We’ll blame the Force: The UnDisney family on their 5th cruise - SWDAS (Eastern) Jan 28-Feb 4, 2017

[Conorama]

July 1, 2017 - preface... I gave up on this TR once a certain photo-hosting sited changed its rules... so I lost all my photos. I am now, mostly, over that, so I'm replacing the photos individually...



Sigh.


Greetings Disboardians. I feel honour-bound to report on our (man this is embarrassing) 5th foray onto a DCL cruise.

For those who do not know us- I dubbed us the UnDisney Family back in 2013 when we ventured onto the Fantasy for an Eastern Caribbean trip at the strong suggestion of a friend. At that point, none of us (parents or child) had ever been to any Disney-ish thing- land or sea- ever.

As noted in that TR, we had a great time, but thought we would not be back on the Mouse Boat.

Ahem. We were wrong. VERY WRONG. That mouse is has some serious super-powers, I tell you.

To make a long story short (long stories in TR noted in my signature!), we subsequently did as follows:

a) A 4-night on the Dream in 2014 because, well, there was this conference in Orlando, you see, and my best friend was going to Dream along with us with her kiddos…

b) A 7-night Western Caribbean on the Magic in 2015 because, well, I was too busy to find us a new resort and because, well, there was this deal for Canadian residents …. and...

c) A 7-night Alaskan route in 2015 (yes, that’s 2 in 2015 – I know) on the Wonder because, well, Alaska, and on-board booking, and flights on points mostly. (Best vacation EVER.)

So that (hangs head in shame) is a freakin’ Grand Slam. A 100% unintentional Slam, I promise you, but a slam nonetheless.

And now, we have completed a Star Wars Day at Sea Eastern Cruise on the Fantasy (Eastern itinerary). How on earth did that happen?

I blame the Force. Or something like it anyway.

Before I reveal the detailed answers to this imponderable question, let me reintroduce the UnDisney Family.

First- we have Conor, now aged 8.5 going on 45 some days, who first set foot on the Fantasy in 2013 at the age of 4-and-a-half. He loves DCL, and still hates most Disney movies. He has decided that some characters are OK, but not the purpose of his trip. He still loathes Frozen (except Olaf).

He does, though, LOVE Star Wars. He received a Star Wars Lego set when he was 5, and he was hooked. He now owns (from the looks of my basement) most Star Wars Lego much of which he has purchased with his own money from his careful management of his allowance.

Exhibit A: Jedi boy- looking fierce, 3 years ago now at Halloween.




Next, we have DH. He is older than 8 (say 40 years or so), and has just completed a graduate degree as a grown-up, so he deserves a reward. He is a non-Disney guy, but is very fond of DCL (once we decide to go) due to the food, the tastings, the fact that the kiddo loves the clubs on the ship, the good coffee and the general relaxation/park your planning brain aspect once we’re on-board. He is also a lifelong (just about) Star Wars fan.

Finally, we have me. I am also older than 8, but younger than DH. I work in health care and I generally work a lot over the holiday period, so I’m well and truly ready for a break at the end of January. I am neither a Disney fan nor a Star Wars fan but I’m outnumbered. (The 17.5 year old cat doesn’t appear to care one way or another but this does not help me during supper conversation.)

I am in awe of DCL smarts (or “Big Mouse” as I call him/them), and I appreciate how these smarts allow me to have a great vacation. I cringe (sorry) at most of the Princesses (and am grateful I have a boy, I’ll be honest), and crowds, and schedules, so I pack my trusty Kobo (Canadian Kindle), know all the quiet places to find on the ships, and am very grateful to the Rainforest room for escape purposes. I’m the researcher/planner in the family, and DH is good about being the guy I delegate stuff to.

We live in medium-sized-town Ontario, Canada, so we are ready for a break from winter by the time the end of January rolls around, though Conor and I at least enjoy the white stuff.

So- with all that, I’ll end this post, and in the next one, I’ll explain how we ended up on DCL #5.

 

[bcwife76]

Woohoo, I'm IN for another of your fabulous reports! And now you are gold....mwahahaha!

I'm currently on St Thomas day for my report, interested to see how you guys fared two weeks after us and see how your experience with Star Wars day was similar (and different I'm sure!) to ours

 

[Conorama]

How we ended up “Goin’ for Gold”

(Yes, we know we're not gold unless we book a 5th cruise... but completing cruise 4 is close anyway).

For this, we must go back to the second cruise (if you’ve lost track, that #2 on the Dream 4-night). My best friend, DCL-Queen, introduced DH to the bonuses of on-board booking, which is how we ended up with our Alaskan cruise “tentatively” booked.

When on the cruise #4 (Alaska), DH was bored or something one night so went to talk to Those People about other cruises. He learned of the Mediterranean cruises. He was interested… so he booked a dummy cruise (or whatever we were supposed to call it then for summer 2016). The plan was not to actually go, but rather to wait for Summer 2017 to come out, since we clearly needed a year to recover from the horror show of the Canadian dollar.

When Summer 2017 came out, the Canadian dollar was still hovering somewhere around the horrifically low range, so we felt we could not justify the cost, and I thought we were done. We meant to cancel, but then (insert dramatic music here... like that stuff they use before the really scary scenes in your average soap opera).

