January 28, 2010 3 Night Wonder

[TJGorman]

I just booked this cruise two weeks ago. It is going to be a total surprise to my children (unless I spill the secret before then!). One of their Christmas gifts is going to be a five day trip to Florida. We are not planning on telling them about the cruise until Thursday Morning.

We have been on 2 seven day DCL cruises (usually we bring 20 of our closest friends and family), so this will be our first 3 day cruise. It will be nice to get away from the cold northeast weather for 5 days.

Our crew includes me, Tammy (39), DH (Paul 44), DD (Ashley 15) and DS (Jack 14).

 

[kindra657]

I just booked this cruise two weeks ago. It is going to be a total surprise to my children (unless I spill the secret before then!). One of their Christmas gifts is going to be a five day trip to Florida. We are not planning on telling them about the cruise until Thursday Morning.

We have been on 2 seven day DCL cruises (usually we bring 20 of our closest friends and family), so this will be our first 3 day cruise. It will be nice to get away from the cold northeast weather for 5 days.

Our crew includes me, Tammy (39), DH (Paul 44), DD (Ashley 15) and DS (Jack 14).

welcome aboard!! If you are anything like me, you'll be surprising your kids sooner than planned! I can NEVER keep it a secret!!! Where in the Northeast are you from?
Will you be participating in the FE?

 

[TJGorman]

We are from Grand Island, NY which is literally an island half-way between Buffalo and Niagara Falls.

Count us in for FE!

All of friends are betting against me keeping the cruise a secret. They know how much I love DCL, and how much of a planner I am so, they think I won't be able to keep the secret until January. But we will see. It helps to be on the DIS because when I feel the need to talk about the cruise, I just go online!

My children think the next DCL cruise we are going on is in November 2011, so anytime they catch me on DIS, they think I am doing research for that cruise.

 

[kindra657]

We are from Grand Island, NY which is literally an island half-way between Buffalo and Niagara Falls.

Count us in for FE!

All of friends are betting against me keeping the cruise a secret. They know how much I love DCL, and how much of a planner I am so, they think I won't be able to keep the secret until January. But we will see. It helps to be on the DIS because when I feel the need to talk about the cruise, I just go online!

My children think the next DCL cruise we are going on is in November 2011, so anytime they catch me on DIS, they think I am doing research for that cruise.

we will help you keep your sanity with keeping your secret!!
YAY!! looks like there are 3 of us for the FE! This is our 1st cruise ever and we are very excited. I am a Disney World nut and go there often. DVC offered a free 3 night cruise with adding on points, which we were doing anyway, so the cruise was a bonus! I haven't been on the boat yet, but with all the discussions surrounding the dcl and the info I've gotten, I think I am a new dcl cruiser ...Disney always finds ways to suck more money out of me and I love it!!

It'll be wonderful to escape the freezing weather in January! I just hope it'll be warm enough to swim a little on the boat and on Castaway Cay! What are your plans so far? Did you make resies for Palo? Will you? Excursions? the Spa?
What's your kids' favorite things on the boat? what characters do they like? do they like sports or anything like that?

 

[kindra657]

Hey guys, was wanting some info on your kids for the FE:

What's your kids' favorite things on the boat? what characters do they like? do they like sports or anything like that? Do they collect anything? Adults are easy ....and I already got some neat ideas for the boring adults

 

[Hanover]

Thanks for all your info!! The spa idea sounds great!!! I think I may join you!

About the FE exchange...there aren't very many people signed up for the jan cruise yet....how should we keep track of who wants to do it? Maybe we could have a running list??

Example:

FE Exchange
Hanover: 2A 2C
Kindra675: 4A 1C
Minnie116: 2A 2C
Jendon1997: 4A 3C
PrinceandPrincess: 1A 2C
DVCnewgirl: 1A? 2C

all you guys want to do the FE exchange?? How do we want to make a list of those who are participating?

The spa really is nice. I very rarely ever do anything just for "myself" at home so it's extra nice to just relax and get pampered.

 

[Hanover]

We are from Grand Island, NY which is literally an island half-way between Buffalo and Niagara Falls.

Count us in for FE!

All of friends are betting against me keeping the cruise a secret. They know how much I love DCL, and how much of a planner I am so, they think I won't be able to keep the secret until January. But we will see. It helps to be on the DIS because when I feel the need to talk about the cruise, I just go online!

