Lovemy3babes
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Mar 1, 2006
- Messages
- 3,870
Yay!!!! You're going back soon!!! The Beach Club looks awesome. Can I drive up to MSP and come along in your suitcase? I can curl up into a pretty tiny ball. 
Resorts, Relatives & Restaurants - and a 3 day cruise!
- Thread starter Mndisneygirl
- Start date
Mndisneygirl
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Oct 15, 2008
- Messages
- 7,388
Yes, we've done Ohana on our last morning twice now. Next trip, Cape May!
Sarah just said tonight when we were talking about her birthday that she knows I won't let her get her ears pierced for "50 years!". Little does she know...
I hope to get a cruise update going tonight or tomorrow for sure!
Cruise info will be coming soon! I did a little digging on the BCV option. Not sure, but we could consider switching if they'd let us. I'd love a 1BR - I think it would be $200 more though. How much bigger is a studio than a regular room? Our studio at BLT didn't seem too big.
Ohana breakfast was great! I recommend it highly!
We really fell in love with BC when we toured the resorts. So relaxed and beautiful, the pool looked awesome and it's so close to Epcot I can smell the food from WS!!!
YAY!! Great updates!!! We're eating at 'Ohana for breakfast our last morning of our trip in May!! It sounds like a lot of fun and a great way to end a trip!!And whoo hoo for your Bounceback offer!!!
I'm thinking about waiting until our May trip to book our Nov/Dec trip so we can get the 40% off! And I cannot WAIT to hear about your cruise!!!
I hope you enjoy Ohana as much as we did! Good luck with your bounceback offer.
The cruise info will be starting soon!
I can't wait to eat there! My girls will be so excited!Those Are EXCELLENT ADRs!!!You will absolutely LOVE
CRT @ breakfast!!! It is SO YUMMY!!!!!
It's going to be fun as long as I don't melt! That's why we need the BC pool!YEA for booking your next trip! Can't wait to see all your Beach Club pictures!
Looking forward to the cruise!
Thanks! The cruise will be coming up soon!
We've had really good experiences on our two Disney cruises. Not so much with the weather, but the people were great!
So looking forward to the cruise....we had so much fun when we went in 07 and met a lot of really great people that I still keep in touch with
Your ADR's sound really great....and maybe you want to keep the Le Cellier instead of Chef's since you sacrificed it this past trip?
Tracy
I've been weighing LC vs. Chefs. Haven't canceled either yet...
So sorry I had to keep a secret! It's 180 now for ADRs. It's still so hard for me to plan that far out, but we only have a few days so I didn't have a lot to work with. We got the park hours and just guessed what to do. I'll fill in details soon!
Cruise pics coming up!
Of course you can! If the snow has melted by then! HA!Yay!!!! You're going back soon!!! The Beach Club looks awesome. Can I drive up to MSP and come along in your suitcase? I can curl up into a pretty tiny ball.
Mndisneygirl
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Oct 15, 2008
- Messages
- 7,388
So, it's almost 10 p.m. and I just am able to sit down. Now I'm too tired to post an update on the cruise portion! But I did find all my notes and will take them to work tomorrow and do an update after my morning hearing.
Plus, my husband thinks I should fess up to a change we made to our upcoming trip now. I had planned to save it for the PTR, but what the heck. I don't want to be accused of keeping so many secrets!
We decided that there were lots of good places to eat and we'd want to get in out of the heat on a regular basis so we
UPGRADED TO THE DELUXE DINING PLAN!!!!
What started out as a little trip for a couple days has morphed into a 4 night dining adventure with a couple rides thrown in for fun!
We've decided to do a couple 2 TS credit restaurants to avoid having too many big meals to get to.
Here's what we've planned:
Wed 7/28
Still have Captain's Grille at 6:!5
Thur 7/29
CRT at 10:15
Spirit of Aloha Luau at 5:15 (and wishes from the Poly beach maybe!)
Fri 7/30
Coral Reef 11:55
Chefs 6
OR
LeCellier 6:15
Sat 7/31
Hollywood Brown Derby 11:40
Boma 4:30
Sun 8/1
Cape May Cafe 9:15
We will still have 1 credit left and we'll just wing that one. Don't know when we'd be hungry! Plus we each get 2 snacks per day and a refillable mug!