DCL decided to do Star Wars Day At Sea … with the Eastern Itinerary (our favourite). And, we had been at a very, very nice resort in Mexico by then for the 2016 vacation, and Conor was starting to get a wee bit bored with resort holidays now that he is a Big Boy, and we were now spoiled by DCL service, so things like: “Um, we called 3 times for you to come and get our bags and our shuttle is leaving for the airport in 10 minutes” was starting to wear on the parents.

So- upon return from that trip, DH called DCL, and (sigh) the SWDAS cruise was not a bad deal due to our previous booking that we could move - deposit already paid and all that jazz. And, we could get our flights on points. And we would get to go to Tortola, so a new port for us. And Conor had been asking, politely, to go back on the Fantasy, due to his passion for the mystery game and mini-golf (sorely lacking on his last 2 cruises).

I gave up. Clearly, the Force was conspiring with Big Mouse to get us back on a cruise.

We booked. In fact, we (ahem) booked right back into 9120 (another sign the Universe had plans for us), which is where we were before. Twice. (Seriously- we are so predictable/boring/sad ... we book into the exact same cabin if we can.)

9120 is a 4A cabin, with no connecting door to another cabin, and no Murphy bed, aft-ish. We like the location (near to coffee), the room, the quiet and,

We told the kiddo about the cruise on his 8th birthday in May - ironically right after his Harry Potter birthday party –this is his other great passion in life right now. There was much jumping up and down (and that wasn't just the after-effect of the party).

I know HP has been co-opted by those other folks, but here is our Harry with some spiffy socks.



Since we had just survived having a dozen 7 to 9 year olds at our house for 2 hours (with no need to call the paramedics) we then did nothing cruise-related. For months. And months.

In fact, we did nothing, really, until a few weeks before Christmas, since Santa had to work hard to get an Elder Wand and Harry Potter Lego mini-figures (they don’t make them anymore) for a firmly-believing, well-behaved 8 year old. (Thank you VERY MUCH Etsy and Amazon, is what Santa has to say about all that.)

Well, actually- I just checked and I lied. We did book hotels, but that’s it. More on planning in the next post. That's the for-keeners-only-lots-of-details-boring-to-some-people-pay-it-forward planning post.

 

[Zarina]

Yay! I love your trip reports! And can't wait to hear about your experience with SWDAS. And maybe see some pics enjoying Wizarding World?

 

[Kari0180]

I've always enjoyed your reports, can't wait to read about SWDAS!!

 

[Conorama]

Planning for the planners out there- AKA – Paying it forward - part 1.


Now that we are cruise veterans, we knew what we needed to arrange early, vs. what we could address in a leisurely fashion. I'll try to organize this by timeline this time, for variety and excitement.


Many Months in advance - like 10 or so?

Flights were most important to address. Those were booked almost as soon as we nabbed cabin 9120 because the planets aligned and we had enough points and Air Canada wasn't going to make us fly to Vancouver or Las Vegas en route to Orlando. (Lotsa love there, as you can see.)

We got early-ish flights on the Friday before embarkation day from Toronto (9:00 a.m.), and a safely spaced return flight for 1:40 or so on Saturday, both direct flights. Selection is somewhat limited on points, so we did not complain about direct flights that did not leave at dawn o'clock and/or have us wait around for hours on end at MCO after the cruise.

Medium-town Ontario is located 2-3 hours away from major airports (we have a wee one here), so we often end up with a drive. We contemplated avoiding the drive by taking a train and new subway line, or by taking what is known as a MegaBus (complete with Wifi!) but, well, Via trains (our Canadian trains) hate me so they always runs late (yes, it's personal - I'm sure of this), and thus I never take it if timing matters, and the MegaBus is still a bus, and DH is 6’6’’, and he felt that he would like to actually WALK when we arrived at the Toronto airport (demanding of him – but we need his Sherpa powers too), so we decided no bus. We priced airport limos and …. Well, that was a VERY short discussion due to our lack of winning the lottery lately. We’ll drive. No more trains/planes/automobile booking required ... yet. (Insert more dramatic soap opera music here.)

We needed to book a hotel on either end of the cruise at Pearson. We are somewhat (a lot) spoiled by the convenience of airport hotels since we started traveling with the now-not-so-wee man when he was a baby. Old habits die hard, and with the parking and convenience of leaving at bag full of winter gear at the Sheraton Gateway in TO, we decided it was firmly worth it and booked for the before night and after night and parking. (With our luck … we’d be stuck waiting in minus 700 degree weather for a shuttle that never comes… and I gave up Starbucks this year - ! – so I figure we paid for our airport hotel spoiledness with that.)

Oh ... but wait. MouseLuck has followed us - or Yoda-force, or something. (Yes, I know that is not Yoda)

We got the Sheraton Gateway on points too - including parking for a week. Yahooza! (We basically pay for everything with our credit card and we pay that off 100% on a monthly basis, so we get a whole lot of points and once in a blue moon, we can cash them in.)

And then, to complete the airport hotel trifecta (well, 3 nights), we booked the Hyatt at MCO, because, as DH put it, why mess with a good thing? (No points luck there.)