My children think the next DCL cruise we are going on is in November 2011, so anytime they catch me on DIS, they think I am doing research for that cruise.

You can do it! We booked a cruise for May 2006 about 14 months before and managed to keep it a complete secret from our boys right up until we unloaded our luggage. It was our then ds9 (he's 12 now) birthday and I told him we had one more gift for him and it was the wrapped DCL documents. They thought we were spending the day at Cocoa Beach and waving goodbye to the Magic. It was so worth the secret when we saw their faces and excitement. He looked shocked and said "does my teacher know? Does my baseball coach know? Does EVERYONE know but us? We told very few people because we didn't want somone "leaking" but we did tell his teacher and coach! For a couple days, Keegan was shining and kept saying " I just can't believe I'm on the Magic." My parents and FIL also joined the cruise and we had a blast.

 

[Hanover]

we will help you keep your sanity with keeping your secret!!
YAY!! looks like there are 3 of us for the FE! This is our 1st cruise ever and we are very excited. I am a Disney World nut and go there often. DVC offered a free 3 night cruise with adding on points, which we were doing anyway, so the cruise was a bonus! I haven't been on the boat yet, but with all the discussions surrounding the dcl and the info I've gotten, I think I am a new dcl cruiser ...Disney always finds ways to suck more money out of me and I love it!!

It'll be wonderful to escape the freezing weather in January! I just hope it'll be warm enough to swim a little on the boat and on Castaway Cay! What are your plans so far? Did you make resies for Palo? Will you? Excursions? the Spa?
What's your kids' favorite things on the boat? what characters do they like? do they like sports or anything like that?

You are lucky you got the cruise perk! We added on 105 points last December at BLT and just got the per point maybe $6 off discount. We cruised in February and they were offering the cruise perk then plus the $6 discount but we didn't add any. When we cruised in August we added another 100 points at AKV. We were going to do 105 since it was the last day for the free cruise but the guide we used there said we wouldn't get the deeper discount if we took the cruise. We ended up getting $23 off per point at AKV which was less than we paid for our original contract when we joined in at AKV in 2007.

We are staying at BLT for the 1st time next in 10 days. We walked through there in August and can't wait to try it out. We've stayed at Kidani twice and will stay there again next week for 2 nights. We really love it there too.

 

[kindra657]

You can do it! We booked a cruise for May 2006 about 14 months before and managed to keep it a complete secret from our boys right up until we unloaded our luggage. It was our then ds9 (he's 12 now) birthday and I told him we had one more gift for him and it was the wrapped DCL documents. They thought we were spending the day at Cocoa Beach and waving goodbye to the Magic. It was so worth the secret when we saw their faces and excitement. He looked shocked and said "does my teacher know? Does my baseball coach know? Does EVERYONE know but us? We told very few people because we didn't want somone "leaking" but we did tell his teacher and coach! For a couple days, Keegan was shining and kept saying " I just can't believe I'm on the Magic." My parents and FIL also joined the cruise and we had a blast.

What a wonderful surprise!!! There is NO way I could keep that from my dd for 14 whole months!!!! The only time I ever surprised her was in april 2006. We planned the trip only 8 weeks out for her 5th bday. We told her that we were going to TX to visit her papaw. She remembered her 1st trip in 2005 and I sort of planted a seed about a month before we left and said, "I really wish we could go to Disney World again but it's just too expensve."

On the morning of her bday, our flight left at 7am. We woke her up with one of those cheap gas station cupcakes with 5 candles and sang to her. She made a wish and you'll never believe what she wished for!!! Dh and I couldn't believe it and we could barely contain ourselves! The plane landed and lil birthday girl/sleepy head finally woke up. We knew we had to tell her before we got off the plane. Dh got the camera ready and I said to her "hey baby you're awake! The plane has landed and I have something to tell you. We aren't in Texas.......and I leaned down to her ear (I was sort of behind her facing dh) and I whispered "we are in Disney World!!" (your wish is my command) ...The look on her face, which I couldn't see from behind her, was amazing!!! (we got a great pic of it!). The surprise was amazing and there were many to come throughout the week.

Since then, dd has become my park hopping bud! Her and I can go all day while dh poops out early! She is who I get excited with, countdown with, and do my "single digit happy dance with!!!" It would be very difficult for me not to tell her.

