October 14, 2007 - 10/14/2007 Wonder

[iankh]

Well, less than 1 year to go. I thought I'd start a thread for this 4-night cruise. Anyone else going????

 

[lbcrosby]

Yes we will be there as well. We are actually doing the Seven day land and sea but ending with the cruise for four days. My husband thought I was crazy to have planned things so far in advance but when the prices started going up I think he understood. There will be three of us (me, my DH and our DS who will be 8) plus a friend in another cabin. The friend will help us balance out when we are doing the rides at Disney World. Which basically means they will hang out at the pool and the men type rides while our DS and I will find every kid type place imaginable and take in the full magical experience. We are curious to see how Disney Cruise Line compares to Princess which we have done before.

 

[iankh]

I just got back from a 4-night with 8 nights in WDW afterwards. It was fantastic!

Although I had already booked the October 14th trip before we left, I booked again onboard to take advantage of the special offer. I was able to get the 10% discount plus a $100 credit per stateroom.

There will be 5 of us, and we're going to do the 8 nights again in WDW afterwards, again!

 

[lbcrosby]

Eight days . . . Wow! That would be awesome. We are already taking our DS out of school for five days and that is with utilizing three days when the school is out for conferences so it is not as bad. We most likely will be flying in the Wednesday before the cruise and spending until Sunday at Disney World. We know there is no way possible to see all of it even probably with the eight days you will be having. Our DS and I have begun figuring out what he wants to do. Once they have the new informational DVD available for 2007 from Disney World we will most likely get that and the books so we can narrow it down. We will start with Disney and then after the cruise we will most likely do Kennedy and Sea World.

So what were your favorite things you did at Disney World? What are the ages of your group.

 

[iankh]

There will be only 1 child in the group, our grandson, who will be 7 years old at the time of the cruise.

We've been to WDW many, many, many times and we own an interests in the Disney Vacation Club (DVC) which is a Disney timeshare.

Our trips tend to be less commando in nature and more leisurely these days.

Have you been to WDW before?

It's hard to pinpoint our absolute favorites, let see, some "must dos" in my oppinion are:

- Space Mountain
- Splash Mountain
- Big Thunder Mountain
- Pirates of the Caribbean
- Haunted Mansion
- Mickey's Philharmagic
- Test Track
- Spaceship Earth
- Expedition Everest
- Kali River Rapids (you will get wet)
- Tough to be a Bug
- Rockin Roller Coaster
- Tower of Terror
- Motor Stunt Show
- Muppetvision 3-D

 

[lbcrosby]

Yes, I have been to WDW twice but it was some time ago. My DH actually had a business trip there several years ago (without family in tow) but our DS has never been there. We were going to go when he was 7 but told him that if we went when he was 8 then he would be in the older age group on the Disney Cruise. Which means that our DS and your grandson will most likely be in different rooms.

I will keep your must dos in mind. I know the test track is definitely on my husband's must dos.

We are most likely going to come in a day earlier then our package and stay in the concierge level at Animal Kingdom so we can do the Sunrise Safari but we still have to work out the details. That would allow us a day of relaxing at the pool before we jump in to Disney World the next day. Also, we would get three full days at Disney World instead of two and a half. I was told you get a 7 day pass but we want to save the remaining time for another visit instead of again wasting a half day.

I am so excited about the trip but my DH thinks I am crazy. I guess I like to overplan.

 

[iankh]

You'll love Animal Kingdom Lodge. One of our favorite restaurants is there Boma.

It is probably easier for me to rattle off my list of favorite restaurants rather than attractions. I think that's why our trips are long, so we can eat our way through the world!

We have a shorter trip coming up in May and I'm busy planning where we'll eat!

 

[lbcrosby]

Trying to make a decision of where to eat seems to be quite a large one. I could see why you would need extra days just to make sure you hit everything. We only have a short amount of time to fit in all that wonderful food. I have started trying to decide where to go for meals and so far the only things I know for certain is trying to get breakfast at Cinderella's Castle and Ohana breakfast at the Poly (my son loves Lilo and Stitch). We want to go to the Halloween Party one night and the Haunted hayride another. Most likely we will go to either the BBQ or the Hoop Dee Doo prior to the hayride as they are in the same vicinity. In seeing everyone's reviews it appears that it comes down to preference and opinion which means everyones is completely different.

 

[iankh]

Not too sure about the breakfast at Cinderella's Castle. I've heard very mixed things about it. Usually, it is more of a mother and daughter thing.