To summarize:


A) We booked the Sheraton Gateway (with parking for just over a week) for Thursday night and then Saturday night upon our return. Because lazy & spoiled. And points!

B) We booked the MCO Hyatt, because, well, MCO Hyatt. And convenience. And laziness. And CAA/AAA rate.


90 days out – aka Paid in Full Date or just before.

We were actually out of town just before PIF date for we silver-ish folk (to see Skate Canada, actually, as Conor is an avid figure skater and it's nice to show him that he is not in fact the only male on the planet who is a figure skater), and we, um, forgot about on-line check in.

(Cue dramatic music again.)

Fear not- I had arranged for the final payment to go through automatically a few weeks before.

However, we came back from Skate Canada all virally and miserable (nothing to do with skating - that was fantastic) so I remembered due to the cruise something-or-other-on-other-social-media page that we needed to check in a full day late (gasp). Somehow, we still got a 10:45 port arrival time, and I dummy-booked a few excursions that we planned to ditch due to a new allergy to the paddles of power. We had decided to go mad and do both Palo AND Remy supper (never before done). All of this was painlessly, by me, and not at midnight- but, for the record, I was in my PJs since I was miserably sick, still, so maybe DCL thought it was done at midnight???

DH did do his bit and booked us travel insurance. We are of the “do not go on expensive vacations without it” types. No, we've never needed to use it. Yes, we still get it.

And with that spurt of planning, we rested until I recovered from the plague.

Oh yes- just after we paid and did our on-line bit, we got early dining, having been wait listed since February. Yahooza for not falling asleep in the truffle purseittes! (Yes, I mean me. Not Conor.)


2 months out:

By this time, it was mid-to-late November and basically full on plan-for-Christmas mode (see note above re: Santa needing to procure an Elder Wand and Lego mini-figures that are no longer made...)

However, since Santa's elf here was already haunting various on-line shopping sites I asked Conor what costume he wanted for SWDAS. He loves costumes and wears them all the time, so I'm happy enough to pay a bit more for a good one that will last. (He still wears parts of his pirate costume from when he was 3 ... the vest is getting quite small, but I'm told it's JUST FINE.)

What does my kid want to be?

Jedi? Nope. (No, of course not ... because we have that costume already.)
Han Solo? Nope. (And I now know he's not a Jedi)
Kylo Ren? Indignant nope. "I am NOT going to be a bad guy MOM!" Well, that rules out Storm Troopers and Darth Vader, and, well, lots of other things.
Droid? Nope.

He wants to be a Jawa. For those who are naive to the world of Star Wars, these are somewhat minor-ish creatures in the first REAL Star Wars movie - they are scavengers for droids. They come across C3PO and R2D2 on Tatooine and then sell them to Luke Skywalker.

What kid wants to be a Jawa .... I mean really????

Fortunately, Etsy not only has wicked Elder Wands, but it also has kid-sized Jawa costumes for less than a King's ransom.

I also perused Etsy for adult costumes and became very afraid. I passed the links on to DH and decided I'd be JUST FINE with a t-shirt, thanks. DH had just finished his thesis so had more time to go down that particular rabbit hole... and you'll see later what he came up with.

Somewhere in here, DH and I researched non-DCL things to do at port in a rather lackluster fashion. Neither of us got anywhere ... but I found the Lego Mini-figures Santa needed.

At this point, we did nothing else cruise-related due to being preoccupied with work, piano recitals, skating practice, karate, and holiday prep.

So, I'll take a break now, and then do the final countdown to cruise post on another night.

Good night!

 

[Conorama]

Woohoo, I'm IN for another of your fabulous reports! And now you are gold....mwahahaha!

I'm currently on St Thomas day for my report, interested to see how you guys fared two weeks after us and see how your experience with Star Wars day was similar (and different I'm sure!) to ours

If I'm to ever finish a report, I can't read others until I'm done. I will make a note to read yours after though for sure!

Yay! I love your trip reports! And can't wait to hear about your experience with SWDAS. And maybe see some pics enjoying Wizarding World?

Thanks! Not quite Wizarding world... but good enough!

I've always enjoyed your reports, can't wait to read about SWDAS!!

Thanks!

 

[Conorama]

Planning for the planners out there- AKA – Paying it forward - part 2.

I left you just about at Christmas. Because we usually take our holidays at the end of January, I basically get through the actual Christmas day and any family get-togethers after that, then immediately launch into Countdown To Vacation.

This year was no different. I worked quite a bit over the holidays this year, but we had enough downtime to firm up some much needed plans.

Excursions/Port Adventures/Avoiding the paddles of power

On the Alaskan cruise, we really discovered the joy of ignoring/ditching Big Mouse when getting of the ship. Or, to be clear, DH vowed to never, ever put on a Disney character sticker and follow perky people with paddles of power off a ship EVER AGAIN.

Thus...

Tortola:

Since DH was so anti-paddle (even though I agreed), I delegated Tortola to him. After sending him off to (ahem) other cruise boards of critical reviews (subtle, huh?) with instructions to Figure Out Tortola, he came back with great respect for (oh the irony) a lovely woman who posted clear information about how to get to and from the Baths on your own in Tortolo with sufficient details to keep our obsessive traits in quiet mode.

