My first cruise - April 10-17, 2011 on the Wonder! A pre-trip report.

[Mindyjoy]

I have 5 months to go but I decided I would start on my pre-trip report because I am just SO EXCITED about my upcoming Disney cruise, and the meet-up thread for my sailing date is, well, dormant.

We just booked the MR cruise on the Wonder leaving April 10! This will be the first cruise for both of us.

Some identifying information: “We” consists of me, Mindy, and my boyfriend Tim (both thirty-somethings). We live in Los Angeles and have been dating for five years. Growing up in Los Angeles, my family took annual trips to Disneyland and I am a life-long Disney fan. I have been a Disneyland AP holder for 12 years. BF grew up in New England and, well … is not as enthused about Disney as I am. Before we met he had never been to Disneyland and had only been to WDW once. Within a month of us dating, we went to Disneyland. As BF was buying a day pass I said to him, “If you plan on dating me for a while, you might want to invest in an annual pass.” He said, “Let me see if I like this place first.” Needless to say, when we were on our way out he upgraded to an AP! And has renewed every year ever since. I can’t say I’ve converted him to a full-blown Disney fan, but he enjoys Disneyland and enjoys Disney movies (especially Pixar). We try to go to Disneyland once a month and every year for my birthday we stay at the Grand Californian.

Shortly after BF and I started dating, I made the decision to get my college degree. I never went to college after high school because I was working part-time at a store in the local mall and they promised me a full time manager position after I graduated. I felt this was a pretty good deal since 1) mom and dad made it clear they did not have a college fund for me and 2) I really wanted to move out and move closer to Disneyland! LOL

It sounds cheesy, but after I met BF I felt like my life started falling into place. BF is an aspiring television writer and he works really hard to achieve his dreams, and he inspires me to be a better person. I knew with his support, I couldn’t fail! So for the last 4.5 years I’ve worked full time and gone to school full time. And because BF has been unemployed and doing unpredictable freelance work for the bulk of the last 5 years we have not taken a real vacation together (outside of weekend getaways and visiting his parents for the holidays). Our last vacation was in 2006 when BF’s sister got married in the Bahamas … we couldn’t afford to go but we were FORCED. HAHA! Long story short, I will be done with school in December (wooohoooo) and BF has a GREAT job on a sitcom so when his show goes on hiatus in April we will be going on our cruise!!! I feel so fortunate that everything has aligned so perfectly … thanks to BF’s job we can afford to take a nice trip for my graduation. Since this is for my graduation, BF asked me where I wanted to go. I was nervous about asking him to go on a Disney cruise, but he said, “Whatever you want, I’m sure I won’t HATE it.” So about four days ago I booked the cruise and here we are!

Now my only problem is, how am I expected to concentrate on my schoolwork for the next 39 days (yes, I’m counting down), when all I can do is think about my Disney cruise?!?!? I love reading all the trip reports and I’m excited to do my own.

Thank you for indulging me. I hope to make some new friends on the DIS boards during the journey of planning my cruise! I really want to meet some people on our same cruise so it’s not just me and BF staring at each other for seven days. Plus I know BF isn’t gonna wait in line to meet the princesses with me. And I looove the idea of fish extenders, so I hope things start to heat up in the meet thread!

 

[Hedy]

I'm in!

 

[Cheryl726]

Sounds great!

 

[Mindyjoy]

Hi, nice to meet both you! I was starting to get lonely in here ... lol


Today I stopped by AAA and picked up a booklet about the Disney cruises. It doesn't give too much information I didn't already know, but I'm having fun going "ooooh" and "aaaah" at the pretty pictures.

 

[Mindyjoy]

26 days until my last day of school, and 150 days until the cruise!

 

[Kaizen]

Today I stopped by AAA and picked up a booklet about the Disney cruises. It doesn't give too much information I didn't already know, but I'm having fun going "ooooh" and "aaaah" at the pretty pictures.

You won't be disappointed in the "real thing". It is an AMAZING experience - one you will never forget!

 

[It'sWDW4me]

I'm in! I'm planning my first ever cruise, too, but I have 92 weeks from yesterday until our sail date. I hope you have a fantastic time!! Please do keep up with your trip report as I'll be living vicariously through TR's until I get to actually experience these things for myself.

 

[Mindyjoy]

Please do keep up with your trip report as I'll be living vicariously through TR's until I get to actually experience these things for myself.

I know what you mean, I'm obsessed with Trip Reports! I really love seeing everyone's pictures from their cruises.

As for my trip, I ordered an old Passporter book off ebay that allegedly includes the Mexican Riviera info so I am anxiously awaiting that ... although I promised myself I wouldn't read it until I'm done with school ... 22 more days! BF still hasn't looked through the book from AAA. It has been sitting on his desk collecting dust. He CLEARLY is not nearly as excited as I am.

Thanks for checking in!

 

[bitocas]

hi there,i will be on the cruise next to yours,the 10 nigth mexican riviera cruise,it will be me ,dh,and dd and we came all the way from portugal to los angeles,we took the 10 nigth med cruise in sep and love it.dd wis always asking when we are going again.congrats on your graduation.

 

[mousetravel]

I'm joining in. I have about 7 months until our next mom/daughter cruise for my DD's 16th birthday. I also love reading TR's.

 

[Mindyjoy]

hi there,i will be on the cruise next to yours,the 10 nigth mexican riviera cruise,it will be me ,dh,and dd and we came all the way from portugal to los angeles,we took the 10 nigth med cruise in sep and love it.dd wis always asking when we are going again.congrats on your graduation.