I have done the breakfasts at GF (1900 Park Fare) CR (Chef Mickey) and BC (Cape May). I myself perfer either 1900 Park Fare or Cape May because it is a tolerable noise level and more layed back, with Cape May probably being the nicest and calmest (in my opinion).

Are you planning on doing the dining plan? We did it on this last trip and it really saved us a lot of money, though we ate more than we would have done otherwise.

We did the hoop de doo revue some years ago. As you said, it really all comes down to taste. If you are at MK, you might want to look at popping over to WL Whispering Canyon for Lunch. Kids really seem to love it and have a blast. It could also be a nice relaxing break away from the park.

We will definitely be doing Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween party. I'm also going to be looking into what other trick or treating opportunities there might be.

He doesn't know about the cruise or the trip to WDW. His parents aren't going to tell him until they get on the plane.

 

[lbcrosby]

For some reason I am not getting notified when responses are made to this thread. I guess I need to check into that.

I think the idea of eating in the castle is probably the main reason our DS would enjoy the Cinderella Castle breakfast.

Since we are doing the cruise package (3 days at Disney, 4 on the boat) I was told we cannot do the dining plan which I thought was awesome. What I appreciate is knowing how much money you are going to spend and be able to budget. Unfortunately, that doesn't work when you pay for every meal. That is kind of why I am scoping out the different Character meals, etc. so you have an idea of how much you are going to spend. We also are staying in the Concierge level for both the Animal Kingdom and the Poly. Not so much for the food but for knowing it is available for snacking if we need to. Also, I figured my husband might appreciate finding an area that it might be quiet without tons of people. He does not like crowds.

I would love to pull off a surprise but I get so excited and since my husband just goes with the flow I need to have my son to get excited with me. I might hold out on telling him abut some of the character breakfasts but we will see. My parents did a trip to Disland Land (after I was grown and out of the house) for my younger sisters as a surpise, even getting on a plane, etc. and they loved the surprise.

It looks like they will have trick-or-treating at the Halloween Party so we are excited. We will most likely have pirate type costumes since they have a theme night on the ship and that way we can get a few uses out of those costumes.

I wonder how many other people are going to be coming in October? Is it less crowded then? That is kind of why we chose this time.

Thanks for letting me pick your brain

I just noticed it is exactly nine months from today!!!! Yeah!!

 

[iankh]

I usally budgeted between $30 and $40 a day for meals. It can vary depending on whether you do sit-down for dinner or counter-service.

We typically don't do sit down for breakfast, except 1 character breakfast during a trip.

Have you looked at some of the menus you can find here on http://www.wdwinfo.com/wdwinfo/dining/diningmain.cfm#disneydining or http://www.allearsnet.com/din/dining.htm? They can be a huge help when trying to plan out reservations.

I always try to plan around what park I think we will be in that day or evening, though I typically only make reservations for dinner.

The dining plan has caused a big change from the way it used to be and now, you really must make reservations, when I was just there I saw lots of people being turned away. It used to be no problem to just walk in and get a table after a little wait.

You're going to be in WDW before us, right? Your DS will have a great time. My DDIL is now starting to get excited. This is the first time in 20 years I've seen her get excited about anything!

I can see wanting to find some quiet places for your DH. October is a really great time of year to be going. It is not as crowded as it can be other times of the year, not as hot as the summer, but still warm enough.

We chose October because that is when there is a school break in the UK which is where DDIL, DDSIL and grandson live, so we had to work around the UK school schedule.

I'm excited that we'll be able to go trick or treating and am looking forward to surprising them with the tickets to MNSHP.

I also hope they have special events on the ship.

What kind of cabin did you book? We were lucky enough to get two adjoining secret porthole cabins.

We had a cat 11 in this past December, and I would have been perfectly happy with that again, but this time, I thought for our family they would need at least a cat 10 for the split bathroom. The secret porthole rooms were quite a surprise. I was fortunate that my TA was able to grab them.

I am sure that we will see more people join this thread over time. After all, the ship does hold a couple of thousand people. There has to be someone else on it other than the 8 of us, or we're going to have one great time with the Wonder to ourselves!

 

[lbcrosby]

Is that $30 - $40 per person per day? It has been years since I have been there and I am sure the prices have gone up.

I will start exploring the menus so thanks for the links. I was informed that most of the character meals you have to book a long ways in advance so I have a few months to prepare for that.

Have you ever staying in the Concierge? We know it is not worth it money wise for what you get but we probably will only do this big trip once. We might catch a small one another time.

We are arriving in WDW on Wednesday the 10th and then we get on the boat on the 14th. Not a lot of time but from what I remembered when I went you couldn't do the whole place even if you stayed a week and that was before there were so many additional parks.

