Mar 15, 2014 Fantasy Western ~ Spring break on the High Seas

[Mike2023]

Hi Everyone!

We have joined this cruise! This will be our 2nd Fantasy Western but I was able to book it last week for such a great deal and it is during spring break for my kids so I just couldnt pass it up. It will be myself Stacey, my DH James, Max DS (12) turning 13 on the cruise Madeline DD (11) and Mia DD (8). We will be joining the FE group and facebook page - anything else I should know about this group? Do we have any meet/greets set up?

Looking forward to meeting everyone!

Stacey

Welcome to the group!!! Glad you took advantage of the "glitch" as well.

No meetups set yet but I'm sure we will get the ball rolling on that sorta thing soon.

 

[3Charbys]

Just added us to the FE group guys.

 

[jkind]

Hi All! We will be joining you on this cruise. We just booked while we were on the Med Cruise to Venice last week. My husband and DD (9) are already counting the days to our next cruise - while we are still feeling the motion of the one we just completed.

 

[3Charbys]

jkind and family!! Very jealous, would love to cruise the Med one day....check out post #2 for links to the FE and FB pages We too have a DD aged 9!

 

[TamieH]

Hi all - we are jumping from the May 24th Fantasy to the March 15th due to potential end of school sports conflict. I don't know what "pricing glitch" you guys are talking about in the earlier pages, but wish I had been a lucky one too. This was our most expensive cruise yet, but since its for DD's high school graduation.....I made the change to this spring break date for her.

Here's our info:

Ron, Tamie, Melissa (DD17), Megan (DD12) and Cole (DBF17)
We are from Topeka, KS and this is our 6th Disney Cruise and our first time booking as Gold!

 

[jkind]

Hi all - we are jumping from the May 24th Fantasy to the March 15th due to potential end of school sports conflict. I don't know what "pricing glitch" you guys are talking about in the earlier pages, but wish I had been a lucky one too. This was our most expensive cruise yet, but since its for DD's high school graduation.....I made the change to this spring break date for her.

Here's our info:

Ron, Tamie, Melissa (DD17), Megan (DD12) and Cole (DBF17)
We are from Topeka, KS and this is our 6th Disney Cruise and our first time booking as Gold!

Hi Tamie - hope to meet some fellow Kansans on board. We just down the highway from Lenexa. We have a DD who will be just shy of 10 when we sail.

jkind

 

[TamieH]

Hi jkind

If you're from Lenexa, you're probably watching MCI flight rates. Did you book with someone else or waiting for SW on the 26th? Those rates are insane at ~$222 each way. I've never paid that much from KC. Have you been watching them long? Have they gone down at all in recent months?

Thanks!

 

[jkind]

Hi jkind

If you're from Lenexa, you're probably watching MCI flight rates. Did you book with someone else or waiting for SW on the 26th? Those rates are insane at ~$222 each way. I've never paid that much from KC. Have you been watching them long? Have they gone down at all in recent months?

Thanks!

We haven't booked yet. Am watching the alerts and hoping we can get a better deal on SW. We have options on the day we come in, so I will play with that and see if we can save a little. We have never paid this much either. Since we just booked about a month ago, I haven't been watching all that long.

 

[3Charbys]

Can't hardly believe we are in the last week of August already! Where did summer go?!

 

[shy555]

it will be me Amy my DD Brit age 14 my 2nd Disney cruise her first I wish I'd found this board earlier I would have love to have found it during the glitch haha

 

[shy555]

I'm from down the way in olathe you guys must have thought what I was thinking after last spring breaks horrible snow let's go somewhere super warm next year!

 

[TamieH]

What are everyone's plans for getting from MCO to Port and back? We've done DCL transportation several times, but since we are up to 5 people this time.....I believe there are cheaper alternatives I might consider. We don't want to mess with a car rental that would haul all that luggage and then the return process. We might use a car service our TA recommends which uses a 10 person van for about $310 r/t including tip. We only have 5, so if anyone with a party of 2, 3 or 4 is interested in sharing and splitting the $310, let me know. We are staying at either the Hyatt MCO or Marriott Residence Inn MCO. I have reservations at both right now.

 

[TamieH]

For those Kansans, did you book your SW this morning? I checked at 6am and saw tons of flights totally different than I had been watching in Feb & early March. I waiting until about 7:00 to book after I got my daughter on the bus and already had problems booking flights for 5 adults. I ended up booking the n/s 1:40pm afternoon flight on 3/14 for $211 for 3 people and paid $245 for the other 2. Return flights were worse....I couldn't get a decent combination of seats to ensure I could get 5 even after calling SW since they said flight were selling fast. I ended up with the 7:25pm n/s for $211 for all 5 and paid for the early seat reservation to ensure we could sit together on the way home. I have NEVER paid that much for MCI to MCO before. I don't understand why Chicago flights are $50 cheaper each way and they have to fly farther than KC. Just glad that's over for now. With it being Spring Break, I'm not counting on any discount rates between now and then. I did buy my SW gift cards at my Dillons and go 8,000 fuel points. I'm waiting until after 9/1 to buy some additional Disney cards so the fuel points will expire in October instead of September.