Now we haven't OFFICIALLY switched to the DxDP, but will add it before too long. I was able to easily get ADRs at any time I requested, so that was cool. I'm sort of uneasy about having Boma so early, but AK has EMH that night and we might try to go there. We figured we could do the Kali River Rapids after dinner if it's still warm out (HA - IF it's warm!)
Let me know what you think or if you have eaten at any of these, your opinions - good or bad! Other than LeCellier, we've not been to any of them!
Good night!
Cruise update tomorrow!! I promise!
Plus, my husband thinks I should fess up to a change we made to our upcoming trip now. I had planned to save it for the PTR, but what the heck. I don't want to be accused of keeping so many secrets!
We decided that there were lots of good places to eat and we'd want to get in out of the heat on a regular basis so we
UPGRADED TO THE DELUXE DINING PLAN!!!!
What started out as a little trip for a couple days has morphed into a 4 night dining adventure with a couple rides thrown in for fun!
We've decided to do a couple 2 TS credit restaurants to avoid having too many big meals to get to.
Here's what we've planned:
Wed 7/28
Still have Captain's Grille at 6:!5
Thur 7/29
CRT at 10:15
Spirit of Aloha Luau at 5:15 (and wishes from the Poly beach maybe!)
Fri 7/30
Coral Reef 11:55
Chefs 6
OR
LeCellier 6:15
Sat 7/31
Hollywood Brown Derby 11:40
Boma 4:30
Sun 8/1
Cape May Cafe 9:15
We will still have 1 credit left and we'll just wing that one. Don't know when we'd be hungry! Plus we each get 2 snacks per day and a refillable mug!
Now we haven't OFFICIALLY switched to the DxDP, but will add it before too long. I was able to easily get ADRs at any time I requested, so that was cool. I'm sort of uneasy about having Boma so early, but AK has EMH that night and we might try to go there. We figured we could do the Kali River Rapids after dinner if it's still warm out (HA - IF it's warm!)
Let me know what you think or if you have eaten at any of these, your opinions - good or bad! Other than LeCellier, we've not been to any of them!
Good night!
Cruise update tomorrow!! I promise!
Lovemy3babes
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Mar 1, 2006
- Messages
- 3,870
I think you picked some good places. I haven't eaten at many. My girls LOVED CRT when we went in 2006. It was so magical to eat inside the castle!
Mndisneygirl
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Oct 15, 2008
- Messages
- 7,388
Okay – we’re cruising!!
After we got gas for the car, we headed east to Port Canaveral. Sadly, I don’t have any pictures of the port area. There are a few cruise terminals there including Disney (which is so nice!) and Carnival and Royal Caribbean. There was also a RC ship in port that morning.
Disney Cruise Line (DCL) has a really nice set up. You drive up, show some ID and they wave you through to the next stop, either drop off people/bags and then go park, or go park and haul your stuff to the terminal. Dave dropped us off with our stuff and went to park. The porters take your checked bags and you don’t see them again until the afternoon in your stateroom. You just take your carry-on bags through security and they scan them and you go through the metal detectors. So the girls and I did that and headed up the escalator to the main terminal area. Let me tell you, this is a beautiful place! They had it all decorated for Christmas too! Big seating area with tvs showing Disney cartoons and in the middle there is a model of the cruise ship. On one side you can see what it looks like from the outside and around the other side it’s cut away so you can see inside the rooms, restaurants etc.
Plus, some Disney friends hang out there for pictures! They rotate and this is who we saw today:
You can sort of see behind Minnie a large archway in yellow and black. It's a giant Mickey Ears that you walk through to board the ship. I'm digging through my pictures trying to find a good one.
Off to the left is the check-in lines and over to the right is the seating area. There's also a place you can register your kids into the kid's clubs, but we did that online.
I took the girls and got into the special line for Castaway Club members. That is for people who have sailed DCL before. We have been once, so we qualified! The more times you sail, the more rewards you get. It’s usually stuff like a lanyard, candy, tote bag…The check-in line was super quick and then we walked over to get pictures taken. They keep a digital picture associated with your KTTW card/room key for when you get on and off the ship. It’s not actually on your card, nor is your room number. Somewhere in this time Dave caught up to us. Since it was about 12:30 when we got there, they had already started boarding the ship. We waited until the rest of the gang was done checking in and all boarded at the same time. As you walk through the terminal, they have you pose for a boarding picture. One thing about cruises, they want to take your picture all the time! You can always decline, or decline to buy them later. Only bummer is that it’s not like photopass. They use a different company and they don’t offer a CD (at least not yet), you can look at them digitally on a kiosk or you can look at all the prints which they display in one area. Then they will sell you a package or you can buy individual prints. They are not cheap!! It is cheaper to buy a package, but we didn’t see that many pictures we liked, so we split a package with SIL Donna’s family. On our last cruise we bought a package and had to buy some stock photos to get enough pictures!
