Mickeystoontown's Gang hits the Bahamas & WDW! Who gets choked or stuck this time?

[JanaJohn]

Several weeks ago, I did online check-in for our cruise on the Disney Dream! I was ten days late in doing so and, as a result of my ignorance, the first time slot available was the 11:30 to Noon slot. Hey, this is our first cruise so cut me some slack.

Based on my limited experience most folks want to get on board early so they can start grazing at the ships buffet line. I've never been on a cruise where you got to schedule what time you wanted to board. So far you just show up sometime after they start boarding and get in line. I haven't run into a line of more than 4-5 people yet. I'll be boarding a cruise ship this Saturday for a Caribbean cruise and probably won't board until sometime after the noon hour.

I'm hoping to be on the road and on our way to Port Canaveral by around 10:00 a.m. which means, Mr. John Drags His Butt Getting Ready In The Morning, will have us on the road by 10:15 or 10:30.

This John is the exact opposite. I get up early each morning and have done so since I was a kid. Dad NEVER let us sleep in and the US Navy wasn't into letting you sleep late either. I'm retired now and still consistently get up around 5am.

Before you drive to Cape Canaveral you might take a look at Google Earth to get an aerial view of where you're driving to. You should be able to see which roads to take at the port and where the parking lot is located.

Why 'cause I ain't never been on no great big boat!

I believe it is more proper to call it a ship, A general rule of thumb is a boat can fit into or can be carried by a ship but not vice versa. And the Dream ain't about to fit onto any other vessel I can think of!

 

[cinderella crazy]

I can't wait to see the pictures you take of that boat and I'm sure it will be many pictures!

 

[jenseib]

Lisa the ride to the port isn't that long...maybe an hour. Are you taking the 528? Don't forget to bring along quarters for the tollls each way.

Lisa, check this out for parking. A bit cheaper than port parking and they have a shuttle.

http://parkcruise.com/

 

[jenseib]

I believe it is more proper to call it a ship, A general rule of thumb is a boat can fit into or can be carried by a ship but not vice versa. And the Dream ain't about to fit onto any other vessel I can think of!

But the Magic might actually fit into the Dream.

 

[Kathy Jetson]

What a great way to celebrate your 15th birthday. Way to go Hunter!

I think you have the perfect time to board. That way you can enjoy a little of POR before you leave and still be on the big boat early. The riverboat is the biggest boat we have been on too.

That would make a good reality show Country comes to Town!

 

[jusero]

How about Mr. Can Fall Asleep Anywhere at Anytime? Or, how about Mr. Always Has the Phone in His Ear?

 

[wakica]

aaaaahhhh, the cruise!! I'm jealous especially since we were supposed to do a cruise this trip but that plan changed.

We went to Cocoa Beach too on our last trip and i remembered about an hour or just over. Keep in mind that google map overpredicts. Maybe they make time for unforseen things like red lights?? toll booths?? i'm not too sure but we've found that they are always a little over in their time estimates. Better to plan for a later arriveal anyway though.

 

[Stringbean&Wingnut]

Sounds like Hunter is going to have a great 15th birthday day!!! Cruise ships are incredibly massive, even if you have seen them before, at least I still stand there looking at them in awe. They really are like floating cities!

 

[TinksThree]

I can't think of a better way to celebrate Hunter's birthday! I remember the first time I got on a cruise ship it was much like I imagine your family's first view will be!

I think it is fine to be a picture taking fool! And POR is the perfect location to snap away!! so many photo ops!!

 

[Elleshoodat]

LOL, your boat comparisons are perfect!

I, too, have no problem following any signs that say "Disney." What does that say about us? Maybe we belong on the seventh floor of your local hospital...

 

[Jonesloonybin]

Love the boat/ship comparisons!! The first time I had seen a cruise ship, I just stood there with my mouth open! They are HUGE!! I have never been on one though.

Love the "Country comes to town" I can also see a reality show in the making!

I could not believe the parking prices for the cruise!

Take lots of pictures!!!

 

[Bridora]

I'm hoping we will bump into each other too! We'll be the other family talking about how big the boat is!

I think you'll love Port Orleans! And if you don't - at least you'll have Caribbean Beach to go back to. I enjoyed staying at POR; it has its own feel - love how Disney creates different worlds!

 

[jenseib]

Another thought too for parking fees at the port. I think it's $20 a day, but I do believe they charge your for disembarking day as well, so it would be $80.

