The UnDisney family's unintended grand(ish) slam trek to Alaska - July 27-Aug 3, 2015

[Conorama]

Days & nights at home - and wicked jet lag

Getting home was not particularly report-worthy. Basically, we slept until about 9:30 Ontario time (so 5:30 Alaskan time, 6:30 BC time), and were generally not terribly efficient about getting breakfast and on the road. Between the generally slow-as-molasses pace we adopted, the need to procure good coffee, the need for lunch on the way, and (happy point) the need to buy fresh corn (a high point in SouthEastern Ontario summers), we finally into our hometown at 3:30... whereby Conor asked if he could please go to camp. While we were tempted, we refrained, since camp technically finishes for the day at 4:00 p.m. It was exciting that he didn't get car sick, though. We celebrate these moments.

I'll note bore you with the unpack/laundry/get supper/domestic rituals, though it was a thrill and a half. The cats were happy to see us, anyway.

We figured it might be a bit difficult for Conor to sleep, but we weren't too worried. Unfortunately, at 10:30 at night, we had a weeping boy, devastated that he could not fall asleep, and desperately worried he would not be able to go to camp the next day. Despite assurances that he would go to camp the next day (essential on many fronts in our world... not in the least including parental sanity). I wasn't much better, but after many cuddles, he finally fell asleep at about 11:30.

We thought this was just a question of not really thinking things through- all he did on Tuesday was ride in the car, and play a bit outside - so he was quite inactive.

Enter: Parental plan to abolish jet lag.

The next day, the boy was reluctantly wakened at 7:30, and he was dropped at camp (mostly outdoor day camp) at 8:45 or so. He spent all day there, outside a lot, very active, then visited the dentist (welcome to the end of vacation, bud), then, after supper, went to soccer practice until 8:00 p.m. We figured that for sure with a day full of activity, with much of it outdoors, he would sleep.

Nope. More tears. More worries about camp. More cuddles. Finally fell asleep at 10:30.

In short- it took him 4 nights to turn around - and this is a kid who time-shifts without blinking, who is a great sleeper and loves to sleep. His parents (well, this one anyway) took 4 nights too. My first day back at work on Wednesday was not anything to write home about on the productivity front, shall we say...

So... moral of the story- beware the West to East time-shift. We're well used to 2 hour jaunts, but the 4 hour difference with Alaska was awful. We'll never underestimate it again. Ever. Right now, I'm trying to convince DH that it won't happen again if we do fly further away.

Next up - the "I forgot to mention" post, which will also be the final reflections post, where we discuss whether we made any future DCL plans or not.

 

[bcwife76]

Ugh, yes jetlag is a biotch. Worse when it includes kids, too

Can't wait to read your final thoughts on the whole trip!

 

[jeffbear]

So... moral of the story- beware the West to East time-shift. We're well used to 2 hour jaunts, but the 4 hour difference with Alaska was awful. We'll never underestimate it again. Ever. Right now, I'm trying to convince DH that it won't happen again if we do fly further away.

This.

Jet lag in general is the suck, but jet lag based on West to East travel covering 4 or more time zones is the ultra-suck. I've read several articles over the years on strategies to combat this issue, but at the end of the day the old wives are right. It takes one day per time zone to really recover your senses ... give or take a day. About the only thing I've found that actually helps is a massive dose of sweaty exercise timed just so to FORCE tiredness at the right time. That and bloody forcing yourself out of bed in the morning. Ugh.

 

[Zarina]

We had good luck with melatonin gummies for jet lag for the kiddos. The one we get are 5mg per gummy which is a hefty dose so I cut them in half/or less (pretty confident that melatonin is evenly distributed through the gummy) for the kids (they are 50lbs/ 22ish kgs). This got us through trying to get the kids to sleep in Iceland in summer with jet lag and 22 hours of daylight. I got the idea from my family medicine friend.

 

[jeffbear]

We had good luck with melatonin gummies for jet lag for the kiddos. The one we get are 5mg per gummy which is a hefty dose so I cut them in half/or less (pretty confident that melatonin is evenly distributed through the gummy) for the kids (they are 50lbs/ 22ish kgs). This got us through trying to get the kids to sleep in Iceland in summer with jet lag and 22 hours of daylight. I got the idea from my family medicine friend.