I guess my point is that I don’t have those pictures in digital format, so I might not be posting them unless I get around to scanning.
Back to my story…
We boarded the ship and after you go up the gangway and enter the atrium, there are cast members with the big white Mickey gloves greeting you and they announce your family.
“Welcome the M***** Family from Minnesota!” Then they all clap! It’s so cool!
Plus the atrium is absolutely beautiful and it was also decorated for the holidays with garland and a huge Christmas tree in one corner. Great photo spot. There will be some pictures of this area later on!
When you board, the rooms aren't ready, so you have to cart your carry-on stuff around with you and they make you go up to the buffet for lunch. By the time we got on board it was almost 1, so we were hungry. The buffet was busy and most tables were taken, so we headed outside. It was SO WINDY!!!!
The kids got some hot dogs or chicken nuggets and I mostly ate desserts!
Hey, we're on vacation!! The desserts are fabulous! Plus it's a separate line, so I didn't have to wait. We survived about 10 minutes out in the wind and went inside and found a spot. Our rooms were ready at 1:30 so we headed to cabin 7500. Our luggage was already there!! We had originally booked an inside stateroom because of our bounceback offer. We had to have the same category room to get the $99 per person deal or pay lots more. A while before our trip, I was doing online registration and noticed the room number was different! We were in an outside stateroom one deck higher! A couple days later I got a phone call from DCL saying we had been given a complimentary upgrade to ocean view! The other two rooms in our traveling party also had been upgraded! It was a bit bigger, plus we had a huge porthole window!
Here's some shots of our room and the gift we got from Castaway Club.
Paige playing Vanna White.
Sarah playing supermodel.
Paige copying her sister.
The couch folded out into a bed and there was a pull down bunk above it so the girls slept there.
We unpacked our stuff and shoved our suitcases under the bed. We promptly hung up our Fish extender.
For those that don't know, outside your cabin door is a metal fish that serves as a mail slot. (I must have a picture somewhere! Sorry for my lack of organization!)
On the DIS, there are threads you can go to for your specific cruise and meet others going on that cruise. Some will orgainze a group to do an exchange of little gifts and they deliver them to a pocket hanging off the fish. If you search the threads for "fish extender", you can see what they normally look like. Many people make their own. Being that I'm not all that crafty and didn't have a lot of time, I figured, "hey, it's almost Christmas, I'm going to use a stocking!" So we decorated a stocking to hang up.
Yeah, I'll go look for a picture of that too!
Then our FE group had planned a meet in the Promenade Lounge at 3 p.m. The organizer had made a list of everyone, their families including ages and gender of kids and stateroom numbers. She even did a map of the ship with our rooms highlighted so we could find everyone. The idea is to go around and deliver the gifts like a secret santa. We wanted to do our delivery that first night, but some did it multiple times.
It was fun to meet everyone and associate faces with the names.
They also had this decorating the lounge:
After our meet, we had to go get ready for the mandatory lifeboat drill, which we had to do before the sail-away party. The party was WAY more fun than the drill!! I'll tell you about that next time!
After we got gas for the car, we headed east to Port Canaveral. Sadly, I don’t have any pictures of the port area. There are a few cruise terminals there including Disney (which is so nice!) and Carnival and Royal Caribbean. There was also a RC ship in port that morning.
Disney Cruise Line (DCL) has a really nice set up. You drive up, show some ID and they wave you through to the next stop, either drop off people/bags and then go park, or go park and haul your stuff to the terminal. Dave dropped us off with our stuff and went to park. The porters take your checked bags and you don’t see them again until the afternoon in your stateroom. You just take your carry-on bags through security and they scan them and you go through the metal detectors. So the girls and I did that and headed up the escalator to the main terminal area. Let me tell you, this is a beautiful place! They had it all decorated for Christmas too! Big seating area with tvs showing Disney cartoons and in the middle there is a model of the cruise ship. On one side you can see what it looks like from the outside and around the other side it’s cut away so you can see inside the rooms, restaurants etc.