 

[MissLiz]

Your update reminds me of DH and I the other day in the back yard. We were clearing out an area to have playground stuff installed and he kept bringing over sticks to burn saying "That's not a stick. THAT'S a stick!" like Crocodile Dundee.

Your pictures of the little boats compared to the ship made me giggle because I could totally hear somebody saying that.

 

[natebenma]

Great update! Like everyone else, I love the bigger and bigger boats you posted. Like Chief Brody says in Jaws "We're gonna need a bigger boat!"

I can't wait to read all about your cruise. What a fantastic thing to be doing on Hunter's BD!

 

[racefanof88]

I love you boat descriptions...............

BUT


I got you beat!!

I have been on this one!

Granted it never left the dock, but I have been on it..............

 

[francis6306]

I love you boat descriptions...............

BUT


I got you beat!!

I have been on this one!

Granted it never left the dock, but I have been on it..............

OOOH!!!! Is this the one in Mobile? I've been on this too!

 

[RinkyTinkyTinky]

Well I didn't have time to read the other comments so this may be old info by now...

Remember that you have to pay parking for every day that your car is there, even the day you leave at the crack of dawn!

The ride to the port is only an hour, so don't fret over that. And it is soooooo easy to find out where to go. There are signs everywhere and it was much easier than I expected. You will need to pull up to the curb, drop your bags with a porter and then park your car in the garage. People normally tip the bag guy too.

Also, I have read that they don't enforce the arrival times. I can't say if that is true or not though, but I have read of lots of people arriving before their appointed time and having no problem being allowed in. I know they never asked us what our arrival time was so it may be true.

And I'm going to tell you again... don't forget the quarters!!!! Bills won't work!

Oh, and we won't be using the garage next time. They have a park n' cruise thing where you can park your car and they will shuttle you to the port. It was $6 a day when we checked into it last year. Much cheaper than parking at the port.

Just a note... there is no food or drink available in the port, so if you think you'll need a snack or drink while you wait, bring it with you.

 

[Angies1274]

Love your boat comparisons!!!

Ooohhh....I can't wait to see and hear all about your cruise! We are hoping to do one in a couple years. I've already been researching every thing I can. Hopefully by the time we go, I'll be all prepared.

What a wonderful way for Hunter to celebrate his 15th birthday!!!

 

[mickeystoontown]

The Disney Dream gives a warm welcome to the Redneck family! Oops, I mean, the McBride Family!

Well, the Dis is acting up on me something fierce today and I can’t post replies. I’m going to try and see if I can post an installment/update and it not end up over on the Rumors or Transportation or Theme Park Forum. Hey, it could happen. I’ve seen some mighty crazy posts on the Dis today....posts with name calling when discussing something on the national news on a “Can I Add Another Person to My Package” thread....picture of the day posts on the “Official Disney Cake” thread....I’m telling you, it’s a crazy day on the Disboards! Pictures are also showing up weird on the Dis or they aren't even there at all...just the link. I’m going to take a leap of faith here and give it a try. I’m gonna forewarn you, this is going to be a wordy post so grab a Coke and some chips and have a sit down while I tell ya’ll how this cruise came about.

When I booked the cruise, it was, basically, on a whim. I already had a Disney vacation package booked and we were staying at the Caribbean Beach Resort for 11 glorious days. I had all of our park days planned out. I had our dinner ADRs made. I had our ‘down” days worked into the schedule. Everything was all set.

Then, I got a newsletter email from either Disney, Allearsnet, the Dis or possibly PassPorter and it had an article in it about the Disney Cruise Line, specifically, the Disney Dream. I clicked on the handy dandy link provided and I was directed straight to the Disney Cruise Line site. How convenient huh. I figured, heck, while I’m on the site, I might as well price out a cruise. Click, click, clickedy click and up popped a price. Hum, that’s not such a bad price. Wonder if we’d like a cruise? Probably not, John’s not one for trying something new. Remember, one of his titles is Mr. Stuck In A Rut. Still, the price was pretty tempting. I figured I’d bring up the subject during our daily lunch time telephone chats.

That chat went a little something like this;

John: “Hey Sweetie britches!” (He may be Mr. Stuck In A Rut or Mr. Drags His Butt In The Morning but he’s also Mr. Turn On The Charm when he wants to be. )

Me: “Hey, what cha doing?”

