Hitting the Disney trifecta! a Nov 2013 PTR-and then some!(2/21-Trip #3 return!)

[ymxbfalcon]

I think that you'll all really enjoy the cruise, Pete. There are so many things for a Disney fan to enjoy!

 

[Tinker326]

Love Disney Cruises (obviously since I have our third one booked for next summer!). There's so much to see and do, I really wonder if you'll come off wishing you had longer on that boat!

Are you guys doing the Fish Exchange? My kids absolutely loved doing that!

 

[skier_pete]

I don't know anyone who could watch those DCL specials on TV and NOT immediately want to go book a Disney cruise!!! I know I sure do! But it's not in the cards for now. I'm glad your DD is so excited about it though.

They sure do a heck of a job selling them!

I think that you'll all really enjoy the cruise, Pete. There are so many things for a Disney fan to enjoy!

I'm sure we will enjoy it.

Love Disney Cruises (obviously since I have our third one booked for next summer!). There's so much to see and do, I really wonder if you'll come off wishing you had longer on that boat!

Are you guys doing the Fish Exchange? My kids absolutely loved doing that!

Well, I think doing the 5-night is enough - the 7-night was just too much money in that time frame, and I don't like the idea of doing the cruise in August. The nice thing about the 5-night is there's quite a bit on "on-boat" time, only really one stop outside of Castaway Cay, so we get the first day plus two additional "at-sea" days.

And I have to say - I have no idea what the Fish Exchange is. We have 3 fish at home, but I don't think DD wants to swap any of them

 

[Tinker326]

And I have to say - I have no idea what the Fish Exchange is. We have 3 fish at home, but I don't think DD wants to swap any of them

Man, you need to spend some time on the Cruise section of these boards!

Fish Extenders are a group of people on the same cruise as you...that sign up to do a sort of 'gift' exchange. You hang an extender (lots of pictures on the boards) from the fish outside your stateroom. Each family that signs up brings/makes small gifts to share with the other members. You deposit gifts in the other stateroom's extenders anytime during your cruise & they do the same. So you come back with lots of neat mementos from your cruise.

Last cruise I made photo albums as our gift. We got neat things like a Disney Cruise Calendar, Vinylmation magnets, lots of door magnets, Mickey etched wine glasses, pens with the cruise name written on them, notepads, Mickey Cruise coasters and tons more. Plus the kids got tons of 'treasures' like candy, notepads, pens, necklaces, pirate stuff, glow sticks....

It was so, so fun to come back and see what was in your extender. And there are some super creative people out there. All you have to do is search out your cruise board thread and find the FE group . I'm positive one exists already!

 

[Rosiekins]

Hello Stopping in to follow along. We will be in Disney World at the same time. Your trips look great!

 

[skier_pete]

Hello Stopping in to follow along. We will be in Disney World at the same time. Your trips look great!

Hey there - stopped over for a brief look at your PTR - BIG GROUP!! I have always been super leary of others coming along on a Disney trip....until you read my next post.

 

[skier_pete]

So, last night DW and I were over at a friends' house and were talking about our trip. These guys are big Disney fans, and could appreciate a lot of what we were talking about.

So the talk turned to Disney Cruises and they said to us; "You know, if you are ever going to do a Disney Cruise, consider that we might want to come also."

Well, we looked at eachother and said "It just so happens that we have this trip planned next February..." and I started telling about how I was comparing dates and prices and such. As we talked about it, they were very interested, and honestly while i don't love the idea of doing a WDW trip with friends, doing a Cruise is OK to my way of thinking. They actually have 7-year old triplets (will be 8.5 by the time of the cruise), two boys and a girl, and the girl gets along really well with our DD whose 10.

We offered up that since most of the less expensive cabins sleep 4 that we could take their DD and have her sleep with us. After checking the price (a 5-person cabin is like $4,600 versus 4 person is $2,600) we confirmed that.

So I contact my (Dreams Unlimited) TA and she confirmed she could get us adjoining cabins in the same inside stateroom class our friends have actually cruised before, but never a Disney cruise...they said they could care less about an outside stateroom, and agree saving $$ on the inside one is worth it as you are never in your cabin.

While they haven't booked yet, it seems like they will. I have to admit, this has made me excited for the cruise for the first time. I mean, I love traveling just with DW and DD, but traveling with friends is a different kind of fun. We did do a Disney trip back in 2008 with friends, and that actually was a lot of fun, but a cruise sounds waaayyy better.

 

[PrincessInOz]

I hope that the trip turns out the way everyone wishes it to be. Sounds like you'll have good company all round.