Yeah ... that can and does work, but it's tricky to get the right dosage of melatonin and to get the timing right ahead of intended sleepy time. We've several Docs among our family and friends and they all encourage some experimentation with using melatonin ahead of time so you know what reactions to expect. Personally, I can knock myself out with the right dosage of Benadryl so that's my own go to. But that can be tricky as well, as the dose that knocks me out makes my wife wired up like she had a double shot espresso.

Bottom line ... know what you're doing with any sleep aids BEFORE you get in a travel scenario and NEED them to work.

 

[Plaid Princess]

I swear by Dream Water. I've never had much luck with sleeping pills and regular melatonin hypes me up, but for some reason the Dream Water does the trick for me. And I love that it doesn't knock me out.

 

[bcwife76]

*taps foot impatiently* The world is waiting with breath that is bated ;-)

 

[Conorama]

Oh dear! With back to school, work, the dreaded stomach bug, and life, I had no idea I had this many replies.

Ugh, yes jetlag is a biotch. Worse when it includes kids, too

Can't wait to read your final thoughts on the whole trip!

It'll be done this weekend. I promise!

This.

Jet lag in general is the suck, but jet lag based on West to East travel covering 4 or more time zones is the ultra-suck. I've read several articles over the years on strategies to combat this issue, but at the end of the day the old wives are right. It takes one day per time zone to really recover your senses ... give or take a day. About the only thing I've found that actually helps is a massive dose of sweaty exercise timed just so to FORCE tiredness at the right time. That and bloody forcing yourself out of bed in the morning. Ugh.

I had to remember that 3 hours was fine- so I am no longer banning travel Westward.

We had good luck with melatonin gummies for jet lag for the kiddos. The one we get are 5mg per gummy which is a hefty dose so I cut them in half/or less (pretty confident that melatonin is evenly distributed through the gummy) for the kids (they are 50lbs/ 22ish kgs). This got us through trying to get the kids to sleep in Iceland in summer with jet lag and 22 hours of daylight. I got the idea from my family medicine friend.

I was looking into this, but then we got things figured out ... or the time that needed to pass passed!

Yeah ... that can and does work, but it's tricky to get the right dosage of melatonin and to get the timing right ahead of intended sleepy time. We've several Docs among our family and friends and they all encourage some experimentation with using melatonin ahead of time so you know what reactions to expect. Personally, I can knock myself out with the right dosage of Benadryl so that's my own go to. But that can be tricky as well, as the dose that knocks me out makes my wife wired up like she had a double shot espresso.

Bottom line ... know what you're doing with any sleep aids BEFORE you get in a travel scenario and NEED them to work.

We know that Gravol works for the kiddo (as in, we use it for air/car sickness and we know it makes him sleep!) so that was a relief. I've seen the "paradoxical effect" that Benadryl or Gravol can have on kids. It's not pretty. Gravol also knocks me out, but I wasn't as badly affected.

I swear by Dream Water. I've never had much luck with sleeping pills and regular melatonin hypes me up, but for some reason the Dream Water does the trick for me. And I love that it doesn't knock me out.

Tx!

*taps foot impatiently* The world is waiting with breath that is bated ;-)

Must help un-bate breath. I'm not working and no one is sick, so I'll tackle my final thoughts this weekend.

 

[bcwife76]

Ugh, yes back to school time usually means someone (or everyone) gets sick. Both our girls brought home a cold which they are now just over; dh and I didn't get sick but they gave it to their grandma

We leave on Sunday for our first cruise so if you haven't updated by then I will look for your update when we get home

 

[RedHatDisney]

bcwife, I loved the Wonder, I was on the last Alaska cruise of the season.

conorama, your TR is wonderful....I'm looking forward to your upcoming post.

 

[Conorama]

Final thoughts

It has now been just about 2 months since we boarded the Wonder and (still reeling from this) completed the Grand Slam (or maybe that was when we got off the ship? It's a complex question). It's finally now cooling down here in Southern Ontario to "real" fall weather, so it's slowly approaching Alaska temperatures in July. We're back in the school routine (thus my slowness in getting this last post out).