This didn't involve any advanced booking. We just needed to get off the ship early, walk to the area where you get a ferry, purchase the appropriate tickets (more on this later), and then get on the ferry and then bus to the Baths. Do amazing things at the Baths (including quite the climb) and then reverse in plenty of time to avoid any fretting over all aboard time. Easy.

We decided not to do anything that involved private boats, etc. to have more control over our schedule, to be entirely anti-social (we're ready for that on day 4) and to keep the budget in check.

St. Thomas:

I handled St. Thomas. We'd been before and wanted a quiet beach day. I figured out (this does not take much) how to get to Magen's beach on our own and back (get off ship - find taxi - ask taxi to take you there). No advanced booking required.

Castaway Cay:

Well we went mad and booked the Sting Ray thingy, and DH booked a snorkeling jaunt. There are no paddles or stickers involved with either of these- just tickets. While we were booking these, we unbooked ourselves from our dummy excursions.


Day in Orlando- really?

Don't tell DH, but ever since we ended up with early morning flights that got us in to MCO before noon, I was secretly researching new things for us to do. He would happily lounge at the hotel. I, however, had designs on Disney Springs, not because I'm a shopper (I'm not) but because it was something different. And Lego was there.

By this time (10 months later) our points were re-accumulating nicely, so I mentioned to DH that, hey, we could rent a car on points and explore Orlando. What would we do, he asked? By this time, I had figured out that there were interesting places to eat at Disney Springs, so I casually mentioned that, and tossed DH a link. By the time he came up for air, he had figured out not just where we should eat, but exactly where to park in the garage, and how much the tolls would be. (He's new to discussion boards. It's kind of cute, really.)

So, we booked a car for the day. Well, DH did. I watched.

MCO to Port and Back

Oddly, this provoked more debate than in previous years. I was fully tired of DCL transport as I keep getting worse, if that's possible at the trivia on the bus, and there are stickers and paddles and all that jazz. DH likes familiar.

I talked him into Happy Limo both ways by (I have no shame) pointing out the new rules about bringing wine/beer on board, and that we could ask to stop prior to port to procure beverages of choice. That sold him, eventually, so we booked that. Actually- we may well have booked that back in November, but I forgot to write about it. (Blame the time change - we're stuck in the horror of daylight savings time here for the last week, and it's silly - and well, that's my story and I'm sticking to it.)

The inevitable Fish Extenders

In a somewhat tactical error on cruise #1 (which was supposed to just be THE cruise ... with no number after it, you'll recall), I had decide to be all Roman-ish and dive in full-speed-ahead (I can mix metaphors with the best of 'em) and sign us up for a Fish Extender group. That group turned out to be very complicated (I'm still getting over it) but I had figured out how to do it with minimal angst now, so after discussion with Conor, we had signed up again.

We accept that our crafty genes are somewhat lacking (mine is absent 99% of the time) but we are pretty good about being creative in other ways, so we planned another care package type of set up, full of handy items (flashlights, safety pins, bandaids), Canadian yumminess (real Maple syrup from near where we live and Canadian candy), and, in a fit of brilliance borrowed from the interweb, a laundry kit. This was topped up by Star Wars and related age-appropriate stuff for the under 18 crowd through strategic trips to the Dollar Store.

DH and Conor are more creative than I ... so they came up with stickers for the laundry kits (which contained some pods, fabric softener sheets, and lint brushes I think) - one sticker had the locations of all the laundry spots on the Fantasy (DH having now fully embraced the joy of what you can find on-line) and one had Conor's art for everyone's cute little bag. (We went from having Mr. "I hate art" to this sort of thing in the space of 6 months. He loves to draw now. Genes are mysterious things. That is a creature sitting on a pile of laundry that has been folded by the larger creature.)



Miscellaneous other stuff

I embrace lists. They are the key to sanity. Thus, I have a list for cruise countdown. This is where I put all the essential things that have to be done that are not thrilling but necessary. These (mostly) get delegated to DH with a few exceptions. He does not love lists ... particularly when I hand him one of my master lists. He's just jealous, I'm sure.

Seriously though - it's amazing what crops up and how much time it all takes...

This year, we had:

• Arrange cat sitter (for only one kitty this time as one of ours moved on to the catnip garden in the sky in April ) - one who will know how to trick an ornery old lady cat into taking her pills and into eating her (I kid you not) pumpkin purée for, ahem, digestive issues. HONESTLY. DH job - check! (Bonus- they water plants too.)
  
• Arrange snow clearing. DH job - check!
• Get US cash - have moment of silence for the death of the Canadian dollar. DH job - check!
• Get US cash for moneybags- AKA - Conor, who is a master saver... who knew? DH job - check!
• Confirm all hotels, cars, flights, insurance. DH job - check!
• Alert school to absence & get homework. My job - check!
• Alert piano teacher & skating coach. My job - check!
• Determine what doesn't fit Mr. Growth Spurt and procure replacements. My job - check! (This should have been done before Christmas- but Christmas interfered.)
  
