May 12, 2007 -- Taking the Magic to the Mediterranean -- 14 day Repo Cruise!

[tig82174]

gee - and I thought it was tough getting the jewelry thing organized. Who would have thought that suits, ties, tuxes etc were such a pain :>

If you stop in any good suit or tux retailer - they should be able to teach you/DH to tie a bow tie or a Windsor or Square tie knot. I used to know - back many moons ago when I needed such information.


<posting from Wilderness Lodge Villas - gads is it HOT!!!>

AW that's no fair! Padalyn gets to be in the World and we're all stuck at our homes and jobs!

I think we can book AK lodge with our DVC points 11 months in advance so we're probably going to book our week at the parks before the cruise in the next couple days......a momentous occasion for us because it will be the first time we've used DVC points or member services or anything because we're such new DVC members!

 

[tig82174]

Here is the tux rental link: http://www.cruiselineformal.com

Ken

Thanks so much for posting this link! I've already looked at the site for the company and I'm fairly certain that this is what Jason and I will do....so convenient and really not that expensive when you really consider the length of time you're keeping the tux AND the added convenience of not having to pack it in your bags or anything!

 

[padalyn]

AW that's no fair! Padalyn gets to be in the World and we're all stuck at our homes and jobs!

I think we can book AK lodge with our DVC points 11 months in advance so we're probably going to book our week at the parks before the cruise in the next couple days......a momentous occasion for us because it will be the first time we've used DVC points or member services or anything because we're such new DVC members!

I like the Lodge - just be ready to walk - I am in the last room at the end of the longest hall - it is a long hike to the main desk. Closer to the bus transportation, about midrange to the water taxi. Welcome Home!!!

The pools are great - I am thinking of doing the nature trail tomorrow - I can post about it then (assuming the heat doesn't do me in!) It rained like all the world was falling for about 2 hours -that did help a lot.

I suggest if you are bringing a laptop that you make sure to bring your own cat 5 cable - they don't seem to be able to find one here. I didn't have this problem at Boardwalk, Yacht Club or OKW. I am more than a little suprised. Luckily I carry my own.

 

[tig82174]

I like the Lodge - just be ready to walk - I am in the last room at the end of the longest hall - it is a long hike to the main desk. Closer to the bus transportation, about midrange to the water taxi. Welcome Home!!!

The pools are great - I am thinking of doing the nature trail tomorrow - I can post about it then (assuming the heat doesn't do me in!) It rained like all the world was falling for about 2 hours -that did help a lot.

I suggest if you are bringing a laptop that you make sure to bring your own cat 5 cable - they don't seem to be able to find one here. I didn't have this problem at Boardwalk, Yacht Club or OKW. I am more than a little suprised. Luckily I carry my own.

We own at Saratoga....but since we only just recently bought our DVC points we haven't had an opportunity to use them yet or stay in any of the DVC resorts. I have a friend...he and his DP have owned at Beach Club for several years and a couple years ago they invited me to stay with them there for a weekend...so I have stayed in a DVC resort for a short time but that's my only real exposure...and Jason has only ever seen them as we walk through the Beach Club lobby to get to Beaches & Cream for chili dogs and ice cream sundaes!! (yum yum....I know, it's crazy the silly things that thrill us but that is one of my guilty pleasure lunches every trip to the world!)

We're, of course, using a big chunk of points to stay in the AK Lodge for the sunday through Friday before we embark on the cruise next May (we decided to check in on Sunday or Monday so we'd only have to pay (using points, but nonetheless) for one weekend night (of course DVC weekends only include Fri. and Sat.) when AK Lodge costs literally almost TWICE as many points for a single night...SHEESH! Anyhow....other than that we are considering going "home" to Saratoga for a couple days just for funsies.

