Just back from Land and Sea!!

[ringboyz]

Just got back yesterday from 4 day DW-3 day Disney Wonder Cruise - had a fabulous time!!! Never been to DW before. We have two boys ages 9 and 11. Sunday aft. and eve. we went to Epcot (walked from Swan where we stayed - liked it there a lot - walk to Boardwalk and Epcot, water taxi to MGM, first pick-up and drop-off on bus route). It was sort of drizzly and later rained so they cancelled the parade but we did hit Test Track - our only "line" of the trip because Fast Pass wasn't working at the time - Honey I Shrunk the Audience and Spaceship Earth. Ate at Garden Grill - a character dinner - it was very good. The rain was a little depressing and we were told that rain was expected for the next three days but that didn't happen so my mood improved significantly after that. Monday we hit Magic Kingdom and Typhoon Lagoon, Tuesday Animal Kingdom and Wednesday MGM - we loved them all. Walked on to most all of the popular rides - longest wait was 10-20 minutes. Typhoon Lagoon was a BLAST!!! Snorkeled with sharks and stingrays and beautiful fish. LOVED Space Mountain, Splash Mountain, Haunted Mansion, Rock'n Roller Coaster, Tower of Terror, Indiana Jones stunt spectacular, Dino ride, Kilamanjaro safari, Big Thunder Mountain Railroad, ExtraTerrestrial Alien Encounter (it scared my 9-year old), Kali River Rapids (although it's a pretty short ride), It's Tough to be a Bug - as you can see, we hit the rides!!! And then there was the CRUISE - I'll hit that later, except to say that two days ago I was floating on a raft in beautiful turquoise water with the sun shining at Castaway Cay and I thought to myself - this is HEAVEN!!!!! A couple things - THEY HAVE CANCELED EARLY ENTRIES for the time being due to slow business! We were bummed, but the lines were so small it didn't really seem to matter to us. WE HAD A GREAT TIME!!! A LITTLE RAIN, BUT NOT BAD. WORE SHORTS AND TEE-SHIRTS. IF YOU HAVE ANY QUESTIONS, LET ME KNOW!!!!

 

[josierac]

thanks for the review. sounds like you had a great time.

 

[swankybeth]

Thanks for posting about your trip! Sounds like you all had a nice time.

Beth

 

[WorknFires]

I should have been following you around ringboyz! To me the parks were very crowded for the "slow" time of the year. I was onboard the wonder with you. I tried snorkling at the adult beach but it was far too choppy. I should have stuck with the family beach and the protected inlet. But all in all I was very pleased with everything especially since they were booked to capacity.

Cheryl

 

[taysalyn]

how was the dining experience? I am thinking about cruising next year but not sure if I would like the rotation dining and eating with the same people. DH and I have no kids but we both adore Disney and the mouse.

How was your cabin? Was it inside or out? Was it big enough for the 4 of you?

Just curious.
taysalyn

 

[ringboyz]

Well, I'll probably scare you with this first bit of news but all in all, everything was fine. The only major snafu we had was that our luggage was not delivered to the ship! My husband didn't think it was that big a deal but I was quite upset because our first scheduled dinner that night was at Tritons, the fanciest of the three rotation restaurants, and I had brought some fancy clothes and had packed long pants and nice shirts for the kids and there we were in shorts and teeshirts that we'd worn all day, plus no makeup, etc. Anyway, Disney switched our dining rotation so that we ate at Parrot Cay the first night - the least dressy place - and they had our luggage flown to Nassau so we got it the next day in time for the next dinner. They also gave us money to spend in the shops on tee-shirts and gave us toiletry kits, so my husband thinks we came out ahead. I was just glad to get the luggage! Anyway, that brings us to dining. We had a table for four, so we did not eat with anyone else, although I wouldn't have minded it. I think you can request to eat with another couple without kids - my husband and I also tried to get a dinner at Palos, which is just for adults, but by the time I got to the reservation area, which was probably about 3:00 the afternoon we boarded, they were already booked all three nights, so my advice is, as soon as you get on board, get to the reservation area and wait in line!!! There's also room service whenever you want it. The food at each restaurant was very good - drinks/wine are EXPENSIVE - we brought a bottle of wine alone in a suitcase, put it in our room frig, requested some wine glasses, and just carried a full glass of wine to our restaurant one night - I would definitely recommend doing that to save a few bucks!! I thought it was fun that the servers followed us to each restaurant so by the end of the trip we got to know them (one was from Jamaica and one from South Africa) pretty well. There were several couples on the cruise without children and honeymooners as well, so I wouldn't let that bother you. I think I got more of a kick out of the Disney characters than my kids did!!

We had a level 9 room on the deck 2 aft, one of the least expensive rooms - had an "outdoor" room. It had a very large porthole window which was great, and we thought the location was great, too - close to stairs and an elevator and a laundry room, close to the restaurants and "main deck". It got a little snug for for the four of us, especially when we had all of the luggage in there, but we didn't spend that much time in the room and it was fine for sleeping and stuff. I think it would be great for 2 people.

If you have any more questions, let me know!!

 

[taysalyn]

Thanks for the update. sounds like it was great and I can't wait until our trip! ! !