November 9, 2008 4 day Wonder- who's in?

[Silly Little Pixie]

Okay!! Who's in for this cruise? I know it's pretty early... but I'm excited! It's my first DCL cruise and the first one with my kids... DD will be 11, and DS will be 8.

We'll be doing the land/sea package, staying 3 days before (currently at the Caribbean Beach, but maybe we'll switch to Port Orleans) and 3 or 4 days after the cruise as well.

Christine

 

[Silly Little Pixie]

Come on, somebody else must be on this ship!!! If not, I'll be moving into the Roy Disney Suite...

 

[Silly Little Pixie]

bump

 

[Mrs.Charming]

I hope you are still checking this thread Pixie because we will be joining you on this cruise! Our ds will be 2.5 but our friends have a 10yo ds and 8yo dd. We will also be doing the land/sea package but we are flying out a day early so we will have 4 days land and 4 days sea.

This is our first Disney Cruise and ds's first trip to Disney. Dh and I are Disney vets. We even got engaged during a class at the Disney Institute! We LOVE to cruise and LOVE Disney so this trip should be perfect!!

 

[Silly Little Pixie]

I hope you are still checking this thread Pixie because we will be joining you on this cruise! Our ds will be 2.5 but our friends have a 10yo ds and 8yo dd. We will also be doing the land/sea package but we are flying out a day early so we will have 4 days land and 4 days sea.

This is our first Disney Cruise and ds's first trip to Disney. Dh and I are Disney vets. We even got engaged during a class at the Disney Institute! We LOVE to cruise and LOVE Disney so this trip should be perfect!!

Yea!!!! I'm glad someone else is here. This our first Disney cruise also!!! We are doing a land/sea package as well, staying at Port Orleans Riverside. We plan on adding on to our 4 day hoppers and turning them into 6 day hoppers- so we can come back for 3 more days post-cruise. Post cruise though we'll stay on hotel points at the Doubletree in Downtown Disney. We're excited to do a land/sea package, as it will be our kids' first cruise! Where are you staying for the land portion of your stay? How exciting for you to bring your son on his very first WDW trip. My DS was 3 on his first trip and he barely remembers anything about it. He had a blast though.

How cool that you got engaged at WDW! We stayed at the Disney Institute once- we LOVED LOVED LOVED the Treehouses, but alas now they are no longer used for Guest Rooms.

What other cruises have you been on?

 

[Mrs.Charming]

We are staying at the Polynesian. It has been one of our favorite places to stay. It'll be really nice to be so close to the Magic Kingdom since that is where I am sure we will spend a lot of our time with the toddler! Have you stayed at Port Orleans before? We stayed there on our first trip to Disney together in 1995.

This will be our 5th cruise. We went on an Eastern Caribbean cruise on Royal Caribbean for our honeymoon, we've cruised in Hawaii on Norwegian, we cruised in French Polynesia from Tahiti on Princess, and we did a short Eastern Caribbean cruise on Royal Caribbean with our ds this past April (his first cruise). Cruising is our absolute favorite type of vacation!!

Where else have you cruised?

I am such a planner I have already written up an itinerary for us as far as what park/s we will try to see each day and where I want to make dining reservations of our land portion. Have you thought about what you will do in Nassau? I think we are going to book rooms at Atlantis so we can use their facilities for the day. I am also stressing about booking Flounders Nursery for ds on our sea day so we can have some adult time. I have my calendar marked for all the days I can start booking stuff!

 

[Silly Little Pixie]

Poly! Very nice We have not stayed at Port Orleans before. I am stressing over it perhaps being long waits for buses... and I know that I get grumpy about buses hahaha. I really like the idea of staying there though, since I am originally from Louisiana, and when I was little my grandparents lived in the French Quarter. It's such a part of my childhood! And DH and my kids have never been there.

You have quite the cruise history! Wow. Which was your favorite cruise so far? DH and I just went on our first cruise, on Princess to the Mexican Riviera in November. I planned the trip for our 15th anniversary- DH wanted a trip "no kids" so I chose a cruise. Of course I got so excited I booked this one before we even left on the first one! We loved the experience and both felt like cruising was a fun way to vacation. Now I have already booked a 7 day Eastern on DCL for 11/09!! That one is a surprise for our kids... we don't plan to tell them until Christmas morning. UGH I can't believe I have to wait 11 more months to tell them! But it will be worth it, I think. They are so excited about this upcoming one!!

