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

[Scott H]

Cynthia and Michelle, sorry for your losses, out thoughts are with ya.

Welcome back all you B2B folks,

Work is the pits, too much, will try to get the GPS waypoints together this weekend.

 

[mickg7dyd]

Hi,
Hope you don't mind me posting here. I hadn't realised this thread existed until I saw all of you on the ship. Our paths did cross on numerous occasions and I think I can remember one or two of you.
Debbie if I have you right we were the couple who were always behind you in the lines?
Michelle2 I'm pretty sure we were in the same tour bus as you and your family in Gibraltar (the bus had a dodgy looking plastic bottle holding up the seat near the door)
We also saw you all having a ball doing the fins at the Buffett night. In fact we are lurking in the background of this picture: http://www.imagestation.com/5279126/3912824463
And finally I think some of you were on the same return flight to London Gatwick as us BA2487
You all looked to having such a great time made us wish we had checked out the thread before we left.
Hope you don't mind me posting this and hopefully we will be onboard in the future and share a beer..

Mick & Lyn

 

[Scott H]

Yes, we were on that flight and I think we spoke briefly as we landed.


Glad to have ya here.

 

[ssnyder]

Kelly, when life settles down for you I'll get in touch so maybe you can give me pointers about bringing my 5 year old grandson to Disneyland next May.

Our older grandson will be 5 then also. In fact his and Zoe's birthdays are less than a week apart (in April).

We took him to Disneyland yesterday. I couldn't believe how much more we did this time than the last visit. We were there for seven hours and he didn't even nap. Here was our itinerary:
Disneyland:
Tom Sawyer island (to see new pirate overlay)
Pirates of the Caribbean
lunch at the River Belle Terrace
Fantasyland carousel
Toontown coaster
It's a Small World
feed the ducks (Kelly taught us how fun this is)
Finding Nemo Submarine ride (Annual Pass preview)
Autotopia
California Adventure:
Grizzly River Run (first time)
Jumpin' Jellyfish (first time)
King Triton's Carousel
Ice Cream break before heading home

 

[iluvdisney]

A suggestion for the cruisers who are lucky enough to be bring the Magic back home again - I find the lanyards very comfortable that Ken gave us so maybe we could wear them again on the homebound cruise and that way we'll know that we're some of the lucky ones who went on the ship across the Atlantic both ways!

 

[ssnyder]

While crossing the Atlantic my father fell ill and he passed away before we got to Barcelona. Once we made it home we had to turn around and head to Indiana for his funeral. I have a wonderful and supporting family who understood the travel challenges we faced getting home.

Cynthia,

I'm so sorry for your loss.

We didn't run in to each other much on the ship, but it was so nice to meet you. We are also scheduled on the WB Panama Canal trip. The fish extender you made for me will be coming along.

 

[tig82174]

A suggestion for the cruisers who are lucky enough to be bring the Magic back home again - I find the lanyards very comfortable that Ken gave us so maybe we could wear them again on the homebound cruise and that way we'll know that we're some of the lucky ones who went on the ship across the Atlantic both ways!

Yeah we loved those lanyards, too. Hadley and are the "Lanyard Squad Captains" on the Double Dip (Ken is our hero and our inspiration!!) and we're probably going to get the same kind of Lanyards....not the wide itchy kind that Disney sells but the thinner, softer shoelace kind that Ken got. We're going with green (because apparently that is, for some reason I don't fully gather, the official DIS color...and the Double Dip are hardcore DIS green fans... ) but they will definitely be a throwback to our fearless leader, Ken!!

 

[ssnyder]

Hi everyone!
Sorry I have not posted since getting back.
Cynthia, I am so sorry for your loss. I was in a similiar boat (no pun intended) by getting a call from my sister on the Wednesday before debarking that my grandma (last grandparent) had passed away. She had been deteriorating pretty rapidly for awhile, and was wanting to die, so it was actually a blessing, if that makes any sense.
So I totally understand about getting home and seeing my kids for a few hours, going back the airport (ugh!) and getting on ANOTHER flight.
My family was also understanding about our travel situation too, and for a few hours, I had no idea if I would even be going to the funeral or not. I finally felt that I needed to go, and am very glad that I did.

It was so good to get to meet everyone!