• Print labels (yes labels) for Fish Extender (there is a system). DH and me together - without bickering - check on getting it done anyway.
  
• Print labels (yes labels) for post cards. DH job- check!
• Ensure we would not have to mortgage the home due to cell phone roaming charges. DH job - check!
• Send travel plans and contact info to family. My job - check!
  
• Get car in for a tune-up. DH job - check!
• Print cruise documents and other things that need printing. Assemble into careful package. DH with my helpful suggestions- check!
• DH added this one to the list: Order cool Star Wars shirt (not) on Etsy to be delivered to Hyatt at MCO. DH - check. Me: what am I getting into???

This list doesn't include packing. That's a whole other post. (Apologies to those of you who are eager for us to get on the ship. This is just how I roll/write TRs.)

What is amazing is that all of this has to get done on top of the usual life stuff- lessons, homework, piano practice, birthday parties for friends, bill paying, house cleaning, and, you know, work and school stuff. Factor in me working 2 weekends out of 4 in January and you will figure out my love for lists.

And with that - I really mean it this time- I should go to bed. Packing for planners is up next... hold on to your hats!

 

[bcwife76]

Man, I could use your organizational skills! lol

And I have so many awesome trip reports on the going (reading them), which is why....I've been home nearly 2 months from our cruise and am still only at St. Thomas day

 

[Conorama]

Man, I could use your organizational skills! lol

And I have so many awesome trip reports on the going (reading them), which is why....I've been home nearly 2 months from our cruise and am still only at St. Thomas day

The lists are truly what keep me going. However, I've had at least one TR that took way too long to finish, so I realized that a major blast from time to time is the best way for me. Then I get to just sit around and read!

 

[kittymamma]

HOOOOOOORAY !!! Great way to start my day....another super funny TR from you. I giggle all the way through your narrative....in the nicest sort of way. Thank you for getting you reports to us in such a timely fashion with all the pertinent details in tact. Can't wait for more and I'm anxious to see how much Connor has grown since your last TR.

Sorry to hear about one of your fur babies.

 

[Conorama]

Planning for the planners out there- AKA – Paying it forward - part 3.

We may actually be able to get us in the car after this post. We'll see!

Random bit of planning I forgot about in previous posts

There are always these things that I would forget ... except that they were on a list ... which I should have kept, it would seem. Ahem.

Ordering stuff from DCL:

Mostly, this is a step I never forget because it's how I get my coveted escape-from-the-Mouse card, otherwise known as a Rainforest Room pass. It's the stuff you can't order on-line, but you have to call or fax in something.

Since I was going to get getting my get-out-of-crowds-free card, (no, it's not free), I perused the other offerings. In the past, DH wanted a beer package, but since we would be stopping on our way to port- no need this time. However, I did check out the Star Wars room decorating packages, and decided that, in the interest of 'go big or go home', we'd give one of those a try. (Mostly, I was coveting the fuzzy looking throw, as I was generally working on my lists while sitting in freezing cold rinks during skating lessons.)

This to-do item was then delegated to DH, who, to my surprise, added a Rainforest Room pass of his own. That was all done.

Magnets:

My job is to find some ideas on-line and send to DH. He and Conor take it from there. Mickey Death Star was readied quickly.


Pack-a-palooza

Previous readers will remember that I live and die by spreadsheets whilst packing. Fortunately, having cruised a few times before (sigh), I have old spreadsheets to work from, so just as soon as the presents were opened on Christmas day (or thereabouts), they were taken out, dusted off, and updated. The nice thing is that they actually get smaller, mostly, as we realize that we don't need as much, and because Conor is older and thus requires a lot less by way of gear. Somehow, though, this does not translate into needing fewer suitcases.

My husband's packing strategy is as follows:

• Get out suitcase full of summer stuff that he packed when it got too cold to wear shorts back in September/October or so. This happens on about December 31st- like a month before we leave.
  
• Peruse it and admire, in self-satisfied fashion, his packing.
  
• Somewhere around 3 days before we leave - add underwear and toiletries and 'things' (whatever that means).
• Sit around looking smug that he is done.

Despite this, we remain married. Happily.

My packing strategy:

• Perfect the spreadsheets a month or so out. Colour code items that need to be purchased, and purchase those.
  
• Go through the basket of summer clothes to find items on the spreadsheet- and toss them in a suitcase (and I mean toss) - while carefully highlighting them on the spreadsheet in a different colour.
  
• Find the other things on the spreadsheet- toss in suitcases.
• In the evenings leading up to our departure, I take over the living room floor and carefully pack in a balanced fashion between suitcases, highlighting in my final colour when things are neatly packed. This is a somewhat zen process, that is done while listening to a nice audio book, and while sipping a beverage of choice. Yes, it does take up the whole living room. No, this is not annoying.

My spreadsheet categories now amuse me. In addition to the usual "tops", "bottoms", "sleep", "swim", "first aid", and "sanity for the plane", I now have "Star Wars", "Pirate?", and "That Darned Mouse" (Fish Extender stuff, for example).