John: “Eating my vienna sausages.” (He loves those stinky things.) “What are you doing?”

Me: “About to eat my sandwich. Hey, do you think you’d like to go to the Bahamas?”

John: “Yeah, I guess. But what about Disney? We always go to Disney.”

Me: “We could do both. We could go to Disney and to the Bahamas if we took a Disney cruise.”

John: “I don’t know. Remember that story on the news about those pirates who took over that ship and lots of people got killed? I don’t want to get killed. And remember that story about that person who fell overboard and was never found? I don’t want to fall overboard and get eaten by sharks or something.”

Me: “That was somewhere over in another country silly and it wasn’t a cruise ship. It was some other kind of ship. And that person didn’t fall overboard, they were nutso and they jumped overboard. We wouldn’t be going on some other kind of ship and we aren’t nutso so we wouldn’t be jumping overboard.”

John: “I don’t know. I don't like pirates and we are pretty nutso. I’ll have to think about it over my vienna sausages.”

Me: “Well, okay. I guess I’ll let you go so you can think about it and I can eat my sandwich. Love ya!”

John: “Love ya too sweetie britches!” (Ahhhh....where did I find this sweet talking guy? )

While John may hold many titles, I hold a few of my own and this time Mrs. I Can’t Leave Well Enough Alone couldn’t, well, leave well enough alone. So I continued to tap tap tap on the keys and play around on the Disney Cruise Line site and the more I did, the more interested I became in going on a cruise. The only problem was the cruises left on a Thursday and returned on a Sunday. That meant our time in Walt Disney World would be cut back by a few days. I wasn’t sure if we’d like that. I took notes anyway and figured I’d bring it up again that night.

Mrs. Can’t Hold It In Any Longer approached the cruise subject again after dinner and John, full belly, sittin’ on the couch waiting on Swamp People to come on, was open for the discussion. I told him all about how a cruise would effect our Disney plans, when we would get on the cruise ship, where the ship would be going, etc. I also reminded him that there were no pirate threats and I promised if he had even one iota of a nutso look on his face during the cruise, I’d hogtie him and immediately haul him to the ship’s doctor for a psychiatric evaluation. “Well, then, I guess you can go ahead and book it.” And book it I did! But, not without some problems.

I had saved three different kind of rooms on the Disney Cruise Line site and when I went to book, it said that none of them were available. What? Where the heck did they go? It’s months and months away and there are no more inside standard rooms in either category that I looked at? There’s no room with a navigator’s balcony either? Maybe it was a glitch in the system. After trying for an hour or so, I decided to give up for the night and try again the next morning. If I couldn’t book it the next day, the cruise wasn’t meant to be.

As soon as I had things at the office up and running, I went to the Disney Cruise Line site and looked at my saved cruises. I clicked on the cheapest one and, oh my gosh, it was available! I filled in all the required information, clicked on “confirm” and a message came up that said the room wasn’t available. Huh? It was available 2 minutes ago! I tried again and received an error message. I wasn’t sure if the room had actually booked or not so I called them. Not only did the booking not go through but there were no rooms available except for ones that were out of my price range. The castmember did say to keep trying because something may magically become available.

Great, just as I was telling myself “it just wasn’t meant to be” and to stop looking, she has to go and say something like that. So, the insane going back and forth on the Disney Cruise Line site continued for about 2 hours and then, just as the castmember said, an standard inside room with a virtual porthole magically appeared. I betcha I had the guest information plugged in on the next page in record setting time. My fingers were flying over the keys! Click on Confirm and we had a room!

Oh but there was a problem. A pretty big one. Mama was supposed to go to Disney with us. In all of that messing around with the cruise line site, I had almost forgotten about Mama. Notice I said almost forgotten. For several weeks, Mama had been pondering the idea of canceling the trip. She was afraid that she wouldn’t be able to get around and keep up with us and there was also the issue of money. Mama’s on a pretty limited income and any money that she takes out of her savings is not going to be replenished ‘cause she lives on what she has coming in. There’s not really any to put back in savings. I’m not saying that my Mama is poor but she watches what she spends just in case she should become unable to care for herself. She wants us girls to have access to her money to care for her. (Like I wouldn’t care for her without her money. Crazy woman!)

