May 18, 2013 Fantasy 7 Night Eastern!

[EngineerDad]

Hi
The family and I finally made the decision and booked our very first cruise.
May 18 can't come quick enough but we will probably use all that time researching good ideas on these boards.(we still have travel, hotel, excursions etc to figure out) The boards have been amazingly helpful getting us this far.
DS(4) loves the FE idea, both choosing things to bring and give as well as getting surprises. We are however not on Facebook. Can we still join a FE group ?

 

[MTmomma]

Hi
The family and I finally made the decision and booked our very first cruise.
May 18 can't come quick enough but we will probably use all that time researching good ideas on these boards.(we still have travel, hotel, excursions etc to figure out) The boards have been amazingly helpful getting us this far.
DS(4) loves the FE idea, both choosing things to bring and give as well as getting surprises. We are however not on Facebook. Can we still join a FE group ?

Absoloutly you can participate! Welcome to the cruise! There is a lot of information floating around on this website, and it can be kind of overwhelming at times. Don't forget to ask lots of questions if you feel lost! I have a talent for storing random useless information, so im pretty good with helping everyone figure things out.
Welcome!
The FB group no longer exists.

 

[MTmomma]

FE Updated to this post.
I will be sending out PM's to those of you who I am missing information for the FE. I will also be messaging everyone to get an email address for the final list to be emailed out once the group officially closes.
Happy Planning!

 

[MTmomma]

Due to unfortunate miscommunication, and the ensuing drama, the FB group has been deleted. All FE communications and planning will happen here on the DIS, and updates will be posted in the very first post. Sorry guys, I got tired of the back and forth drama. People were feeling alienated.
I will post generic information, and a list with the screen names of the participants, as well as a tally of people in each age group. Keep in mind, if your FE includes alcohol, we do currently have 4 Adult Minors traveling. They will be clearly marked in the final list, and quite possibly on the list of screen names. it will be listed in this format in public: "Screen name 4A (2 A.M.)" This will make it easy for each of you to spot the Adult Minors in order to not gift them alcohol if it is a part of your FE gift.

 

[maggs1035]

Due to unfortunate miscommunication, and the ensuing drama, the FB group has been deleted. All FE communications and planning will happen here on the DIS, and updates will be posted in the very first post. Sorry guys, I got tired of the back and forth drama. People were feeling alienated.
I will post generic information, and a list with the screen names of the participants, as well as a tally of people in each age group. Keep in mind, if your FE includes alcohol, we do currently have 4 Adult Minors traveling. They will be clearly marked in the final list, and quite possibly on the list of screen names. it will be listed in this format in public: "Screen name 4A (2 A.M.)" This will make it easy for each of you to spot the Adult Minors in order to not gift them alcohol if it is a part of your FE gift.

Why not make it public at (2 P.M.) Haha just kidding!

 

[EngineerDad]

Absoloutly you can participate! Welcome to the cruise! There is a lot of information floating around on this website, and it can be kind of overwhelming at times. Don't forget to ask lots of questions if you feel lost! I have a talent for storing random useless information, so im pretty good with helping everyone figure things out.
Welcome!
The FB group no longer exists.

Thanks for the warm welcome! I'm sure I'll have many random questions that might seem like old hat to cruise veterans

And you can definitely add us to the FE list - much appreciate you taking the time to organize this - will PM...as soon as I can figure out how, lol.

Less than 9 months to go now, woohoo!

 

[EngineerDad]

Ok, first random question...if you have early dining, do you get tickets to the late show only? Are there actually assigned tickets, or can you skip the dining rotation dinner, grab an informal dinner, and go to the early show? I'm not sure the kids could always stay awake for the late show after a day out in the sun.

 

[MTmomma]

Ok, first random question...if you have early dining, do you get tickets to the late show only? Are there actually assigned tickets, or can you skip the dining rotation dinner, grab an informal dinner, and go to the early show? I'm not sure the kids could always stay awake for the late show after a day out in the sun.

You don't actually have a ticket to go to the shows, so you realistically could skip your main dining room seating to see the first show.
As for PMing, the DIS wont let it happen until you have hit ten posts.

 

[mammacaryn]

 

[MTmomma]

Your kids might surprise you The shows are as long as a movie. Our first cruise was kind of last minute (booked in Nov. for a Jan. cruise) so we didn't do a whole lot of research. We had a good time. Just don't try to do everything. Don't expect to go to every show. Just expect to have fun We have done 3 cruises and NEVER go to every show. We still haven't seen the golden mickeys. Our second cruise, we had been coming to these boards for awhile and got some information but still, didn't overplan. Just keep an eye on your daily navigator-the paper you will get in your room every night with the next days activities listed, and pick a few things you'd like to do. We usually ended up changing plans last minute due to kid plans most days. Either they would want to go to the club or we would see a character we didn't realize was doing photos and hop in that line....etc. It's all about fun

This right here. "Normal" schedules always seem to go out the window on vacation! They very well could be "running hard" all day long, straight through dinner. Just remember, you cant do everything onboard in the time we have, so dont worry about trying commando style that some WDW visits morph into. I tend to not plan anything onboard before I get there..... to me, that is just way too much. The port stops however, are a different story!