DH alternates between amusement and frustration at my system, but I will note that my bags are always packed in a strategic fashion. Even he has bought into "everyone has at least 2 outfits in each suitcase" to help mitigate when a bag is delayed (helps that he knows my luck). He fails to admire my other strategies though... including: ensuring that the stuff we need the first night at the hotel is always right there when you open the bag (so as to get Conor into bed pronto when needed), ensuring that we can quickly nab what we need on the plane at our seats and then stash the rest of the bag when on the plane, and, well, ensuring that we don't travel south in winter without swim shirts (yeah, bud, you're NEVER going to live that one down...)

Mostly, we don't pack anything too unique or interesting, but for any novice cruisers, I'll note a few key things below that we have found helpful/needed.

• Booster seat: We do usually bring one for the boyo- not for busses, etc., but usually for rental cars, as we've had bad experiences with what rental companies provide. This is getting to be much less of an issue now that we have an almost 9-year-old of course, but we brought it this trip. (Yes you can gate-check it if you want.)
• Pennies for "Penny Squishing" machines: there are some at port and at many Disney stores and it's always a pain if you don't have the right change (if you have a collecting kid). Since we Canadians fired the penny a year or so ago, we have a dwindling supply of US pennies now!
  
• Packable extra suitcase/duffle - because it's cheaper to check an extra bag on the way back than to pay overweight! We have a nifty one from Mountain Equipment Coop that folds into a pocket but is still quite sturdy.
  
• Luggage scales. 'Nuff said.
  
• Pirate stuff - there is pirate night AND SWDAS - which was a surprise I learned from the boards. From when he was about 3, Pirates were HUGE in Conor's world ... and then that suddenly faded this year with the passion for Harry - but you may want to pack something to be all pirate-y.
  
• Laundry bag: We've not found the pop-up hamper worth the room it takes up. We dedicate a drawer to laundry - when it gets full, we transfer to the laundry bag, and then (amazing) we do laundry.
  
• Toys: Sounds obvious, but we still pack some favourites for in the cabin for our much needed downtime (away from screens too at times).
• Binoculars: Purchased these for the Alaskan cruise, and loved them. Probably not essential for a Caribbean cruise, but still fun.
  
• Maple syrup: That stuff on board is ... well, stuff. ICK. #WeAreCanadian
  
• Small bag (kid-sized): Dude now likes to have his own bag with his own stuff- helpful as well to bring distractions as needed to supper. DCL conveniently provides a beach bag to Silver & up folks, so I don't pack that anymore. (This is in addition to our family trip backpack.)
  
• First aid stuff/over the counter meds: I've reduced how much I pack in terms of clothes (laundry helps) but I have not reduced my 'kit'- and I've used just about everything in it at least once on some trip or other.
  
• Snack bags/containers: We have fabric snack bags and plastic containers we use for lunch - we bring a handful of these and use them on the plane, and to store things we bring back from the buffet for room snacks.
  
• Contigo hot/cold drink bottles: We love these things. They don't spill, keep drinks hot or cold. Fear not, we don't use them at the beverage station, but we do use them for just about everything else. One each and worth their weight in packing allowance!

In brief, regarding clothing:

• We basically spend 90% of our time in shorts & t-shirts when not in swim wear or PJs, so that's the main focus.
  
• Everyone packs 2 pairs of pants for suppers, plus 2-3 nicer tops. No, it's no longer required, but I mandate it most nights. This way we also all have pants for when it's cooler (they're not that dressy).
• On that note- everyone has at least 1 hoodie/sweater/cardigan type thing for layering on the plane and at night, and 2 long-sleeve shirts. And socks. More on that below. This is in addition to some kind of light weight jacket (remember- we are leaving from 'depths of January cold'!)
  
• We double-duty formal night and semi-formal night for the most part - this year I actually had a formal dress, but it was small and packed easily. Conor wears the same on both nights (pics to follow...) and DH just ditches the jacket on semi-formal night.
  
• Shoes are the enemy of lightweight packing. We aim for one pair of dressy shoes (me and DH- Conor wears what he has), 1 good pair of walking shoes/hiking boots, 1 pair of runners (me), 1 good pair of sandals, 1 pair of flip flops, 2 pair of swim shoes (Conor). Mostly we don't succeed and at least one extra pair sneak in... how???? However, we toss all the shoes into the packed extra bag - which is smaller so can handle the weight of the shoes on the way back.
  
• Conor gets 3 sets of swim wear (because sand)- the rest of us are fine with one.
  
• One must pack one's Star Wars things of course.
• We plan on laundry mid-way through and pack accordingly re: shorts & t-shirts.

I think that's it for packing (well, I could go on, but will elect to exert some self-control) so I will get us on the road in the next post. At this point, I'll be honest and note that I was about 80% packed by Wednesday night (we were heading out Thursday afternoon), comfortable in the knowledge that I would have most of Thursday morning and early afternoon to pack. Famous last words!

(There will be photos in the next post. Promise.)

 

[Conorama]

Departure day! (OK - departure day only if you count driving to Toronto...)

Thursday morning arrived and I was officially on vacation. Our plan was for Conor to go to school as usual and, provided the weather agreed, we would pick him up at 3:00 (end of the day) and hit the road for Toronto, ideally with him all worn out from school/friends/etc.