.....and actaully that reminds me to ask a question from all of you....now I know this is a little off topic...but you are all always a fount of useful information---and I think we actually talked about this once before but I can't find the previous posts about it if we did.....for those of you who are DVC members, do you happen to know the breakdown, including our DVC discount, on at what point it's most cost effective to buy annual passes as opposed to just buying park admissions when you book your trip? And are there annual passes that also get you the option of entrance into the water parks, Pleasure Island, and DisneyQuest? For instance, how many days do you need to use in a given one-year-period to get to the "break even" point? Jason and I usually go whole-hog when it comes to buying tickets/passes because I am very big on Park-hopping and we love the water parks amd are big fans of playing late evenings in Disney Quest...and even sometimes stop into Pleasure Island...so we generally buy the best passes possible. So any tips from the crowd? We specifically know we'll want passes for at least the 6 days next May (maybe even 7) and then perhaps a couple days this fall....so is our best option to go ahead and buy annual passes just before we take a few days in Sept (since then those passes will still be good in May for the repo cruise)? Or no?

Thanks a bunch!!

 

[Scott H]

Erik,

We crunched the numbers a while back before the DVC Discount, and we get the Premium AP's giving us access to just about everything. We usually take two long trips and get at least 28 plus days out of the passes per year. We do off set out trips, i.e. buiy passes for a Dec visit and then visit the next year in Oct.

Not having figures in front of me, we feel the break even is at about 10 days or so.

Just guessing on this but pretty close, as I am sure park admission will be going up.

 

[milestogo]

Hi all, we did the same number crunching and figured about 10 days too! We are going to get the Premium passes next year because I think they were about the same cost as the 10 day ticket. Especially with the discount from DVC which I think was about $100 off. We decided to do the PPass next May then go back for the Dec. 3- night and week long stay at OKW during Dec just before Xmas while everyone else is still in school. Then if we can go back one more time before May 08.

Then no more vacations until the May 09 which we are hoping will be a cruise to the west coast Hawaii!

Padalyn, have fun, we were there a few years ago during June. It rained the whole three days on us. We went through so many ponchos it was ridiculous.

 

[padalyn]

The weather cooled off today - a nice breeze all day! Thanks for all the well wishes...tomorrow dinner at Narccoossee's - in time for the fireworks...yummy!

Tig - I find that once I visit the parks more than 7 days it becomes a better deal to buy the annual pass. I don't get the premium since I seldom use the water parks or Disney Quest. I am considering it on the next renewal since I do like Pleasure Island - may I reccommend the Adventurers Club? What a scream - read the walls!!! Every "exhibit" has a little explaination that just makes me howl! They are so silly...

Tig - which cruise are you and Jason going on? the 14 day? We really need to get together! I live in Northern NJ...are you close?

 

[txaggie94gigem]

i don't know what to do.....

i have pass privileges on delta and american airlines (standby passes at a very reduced rate) but i am wondering if i will have a really hard time getting out of barcelona, especially on a holiday weekend....i mean if we get back to the states on sat, travel is not bad and we will get home but if we have to wait to leave barcelona on sun or mon we will run into the mem day travel issues in the states and may get stuck somewhere, although at least if we can get to atlanta, we could drive home the rest of the way....

i guess my questions is....should i buy tickets now on the really cheap airlines and have a definite ticket or wait and take my chances? i'm not worried about getting home in time....i have no problems telling my work we are "stuck" in europe!!!

does anyone know anything about the cheap rates (about $200/per person)...i looked it up and the airline is a charter airline but has a good safety record and i am not worried about the long layover.....

 

[Scott H]

Flying Non Rev is no fun these days, alot depends on your status and where you fall in hte pecking order. Yet if one has the time it could be worth it. I grew up as an airline brat , and have buddy passes available on Delta and UAL, sometimes it is only a few bucks more to buy a ticket, just gotta look at all the options.

If ya get stuck, there could be expenses involved i.e. hotel and food.

 

[CACruisin']

Happy Father's Day!

Hope all the dad's have a fantastic, relaxing day today.

 

[tig82174]

The weather cooled off today - a nice breeze all day! Thanks for all the well wishes...tomorrow dinner at Narccoossee's - in time for the fireworks...yummy!

Tig - I find that once I visit the parks more than 7 days it becomes a better deal to buy the annual pass. I don't get the premium since I seldom use the water parks or Disney Quest. I am considering it on the next renewal since I do like Pleasure Island - may I reccommend the Adventurers Club? What a scream - read the walls!!! Every "exhibit" has a little explaination that just makes me howl! They are so silly...

Tig - which cruise are you and Jason going on? the 14 day? We really need to get together! I live in Northern NJ...are you close?