Oh Michelle, I'm so sorry. When my last grandparent died, I was also on vacation and had to rearrange my flights to fly to the funeral instead of home. It's sad to have a vacation end this way. Its good that you made it to the funeral though.

 

[cupcake]

Cynthia, I am so very sorry for your loss. I was looking for you, and only got a chance to say hello very early on. My thoughts are with you and your family.

Enjoying the few chances I get to stop by, but work is definitely getting in the way!

C.

 

[DizzneyDAnn]

Cupcake, Thanks for the info you gave me about gratuities and ship credit during that last breakfast. I went to guest services, and Leslie said it must have been a misunderstanding (uh huh ) and so she honored those terms and let us book the day we got home. We used your name, so they couldn't dispute it, and I guess you had been there a bit that morning and they remembered you. You saved us about $1800. Thank you so much!


Mary, great idea about wearing those lanyards. I'll have mine on!

 

[tig82174]

Hey I have a question for all you Californian and DisneyLand buffs out there.....

In November I have a conference in Palm Springs (November7-12) and Jason and I were thinking of using our points to stay at one of the DisneyLand hotels before my conference. We'd probably look into flying over and checking in on either Saturday night, Nov. 3rd or Sunday morning Nov. 4th and then check out on the morning of Wed. Nov 7th. This woudl be a first trip for me to DisneyLand and Jason's first time ever even going that far West!!

So here are my questions:
1.) How many days should we plan on being there if we DON'T want our days to be jam packed full. We want to be able to relax (can you swim that time of year?) and enjoy ourselves. So is it better to fly in late on Saturday so we would have three full days there (Sunday, Monday & Tuesday) or is it fine to try to arrive on Sunday and have only 2 1/2 days total?

2.) Which hotel should we stay at? We're using points...so COST isn't so much a factor as is we want a nice room, with a good view, and great location to all that Disney has to offer.

3.) When you're flying there....what airport do you fly to? LAX?

4.) How do you get from the airport to the resorts/hotel? I imagine that Magical Express is a Florida thing only....but is there an equivalent in CA? Or do the Disney hotels have shuttles? Or would we have to rent a car or take a cab or what?

5.) Once we're AT Disney we won't need a car of any kind, right?

6.) When we check out, Jason will just fly back home to Rochester but I will need to travel to Palm Springs for my conference. Is it possible to fly there on a small, inexpensive flight? (And remember inexpensive is relative for me on this trip because work woudl actually be booking my flight from east cost to west...I'd probably only have to pay out of pocket for that small leg of the trip). Or would I be better off to rent a car for a one way (because I'm assuming it'd be easier to fly from Palm Springs back to Rochester rather than try to drive back up towards Anaheim and fly home from there)

7.) Any other advice for a first-time trip there? Attractions? Shows? Restaurants? etc.

 

[gismo1554]

And finally I think some of you were on the same return flight to London Gatwick as us BA2487
You all looked to having such a great time made us wish we had checked out the thread before we left.
Hope you don't mind me posting this and hopefully we will be onboard in the future and share a beer..

Mick & Lyn

Hi

We were on that flight! It was quite funny seeing people with Disney labels on their carry on bags!

 

[gismo1554]

A suggestion for the cruisers who are lucky enough to be bring the Magic back home again - I find the lanyards very comfortable that Ken gave us so maybe we could wear them again on the homebound cruise and that way we'll know that we're some of the lucky ones who went on the ship across the Atlantic both ways!

I think thats a really nice idea! I might do that. If we end up with WB ones maybe I'll just wear too!

 

[DizzneyDAnn]

Erik, I know Rochester is big, but we have some friends up there. Skip Kreveling and the Bone family? Any chance you know either of them?

 

[tig82174]

Erik, I know Rochester is big, but we have some friends up there. Skip Kreveling and the Bone family? Any chance you know either of them?

Neither name sounds familiar, no. Do you know where they live and/or work or anything?

 

[DizzneyDAnn]

Once off the boat, I ripped off my Disney cruise line tags. I didn't want anyone associating my bag with Disney. I thought it would make me more of a target for theft. It seemed quite a big deal in some of the ports that we were there and the locals couldn't get near the ship.

 

[DizzneyDAnn]

Skip owns a consulting firm for Six Sigma and the Bones are engineers, not sure where exactly they work or live. Skip probably lives in a very nice area.