At the beginning of this month, I found out that dd has a long weekend for Halloween (no school on monday 2nd and tuesday the 3rd). I knew that flights out of Detroit to MCO were CHEAP CHEAP so I decided to take a look at them...$127 round trip!!! We have APs and we use our DVC points for the room. All we had to do was pay for the flights and food and we could go to Disney for Halloween! Called dh, he said if there were studios available, to go for it. I called and there was 1 studio left at SSR. I booked it and booked the flights! I thought about keeping it a secret but I couldn't. Then we decided to invite her best friend (who's mom and I are also best friends). Millie (my bff) was hesistant because it's so far away, but she knows how much fun we have and it was an opportunity for C-Bug (Sierra) to go to wdw for very cheap! Millie agreed to let bug go with us!! ! Telling her was a blast!

DD and I were over there visiting and dd said to bug "go downstairs and ask your mom if you can go to wdw with us." bug said "no ramiah, she will never let me go with you!" I guess Ramiah kept pleading with her to ask, and eventually bug got irritated with her and started yelling "NO RAMIAH!! SHE WON'T LET ME GO! I DON'T EVEN WANT TO ASK!!!" Millie and I knew exactly how this conversation was going to go before dd even went up there and started with her so this was our cue...we called them down and asked them why they were fighting. bug said "miah won't stop telling me to ask you to go to disney and I keep telling her that you and dad would never let me go!" Millie smiled at her and said "I think going to disney world with miah is a wonderful idea." Well, it took a few minutes and her seeing a copy of her reserved plane ticket with HER name on it before she actually believe us. We thought she was going to faint!! That surprise was great

Ok, this post is long enough...I get on a topic and can go on and on...

 

[TJGorman]

Thank you all for your good wishes! I am going to try very hard to keep the secret. My DD is begging to go somewhere this winter, she keeps saying all she wants to do is get away and work on her tan. So, when she believes her Christmas gift is going to a beach in Florida, she will be quite excited.

Our plans so far are to fly in Wednesday night, pick up the rental car at MCO, drive to Cocoa Beach. The good thing about arriving Wednesday Night is it is dark so they won't know where we are driving to until Thursday Morning. We got a room at the Holiday Inn Cocoa Beach through priceline.

I am still debating when to tell them. I saw a great video on youtube where the parents convinced the kids they were going to have lunch on the Wonder, but they were really going on a cruise.

I was thinking of a scenario where I beg my DH to drive by the Wonder, so I can get my Disney fix, and then say, come on, let's just go on this cruise, please. Then, my DH would go oh what the heck, let's see if they have availability. I think the kids faces would be priceless!

Or I could give them an envelope at breakfast which states our plans for the next few days (As I am an uber-planner, this won't seem strange to them! LOL). I just haven't decided which way to go, luckily I have three months to decide!

I really enjoy the restaurants so we won't make Palo reservations on this trip, but I highly recommend if you have not been there to enjoy it, it is really good food. I really enjoyed the rainforest pass on our last cruise so, I might do that again.

In Nassau, we will probably explore a bit on our own, I found information on the pirate museum and would be interested in visiting there as well as the historical sites.

My children enjoyed the clubs on the last time, so I am sure they will check out the teen's area. We all enjoy the shows, and we haven't seen Toy Story yet, so I know we will watch that show.

Of course, the DD, even though she will be one month away from her 16th birthday when we cruise, is still into the princesses, Belle and Cinderella being her absolute favorites!

The DS will try to find others to hang out at the sports courts, swimming, etc. He is pretty much an active kid who likes to be on the go!

What are every else's plans?

 

[kindra657]

You are lucky you got the cruise perk! We added on 105 points last December at BLT and just got the per point maybe $6 off discount. We cruised in February and they were offering the cruise perk then plus the $6 discount but we didn't add any. When we cruised in August we added another 100 points at AKV. We were going to do 105 since it was the last day for the free cruise but the guide we used there said we wouldn't get the deeper discount if we took the cruise. We ended up getting $23 off per point at AKV which was less than we paid for our original contract when we joined in at AKV in 2007.

We are staying at BLT for the 1st time next in 10 days. We walked through there in August and can't wait to try it out. We've stayed at Kidani twice and will stay there again next week for 2 nights. We really love it there too.

