DOOGIERUNNER
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Jan 27, 2001
- Messages
- 791
Hello to all the wonderful DIS and DVC folks we met on the cruise. Yes, it's (notorious) DoogieRunner.
We flew in to Orlando on Thursday evening, and went to Sea World on Friday. Thursday and Friday nights stays were at Sheraton World using Starwood points. It's within walking distance to the park. Sea World was nice, and it can be done in a day.
Saturday we drove to the Radisson, turned in our car at Avis and took the shuttle. It worked great. We had rented a car for 12 more days following the cruise through National... as they were cheaper than Avis. I thought the person behind the counter was hassling me when she asked what I was doing after the cruise, whom I had rented a car from and what they had charged. They ended up offering us a rate around $100 less than what I was originally quoted. It pays to tell them you've rented through a competitor!
We arrived at the port at 10:30; while we were going through check-in my son (9) went and got in line. He was proud, as he was first in line but soon disappointed when they board Cats 1-3 and folks needing assistance first. We boarded and went straight to Topsiders, then to the kids club for check-in, dropped off our luggage in our stateroom and went to the pool. During the sail away party the characters came out to the Goofy pool to sing and dance. At once point Mickey said, Kids, this is going to be your best cruise ever!! This was our 2nd Disney Cruise and our daughter (7) was not looking forward to the Oceaneers Club. Last year it didnt trip her trigger. She suddenly wanted to go to the club that evening. After returning from the club when we had to go get her around 11:30, she said, Daddy, I think Mickey was right. This is going to be our best cruise ever! (Remember this was our 2nd cruise its not like weve done this 100s of times
)
Sunday was a very hot day in Key West. We went to the DVC reception where I met fellow DISers and became notoriously known as Doogie. We didnt have any excursions booked and had decided we would walk through town and ride the trolley. Since the kids didnt get to bed until late they were a bit tired and the heat really zapped them. The trolley was going to be $60; the lines were long and the trolleys were crowded. Id really wanted to visit Hemingways but our kids could have cared less. We decided to skip and walked around the Mallory Square area. We spent about 2 hours on shore and it was packed. We went back to the ship, did some swimming, went to dinner and watched the sunset from deck 10. My view of KW, great for couples if you like bars and a laid back atmosphere but not great for kids. Do something else other than Mallory Square, hit a beach, rent jet skis, or go snorkeling.
Joe Nameth was on our cruise; on Monday he had a Q&A session that I wish I had not skipped. I spent the afternoon reading by the pools and watching our kids play on the sports deck with the other kids in the club and lab.
We flew in to Orlando on Thursday evening, and went to Sea World on Friday. Thursday and Friday nights stays were at Sheraton World using Starwood points. It's within walking distance to the park. Sea World was nice, and it can be done in a day.
Saturday we drove to the Radisson, turned in our car at Avis and took the shuttle. It worked great. We had rented a car for 12 more days following the cruise through National... as they were cheaper than Avis. I thought the person behind the counter was hassling me when she asked what I was doing after the cruise, whom I had rented a car from and what they had charged. They ended up offering us a rate around $100 less than what I was originally quoted. It pays to tell them you've rented through a competitor!
We arrived at the port at 10:30; while we were going through check-in my son (9) went and got in line. He was proud, as he was first in line but soon disappointed when they board Cats 1-3 and folks needing assistance first. We boarded and went straight to Topsiders, then to the kids club for check-in, dropped off our luggage in our stateroom and went to the pool. During the sail away party the characters came out to the Goofy pool to sing and dance. At once point Mickey said, Kids, this is going to be your best cruise ever!! This was our 2nd Disney Cruise and our daughter (7) was not looking forward to the Oceaneers Club. Last year it didnt trip her trigger. She suddenly wanted to go to the club that evening. After returning from the club when we had to go get her around 11:30, she said, Daddy, I think Mickey was right. This is going to be our best cruise ever! (Remember this was our 2nd cruise its not like weve done this 100s of times

Sunday was a very hot day in Key West. We went to the DVC reception where I met fellow DISers and became notoriously known as Doogie. We didnt have any excursions booked and had decided we would walk through town and ride the trolley. Since the kids didnt get to bed until late they were a bit tired and the heat really zapped them. The trolley was going to be $60; the lines were long and the trolleys were crowded. Id really wanted to visit Hemingways but our kids could have cared less. We decided to skip and walked around the Mallory Square area. We spent about 2 hours on shore and it was packed. We went back to the ship, did some swimming, went to dinner and watched the sunset from deck 10. My view of KW, great for couples if you like bars and a laid back atmosphere but not great for kids. Do something else other than Mallory Square, hit a beach, rent jet skis, or go snorkeling.
Joe Nameth was on our cruise; on Monday he had a Q&A session that I wish I had not skipped. I spent the afternoon reading by the pools and watching our kids play on the sports deck with the other kids in the club and lab.