That is the same reason we picked October. Our DS has Thursday, Friday and Monday off due to teacher conferences. We still will have to take him out for five days but since the cost was about half the price as going on a break or in the summer we thought it would be worth it. Also, he will only be 8. If he was in high school we would have thought otherwise. I am sure that there will be a lot of people that would give us grief but you are only young once.

I will probably keep that event at WDW a surprise for our DS as well. I hope they have something as well on board but most likely we are too far away from Halloween. We will see though.

We have a category 6 balcony. We took an Alaskan Cruise a few years ago and loved having a balcony. Just so we can have a little outside space. Our friend most likely will have a category 11 across the hallway. He will be by himself so it will be quite costly for him. That is neat you were able to get the secret porthole rooms. My son was actually complaining that we were getting a balcony because he wanted a porthole so he would be jealous to see you actually get the secret ones? He would have no clue what that means but just the idea that it has secret and porthole in the same sentence he would think is cool.

Wouldn't that be a blast if we were by ourselves. Just think how much spoiling we would have.

 

[iankh]

Three days is a bit short for WDW, now more than ever because of the 4 parks. Were you planning to hit all 4 during that time or just focus on one or two?

I think that it would be about $40 a day per person, but do recommend you look at the menus, you could spend less or more depending on what and where you like to eat.

Regarding the character breakfast, were you going to try to book the princess breakfast at the castle? If you do, I recommend you start trying to do that right at the 6 month mark as soon as you can. I understand that Cindy's breakfast is VERY hard to get.

I'm probably going to book Chef Mickey's for GS. WDW doesn't seem to have much focus on little boys. It seems to focus on girls with the whole princess thing. There were rumors that there was going to be a character breakfast at MGM focused more on little boys with Buzz Lightyear called "Breakfast and Beyond," but that never matrialized.

We've never stayed on the concierge level, not at least when were paying cash. I've heard great things about it. Now we strictly stay in DVC.

It would be great to have a veranda. I was tempted to upgrade at the port for our last cruise but opted to keep our inside cabin. I'm really pleased that I was able to nab the secret porthole rooms, a port hole is a port hole, even if it is obstructed.

GS knows nothing about the trip and won't learn where they're going until they get on the plane. I understand my DDIL on this completely, if she told him, she would be hearing about it non-stop for the next 9 months!

 

[lbcrosby]

Yes, we do realize three days is a bit short but basically my DH and I wanted to take a Disney Cruise but promised our DS we would go to Disney World as well so we will just touch a few of the parks. I understand you get a full seven day package but we want to only use three days now. I think we can pay the extra and make the remaining four days last indefinately and that way we will return for another four days another time. We didn't want to use up two full days by just going to the parks for a few hours on the day we arrive and the day we leave. Our DS and I will scope out the parks and decide what few rides he wants to see before we get there. We have ordered their new video which hopefully will help.

Yes we will try for Cinderella's Castle and yes, I do realize you need to call early and hope for the best. My son will be excited no matter which character breakfast we do and I won't get his hopes up one way or the other. I heard mention of the Toy Story breakfast and I, along with all the other parents who have only boys, was quite disappointed. They do focus on the girls more and I think that is why you need to take boys there when they are younger so they can still enjoy the magic. I think I heard that you can still see the Toy Story Characters and also the Power Rangers somewhere at the parks so we most definitely have to find them. I think it is MGM.

What is Chef Mickeys?

One thing I have learned about cruises of today is just getting on the boat in any type of cabin you still get to participate in everything. If we ever do Disney again we most likely will get a smaller cabin so we can spend more money on the activities. This was the splurge vacation. My DH and I were on the largest cabin on the ship on our honeymoon (mind you it was on Carnival so it wasn't that outrageous compared to like the largest cabin on the Wonder) and we were at a table that had people in all different levels on the ship. Which I thought was great. No classes . . . that way everyone felt important and spoiled.

I know my DH is getting sick of hearing me talk about it all the time. However, I am a planner so every vacation we take I plan a long way out so hopefully there are not too many surprises.

Hope you had a nice weekend.

 

[iankh]

Chef Mickey's is the buffet restaurant at the Contemporary. They do a character breakfast and dinner and both are great. It features Mickey, Minnie, Goofy and I think Chip and Dale.

I think you're right, how can a kid not have a great time no matter what you do?

It seemed to me on the ship that there was much more "quality" time with the characters. Once morning I went to get coffee on deck 9 and there was Goofy, playing ping pong with a boy. No crowds, no rushing, just Goofy playing ping pong. That was great, and I'm sure it made the cruise for the boy.