BLT is amazing!!!! We saw it in July! We've stayed at Kidani 1x and jumbo akv 1x. Our next trip to Kidani is in Jan. We are going back down in Aug with another family (very close friends) and we are staying at bwv because that resort offers so much for everyone and its location is amazing! I have NO idea when we will be able to stay in BLT!! i'm on the wait-list until tomorrow for a studio for Halloween weekend but it doesn't look like it's coming through. I really really really don't want to stay at SSR. I stayed at OKW before and didn't care for it too much ...but then again, we will be in disney so I won't be complaining!!! I just love the DVC!

 

[kindra657]

Thank you all for your good wishes! I am going to try very hard to keep the secret. My DD is begging to go somewhere this winter, she keeps saying all she wants to do is get away and work on her tan. So, when she believes her Christmas gift is going to a beach in Florida, she will be quite excited.

Our plans so far are to fly in Wednesday night, pick up the rental car at MCO, drive to Cocoa Beach. The good thing about arriving Wednesday Night is it is dark so they won't know where we are driving to until Thursday Morning. We got a room at the Holiday Inn Cocoa Beach through priceline.

I am still debating when to tell them. I saw a great video on youtube where the parents convinced the kids they were going to have lunch on the Wonder, but they were really going on a cruise.

I was thinking of a scenario where I beg my DH to drive by the Wonder, so I can get my Disney fix, and then say, come on, let's just go on this cruise, please. Then, my DH would go oh what the heck, let's see if they have availability. I think the kids faces would be priceless!

Or I could give them an envelope at breakfast which states our plans for the next few days (As I am an uber-planner, this won't seem strange to them! LOL). I just haven't decided which way to go, luckily I have three months to decide!

I really enjoy the restaurants so we won't make Palo reservations on this trip, but I highly recommend if you have not been there to enjoy it, it is really good food. I really enjoyed the rainforest pass on our last cruise so, I might do that again.

In Nassau, we will probably explore a bit on our own, I found information on the pirate museum and would be interested in visiting there as well as the historical sites.

My children enjoyed the clubs on the last time, so I am sure they will check out the teen's area. We all enjoy the shows, and we haven't seen Toy Story yet, so I know we will watch that show.

Of course, the DD, even though she will be one month away from her 16th birthday when we cruise, is still into the princesses, Belle and Cinderella being her absolute favorites!

The DS will try to find others to hang out at the sports courts, swimming, etc. He is pretty much an active kid who likes to be on the go!

What are every else's plans?

My plans:

No plans!
This is our first cruise and it's only 3 days. We aren't planning anything nor making any reservations! We are on a tight budget (though I just heard I am getting called back to work in 2 weeks!...been laid off) and we don't want to fork over the extra $ for excursions and Palo when we have an entire boat to explore and fun things to do! After spending 5 days in the parks, we'll be ready for a "vacation!" Some time to relax, sleep in, lay on the beach, eat good food, have a few drinks, and have fun with DD...I really can't wait to take her to the family night club! That is an amazing thing to us! We love the night life! We love to dance, sing, have a great time, but we don't like to leave our dd. ...now we can do all of that in a family-friendly atmoshere! PERFECT!!! I also can't wait to try animator's palate, see Toy Story, both parties, and Castaway Cay! (though the name of this island irritates me!!!!!...it should be pronounced "CAY" NOT "KEY"!!!) We have Castaway Bay right by us (indoor waterpark) and I so used to it that it's hard for me to pronounce castaway cay- "key." I will try not to even call the island by name so I don't sound like a fool on the cruise! lol!

DD loves Princess Jasmine and now she's getting into Princess Tiana (Princess and the Frog). I love princess Belle ...and no, I'm not too old to have a favorite princess! My favorite character would def be Mickey! Can't wait to show you guys my tats
DD plays basketball, soccer, and she's trying tennis for the 1st time this winter.
DH just likes to see his girls have a good time! He likes Disney movies and characters, but he's not into the fun facts, trivia, or keeping up on new stuff. He kinda listens to me go on and on and on! lol Dh likes to kick back and relax. He is definitely easy like Sunday morning!

Overall, we are a fun family! We love to laugh and have a great time! I am a little more reserved around mom and dad-in-law because they are pretty quiet people and think I'm a nut (in a good way though!). I'm hoping that they are used to my Disney sillyness by the time we get to the ship and I can 'cut' up a little bit! lol!