Hey Padalyn,

Yes Jason and I are on the 14-day Eastbound....actually everyone on this list is on that cruise.....some of you lucky bums get to go on the cruise after, as well, while others of us have to come home....but everyone on this list is, I think, on the 14 day.

We don't live next door but we're not terribly far from NJ. We live in Rochester, NY which is in Upstate/Western NY. We're about a 6 hour drive from NYC...but we do to the city now and then for fun (it's a cheap one hour flight to get there) and I go there several times a year for work....actually plannign a trip the second week of August. Also my best friend and his partner live in NYC so we try to visit them now and again.!

We're still doing the math here on our end and I found a great link on the allearsnet.com website about comparing MYW (Magic Your Way) Tickets and Passes......it doesnt' have the "golden answer" but it does talk a little more about the pros and cons of each and links you to the pages where the current price structures are laid out so you can more easiliy make some calculations for yourself.....the link I found there is http://allearsnet.com/pl/breakeven.php Maybe if anyone else is tryign to make similar decisions then that will be helpful. (I find that site, www.allearsnet.com, to be in general one of the best sources of Disney help and information and I'd like to just KISS Deb Wills, the woman who helped found it cuz I've used it so many times over the years!!!)

 

[Scott H]

(I find that site, www.allearsnet.com, to be in general one of the best sources of Disney help and information and I'd like to just KISS Deb Wills, the woman who helped found it cuz I've used it so many times over the years!!!)

Deb is a great person for sure....

 

[milestogo]

Hi everyone, Happy Father's Day!

We had one of those magical moments at DL today. My SIL and her DD6 is in town so we'll be there every day for two weeks. As we were heading to the Matterhorn we ran into a group of characters playing charades. The kids spent 45 min. playing games with Peter Pan, Wendy, Alice, Tweedle Dee, and the Mad Hatter. My DD kept changing from character to character sitting in each of their laps. It was a riot. One of those memories of a lifetime. Last year, we had a similar situation with Snow White, it was adorable. My DD thinks that these are her personal friends. Too cute.

My SIL is a flight attendant and thinks that if you split up you have better options, but with 2 diff. airlines to choose from your odds are good. Sat. & Sun. aren't expected to be the big travel days as much as Friday. And DH says that he had a Charter booked from Rio once many years ago and not enough people booked and the flight was cancelled and they were stuck finding and alt. in a foreign country. (this is not my area of expertise, I'm just sending their messages!)

 

[CACruisin']

Milestogo: what a wonderful time for your DD. Hope you took lots of pictures.

Still playing with flights. Had a fantastic flight from BCN to ATL at 1:05pm that looked perfect, but it is being discontinued in October. Does anyone know what the safe earliest flight time should be? Is DCL making any recommendations? Don't know whether to try and catch a flight saturday or stay a night in Barcelona and catch a Sunday flight.

 

[tig82174]

Still playing with flights. Had a fantastic flight from BCN to ATL at 1:05pm that looked perfect, but it is being discontinued in October. Does anyone know what the safe earliest flight time should be? Is DCL making any recommendations? Don't know whether to try and catch a flight saturday or stay a night in Barcelona and catch a Sunday flight.

that's an excellent question! Jason and I were just assuming that we'll have to be off the ship real early in teh morning like any other DCL cruise and that we could go right from the ship to the airport so we were looking at early afternoon flights, too...assuming those woudl be easy to make...but it occurred to me that I have no idea whatever how far the Barcelona airport is from where the ship will be docked....NOR how we would travel there. I assumed there would be some kind of shuttle or taxi service...but does anyone know? What is the best (quick and/or cheap) way to get from ship to plane? And what IS the earliest flight we shoudl think of booking?