It seemed to me there were more things for boys at MGM. While I was there I saw the Power Rangers, toy soldiers from Toy Story, just more boy stuff. Though having said that, there is now Woody's Cowboy Camp in Frontierland in MK, an audience participation street show, and the pirate lessons in front of Pirates of the Caribbean with Captan Jack Sparrow.

I'm still trying to nail down many aspects of our trip. I'm not sure if the family is flying from England to MCO or will be coming to Chicago first and we'll all fly down together. I'm also trying to figure out the best option for getting to the port.

We did DCL transfers last time, but there was only 2 of us, whereas for 5 of us airport to port and port to resort comes out to $350. So I'm trying to decide if I will get a limo service which would be about $220 or do a one way car rental and drive to the port, drop off the car and then get another car afterwards and drive us to WDW and keep the car for that stay. The only issue is that I don't like driving when I'm on vacation and don't know where I'm going.

I also have to figure out where we'll be staying the night before the cruise. I had thought of the POP, but since is their very first trip to WDW, I'd rather that their first sight of a Disney hotel be the Wilderness Lodge.

So, it's decisions, decisions, decisions and no one in the family is contributing towards them.

Disney hasn't quite figured out how to cater to boys, but there is probably more money in little girls, what with the Bibbidi Bobbity Boutique and all.

You're also absolutely right, that no matter what the cabin category, everyone is treated the same.

 

[Disneyannasdad]

Thanks to my in-laws my family will be taking our first trip to WDW in October. We are doing the three days on land and four on the cruise. All are excited. I have two girls who are 14 and 10 years old and my son who will be celebrating his 9th birthday on the boat. All seven of us are looking forward to having a great time.

 

[iankh]

Thanks to my in-laws my family will be taking our first trip to WDW in October. We are doing the three days on land and four on the cruise. All are excited. I have two girls who are 14 and 10 years old and my son who will be celebrating his 9th birthday on the boat. All seven of us are looking forward to having a great time.

Welcome to the thread for the October 14th cruise!

 

[lbcrosby]

Glad you could join us on the Wonder and this thread. Our DS and your DS most likely will be in the same kids program on the ship. He will be 8 and 1/2 when we travel. How fun for him to have a birthday on the ship. I know on other cruises we have traveled on they have a yummy birthday cake you can order and they do that at Disney World as well. My DH's birthday is the week before but we are going to celebrate it on land and on sea . . . just for the fun of it.

Good luck on all your preparations. Iankh is a wealth of information so you should be glad you joined this board.

 

[iankh]

Iankh is a wealth of information so you should be glad you joined this board.

You're going to make me blush !

I feel sort of like the elder statesman of Disney!

If anyone has any questions please ask away! We were just on our first Disney cruise (a 4-night) this past December, and have been to WDW about 15 times.

I'm also releasing a Disney vacation planning software program I've written (it's called Mouse Manager and it will be free) in the spring, as well as having a vacation planning podcast launching in the spring called, The Sophisticated Mouse. It's probably good practice for when I start getting listener questions!

There will be 5 of us. We're taking DDIL, DDSIL and grandson, age 7 (at that time) on their very first trip to WDW. We're doing the 4-night cruise, followed by 8 nights in WDW.

 

[lbcrosby]

I'm also releasing a Disney vacation planning software program I've written (it's called Mouse Manager and it will be free) in the spring, as well as having a vacation planning podcast launching in the spring called, The Sophisticated Mouse. It's probably good practice for when I start getting listener questions!

Are you really doing this or just kidding? Let me know when it happens if you are really doing this.

So, one question I know that my DH has but he will never admit to is how did you find the dress code in the dining rooms? On our Princess Cruise no jeans were allowed which basically killed my husband since even dressed up he wears a nice pair of jeans and cowboy boots. Right before we went to eat he would grudgingly change into a pair of slacks and then immediately change back when we were finished. It appeared from the websites that jeans are acceptable but what did you see?

We are still trying to figure out the port transfers as well. We did not pay for the transfers since we most likely will go to Kennedy Space Center when we come back into port and will probably rent a car. However, the question always is when to rent the car? Do you pick it up at the airport or get to Disney and then pick up the car later, etc., etc. I have seen that some people turn their car in down at the port and then get a new one afterwards but I am thinking that the cost you save might not be worth the hassle.

Do you know if you can add transfers later? I bet my cruise questions might eventually exhaust your knowledge and, if so, it is fine for me to go to the global knowledge of the board. However, I am sure I cannot exhaust your WDW questions as after 15 times visiting that you probably have heard most of the basic questions.