 

[Hanover]

BLT is amazing!!!! We saw it in July! We've stayed at Kidani 1x and jumbo akv 1x. Our next trip to Kidani is in Jan. We are going back down in Aug with another family (very close friends) and we are staying at bwv because that resort offers so much for everyone and its location is amazing! I have NO idea when we will be able to stay in BLT!! i'm on the wait-list until tomorrow for a studio for Halloween weekend but it doesn't look like it's coming through. I really really really don't want to stay at SSR. I stayed at OKW before and didn't care for it too much ...but then again, we will be in disney so I won't be complaining!!! I just love the DVC!

We've been on the wait list for all 3 nights next weekend at BLT for MONTHS! I even tried Kidani for all 3 nights and couldn't get in either! I hear what you say about OKW. We've only stayed there once and I don't think I'd stay there again. We've never stayed at SSR but we've put my parents up there a couple times and they liked it---they stayed at Kidani though in Julyand said it's their new favorite along with the Beach Club. We love the Beach Club, AKV and Wilderness Lodge the best. We had a 1 bedroom for 8 nights in August at AKV and it was absolutely awesome. Much nicer than the 1 bedrooms in Jambo House and we love those too. We stayed in concierge in Jambo House 1 night before our cruise in August and really enjoyed it. We are staying there for 2 nights before our cruise in December. We really enjoyed the little "extras." We've stayed at all the moderates and Pop and All Star Moives and enjoyed those ones too. Any time we are at Disney we love it!

We'll be at Chef Mickey's this time next Friday. I can't wait. It's raining here and freezing and I really wish we were there NOW!

 

[Hanover]

Thank you all for your good wishes! I am going to try very hard to keep the secret. My DD is begging to go somewhere this winter, she keeps saying all she wants to do is get away and work on her tan. So, when she believes her Christmas gift is going to a beach in Florida, she will be quite excited.

Our plans so far are to fly in Wednesday night, pick up the rental car at MCO, drive to Cocoa Beach. The good thing about arriving Wednesday Night is it is dark so they won't know where we are driving to until Thursday Morning. We got a room at the Holiday Inn Cocoa Beach through priceline.

I am still debating when to tell them. I saw a great video on youtube where the parents convinced the kids they were going to have lunch on the Wonder, but they were really going on a cruise.

I was thinking of a scenario where I beg my DH to drive by the Wonder, so I can get my Disney fix, and then say, come on, let's just go on this cruise, please. Then, my DH would go oh what the heck, let's see if they have availability. I think the kids faces would be priceless!

Or I could give them an envelope at breakfast which states our plans for the next few days (As I am an uber-planner, this won't seem strange to them! LOL). I just haven't decided which way to go, luckily I have three months to decide!

I really enjoy the restaurants so we won't make Palo reservations on this trip, but I highly recommend if you have not been there to enjoy it, it is really good food. I really enjoyed the rainforest pass on our last cruise so, I might do that again.

In Nassau, we will probably explore a bit on our own, I found information on the pirate museum and would be interested in visiting there as well as the historical sites.

My children enjoyed the clubs on the last time, so I am sure they will check out the teen's area. We all enjoy the shows, and we haven't seen Toy Story yet, so I know we will watch that show.

Of course, the DD, even though she will be one month away from her 16th birthday when we cruise, is still into the princesses, Belle and Cinderella being her absolute favorites!

The DS will try to find others to hang out at the sports courts, swimming, etc. He is pretty much an active kid who likes to be on the go!

What are every else's plans?

We'll have to get your DS14 together with Keegan (my son who is 12) and Jake (my friend's son who is 13). They are both sports fanatics especially for football and will be living at the sports deck the 3 days. I think Keegan will be trying to hang out in the Stack with Jake if he can. He doesn't really care for the lab, especially if he's not cruising with a friend. He can be quite shy.

I thought the Toy Story show was okay. I liked it a bit more the 2nd time I saw it. I think the props are great. DH didn't like it much--he said he didn't like a woman playing Sid and she pretty much screams her songs.

