My First TR!! 7/11-14......I'm in DVC love!

[tea pot]

Love your TR... thanks for taking us back home

 

[cogero]

love reading your report can't wait for our stay at BLT next month

 

[rksbb]

Great report!!

 

[kristie03]

Sorry for the delay....but now I'm onto our last day of this short and wonderful trip.

We wanted to make it to Magic Kingdom for the rope drop, so we were up early packing up. I'd like to mention how much I love my Owner's Locker. Having all your familiar things is fantastic and knowing everything will be there time after time is genius!

I took a few last pictures from the balcony of the amazing view, then off to MK we went! We made it just in time for rope drop....I just love catching this special time. We've yet to catch it at the other parks, but it is the best way to start the day.

Our strategy with our 1/2 day at MK was to let everyone pick their favorite ride, go on each once as a family then hit the road. We had planned to drive up to HHI where Bills parents live for a overnight visit then back up the northern VA on Thursday.

Our favorite ride tour went like this

1st - Space Mountain for Nicholas
2nd - Slash Mountain for Lindsey
3rd - Pirates of the Caribbean for Bill
4th - Space Mountain for me!

I think this was a really fun way to end our trip! As we got out of our last ride we split up and Bill took the kids over to the Toon Town railroad stop to ride the train back to the front gate while I picked up our picture in front of the castle to take home.

Ever since our honeymoon we have come home from every trip with a picture in front of the castle in the same frame. We now have quite the collection, and I'm considering if now that we have DVC and may have more frequent trips if this tradition needs a makeover....hmmm...I'll be thinking on that.

Back to the train....Nicholas and Lindsey were able to be the guest conductors!! Oh how they were thrilled, and I MISSED IT, luckily the pictures speak for themselves. Nicholas is a huge train fan, and I'm sure his "all aboard" was very excited and fun!

As we walked past the Fantasyland expansion site we thought that we would take a picture from this spot today then on our next trip take another from the same spot to do our own little tracking of the progress....here is what it looked like on 7/14 from between the carousel and the Winnie the Pooh ride.

Oh no!! Its time for us to leave MK now, we have only 3 1/2 months until we come back for Halloween, which will be our first trip with friends....we are excited for that, but always sad to leave.

As for the Dining plan wrap up, this is what I came up with:

Cost of Regular Dining Plan: $323.88
Value of food eaten on Dining Plan: $406.63
Savings: $82.75

Extra cash spent over and above Dining Plan: $150.00

Total $$ spent on food (Dining Plan + Cash): $473.88
Deluxe Dining Plan WOULD have cost: $557.88
Difference: $84 (I think we made the right dining plan decision)

Thanks for reading!! I'll be back later today to give a few memories from the Freedom of the Seas cruise that preceded our Disney trip!!

 

[kristie03]

Fingers crossed that you share you FOS portion (see my ticker )

Muushka - we had such a great time on Freedom of the Seas that I'm happy to oblige!

BTW, we have not been on a Disney cruise yet (one is planned for Nov 2011) but I would love some comparisons from people who have cruised both Royal Caribbean and Disney Cruise Line with kids. Pros and cons of each please

What to say about Freedom of the Seas except for it was a fabulous, great and relaxing week. I'm in such a Disney place right now that I actually tried to cancel this trip several times in favor of more nights at Disney, but my family was not interested in canceling.

The ship is spectacular, this was our first Freedom class cruise and in many ways it is very similar to the Voyager class ships, but with some well thought out improvements. The best one being the H2O zone for the kids. Filled with freshwater, the area has tons of water play options, including two hot tubs and a whirlpool, a real swimming pool and a whole wall that was one big waterfall, I'm not sure who had more fun my kids or my husband, but I can tell you that I really enjoyed sitting near the H2O zone with my book and getting the occasional spray of water on me just to cool down a bit!

The Royal Promenade is amazing and my personal favorite stop was Vintages the wine bar. I'm the only wine drinker in the family and I was so excited to try lots of new wines onboard. They did tastings every day and I really enjoyed the info and new wines....if you stop by tell Genevieve that Kristie says hi!

The kids program was fantastic as usual. The kids had a great time with the activities and spent most of their time there. They ditched us for dinner every night but one and we fed them in the Windjammer buffet so they could get back to "camp". Nicholas made friends with the head water in the Windjammer, Richard, and we are hoping to run into this lovely man again!

Nicholas had an opportunity to help open one of the production shows with some of the other kids from the kids program, it was fun to see him onstage. He enjoyed this a lot and so we were sure to do the backstage tour the next morning.

The food was great as usual. I'm not one to criticize so I generally like what is put in front of me, so I can't really comment on the quality of the food, but the service was great and I liked all my meals. We were seated right next to a window which was nice.

The kids as usual enjoyed cruise life overall, other than the kids program, they of course enjoyed the ice cream machine on deck. They have "Pets at Sea" on this trip (build a bear style) and all sorts of other fun to keep them occupied. I can't image how any kids cannot like a cruise vacation.

One of the highlights was the belly flop competition which Bill always likes to participate in. He took away the bronze this time!

The ports:

Coco Cay - I love the private island so much. The kids had a blast on the beach, on the waterslide and the paddle boats! This is always my favorite stop!

St Thomas - It looked more lovely than we remembered it, but we chose to stay on the ship this day. We've been there several times on other cruises and just love how the ship is quiet and empty when everyone else goes ashore..so we stayed put!

St. Maarten - My husband loves to follow yacht racing, so he always takes this chance to do the Americas Cup challenge, which is where you get to crew on a former Americas cup yacht and race another ....I've done it with him before and it was a blast, but this time he was off on his own. Later the kids and I met him and we took the water taxi and did some shopping. Next time I'm going to tour the island, I'd love to get over to the french side!!

The cruise director was fantastic, Allan Brooks, but he is soon leaving the FOS, so I'm sure the next one will be fantastic too!

Please feel free to PM me if you want any more details on the Freedom, it really was a great trip....we booked another for next summer

Thats it!! Thanks to everyone who has shared this great vacation!!!

 

[Muushka]

BTW, we have not been on a Disney cruise yet (one is planned for Nov 2011) but I would love some comparisons from people who have cruised both Royal Caribbean and Disney Cruise Line with kids. Pros and cons of each please

I will certainly let you know how the two compared. I am going to PM you, so that I remember who I need to tell! I don't usually post TR on the main board, so I will post on my normal thread and give you the link.

Vintages the wine bar. I'm the only wine drinker in the family and I was so excited to try lots of new wines onboard. They did tastings every day and I really enjoyed the info and new wines....if you stop by tell Genevieve that Kristie says hi!

I will try to remember! How much does it cost for the wine tastings? I love to try different wines.

Thank you for posting this! I appreciate it. And your family is lovely, and know how to have fun!