Thank you for reading! I would love to do the Med trip but too pricey for us right now. I would have also loved to do the 10 night cruise but I don't have that much vacation time from work! I wish I could though, because your meet thread is a lot more active than mine .... I wish more people were on my sailing.

I'm joining in. I have about 7 months until our next mom/daughter cruise for my DD's 16th birthday. I also love reading TR's.

Thank you! I probably won't have any updates for a while but thank you for joining in, haha! I would have LOVED a vacation for my 16th birthday ... I think all I got was some clothes ... but I don't really remember since it was such a long time ago! Your DD is very lucky.

 

[Mindyjoy]

Well, no new cruise info to report but I am happy to announce that BF and I are now ENGAGED!

He proposed during the snow at Disneyland last night.

So now we will not only be celebrating my graduation on this cruise, but also our engagement!

 

[actnkidz]

Congratulations on your engagement, I just saw all of your info over on the meet up page and we will be on the same cruise as you in April. I can just imagine that it was magical to be engaged during the snowfall at
Disneyland!!

We are also AP holders. We are hoping to go see all of the Christmas decorations next week, can't wait!!

Can't wait to get a little time to read about all of the excursions and get to planning some things.

 

[Mindyjoy]

Congratulations on your engagement, I just saw all of your info over on the meet up page and we will be on the same cruise as you in April. I can just imagine that it was magical to be engaged during the snowfall at
Disneyland!!

We are also AP holders. We are hoping to go see all of the Christmas decorations next week, can't wait!!

Can't wait to get a little time to read about all of the excursions and get to planning some things.

Hello, nice to meet you, thanks for stopping by! Yes, it was every Disney fan girl's fantasy ... such a magical moment! At least from what I can remember! He went down on one knee and I blacked out, haha. He says I said "yes" but I have no memory of it.

So now I have two things to plan, a wedding and a cruise! But first I have one more week of school to get through ... aaaaaaah!

Have fun at Disney next week! On this trip I did something I'd never done before .... at 5:15pm they turn all the lights on Small World so we waited to see it. It's pretty powerful when ALL the lights come on at once. Everyone in the area goes, "OOOOOOOOOOOH"

 

[mainstreetmagic]

Wow, LOTS of congratulations are in order! For getting yourself through school , for planning your cruise , and on your engagement !!! I am on the Feb 27th MR cruise - and I am practically crawling out of my skin waiting for the time to be here!! Have you decided what excursions you will take? I am having a hard time finding something that strikes my fancy in Mazatlan...

 

[Mindyjoy]

Wow, LOTS of congratulations are in order! For getting yourself through school , for planning your cruise , and on your engagement !!! I am on the Feb 27th MR cruise - and I am practically crawling out of my skin waiting for the time to be here!! Have you decided what excursions you will take? I am having a hard time finding something that strikes my fancy in Mazatlan...

Thank you very much!!! Yes, I must say it is a very exciting time in my life. Who knew that my 30s would turn out to be so much more exciting and adventurous than my 20s

I am sooooo excited for the trip, too. I haven't booked anything yet but for Mazatlan we are looking at Randi's Happy Horses. It's not through Disney but I have read many good things about them on this board and other cruising forums. If you do a search for them on this board I'm sure you'd find a few comments about them.

http://www.randishappyhorses.com/

BF wants to do some snorkling so we may do that in Cabo. And in Puerto Vallarta I think we are going to go to Las Caletas.

Our booking date isn't until late January so we are waiting until after the holidays to decide.

What excursions are you looking into?

 

[mainstreetmagic]

I think right now we are looking at the dolphin swim in Puerto Vallarta, the Salsa and Salsa tour in Mazatlan (because nothing else looks too exciting), and there are SOOO many things to choose in Cabo...it's hard to decide! That's a good problem to have though, huh?

 

[Mindyjoy]

Yeah, I guess that means we'll have to go back!

The Dolphin swim looks cool and so does the zipline, but they are a little pricey for us. I have a wedding to save up for now!

 

[Mindyjoy]

Nothing new to report for my cruise, really, but just wanted to share that yesterday was my LAST DAY OF SCHOOL and I am officially a COLLEGE GRADUATE!

I am so happy, even happier than when my boyfriend proposed

It has been a tough road and I feel so proud, just for getting through it and not giving up. I can't wait for my graduation cruise to relax and celebrate. I wish it wasn't so far away!!!!

 

[carmie3377]

Well, no new cruise info to report but I am happy to announce that BF and I are now ENGAGED!

He proposed during the snow at Disneyland last night.

So now we will not only be celebrating my graduation on this cruise, but also our engagement!

Nothing new to report for my cruise, really, but just wanted to share that yesterday was my LAST DAY OF SCHOOL and I am officially a COLLEGE GRADUATE!

I am so happy, even happier than when my boyfriend proposed

It has been a tough road and I feel so proud, just for getting through it and not giving up. I can't wait for my graduation cruise to relax and celebrate. I wish it wasn't so far away!!!!

Congrats on both! Such awesome news!!!

I know how tough it is to work full time and go to school full time. Neither my parents nor DH's parents had a college fund for us. But like you, we didn't let that stop us. Way to go on working so hard to achieve your dream!!!

You're going to LOVE your cruise. We took our first cruise last Dec and were hooked by dinner the first night! And I'd have to say, I'm just a bit jealous (no, I'm lying, I'm real jealous ) of you being able to go to DL so often! If I lived in CA I'd be there all the time too!

I'll be in and out over the next 3 weeks and after our cruise, I can give you reports on PV and Cabo. We don't have any plans in PV except to check out the Walmart close by. Figure that might be a good place to get some cheap souvenirs!