11:30. I hope to get there right then. I would like to have some time in the terminal before boarding, so maybe earlier. I debated on where to park, but in the end I think just parking at the garage will be fine. We will just drop our bags off and then head to the garage.

Once we board the ship I am sure we'll get lunch, most likely at Cabanas. We'll also do some exploring and get settled in our rooms and all that fun stuff.
We'll watch the sail away party, wave as we leave and head to the first show of the night. I believe it is Villians tonight, which is not my favorite show, but I'll probably go as Claire likes it and she wants Skip to see it. I have thought of just letting the 2 go together, but being this is the first night of the cruise, we should all go together. I also heard from someone else it may be twiced charmed....I hope that is the case

We have 2nd seating dinner, and of course we have no clue what our rotation will be, but we have requested a table to ourselves. We do not like eating with strangers and Skip REALLY hates it even more than I do, so this is important and I hope this request is honored.

I am sure we'll be tired by the end of the night and fall into bed and dream away. It is always so comfy sleeping on a Disney cruise bed!

 

[dolphingirl47]

Your plans sound great again. I hope that Skip makes it without any issues.

I have seen three sets of Navigators for three night cruises on the Magic from this year and they all had Twice Charmed on the first night, Villains Tonight on the second night and Disney Dreams on the last night.

Corinna

 

[Kathy Jetson]

Looks like your going to have another great trip! I'm trying to keep up until you leave but I haven't been getting on the Dis to much lately. I don't know if it's just my computer or what but every page is taking forever to load. Whenever I go to a new page I can go do something else in the house while the page is loading. It's only doing it on the Dis not anywhere else. It's very frustrating.

 

[jenseib]

Your plans sound great again. I hope that Skip makes it without any issues.

I have seen three sets of Navigators for three night cruises on the Magic from this year and they all had Twice Charmed on the first night, Villains Tonight on the second night and Disney Dreams on the last night.

Corinna

Good! I have seen 1 navigator that said Villians the first night and read a TR that said they had it the first night too. I hope maybe that was a one time thing.

Looks like your going to have another great trip! I'm trying to keep up until you leave but I haven't been getting on the Dis to much lately. I don't know if it's just my computer or what but every page is taking forever to load. Whenever I go to a new page I can go do something else in the house while the page is loading. It's only doing it on the Dis not anywhere else. It's very frustrating.

Dis has been acting nuts lately. It sometimes won't even load for me on some days.

 

[jenseib]

Saturday, March 29
This day is our nassau day and we have a snorkeling excursion planned.
I have been looking at the forecasted weather and of course it is a long ways out yet, but it goes from cloudy to rain, so there is a chance that the weather might not be ideal. I can live with cloudy, especially since it will be in the 80's, but I don't want rain.
If snorkeling gets canceled, we'll probably take a taxi to Atlantis.
Otherwise after snorkeling, we will get back on the ship and change and have a quick lunch and if time looks good and we're not too tired, then we will probably still go over to Atlantis for a few and check out the Aquarium.

It will be a busy day, but we'll still try to catch the show tonight...which probably is Villiians...as I am hearing others tell me they saw Twiced Charmed the first night.


Sunday, March 30
Castaway Cay day...again the forecast is going back and forth for this day and I ready windy on one report.....we all know windy is bad for CC as the ship might not make it in.
I guess we'll have to wait and see what happens there. We only plan to rent a float and just enjoy the day and if we decide to do something else on the spur of the moment then we will. Claire has already hit Skip up about jet skiing again, but he just says "we'll see".

We'll catch the last show this night, which I believe is Dreams.
And do the dreaded packing and put the luggage out in the hall.
Did I mention 3 night cruises are just too short?