The pirate museum was pretty neat. The funny thing is we went to Atlantis after and had on our wrist bands from the museum stil. My dad took the boys to see some of the outside areas while DH, my mom and I checked out the inside/casino and he said the guard saw their pirate wrist bands and waved them through. We've thought about getting a room at Atlantis in the past or at the Comfort Inn, but ds8 wasn't tall enough at the time for a lot of the slides. We may try do to that in Dec 2010 when Beth, Keegan, Jake and I sail with our DH's and my ds8 and her 2 other kids. Beth and I just want to take it easy on the 3 day in January and enjoy the adult pool and adult beaches since when we last sailed together we never made it to either. We were at the Mickey pool most of the time with our younger kids and the family beach. They are awesome too but we just want to relax a bit, have some nice adult beverages and know that Keegan and Jake will be okay on their own at the sports deck or stack.

 

[kindra657]

We'll be at Chef Mickey's this time next Friday. I can't wait. It's raining here and freezing and I really wish we were there NOW!

OMG that's funny!!! we almost booked a 8:40pm resie for chef mickey's for next friday!! I decided that was too late for dinner tho. We are only doing the QS DDP because of our budget, but we did schedule a dinner at Sanaa Fri at 5pm because 1) we can't decide between Boma and Sanaa for our Jan trip and we've never tried Sanaa and 2) our TIW card expires on the 31st! ...we wanted to do 1 TS while there and use the TIW one more time.

Maybe we could meet sometime next weekend and break the ice before our cruise!!

Here's our itinerary for next weekend: (Oct 30-Nov 3)

Fri
MK- AK for EMH

Sat
EMH EPCOT
BWV for Halloween festivities
Back to Epcot for Illuminations

Sun
AK
DHS for EMH (7-10)

Mon
DHS (I think Fantasmic is showing this day...I forget)
EMH MK @ 9pm

Tues


About the resorts, here's a quick resort resume:

March 2005 Off Property (almost became DVC members)
April 2006 OKW-1bdrm ($$$ resie )
April 2007 Off Property (disney was completely booked )...became DVC members!
Nov 2007 AKV-Jumbo 1bdrm
July 2008 (just mom and dad trip!!) POFQ
Sept 2008 BCV 2bdrm & 1 studio (with friends)
June-July 2009 CSR
July 2009 AKV 2 bdrm-Kidani Village

Upcoming:
oct 2009 SSR
Jan 2010 AKV
Aug 2010 BWV

Of all these, so far, bcv are my favorite- although the dvc building looked somewhat neglected and the rooms needed a little updating. I can't wait for BLT and BWV!!! I think BLT will be my favorite for the actual room and BWV will be my favorite for amenities, pool, location, and everything else!!!

 

[Hanover]

OMG that's funny!!! we almost booked a 8:40pm resie for chef mickey's for next friday!! I decided that was too late for dinner tho. We are only doing the QS DDP because of our budget, but we did schedule a dinner at Sanaa Fri at 5pm because 1) we can't decide between Boma and Sanaa for our Jan trip and we've never tried Sanaa and 2) our TIW card expires on the 31st! ...we wanted to do 1 TS while there and use the TIW one more time.

Maybe we could meet sometime next weekend and break the ice before our cruise!!

Here's our itinerary for next weekend: (Oct 30-Nov 3)

Fri
MK- AK for EMH


Sat
EMH EPCOT
BWV for Halloween festivities
Back to Epcot for Illuminations

Sun
AK
DHS for EMH (7-10)

Mon
DHS (I think Fantasmic is showing this day...I forget)
EMH MK @ 9pm

Tues


About the resorts, here's a quick resort resume:

March 2005 Off Property (almost became DVC members)
April 2006 OKW-1bdrm ($$$ resie )
April 2007 Off Property (disney was completely booked )...became DVC members!
Nov 2007 AKV-Jumbo 1bdrm
July 2008 (just mom and dad trip!!) POFQ
Sept 2008 BCV 2bdrm & 1 studio (with friends)
June-July 2009 CSR
July 2009 AKV 2 bdrm-Kidani Village

Upcoming:
oct 2009 SSR
Jan 2010 AKV
Aug 2010 BWV

Of all these, so far, bcv are my favorite- although the dvc building looked somewhat neglected and the rooms needed a little updating. I can't wait for BLT and BWV!!! I think BLT will be my favorite for the actual room and BWV will be my favorite for amenities, pool, location, and everything else!!!