Plus, some Disney friends hang out there for pictures! They rotate and this is who we saw today:
You can sort of see behind Minnie a large archway in yellow and black. It's a giant Mickey Ears that you walk through to board the ship. I'm digging through my pictures trying to find a good one.
Off to the left is the check-in lines and over to the right is the seating area. There's also a place you can register your kids into the kid's clubs, but we did that online.
I took the girls and got into the special line for Castaway Club members. That is for people who have sailed DCL before. We have been once, so we qualified! The more times you sail, the more rewards you get. It’s usually stuff like a lanyard, candy, tote bag…The check-in line was super quick and then we walked over to get pictures taken. They keep a digital picture associated with your KTTW card/room key for when you get on and off the ship. It’s not actually on your card, nor is your room number. Somewhere in this time Dave caught up to us. Since it was about 12:30 when we got there, they had already started boarding the ship. We waited until the rest of the gang was done checking in and all boarded at the same time. As you walk through the terminal, they have you pose for a boarding picture. One thing about cruises, they want to take your picture all the time! You can always decline, or decline to buy them later. Only bummer is that it’s not like photopass. They use a different company and they don’t offer a CD (at least not yet), you can look at them digitally on a kiosk or you can look at all the prints which they display in one area. Then they will sell you a package or you can buy individual prints. They are not cheap!! It is cheaper to buy a package, but we didn’t see that many pictures we liked, so we split a package with SIL Donna’s family. On our last cruise we bought a package and had to buy some stock photos to get enough pictures!
I guess my point is that I don’t have those pictures in digital format, so I might not be posting them unless I get around to scanning.
Back to my story…
We boarded the ship and after you go up the gangway and enter the atrium, there are cast members with the big white Mickey gloves greeting you and they announce your family.
“Welcome the M***** Family from Minnesota!” Then they all clap! It’s so cool!
Plus the atrium is absolutely beautiful and it was also decorated for the holidays with garland and a huge Christmas tree in one corner. Great photo spot. There will be some pictures of this area later on!
When you board, the rooms aren't ready, so you have to cart your carry-on stuff around with you and they make you go up to the buffet for lunch. By the time we got on board it was almost 1, so we were hungry. The buffet was busy and most tables were taken, so we headed outside. It was SO WINDY!!!!
The kids got some hot dogs or chicken nuggets and I mostly ate desserts!
Hey, we're on vacation!! The desserts are fabulous! Plus it's a separate line, so I didn't have to wait. We survived about 10 minutes out in the wind and went inside and found a spot. Our rooms were ready at 1:30 so we headed to cabin 7500. Our luggage was already there!! We had originally booked an inside stateroom because of our bounceback offer. We had to have the same category room to get the $99 per person deal or pay lots more. A while before our trip, I was doing online registration and noticed the room number was different! We were in an outside stateroom one deck higher! A couple days later I got a phone call from DCL saying we had been given a complimentary upgrade to ocean view! The other two rooms in our traveling party also had been upgraded! It was a bit bigger, plus we had a huge porthole window!Here's some shots of our room and the gift we got from Castaway Club.
Paige playing Vanna White.
Sarah playing supermodel.
Paige copying her sister.
The couch folded out into a bed and there was a pull down bunk above it so the girls slept there.
We unpacked our stuff and shoved our suitcases under the bed. We promptly hung up our Fish extender.
For those that don't know, outside your cabin door is a metal fish that serves as a mail slot. (I must have a picture somewhere! Sorry for my lack of organization!)
On the DIS, there are threads you can go to for your specific cruise and meet others going on that cruise. Some will orgainze a group to do an exchange of little gifts and they deliver them to a pocket hanging off the fish. If you search the threads for "fish extender", you can see what they normally look like. Many people make their own. Being that I'm not all that crafty and didn't have a lot of time, I figured, "hey, it's almost Christmas, I'm going to use a stocking!" So we decorated a stocking to hang up.
Yeah, I'll go look for a picture of that too!
Then our FE group had planned a meet in the Promenade Lounge at 3 p.m. The organizer had made a list of everyone, their families including ages and gender of kids and stateroom numbers. She even did a map of the ship with our rooms highlighted so we could find everyone. The idea is to go around and deliver the gifts like a secret santa. We wanted to do our delivery that first night, but some did it multiple times.
It was fun to meet everyone and associate faces with the names.