 

[khertz]

That's great that your friends will be joining you! I bet it will be great for DD too to have someone close to her age to do things with.

 

[disneykiwi]

sounds great Pete.

Hope you guys have as much fun with your friends as we had with you and Ulana in Disneyland

 

[Tinker326]

We have done all our cruises (Disney or otherwise) in a 'group' setting with friends or family.

We find that a cruise vacation is a good way to do a group vacation because it's easy to 'come together' (for dinners, shows & pool lounging) and also easy to go your own way and do what you want without too much hassle.

Fun, Fun!!!

 

[skier_pete]

We have done all our cruises (Disney or otherwise) in a 'group' setting with friends or family.

We find that a cruise vacation is a good way to do a group vacation because it's easy to 'come together' (for dinners, shows & pool lounging) and also easy to go your own way and do what you want without too much hassle.

Fun, Fun!!!

Yup - already starting to be a little conflict (minor) on that front. While we want an inside cabin (my ship-bound phobias) they wanted an outside one. We made a bunch of arrangements with the TA so that we could do that, and also we would help them save money by having their DD stay in our room. In the end, they decided (partly due to claustrophobia issues) that they wanted an outside stateroom and that they wanted all their kids with them, so they are in a Deluxe stateroom that holds 5 on Deck 8, while we are in steerage - no just kidding - an inside stateroom on Deck 7 that was the same room we started with. They are spending more than twice what we are for the cruise, but whatever. It actually makes it easier on us to not have their daughter in our room - so it all works out in the end. (None of this surprised me out of them as they are very "change our mind at the last minute" types, so while I am looking forward to spending time with them, I prefer to limit the "linking" of our trips to our dinner times.

So - I definitely agree that I like the idea that we don't have to spend the whole trip together.

It's funny, while i have no fear whatsoever of flying, I am very trepedatious about the cruise. DW and I were talking this over - while most people think about sun, food and fun when thinking about cruising, we think about the Titantic, the Andrea Doria, and the Costa Concordia.

 

[Tinker326]

Yup - already starting to be a little conflict (minor) on that front. While we want an inside cabin (my ship-bound phobias) they wanted an outside one. We made a bunch of arrangements with the TA so that we could do that, and also we would help them save money by having their DD stay in our room. In the end, they decided (partly due to claustrophobia issues) that they wanted an outside stateroom and that they wanted all their kids with them, so they are in a Deluxe stateroom that holds 5 on Deck 8, while we are in steerage - no just kidding - an inside stateroom on Deck 7 that was the same room we started with. They are spending more than twice what we are for the cruise, but whatever. It actually makes it easier on us to not have their daughter in our room - so it all works out in the end. (None of this surprised me out of them as they are very "change our mind at the last minute" types, so while I am looking forward to spending time with them, I prefer to limit the "linking" of our trips to our dinner times.

So - I definitely agree that I like the idea that we don't have to spend the whole trip together.

It's funny, while i have no fear whatsoever of flying, I am very trepedatious about the cruise. DW and I were talking this over - while most people think about sun, food and fun when thinking about cruising, we think about the Titantic, the Andrea Doria, and the Costa Concordia.

We always just book our own rooms and what we want..and let the others in the group do the same . Normally we are not even on the same floor either. Works just fine for us.

And just remember.... the water is warmer than the Titanic... you could swim for awhile. Just have to watch for the sharks. KIDDING!!! It will be fine.. I have a preoccupation with Titanic as well & half the time forget I'm even on a 'ship' when on the boat. Booze helps. Ha!

The only downside (and I say this only as a warning to be prepared) is that February is a bit rougher seas so you may feel more rocking than other times of the year on a boat. When we cruised in March one year, that was the roughest seas we have encountered in all our cruises (Alaska included) and the crew said that's 'normal' winter seas.

We never felt unsafe...or scared..but we DID feel the boat moving more.

 

[skier_pete]

Just have to watch for the sharks.

The only downside (and I say this only as a warning to be prepared) is that February is a bit rougher seas so you may feel more rocking than other times of the year on a boat.

Oh great - Sharks and rough seas. Why do we want to do this?

Gotta say, if we have a bad experience, cruising will be a "never again" situation.

 

[skier_pete]

We're sort of in that no-man's land when all the major points are booked, but the fine details aren't ready to be started. However, a few little updates.

With the fall discount coming out yesterday, I was able to tweak our trip a bit. Since the GP free dining is the same dates as the PIN days (no surprise there) we are still stuck with two "pre-package" days, in which we will hopefully be able to pick up our tickets early. However, those two nights we were paying full price for our room. (I've never actually paid full rack rate for a hotel at Disney, not even for one night!)