I should introduce us- I'm Christine, 37 and a Disney freak- DH is Stew, 37 and the uber-planner in our family. My family is all mellow and laid back- they thought he was nuts on our first WDW trip when he had every meal planned out and schedules for the day. Now I know there are lots like him! DD is Rachel, 10 almost 11. She's in 5th grade and still loves Ariel. DS is Kyle, 7 almost 8 and loves Stitch. We have APs for DL and go pretty frequently. I need my Disneyland fix!!

Are you going to do the Disney Dining Plan? Have you done it before? We're probably going to add that to our package, but I haven't decided for sure yet.

 

[Mrs.Charming]

I am Hilary (34), dh is Jason (37), and ds is Jared (almost 2).

I don't remember the busses being too much of an issue at the Port Orleans. And being able to eat beignets for breakfast makes up for any wait you might have!

Our favorite cruise has to be the French Polynesia cruise. It was an amazing destination, someplace I never thought I would ever get to see.

We never did the Disney Dining Plan before, but we are considering it for this trip. It seems like it's a good deal.

I have been surfing the main Disney Cruise board and there are such cool things that people do - like the door signs. Do you think you will make one?

 

[Silly Little Pixie]

I don't remember the busses being too much of an issue at the Port Orleans. And being able to eat beignets for breakfast makes up for any wait you might have!

Our favorite cruise has to be the French Polynesia cruise. It was an amazing destination, someplace I never thought I would ever get to see.

We never did the Disney Dining Plan before, but we are considering it for this trip. It seems like it's a good deal.

I have been surfing the main Disney Cruise board and there are such cool things that people do - like the door signs. Do you think you will make one?

Mmmmm... beignets.... those are at FQ only, right? I used to make them at home, could buy the mix at Le Bat En Rouge in DLR... which is now gone

I've planned nothing yet for the cruise... DH says he just wants to relax and enjoy the ship. I think we likely will skip Palo on this first cruise, and wait till the next year to do that. We'd like to do some sort of beach thing probably for Nassau, but I don't know what to do there. We all do love the beach. DS would like the pirate museum if we could fit that in. I DON'T want to have a rushed day there! Have you been to Nassau before? Suggestions? I do want to at least get off the ship and explore.

I definitely want to make cruise magnets! I think they look so fun! Hopefully as it gets closer to our cruise date we'll have more people join our thread, and maybe we can do something fun like that for the group.

 

[Mrs.Charming]

I have never been to Nassau before. We decided to do Atlantis because we figured being in one place with a lot to do would be easier with the toddler. If we did not have the baby with us we would probably do some exploring.

I hope we get more people to join our thread too. It will add to the fun!

Which dinner time did you pick? We went with early (again b/c of the toddler) but now I am not so sure?!?

 

[Silly Little Pixie]

We really wanted early- even 14 months out we ended up with late seating! I don't mind it, we can just see the shows early or (heaven forbid!) eat a big snack in the late p.m.... but DH hates late dinners, so I'm sure we'll try to get it changed. Currently we are "waitlisted" for 1st seating. I need to have the TA call and check to see if we can be moved up. If not, I have read that you can often get it moved to early if you go as soon as you board and request it. Doesn't matter to me , but I want a happy DH! Plus, DS tends not to eat well at dinner if we feed him past 7.

DD and I, well, we two can eat whenever, wherever!

Are you reserving a room at Atlantis? Or Comfort Suites?
Christine

 

[Mrs.Charming]

Atlantis at this point the price was not that much less at the Comfort Suites!!

 

[Mrs.Charming]

BTW - Where in SoCal do you live. We spent 2.5 years living in Westlake Village (Thousand Oaks) and LOVED IT!! We miss it so much. Especially now when it is so cold here.

We also miss having our Disneyland annual pass

 

[neonurse]

Hello Ladies!!! We just booked our trip today and couldn't wait to come and say hi. I have been on disboards alot in the last couple of years. I have been to disney every year the last 3 years but I have never been on a disney cruise. We are doing a land and sea and land again trip. Can't wait. I will be travelling with my family as well as my 2 sisters and their families and my mom. 7 adults and 8 kids ranging from 6 months to 16 years. I did all the booking today all by myself. I am so proud of myself. We realized we new more about the dcl than the travel agent we were dealing when she was trying to tell us that rooms she picked were connecting...when they weren't...confirmed this with disney. So my mom gave me a push to do it myself for our whole group. I was a nervous wreck but it is done. Cat. 5 midship, 4 rooms in a row with 2 connecting...Yahoo!!!!
Now I am trying to learn all there is to learn from disboards cruise section.