A few days before, I had learned that one of the gurus in my field (who also happens to be a great speaker) would be coming to speak at my institution at 7:45 a.m. on my first day of vacation. I elected to start off vacation by going to hear him speak because #GeekAmI . He was spectacular, so I stayed for breakfast and another talk. (In case you had any delusions about how hip I am.)

I returned home all wired and excited, and annoyed DH to no end by chattering away about said guru. Finally, I settled into the final packing stages .. and discovered that my new suitcase (replacement for one with busted wheels) was messing up The System. It was just a bit bigger and a bit heavier, and this meant I was way off on my packing as it weighed way too much more than my 50lb allotment. Eek!

We do not panic since we are not flying out until tomorrow morning. We do our best, revisit a few things, move a few heavy things to carry-on and (sadly) plan on another stage of the great luggage rearrangement in a hotel room. Hmph.

Regardless, I was able to cross off the last things on my list (unplug non-essential things, leave out medication schedule for geriatric-cat, triple check things like passports and bags, and on it goes), and we headed off to get the kiddo, his homework (entirely manageable), and to say good-bye to legions (it seemed) of friends at school.


Bandwagon jumpers we are not

Some folks are late to the Star Wars scene and that's totally fine. However, this is not, so to speak, our first rodeo.

Exhibit A) We realized while packing that, completely unintentionally, Conor could wear a different Star Wars shirt every day on our trip (not just the cruise part of things). I had honestly not realized he had this many t-shirts that were Star Wars-y - but, well, he did.

We obviously took this as a sign of how he should be dressed on vacation.

Here we are at a not-very-exciting rest stop, visiting the washrooms and getting a snack, posing with cheesy Canadiana, wearing Star Wars outfit #1 - the ever exciting track suit. This is (I kid you not) the second version he has of this splendid attire - he outgrew the smaller size and had loved it so much I was relieved to find it in the next size up. Phew. It has shiny gold lettering on the arms and the pants. Snazzy.

Stay tuned for 8 (I think) more t-shirts... and that is not counting PJs, or the actual SWDAS attire.


Airport hotel - how do I love thee? Let me count the ways.

Our drive was uneventful and we even found a decent parking spot at the hotel - above ground, but c'est la vie. Checking in was painless and they had a roll-away cot for Conor (dubbed, in a previous TR, as a 'prince-sized' bed by the young man). We basically did a dump and run to go and eat, and then Conor and I walked about to get me to my 10,000 steps (bonus of airport hotels) and to tire him out as that wasn't happening fast enough.

I then had to face harsh reality, and rearrange all of our luggage. We mandated that Conor have a bath (to get him out of the way to be perfectly honest- you can send the parents of the year award to our home address anytime) and a great exchange transpired. I jettisoned a number of things that were filed under "nice to have". Small but heavy-ish things went into carry-on luggage so long as they passed the carry-on rules. Many things shifted between our 3 bags. Cursing under my breath did *not* happen ... much.

Finally, I got Big Purple (new luggage) down to 48 lbs, after basically totally repacking. And I realized that due to my unexpected discovery of Big Purple's size, I had forgotten my last item on my list... socks. Fortunately, these were not too essential for the next 24 hours. I still managed to have out what we needed for bedtime, and for the plane the next day. I felt vaguely vindicated.

We instituted our usual pre-vacation breakfast plan - order 1 room service breakfast ahead of time, with extra coffee & toast, so that we can nibble and organize ourselves for the day without rushing/stressing about breakfast. While the cost is stupidly outrageous in general for this sort of thing, it gets much less painful when you realize that by just adding a bit of extra toast 3 people can have a reasonably-sized breakfast in the room.

Conor, as planned, crashed within about 1 minute of head-pillow contact. I followed fairly soon afterwards and DH retreated to grab a beer to recover from the great packing debacle of 2017.

Next up .... Orlando.

 

[Conorama]

HOOOOOOORAY !!! Great way to start my day....another super funny TR from you. I giggle all the way through your narrative....in the nicest sort of way. Thank you for getting you reports to us in such a timely fashion with all the pertinent details in tact. Can't wait for more and I'm anxious to see how much Connor has grown since your last TR.

Sorry to hear about one of your fur babies.

Thanks! And yes, it's been almost a year since Mac died, which we can't quite believe. He was 17, so we had many happy years together.

I'm going to see if I can get one more update out tonight- back at it!

 

[Conorama]

Orlando-bound

I think we were up at 6:00 a.m. or so (usual time for Conor and me ... horribly early for DH) and we were reasonably efficient (or I've just plain blanked out other memories) about getting ready for the day. Conor's winter Star Wars PJs (no pic - missed those!) joined the rest of our winter gear that we oh-so-happily get to leave at the hotel, as you can check a bag while you're gone. For those who are not from Northern lands, this means that, when you return from your hot vacation, no one has to freeze their derriere off to head out to the frigidly cold car to get the winter gear, which is thus also rather chilly. This is part of why we figure the airport hotel is worth the cost, which, this year, was happily only counted in points.