Well - now I got the discount. $82.58 saving. Woo hoo!


Secondly, our dates for the cruise are now open for Southwest airlines. The initial price was quite high - $320 round trip. Subsquently, they pulled the "want to get away" rates down completely and the price was showing $900 round trip. I am refusing to panic yet...I know this is a popular week for travel our of Buffalo (President's Day week) but I am still hoping we can see a RT air-fare closer to $250 before I buy. The other issue is that usually I don't concern myself if the price is a little high since I can just get the credits and use it, but I don't think we will be flying southwest in the next 12 months, so I am hesitant to choose a rate that's too high. If I can get down to around $275 on the dates I want, I will probably buy.

I am more flexible with these flights (no specific time really required) than I was on the November WDW trip. I've been watching those prices as well, but so far though I could save $90 or so by flying down later in the day on Saturday, I would essentially lose Saturday as a park day. With the room discount I am already down to $2958 for the airfare, room, park tickets, and most meals...so I am OK with what I've paid for my preferred flights.

 

[PrincessInOz]

I saw that FD was opened to the GP. Just as well you had a pin. Pity about those 2 nights!

 

[skier_pete]

So, a couple of bits of news. First off, we got lucky and got a REALLY good price on the flight down to Miami/Fort Lauderdale in February, and again I have to thank the DIS for my good fortune. I'd been watching SWA pretty faithfully, but I hadn't checked one day last week, and I saw a post on the thread about that cruise where another family flying out of Buffalo got $135 one-way on Saturday, February 15th.
Well, I jumped on that that like a lion on a gazelle. After I bought my 3 tickets, I called our family of 5 friends also going, and they got the same price.It's not the perfect time in that it is later in the afternoon. (I think it arrives in FLL at 6:30 PM.) But, it gets us in the day before the cruise, which is what really matters.

The return flights are still running about $300 so I am trying to remain patient, but I remaining hopeful that <$300 Round Trip is still possible.

Also, I realize I TOTALLY missed double-digit dance day on Trip #2. Which would have been August 2nd. It's now 82 days until our trip, so I through together by countdown calendar.

I had this idea before during our trip out to California of creating a countdown calendar using all numbers from various Disney locations. I started the project at DL back in June, and it is far from complete, some of the numbers are from the same ride which I was trying to avoid, but I wanted to put together as many as I could.

So, have fun - how many of the numbers can you name the locations. Some of them are very easy. Others I don't think you would be able to tell unless you were a real regular at DLR, and even then probably not. The goal is to eventually expand it to the full 50 days.

 

[PrincessInOz]

So, a couple of bits of news. First off, we got lucky and got a REALLY good price on the flight down to Miami/Fort Lauderdale in February, and again I have to thank the DIS for my good fortune. I'd been watching SWA pretty faithfully, but I hadn't checked one day last week, and I saw a post on the thread about that cruise where another family flying out of Buffalo got $135 one-way on Saturday, February 15th.
Well, I jumped on that that like a lion on a gazelle. After I bought my 3 tickets, I called our family of 5 friends also going, and they got the same price.It's not the perfect time in that it is later in the afternoon. (I think it arrives in FLL at 6:30 PM.) But, it gets us in the day before the cruise, which is what really matters.

The return flights are still running about $300 so I am trying to remain patient, but I remaining hopeful that <$300 Round Trip is still possible.

Also, I realize I TOTALLY missed double-digit dance day on Trip #2. Which would have been August 2nd. It's now 82 days until our trip, so I through together by countdown calendar.

I had this idea before during our trip out to California of creating a countdown calendar using all numbers from various Disney locations. I started the project at DL back in June, and it is far from complete, some of the numbers are from the same ride which I was trying to avoid, but I wanted to put together as many as I could.

So, have fun - how many of the numbers can you name the locations. Some of them are very easy. Others I don't think you would be able to tell unless you were a real regular at DLR, and even then probably not. The goal is to eventually expand it to the full 50 days.

Congrats on a great SWA price.


And what a cool countdown calendar!! I love it.

 

[Tinker326]

AWESOME idea on the countdown calendar! I love it!!!

Maybe I will work on a countdown calendar as well. I have been tossing some ideas around with a countdown combined with some "Disney" activities. Like watching some movies, etc.

81 Days. Eeek. I really wish I didn't have this stupid 1/2 hanging over my head.

 

[khertz]

Congrats on the flights! We got lucky when Southwest had their sale earlier in the summer too and were able to snag $99 each way for all of our flights. Gotta love good airline deals nowadays because they don't seem to come too often!

That countdown calendar is awesome! Love the idea with the numbers. Hopefully you can fill all the days in!