Has anyone else read about the fish hangers?? Are they worth the trouble to make them??

 

[Silly Little Pixie]

Welcome neonurse! Congratulations on booking ALL those rooms! This will be our first Disney cruise as well. Have any of your family been on the Disney Cruise before? Did you book your land/sea package through Disney or did you do all that independently as well? I 've read about the fish extenders and think they would be fun to make, if we can get enough people going. I can sew very basic things (things in a straight line!) so I think I could attempt one.

Can't wait to hear more about you!

 

[Silly Little Pixie]

BTW - Where in SoCal do you live. We spent 2.5 years living in Westlake Village (Thousand Oaks) and LOVED IT!! We miss it so much. Especially now when it is so cold here.

We also miss having our Disneyland annual pass

We live in Devore. Small rural town just below the Cajon Pass (on the 15 on the way to Vegas), west of San Bernardino, north of Fontana. When you see fires and mudslides on the news, that's usually us! We're about 55 minutes door to door to DL.

Can't beat Southern Cal's weather. What made you move? Where do you live now?
Christine

 

[Mrs.Charming]

Welcome Neo!! It's going to be so much fun having such a big family group on the cruise. It soulds like you will have built in babysitters too! I can imaging that booking was confusing. I find that I usually know more than the travel agents when it comes to Disney too. Where are you staying on land?

I also like the idea of the fish extenders and think I could make one. I agree that it'll be more fun if we have a large group. We should look at what some of the groups that have experienced DisCruisers are doing and use that as an example.

Christine - we now live in eastern PA. We are originally from NJ and my dh was transferred to CA for work. We came back when we decided to have kids so we could be closer to family. I wish I could have convinced my friends and family to move out to CA! We were about 65 min from DL when we lived there.

 

[neonurse]

Hilary & Christine,
I am 41 yo and live in ontario, canada. I am married with 2 ds's 12& 8. I am a neonatal icu nurse (called NICU in the states). My name is Colleen. So looking forward to our trip. My mom is paying for all of us to do a disney cruise and we are paying the rest. She said this is something that she has always wanted to do with her grandchildren. Should be tons of fun.

I love planning a disney vacation. Its an addiction for me!!! I think we are going to stay off site before the cruise. Since my mom will be with us we would need to book an extra room for 5 people. It just makes more sense $$ wise to say at a condo. A couple of years ago we stayed at windsor hills resort in kissimmee. It was beautiful. Hard to pass that up for $100 a night for a 3 bed, 2 bath, full kitchen, washer and dryer. I love having all the space. We were thinking of staying in disney but the idea of being trapped without a car and not being able to go out and get some other food scares me. I love being able to come and go. I am one of the few people who doesn't care for disney food.

I don't know how many days we will go to the parks. I have one day non-expiry left. So I am not sure if we will do more since we were just there last nov and did it big. Spent 7 days at the parks. Might want to take it a little slower this time. I am currently trying to find somewhere for us to go after the cruise on the gulf coast for 4 or so days. Last year we spent 3 days at treasure island on the ocean. It was great and very relaxing after a very busy trip.

How do you get from the disney hotels to the the port?? Is there a bus?? Is it the same bus from MCO that is $69/person?? My sisters are looking for other ways to get to the port. I know that you can use FL tours and get a van, car or limo to the port for much less. Just curious on your thoughts.

Talk to you both later. I will be MIA for 4 days. I work 4-12h night shifts and don't have time to go on disboards during those days since I have 40 min commute to and from...so basically I sleep and work for 4 days

Looking forward to getting to know you both better.
Colleen

 

[marcybk]

Hi All,
I'm one of Neo Nurse's (Colleen's) sisters that will be going on the trip with her. Colleen is the master planner in our family. I just go along for the ride.

I have 2 DD's who will be aged 6 and 3 at the time of the trip. I'm so exicted about the trip but haven't told the kids yet. Can't imagine 9 more months of "Is it time yet?". I think I'll wait until September!

It's great to have a chance to "meet" some of the people who'll be on the trip ahead of time!

Marcy

 

[Mrs.Charming]

Welcome Marcy! It is nice that this thread is getting active

Coleen - we have transfers included with our land/sea package so I can't help you with getting to the port.

How nice that your Mom is taking you all on the cruise!! My Bro & SIL just had their first dd and I keep telling our mom that she needs to think about taking us on our first family trip.