 

[jkind]

For those Kansans, did you book your SW this morning? I checked at 6am and saw tons of flights totally different than I had been watching in Feb & early March. I waiting until about 7:00 to book after I got my daughter on the bus and already had problems booking flights for 5 adults. I ended up booking the n/s 1:40pm afternoon flight on 3/14 for $211 for 3 people and paid $245 for the other 2. Return flights were worse....I couldn't get a decent combination of seats to ensure I could get 5 even after calling SW since they said flight were selling fast. I ended up with the 7:25pm n/s for $211 for all 5 and paid for the early seat reservation to ensure we could sit together on the way home. I have NEVER paid that much for MCI to MCO before. I don't understand why Chicago flights are $50 cheaper each way and they have to fly farther than KC. Just glad that's over for now. With it being Spring Break, I'm not counting on any discount rates between now and then. I did buy my SW gift cards at my Dillons and go 8,000 fuel points. I'm waiting until after 9/1 to buy some additional Disney cards so the fuel points will expire in October instead of September.

I just bought today, yikes! We are going down on Thursday so we can spend Friday at the space center. We fly out early on Sunday morning. Even with the hotel, that was a cheaper alternative to flying home on Saturday. Luckily Monday is also a day off of school for my DD.

 

[shy555]

someone told me Southwest switches over at 12 am Eastern Time so there I was in front of my little laptop at 11 pm nothing. So I decided I'd wait til midnight our time nothing. So then I decided I take a nap try again in the middle of the night that didn't happen. I slept through till the morning alarm at 5:20 jumped up out of bed to check the laptop the tickets were at 211 (im not sure what they started at and the times were different) but i snatched up a couple man it shouldn't be this stressful to make a simple airline reservation holy Toledo!

 

[TamieH]

Your cheapest was probably the same $211 I found from KC. It seems to be a common amount for them. I wish it was $211 r/t like the good old days!!!

I am totally kicking myself that I didn't get up at 5 or even book at 6 when I did wake up. Who knew 1 hour could make such a difference. This is only the 2nd time we've ever flown to Orlando for Spring Break/March (we swore never again, but ended up with a SB cruise due to kids schedules).

After this, I am really making my family stick with cruises Memorial Day week or fall break in October. Weather and prices are better.

Glad airfare is out of the way at least. Next is buying another $3K of Disney gift cards after 9/1 at Dillons to get 4x's fuel points that expire in October and then hoping they offer the special again at Thanksgiving like normal so I can buy last gift cards before 11/30/13 payoff date for me.

 

[Fellowship9798]

Well, we've bought plane tickets and we are officially committed to something non-refundable so looks like its time to join the conversation.

My family will be sailing on this cruise as well. We have been on two previous Disney Cruises, but being west coasters we have only sailed on this side of the continent. Our first cruise was the original repositioning cruise of the Wonder from LA to Vancouver in April of 2011. We enjoyed it so much we booked a Mexican Riviera cruise from LA on the Wonder in March of 2012. We rebooked again on that cruise, but I was watching and waiting to see when the time was right to move the reservation to a Caribbean cruise so we could experience sailing from Port Canaveral, Castaway Cay, etc. When DCL opened bookings for 2014 I made my best guess at when Spring Break would be for my kids school and moved my reservation. Luckily I was right about the Spring Break dates so things are working out. This is definitely a more expensive cruise that my previous 2 DCL trips, plus airfare is more as well, but we spend conservatively through the year so we can enjoy nice vacations. (I'm writing this from Aulani in Hawaii on our last night before heading home and our return to real life).

It will be myself, DW, DS8, DD7. We are from Vancouver, Canada, are DVC members and I'm a former Epcot Canadian pavilion cast member so we are definitely Disney fans. As it's a long journey from the Pacific Northwest to Florida we will also stay the week after the cruise for some theme park time.

I'll leave it at that for now and join in when I have something useful to add. Looking forward to counting down with all of you.

 

[TamieH]

Welcome!!! I'm in full-blown planning mode right now and know the next 6 months will be so LONG. Counting down with a group helps know I'm not alone.

 

[cckovach]

Fellowship9798 - were you on the Mexican Riviera cruise March 11, 2012-March 18, 2012? If so, my family and I were onboard as well and we rebooked onboard, then switched the reservation to this cruise for our kids' spring break.

 

[Fellowship9798]

Fellowship9798 - were you on the Mexican Riviera cruise March 11, 2012-March 18, 2012? If so, my family and I were onboard as well and we rebooked onboard, then switched the reservation to this cruise for our kids' spring break.

Yup, I think that was the one we were on too.