We did the QS DDP the day before our cruise in August. I was very happy not to have the regular DDP because we had a hard time just using our credits with the QS plan. We went to MK and had dinner at Cosmic Rays, did a few rides and went back for an early night in bed. I had a Dole Whip and used a snack credit. The next morning we could have had breakfast in the concierge lounge since it had tons of offerings but we wanted to use our last QS credit. We had breakfast at the Mara and used snack credits for danishes/cinnamon rolls. We had our refillable drink mugs and the 2 drinks we each got with the ddp, we saved in the rental car to use after the trip.
We were on the regular ddp after the cruise and we still had a hard time using all our snack credits. We stopped off at the super Target and bought a case of water, case of gatorade, some snacks, frozen mini pizzas and a huge box of waffles. We ended up leaving most of the drinks and snacks still sealed because we never got to use them all from having the mugs and being full all the time with the regular meals. We had to go to the gift shop and use about 8 snack credits the day we left. Although we love Kindani, the only thing we didn't like is that they do not have a counter service restaurant at Kidani and limited snacks. You'll have to let us know about Sanaa. It really looks like a nice restaurant.

On Friday, we are flying down at 9AM (we may stay at a BWI airport hotel on Thursday if we get a good deal) and will check into Kidani around noon to get our KTTW cards. Our tentative plans are to see the parade at AK and ride the safari. We have dinner at Chef Mickeys, then a haunted hay ride during Wishes at Ft. Wilderness. I'm surprising the boys with that one. Saturday we have tickets to MNSSHP. That morning we may do the AM EMH at DHS and go back and rest in the afternoon. We have dinner at the Crystal Palace. Sunday we have to check into BLT and may do Epcot. We have dinner at Whispering Canyon. Monday we leave at 7PM and will just wing it with our plans. Even the other days we may wind up somewhere else except for the meals. We took it easy in touring in August, only going to 1 rope drop and spending a lot of time at the resort, sleeping in, going to the water parks, etc so it's going to be hard to motivate the troops to get up early again. In August we hardly even went to the parks except for the ADRs we had and to ride a few favorite rides. We have AP's and have been enough that we didn't feel the need to go, go, go all day from morning to night like we used to do before APs. Next weekend is definitely a popular weekend! I know about 6 people that are going to be there. We've only done MNSSHP one other time and really loved it.

 

[kindra657]

I thought Epcot had the EMH on halloween ??? I looked and it is DHS. We will probably go to that and then take a boat ride over to epcot later. I'm so excited about going in 5 days!!! We did MNSSHP last year and it was a lot of fun! You guys will have a blast Halloween night!!

 

[TJGorman]

We'll have to get your DS14 together with Keegan (my son who is 12) and Jake (my friend's son who is 13). They are both sports fanatics especially for football and will be living at the sports deck the 3 days. I think Keegan will be trying to hang out in the Stack with Jake if he can. He doesn't really care for the lab, especially if he's not cruising with a friend. He can be quite shy.

I thought the Toy Story show was okay. I liked it a bit more the 2nd time I saw it. I think the props are great. DH didn't like it much--he said he didn't like a woman playing Sid and she pretty much screams her songs.

The pirate museum was pretty neat. The funny thing is we went to Atlantis after and had on our wrist bands from the museum stil. My dad took the boys to see some of the outside areas while DH, my mom and I checked out the inside/casino and he said the guard saw their pirate wrist bands and waved them through. We've thought about getting a room at Atlantis in the past or at the Comfort Inn, but ds8 wasn't tall enough at the time for a lot of the slides. We may try do to that in Dec 2010 when Beth, Keegan, Jake and I sail with our DH's and my ds8 and her 2 other kids. Beth and I just want to take it easy on the 3 day in January and enjoy the adult pool and adult beaches since when we last sailed together we never made it to either. We were at the Mickey pool most of the time with our younger kids and the family beach. They are awesome too but we just want to relax a bit, have some nice adult beverages and know that Keegan and Jake will be okay on their own at the sports deck or stack.

That is a great idea. My son is all about football, we just finished his final year of middle school football, so, hopefully they will have a lot in common. DS will have just turned 14 the week before the cruise, so he will still act like a 13 yo., LOL. The last cruise we went on all he did was spent time with the boys at the sports court.

 

[Hanover]

We are just about all packed up. We got a hotel near the airport to stay at tonight so we don't have to get up at 5AM to make our flights. This time tomorrow we'll be checking in and heading to MCO! We are so excited!

 

[TJGorman]

Enjoy!