Overall? This was definitely our favourite cruise on Disney ... mostly because it was Alaska. While bobbing on the Caribbean sea is lovely and all, it pales in comparison to the incredible scenes outside your window every single day in Alaska. We love cool weather in the summer, so this doesn't affect us at all. Interestingly, a colleague at work just got back from an Alaskan cruise on another line and she had a rotten time- but when we talked, it was mostly around the fact that the cruising experience detracted from Alaska - they had no good way to find one another, it was hard for them to find things to do on board, and they just didn't enjoy it much at all. When they got off the ship, they had a great time.

Which led me to realize that Disney does Alaska just about perfectly (for us, anyway). It would be awful to be frustrated by the on-board experience so much that the incredible nature lost out as a result. The cruising itself faded into the background most of the time, but in a good way. I think Tracy Arm day is the best example- what Big Mouse did was to enhance the experience without taking over from the mind-blowing scenery: the yummy soup in a bread bowl, the salmon BBQ, the base camp for kiddos (or at least, for the 10 kids who braved it with Conor) up on deck 10- all these things and more meant that you could really enjoy what was going on all around the ship. The hot chocolate and cookies offered up after boarding at port was another example. We were prepared for the weather (which was not bad at all, really), but it was still nice to warm up with yummy treats.

With 4 cruises under our belts, we know what to avoid and what to seek out. (And now I can add "avoid the port excursions desk on embarkation day at all costs" to my list.) Doing the "mini" FE was just about perfect. We dabble in Disney, I guess.

We did have a bit of a sad thing happen- Little Bunny, who has been with Conor since he was 3 months old, got lost, we think, in Juneau. I realized he was missing the next day, and we contacted the car rental company, but no luck. We know that he was in the car and didn't come out of the car on any of our adventures, so we think he fell out in a parking lot somewhere. We were not sure, though that he had not made it back onto the ship, so we did ask at Lost and Found. They told us there was a table set up back in Vancouver where people can check, so we did that. They also told DH to email as about every 3rd cruise or so they do a really thorough clean-up (so to speak) ... but again, no luck. Disney was very good about emailing regularly with these negative updates. Conor is funny about his stuffies - he may go weeks without looking for one, but then he seeks it out. We made the difficult decision not to tell him unless he asked... and then he asked a few weeks ago. Many tears later (including mine), Conor and I went out to find a new bunny, as he decided that some little boy or girl who was sad or lonely had probably adopted Little Bunny. (If any of you know the Knuffle Bunny books by Mo Willems, this is where the idea came from.)

So now, we have Peppé, a new bunny, made by the same folks, but in a different colour. We still get sad, but it's OK, and it's getting better. I mention this mostly because we were really impressed - DCL looked carefully and kept us updated. It was very much appreciated.

Despite this sad event, I still love looking back over our Alaskan cruise photos, and we have very positive memories, even with the jet lag at the end. (It does pass!)

Having sampled all 4 ships, we have determined we have no clear favourite. The Dream is probably in last place, but to be fair, we we were only there for 4 nights. DH likes the smaller size of the classic ships, but Conor misses his Detective game and mini-golf, but likes the un-re-imagined (so just imagined?) club on the Wonder best, by far. I guess if I had to vote, I'd probably pick the Fantasy, but how much of that is due to it being our first ship, I can't say for sure.

And now for the big question - did we book on board?

Well, yes and no. We did book, but it's very much a dummy date. DH decided to book a Mediterranean cruise for next summer (2016) though we will not be on it. With the Canadian dollar doing what it is doing, we will not be doing any super-expensive vacations next year. It does leave the window open for something in the fall of 2016 or the first half of 2017 (I forget our cut off date) where we'd get the benefits of our OBB- we decided that the deposit was worth it (though again, the exchange rate made us cringe...). However, it's also entirely possible we will just let it go (see? I can do Frozen references...) - we really don't know. It was literally a "well, if we do decide to do another cruise, this could be a way to save money - is that worth the deposit not being in our bank account for that long?" discussion - not a "wow- this is on our bucket list" discussion (as Alaska was).

So- there will be no countdown ticker to add to my signature this time. However, ironically, tonight I will be helping my sister & brother-in-law book a first cruise on DCL. Apparently, they think my (ahem) in-depth knowledge is a bit obsessive, but they're very happy to milk it for all it's worth.