I talked with Mama that evening and asked if she would be interested in going on the cruise with us and then going on to Disney afterward. She said that she really didn’t care about the cruise, that she had really been thinking about canceling anyway and for us to do whatever we wanted to do. She wouldn't be upset with us at all. At the time, I kinda felt like I was forcing her to cancel the trip because she didn’t want to go on the cruise. But, after giving it some thought, this probably gave her an even better excuse to cancel. So, Mama canceled and we moved forward with our plans.

Over the next few weeks, I went back and forth on the cruise line website sucking up as much information as I could since, as I said before, I don’t know nothin’ about no cruise ships. One day, I looked at our reservation and I noticed the small blue word “modify”. Have ya’ll ever watched the movie Dennis The Menace? There’s one scene where Dennis goes to visit Mr. Wilson but he’s sleeping. Dennis goes into Mr. Wilson’s bathroom to leave him a note and he notices Mr. Wilson’s false teeth lying there. Dennis wants so badly to pick up those teeth and he’s trying his best to hold back the urge. He’s wringing his hands and squenching his face. Well, that’s how I looked when I saw the bluest of blue word “modify”. What does that mean? I know what modify means but what would happen if I clicked on it? The itchy tingling feeling was so bad and my pointy finger hovered over the keyboard and the urge overcame me and I did it. I punched a button.

Up popped a screen and I saw all sorts of other rooms available. And, they were in our price range too! For just a few dollars (okay, so it was about $50 or so), I could upgrade from a standard inside stateroom to this:

That is a deluxe inside stateroom. I know. It doesn’t look any different from the one that I initially booked does it? Well actually it is. To the tune of extra square footage that is. The standard inside staterooms are 169 square feet and a deluxe inside stateroom is 204. Not a lot of difference but when you’ve got two adults and a teenager who is getting on up there in height, I was sure that the extra space would come in handy. A few more punching of the buttons and I had our room category modified. I was as happy as a big fat pig lying in a pile full of mud.

Just in case we changed our mind about the cruise, I had kept our Disney vacation package intact until I knew for sure we were set on the cruise. Being since it had been about three weeks to a month since I booked the cruise, I figured it was time to make the call. I called Disney Travel and modified our vacation package dates and then modified our ADRs (with the exception of the one that I accidentally kept and about which I have already confessed).

Speaking of modify, I guess now’s the time to tell ya’ll about another modification I made. Mrs. Dennis The Menace saw that darned blue “modify” button again and, once again, hit it and what before my wondering eyes should appear? A deluxe family stateroom. Could I keep my itchy trigger finger under control? Well what do you think? Duh....no! Click, click, tap, tap and we were now booked in a deluxe family stateroom with a real porthole and I was out a total of less than $150 more than our initial booking.

Check out the size of that porthole would ya! That sucker is big! Just call me Weezie Jefferson ‘cause I was moving on up!

Okay, so ‘nuff explanation of how the cruise portion of the trip came about. Let’s get back to where I left off on the last installment. Once we’ve closed our mouths and stopped gaping at the Disney Dream, we’ll head on into the terminal and do what we gotta do which, by the way, I’ve got to do more research on. I need to go back to some of those cruise trip reports (thinking Jen’s and Rinky’s) and read what we are supposed to do once we get to the terminal.

I’ve read about and seen videos of the castmembers asking you your family’s name and then they make the grand announcement welcoming you onboard. I can just see the castmember looking at us and then saying "The Disney Dream gives a warm welcome to the Redneck family! Oops, I mean, the McBride Family!" Lord I sure hope that doesn’t happen because, despite the fact that we really are pretty rednecky, I don’t want to come across that way when I board the cruise. I wanna look just like Rose did when she boarded the Titanic....all elegant and sophisticated. Ooops, maybe that’s not such a good reference.

I’m sure I’ll have to restrain myself from pushing everybody outta my way and yelling “coming through” so I can finally board the Dream and start snapping pictures of the beauty that will surround us:

In all seriousness, we all are excited about boarding the Disney Dream and seeing it’s beauty for the first time. Everybody says that the pictures do not do it justice. I’m sure, though, that I’ll take hundreds of pictures anyway.

There’s a lot more research I need to do about the who, what, when, and wheres once we board. I know that we’ll want to get something to eat for lunch and that we will have to do the safety drill. Other than that, I have no clue. If I don’t do more research, I’m sure we’ll be running around looking like chickens with our heads cut off. If any of you have any hints, comments or suggestions, please feel free to post them.

**Up next: We're in Nassua! What shall we see and sea?