 

[Hoagie Pie]

I am so excited! I just heard back from Rebecca at DCL and they have all my clothes and are mailing them today!!!! Hadley, she listened to our club complaints and she appreciated them! Also, she said the Barcelona airport complaints did not go unnoticed and everything was suppose to be resolved for the people departing yesterday.

 

[gismo1554]

Congrats

I'm still waiting for something about my broken suitcase!

 

[ssnyder]

Hey I have a question for all you Californian and DisneyLand buffs out there.....

In November I have a conference in Palm Springs (November7-12) and Jason and I were thinking of using our points to stay at one of the DisneyLand hotels before my conference. We'd probably look into flying over and checking in on either Saturday night, Nov. 3rd or Sunday morning Nov. 4th and then check out on the morning of Wed. Nov 7th. This woudl be a first trip for me to DisneyLand and Jason's first time ever even going that far West!!

So here are my questions:
1.) How many days should we plan on being there if we DON'T want our days to be jam packed full. We want to be able to relax (can you swim that time of year?) and enjoy ourselves. So is it better to fly in late on Saturday so we would have three full days there (Sunday, Monday & Tuesday) or is it fine to try to arrive on Sunday and have only 2 1/2 days total?

2.) Which hotel should we stay at? We're using points...so COST isn't so much a factor as is we want a nice room, with a good view, and great location to all that Disney has to offer.

3.) When you're flying there....what airport do you fly to? LAX?

4.) How do you get from the airport to the resorts/hotel? I imagine that Magical Express is a Florida thing only....but is there an equivalent in CA? Or do the Disney hotels have shuttles? Or would we have to rent a car or take a cab or what?

5.) Once we're AT Disney we won't need a car of any kind, right?

6.) When we check out, Jason will just fly back home to Rochester but I will need to travel to Palm Springs for my conference. Is it possible to fly there on a small, inexpensive flight? (And remember inexpensive is relative for me on this trip because work woudl actually be booking my flight from east cost to west...I'd probably only have to pay out of pocket for that small leg of the trip). Or would I be better off to rent a car for a one way (because I'm assuming it'd be easier to fly from Palm Springs back to Rochester rather than try to drive back up towards Anaheim and fly home from there)

7.) Any other advice for a first-time trip there? Attractions? Shows? Restaurants? etc.

Lots of questions, but I'll take a first shot at them.
1) I would prefer 3 days. Don't assume that just because you have been on a ride at WDW that you don't have to do them at DL. Most of the duplicates are different than WDW. I can give you more details on this later.
2) Grand Californian - no doubt about this!
3) Most people fly into LAX because of the connections. John Wayne is closest though and less crowded. If you are considering driving to Palm Springs, I would check into Ontario also just because it would be so much closer when driving back towards LA to the airport. You might not have that many options though when you are actually checking connections.
4) I'm not familiar with the shuttles, but I believe there are some (for a fee).
5) No you wouldn't need a car for your stay at DL.
6) I would check your airline options. Palm Springs isn't that far of a drive.
7) Like I said, don't skip a ride just because you have seen it a WDW. Most of them have a few extras at DL - even the WDW railroad is not to be missed especially from Tomorrowland to Main Street station. That said, the ones you MUST do (IMHO) are Matterhorn, Indiana Jones, and Californian Screamin' because there are not WDW conterparts. There are also a few Fantasyland attractions that are not at WDW that are worthwhile - Canal Boats, Casey Junior Train, and Alice. Try to do these first in the morning as they get long lines very fast. The new Space Mountain is awesome so if you don't ride it right away in the morning grab a fast pass early. And the most must see for you Erik is the Aladdin show at California Adventure.
Restaurants: Be sure to make a PS for Blue Bayoo at DL (inside of POTC). We really like the Wine Country Trattoria in California Adventure. In DTD we like the Catal restaurant and Uva Bar. The upstairs of Naples is nice also (request upstairs at the podium). For a hangout during happy hour, we enjoy the wine bar at the Disneyland hotel (it's a cellar below the steakhouse). They serve free cheese and crackers and the atmosphere is very relaxing. If you like sushi, the Japanese restaurant in the Paradise Pier hotel if very nice.

Best advice I can give you is not to expect a WDW atmosphere, but enjoy DL as somewhere different. There is just as much magic, but sometimes it is not as obvious to those that are used to the total immersion at WDW. You will enjoy it more if you don't try to compare the two.