Thanks again for reading along. I appreciate the comments and questions. I enjoyed writing this and did pretty well about staying on time, all things considered.

And with that, I leave you with a throw-back photo - one of the very first I took of Conor on his first cruise. He was a happy camper right from day 1.

 

[Conorama]

Ugh, yes back to school time usually means someone (or everyone) gets sick. Both our girls brought home a cold which they are now just over; dh and I didn't get sick but they gave it to their grandma

We leave on Sunday for our first cruise so if you haven't updated by then I will look for your update when we get home

UGH! (on the sickness front.) DH brought this one home (stomach ugliness), so we couldn't blame school. Conor got it this week (he's fully recovered), but because of a PA day is now on day 3 of 5 of being away from school. EEK! Fortunately, my nephew is here this weekend, so he's fully occupied being Mr. Big Cousin. We weren't sure that I would escape it - we'll see! (Knocking on any piece of wood I can find right now...)

And have a great time! I met your deadline. I hope you enjoy your cruise. It seems they stick.

bcwife, I loved the Wonder, I was on the last Alaska cruise of the season.

conorama, your TR is wonderful....I'm looking forward to your upcoming post.

Thanks so much! I'm glad you had a good time on the Wonder. We liked it.

 

[RedHatDisney]

Thank you so much for this great TR! Don't forget to let me know when your book is available (for real ;-) ).

 

[bcwife76]

Woohoo, well thank you for the finished product! Sorry about the missing bunny

As for your dummy cruise.....something tells me we'll be seeing another TR from you...even if it's not until 2017! (or at least until our dollar improves!)

 

[Conorama]

Thank you so much for this great TR! Don't forget to let me know when your book is available (for real ;-) ).

Thanks! But, ahem, let's not hold our breath for a book. Life - it interferes!

Woohoo, well thank you for the finished product! Sorry about the missing bunny

As for your dummy cruise.....something tells me we'll be seeing another TR from you...even if it's not until 2017! (or at least until our dollar improves!)

You can live in hope. So far - nothing! I hope you're having a great time right now.

 

[Tink2312]

Thanks so much for the TR, I've really enjoyed reading and it has helped in my planning for our trip next year.
Shame about the missing bunny although I'm sure he's currently living it up elsewhere!
Jet lag is something I'm a little concerned about - we're used to doing a 5 hour difference going to FL from the UK, but I think this is around 8 hrs (ugh!).
Ah well, I'm sure it'll be worth it

 

[bcwife76]

Thanks! But, ahem, let's not hold our breath for a book. Life - it interferes!



You can live in hope. So far - nothing! I hope you're having a great time right now.

We had a fabulous time! Booked onboard for Alaska 2016! TR to come from this trip soon

 

[Conorama]

Thanks so much for the TR, I've really enjoyed reading and it has helped in my planning for our trip next year.
Shame about the missing bunny although I'm sure he's currently living it up elsewhere!
Jet lag is something I'm a little concerned about - we're used to doing a 5 hour difference going to FL from the UK, but I think this is around 8 hrs (ugh!).
Ah well, I'm sure it'll be worth it

I'm glad it was helpful. We are pretty much OK with the missing bunny now. The new one has settled in nicely, and Conor has convinced himself that Little Bunny is with a little boy or girl who needed a friend.

It's another 3 hours to Vancouver from Florida, then 1 more hour for most of the trip in Alaska. I think if you're used to 5 hours, you'll be OK- we were just unprepared as we had not done 4 hours before - to be honest, when we were in Vancouver when Conor was 2, we basically stayed pretty close to Ontario time seeing as it was only 4 nights and the 2 year old just plain got up super-early. I think that was our issue- we hadn't experienced it before, and thus failed to plan for it.

We had a fabulous time! Booked onboard for Alaska 2016! TR to come from this trip soon

Excellent!

 

[texas disney mom]

Great report. Sorry to hear about little bunny. We have all lost a little bunny along the way and it is heartbreaking.

 

[Oohoohmonkey]

I laughed out loud all the way through your report! Great, funny, honest account. We are taking this cruise in June 2016 so it has been invaluable. Many thanks.

Hopefully new bunny has settled in now.