 

[amandaw]

This right here. "Normal" schedules always seem to go out the window on vacation! They very well could be "running hard" all day long, straight through dinner. Just remember, you cant do everything onboard in the time we have, so dont worry about trying commando style that some WDW visits morph into. I tend to not plan anything onboard before I get there..... to me, that is just way too much. The port stops however, are a different story!

I agree! At WDW I'm a very commando, everything all planned out kind of gal. But, for the cruise, the only things I'm going to plan are what we'll do at the ports. As for the ship, we'll take that moment by moment, day by day as to what we want to do.

 

[EngineerDad]

DS(4) wanted to go to Disneyland (he's seen friends' photos), but instead we booked a cruise. DW is trying to convince me to at least hit _one_ park before the cruise, since we're already travelling from Toronto to Orlando. WDW scares me - I don't even know where to start researching. Is it worth it for just a day or two? With our kids being 3 and 5 at the time of the cruise (and one most likely still napping), which park would you recommend? I don't want to burn out the kids before we even get on the cruise. We need to book flights soon, but can't until we resolve to go to WDW or not.

 

[mammacaryn]

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[MTmomma]

Yeah, we initially started planning for a WDW trip, and just for giggles, I had looked at what DCL would cost. Neither myself or my son (10) tolerate crowds for days on end, so WDW seemed a nightmare scenario for both of us the more we looked into it. The cruise? absoloutly perfect for us as far as crowds. It only felt crowded for a few minutes at a time during the whole trip, and if you need to, the pirate party, sail away party etc can be avoided, the only time that the entire crowded area can not be avoided is the muster drill, which of course is actually pretty short in relative time!

 

[amandaw]

DS(4) wanted to go to Disneyland (he's seen friends' photos), but instead we booked a cruise. DW is trying to convince me to at least hit _one_ park before the cruise, since we're already travelling from Toronto to Orlando. WDW scares me - I don't even know where to start researching. Is it worth it for just a day or two? With our kids being 3 and 5 at the time of the cruise (and one most likely still napping), which park would you recommend? I don't want to burn out the kids before we even get on the cruise. We need to book flights soon, but can't until we resolve to go to WDW or not.

Last year, we did 4 days at WDW & then 3 nights on the Dream. It was fantastic! Our DS was 3 then. If you can swing it, I would definitely do 2 or 3 days at the park first. If you do the parks before the cruise, the crowds won't be horrible. You can set whatever pace you want for y'all to have in the parks...go from open to close....or get there at open, leave in the afternoon for a rest & then dinner, etc. Will your kids nap in a stroller? Also, you could work in one character meal for them...maybe breakfast with the Fab Five at Chef Mickey's? As far as which parks to go to....definitely Magic Kingdom with little ones! If you have to choose between the other 3....I would look at the rides, shows, etc & see which ones may interest y'all most. We took our son on his 1st WDW trip when he was 2. He loves the parks, does very well. It's truly magical to them when they're that little. We'll be doing a night or two at WDW either before or after the cruise also. I just can't be that close to my happy place and NOT go. Let me know if you need any other planning advice.

 

[maggs1035]

My son was 2.5, 3.5 and 4.5 on all our disney trips for the last 3 yrs and he did great in all the parks! It depends on your child. This year we are flying out of Buffalo NY on the 9th of May and renting a house for a week near Disney and doing 6 days at Disney and 3 days at Sea World, Aquatica, and maybe Busch Gardens before we get on the ship. So I think 2 or 3 days before a 7 day cruise would be doable? Crowds are not that bad in May, but go before the cruise, because after will be Memorial day weekend. If you want planning advice go to mousesavers.com and allears.net they are pretty complete guides to the world. Not to mention all the info you can get on the DIS boards.

 

[disneymom3353]

Hi! Just booked this cruise, we are so excited! Looking forward to learning all about it. A friend of mine told me about something called a fish extender? I only know the basics. Lots to research.

 

[amandaw]

Unfortunately, we've had to move our cruise dates due to some work deadlines for my DH. So, we will no longer be on this Eastern Caribbean sailing. Hope everyone here has a fabulous time!

 

[mammacaryn]

Have fun!

 

[MTmomma]

Unfortunately, we've had to move our cruise dates due to some work deadlines for my DH. So, we will no longer be on this Eastern Caribbean sailing. Hope everyone here has a fabulous time!

Awe man! Was looking forward to cruising with you! I am sure your cruise will be amazing no matter when you take it!