Sep. 7, 2015 on the Dream

[RedwineFamily]

Deleted

 

[RedwineFamily]

Please add us the the FE list! Jason, Cindy, Grant (15), Logan (12), Kelsey (11)

Thanks!

You have been added to the FE list!

 

[RedwineFamily]

We're planning to go before. What about y'all? We figured we were going full on Disney for this trip so we're doing it all! It's funny though-my son is so excited about the cruise. He keeps talking about going on the 'Mickey Mouse boat' but he doesn't seem to be interested in the parks at all! I'm sure he'll love it once we're there though

For the fish extender we're: Frank, Val, and Frank (4)

Thank you for setting this up!

You have been added to the FE list!

 

[RedwineFamily]

Our FE group is up to 10 staterooms, Folks!!! WOO HOO!!!

 

[RedwineFamily]

So for those of you going to the parks before the cruise- I was thinking the parks would be super crowded because it's Labor Day weekend so we were planning to fly in Sunday and then stay for the weekend after the cruise- just hoping to avoid the holiday weekend crowds. We are not planning to do any "parks" this trip- just a day at Typhoon Lagoon (LOVE that place!) and probably go to Downtown Disney the day we get off the ship.

What are y'all's thoughts on how busy everything will be that weekend before our cruise? I am not a fan of wading through huge crowds and waiting in line forever.

I don't think it will be too awful. When I was researching Disney stuff before making our final plans, the first and second weeks of September were some of the least expensive and less crowded weeks of the year. We originally were planning on cruising in November until I found that out, then we switched. I have to admit, I was trying every scenario to not be at a park on a weekend PERIOD, but it didn't work out that way. My theory is that Animal Kingdom and Hollywood Studios will be less crowded than Magic Kingdom on the weekends. We plan on doing MK on Thursday and Friday, then HS and AK on Saturday and Sunday. Plus, Animal kingdom closes pretty early so it will give us plenty of time Sunday to pack up and prepare for the cruise the next day.

 

[sillecruisers]

I don't think it will be too awful. When I was researching Disney stuff before making our final plans, the first and second weeks of September were some of the least expensive and less crowded weeks of the year. We originally were planning on cruising in November until I found that out, then we switched. I have to admit, I was trying every scenario to not be at a park on a weekend PERIOD, but it didn't work out that way. My theory is that Animal Kingdom and Hollywood Studios will be less crowded than Magic Kingdom on the weekends. We plan on doing MK on Thursday and Friday, then HS and AK on Saturday and Sunday. Plus, Animal kingdom closes pretty early so it will give us plenty of time Sunday to pack up and prepare for the cruise the next day.

Interesting! We have gone to the parks in Sept before and it's true, the crowds are light, I was just worried about Labor Day weekend. My hubby wants to go down Friday before the cruise, the minute the kids get out of school, but I discouraged that because of the holiday. We may need to rethink that. I have read here on the boards that when people take their kids to the parks after the cruise, it's not as much fun in comparison to the cruise.

 

[sillecruisers]

Can we talk excursions? For Nassau, I am torn between The Blue Lagoon beach day and the catamaran sail and snorkel. Both sound awesome.

 

[RedwineFamily]

Interesting! We have gone to the parks in Sept before and it's true, the crowds are light, I was just worried about Labor Day weekend. My hubby wants to go down Friday before the cruise, the minute the kids get out of school, but I discouraged that because of the holiday. We may need to rethink that. I have read here on the boards that when people take their kids to the parks after the cruise, it's not as much fun in comparison to the cruise.

We chose parks before cruise because I figured we would need some relaxation time after 5 days of non-stop running!

 

[RedwineFamily]

Can we talk excursions? For Nassau, I am torn between The Blue Lagoon beach day and the catamaran sail and snorkel. Both sound awesome.

My daughter is DYING to do the trainer for a day at Atlantis. I made the mistake of letting her read through the descriptions by herself. It is pretty expensive, though. At least for us. Besides the financial issue, it would just be me and her because my son is too young. He and dad would have to be elsewhere. This is our first BIG family trip, so I don't think I want to be separated for a whole day.....especially our first time in the Bahamas

I figured we would see what we come up with (financially and emotionally ) by the time booking is available, and see where we are.

 

[sillecruisers]

My daughter is DYING to do the trainer for a day at Atlantis. I made the mistake of letting her read through the descriptions by herself. It is pretty expensive, though. At least for us. Besides the financial issue, it would just be me and her because my son is too young. He and dad would have to be elsewhere. This is our first BIG family trip, so I don't think I want to be separated for a whole day.....especially our first time in the Bahamas

I figured we would see what we come up with (financially and emotionally ) by the time booking is available, and see where we are.

Blue Lagoon has a dolphin component. We may do that as well as the beach. I just found some pics of the island and hubby is on board. It looks awesome!

 

[MadamG2U]

Hello everyone!!

Does anyone know if the Dream will be doing Halloween on the High Seas?

MadamG2U

 

[RedwineFamily]

Hello everyone!!

Does anyone know if the Dream will be doing Halloween on the High Seas?