Fed, showered, packed, appropriately attired, and checked out of the hotel, we herded our bags along to check in at the airport. Having sacrificed a small animal or 3 to the travel gods, our flight appeared to be on time, and miraculously, we had no issues at the automatic kiosk (a rare event for us). Happily, Big Purple stayed under 50lbs, and it disappeared off with our other luggage. Security was reasonably painless as well, though not speedy.

I had not encountered the automatic kiosks for US customs, but DH and Conor had met them a few years ago (for cruise #2) - in that case, the machine lit up, so to speak, we think because it was DH traveling alone with Conor, so we were grateful for the appropriately signed and sealed travel documents that impressed the agent he was assigned to (these would be the documents where I explicitly gave permission for DH to travel alone with Conor and that we almost forgot to get notarized ... phew!).

We had no such excitement, fortunately, so once we mastered that particular machine, there was a collective sigh of relief.

While waiting in line, we had coined a new term: Code Coffee. This is akin to a code blue in a hospital, but the issue is a lack of good quality coffee for DH. The hotel coffee did not fit the bill, at all (I have to agree, and I'm much less coffee-snobbish than DH).

Fortunately, Starbucks was nearby to our gate shortly after customs, and we were able to declare all clear on Code Coffee.

I attempted to source some new socks (due to forgetting to pack any due to the system being thrown off by Big Purple) but that was, to quote Conor, an 'epic fail'. I wasn't too worried, as I figured the old US of A would have a pair of socks or two.

Everyone felt better at this point ... until Air Canada announced that the flight was very full, overbooked (feel the panic) and that all carry-on bags would have to fit into rather tiny looking testing cages or they would have to be checked. We glanced at Little Purple & DH's equivalent and realized that was a no-go.

Oh goodie! Luggage rearrangement again! Oh the thrills!

Once I recovered (thank you good coffee) I realized this was far less of an issue than it would have been a few years ago. All Conor needs now on the plane is his 'phone' (an old i-phone with no SIM card) loaded with audiobooks (he gets sick if he plays games) and his headphones, plus a stuffy or two, all of which fits quite nicely into his backpack ... with extra clothes due to his air sickness history. With only minor grumblings (because we were in public), I shifted the essentials to my backpack, and we were good little passengers and brought our bags up to be checked.

This effectively killed our waiting around time, and we boarded when called.

Happily, I can report that the flight was boring ... just the way we like it. I believe I napped for part of it. It was that exciting.

Here's the kiddo on the monorail at MCO- sporting his Star Wars t-shirt of the day. This was during one of his (short) periods of "I'm not talking, Mom".





The boringingess continued as we meandered over to our luggage carousel where we waited seemingly forever (it does always seem particularly slow at MCO). In fact, when we had the big bags, but were still waiting for the smaller ones (remember that part?), we dispatched DH with the big bags off to the MCO Hyatt to get us checked in. Conor and I finally found Little Purple and we connected with DH who was happily collecting his delivery at the Hyatt (his Star Wars shirt).

Admit it- this is how you usually feel after traveling and you finally get to your hotel room....




We then engaged in a battle of wills in order to actually get out of the hotel room. Mine won, though it was close. DH and Conor are not what you would call speedy when it comes to moving on to the next activity. Despite this, I cajoled, encouraged, cheered, and then moved on to nagging and slightly veiled threats to get them to get changed if needed (it was cold out!) and to assemble what we needed to go and fetch the rental car.

Traveling does this to you- at 1:00 p.m. you feel like you've spent an entire day/week/month doing all kinds of amazing things (see? I flew all the way from Canada !!!) but really, you've been basically sitting on your behind for 3 hours. That doesn't count.

Despite differing world views on these matters, I prevailed, and we grabbed some snacks & fresh coffee from Starbucks (lack of these was part of the reason for generally acting like the proverbial molasses in January in Canada), and made our way to the rental car agency...

To wait.

To put it this way- Conor ate his entire yogurt parfait, I finished my coffee, we explored the entire floor, walked outside, exclaimed over the cold, found and caught about 20 Pokemon, spied on DH in line, and could have probably assembled a car from scrap metal in the time it took to get the rental papers. DH said part of the delay was due to a keen attempt to up-sell, which was not accepted on our part anyway, seeing as we would be in the car for less than an hour total.

Nevertheless, we finally made our way to the garage and our car, figured out how to turn OFF the A/C (it was cold), and, Google Maps in hand (my hand, as the non-driver), we sped off into the afternoon sun ... until we hit traffic.

So- we crept along, did our tolls thing, and finally arrived at DH's preferred parking garage at about 3:30 p.m.

Up next .... we go more Disney than we have ever done before... and visit Disney Springs.

 

[KarriTigger]

I'm so happy to see a new TR from you...I love your fellow Canadian writing style!

 

[DIS_Ag]

Excited to follow along.

 

[lizzyb]

Joining in!

 

[Gilland18]

I absolutely love your TRs! Glad you were "Forced" to cruise again!

 

[Conorama]

I'm so happy to see a new TR from you...I love your fellow Canadian writing style!

Thanks! Always glad to find other Canadians on here.

Excited to follow along.

Thanks!

Joining in!

Thanks!

I absolutely love your TRs! Glad you were "Forced" to cruise again!

Yep. That's exactly what were going with. No choice in the matter. Clearly a force issue.