Jason and I ran into another minor snag in our planning last night too while we were talking...maybe some of you have ideas: We always rent a car when we come down. We usually rent from and return to the airport. We like having a car so that we don't have to rely entirely on Disney transportation and so that if we want to go off property to eat or shop or run up to visit Universal Studios, Islands of Adventure, Sea World, etc. then we have the flexibility to do so. In past years when we've done land and sea combos we have just driven ourselves to Port Canaveral, parked and left the car, then driven back up to Orlando to return the car and fly out (we've always liked getting there in the car to beat the DCL buses, too, when there's a DELUGE of people tryign to get through security, check-in, etc.).....this time around, however, we obviously don't want to rent a car and leave it parked for 2 full weeks while we cruise...also we weren't planning on flying back into Orlando......so any ideas? Are best off to just scrap the rental car and rely on Disney transport this trip and take the bus from the airport to the resorts and then resort to Port? Or maybe could we rent a car for hte week, return it friday night or saturday morning (5/12) early and try to catch a bus from Disney to the boat?

Ah...the best laid plans get so confusing still apparently!! hehehehe

 

[BONITATIME]

that's an excellent question! Jason and I were just assuming that we'll have to be off the ship real early in teh morning like any other DCL cruise and that we could go right from the ship to the airport so we were looking at early afternoon flights, too...assuming those woudl be easy to make...but it occurred to me that I have no idea whatever how far the Barcelona airport is from where the ship will be docked....NOR how we would travel there. I assumed there would be some kind of shuttle or taxi service...but does anyone know? What is the best (quick and/or cheap) way to get from ship to plane?

The airport is about 15/20 mins in a taxi. It cost about 20 euros last year. They will have a long queue of taxi's available in front of the docks.

 

[tig82174]

The airport is about 15/20 mins in a taxi. It cost about 20 euros last year. They will have a long queue of taxi's available in front of the docks.

Fabulous! That's great info to have ....so in other words since Disney usually shuffles us all off the boat before 9am....if we were booked on flights that left Barcelona at or after 1pm we should have plenty of time to make it to the airport, check in, etc etc.....correct?

Also....just out of curiosity....what is the conversion on Euros to Dollars? A 20 Euro taxi ride is about how much in USD?

And on the subject of foreign currency......is Euros the best kind of foreign money to stock up with? Will it be accepted in all of our ports? And if not what other moneys should we be prepared to buy? And does Disney do currency exchange on board or.....??

 

[Scott H]

another minor snag in our planning last night too while we were talking...maybe some of you have ideas: We always rent a car when we come down. We usually rent from and return to the airport.

We also rent a car, usually Avis at MCO, and then drop it off at their office in Port Canaveral. Then on the return, rent again to get back to WDW. I know there are other car rental companies, like I think Budget.

Good info on the taxi situation and transportation to BCN.

 

[BethE]

Jason and I ran into another minor snag in our planning last night too while we were talking...maybe some of you have ideas: We always rent a car when we come down. We usually rent from and return to the airport. We like having a car so that we don't have to rely entirely on Disney transportation and so that if we want to go off property to eat or shop or run up to visit Universal Studios, Islands of Adventure, Sea World, etc. then we have the flexibility to do so. In past years when we've done land and sea combos we have just driven ourselves to Port Canaveral, parked and left the car, then driven back up to Orlando to return the car and fly out (we've always liked getting there in the car to beat the DCL buses, too, when there's a DELUGE of people tryign to get through security, check-in, etc.).....this time around, however, we obviously don't want to rent a car and leave it parked for 2 full weeks while we cruise...also we weren't planning on flying back into Orlando......so any ideas? Are best off to just scrap the rental car and rely on Disney transport this trip and take the bus from the airport to the resorts and then resort to Port? Or maybe could we rent a car for hte week, return it friday night or saturday morning (5/12) early and try to catch a bus from Disney to the boat?

Ah...the best laid plans get so confusing still apparently!! hehehehe

If you rent from Budget, it is easy to pick up at the airport and drop at the port. They have a free shuttle to the port from their lot, which is only about 5 minutes away. Also, there is no drop off fee or anything like that for returning to a different location. They usually have great prices, especially if you're a Costco member.

Hope this helps.

Beth

 

[BONITATIME]

Also....just out of curiosity....what is the conversion on Euros to Dollars? A 20 Euro taxi ride is about how much in USD?

And on the subject of foreign currency......is Euros the best kind of foreign money to stock up with? Will it be accepted in all of our ports? And if not what other moneys should we be prepared to buy? And does Disney do currency exchange on board or.....??

20 euros is about 25 dollars A good site for conversions is http://www.xe.com/ucc/convert.cgi

I think all your ports are euro currency nations.