September 7, 2014 Dream Cruise!

[hbateman86]

Hey everyone. My name is Heather (28). My husband, Andrew (28), and our daughter, Riley (5 in July) will be on the September 7th cruise. This will be our 3rd cruise but our first Disney cruise. We are so excited! I'm in such need of some beach time. Riley is out of her mind excited to meet the princesses! Any tips from past disney cruisers?

 

[MinnieNMini]

You can't really go wrong with any Disney resort, it all just depends on what your looking for. Disney has three classifications of resorts. Value, Moderate, and Deluxe. The more you go up the more amenities that are included. However, even the value resorts are Disney quality with Disney service. The great thing about the value resorts are they are larger than life and are themed well for little kids.

Because you have a 20 month old a themed room "Nemo, Lion King, Little Mermaid, or Cars" at Disney's newest value resort Art of Animation could be great. If you just want to relax, enjoy the pools and hotel amenities maybe go up to deluxe or moderate. If you are going to hit the parks, then try to find a resort near the park or parks you frequent most. At Disney "TIME" is the hot commodity.

In my opinion for a quick fun packed, hit the parks, see as much as possible visit……….. stay at a value resort, save your money on the room for fun park activities.

For a little more laid back, some parks, a few resort activities, good themes, nice pools…………. stay at a moderate resort. Port Orleans French Quarter is our favorite.

If you want to relax, take in all that is Disney with great pools that are more like water parks and amenities and activities that make it so you never want to leave the resort then stay at a deluxe. Animal Kingdom Jambo House is our favorite deluxe.

All in all I would say extending your vacation is defiantly worth it, we often hit Disney then catch the boat, but either way you are sure to have a magical vacation.

Thank you so much for the advice! Art of Animation was also suggested by another cruiser who had a toddler and she said it was the best for a toddler that age. Our DCL rep told us to do a chill day at the pool with possibly downtown Disney and/or looking at other resorts and then on Friday we are going to do a Parkhopper pass of Animal Kingdom in the day, followed by a nap (if needed. She can nap in the stroller. It's my hubby and the heat that may take us back for a dip.) followed by Epcot at night to top the night off with fireworks. I've very excited either way. Thanks for the advice! Noted for our next visit when we get to stay longer!

 

[mrojas909]

Is there a list I could have of who is signed up so far? I am wanting to start buying goodies

 

[lwyrwood]

Is there a list I could have of who is signed up so far? I am wanting to start buying goodies

Here is the link to the facebook page to sign up and get the list https://www.facebook.com/groups/1401595343419931/

 

[Meowmixit]

We will be on this cruise. Its our first cruise with DCL, we have done other cruise lines in the past. I will be traveling with my husband and our almost 4 year old son. This will be my son's first cruise. Any helpful hints or suggestions for 4 year old boy activities would be greatly appreciated. We are looking forward to our big adventure!

 

[TheHippie524]

103 DAYS LEFT!!
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[lealea42]

We will be on this cruise. Its our first cruise with DCL, we have done other cruise lines in the past. I will be traveling with my husband and our almost 4 year old son. This will be my son's first cruise. Any helpful hints or suggestions for 4 year old boy activities would be greatly appreciated. We are looking forward to our big adventure!

This is our first cruise as well and we're traveling with my son that will turn 4 the 2nd day of our cruise. Am also looking for activities/suggestions for him just in case he freaks out in the club. =)

 

[tstobb]

Prolly going to break up the FE group into 2 or 3 smaller groups as we're at 32 cabins as of now. Any thoughts?

 

[Meowmixit]

This is our first cruise as well and we're traveling with my son that will turn 4 the 2nd day of our cruise. Am also looking for activities/suggestions for him just in case he freaks out in the club. =)

Great! I'm happy our kids will have others around the same age. My son loves Mickey. Does anyone know if the charachters make appearances during breakfast or lunch?

 

[tstobb]

FE Group has been split. Instead of opening a 3rd group, I will alternately add newcomers to groups 1 and 2.

 

[perfectmatch300]

Hi everyone! We will be joining you on this cruise! Just booked today.

I am Nancy, DH is Barry. This will be our 4th Disney cruise. The cruise right after this one will be our 5th Disney cruise. We have also cruised with Princess.

We originally booked the Sept 11 cruise last year while onboard the Fantasy. I chose that cruise because our anniversary is Sept 12, but we were really planning to move it out to fall 2015. We were hoping that Disney would offer southern Caribbean itineraries again. Unfortunately, that's not happening, so we had a decision to make. At first we were just going to sail the cruise we already had booked. After thinking about it, we decided that 3 days simply wasn't enough. We considered switching to the 7 day Fantasy sailing on Sept 6, but finally decided to book this cruise ahead of our 3 day and make it a B2B. B2B will be a new experience for us, one I am most definitely looking forward to. Maybe on the 2nd leg of our B2B we will get to do some of the things we don't get to do on this first leg.

We are not on FB, but we do love to meet other Disboard people on our travels. I don't know if there has been any talk of a Meet & Greet for this cruise. If there is one being discussed on FB could someone please post the info here as well?

Any scuba divers in our group so far? I am a diver, but Barry is not. We have been to Nassau twice before but I have yet to go diving there. I am planning to change that on this cruise! I plan to book the Disney excursion and would love to know if anyone else in this group will be diving with me.

