Land/Sea Apr. 3-10

[jclark3]

4 Days at WDW
We (DM52 and DS15) followed my itinerary pretty much to the letter, which meant rising EARLY and using fast passes as much as possible. If it had a line of more than 10 minutes, we skipped it!
Plusses...Since we were at the Beach Club we took full advantage of the 5 minute walk to EPCOT. I think we went there every single day. Favorite attractions-AK Safari, Mickey's Philharmagic, Pirates of the Caribbean, Fast Track, Splash Mt. are all favorites of mine. DS loves all of that plus Mission Space, Space Mt., Carousel of Progress (go figure) and Lion King show. He ENDURES It's a Small World for my benefit.
Dining... Thoroughly enjoyed Canada, Morrocco, Japan and Mexico. By the way, I've always steered clear of the San Angel Inn but DS wanted to go and it turned out to be one of our best meals! You just never know. Also liked Crystal Palace in MK (lots of Pooh characters). Flying Fish at Boardwalk was very good but not for picky eaters like my son. Fortunately I remembered to ask for a kids plate for him and saved myself big $$. Spoodles was good for breakfast.
Accomodations... Loved the Beach Club, especially Stormalong Bay which we swam in every day.
New Stuff... Didn't go on Stitch, Soarin or see Stunt show in MGM, primarily because I didn't want to stand in line.
Minuses... The SpectroMagic parade in the MK was way too crowded. We felt like sardines and could barely see anything. And once again, we didn't make it to Fantasmic at MGM or Wishes at MK because we were too pooped by the evening (that's the trouble with rising early...)

3 day Cruise
Transfers... I would definitely do transfers with Disney again. They were superb (with the exception of the 45 min. checkin line for Delta at debarkation -- but that was Delta's fault for not having enough staff.) Also, we booked a room at the airport Hyatt which was a top notch recommendation from these boards. Our flight didn't leave until 8:30 pm so we had a place to flop after the bus dropped us off at 10:00 am! More on this further down...
Plusses...Servers and Mousekeepers. Shows (I thought Hercules was fabulous and I loved Golden Mickeys (even though I saw it in the morning!) Reflexology massage in spa. Day at Castaway Cay. Food. Thriller boat ride, even though we felt like we were being "pressure washed" for 45 minutes! ) DS LOVED the time he spent in the teen club. And I thought the cruise director did a wonderful job, considering the weather and technical glitches she faced.
Minuses... I had a run-in with a security guard in Nassau whilst returning to the ship after an excursion.. It's a long story and I did report it to Disney. Suffice it to say I don't plan to set foot in Nassau again!
Health... We washed our hands religiously onboard and neither of us got the Norwalk virus. BUT DS got one heck of a sunburn on Castaway. Mom, "Did you put enough sunblock on?" DS, "Yes, Mom..." And then Sat. night I started getting a respiratory virus. The Hyatt room (which was fabulous) was a welcome sight for two hurtin' pups. We just laid in our beds and watched the Masters all afternoon... I ended up missing 3 days of work when we got home! And then two weeks ago I had my first bout of diverticulitis! (But I don't think that had anything to do with the trip, unless it was the ritual partaking of Escargot onboard...) Dizziness lasted 2 weeks after the cruise this time.

But I'm finally back to normal (for me) and already planning our next cruise. Next spring break (Apr. 1-8) on the Magic- Eastern!

 

[gabang]

Thanks for posting about the land and sea vacation.

We're going on our first land and sea trip in a few weeks and haven't read enough about it. Glad to hear you would do the transfers from Disney to the ship. What time did you get to the ship?

 

[jclark3]

As I recall, the bus picked us up at the Beach Club around 11:00 and it took a little less than 1.5 hrs to get to the boat.
A further note about baggage...By the time we went to board the bus, our bags had already been picked up from our room by a bellman and sent by truck to the boat. They were waiting at our cabin when we boarded. Fantastic! In fact, we never had to schlepp our bags at all, just carry-ons. The last night of the cruise they were collected from our cabin. When we debarked, we identified them to the porter (who we paid handsomely because the porters know which customs agent will zip you through the fastest.) He took the bags to the Delta "pile", we checked them (after waiting in line a long time) and we didn't see them again until baggage claim in Atlanta! Very Sweet!

 

[gabang]

Thanks for the reply. It's going to be wonderful not to have to deal with the bags! We're flying on Delta also. Any reason their line was so long?

 

[jclark3]

There were only 2 ticket agents working and they needed about 8!

 

[Asil65]

Hey Jocelyn,
I just read your post. I cracked up when I read the apart about being pressure washed on the Thriller Boat Ride. Ain't that the truth. I think that ride would be much better on a sunny,calm day at sea. I felt like I didn't see much of anything because we were dodging the splashes. Your laughing behind me cracked me up. We too loved the Disney Cruise. The service was wonderful,shows fantastic, food was great. I told my husband that I had wished we had just done the cruise and skipped the parks. It would have been a much more relaxing vacation. I found the parks to be really crowded this time. I personally was not impressed with the Polynesian. I wouldn't stay there again. We ran into a really rude employee at check in, had 180.00 dollars stolen from our room, dealt with incompetent baggage handlers and practically got run over by the golf carts on the paths. But put me on that cruise ship and I'm in heaven. We actually were thinking about booking that same cruise on the Eastern as it will be the kids Spring break. Haven't done it yet. It was really nice to meet you. Lisa

 

[FFerret]

Hey Jocelyn,
I just read your post. I cracked up when I read the apart about being pressure washed on the Thriller Boat Ride. Ain't that the truth. I think that ride would be much better on a sunny,calm day at sea. I felt like I didn't see much of anything because we were dodging the splashes. Your laughing behind me cracked me up. We too loved the Disney Cruise. The service was wonderful,shows fantastic, food was great. I told my husband that I had wished we had just done the cruise and skipped the parks. It would have been a much more relaxing vacation. I found the parks to be really crowded this time. I personally was not impressed with the Polynesian. I wouldn't stay there again. We ran into a really rude employee at check in, had 180.00 dollars stolen from our room, dealt with incompetent baggage handlers and practically got run over by the golf carts on the paths. But put me on that cruise ship and I'm in heaven. We actually were thinking about booking that same cruise on the Eastern as it will be the kids Spring break. Haven't done it yet. It was really nice to meet you. Lisa

Oh no! We're doing a Land and Sea for the first time ever at the Polynesian! Sure hope they get their act together by then!


jclark3--enjoyed your report!!!!
I'll be sure and cake on the sunscreen