They also had this decorating the lounge:
After our meet, we had to go get ready for the mandatory lifeboat drill, which we had to do before the sail-away party. The party was WAY more fun than the drill!! I'll tell you about that next time!
Mndisneygirl
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Oct 15, 2008
- Messages
- 7,388
Here's a picture of the atrium
And a better picture of the gingerbread house
And a better picture of the gingerbread house
Dugette
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Dec 26, 2009
- Messages
- 5,775
Great cruise update! You're already making me wish I were on a cruise!
You asked about the BC vs. the BCV square footage. I did not know, so I checked and I think the BCV Studio is slightly smaller than the standard BC room. But, it has a kitchenette with a microwave, so that sold us. We're planning to be there during Food and Wine, so maybe we'll need to reheat some leftovers
The 1-bedroom looks to be about twice as big, with a full kitchen and whirlpool tub. Nice!
Anyway, looking forward to finding out more about your cruise!
You asked about the BC vs. the BCV square footage. I did not know, so I checked and I think the BCV Studio is slightly smaller than the standard BC room. But, it has a kitchenette with a microwave, so that sold us. We're planning to be there during Food and Wine, so maybe we'll need to reheat some leftovers
The 1-bedroom looks to be about twice as big, with a full kitchen and whirlpool tub. Nice!Anyway, looking forward to finding out more about your cruise!
ladybugmom
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Feb 27, 2008
- Messages
- 3,796
YAY!!! The cruise is starting!!! And what an upgrade!! That's awesome!!!! I love the fish extender thing!! That sounds like a lot of fun and a great way to meet DISers!!! I can't wait to read more about the cruise!!!
I love the fish extender thing!! That sounds like a lot of fun and a great way to meet DISers!!! I can't wait to read more about the cruise!!! 
Charleston Princess
DIS Legend
- Joined
- Jan 28, 2008
- Messages
- 21,444
Oh my goodness, Sheree! You will have me booking a cruise before you are done with the cruise part of your trip!
Sailor Minnie is so cute!!! I love the picture of her with the girls!
Sailor Minnie is so cute!!! I love the picture of her with the girls!
DisneyDaddio
Ducketeer
- Joined
- Feb 7, 2010
- Messages
- 109
Dancegrl624
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Sep 13, 2008
- Messages
- 4,984
I would love to take a Disney cruise someday! Minnie's sailor outfit is absolutely adorable and I want one of my own. I can't wait to hear more about it!
Northern Disney Girl
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Feb 26, 2008
- Messages
- 2,558
It's Cruise Time!!!!! You are so going to have me booking a cruise soon! 
You haven't even left port yet and already I am on the Disney Cruise Line website checking out prices! Hope you are having fun scrappin' this weekend!
I still remember our room number....6592
Lovemy3babes
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Mar 1, 2006
- Messages
- 3,870
What neat little Disney touches everywhere! The fish extender group sounds fun!
The fish extender group sounds fun!
wigdoutdismom
Disney Driven in every way.
- Joined
- Jun 25, 2008
- Messages
- 8,082
I'm waaaaay behind again, but just read about your bounce back, you are going to love the Beach Club!
Let me suggest trying the Yogurt Parfaits at the Beach Club Marketplace . My favorite!
Let me suggest trying the Yogurt Parfaits at the Beach Club Marketplace . My favorite
!
wigdoutdismom
Disney Driven in every way.
- Joined
- Jun 25, 2008
- Messages
- 8,082
OKAY all caught up!
Your porthole is awesome!!!
I'm taking notes on this cruise. We sail June 4th!
Back to the Beach Club. They have really fun activities at the pool and be sure to explore every nook and cranny of SAB, there are little whirlpools to be found, it's so much fun!
Your porthole is awesome!!!
I'm taking notes on this cruise. We sail June 4th!
Back to the Beach Club. They have really fun activities at the pool and be sure to explore every nook and cranny of SAB, there are little whirlpools to be found, it's so much fun!
RinkyTinkyTinky
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Jun 17, 2008
- Messages
- 3,049
Your cruise update is killin' me!!! I want to go on a cruise so bad! I really hope we can do a land and sea on our next trip, whenever that may be! 
The atrium is gorgeous and Minnie in her sailor suit.......... I LOVE IT!!! 
I really, really can't wait for your next update!
The atrium is gorgeous and Minnie in her sailor suit.......... I LOVE IT!!! I really, really can't wait for your next update!
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