I hope to get to know all of you here before we cruise. Barry does get a bit tired of my cruise obsession! I have read the beginning of this thread, so I know some of you can relate!

 

[tstobb]

Trying something new (for me). Here's the link to the FE list - please let me know if you can see the file & if so, check your information & let me know if I need to update anything

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0BwjiqOgyWMjpeWRMc05EN1NHbEk/edit?usp=sharing

 

[tstobb]

Just a reminder that the Fish Extender sign-up will close on August 3rd. Please make sure I have all of your information or on August 4th, you will be removed from the list. Please let me know if there are any questions
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0BwjiqOgyWMjpRTAtdk5kNEMwYm8/edit?usp=sharing

 

[perfectmatch300]

Trying something new (for me). Here's the link to the FE list - please let me know if you can see the file & if so, check your information & let me know if I need to update anything

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0BwjiqOgyWMjpeWRMc05EN1NHbEk/edit?usp=sharing

We aren't doing FE, but I didn't see any responses so I clicked your link and could see your FE list with no problems. Looks like you are very well organized.

I just can't wait to be on the ship again!

 

[Shells1525]

Hi all. We are so excited to join you guys on the dream! My husband and I are traveling with our 13 year old daughter and our soon to be 6 year old son. I would love to join the FE! Let me know what I need to do!

Has anyone booked their excursions for Disney's private island? We know we are doing the water park in Atlantis, but the private island always gets me. We will bring our own snorkels, but is there something else we must do?

I hope everyone has a nice Monday!

 

[tstobb]

Hi all. We are so excited to join you guys on the dream! My husband and I are traveling with our 13 year old daughter and our soon to be 6 year old son. I would love to join the FE! Let me know what I need to do!

Has anyone booked their excursions for Disney's private island? We know we are doing the water park in Atlantis, but the private island always gets me. We will bring our own snorkels, but is there something else we must do?

I hope everyone has a nice Monday!

Good morning! If you want to PM me your information (cabin #, names, ages & genders of everyone in your group, any favorite characters, any celebrations, if the adults dring & if anyone has any allergies), I'll add you to the list. You can also visit our Facebook page at: https://www.facebook.com/groups/1401595343419931/

We've booked the eco tour for Castaway Cay as well as one of the cabanas at Serenity Bay

 

[etchfam4]

This will be my family's first Disney Cruise! We are very excited but would love some tips! Don't know anything about FE. I went to the facebook page and requested to be a member of the group.

I will be traveling with my husband, daughter (18), son (12), and my parents. We will be celebrating my daughter's high school graduation. This is what she wanted as a graduation gift.

We are very excited about our cruise!!

 

[MiniMeisters]

Hey all!

We just booked about a week ago and I am out of my mind excited for this cruise! This will be my first cruise ever and my husband's 3rd (but first Disney cruise). We will be bringing our 1 year old, Walt, with us (obviously his first cruise). I can't wait! Does anyone have any advice for cruising with an infant? Any ideas for port adventures that we can do with the little man? I think everyone I looked at had a minimum age of 3+.

Thank you!!

 

[dvdisney]

Hi! Sorry folks, I tend to post in the FB group, but forget about the DIS boards. I guess I gotta take some time and surf through this board again. It gets me so excited for our cruise. My husband, 3yr old daughter, and my best friend since Kindergarten will be cruising in Sept. This is our first Disney cruise, but have cruised other lines often. Even Devan (our daughter) is an expert! She's got 2 cruises under her belt already.
I saw that someone asked for some baby tips....so allow me.
Pack the little fruit buddy/applesauce pouches. They saved us numerous times. Hard for a little one to wait for dinner, and plus Devan was a little picky sometimes. Was awesome to have a little fruit snack in the room while Mommy & Daddy were getting ready.
Also bring the baby's blanket or a special toy from home. The stewards will make the crib or pack-n-play up and if the baby has that familiar item, they might sleep easier.
Devan was 2 on her first cruise, and the travel dvd player helped too....although I heard on the DCL there are cartoons playing continuously, so that may help a little distraction in the cabin.
We took a pack-n-play to sleep in (just picky and wanted her to have hers), but the second cruise, she just slept in our bed. She might sleep in our bed this cruise, I'm eager to see about her in the bunk-with rails. I might be a little nervous though.---My friend can't sleep in the bunk, due to size--so she'll be on the couch bed.
I took a little bag with toys to dinner each night. Party City has great party favors--10-25cents each. I took extras so all the kids at the table would be occupied with crayons or puppets or stuff.
Pack extra diapers and wipes--more than you think you'll need....they are way expensive on the boat and port.
Also if you use it----pack the nose sucker bulb thing. The airconditioning is strong and that little nose will plug up. They sell them in the medic's office (did on Carnival anyway) and it was like $10!!
We also took an umbrella stroller---helped on port and folded up nice.

I'll try to check in more often. I'm in Group 1 of the FE and getting so excited. I've kind of gone a little overboard, but so much fun!!!

Vicky (from Orlando area)

 

[A.Mickey]

I haven't posted on Disboards in forever but was looking for a fish extender group for our upcoming cruise! Glad to find this group. This will be my husband and I's 3rd Disney cruise ( last two were both on the wonder). We are bringing along Nana and our son Aaron who is 7. This will be there first cruise.