MadamG2U

The saildate for our cruise is the same as the 2014 cruise, and it was the first sailing for Halloween of the High Seas on the Dream. I would think it would be the same for us, but it hasn't been posted yet. I hope it is, though!

 

[PAGA2003]

We are going to the parks before, also. We will be arriving on the 2nd, then doing the parks from the 3rd through 6th. We are driving from North Texas so I figured we would need a day to chill before hitting all the excitement. We had the same view about doing it all.....go big, or go home, LOL!! Have you booked the park portion yet? We are waiting until March-May for the free dining plan to be offered.

My son is super excited about the cruise, too. Must be because they can see the boat in pictures and understand it better. He gets so excited when the commercials come on Disney jr. !

We actually used to live in DFW (North Richland Hills)! We moved back to the East Coast a few years ago though.

We have booked the park portion. I considered waiting for free dining but in the end I don't think it will work for us. We can purchase park tickets through our employer and the particular room we booked wasn't even eligible for the promotion last year anyway.

And I think you are right with the pictures ad videos for the cruise. My son keeps asking me to show him the little videos of the ship on the website!

 

[PAGA2003]

So for those of you going to the parks before the cruise- I was thinking the parks would be super crowded because it's Labor Day weekend so we were planning to fly in Sunday and then stay for the weekend after the cruise- just hoping to avoid the holiday weekend crowds. We are not planning to do any "parks" this trip- just a day at Typhoon Lagoon (LOVE that place!) and probably go to Downtown Disney the day we get off the ship.

What are y'all's thoughts on how busy everything will be that weekend before our cruise? I am not a fan of wading through huge crowds and waiting in line forever.

I'm hoping that since September is supposed to be low crowds that we will be ok but we shall see I suppose! I do have a friend at work that has been in September and said that it wasn't crowded at all. I figure Labor Day weekend will probably be busier than some days but nothing compared to the summer

 

[Linden Lady]

Land & Sea. Sea & Land. We've done it both ways. We found we prefer the parks before the cruise. The cruise is so relaxing, we did find it hard to get motivated to run around the parks after days of eating, sleeping, and shipboard activities. Lol ;-)
This time, we are staying at POP for 2 days prior to cruising. We are doing both WP, since we still have a few mos left before our annual pass expires, and then 1 day at the Beach Club to relax after the cruise before driving home.

 

[PAGA2003]

Land & Sea. Sea & Land. We've done it both ways. We found we prefer the parks before the cruise. The cruise is so relaxing, we did find it hard to get motivated to run around the parks after days of eating, sleeping, and shipboard activities. Lol ;-)
This time, we are staying at POP for 2 days prior to cruising. We are doing both WP, since we still have a few mos left before our annual pass expires, and then 1 day at the Beach Club to relax after the cruise before driving home.

That was my thinking as well with getting the 'go, go, go' portion of the trip done first! We plan to take it easy on port days and not do anything crazy so it should be relaxing

Now staying one night on property after the cruise is not something that had occurred to me! I thought of a day at Port Canaveral but perhaps I should look at heading back to Disney for the night and experience a different hotel...

 

[joannjoe]

Interesting! We have gone to the parks in Sept before and it's true, the crowds are light, I was just worried about Labor Day weekend. My hubby wants to go down Friday before the cruise, the minute the kids get out of school, but I discouraged that because of the holiday. We may need to rethink that. I have read here on the boards that when people take their kids to the parks after the cruise, it's not as much fun in comparison to the cruise.

Your absolutely right about going to the parks after the cruise. We have done it both ways and even waited a month in between. My kids got bored real quick in the parks after the cruise and we never did it again. We are only going in the parks 1 day because of the ticket prices are astronomical. Plus as much as we have been to the parks, we know we can do all 4 parks in 1 day that's doing about 10-12 rides. We're hoping to go to T-Rex (love that place)on Friday night before the cruise and pick the best weather day to go to the parks.

 

[joannjoe]

Can we talk excursions? For Nassau, I am torn between The Blue Lagoon beach day and the catamaran sail and snorkel. Both sound awesome.

If your family loves water parks a must do is the aqua adventure at Atlantis. It is one of the largest water parks in the world. I think Disney offers a dolphin and water park excursion. If you haven't seen the water park there look it up online it's really cool.

 

[joannjoe]

We haven't cruised on Disney in a few years. I was reading online that now when you register online, they give you time's to choose from when you get board the ship. That to me really stinks because when you have to check out at Disneyworld before 11am and now you might not be able to board the ship until after 2pm or later.

 

[joannjoe]

That was my thinking as well with getting the 'go, go, go' portion of the trip done first! We plan to take it easy on port days and not do anything crazy so it should be relaxing

Now staying one night on property after the cruise is not something that had occurred to me! I thought of a day at Port Canaveral but perhaps I should look at heading back to Disney for the night and experience a different hotel...

After the cruise we are headed across state to the Treasure Island and going to stay on the beach for a few days The kids want to go to the Clearwater Aquarium to see the dolphin (Hope from the movie). This is suppose to be the adult vacation year the kids swindled us somehow???